Mrs. Wordsworth has deputed to me the acceptable office of answering your friendly letter, which has followed us to Brigham, upon the banks of the river Derwent, near Cockermouth, the birthplace of four brothers and their sister.  Of these four, I, the second, am now the only one left.  Am I wrong in supposing that you have been here?  The house was driven out of its place by a railway, and stands now nothing like so advantageously for a prospect of this beautiful country, though at only a small distance from its former situation.

We are expecting Mr. Cuthbert Southey to-day, from his curacy, seven or eight miles distant.  He is busy in carrying through the press the first volume of his father’s letters, or rather, collecting and preparing them for it.  Do you happen to have any in your possession?  If so, be so kind as to let me or his son know what they are, if you think they contain anything which would interest the public.

* * * * *

Mrs. W. and I are, thank God, both in good health, and possessing a degree of strength beyond what is usual at our age, being both in our seventy-ninth year.  The beloved daughter whom it has pleased God to remove from this anxious and sorrowful world, I have not mentioned; but I can judge of the depth of your fellow-feeling for us.  Many thanks to you for referring to the text in Scripture which I quoted to you so long ago.[220] ‘Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done.’  He who does not find support and consolation there, will find it nowhere.  God grant that it may he continued to me and mine, and to all sufferers!  Believe me, with Mrs. W.’s very kind remembrance,

Faithfully yours,
WM. WORDSWORTH.

* * * * *

When you see Mr. Cottle, pray remember us most affectionately to him, with respectful regards to his sister.[221]

151. Illness and Death of a Servant at Rydal Mount.

Our anxieties are over, and our sorrow is not without heartfelt, I may say heavenly, consolation.  Dear, and good, and faithful, and dutiful Jane breathed her last about twelve o’clock last night.  The doctor had seen her at noon; he found her much weaker.  She said to him, ’I cannot stand now,’ but he gave us no reason to believe her end was so very near.  You shall hear all particulars when we are permitted to meet, which God grant may be soon.  Nothing could be more gentle than her departure.

Yesterday Mary read to her in my presence some chapters from the New Testament, and her faculties were as clear as any one’s in perfect health, and so they have ever been to the last.[222]

[220] [Note by Mr. Peace.] At Rydal Mount in 1838.  Ephesians v. 20.  ’My favourite text,’ said he.

[221] Memoirs, ii. 435-6.

[222] Ibid. ii. 501-2.

152. Humility.