"This small lake is called Loch Achray."

March 2, 2022 9:04 PM

"Saturday, August 27th ... It was dark when we landed, and ... I was sick with cold. The good woman had provided, according to her promise, a better fire than we had found in the morning; and indeed when I sate down in the chimney-corner of her smoky biggin' I thought I had never been more comfortable in my life. Coleridge had been there long enough to have a pan of coffee boiling for us, and having put our clothes in the way of drying, we all sate down, thankful for a shelter ... laughing like children at the strange atmosphere." Dorothy Wordsworth's gentle, slice-of-life Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, A.D. 1803 [plain HTML] went unpublished in her lifetime. Caroline Jean Liebel's thesis Dorothy Wordsworth's Distinctive Voice [PDF] offers context, and so does the Guardian's December article about Wordsworth, noting her 250th birthday. See also: an excerpt recorded as a bedtime reading for adults; and video of Loch Achray.
posted by Wobbuffet (3 comments total)

Ah, lovely – I'm currently reading Kathleen Winter's novel Undersong, a fictional retelling of “Rotha's” last years... it's quite good. Thanks for the supplementary material!
posted by oulipian at 7:12 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thank you! I will certainly read this in the quiet of my Sunday morning. I really enjoyed Dr. Johnson & Boswell's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. So this is a treat to get to read this, too.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 9:31 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’ve started reading the Recollections - very interesting and enjoyable so far. Thanks for posting this.
posted by ElasticParrot at 11:17 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]