to Esfebale. i8i 



spokes of a wheel/ Scawfell is the highest ; and the whole 

 line, from that point to Hardknott, is very fine in all lights. 

 The dark basin formed in the midst of the group must be 

 observed, for it is there that Wastwater lies. 



At length a rude new road appears on the right, tending 

 towards Birkerthwaite farm. It passes through the farm-yard, 

 and, in another mile, a wooded ravine is seen. That ravine 

 is jStanleg ©ill, and at its head is the waterfall. The key 

 of the grounds may be had at the farmhouse of Dalegarth. 



The jgtanleg ©ill !Eall has much the character of 

 Ara Force; but the immediate sarroundings are un- 

 rivalled by other waterfalls in the district. The glen 

 itself is indisputably the finest in the region; and it is 

 scarcely possible to ssty too much of the view from the moss- 

 house on the steep, which should certainly be the first point 

 of view. From hence the eye commands the whole ravine, 

 whose sides are feathered with wood from base to ridge. 

 The fall is between two crags, — the one bare, the other 

 crowned with pines; and if there is a slant of sunlight 

 between them, it gives the last finish of beauty to the chasm. 

 The most modern element in the scene, is supplied by the 

 larches, and these cannot offend the eye, — so well is 

 their vivid green intermingled with the well-grown beech, 

 oak, birch, and hollies of a sober hue. There is a bridge 

 below, seen from the moss-house, which will tempt the 

 stranger to find his way down ; and there he will meet 

 with two more, by means of which he will reach the fall. 

 Here, among a wilderness of ferns and wild flowers, he may 

 sit in the cool damp abyss, watching the fall of waters into 

 the clear rock-basin, till his ear is satisfied with their dash and 

 flow, and his eye with the everlasting quiver of the ash sprays, 

 and the swaying of the young birches, which hang over from 

 the ledges of the precipice. He must then take a path which 



