ABSTRACT
upon leaving Surbiton Hardy investigated various other places before he and his wife were able to settle into a house of their own. On June 22, 1875, he visited Wimborne Minster but found nothing available there. While at Wimborne, he noticed a feeble light in the ancient minster; and, tip-toeing in though it was already ten p.m., he found the organist practising by the light of a single candle. Hardy sat down and listened with rapt attention to the organ music. From Wimborne Minster he went on to Bournemouth, and in July brought his wife to lodgings in this 'Mediterranean lounging-place on the English Channel'. 1 His poem 'We Sat at the Window' (not published until 1917) is a record of July 15, 1875, 'when the rain came down' at Bournemouth.
