venience. The room is very neat, 
and bears marks of industrious fru- 
gality ;—it has a carpet composed 
of shreds of list of different colours, 
and over the chimney-piece is the 
portrait of one of the admirals un- 
der whom our host had served. 
It rained all night, and we were 
congratulated upon this, because 
the waterfall of Lodore, the most 
famous in all this country, would 
bein perfection. As soon as we 
had breakfasted a boat was ready 
for us, and we embarked on the 
lake, about halfa mile from the 
town, A taste for the picturesque, if 
I may so far flatter myself as to rea- 
Son upon it from self observation, 
differs from a taste for the arts in 
this remarkable point,-—that  in- 
stead of making us fastidious, it 
produces a disposition to receive 
delight, and teaches us to feel more 
pleasure in discovering beanty, than 
“connoiseurs enjoy in detecting a 
fault. I have oftentimes been sa- 
tiated with works of art ; a collec- 
tion of pictures fatigues me, and I 
have regarded them at last rather 
as a task than asa pleasure. Here, 
on the contrary, the repetition of 
such scenes as these heightens the 
enjoyment of them, Every thing- 
grows upon me. I become daily 
more and more sensible of the 
height of the mountains, observe 
their forms with a more discri- 
minating eye, and watch with in- 
creased pleasure the wonderful 
‘changes they assume under the 
effect of clouds or of sunshiue. 
The Lake of Keswick has. this 
decided advantage over the others 
which we have seen, that it imme- 
diately appears to be what it is. 
Winandermere and Ulswater might 
be mistaken for great rivers, nor in- 
deed can the whole extent of either 
s 
MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 1027 
be seen at once; here you are ona 
land-locked bason of water, a 
Jeague in length, and about half as 
broad,— you “do not wish it to be 
Jarger, the mirror is in_ perfect pro- 
portion toits frame. Skiddaw, the 
highest and most famous of the En. 
glish mountains, forms its northern 
boundary, and seems to rise almost 
immediately from its shore, though 
it is at the nearest point half a league 
distant, and the town intervenes. 
One long mountain, along which 
the wad forms a fine terrace, 
reaches nearly along the whole of 
its western side ; and through the 
space between this and the next 
mountain, whichin many points of 
view appears like the lower segment 
ofa prodigious circle, a lovely vale 
is seen which runs up among the 
hiils. But the pride of the Lake of 
Keswick is the head, where the 
mountains of Borrowdale bound 
the prospect, in a wilder and grand. 
er manner than words can ade- 
quately describe. The cataract of 
Lodore thunders down its eastern 
side through a chasm in the rocks, 
which are wooded with birch and 
ash trees. It isa little river, flowing 
from a small Jake upon the moun- 
tains about a league distant. The 
water, though there had been heavy 
rains, was not adequate to the chan- 
nel; indeed it would require a” 
river of considerable magnitude to 
fill it,—~yet it is at once the finest 
work and instrument of rock and 
water that I have ever seen or heard. 
At a little public-house near where 
the key of theentrance is kept,they 
have a cannon to display the echo ; 
it was discharged for us, and we 
heard the sound rolling round from 
hill to hil!,—but for ‘this we pay 
four — shillings,—which are very 
nearly a pesoduro. So that En. 
3.U,2 glish 
