Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
by William Wordsworth, 1770 – 1850
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
A View of Westminster Bridge (oil on panel), Turner, Daniel (fl.1782-1801)
We left London on Saturday morning at 1⁄2 past 5 or 6, the 31st July (I have forgot which) we mounted the Dover Coach at Charing Cross. It was a beautiful morning. The City, St pauls, with the River & a multitude of little Boats, made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke & they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly with such a pure light that there was even something like the purity of one of nature’s own grand Spectacles.
—Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal, 31 July 1802
When i was a 19-year-old college student, I was able to buy a three month student Eurrail pass. Cheap. Sometimes I boarded the train for some random destination, an improvisational journey of discovery. Sometimes I boarded a night train just because I needed to a place to sleep. Waking up in a another country was the bonus. This is how the culture supported and enriched its youth then.