,^0ccnt of ^{tttitiabj. 261 



tant one comes into view. The Irish Sea and the Isle of Man 

 rise, and the Scotch mountains show themselves marshalled 

 on the horizon. At the first summit, the city of Carlisle 

 comes into view, with the coast and its little towns, round to 

 St. Bees, with the rich plains that lie between. But there is 

 a higher point to be reached after an ascent of six hundred 

 feet more ; and here Derwentwater comes into view again. 

 And how much besides ! Few lakes are seen ; but the sea 

 of mountain-tops is glorious, — and the surrounding plains, 

 — and the ocean beyond, — and land again beyond that. 

 In opposite directions, lie visible, Lancaster Castle and the 

 hills of Kirkcudbright, Wigton, and Dumfries. Lancaster 

 Castle and Carlisle Cathedral in the same landscape ! and 

 Snowdon and CrifFel nodding to each other ! Ingleborough 

 in Yorkshire, looking at Skiddaw over the whole of West- 

 morland that lies between : with the Isle of Man as a rest 

 ing-place for the glance on its way to Ireland ! St. Bees 

 Head, with the noiseless waves dashing against the red rock, 

 being almost within reach as it were ! And as for Scafell, 

 Helvellyn, and Saddleback, they stand up like comrades, 

 close round about. Charles Lamb was no great lover of 

 mountains, but he enjoyed what he saw. * O ! its fine 

 black head,' he wrote of Skiddaw, * and the bleak air atop 

 of it, with a prospect of mountains all about, making you 

 giddy; and then Scotland afar off, and the border-counties, 

 so famous in song and ballad ! It is a day that will stand 

 out like a mountain, I am sure, in my life ! * * Bleak' the 

 air is indeed * atop,* — exposed as the summit is to the sea- 

 winds. If the stranger desires to take a leisurely view, he 

 must trouble his guide or his pony with a railway wrapper, 

 or something of the sort, to enable him to stand his ground. 

 The descent may be made, for- the sake of variety, by a 

 road through Millbeck and the pretty village of Applethwaite; 



