had become associated with the Lake Poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey, and
was likewise the home of the soon-to-be-famous Thomas De Quincey, who had rented Dove
Cottage from Wordsworth in 1809. Percy Shelley and his first wife Harriet had visited
the region for several weeks in 1811, where they made the acquaintance of Southey
and held long literary and political talks with him of the sort indicated here. This
context might be indicated by the fact that it is Clerval in particular who is attracted
to the region and his new acquaintance there.