268 SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



not ; for within a mile that great lake is visible, even from the road ; 

 as to going up ihe crag, one might as well go up Skiddaw. 



I now reached Ambleside, eighteen miles from Keswick, meaning 

 to lie there ; but, on looking into the best bed-chamber, dark and 

 damp as a cellar, grew delicate, gave up Wynander-mere in 

 despair, and resolved I would go on to Kendal directly, fourteen 

 miles farther. The road in general fine turnpike, but some parts 

 (about three miles in all) not made, yet without danger. 



For this determination I was unexpectedly well rewarded : for 

 tlie afternoon was fine, and the road, for the space of full five 

 miles, ran along the side ot Wynander-mere, with delicious views 

 across it, and almost from one end to the other. It is ten miles in 

 length, and at most a mile over, resembling the course of some 

 vast and magnificent river; but no flat marshy 'grounds, no 

 osier-beds, or patches of scrubby plantations on its banks: at the 

 head two valiies open among the mountains ; one, that by which 

 we came down, the other Langsledale, in which Wry.nose and 

 Hard-knot, two great mountains, rise above the rest : from thence 

 the fells visibly sink, and soften along its sides ; sometimes they 

 run into it (but with a gentle declivity) in their own dark and natural 

 complexion : oftener they are green and cultivated, with farms 

 interspersed, and round eminences, on the border covered with 

 trees : toward the south it seemed to break into large bays, with 

 several islands and a wider extent of cultivation. The way rises 

 continually, till at a place called Orrest.head it turns south-east, 

 losing sight of the water. 



[Mason's edit, of Gray's Works. 



Loch-Lomond, and the adjoining Lakes. 



NORTH-BRITAIN may well boast of its waters; for so short a 

 ride as thirty miles presents the traveller with the view of four most 

 magnificent pieces. Loch-Aw, Loch-Fine, Loch-Long, and Loch- 

 Lomond. Two indeed are of salt-water ; but, by their narrow- 

 ness, give the idea of fresh water lakes. It is an idle observation 

 of travellers, that seeing one is the same with seeing all of these 

 superb waters ; for almost every one I visited has its proper cha- 

 racters. 



Loch.Leven is a broad expanse, with isles and cultivated shores. 



