Ruskin encountered Southey as a boy of eleven when, on a tour to the Lake District with John James Ruskin and Margaret Ruskin and his cousin Mary Richardson, the family party attended Crosthwaite Church, where the had anticipated the possibility of seeing the poet and were gratified to be seated directly opposite him. In his cousin's Journal entry for that day Ruskin noted that
We saw him very nicely. He seemed extremely attentive; and by what we saw of him, we should think him very pious. He has a very keen eye, and looks extremely like--a poet. ( Works, 2.297)
Ruskin subsequently published a long poem entitled Iteriad commemorating that tour of the Lake District, including lines describing their 'cheek-by-jowl' encounter with Southey ( Works, 2.297).