| 6th Day of Septr 1824 | ||
| Monday | I have determind this day of beginning a sort of journal to give my opinion of things I may read or see and set down any thoughts that may arise either in my reading at home or my musings in the Fields and this day must fill up a sort of Introduction for I have nothing else to set down all I have read to day is Moores Almanack for the account of the weather which speaks of rain tho its very hot and fine. | |
| Tuesday | I have read Foxes book of Martyrs1 and finishd it to day and the sum of my opinion is that Tyrany and Cruelty appear to be the inseperable companions of Religious Power and the Aphorism is not far from truth that says ‘All priests are the same’ — The great moral prescept of a meek and unoffending teacher was ‘Do as ye would be done unto’ and ‘love those that hate you’2 if religious opinions had done so her history had been praiseworthy | |
| Wednesday | The rainy morning has kept me at home and I have amusd my self heartily sitting under Waltons Sycamore tree hearing him discourse of fish ponds and fishing what a delightful book it is the best English Pastoral3 that can be written the descriptions are nature unsullied by fashionable tastes of the time they are simply true and like the Pastoral Ballads of Bloomfield4 breath of the common air and the grass and the sky one may almost hear the water of the river Lea ripple along and the grass and flags grow and rustle in the pages that speak of it I have never read a happier Poem in my time | |
| Thursday | Took a pleasant walk to day in the fields but felt too weak to keep out long tis the first day of shooting with the sportsmen and the poor hares partridges and pheasants were flying in all directions panic struck they put me in mind of the inhabitants of a Village flying before an invading enemy the dogs runs with their sleek dappld sides rustling in the crackling stubbs and their noses close to the ground as happy as their masters in the sport tho they only ‘Mumble the game they dare not bite’5 as Pope says — I forcd to return home fearing I might be shot under the hedges and wrote 2 letters One to Cunningham6 | |
| Friday | My health woud permit me to do nothing more then take walks in the garden to day what a sadly pleasing appearence gardens have at this season the tall gaudy holliock with its mellancholy blooms stands bending to the wind and bidding the summer farwell while the low Asters in their pied lustre of red white and blue bends beneath in pensive silence as tho they musd over the days gone by and were sorrowful the swallows are flocking to gether in the sky ready for departing and a crowd has dropt to rest on the wallnut tree were they twitter as if they were telling their young stories of their long journey to cheer and check fears | |
| Saturday | Written an Essay to day ‘on the sexual system of plants’ and began one on ‘the Fungus tribe and on Mildew Blight etc’ intended for ‘A Natural History of Helpstone’ in a Series of Letters to Hessey7 who will publish it when finishd I did not think it woud cause me such trouble or I shoud not have began it. | |
| Recievd a kind letter from C.A. Elton8 — Read the September N° of the London Mag: only 2 good articles in it — ‘Blakesmore in H—shire’ by Elia and review of ‘Goethe’ by De Quincey these are exelent and sufficient to make a bad N° interesting. | ||
| Sunday | A wet day wrote a letter to Rippingille and to H.F. Carey9 and finishd another Page of my Life which I intend to bring down to the present time as I did not keep a journal earlier I have inserted the names of those from whom I have recievd letters and to whom I have written in cronological order as near as I can reccolect see the Appendix no 110 | |
| I have read the first chapter of Genesis the beginning of which is very fine but the sacred historian took a great deal upon credit for this world when he imagines that god created the sun moon and stars those mysterious hosts of heaven for no other purpose then its use ‘the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night’ ‘and the stars also to give light upon the earth’11 — it is a harmless and universal propens[i]ty to magnify consequences that appertain to ourselves and woud be a foolish thing to try the test of the scriptures upon these groundless assertions — for it contains the best Poetry and the best morality in the world | ||
| 13th Day of Sep: 1824 | ||
| Monday | Wrote two or three pages of my life — read some of the Sonnets of shakspear which are great favourites of mine and lookd in to the Poems of Chatterton12 to see what he says about flowers and have found that he speaks of the Lady smock | |
| ‘So have I seen the lady smocks so white | ||
| ‘Bloom in the morning and mowd down at night’ as well as my favourite line of | ||
| ‘The king cups brasted with the morning dew’ | ||
| Tuesday | Continued the reading of Chatterton in search for extracts to insert in my natural history inserted them in the Appendix see N° 213 — I was struck with the many beautifull and remarkable passages which I found in them what a wonderful boy was this unfortunate Chatterton I hate the name of Walpole for his behaviour to this Genius and his sneering and cold blooded mention of him afterwards when his gossiping fribble had discoverd them to be forgeries why did he not discover the genius of the author — no because they surpassd his Leadenhall14 forgery of ‘Otranto’15 | |
| Wednesday | Finishd the reading of Chatterton admire his tradegy of Elia and Battle of Hastengs noticd a good description of a Thunder storm in the Ballad of Charity. v.29 etc and a beautiful one of a ladye16 inserted it in Appendix No 3 Chatterton seemd fond of taking his similes from nature his favourite flower seems to be the ‘kingge coppe’ and his favourite bird the ‘pied Chelandrie’ (Red cap) the only trees he speaks of are the oak and elm17 | |
| Thursday | Had a visit from my friend Henderson of Milton who brought ‘Don Juan’18 in his Pocket I was very ill19 and nursing my head in my hand but he revivd me and advisd me to read ‘Don Juan’ we talkd about books and flowers and Butterflyes till noon and then he discanted on Don Juan which he admird very much I think a good deal of his opinion and shall read it when I am able | |
| Friday | Began Don Juan 2 verses of the Shipwreck very fine and the character of Haidee is the best I have yet met it is very beautiful the Hero seems a fit partner for Tom and Jerry fond of getting into scrapes and always finding means to get out agen for ever in the company of ladys who seem to watch at night for oppertunitys for every20 thing but saying their prayers perhaps they are as good as their neighbours nay better they do with out that fas[h]ionable veil hypocrisy | |
| Saturday | Bought the John Bull Magazine21 out of curosity to see if I was among the black sheep it grows in dullness thats one comfort to those that it nicknames ‘Humbugs’ I have seen a boy group in a sink for the hopes of finding a lost halfpenny but I have been worse employd then that boy for I have dabbld in filth and found nothing — abuse without wit is dullness double distilld — the John Bull News is keen and witty and in consequence entertaining — have writ 5 letters22 — J. Henderson — Revd Mr Carey — A. Cunningham. H.S. Vandyke. and Hessey | |
| Sunday | I wish I had kept a journal sooner not of facts only but opinions of books when one rises fresh from the reading and thoughts that may rise at the moment for such a collection woud be an entertaining medley of the past out of which tho there might be a many weeds one might cull a few flowers if not can[di]dates for eternity yet too good to be totally lost in the black unreckonings of days gone bye | |
| Took a walk about the fields a deep mist in the morning hid every thing till noon returnd and read snatches in several poets and the Song of Solomon thought the supposd illusions23 in that lucious poem to our Saviour very overstraind far fetchd and conjectural it appears to me an eastern love poem and nothing further but an over heated religious fancy is strong enough to fancy any thing I fancy that the Bible is not illustrated by that suposision tho it is a very beautiful Poem it seems nothing like a prophetic one as it is represented to be | ||
| 20th Day of Sep: 1824 | ||
| Monday | A very wet day: an occurence has happend in the village tho not very remarkable yet very singuler for I have not heard of a former one in my days tis a Gipseys wedding Israel Smith and Lettyce Smith what odd names these people have they are more frequently from the Bible then the testament for what reason I know not and more common from their own fancys then either — the Fiddle accompanyd them to church and back the rest part of it was nothing different to village weddings — Dancing and Drinking — Wrote a Song for them being old friends | |
| Tuesday | The Statute24 and a very wet day for it the lasses do not lift up their gowns to show taper ancles25 and white stockings but on the contrary drop them to hide dirty ones wrote a poem on the ‘Statute’ last year lookd it over and think it a good one Taylor is of another opinion and thinks it not but it is true like the ‘Lodge house’ and others he dislikes and I shall one day publish them and others he has in his possesion under the title of ‘A Living poets remains’26 | |
| Wednesday | Very ill and did nothing but ponder over a future existance and often brought up the lines to my memory said to be utterd by an unfortunate nobleman when on the brink of it ready to take the plunge | |
| ‘In doubt I livd in doubt I dye | ||
| ‘Nor shrink the dark abyss to try | ||
| ‘But undismayd I meet eternity’27 the first line is natural enough but the rest is a rash courage in such a situation | ||
| Thursday | A wet day did nothing but nurse my illness Coud not have walkd out had it been fine very disturbd in consience about the troubles of being forcd to endure life and dye by inches and the anguish of leaving my childern and the dark porch of eternity whence none returns to tell the tale of their reception | |
| Friday | Tryd to walk out and coud not have read nothing this week my mind almost over weights me with its upbraidings and miserys my childern very ill night and morning with a fever — makes me disconsolate and yet how happy must be the death of a child it bears its sufferings with an innosent patience that maketh man ashamd and with it the future is nothing but returning to sleep with the thoughts no doubt of awaking to be with its playthings again | |
| Saturday | Read some of the Odes of Collins think them superior to Grays28 there is little pomp about them and much lucious sweetness I cannot describe the pleasure I feel in reading them neither can I posses discrimination enough in Critisism to distinguish the different merits of either | |
| both are great favourites of mine yet their perusal gives me different pleasures I find in the same Vol Odes by a poet of the name of Ogilvie29 — ‘full of pomp and fury signifying nothing’ they appear to me bold intruders to claim company with Gray and Collins | ||
| Sunday | Took a Walk in the fields heard the harvest Cricket30 and shrew mouse uttering their little clickering Songs among the crackling stubbles the latter makes a little earpiercing noise — not unlike a feeble imitation of the sky lark and I verily believe this is the very noise which is said to be made by the little swift footed bird calld the cricket lark came home and read a chapter or two in the | |
| New Testament I am convincd of its sacred design and that its writers were inspird by an almighty power to benefit the world by their writings that was growing deeper and deeper into unfruitful ignorance like bogs and mosses in neglected countrys for want of culture — but I am far from being convincd that the desird end is or will be attaind at present while cant and hypocrisy is blasphemously allowd to make a mask of religion and to pass as current characters I will not say that this is universal God forbid — | ||
| 27th Day of Sep: 1824 | ||
| Monday | Read in Milton: his account of his blindness31 is very pathetic and I am always affected to tears when I read it the opening and end of ‘Paradise Lost’ I consider sublime and just as the beginning and finish of an Epic Poem shoud be I never coud read ‘Paradise regaind’ thro tho I have heard it praisd highly ‘Comus’ and ‘Allegro’ and ‘Pen serose’ are those which I take up the Oftenest what a beautiful description at the shut of evening is this | |
| ‘------- What time the labourd ox | ||
| ‘In his loose traces from the furrow came | ||
| ‘And the swinkt hedger at his supper sat’32 | ||
| Tuesday | Wrote another chapter of my Life read a little in Grays Letters great favourites of mine they are the best letters I have seen and I consider Burns very inferior to all the collections I have met with tho they have gaind great praise they appear to me when I read them as the letters of a man who was looking further then his corespondent and straining after somthing fine till he forgets both his boast of independance is so often dwelt upon till it becomes tiresome and seems more like the despair of a dissapointed man then the content of a happy one | |
| Wednesday | Took a walk in the fields saw an old woodstile taken away from a favourite spot which it had occupied all my life the posts were over grown with Ivy and it seemd so akin to nature and the spot were it stood as tho it had taken it on lease for an undisturbd existance it hurt me to see it was gone for my affections claims a friendship with such things but nothing is lasting in this world last year Langly bush was destroyd an old white thorn that had stood for more then a century full of fame the Gipseys Shepherds and Herd men all had their tales of its history and it will be long ere its memory is forgotten | |
| Thursday | Lookd over the ‘Human heart’33 the title has little connection with the contents — it displays the art of book making in half filld pages and fine paper — ‘The Murderers Death bed’ is very poor the worst thing in the Newgate Calendar is as interesting — ‘Thou shalt not do Evil etc’ is a new version of the old tale of Colonel Kirks Cruelty better told in history then prose poetry — ‘Amy Wilton’ is an immitation of the scotch novelists and of course inferior — ‘The Lucrese of France’ is good | |
| Friday | Had a new will made as the old one was not right proving nothing that I wishd and every thing contrary — this I dont like I leave C Mossop E.T. Artis34 and J.A. Hessey Executors and all monies arising from book profits etc in their trust with that in the funds and what ever may be put out to Interest the money in the funds to be drawn out and shard equaly among my childern when the youngest is 21 I dont understand the expression in it of my ‘Sons and daughters and their respected Representatives’ and shall have it alterd — it was signd by W. Bradford and Taylor35 | |
| Saturday | Read the poems of Conder36 over a second time like some of them very much there is a many quiet and unpretending beautys among them the Imitations of the Psalms are good the Ode to the Nightingale is good but the expression of ‘Sir Nightingale’ is bad and spoils it — | |
| The principal poem is like many such attempts poor the best poems on religion are those found in the Scriptures which are inimetable and therefor all imitations cannot but be inferior — the first Sonnet on Autumn is a good one and the Song ‘Twas not when early flowers was springing’ is beautiful I am much pleasd with many more which I shall read anon | ||
| Sunday | Began to read the ‘Garden of Florence’ by Reynolds37 it is a beautiful simple tale with a few consiets it begins prettily ‘In the fair City of Florence ther did dwell’ etc and ends sweetly | |
| ‘The lonly nighti[n]gale and watching star | ||
| ‘At eve for ever their companions are’ | ||
| there is a many beautys in it the Romance of Youth is too romantic that is the youth it describes is38 not a general character — yet there are several beautys in it of true poesy — the Red cap is a beautiful comparison ‘It self a featherd flower’ the comparing the white stem of the Birch to a serpent is bad taste somthing like the serpents wreathing round the artificial trees in Vauxhall gardens — | ||
| Verse 32 about the king fisher turns on a consiet and verse 66 about the faireys boddice is a worse consiet still — ‘May the rose of months the violet of the year’ is very pretty the volume is full of beautys of the best sort — the verse about the two childern is another addition to the many from Chantrys monument.39 | ||
| Let C. Mossop take my new Will home with him for lawer Taylor to alter — read in the testament the Epistle of St John I love that simple hearted expression of ‘little childern’40 it breaths of brotherly affection and love | ||
| 4th Day of Octr: 1824 | ||
| Monday | I have again reflected over my new will and I believe the expression of ‘and their respective legal representatives’ is wrong so I shall alter it as soon as it is returnd — I had several memorandums which I intended to have inserted in the will but I was told it woud cost too much in proving if it was long so I will insert them in the Appendix No 441 that my desires may be known and as I anxiously hope attended too tho it often happens otherwise theres little trust in the world to leave faith behind us upon promises | |
| Tuesday | One can scarcly trust fame on credit in these days of misrepresentation and deception this morning a Play Bill was thrown into my house with this pompous Blunder on the face of it | |
| ‘Theatre Market Deeping’ | ||
| ‘On Thursday Evening, October 7,1824 | ||
| ‘Will be presented the popular new Comedy | ||
| (never acted here) calld | ||
| ‘Pride shall have a Fall or the twentieth Hussar | ||
| ‘Written by the Revd G. Groby | ||
| ‘and now Performing at the Theatre Royal | ||
| Covent garden with increasd Attraction and | ||
| Applause’ — | ||
| In the ‘Times Telescope’42 they rechristend me Robert Clare there went the left wing of my fame | ||
| Wednesday | Recievd the London Magazine43 by my friend Henderson who brought it from town with him a very dull No the worst of Magazines is waste papers repetitions for humbug is the Editor of them all in the June No Dequincey had a paper on ‘false distinctions’ which contended quite right enough that women had an inferior genius to men | |
| in July ‘Surry’ put up a little clever petition against it which read very well but provd nothing | ||
| in the lions head a little unknown44 stuck a letter to Ed: on the same side in August another45 popt a plea for female genius between the two opinions of middling stuff in September ‘Surry’ popt in another push for his opinion and in October the middling middle one is pushing a go between agen when will it end — the article on Byron46 carrys ignorance in the face of it — Recievd a letter from Carey47 | ||
| Thursday | Got a parcel from London ‘Eltons Brothers’ ‘Allins Grammer’48 gifts of the Authors: and Erskines Internal Evidences of Religion the Gift of Lord Radstock one of my best friends a very sensible book this passage struck49 me which I first opend — ‘To walk without God in the world is to walk in sin and sin is the way of danger. Men have been told this by their own consiences and they have partially and occasionly believd it but still they walkd on’. — too true — Recievd 3 letters50 from Vandyk, Mrs Emmerson — and Hessey — Done nothing | |
| Friday | Very ill to day and very unhappy my three Childern are all unwell had a dismal dream of being in hell this is the third time I have had such a dream — as I am more and more convincd that I cannot recover I will make a memorandum of my temporary conserns for next to the Spiritual they ought to come and be attented too for the sake of those left behind I will insert them in No 5 of the Appendix51 — Neglect is the rust of life that eateth it away and layeth the best of minds fallow and maketh them desert52 — Done nothing | |
| Saturday | Observd to day that the Swallows are all gone when they went I know not saw them at the beginning of the week a white one was seen this season by Mr Clark in the fields while out a shooting — Patty has been to Stamford and brought me a letter from Ned Drury53 who came from Lincoln to the Mayors Feast on thursday it revives old reccolections poor fellow he is an odd one but still my reccolections are inclind in his favour — what a long way to come to the Mayors Feast I woud not go one Mile after it to hear the din of knifes and forks and to see a throng of blank faces about me chattering and stuffing ‘That boast no more expression then a muffin’ |
|
| Sunday | A wet day have finished the life of Savage in Johnsons Lives of the Poets54 it is a very interesting piece of biography but the critisisms are dictated by friendship that too often forgets judgment ought to be one of the company to leave this and turn to the Life of Grey what a contrast | |
| it almost makes the mind dis believe critisism and to fancy itself led astray by the opinions of even the wisest of men — I never take up Johnsons lives but I regret his beginning at the wrong end first and leaving out those beautiful minstrels of Elizabeth — had he forgot that there had been such poets as Spencer Drayton Suckling etc etc | ||
| but it was the booksellers judgment that employd his pen and we know by experience that most of their judgments lye in their pockets — so the Poets of Elizabeth are still left in cobwebs and mystery Read in the afternoon Erskines Evidences of revealed Religion and find in it some of the best reasoning in favour of its object I have ever read I think a doubting christian may be set right at a first perusal and a reasoning Deist loose doubts sufficient to be half a christian in some of the arguments and a whole one ere he get to the end | ||
| 11th Day of Octr: 1824 | ||
| Monday | I have been dipping into the Miserys of human Life55 here and there the petty troubles are whimsical enough and the thing is a novel one which is sufficient to ensure sucess now and I understand it ran thro a many editions and that the Author made £1500 by it clear profit — so much for fashion Collins poems woud not pay for the printing and the price Milton got for his Paradise lost is well known so fashions taste is still the same her out side only alters upon her foolereys | |
| Tuesday | Began to learn a poor lame boy the common rules of arithmetic etc find him very apt and willing to learn | |
| Began an Enquirey into the Life of Bloomfield with the intention of writing one and a critisism on his genius and writings a fellow of the name of Preston pretended to know a great deal about him but I must enquire into its authenticity — Capel Loft56 did not improve on the account given by his brother George by altering it — Editors often commit this fault | ||
| Wednesday | Feel rather worse lookd over the Magaz[in]e for amusment for Magazines are the best things in Literature to pass away a mellancholy hour their variety and the freshness of their subjects wether good or bad never fail of amusment to reccomend them Blackwood has had a hard hit on Taylor there is no more Editor Scotts57 at present to check them | |
| The letter on Mackadamizing58 is good — the Review on Walladmor59 is 30 pages long I wish Dequincey had better subjects for his genius tho there is some parts of the novel that seems alive with action | ||
| Thursday | Wrote a letter to Lord Radstock60 — Read some passages in the Poems of Tannahill61 some of his Songs are beautiful particulary ‘Loudons Bonny woods and braes’ ‘We’ll meet beside the dusky glen’ and ‘Jessey’ his poems are poor and appear as if they were written by another — The scotch Poets excell in song writing because they take their images from common life were nature exists without affectation | |
| Friday | Read in Eltons Poems some passages in the brothers are very good and appear to be the utterance of feeling the small poems are middling ‘Rob roy’ and ‘A Fathers reverie’ are two of the best the epithet ‘virgin voice’ is odd and this line sounds namby pambily ‘and therefore love I thee’62 there is a pleasant sound lingers on the ear while reading these lines | |
| ‘— the bare trees with crashing boughs aloft | ||
| Rock and reecho and at whiles are hushd | ||
| I commune with my spirit and am still’63 | ||
| Saturday | Wrote 2 more pages of my life find it not so easy as I at first imagind as I am anxious to give an undisguisd narative of facts good and bad in the last sketch which I wrote for Taylor I had little vanitys about me to gloss over failing which I shall now take care to lay bare and readers if they ever are publishd to comment upon as they please in my last 4 years I shall give my likes and dis likes of friends and acquaintance as free as I do of my self — | |
| Sunday | Recievd a letter from Mrs Gilchrist64 — read some passages in my Shakspear took a walk the hedges look beautiful with their crimson hips bright red awes and glossy sloes lookd in the Poems of Colridge Lamb and Loyde65 — Colridges monody on Chatterton is beautiful but his sonnets are not happy ones they seem to be a labour after exelence which he did not reach some of those by his friend Lloyd are exelent and seem to have attaind it with out trouble | |
| ‘Craig Millar Castle’ and ‘to November’ are the best with my opinion — Lambs best poetry is in ‘Elia’ its a sufficient fame in a late harvest — I wish he woud write on | ||
| 18th Day of Octr: 1824 | ||
| Monday | Lookd again into ‘Don Juan’ like it better and feel a wish that the great poet had livd to finish it tho he appears to have lost his intended plan on setting out and to have continued it with any purpose that came uppermost — Don Juans visit to England reads tiresome and one wishes at the end that he had met with another shipwreck on his voyage to have sent him else were | |
| Tuesday | Lookd over a New vol of provincial poems by a neighbouring poet Bantums ‘Excursions of Fancy’66 and poor fancys I find them there is not a new thought in them four years ago a poet was not to be heard of with in a century67 of Helpstone and now there is a swarm — ‘Roses Early Muse’ ‘Wilkinsons Percy’ both of Peterbro — ‘Messings Rural Walks’ of Exton — ‘Adcocks Cottage Poems’ of Oakam — ‘Bantums Excursions of fancy’ of Teigh ‘Strattons Poems’ — of Abbots Ripton etc etc etc and all of a kin wanting in natural images etc | |
| Wednesday | Workd in the garden at making a shed for my Ariculas the Michaelmass daisey is in full flower both the lilac-blue and the white thick set with its little clustering stars of flowers I love them for their visits in such a mellancholy season as the end of autumn — the Horse chesnutt tree is loosings large hand shapd leaves that litter in yellow heaps round the trunk — the walnutt is compleatly bare and the leaves are tand brown and shr[i]veld up as if scorchd — the elms are as green and fresh as the oak | |
| Thursday | Recievd a letter from Hessey68 — and wrote one — took a walk in the fields — gatherd a bunch of wild flowers that lingerd in shelterd places as loath to dye — the rag wort still shines in its yellow clusters — and the little heath bell or harvest bell quakes to the wind under the quick banks and warm furze — clumps of wild Marjoram are yet in flower about the mole hilly banks and clumps of meadow sweet linger with a few bunches yet unfaded | |
| Friday | Read Hazlitts Lectures on the Poets69 — I admire his mention of the daisy as reminding him of his boyish days when he usd to try to jump over his own shadow — he is one of the very best prose writers of the present day and his works are always entertaining and may be taken up when ever one chuses or feels the want of amusment — his political writings are heated and empty full of sound and fury — I hate polotics and therefore I may be but a poor judge | |
| Saturday | Continued to read Hazlitt70 — I like his Lectures on the Poets better then those on the comic writers and on Shakspear his ‘view of the English stage’ is not so good as either they might have remaind in their first places without any loss to the world viz the News papers for which they was written — his other works I have not seen — Read in Shakspear ‘the midsummer nights dream’ for the first time — I have still got 3 parts out of 4 of the Plays to read yet and hope I shall not leave the world without reading them | |
| Sunday | Recievd a letter from Lord Radstock71 — finished another chapter of my life read some passages in Blairs Sermons — lookd into ‘Maddox on the culture of flowers’ and the ‘Flora Domestica’72 which with a few improvments and additions woud be one of the most entertaining books ever written — | |
| If I live I will write one on the same plan and call it a garden of wild Flowers as it shall contain nothing else with quotations from poets and others an English Botany on this plan woud be very interesting and serve to make Botany popular while the hard nicknamy sy[s]tem of unuterable words now in vogue only overloads it in mystery till it makes darkness visable73 | ||
| 25th Day of Octbr: 1824 | ||
| Monday | Old Shepherd Newman dyd this Morning an old tenant of the fields and the last of the old shepherds the fields are now left desolate and his old haunts look like houses disinhabited the fading woods seem mourning in the autumn wind how often hath he seen the blue skye the green fields and woods and the seasons changes and now he sleeps unconsious of all what a desolate mystery doth it leave round the living mind — the latter end of Grays Elegy might be well applied to this tenant of the fields ‘Oft have we seen him’ etc etc74 | |
| Tuesday | Recievd a letter from Allan Cunningham75 — Looked into Pope I know not how it is but I cannot take him up often or read him long to gether the uninterrupted flow of the verses wearys the ear — there are some fine passages in the Essay on Man — the Pastorals76 are nick[n]amed so for daffodils breathing flutes beachen bowls silver crooks and purling brooks and such like everlasting sing song does not make pastorals his prologue to the satires is good — but that celebrated Epitaph on Gay ends burlesqly ‘Striking there pensive bosoms etc’77 | |
| Wednesday | I have been very much struck with some passages in the Poems of Aaron Hill with many happy expressions and origional images I have inserted a few of them in the Appendix N° 678 he seems to struggle to free his ideas from the turnpike hackneyhisms of sounding ryhmes and tinkling periods79 then in fashion for most of the ryhmers of that day seem to catch their little inspirations from Pope | |
| Thursday | Wrote a letter to Mrs Gilchrist80 — read some pages in Shakspear — turnd over a few leaves of Knoxes Essays81 — Read Bacons Essay82 on the idea of a compleat garden divided into every month of the year in which the flowers bloom what beautiful Essays these are I take them up like Shakspear and read them over and over and still find plenty to entertain me and new thoughts that strike me as if I had not seen them before | |
| Friday | Read some poems of Wordsworth his ‘Susan Gray’ or ‘Solitude’ ‘The pet lamb’ ‘We are seven’ ‘the Oak and broom’ ‘the Eglantine and the fountain’83 ‘two April Mornings’ ‘Lucy’ etc are some of my greatest favourites — when I first began to read poetry I dislikd Wordsworth because I heard he was dislikd and I was astonishd when I lookd into him to find my mistaken pleasure in being delighted and finding him so natural and beautiful in his ‘White doe of Rylston’ there is some of the sweetest poetry I ever met with tho full of his mysterys | |
| Saturday | Recievd a present of two Volumns84 of Sermons ‘On the Doctrines and practice of Christianity’ from Lord Radstock — he is one of my best friends and not of much kin with the world — the chrisanthymums are just opening their beautiful double flowers I have Six sorts this year the claret colord the buff the bright yellow the paper white the purple and the rose color lost one the jocolate or coffe color — promisd more from Milton85 | |
| Sunday | Took a walk got some branches of the spindle tree with its pink colord berrys that shine beautifully in the pale sun — found for the first time ‘the herb true love’ or ‘one berry’86 in Oxey Wood brought a root home to set in my garden — Lookd into the two Vols of Sermons from Lord R. | |
| the texts are well selected and the sermons are plainly and sensibly written they are in my mind much superior to Blairs popular Sermons and that is not going great lengths in their praise for Blairs are queit and cold and his study seems more in the eloquence and flow of Style then in the doctrine of religion for the language is beautiful but it is studied like Dr Johnsons musical periods | ||
| 1st, Day of Novr, 1824 | ||
| Monday | Took a walk to lolam brigs87 to hunt for a species of fern that usd to grow on some willow tree heads in Lolham lane when I was a boy but coud find none — got some of the yellow water lily88 from the pits which the floods had washd up to set in an old water tub in the garden and to try some on land in a swaily corner as the horse blob thrives well which is a water flower — listend in the evening to glinton bells at the top of the garden I always feel mellancholy at this season to hear them and yet it is a pleasure | |
| ‘Im pleasd and yet Im sad’89 | ||
| Tuesday | Set some box edging round a border which I have made for my collection of ferns — read some passages in Blairs Grave a beautiful poem and one of the best things after the manner of Shakspear its beginning is very characteristic of the subject — there are crowds of beautiful passages about it — who has not markd the following aged companions to many such spots of general decay | |
| ‘A row of reverend elms | ||
| ‘Long lashd by rude winds. Some rift half down | ||
| ‘--------- Others so thin a top | ||
| ‘That scarce two crows can lodg in the same tree’90 | ||
| Wednesday | Took a walk with John Billings to swordy well to gather some ‘old mans beard’ which hangs about the hedges in full bloom its downy clusters of artificial like flowers appear at first sight as if the hedge was litterd with bunches of white cotton — went into hilly wood and found a beautiful species of fern on a sallow stoven in a pit which I have not seen before — there are five sorts91 growing about the woods here the common brake the fox fern the harts tongue and the polopody two sorts the tall and the dwarf | |
| Thursday | Recieved a letter and prospectus from a Schoolmaster of Surfleet wishing me to become a corespondent to a periodical publications calld ‘the Scientific Receptacle’92 what a crabbed name for poesy to enlist with it professes to be a kins man to the ‘Leeds Corespondent’ and the ‘Boston Enquirer’ the latter of which I remember to have been much pleasd with — in which was a pretty song by poor Scott | |
| Friday | Read in Bishop Percys Poems the ‘Relic of ancient poetry’ take them up as often as I may I am always delighted there is so much of the essenc and simplicity of true poetry that makes me regret I did not see them sooner as they woud have formd my taste and laid the foundation of my judgment in writing and thinking poeticaly as it is I feel indebted to them for many feelings93 | |
| Saturday | Took a walk in the fields the oaks are beginning to turn reddish brown and the winds have stript some nearly bare the under woods last leaves are in their gayest yellows thus autumn seems to put on bridal colors for a shroud — the little harvest bell is still in bloom trembling to the cold94 wind almost the only flower living save the old mans beard or travellers joy on the hedges | |
| Sunday | Recieved a packet from London95 with the Mag: and some copys of M.S.S. that come very slowly and a letter very friendly worded but I have found that saying and doing is a wide difference96 too far very often to be neighbours much less friends — Recievd a letter too from Vandyke | |
| Lookd into Words worths Poems and read Solomons Song and beautiful as some of the images of that Poem are some of them are not reconsilable in my judgment above the ridicilous I have inserted them in a blank verse fashion in the Appendix N° 797 yet the more I read the scriptures the more I feel astonishment at the sublime images I continualy meet with in its Poetical and prophetic books nay every were about it all other authors diminishes to dwarfs by their side | ||