50 DERIVATION OF THE WORD TARN. 



a mountain ash of tolerable size, growing out 

 of a steep bank and overhanging the water, so 

 situated as to be free from depredation; and 

 often in the higher fells, in cutting for peat, 

 buried trees, the remains of old forests, are 

 exposed, and these of no inconsiderable size. 

 In this instance, as in so many others, do we 

 not see an adaptation of circumstances to pre- 

 vailing wants ! Pasture is the great want of 

 sheep ; and here, where the land, the fells are 

 given up to them, the close cropping of the 

 herbage, as well as their droppings, favour the 

 growth of the grasses they like best, and are 

 best fitted for them. 



AMICUS. Whence the name Tarn ? Is it not 

 peculiar to the Lake District ? 



PISCATOR. I am not an etymologist, and may 

 not be able to satisfy you. I have heard it 

 derived from Taarne, the Danish for tears, 

 implying, as it were, that these collections of 

 water we call tarns are fed and supported by 

 the drops of water from the rocks. 



AMICUS. If not true, the derivation is at least 

 poetical, or rather, I should say, fanciful ; 

 genuine poetry, in strictness, never being severed 

 from truth. Our great poet had for his motto 



