came home. Mrs. Jameson came in and stayed supper. Fletcher's carts went past and I let them go with William's letter. Mr. B. S. came nearly home with me. I found letters from Wm., Mary, and Coleridge. I wrote to C. Sat up late, and could not fall asleep when I went to bed. ****** Sunday Morning.—A very fine, clear frost. I stitched up The Pedlar; wrote out Ruth; read it with the alterations, then wrote Mary H. Read a little German, . . .and in came William, I did not expect him till to-morrow. How glad I was. After we had talked about an hour, I gave him his dinner. We sate talking and happy. He brought two new stanzas of Ruth. . . .
Monday Morning.—A soft rain and mist. We walked to Rydale for letters. The Vale looked very beautiful in excessive simplicity, yet, at the same time, in uncommon obscurity. The Church stood alone—mountains behind. The meadows looked calm and rich, bordering on the still lake. Nothing else to be seen but lake and island. . . .
On Friday evening the moon hung over the northern side of the highest point of Silver How, like a gold ring snapped in two, and shaven off at the ends. Within this ring lay the circle of the round moon, as distinctly to be seen as ever the enlightened moon is. William had observed the same appearance at Keswick, perhaps at the very same moment, hanging over the Newland Fells. Sent off a letter to Mary H., also to Coleridge, and Sara, and rewrote in the evening the alterations of Ruth, which we sent off at the same time.
Tuesday Morning.—William was reading in Ben Jonson. He read me a beautiful poem on Love. . . . We sate by the fire in the evening, and read The Pedlar over. William worked a little, and altered it in a few places. . . .
Wednesday.— . . . Wm. read in Ben Jonson in the morning. I read a little German. We then walked to
