" On the fourth of
October the wedding took place in Brompton Church. The grey old steeple
surrounded and overhung by masses of yellow and brown foliage in the
centre of the picturesque, and in many respects, ideal little village,
must have formed a perfect setting for the marriage of one who was
afterwards to become the Poet Laureate of his country. The register for
the years 1754-1810 contains the following entry:--
"_Banns of Marriage_ ...
William Wordsworth of Grasmere in Westmoreland, Gentleman, _and_ Mary
Hutchinson _of_ Gallow Hill in the Parish of Brompton _were married in
this_ Church _by_ Licence _this_ fourth _Day of_ October _in the year one
thousand_ eight _Hundred and_ two _by me_ John Ellis officiating min^r.
This marriage was solemnized between us."
[Illustration: Facsimile of the Signatures in the Register.]
"In the presence of THOMAS HUTCHINSON.
JOANNA HUTCHINSON.
JOHN HUTCHINSON."
The same day Wordsworth with his wife and sister drove to Thirsk and two
days afterwards reached Grasmere, where they soon settled down to an
uneventful life at Dove Cottage. Dorothy Wordsworth could not "describe
what she felt," but we are told that she accepted her sister-in-law
without a trace of jealousy.
There is still preserved in Pickering one of the parchments on which were
enrolled the names of all those who were liable for service in the
militia. It is headed
"Militia Enrollment 1807-8"
and begins:--
"An enrollment of the names of the several persons who have been chosen by
ballot to serve in the Militia for five years for the west part of the
sub-division of Pickering Lyth in the North Riding of the County of York
and also of the several substitutes who have been produced and approved to
serve for the like term and for such further term as the Militia shall
remain embodied, if within the space of five years His Majesty shall order
the Militia to be drawn out and embodied and are enrolled in the place of
such principals whose names are set opposite thereto in pursuance of an
act of the 47th of King George III.
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