ars. They died in 1812, and in 1813 we came to Rydal Mount, where
we have since lived with no further sorrow till 1836, when my sister
became a confirmed invalid, and our sister Sarah Hutchinson died. She
lived alternately with her brother and with us.[22]

2. _His Schoolmistress, Mrs. Anne Birkett, Penrith_.

'The old dame did not affect to make theologians, or logicians, but she
taught to read, and she practised the memory, often no doubt by rote;
but still the faculty was improved. Something perhaps she explained, and
left the rest to parents, to masters, and to the pastor of the
parish.'[23]

3. _Books and Reading_.

'Do not trouble yourself with reading modern authors at present; confine
your attention to ancient classical writers; make yourself master of
them; and when you have done that, you will come down to us; and then
you will be able to judge us according to our deserts.'[24]

[22] _Memoirs_, i. pp. 7-17.

[23] Letter to Rev. H.J. Rose (1828), _Memoirs_, i. 33.

[24] Letter to a nephew, _Memoirs_, i. 48-9.

4. _Tour on the Continent_, 1790.

LETTER TO MISS WORDSWORTH, SEPT. 6 1790.

Sept. 6, 1790, Keswill (a small village on the
Lake of Constance).

MY DEAR SISTER,

My last letter was addressed to you from St. Valier and the Grande
Chartreuse. I have, since that period, gone over a very considerable
tract of country, and I will give you a sketch of my route as far as
relates to mentioning places where I have been, after I have assured you
that I am in excellent health and spirits, and have had no reason to
complain of the contrary during our whole tour. My spirits have been
kept in a perpetual hurry of delight, by the almost uninterrupted
succession of sublime and beautiful objects which have passed before my
eyes during the course of the last mouth. I will endeavour to give you
some idea of our route. It will be utterly impossible for me to dwell
upon particular scenes, as my paper would be exhausted before I had done
with the journey of two or three days. On quitting the Grande
Chartreuse, where we remained two days, contemplating, with increased
pleasure, its wonderful scenery, we passed through Savoy to Geneva;
thence, along the Pays do Vaud side of the lake, to Villeneuve, a small
town seated at its head. The lower part of the lake did not afford us a
pleasure equal to what might have been expected from its celebrity; this
owing partly to it