CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. 261 



crossed the meadows, obliquely catching a diversity of views among 

 the hills over the lake and islands, and changing prospect at every 

 ten paces. Left Cockshut (which we formerly mounted) and Castle, 

 hill, a loftier and more rugged hill behind me, and drew near the 

 foot of Waila-crag, whose bare and rocky brow cut perpendicularly 

 down above four. hundred feet (as I guess, though the people call it 

 much more) awfully overlooks the way. Our path here tends to 

 the left, and the ground gently rising and covered with a glade of 

 scattering trees and, bushes on the very margin of the water, opens 

 both ways the most delicious view that my eyes ever beheld ; oppo- 

 site are the thick woods of Lord Egremout and Newland-valley, 

 with green and smiling fields embosomed in the dark cliffs; to the 

 left the jaws of Borrowdale, with that turbulent chaos of mountain 

 behind mountain, rolled in confusion j beneath you and stretching 

 far away to the right, the shining purity of the lake reflecting rocks, 

 woods, fields, and inverted tops of hills, just rullled by the breeze, 

 enough to shew it is alive, with the white buildings of Keswick, 

 Crosthwaite church, and Skiddaw for a back-ground at a distance. 

 Behind you the magnificent heights of Walla. crag : here the glass 

 played its part divinely, the place is called Carfclose-reeds; and I 

 chose to set down those barbarous names, that any body may in- 

 quire on the place, and easily find the particular station that I mean. 

 This scene continues to Barrow-gate ; and a little farther, passing 

 a brook called Barrow-beck, we entered Borrowdale: the crags 

 named Lawdbor-banks begin now to impend terribly over your 

 way, and more terribly when you hear that three years since an im- 

 mense mass of rock tumbled at once from the brow, and barred all 

 access to the dale (for this is the only road) till they could work 

 their way through it. Luckily no one was passing at the time of 

 this fall ; but down the side of the mountain, and far into the lake, 

 lie dispersed the huge fragments of this ruin in- all shapes and in all 

 directions : something farther we turned aside into a coppice, ascend, 

 ing a little in front of Lawdoor water-fall; the height appeared to 

 be about two hundred feet, the quantity of water not great, though 

 (these three days excepted) it had rained daily in the hills for near 

 two months before ; but then the stream was nobly broken, leaping 

 from rock to rock, and foaming with fury. On one side a towering 

 crag that spired up to equal, if not overtop, the neighbouring cliffs 

 (this lay all in shade and darkness): on the other hand a rounder 



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