re the high road was made to pass that way, we used daily
and hourly to repair for seclusion and for the shelter of a grove, under
which I composed many of my poems--the 'Brothers' especially; and for
this reason we gave the grove that name. 'That which each man loved and
prized in his peculiar nook of earth dies with him or is changed.' So
much for my old schoolfellow and his exploits. I will only add that, as
the foundation has twice failed, from the Lake no doubt being intolerant
of the intrusion, there is some ground for hoping that the impertinent
structure will not stand. It has been rebuilt in somewhat better taste,
and much as one wishes it away, it is not now so very unsightly. The
structure is an emblem of the man. Perseverance has conquered
difficulties, and given something of form and polish to rudeness. [In
pencil on opposite page--This boat-house, badly built, gave way, and was
rebuilt. It again tumbled, and was a third time reconstructed, but in a
better fashion than before. It is not now, _per se_, an ugly building,
however obtrusive it may be.]

The Miner, next described as having found his treasure after twice ten
years of labour, lived in Paterdale, and the story is true to the
letter. It seems to me, however, rather remarkable, that the strength of
mind which had supported him through his long unrewarded labour, did not
enable him to bear its successful issue. Several times in the course of
my life I have heard of sudden influxes of great wealth being followed
by derangement; and, in one instance, the shock of good fortune was so
great as to produce absolute idiotcy. But these all happened where there
had been little or no previous effort to acquire the riches, and
therefore such a consequence might the more naturally be expected, than
in the case of the solitary miner. In reviewing his story, one cannot
but regret that such perseverance was not sustained by a worthier
object. Archimedes leaped out of his bath and ran about the streets,
proclaiming his discovery in a transport of joy; but we are not told
that he lost either his life or his senses in consequence.

The next character, to whom the priest is led by contrast with the
resoluteness displayed by the foregoing, is taken from a person born
and bred in Grasmere, by name Dawson, and whose talents, dispositions,
and way of life, were such as are here delineated. I did not know him,
but all was fresh in memory when we settled at Grasmere in the be