Letter from William Wordsworth, Grasmere, to Sir George Beaumont, 1806 September 8: autograph manuscript signed.

Commenting on the poetry of Sir John Beaumont; saying "I like your Ancestor's verses the more, the more I see of them; they are manly, dignified and extremely harmonious. I do not remember in any author of that age such a series of well-turned Couplets;" offering his critical comments, and those of this family and servants, on an illustration Sir George painted of Wordsworth's poem "The Thorn" which "...has been ten days under our roof;" giving Sir George his thoughts on Coleridge which he has shared with Lady Beaumont so that what he will say "...will not be altogether new, and therefore will, I hope, be less felt. In fact, he dare not go home, he recoils so much from the thought of domesticating with Mrs. Coleridge, with whom, though on many accounts he much respects her, he is so miserable that he dare not encounter it. What a deplorable thing! I have written to him to say that if he does not come down immediately I must insist upon seeing him somewhere. If he appoints London, I shall go. I believe if any thing good is to be done for him, it must be done by me. I will say no more of this at present; only be assured, if we have not written to you, this is the cause. He has no plan for his own residence, and as yet has taken no notice of anything we have said of our movements depending upon him and his. Therefore we are still in an uncomfortable state of indecision, but in all probability we shall winter at Coleorton. If I go to Town on this melancholy errand, I shall certainly return by Coleorton, if you are there;" reporting that he has been busy writing the Recluse, having recently added 1,300 lines; transcribing a translated sonnet by Michelangelo which he says "...is characteristic of him both as Man and Artist" and begins with "When first saluted by the light of thine;"; hoping that Sir George "...will find employment for your pencil at Mulgrave...I have been at Whitby several times; once in particularly I remember seeing a most extraordinary effect from the pier, produced by the bold and ragged shore in a misty and showery day. The appearance was as of a set of huge faces in profile, one behind the other, with noses of prodigious prominence; the whole was very fantastic, and yet grand."