186 RYDAL HALL. 



rude and primitive state, difficult now to realize, 

 especially in sight of that large white house of 

 modern aspect. Is it Kydal Hall ? The scenery 

 around it is worthy of a more picturesque 

 building. 



PISCATOR. It is ; and that woodland is Kydal 

 forest ; a familiar haunt of Wordsworth. Some 

 day we must have a ramble in it. I can point 

 out to you many of his favourite old trees, oaks 

 of a goodly size, the largest hardly inferior in 

 stateliness to the Lord's Oak which we are now 

 under ; and, do observe it, for it is an arboretum, 

 so to speak, in itself, from the many plants 

 which have taken root and are growing on it, 

 not only ferns, mosses and lichens, but like- 

 wise the holly, the yew and the ash. We 

 must have a walk too through the grounds, 

 and see the pretty falls. The stream that 

 makes them we have just crossed as it flows 

 meandering through the park to join the 

 Eothay. It takes its rise in Fairfield, that fine 

 mountain ridge, above 2000 feet in height, 

 which, you may observe, screens Eydal from the 

 north, and is still crested with snow. The beck, 

 to use the Dale-idiom, is a charming mountain 

 stream in its upland part, and not without trout. 



