reduced to the verge of starvation, his whereabouts a mystery to his
friends. The cloud of this experience hung darkly over his spirit,
even in later manhood; perceptions of a true world of strife were
vivid; impressions of these wretched months formed the material of his
most sombre dreams.

Rescued at last, providentially, De Quincey spent the next period of
his life, covering the years 1803-7, in residence at Oxford. His
career as a student at the university is obscure. He was a member of
Worcester College, was known as a quiet, studious man, and lived an
isolated if not a solitary life. With a German student, who taught him
Hebrew, De Quincey seems to have had some intimacy, but his circle of
acquaintance was small, and no contemporary has thrown much light on
his stay. In 1807 he disappeared from Oxford, having taken the written
tests for his degree, but failing to present himself for the necessary
oral examination.

The year of his departure from Oxford brought to De Quincey a
long-coveted pleasure--acquaintance with two famous contemporaries
whom he greatly admired, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Characteristic of
De Quincey in many ways was his gift, anonymously made, of £300 to his
hero, Coleridge. This was in 1807, when De Quincey was twenty-two, and
was master of his inheritance. The acquaintance ripened into intimacy,
and in 1809 the young man, himself gifted with talents which were to
make him equally famous with these, took up his residence at Grasmere,
in the Lake country, occupying for many years the cottage which
Wordsworth had given up on his removal to ampler quarters at Rydal
Mount. Here he spent much of his time in the society of the men who
were then grouped in distinguished neighborhood; besides Wordsworth
and Coleridge, the poet Southey was accessible, and a frequent visitor