FAIRFIELD. 93 



calm at the foot of the black precipices ; and nearer 

 may be traced the whole pass from Patterdale, 

 where Brothers' Water lies invisible from hence. 

 The finest point of the whole excursion is about 

 the middle of the cul-de-sac, where, on the northern 

 side, there are tremendous precipices overlooking 

 Deepdale and other sweet recesses far below. Here, 

 within hearing of the torrents which tumble from 

 those precipices, the rover should rest. He will see 

 nothing- so fine as the contrast of this northern 

 view with the long green slope on the other side, 

 down to the source of Rydal Beck, and then down 

 to Rydal Woods and Mount. He is now 2,950 

 feet above the sea -level ; and he has surely earned 

 his meal. If the wind troubles him, he can doubt- 

 less find a sheltered place under a rock. If he can 

 sit on the bare ridge, he is the more fortunate. 



The further he goes, the more amazed he is at 

 the extent of the walk, which looked such a trifle 

 from below. Waking out of a reverie, an hour 

 after dinner, he sees that the sun is some way 

 down the western sky. He hastens on, not heeding 

 the boggy spaces, and springing along the pathless 

 heather and moss, seeing more and more lakes and 

 tarns every quarter of an hour. In the course of 

 an hour he sees ten. Windermere, and little Blel- 

 ham Tarn beyond, he saw first. Ullswater was 

 below him to the north when he dined ; and, pre- 

 sently after, a tempting path guided his eye to 

 Grisedale Tarn, lying in a pass from Patterdale to 

 Grasmere. Here are four. Next, comes Grasmere, 

 Easedale Tarn above it, in its mountain hollow ; 

 then Rydal, of course, at his feet ; and Elterwater 

 beyond the western ridges, and finally to the south- 



