"I have heard from my brother William since his arrival at Cambridge. He spent three or four days at York on the road." "John will very likely be off to India in spring." [The next letter is one of ardent passionate friendship, written just after her grandfather's death, thankful that he was gone], "for he has for these two years been a burden to himself and friends." [Expresses a longing to go to Halifax to see her friend], "that dear place which I shall ever consider as my home. "We have no father to protect, no mother to guide us." "My brother John has set sail for Barbadoes. . . . I hope, poor lad, that he will be successful and happy. He is much delighted with the profession he has chosen. How we are squandered abroad!" [Then she goes on to wish her correspondent were her sister], "how happy we should be! Our fortunes would be very small, but sufficient for us to live comfortably, and on our brothers we would depend for everything."

December 7th.-" Could I but see you. I really think that for an hour after our meeting there would nothing pass betwixt us but tears of joy, fits of laughter, and unconnected exclamations. . . . I assure you I am a very skilful architect. I have so many different plans of building our castle, so many contrivances! Do you ever build castles?

It is a very fine morning, most likely you are taking a walk up the bank. As for me, I never go out but on a Sunday."

The next extract is from a letter, dated "Norwich, December 6, 1788."

"NORWICH, December 6, 1788 ?

[She praises her Uncle and Aunt Cookson. When it was told her that she was to go with them to Forncett, she was] "almost mad with joy. . . . . After the wedding was over" [presumably the Cookson's wedding], "we set off on our

journey to Newcastle, and spent a fortnight there." [Thence to Cambridge, where she saw her brothers], "very well, and in excellent spirits." [Stayed only a day in Cambridge, thence to Norwich, and thence next day to Forncett.] "Forncett is a little village, entirely inhabited by farmers, who seem a very decent kind of people. My uncle's house is very comfortable, and the gardens will be charming. I intend to be a great gardener, and to take care of the poultry, which we have in great abundance.”

In the beginning of the following year, January 25, 1789, she writes:

"January 25th, 1789.

My brother John, I imagine, sailed for India on Saturday or Sunday in the Earl of Abergavenny. William is at Cambridge, Richard at London, and Kit at Hawkshead. How we are squandered abroad. . . . I have got a little school. . . . I have only kept it six months.

I have nine scholars. Our hours in winter are, on Sunday mornings, from nine till church time; at noon from half-past one to three; and at night from four till half-past five. Those who live near us come to me every Wednesday and Saturday evening. I only instruct them in reading and spelling.

I have one very bright scholar, some very tolerable, and one or two very bad. I intend in a little time to have a school on a more extensive plan. Mr Wilberforce has been with us for rather more than a month. He allows me two guineas a year to distribute in what manner I think best for the poor."

Sunday, December 28th, 1789.

"We are happily situated at Forncett, and upon a near view my prospects appear even more delightful than upon a more distant one. On Christmas day we went in the morning to one of my uncle's churches, which is only a

step or two from the house, and in the afternoon to the other, which is about a mile from us." neighbour within two miles," a Miss

[Speaks of the "only Dix, a rich maiden

lady, and of her visits to her, of her merits, and of her censoriousness; also of meetings with Dr Enfield of Norwich; of "routs, which are of all things in the world the most disagreeable."]... "Did I ever tell you that my brother John is gone to Jamaica, and on his return is going to the West Indies. One of my amusements is feeding the robin redbreasts. There are at present two in the room, which are gone to rest. You may imagine how tame they are, when I tell you that they hop about the room where we sit, without the least appearance of fear."

"FORNCETT, April 30th, 1790.

"My brothers, I hope, are all well. I long to have an opportunity of introducing you to my dear William. I am very anxious about him just now, as he will shortly have to provide for himself. Next year he takes his degree. When he will go into Orders I do not know, nor how he will employ himself. He must, when he is three-and-twenty, either go into Orders or take pupils. He will be twenty in April. I do not know whether I mentioned my brother Kit to you. He intends to go to Cambridge. My uncle tells me he is a most amiable youth; and I am told that, for his years, he is a most excellent scholar; and from my own experience I know that he has the best of tempers."

"If you have been informed that I have had so dear a friend as my brother William traversing (on foot, with only one companion) the mountains of Switzerland during the whole of this summer, and that he has not yet returned, I

flatter myself you will be anxious on my account to hear of his welfare. I received a very long letter from him a week ago, which was begun upon the Lake of Constance." [She gives a long account of the letter.] . . . “William is a perfect enthusiast in his admiration of nature in all her various forms." [She quotes from the letter in detail as printed in the Memoirs.] "I once saw the Miss Martineau you mention at Norwich. Mr and Mrs Martineau, her brother and sister, we are very well acquainted with. Last summer we spent two or three days at their house, and had an invitation from them this summer to the musical festival. . . . My school goes on as usual."

"December 7th, 1791.

Living quietly, though very happily, at Forncett, without having been at one ball, one play, one concert." [Miss Pollard having told her of a visit to Leeds; she, D. W., indicates that she had been at Cambridge before this, because, referring to York Minster, of which her friend writes to her, she says:] "I have a pretty good idea of your feelings on entering the Minster at York, by my own when I visited King's College Chapel at Cambridge." [Tells about the Lonsdale law suit, and that her grandmother has had possession of a very handsome estate for about a year.] She has shewn us great kindness, and has promised to give us five hundred pounds (£100 a-piece) the first time she receives her rents. . . . Our several resources are these: the £500 which my grandmother is to give us, £500 which is due on account of my mother's fortune, about £200 which my uncle Kit owes us, and £1000 at present in the hands of our guardians, and about £150 which we are to receive out of the Newbiggin estate, with what may be adjudged as due to us from Lord L. My brother Richard has about £100 per annum, and William has received his education, for which a reduc

tion will be made; so that I hope, unless we are treated in the most unjust manner possible, my three younger brothers and I will have £1000 a-piece, deducting in William's share the expense of his education. . . . John is to go out in the spring in the Thetis, East Indiaman. . . . William is arrived, I hope, by this time at Orleans, where he means to pass the winter for the purpose of learning the French language, which will qualify him for the office of travelling companion to some young gentleman, if he can get recommended. . . . He is at the same time engaged in the study of the Spanish language, and if he settles in England on his return, he will begin the study of the Oriental languages. . . . We are going to establish a school of industry. My uncle is at present in treaty about a house for the purpose. operations of my little school have been suspended ever since the birth of Christopher."

The

Returning to England, and to Cambridge, Wordsworth took his B.A. degree in January 1791. He went immediately afterwards to Forncett Rectory, and spent six weeks Iwith his sister.

The following letter from Dorothy to Miss Pollard, though written four months later, may be given here, from its allusions to her brother's visit to the Rectory:

"FORNCETT, May 23rd, 1791.

"My brother William is now in Wales, where he intends making a pedestrian tour, along with his old friend and companion Jones, at whose house he is at present staying. My aunt would tell you that she saw my brothers Richard and William in town. I hope John will arrive there in about a month. We are daily expecting tidings of the Abergavenny. I heard from my brother Kit lately. He tells me he has been upon a pedestrian tour amongst