Page from the Grasmere Journal, May 1802 - January 1803 (pen & ink on paper)

crossed-out section – ‘I gave him the wedding ring—with how deep a blessing!’ An oblong, brown-leather-bound notebook with a hinged metal clasp, used for DW'sjournal. May 4, 1802, to January 16, 1803. Most of the other entries are in WW's hand. Originally the notebook seems to have contained 88 leaves in 11 gatherings of eight; there are now 65 leaves intact, 2 leaves partially torn away, and 21 stubs. Two other stubs, seemingly not of the same paper and not part of the gatherings of eight, are at the very back of the notebook. What little of the watermark is visible suggests a crowned shield over CR. A pink blottingpaper interleaf stands between each pair of original leaves, except at the centers of gatherings, where there are two such interleaves. This notebook was first used for fair copies of 'Michael' material. A full text of 'Michael' may have stood at the back of the notebook on much of two gatherings now removed (stubs 88-74); if once present, it would have been copied there by mid-December 1800, when MS. 1800 (Beinecke Library, Yale University) was sent to the printer. Fair copies mainly in WW's hand, of overflow verse composed during or shortly after work on 'Michael' begin on the first extant leaf (5r) at the other end of the notebook. After skipped pages later used for DW's journal. 'The Matron s Tale' on 11r (revision on 10v to 14r. These fair copies were probably written into the notebook after December 19, 1800, but before April 9,1801. Work for Ruth on 14v and 15r probably belongs to March 4-7, and was certainly in the notebook before DW's Journal entry for May 5, 1802. On leaves 72 and 71 William copied quotations from Descartes and Daniel Sennertus in February 1801. Dorothy Wordsworth's journal begins on 9r-l0r, skips pages already used for 'The Matron's Tale' and 'Ruth', begins again on 15v, and concludes on 71r.