266 MOUNTAINS SEEN FROM THE LAKE. 



ling, at least on a first visit. Truly this is de- 

 lightful ! What beauty is imparted by these 

 wooded islets ! How fine the effect of the 

 mountains which you well called an Alpine 

 assemblage seen in their various distances ! 

 Looking upwards, pray tell me the name of 

 that finely formed hill at the head of the lake, 

 standing out like a giant fortress. 



PISCATOR. That is Castle Crag, at the en- 

 trance of Borrowdale, skirted by Catbell Hill, 

 with its precipitous flanks on the right, and by 

 Castle Hill, one even more bold, on the left ; 

 and bounding the view in that direction is the 

 loftiest of our mountains, Scawfell. 



AMICUS. And what are the names of these 

 pretty islands ? 



PISCATOR. That we have just passed, so taste- 

 fully wooded, and with a dwelling on it as 

 tasteful, is Derwent Isle, formerly called Vicar's 

 Isle, having been a dependence of Fountain's 

 Abbey. That we are nearing is St. Herbert's 

 Isle, so called from a recluse of that name, who 

 had a hermitage on it and there lived and died, 

 and if tradition be true, died, according to a 

 long-entertained wish, at the same instant as his 

 beloved friend St. Cuthbert. Fix that verdant 



