invisible veil which enveloped her, the shadows of the oaks blackened, and their lines became more strongly marked. The withered leaves were coloured with a deeper yellow, a brighter gloss spotted the hollies; again her form became dimmer; the sky flat, unmarked by distances. The manufacturer's dog makes a strange, uncouth howl, which it continues many minutes after there is no noise near it but that of the brook. It howls at the murmur of the village stream.

"29th.—A very stormy day.

William walked to the top of the hill to see the sea. Nothing distinguishable but a heavy blackness. An immense bough riven from one of the fir trees.

“ 30th.—William called me into the garden to observe a singular appearance about the moon. A perfect rainbow, within the bow one star, only of colours more vivid. The semi-circle soon became a complete circle, and in the course of three or four minutes the whole faded away. Walked to the blacksmith's and the baker's. An uninteresting evening.

"31st.-Set forward to Stowey at half-past five.

A

violent storm in the wood. Sheltered under the hollies. When we left home the moon immensely large, the sky scattered over with clouds. These soon closed in, contracting the dimensions of the moon without concealing her. The sound of the pattering shower, and the gusts of wind, very grand. Left the wood when nothing remained of the storm but the driving wind, and a few scattering drops of rain. Presently all clear, Venus first showing herself between the struggling clouds; afterwards Jupiter appeared. The hawthorn hedges black and pointed, glittering with millions of diamond drops. The hollies shining with broader patches of light. The road to the village of Holford glittered like another stream. On our return, the

wind high-a violent storm of hail and rain at the Castle of Comfort. All the heavens seemed in one perpetual motion when the rain ceased; the moon appearing, now half veiled, and now retired behind heavy clouds, the stars still moving, the roads very dirty.

"February 1st.-About two hours before dinner, set forward towards Mr Bartelmy's. The wind blew so keen in our faces that we felt ourselves inclined to seek the covert of the wood. There we had a warm shelter, gathered a burthen of large rotten boughs blown down by the wind of the preceding night. The sun shone clear, but all at once a heavy blackness hung over the sea. The trees almost roared, and the ground seemed in motion with the multitudes of dancing leaves, which made a rustling sound distinct from that of the trees. Still the asses pastured in quietness under the hollies, undisturbed by these forerunners of the storm. The wind beat furiously against us as we returned. Full moon. She rose in uncommon majesty over the sea, slowly ascending through the clouds.

open an hour in the moonlight.

Sat with the window

"2nd.-Walked through the wood, and on to the Downs before dinner. A warm pleasant air.

The sun shone, but

was often obscured by straggling clouds. The redbreasts made a ceaseless song in the woods. The wind rose very

high in the evening. The room smoked so that we were obliged to quit it. Young lambs in a green pasture in the Coombe, Thick legs, large heads, black staring eyes, gaunt as a new-dropped lamb.

“ 3rd.—A mild morning, the windows open at breakfast, the redbreasts singing in the garden. Walked with Coleridge over the hills. The sea at first obscured by vapour; that vapour afterwards slid in one mighty mass along the sea-shore; the islands and one point of land clear beyond The distant country (which was purple in the clear dull

it.

air), overhung by straggling clouds that sailed over it, appeared like the darker clouds, which are often seen at a great distance apparently motionless, while the nearer ones pass quickly over them, driven by the lower winds. I never saw such a union of earth, sky, and sea. The clouds beneath our feet spread themselves to the water, and the clouds of the sky almost joined them. Gathered sticks in the wood; a perfect stillness. The redbreasts sang upon the leafless boughs. Of a great number of sheep in the field, only one standing. Returned to dinner at five o'clock. The moonlight still and warm as a summer's night at

nine o'clock.

"4th.-Walked a great part of the way to Stowey with Coleridge. The morning warm and sunny. The young lasses seen on the hill-tops, in the villages and roads, in their summer holiday clothes-pink petticoats and blue. Mothers with their children in arms, and the little ones that could just walk, tottering by their sides. Midges or small flies spinning in the sunshine; the songs of the lark and redbreast, daisies upon the turf, the hazels in blossom, honeysuckles budding. I saw one solitary strawberry flower under a hedge. The furze gay with blossom. The moss rubbed from the pailings by the sheep, that leave locks of wool, and the red marks with which they are spotted, upon the wood.

" 5th.-Walked to Stowey with Coleridge, returned by Woodlands; a very warm day. In the continued singing of birds distinguished the notes of a blackbird or thrush. The sea overshadowed by a thick dark mist, the land in sunshine. The sheltered oaks and beeches still retaining their brown leaves. Observed some trees putting out red shoots. Query: What trees they are?

8th. Went up the park, and over the tops of the hills, till we came to a new and very delicious pathway, which

conducted us to the Coombe. Sat a considerable time upon the heath. Its surface restless and glittering with the motion of the piles of withered grass, and the waving of the spiders' threads. On our return the mist still hanging over the sea, but the opposite coast clear, and the rocky cliffs distinguishable. In the deep Coombe, as we stood upon the sunless hill, we saw the hills of grass, light and glittering, and the insects passing.

tr

10th.-Walked to Woodlands, and to the waterfall. The adders-tongue and the ferns green in the low damp dell. These plants now in perpetual motion from the current of the air. In summer only moved by the drippings of the rocks. A cloudy day.

"11th.-Walked with Coleridge near to Stowey. The day pleasant, but cloudy.

" 12th.-Walked alone to Stowey. Returned in the evening with Coleridge. A mild, pleasant, cloudy day.

13th. Walked with Coleridge through the wood. A mild and pleasant morning, the near prospect clear. The ridges of the hills fringed with wood, showing the sea through them like the white sky, and still beyond the dim horizon of the distant hills, hanging as it were in one undetermined line between sea and sky.

"14th.-Gathered sticks with William in the wood, he being unwell and not able to go further. The young birch trees of a bright red, through which gleams a shade of purple. Sat down in a thick part of the wood. The near trees still, even to their topmost boughs, but a perpetual motion in those that skirt the wood. The breeze rose gently; its path distinctly marked till it came to the very spot where we

were.

15th.-Gathered sticks in the further wood. The dell green with moss and brambles, and the tall and slender pillars of the unbranching oaks. I crossed the water with

letters; returned to William and Basil. A shower met us in the wood, and a ruffling breeze.

17th.-A deep snow upon the ground. William and Coleridge walked to Mr Bartelmy's, and to Stowey. William returned, and we walked through the wood into the Coombe to fetch some eggs. The sun shone bright, and clear. A deep stillness in the thickest part of the wood, undisturbed except by the occasional dropping of the snow from the holly boughs; no other sound but that of the water, and the slender notes of a redbreast, which sang at intervals on the outskirts of the southern side of the wood. There the bright green

moss was bare at the roots of the trees, and the little birds were upon it. The whole appearance of the wood was enchanting; and each tree, taken singly, was beautiful. The branches of the hollies pendent with their white burden, but still showing their bright red berries, and their glossy green. leaves. The bare branches of the oaks thickened by the

snow.

"18th.-Walked after dinner beyond Woodlands. A sharp and very cold evening; first observed the crescent moon, a silvery line and thready bow, attended by Jupiter and Venus in their palest hues.

"19th. I walked to Stowey before dinner; William unable to go all the way. Returned alone; a fine sunny, clear, frosty day. The sea still, and blue, and broad, and smooth.

'21st.-Coleridge came in the morning, which prevented our walking. William went through the wood with him towards Stowey; a very stormy night.

"22nd.-Coleridge came in the morning to dinner. William and I walked after dinner to Woodlands; the moon and two planets; sharp and frosty. Met a razor-grinder with a soldier's jacket on, a knapsack upon his back, and a boy to drag his wheel. The sea very black, and making a loud