to ^ubtJon "^alleg* 177 



from the woods above the little town : but there is nothing 

 else to detain the eye. Tourists who desire to ascend ^lack 

 (Comity should do it from hence, — the summit being only 

 six miles from Broughton and guides easily procured. 

 Wordsworth says of this mountain that *its base covers 

 a much greater extent of ground than any other moun- 

 tain in these parts; and, from its situation, the summit 

 commands a more extensive view than any other point in 

 Britain/ One would think that this testimony, and Col. 

 Mudges' information that, when residing on Black Combe 

 for surveying purposes, he more than once saw Ireland be- 

 fore sunrise, would bring strangers to try their luck in seeing 

 Scotland, Staffordshire, and Ireland from the same point. 

 The mountain, however, lies out of the ordinary track of 

 tourists, and very few visit it. 



The next part of the drive is charming ; — up the \]^ alleg 

 of the ^uttion. The series of sonnets that Wordsworth 

 has given us may have led strangers to expect too much : 

 but to the unprepossessed eye the valley must appear lovely. 

 Leaving the Bootle road and the bridge to the left, the road 

 ascends so steeply that the travellers will get out and walk ; 

 and many a time will they turn to look at the sea-view, and the 

 wooded slopes on the way to Bootle, and the rocks, dressed 

 with wild flowers, that enclose the road. Then comes a 

 common covered with fern, on which the greenest of paths 

 form a net-work, while far below dashes the brown river be- 

 tween rocky banks, Duddon Grove, with its conservatories 

 and beautiful grounds and green clearings, being seen in 

 the hollow of the vale. Four miles from Broughton, the 

 bridge at XaIlplja]Klirfe spans the river, and discloses a beau- 

 tiful view, up and down. The traveller must remark the 

 strange holes (called J^ofs) worn by the water in the rocks, 

 and the rounding of the edges of the boulders and shelves 



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