Note KG — PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1814 (continued 4)

The "hedge of hollies dark and tall," and the "pure cerulean gravel" on the walk between the "pastor's mansion" and the "house of prayer," are all due to the imagination of the poet. There is nothing now—either at Hackett or at the parsonage in Grasmere—at all corresponding to the details given in The Excursion; and it is not likely that the surroundings of either house in Wordsworth's time resembled the description given in the poem.—ED.