On reaching his cottage in Westmoreland, Wordsworth addressed a letter to Scott, from which I must quote a few sentences. It
is dated Grasmere, October 16, 1803. “We had a delightful journey home,
delightful weather, and a sweet country to travel through. We reached our
little cottage in high spirits, and thankful to God for all his bounties. My
wife and child were both well, and as I need not say, we had all of us a happy
meeting. . . . . We passed Branxholme—your Branxholme, we supposed—about four
miles on this side of Hawick. It looks better in your poem than in its present
realities. The situation, however, is delightful, and makes amends for an
ordinary mansion. The whole of the Teviot and the pastoral steeps about
Mosspaul pleased us exceedingly. The Esk below Langholm is a delicious river,
and we saw it to great advantage. We did not omit noticing Johnnie Armstrong’s keep; but his
hanging place, to our great regret, we missed. We were, indeed, most truly
sorry that we could not have you along with us into Westmoreland. The country
was in its full glory the verdure of the valleys, in which we are so much
superior to you in Scotland, but little tarnished by the weather, and the trees
putting on their most beautiful looks. My sister was quite enchanted, and we
often said to each other, What a pity Mr Scott is not with
us! . . . . I had the pleasure of seeing Coleridge and Southey
WORDSWORTH—OCTOBER 1803. | 407 |