from j3LmMe0itie, 139 



exclaimed, " at yon ship upon the glittering sea ! " " Is it a 

 ship?" repHed our shepherd-guide. "It can be nothing 

 else," interposed my companion. " I cannot be mistaken ; 

 I am so accustomed to the appearance of ships at sea." 

 The guide dropped the argument ; but before a minute was 

 gone, he quietly said, " now look at your ship — it is changed 

 into a horse.'' So it was ; a horse with a gallant neck and 

 head. We laughed heartily ; and I hope, when again inclined 

 to be positive, I may remember the ship and the horse upon 

 the glittering sea ; and the calm confidence yet submissive- 

 ness of our wise man of the mountains, who certainly had 

 more knowledge of the clouds than we, whatever might be 

 our knowledge of ships. 



* I know not how long we might have remained on the 

 summit of the Pike, without a thought of moving, had not 

 our guide warned us that we must not linger, for a storm 

 was coming. We looked in vain to espy the signs of it. 

 Mountains, vales, and sea were touched with the clear light 

 of the sun. " It is there ! " said he, pointing to the sea 

 beyond Whitehaven, and there we perceived a light vapour, 

 unnoticeable but by a shepherd accustomed to watch all 

 mountain-bodings. We gazed around again, and yet again, 

 unwilling to lose the remembrance of what lay before us in 

 that mountain solitude ; and then prepared to depart. 

 Meanwhile the air changed to cold, and we saw that tiny 

 vapour swelled into masses of cloud, which came boiling 

 over the mountains. Great Gable, Helvellyn, and Skiddaw 

 were wrapped in storm ; yet Langdale and the mountains in 

 that quarter remained all bright in sunshine. Soon the 

 storm reached us ; we sheltered under a crag; and almost 

 as rapidly as it had come, it passed away, and left us free to 

 observe the struggles of gloom and sunshine in other quar- 

 ters. Langdale had now its share ; and the Pikes of Lang- 



