ut him. Oh! dear friend, forgive me for talking thus. We have had no
tidings of Coleridge. I tremble for the moment when he is to hear of my
brother's death; it will distress him to the heart,--and his poor body
cannot bear sorrow. He loved my brother, and he knows how we at Grasmere
loved him.

Nine days afterwards, Wordsworth resumed the subject as follows:

Grasmere, Feb. 20. 1805.

Having spoken of worldly affairs, let me again mention my beloved
brother. It is now just five years since, after a separation of fourteen
years (I may call it a separation, for we only saw him four or five
times, and by glimpses), he came to visit his sister and me in this
cottage, and passed eight blessed months with us. He was then waiting
for the command of the ship to which he was appointed when he quitted
us. As you will have seen, we had little to live upon, and he as little
(Lord Lonsdale being then alive). But he encouraged me to persist, and
to keep my eye steady on its object. He would work for me (that was his
language), for me and his sister; and I was to endeavour to do something
for the world. He went to sea, as commander, with this hope; his voyage
was very unsuccessful, he having lost by it considerably. When he came
home, we chanced to be in London, and saw him. 'Oh!' said he, 'I have
thought of you, and nothing but you; if ever of myself, and my bad
success, it was only on your account.' He went again to sea a second
time, and also was unsuccessful; still with the same hopes on our
account, though then not so necessary, Lord Lowther having paid the
money.[52] Lastly came the lamentable voyage, which he entered upon,
full of expectation, and love to his sister and myself, and my wife,
whom, indeed, he loved with all a brother's tenderness. This is the end
of his part of the agreement--of his efforts for my welfare! God grant
me life and strength to fulfil mine! I shall never forget him,--never
lose sight of him: there is a bond between us yet, the same as if he
were living, nay, far more sacred, calling upon me to do my utmost, as
he to the last did his utmost to live in honour and worthiness. Some of
the newspapers carelessly asserted that he did not wish to survive his
ship. This is false. He was heard by one of the surviving officers
giving orders, with all possible calmness, a very little before the ship
went down; and when he could remain at his post no longer, then, and not
till then, he