126 VALE OF NEWLANDS. 



mental brass; and an old font, curiously carved 

 with emblematical designs. The villages along- the 

 road, beginning with Portinscale, will exhibit their 

 own evidence of the employment of the inhabitants 

 in the woollen manufacture; an ancient staple of 

 the town and district, as is shown by the inscrip- 

 tion which has come down from the olden time, 

 engraven on a flagstone. 



" May God Almighty grant His aid 

 To Keswick and its woollen trade." 



Afterwards, the views over the rich plain, and 

 glimpses into fertile valleys are charming, till the 

 road winds in among what the oldest guide-books 

 truly call the solemn pastoral scenes that open 

 after leaving Keskadale. The houses of Keskadale 

 are the last seen before entering on the ascent 

 of Newlands Haws. The vale, formed 

 by the rapid slope of mountains that 

 are bare of trees, boggy in parts, and 

 elsewhere showing marks of winter slides, is wholly 

 unlike anything else in the district. Its silence, 

 except for the bleating of sheep; its ancient folds, 

 down in the hollow; the length and steepness of 

 the ascent ; and the gloom of the mountain, — 

 Great Robinson, with its tumbling white cataract, 

 — render this truly " a solemn pastoral scene/' At 

 the head of the vale, it is found not to be shut in ; 

 a turn to the right discloses a new landscape. A 

 descent between green slopes of the same character 

 leads down directly upon Buttermere. The opposite 

 side of the hollow is formed by the mountain White- 

 lees. The stream at the bottom flows into Crummock 

 Water ; and the four peaks of High Crag, Hayrick, 

 .High Stile, and lied Pike, are ranged in front. 



VALE OF 

 NEWLANDS. 



