PENCIL-LEAD MINE. 299 



ported, situated, as I heard it described, a little 

 higher in the dale. My informant, who saw it 

 about forty years ago, said it was then prostrate, 

 and presented, with its dark cavernous trunk 

 and the trees that grew out of it, a most sin- 

 gular appearance, fully realising at least the 

 idea of great antiquity. Now let us away : time 

 will not allow of our paying a visit to the mine 

 from whence the pencil lead has been obtained ; 

 nor, indeed, is it worth a visit, being no longer 

 worked ; that rent in the side of the hill, about 

 half a mile distant, marks its site. Nor have 

 we time to go to yonder farmhouse, and ques- 

 tion the rain-gauge which is there kept.* We 

 must speed back, or night will overtake us ; and 

 I think I may promise that you will not be dis- 

 pleased in returning by the way we came ; for, 

 in so doing, you will see the dale in a different 

 aspect, with enough of grandeur, and perhaps 

 more of beauty, especially in its middle part, 



* One of the many which were under care of the late 

 Mr. John Fletcher Miller, F.R.S., an accurate and 

 zealous observer, to whom we are indebted for much 

 valuable information respecting the meteorology of the 

 Lake District. 



