96 NOTES FOR THE 



is there any flat ground whatever; the moun- 

 tains rise abruptly from the margin of the lake, 

 and the road by which you approach the inn, is 

 so narrow a thread along its shore, that whenever 

 the lake is pretty full from rain, it is much of it 

 submerged by the encroaching water. On the 

 very shore of the lake, at its lower end, is the 

 inn : occupying the centre of the mound of rocks 

 which form the barrier, is the Church, with a 

 small stone arch thrown across the stream below, 

 and a little whitewashed public -house, of ancient 

 date, called Pen-y-bont, close to the bridge. 



Scarcely anything could be more wildly pic- 

 turesque and striking than every part of this 

 isolated little valley and lake. The mountains 

 rising with such steep abruptness from the very 

 waters, cast a variety of dark reflections upon 

 their surface, which give them an appearance of 

 peculiar depth and effect ; the rich green, brown, 

 and purple hues of the heathy hills mingle in 

 the reflections of the water, with an adventitious 

 brilliancy, such as one might attribute to the 

 colouring and imagination of a painter; but vain 

 would be the effort of an artist to stamp upon 

 his canvass one fleeting effect of those thousand 

 varying hues which pass with every cloud over 

 the clefts and gorges, the towering rocks and 

 deep-recesses of the undulating hills, and are 



