The mountain-side had a softness of shadowing upon it, such as I never saw before, and such as no painting I ever saw approached in the remotest degree. It seemed, Mr. Wordsworth said, as if it were 'clothed with the air.' Above all, was the clear sky, looking almost cold, it looked so pure, along the horizon-but, warmed in the region a little higher, with the vermilion tint of the softest sunset. I am persuaded that the world might be travelled over without the sight of one such spectacle as this-and all owing to the circumstances, the time, the hour. It was perhaps not the least of those circumstances influencing the scene, that it was an hour, passed in one of his holy retreats, with Wordsworth!"

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CORRESPONDENCE-RECORDS OF CONVERSATION-1835-1836.

THE Library at Rydal Mount-though never so large as the libraries of most literary men-was, by the accumulations and gifts of many years, now a very interesting and valuable one. In the Transactions of the Wordsworth Society, vol. vi. pp. 195–257, the Sale Catalogue of that portion of the library which was disposed of in July 1859-amounting to nearly 3000 volumeswill be found. It contained some books of rare interest, which are now in the possession of Lord Coleridge, and others. But the most valuable part of the poet's library still exists at The Stepping Stones, Ambleside. The household at Rydal Mount were extremely liberal in lending books to all their neighbours and friends; and there is now in the possession of Mr. Dykes Campbell, London, a MS. Library Book which was kept at the Mount, in which all the books lent out, and the names of the borrowers, were regularly entered. This was probably disposed of at the same auction sale at which many interesting relics of the poet were scattered. Amongst the borrowers occur the names of Hartley Coleridge, De Quincey, H. C. Robinson, Serjeant Talfourd, Mrs. S. T. Coleridge, the Cookson family, Mrs. and Miss Quillinan, Mr. Aubrey de Vere, Miss Southey, Mrs. Davy, Mrs. Fletcher, Lady Richardson, Miss Fenwick, and the families at Fox How and Fox Ghyll. Matthew Arnold's name is entered as having borrowed Sir Charles Grandison in 1834-5.

Amongst the books taken out by the borrowers are Tenny

son's Poems, Miss Barrett's Prometheus, her Seraphim, Shelley's Letters, Modern Painters, Lamb's Letters. The entries range from 1824 onwards. They were apparently taken down at first with some care and regularity, and the dates of the returns of the books are at times mentioned; but, as I suspect occurs in the majority of such 'Library Books,' it was by degrees less accurately kept; and the MS. is full of blots, erasures, and even other miscellaneous entries, such as the addresses of friends in London and elsewhere.

Still fearing a Revolution at hand, Wordsworth wrote to Mr. Moxon, while visiting at Lowther Castle in January 1835:

"The Radicals and foolish Whigs are driving the nation. rapidly to that point, and soon, alas! it is likely to be found that power will pass from the audacious and wicked to the more audacious and wicked, and so to the still more and more, till military despotism comes in as a quietus. And then, after a time, the struggle for liberty will re-commence; and you, young as you are, should your life be prolonged to the seventy years of the psalmist, will not live to see her cause crowned with success."

In January 1835, he wrote to Lord Lonsdale offering to "give up the office of Stamp Distributor, which he had held for nearly 22 years, if his son could be appointed to it in his place. He wrote on the same subject again; and, referring to the Duke of Wellington's objection to appoint sons as successors to their fathers, referred to himself as having "some claim upon. his country" as one who had "devoted his life to the service of sound Literature," which, the law of copyright stepping in, declares that "the greater parts of my productions shall be public property the moment I cease to breathe."

To his friend Wrangham he wrote, February 2, 1835:

'MY DEAR WRANGHAM, The mind of every thinking man who is attached to the Church of England must at this time be especially turned to reflections upon all points of ecclesiastical polity, government, and management, which may tend to strengthen the Establishment in the affections of the people, and enlarge the sphere of its efficiency. It cannot, then, I feel, be impertinent in me, though a layman, to express upon this occasion my satisfaction, qualified as it is by what has been said above, in finding from this instance that our Diocesan is unwilling to station clergymen in cures with which they are locally connected. Some years ago, when the present Bishop of London, then of Chester, was residing in this neighbourhood, I took the liberty of strenuously recommending to him not to ordain young men to curacies where they had been brought up, or in the midst of their own relatives. I had seen. too much of the mischief of this, especially as affecting the functions and characters of ministers born and bred up in the lower classes of society. It has been painful to me to observe the false position, as the French would call it, in which men so placed are. Their habits, their manners, and their talk, their acquaintanceships, their friendships, and, let me say, their domestic affections, naturally and properly draw them one way, while their professional obligations point out another; and, accordingly, if they are sensible of both, they live in a perpetual conflict, and are liable to be taxed with pride and ingratitude, as seeming to neglect their old friends, when they only associate with them with that reserve, and under those restraints, which their sacred profession enjoins. If, on the other hand, they fall into unrestrained familiarity with the associates of their earlier life and boyish days, how injurious to their ministry such intercourse would be must flash upon every man's mind whose thoughts have turned for a moment to the subject.

Writing in the same month to James Montgomery, acknowledging a copy of his poems, he said:

"I cannot conclude without one word of literary advice, which I hope you will deem my advanced age entitles me to give. Do not, my dear Sir, be anxious about any individual's opinion concerning your writings, however highly you may think of his genius, or rate his judgment. Be a severe critic to yourself; and, depend upon it, no person's decision upon the merit of your works will bear comparison in point of value with your own. . . . Above all, I would remind you, with a view to tranquillise and steady your mind, that no man takes the trouble of surveying and pondering another's writings with a hundredth part of the care which an author of sense and genius will have bestowed upon his own. Add to this reflection another, which I press upon you, as it has supported me through life, viz. that Posterity will settle all accounts justly, and that works which deserve to last will last; and if undeserving this fate, the sooner they perish the better."

Early in 1835, Wordsworth went up to London with his wife. In the Journal of Thomas Moore we find an entry referring to this visit to the following effect :

February 20th 1835.-After some hours' work, set off westward. . . . Found that Rogers, though engaged out himself, had asked Wordsworth and his wife, who are just arrived in town, to dinner..

My companion, according to his usual fashion, very soliloquacious, but saying much, of course, that was interesting to hear. . . . This led to Wordsworth telling me, what certainly is no small disgrace to the taste of the English public, of the