ss in his studies, I am always much interested. Pray remember
me kindly to Lady Caroline. All here join with me in presenting their
kindest remembrances to yourself; and believe me, dear Lady Frederick,

Faithfully and affectionately yours,
WM. WORDSWORTH.[120]

[120] _Memoirs_, ii. 242-4.

74. _Sir Walter Scott_.

EXTRACT OF LETTER TO MRS. HEMANS.

Rydal Mount, Aug. 20. 1833.

The visit which occasioned the poem ['Yarrow Revisited'] addressed to
Sir Walter Scott, that you mention in terms so flattering, was a very
melancholy one. My daughter was with me. We arrived at his house on
Monday noon, and left it at the same time on Thursday, the very day
before he quitted Abbotsford for London, on his way to Naples. On the
morning of our departure he composed a few lines for Dora's Album, and
wrote them in it. We prize this memorial very much, and the more so as
an affecting testimony of his regard at a time when, as the verses
prove, his health of body and powers of mind were much impaired and
shaken. You will recollect the little green book which you were kind
enough to write in on its first page.

Let me hope that your health will improve, so that you may be enabled to
proceed with the sacred poetry with which you are engaged. Be assured
that I shall duly appreciate the mark of honour you design for me in
connection with so interesting a work.[121]

[121] _Memoirs_, ii. 244.

75. _Of Advices that he would write more in Prose_.

LETTER TO REV. J.K. MILLER, VICAR OF WALKERINGHAM.

Rydal Mount, Kendal, Dec. 17. 1831.

MY DEAR SIR,

You have imputed my silence, I trust, to some cause neither disagreeable
to yourself nor unworthy of me. Your letter of the 26th of Nov. had been
misdirected to Penrith, where the postmaster detained it some time,
expecting probably that I should come to that place, which I have often
occasion to visit. When it reached me I was engaged in assisting my wife
to make out some of my mangled and almost illegible MSS., which
inevitably involved me in endeavours to correct and improve them. My
eyes are subject to frequent inflammations, of which I had an attack
(and am still suffering from it) while that was going on. You would
nevertheless have heard from me almost as soon as I received your
letter, could I have replied to it in terms in any degree accordant to
my wishes. Your exhortations troubled me in a way you cannot