THE CHILDREN OF BLENTARN GHYLL.
DEATH OF WORDSWORTH'S CHILDREN.
A melancholy incident which occurred during her residence at Allan Bank
may be mentioned, since Miss Wordsworth took such an active, sympathetic
interest in the relief and succour of the sufferers. It is not, however,
necessary to relate in detail the sad story, as this has been done by De
Quincey and others.
Nestling in the valley of Easedale still stands a humble farm-house
called Blentarn Ghyll, which takes its name from a mountain ravine near
by. Here, in the year 1808, lived an industrious farmer and his wife
named George and Sarah Green, with their six children, the youngest a
baby, and the eldest a girl of nine or ten. On the morning of a day long
to be remembered George Green and his wife started off over the
mountains--a distance of five or six miles--to Langdale, to attend a
sale of furniture (on which occasions these scattered neighbours used to
meet) intending to return the same evening. Notwithstanding that some of
their friends endeavoured to dissuade them from returning by the
mountains, they, in the afternoon, started on their return journey. And
neither of them was ever seen in life again. A fall of snow came, in
which they hopelessly lost their way, and, as De Quincey says, "they
disappeared into the cloud of death." Meanwhile, the poor little
children sat round the fire waiting in vain for their parents' return.
The eldest, little Agnes Green, whose emotions were, during that and
subsequent days, changed from those of a child of tender years to those
of a mother, became heroic in her devotion to her tiny brothers and
sisters. The lonely farmhouse, with its little inhabitants, was for some
days surrounded by drifts of snow, which prevented their leaving it.
Meantime, as day succeeded day, the brave Agnes cheered up the others as
best she could, preparing their scanty meals, and making the elder ones
say their prayers night and morning. It was not until the third day that
she was able to force her way through the snow and tell the sad tale,
inquiring with tearful face whether her father and mother had been seen.
Such was the interest felt in the story of their loss, that all the
able-bodied men of Grasmere formed themselves into a search band; but it
was not until after the expiration of three days that the bodies of the
faithful couple were found near Dungeon Ghyll, the husband being at the
bottom of a rock, from which he had fallen, where his wife had crept
round to him. They were only a few hundred yards from a farmhouse, to
which, however, their cries for help had not reached, or had been
mistaken. In the future of the helpless orphans Miss Wordsworth took an
active interest, and raised a considerable sum of money for their
benefit. The Royal Family were made acquainted with the sad history, and
the Queen herself and her daughters became subscribers to the fund. The
children were taken into different families in the neighbourhood, one of
them going to live with the Wordsworths. The heroic little Agnes died
many years ago, and is buried in Grasmere Churchyard beside her parents.
Three of these children yet survive, the eldest of whom, now 85 years
old, has given me some of the foregoing particulars. He still well
remembers the circumstances of that fatal journey, and the vain waiting,
during the hours of night, for the father and mother who never returned.
Another survivor--the one who was at the time a little baby girl--is now
blind, and, I believe, a great grandmother.
Among other lasting friendships of the Wordsworths which we find
existing about this period is that with Mr. Henry Crabb Robinson, whose
"Diary and Reminiscences" afford some pleasant recollections of many of
the _literati_ of his time among whom he had a very extensive
acquaintance. In 1810 Miss Wordsworth had been paying a visit to Mr. and
Mrs. Clarkson (of anti-slave trade celebrity) at Bury. Mr. Robinson met
her there, and, being about to return to London when Miss Wordsworth was
intending to pay a visit to Charles and Mary Lamb, he undertook to
escort her thither. Upon her return home she wrote to him the following
letter:--
"_Grasmere, November 6, 1810_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--I am very proud of the commission my brother has
given me, as it affords me an opportunity of expressing the
pleasure with which I think of you, and of our long journey side
by side in the pleasant sunshine, our splendid entrance into the
great city, and our rambles together in the crowded streets. I
assure you I am not ungrateful for even the least of your kind
attentions, and shall be happy in return to be your guide amongst
these mountains, where, if you bring a mind free from care, I can
promise you a rich store of noble enjoyments. My brother and
sister will be exceedingly happy to see you; and, if you tell him
stories from Spain of enthusiasm, patriotism, and detestation of
the usurper, my brother will be a ready listener; and in presence
of these grand works of nature you may feed each other's lofty
hopes. We are waiting with the utmost anxiety for the issue of
that battle which you arranged so nicely by Charles Lamb's
fireside. My brother goes to seek the newspapers whenever it is
possible to get a sight of one, and he is almost out of patience
that the tidings are delayed so long.
* * * * *
"Pray, as you are most likely to see _Charles_ at least from time
to time, tell me how they are going on. There is nobody in the
world out of our house for whom I am more deeply interested. You
will, I know, be happy that our little ones are all going on well.
The delicate little Catherine, the only one for whom we had any
serious alarm, gains ground daily. Yet it will be long before she
can be or have the appearance of being a stout child. There was
great joy in the house at my return, which each showed in a
different way. They are sweet wild creatures, and I think you
would love them all. John is thoughtful with his wildness; Dora
alive, active, and quick; Thomas, innocent and simple as a
new-born babe. John had no feeling but of bursting joy when he saw
me. Dorothy's first question was, 'Where is my doll?' We had
delightful weather when I first got home; but on the first morning
Dorothy roused me from my sleep with, 'It is time to get up, Aunt;
it is a blasty morning--it does blast so.' And the next morning,
not more encouraging, she said, 'It is a hailing morning--it hails
so hard.' You must know that our house stands on a hill, exposed
to all hails and blasts....
"D. WORDSWORTH."
From the above letter it will be seen, as can be well understood, that
Miss Wordsworth was a great favourite with the poet's children, of whom
there were then born the four mentioned. To these children, and the
interests and enjoyments of their young lives, she devoted herself with
the unselfish devotion and zeal which so pervaded her life and animated
her conduct.
Sara Coleridge, the daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, between whose
family and that of Wordsworth the most cordial relations always existed,
in the record of her early life has a pleasant recollection of a visit
paid by her to Allan Bank when she was six years old. She writes:--"That
journey to Grasmere gleams before me as the shadow of a shade. Allan
Bank is a large house on the hill overlooking Easedale on one side and
Grasmere on the other. Dorothy, Mr. Wordsworth's only daughter, was at
the time very picturesque in her appearance, with her long thick yellow
locks, which were never cut, but curled with papers, a thing which seems
much out of keeping with the poetic, simple household. I remember being
asked by my father and Miss Wordsworth, the poet's sister, if I did not
think her very pretty. 'No,' said I, bluntly, for which I met with a
rebuff, which made me feel as if I was a culprit."
Miss Coleridge also gives the following reminiscence:--"Miss Wordsworth,
Mr. Wordsworth's sister, of most poetic eye and temper, took a great
part with the children. She told us once a pretty story of a primrose, I
think, which she espied by the wayside when she went to see me soon
after my birth, though that was at Christmas, and how this same primrose
was still blooming when she went back to Grasmere."
The life of Miss Wordsworth had hitherto been, on the whole, one of
serene and calm enjoyment. In the social circle bound so closely in
mutual affection, and so richly endowed with the faculty of making
herself happy--of truly living--the only cloud during many years of
brightness had been the death of her brother John. It could not,
however, but have been expected that the happy circle would become still
more acquainted with the common lot of mortal life.
During their residence at the parsonage at Grasmere, where they were
living in 1812, the circle was broken by the loss of two of their
children, then five in number. In the case of one, the interesting and
delicate little Kate, then about four years old, the circumstances were
peculiarly distressing. The way in which her very brief illness was
caused has not been very clearly stated. De Quincey has attributed it to
what he calls by the harsh name of the "criminal negligence" of one of
the children of the George and Sarah Green before-mentioned, whom the
Wordsworths had taken to live with them. He relates that while little
Catherine was under the care of Sarah Green she was allowed to eat a
number of raw carrots, in consequence of which she was very shortly,
seized with strong convulsions. Although she partially recovered the
immediate effect, her left side remained in a disabled condition.
It was some months after this that little Kate, having gone to bed
bright and happy at the hour of a June sunset, was discovered in a
speechless condition about midnight, and died in convulsions after a few
hours' suffering. While, as may be imagined, the grief of her parents at
the loss was great, that of De Quincey (who was not at Grasmere at the
time, and was informed of the event by Miss Wordsworth) was so poignant
and extravagant as to become romantic. The dear child had got so near
the heart of the little dreamy opium-eater--had, in fact, found so warm
a corner there--that he seemed to be almost overwhelmed. The heart was
empty, and the eyes that could no longer gaze upon the living form were
filled with its image. He used to imagine that he saw her. So great was
his grief that we are told he often spent the night upon her grave. This
may appear very extravagant, as it doubtless is; but we cannot measure a
man like De Quincey by any ordinary standard. Possessing as he did a
gigantic and immortal genius, he was at the same time one of the most
unimaginable and eccentric, unreal and dreamy of beings that ever owned
a warm human heart. The Wordsworth children were especially dear to him,
and particularly so little Catherine. And they returned his affection.
Three weeks before her death he had seen her for the last time. In his
letter to Miss Wordsworth he says:--"The children were speaking to me
altogether, and I was saying one thing to one and another to another,
and she, who could not speak loud enough to overpower the other voices,
had got on a chair, and putting her hand upon my mouth, she said, with
her sweet importunateness of action and voice, 'Kinsey, Kinsey, what a
bring Katy from London?' I believe she said it twice; and I remember
that her mother noticed the earnestness and intelligence of her manner,
and looked at me and smiled. This was the last time that I heard her
sweet voice distinctly, and I shall never hear one like it again."
The death of Catherine was followed six months later by that of her
brother Thomas, six and a half years old. This double affliction made
the Wordsworths glad to remove from the neighbourhood of the churchyard,
which so constantly reminded them of their loss. It was for this reason
that, in 1813, they went to reside at Rydal Mount, which was thenceforth
the home of Miss Wordsworth until her death--a period of more than forty
years.