.'58 



Immediately above the meeting place of the poets, the mighty 

 Helvellyn rears its huge form, towering to the sky, while directly 

 in front its foot is laved by the rippling wavelets of the lake. Its 

 aspect from this point is exceedingly rugged and broken, and it 

 appears to be almost entirely covered with rocks and screes. The 

 heavy downpours of rain, which are of frequent occurrence here, 

 have the effect of producing, during their continuance, numberless 

 streams of water, which form channels and ravines, by which the 

 breast of the mountain is at this part all seamed and scarred, and 

 records in the words of the poet — 



"Tl'.e history of forgotten storms 

 On the blank folds inscribed of drear Helvellyn.'' 



In "Camden's Britannica," published nearly three hundred 

 years ago, this mountain is named, not Helvellyn, but Lauvellin, 

 its neighbour, Catchedecam, is called by the author Castinand. 

 He makes use of the following, which was, even then, probably an 

 old rhyme — 



Skiddaw, Lauvellin, and Castinand, 

 Are the highest hills in all England. 



. Up to the time the height of the English mountains was taken 

 by Colonel Mudge, by means of a barometer, the above-mentioned 

 mountains were believed to be the highest in England. It was 

 then found that Scawfell Pike was higher than any of them. The 

 height of Helvellyn above the sea level is 3,118 feet, and it is 

 almost centrally placed among the mountains of the district, and, 

 to my mind, the best and most extensive views are obtained from 

 its summit. In the spring of 1805 a young gentleman lost his life, 

 probably by a fall from some of the " huge nameless rocks" which 

 abound there, when he was attempting to cross the mountain from 

 Patterdale to Wythburn. This incident, together with the account 

 of the remarkable fidelity of his dog, are circumstances too well 

 known to need repetition here. They form the subject of very 

 beautiful poems by Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott, the pathos 

 of which tends to give a melancholy interest to the spot where the 

 accident occurred. 



