by beatriceotto | Jun 21, 2017 | put in a good word |
Another word for ‘chaffinch’, though it seems obsolete. Not that this should prevent our reviving it, it has a charming, affectionate sound. Source: Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, ed. and introduction by Pamela Woof (Oxford:...
by beatriceotto | Jun 21, 2017 | put in a good word |
A hot drink of port, sugar, lemon and spice, named after Colonel Francis Negus (d. 1732), who invented it, may he rest in peace. In Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal, it seems to have been used medicinally, along with broth. A delicious sounding toddy for a...
by beatriceotto | Jun 21, 2017 | put in a good word |
This use of ‘fretted’ seems to mean worn or damaged by weather, and ‘teazed’ is an old spelling of ‘teased’, here apparently meaning pulled or damaged. I know what she means about the weeds… we have bad hair days, bad garden...
by beatriceotto | Jun 21, 2017 | put in a good word |
This seems to mean something like smoothing out and folding linen, though it would baffle people now. ‘Mary walked to Ambleside for letters, it was a wearisome walk for the snow lay deep upon the Roads & it was beginning to thaw. I stayed at home &...
by beatriceotto | Jun 21, 2017 | put in a good word |
Wordsworth uses this term several times – apparently an obsolete term for picking or gathering apples. ‘We pulled apples after dinner, a large basket full.’ Sunday 12 October 1800. Source: Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, ed....
by beatriceotto | Jun 21, 2017 | put in a good word |
Dorothy Wordsworth refers to ‘flowering and marking’, meaning to embroider identification signs on linen. I recently bought some wonderful, secondhand and fine quality bedlinen, with flowers and monograms beautifully embroidered along the top edge of what...
by beatriceotto | May 26, 2017 | put in a good word |
Scottish & N. English: Alternative spelling of ‘sike’ meaning a small stream or rill, typically one that flows through marshy ground and is often dry in summer. Source: Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, ed. and introduction by...
by beatriceotto | May 25, 2017 | a quote to note |
A charming juxtaposition of homeliness and magnificence – people drinking tea but noticing a sky sprinkled with stars. ‘I found them at Tea. There were a thousand stars in the Sky.’ Thursday 12 November 1801. Source: Dorothy Wordsworth, The...
by beatriceotto | May 25, 2017 | a quote to note |
I liked this expansive moon-scape and the detail of Wordworth keeping his curtains open to see it. ‘The moon shone upon the water below Silver-how, & above it hung, combining with Silver how on one side, a Bowl-shaped moon the curve downwards – the white...
