122 Excursions torn 



leads out upon the high-road near the clean little inn, the 

 King's Head, and within view of the Vale of St. John. 



One would like to know how often the * Bridal of Trier- 

 main ' has been read within that vale. The Castle Rock, 

 in its disenchanted condition, is a prominent object in 

 approaching the vale from Legberthwaite, or by the road just 

 described; and there are lights and gloomy moments, in 

 which it looks as like as may be to a scene of witchery, — 

 now lit with sunshine when the range to which it belongs 

 is all in shadow; and now perversely gloomy, because 

 there is a single cloud in the sky. The narrow vale is full 

 of character and charm, from end to end ; and at its northern 

 extremity it comes out upon a spot of strong historical in- 

 terest. The village of Threlkeld will, by its name, remind 

 one of the good Lord Clifford, the story of whose boyhood 

 is familiar to all readers of Wordsworth. That place is, 

 indeed, the refuge where there is a local tradition that, though 

 he never learned to read or write, during the twenty-four 

 years he spent in keeping sheep, his astronomical knowledge 

 was considerable, and so interesting to him that he improved 

 it by study after he came to his estates. The road through 

 St. John's Vale and Threlkeld will, however, be followed by 

 the traveller on another occasion : to-day we must not miss 

 that view from Castlerigg, which made the poet Gray long 

 to go back again to Keswick. 



From the entrance to the Vale of St. John at Legber- 

 thwaite it is five miles to where the view opens, which pre- 

 sently comprehends the whole extent from Bassenthwaite 

 Lake to the entrance of Borrowdale, — the plain between 

 the two lakes of Bassenthwaite and Derwent Water present- 

 ing one of the richest scenes in England, — with the town 

 of Keswick, and many a hamlet and farmstead besides ; and 

 the two churches, — the long, white, old-fashioned Cros- 



