165-171, and notes.] He soon lost his
guinea, however, by ceasing to keep his family informed of his
whereabouts, and subsisted for a time with great difficulty. Still
apparently fearing pursuit, with a little borrowed money he broke away
entirely from his home by exchanging the solitude of Wales for the
greater wilderness of London. Failing there to raise money on his
expected patrimony, he for some time deliberately clung to a life of
degradation and starvation rather than return to his lawful governors.
Discovered by chance by his friends, De Quincey was brought home and
finally allowed (1803) to go to Worcester College, Oxford, on a reduced
income. Here, we are told, "he came to be looked upon as a strange
being who associated with no one." During this time he learned to take
opium. He left, apparently about 1807, without a degree. In the same
year he made the acquaintance of Coleridge and Wordsworth; Lamb he had
sought out in London several years before.
His acquaintance with Wordsworth led to his settlement in 1809 at
Grasmere, in the beautiful English Lake District; his home for ten
years was Dove Cottage, which Wordsworth had occupied for several years
and which is now held in trust as a memorial of the poet. De Quincey
was married in 1816, and soon after, his patrimony having been
exhausted, he took up literary work in earnest.
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