out to me, has Rubens given of this in that picture
in your possession, where he has brought, as it were, a whole county
into one landscape, and made the most formal partitions of cultivation,
hedge-rows of pollard willows, conduct the eye into the depths and
distances of his picture; and thus, more than by any other means, has
given it that appearance of immensity which is so striking. As I have
slipped into the subject of painting, I feel anxious to inquire whether
your pencil has been busy last winter in the solitude and uninterrupted
quiet of Dunmow. Most likely you know that we have changed our residence
in Grasmere, which I hope will be attended with a great overbalance of
advantages. One we are certain of--that we have at least one
sitting-room clear of smoke, I trust, in all winds.... Over the
chimney-piece is hung your little picture, from the neighbourhood of
Coleorton. In our other house, on account of the frequent fits of smoke
from the chimneys, both the pictures which I have from your hand were
confined to bed-rooms. A few days after I had enjoyed the pleasure of
seeing, in different moods of mind, your Coleorton landscape from my
fire-side, it _suggested_ to me the following sonnet, which, having
walked out to the side of Grasmere brook, where it murmurs through the
meadows near the church, I composed immediately:

Praised be the art whose subtle power could stay
Yon cloud, and fix it in that glorious shape;
Nor would permit the thin smoke to escape.
Nor those bright sunbeams to forsake the day;
Which stopped that band of travellers on their way,
Ere they were lost within the shady wood;
And showed the bark upon the glassy flood
For ever anchored in her sheltering bay.

The images of the smoke and the travellers are taken from your picture;
the rest were added, in order to place the thought in a clear point of
view, and for the sake of variety. I hope Coleorton continues to improve
upon you and Lady Beaumont; and that Mr. Taylor's new laws and
regulations are at least _peaceably_ submitted to. Mrs. W. and I return
in a few days to Grasmere. We cannot say that the child for whose sake
we came down to the sea-side has derived much benefit from the bathing.
The weather has been very unfavourable: we have, however, contrived to
see every thing that lies within a reasonable walk of our present
residence; among other places, Mulcaster--at least as much of it as can
be seen fr