Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 1 (of 2)

[Footnote 51: See the poem Alice Fell, in the "Poetical Works," vol. ii. p. 273.--ED.] Wednesday, 17th.--A miserable nasty snowy morning. We did not walk, but the old man from the hill brought us a short letter from Mary H. I copied the second part of Peter Bell.... Thursday, 18th.--A foggy morning. I copied new part of Peter Bell in W.'s absence, and began a letter to Coleridge. Wm. came in with a letter from Coleridge.... We talked together till 11 o'clock, when Wm. got to work, and was no worse for it. Hard frost. Saturday, 20th.-- ... I wrote the first part of Peter Bell.... Sunday, 21st.--A very wet morning. I wrote the 2nd prologue to Peter Bell.... After dinner I wrote the 1st prologue.... Snowdrops quite out, but cold and winterly; yet, for all this, a thrush that lives in our orchard has shouted and sung its merriest all day long ... Monday, 22nd.--Wm. brought me 4 letters to read--from Annette and Caroline,[52] Mary and Sara, and Coleridge.... In the evening we walked to the top of the hill, then to the bridge. We hung over the wall, and looked at the deep stream below. It came with a full, steady, yet a very rapid flow down to the lake. The sykes made a sweet sound everywhere, and looked very interesting in the twilight, and that little one above Mr. Olliff's house was very impressive. A ghostly white serpent line, it made a sound most distinctly heard of itself. The mountains were black and steep, the tops of some of them having snow yet visible.