me a phenomenon; and I confess I doubted in my own mind,
and doubt to this day, if perfect sobriety and transcendent poetical
genius can exist together. In Scotland I am sure they cannot. With
regard to the English, I shall leave them to settle that among
themselves, as they have little that is worth drinking.

"Before we had been ten minutes together my heart was knit to Southey,
and every hour thereafter my esteem for him increased. I breakfasted
with him next morning, and remained with him all that day and the next;
and the weather being fine, we spent the time in rambling on the hills
and sailing on the lake; and all the time he manifested a delightful
flow of spirits, as well as a kind sincerity of manner, repeating
convivial poems and ballads, and always between hands breaking jokes on
his nephew, young Coleridge, in whom he seemed to take great delight. He
gave me, with the utmost readiness, a poem and ballad of his own, for a
work which I then projected. I objected to his going with Coleridge and
me, for fear of encroaching on his literary labours; and, as I had
previously resided a month at Keswick, I knew every scene almost in
Cumberland; but he said he was an early riser, and never suffered any
task to interfere with his social enjoyments and recreations; and along
with us he went both days.

"Southey certainly is as elegant a writer as any in the kingdom. But
those who would love Southey as well as admire him, must see him, as I
did, in the bosom, not only of one lovely family, but of three, all
attached to him as a father, and all elegantly maintained and educated,
it is generally said, by his indefatigable pen. The whole of Southey's
conversation and economy, both at home and afield, left an impression of
veneration on my mind, which no future contingency shall ever either
extinguish or injure. Both his figure and countenance are imposing, and
deep thought is strongly marked in his dark eye; but there is a defect
in his eyelids, for these he has no power of raising; so that, when he
looks up, he turns up his face, being unable to raise his eyes; and when
he looks towards the top of one of his romantic mountains, one would
think he was looking at the zenith. This peculiarity is what will most
strike every stranger in the appearance of the accomplished laureate. He
does not at all see well at a distance, which made me several times
disposed to get into a passion with him, because he did not admire the
scene