470 Three Years at Cambridge. [May 
As we threaded in succession Soham, Ramsay, Ugg, and Meres, a 
strange feeling of desertion came over us. Imperceptibly the blighting 
spirit of the scenery passed into our minds: we even forgot the object of 
our excursion, and became reserved and silent. Sir W. Scott, in one of 
his immortal fictions, has remarked upon this strange susceptibility of the 
human mind to the external influences of nature. He has described the 
impression made upon one of his heroes ; first, by the appearance of a 
black deeply-wooded stream ; secondly, by a sparkling salient summer 
brooklet. He has pourtrayed his young enthusiast as sauntering beside 
the first with a step of congenial gloom, but bounding along the daisied 
margin of the other with a sunniness of mind and aspect exactly in 
accordance with its character. Precisely of this nature were our feelings 
as we passed lazily down the canal; nor did we resume our usual tone 
of mind, till our steersman, pointing» to something that glittered in 
distance, told us we were fast approaching the long-desired lake. Ina 
few minutes after this announcement, our horse was disengaged, fastened 
to a small shed or stable built for that purpose on the bank, the mast 
hoisted, and the sail sét. In its approach to Whittelsea Mere the Ramsay 
canal widens considerably. So gradual, however, is this increase that 
the stranger is not at first aware of it until the fact is forced upon his 
attention by the augmented velocity of the current and the undulating 
motion of the vessel. As we approached the lake, our barge, which had 
been hitherto apparently immoveable, began to reel like a drunken man, 
under the influence of a stiff breeze: at the same moment a sudden lurch 
dislodged us all from our seats ; nor were we able to regain them until 
our heavy lumbering barge was fairly launched on the expansive bosom 
of the Fen. 
And here a landscape impressed itself on our minds such as is 
seldom seen in England. An immense sheet of water, a sort of 
inland sea, heaving and agitating under the influence of a fresh wind, 
surrounded us in every direction, fringed on one side by acres of bull- 
rushes, the growth no doubt of ages, and which gave out a long melan- 
choly sigh as the uninterrupted breeze swept over them; and onthe — 
other by the distant spires of Peterborough Cathedral, to the right and — 
left of which stretched out a vast extent of morass, dark, dull, and so ~ 
cursed with sterility that no living thing could pick even a blade of 
grass from its surface. But what rendered the scene more peculiarly 
impressive was the awful character of its desolation. As far as eye 
could discern, not a symptom of life was visible; the spirit of an 
eternal solitude seemed to hover in cloudy grandeur over the landscape, 
whose silence was never invaded, except now and then when the sound- 
ing bittern soared upward from her sedgy nest, or some huge — 
fish leaped up from the water to catch at the shadow thrown by | 
the passing plover or wild duck. After a full half hour spent in 
the contemplation of this striking scene, we prepared our fishing- — 
tackle, a large artificial fly made of the gaudiest colours, and used 
in the same way as the old fishermen use them in South Wal 
For some time we met with not the slightest success, and were j 
about to give up the pursuit, when suddenly from amidst a group 
floating rushes, forth sprang a mighty fish, which seized the bait, an 
made off with it to his retreat, with a splash that set the water in a foam 
around him. For ten minutes the monster remained immoveable, during 
which interval we waited in a state of the most anxious suspense ; when 
once again he darted forward, mad with pain and dragging many yard 
