Eusemere

I went for a cycle down to the lake after work. It had been a gorgeous day and I had the lakeshore and the whole of Pooley Bridge to myself more or less; surreal.

Continuing the Wordsworth theme this week, the building pictured on the right here is Eusemere which was the home of Thomas ‘slave trade’ Clarkson who campaigned tirelessly against slavery. He had moved here to recover from a period of exhaustion and he and his wife became very firm friends of the Wordsworth’s. It was on a visit to see them here, walking from their home in Grasmere, that the Wordsworth’s saw the famous daffodils.

Here’s the sonnet Wordsworth wrote on Clarkson’s success, which had at times been at great risk to his own life - they tried to drown him in Liverpool docks ...

Sonnet, To Thomas Clarkson, On the final passing of the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, March 1807.

Clarkson! it was an obstinate Hill to climb:
How toilsome, nay how dire it was, by Thee
Is known,—by none, perhaps, so feelingly;
But Thou, who, starting in thy fervent prime,
Didst first lead forth this pilgrimage sublime,
Hast heard the constant Voice its charge repeat,
Which, out of thy young heart's oracular seat,
First roused thee.—O true yoke-fellow of Time
With unabating effort, see, the palm
Is won, and by all Nations shall be worn!
The bloody Writing is for ever torn,
And Thou henceforth wilt have a good Man's calm,
A great Man's happiness; thy zeal shall find
Repose at length, firm Friend of human kind!