"yTale of ©tasmtre* 79 



of Red Bank, and may, therefore, direct his driver to go for- 

 ward while he is making a short detour. The great moun- 

 tain that swells grandly above the rest before him is Hel- 

 vellyn. The lake that opens below is ©tasmere, with its one 

 island of green slope, black fir clump, and grey barn. At 

 the farther end lies the village, with its old square church- 

 tower, beneath whose shadow Wordsworth is buried. The 

 white road that winds like a ribbon up and up the gap be- 

 tween Helvellyn and the opposite fells, is the mail-road to 

 Keswick, and the gap is Dunmail Raise. The remarkable 

 and beautiful hill behind the village is Helm Crag ; and its 

 rocky crest forms the group called * The Lion and the Lamb,' 

 and, from several points, the outline is very suggestive of 

 that dainty bit under the paw of the lord of the forest. 

 This rock has also been named the 'Astrologer,' from a 

 strong resemblance it has, when seen from the Raise, to an 

 old man reading a book. The white house at the foot of 

 Dunmail Raise, is the Swan Inn, where Scott, Southey, and 

 Wordsworth set forth on ponies for the ascent of the moun- 

 tains ; and behind it rises the path by which pedestrians 

 cross from Grasmere to Patterdale, by the margin of Grise- 

 dale Tarn, — the mountain-tarn of the wild boar, as the 

 words properly signify. To the left of Helm Crag, a deep 

 valley evidently opens; that is Easedale; and there our 

 tourist is to go to-day. Meantime let him linger awhile, 

 that he may learn by heart ever feature of this gay and lovely 

 scene. The lane to the right conducts him to the grassy 

 bridle-road called J^tmgfjtigg 3?^trace, where the best views 

 are obtained of both Grasmere and Rydal lakes, and which 

 winds along the uplands, and then by Rydal Lake, back to 

 the valley of the Rothay. We must leave it now, and 

 plunge-down Red Bank, which has the characteristics of a 

 Norwegian road. At the water-trough at the bottom, the 



