158 STANLEY GHYLL. 



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, the young larches, cannot 

 oifend the eye, — so well is their vivid green inter- 

 mingled with the well-grown beech, oak, birch, and 

 hollies, of a sober hue. There is a bridge below, 

 descried 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 their clear 

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

 and their flow, and his eye with the everlasting 

 quiver of the ash sprays, and swaying of the young 

 birches, which hang over from the ledges of the 

 precipice. A path then leads him under the rocks, 

 now on this side of the stream, and now on that, 

 till he emerges from the ravine, and winds his 

 way through the hazel copse to the gate. 



It may be thought that our travellers have not 

 leisure for much meditating in the glen : and it is 

 true that by this time, the sun is sloping westwards ; 

 but there are only six miles to be travelled ; and 

 there are no more rough mountain-tracks to-day, 

 but a good road — wonderfully red ! — across Esk- 

 dale, and all the way to Strands. 



After crossing the Esk, and passing the little 



