our gift (the engraving from Inman's
picture), I also noticed.

* * * * *

I could have waited patiently for a long time indulging the thoughts
which the place called up. In a few minutes, however, I heard steps in
the entry, the door was opened, and Wordsworth came in, it could be no
other--- a tall figure, a little bent with age, his hair thin and grey,
and his face deeply wrinkled.... The expression of his countenance was
sad, mournful I might say; he seemed one on whom sorrow pressed heavily.
He gave me his hand, and welcomed me cordially, though without smiling.
'Will you walk out, Sir, and join us at the table?' said he. 'I am
engaged to dine elsewhere.' 'But you can sit with us,' said he; so,
leading the way, he conducted me to the dining-room. At the head of the
table sat Mrs. Wordsworth, and their three grandchildren made up the
party.... It was a humble apartment, not ceiled, the rafters being
visible; having a large old-fashioned chimney-place, with a high
mantelpiece.

* * * * *

Wordsworth asked after Mr. Ticknor of Boston, who had visited him a few
months before, and for whom he expressed much regard. Some other
questions led me to speak of the progress we were making in America in
the extension of our territory, the settlements on the Pacific, &c.; all
this involving the rapid spread of our English tongue. Wordsworth at
this looked up, and I noticed a fixing of his eye as if on some remote
object. He said that considering this extension of our language, it
behoved those who wrote to see to it, that what they put forth was on
the side of virtue. This remark, although thrown out at the moment, was
made in a serious thoughtful way; and I was much impressed by it. I
could not but reflect that to him a deep sense of responsibility had
ever been present: to purify and elevate has been the purpose of all his
writings. Such may have been at that moment his own inward meditation,
and he may have had in mind the coming generations who are to dwell upon
his words.

* * * * *

Queen Victoria was mentioned--her visit to Ireland which had just been
made--the courage she had shown. 'That is a virtue,' said he, 'which she
has to a remarkable degree, which is very much to her credit.'

* * * * *

Inman's portrait of him I alluded to as being very familiar to me, the
copy which hung in the r