£26 KENTMERE HALL. 



rests, for the sake of looking back upon the singu- 

 larly-secluded valley, with its winding* 

 stream, its taintly-marked track, and 

 its little inn, recognised to the last by the sycamores 

 and poplars which overshadow its roof, and rustle 

 before the door. Then he comes to the hollow 

 where lies the tarn, — Small Water. Here he will 

 rest again, sitting among scattered or shelving 

 rocks, and drinking from this pure mountain basin. 

 Arrived at the top, he loses sight of Mardale, and 

 greets Kentmere almost at the same moment. The 

 dale behind is wild as any recess in the district: 

 while before him lies a valley whose grandeur is 

 all at the upper end, and which spreads out and 

 becomes shallower with every mile of its recession 

 from the great mountain-cluster. 



When he has gone down a mile, he finds that he 

 is travelling on one side of Kentmere Tongue, — 

 the projection which, in this and most 

 other valleys, splits the head of the 

 dale into a fork. When he arrives at the chapel, 

 he finds that there is a carriage-road which would 

 lead him forth to Staveley and Kendal. But he is 

 probably intending to go over into Troutbeck : so 

 he turns up to the right, and pursues the broad 

 zigzag track which leads over the fell, till Trout- 

 beck opens beneath him on the other side. Before 

 beginning the ascent, however, he will note Kent- 

 mere Hall, — the birth-place of Bernard Gilpin, in 

 1517. If familiar with the old description of the 

 district, he will look for Kentmere Tarn, and won- 

 der to see no trace of it. It is drained away ; and 

 fertile fields now occupy the place of the swamp, 

 reeds and shallow water which he might have seen 



