IN THE LAKE DISTRICT 11 7 



be unfavourable. Besides, there may be some 

 special cause in Ireland favouring the growth 

 of bogs,, which may be absent here. In 

 Belgium and Holland, one would expect to find 

 rushes of common occurrence; yet, in a little 

 tour I recently made through a good part of 

 both countries, I hardly ever saw a rush. 

 What determines the growth of one plant more 

 than another, and bog, remember, is formed 

 by the decay of certain aquatic plants, is 

 always more or less a problem. In crossing 

 the fell, how vast was the view ! in one direc- 

 tion, the Solway and the hills of Dumfriesshire, 

 in another, the open sea, and the Isle of Man, 

 like a shadow in the horizon. 



AMICUS. What impressed me most were some 

 masses of clouds, resembling distant snow-cap- 

 ped Alps, both in form and colouring. How 

 grand I thought would the appearance have 

 been considered, what an effect it would have 

 had on the mind, were the forms real moun- 

 tains, instead of their simulacra ! 



PISCATOR. Your reflection is just as regards 

 impression; and your instance is a good ex- 

 ample in point : how much depends on asso- 

 ciation ; that is, on the ideas connected with the 



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