THE NATURALIST 
FOR 1898. 
THE LAKE COUNTRY. 
ALBERT HENRY PAWSON, F.L.S., 
Farnley, Leeds. 
Wuere!N lies the great charm of the English Lake Country, 
for it is surely one of the sweetest spots on the earth? It is 
a mountain-land in miniature, exquisitely proportioned. e 
lakes are not too big; the valleys are not too wide ; the hills are 
not too high. They all hold each other in balance. Their — 
harmony is wonderful. In the choicest and loveliest parts of 
the district it seems as though nothing could be altered by 
a hair’s breadth without loss of beauty. Grasmere Lake, for 
instance, has been called a pond, its size being so inconsider- 
able: yet, were it larger, Helm Crag and Silver Howe would be 
dwarfed, the inverted arch of Dunmail Raise would no longer 
_ eurve in so huge a sweep, and the woods and pasture-ground 
would no more seem so rich and ample. Or if Fairfield or 
Helvellyn were to overhang the lake instead of these lesser 
ae heights, the insignificance of the water would be felt, the charm 
of the sweet vale would be lost. So Windermere and Ullswater 
may be little more than winding creeks compared with the lakes 
of other lands, but if they had been wider the hills about them 
would cease to be the majestic mountains which they now are. — 
If the Langdale Valley were broadened, the Pikes, ‘those lusty | 
twins,’ would at once lose half their grandeur. me 
The proof of this perfection of the Lake scenery is that, 
however one may wander, one always returns to it satisfied and 
__ content, and willing to maintain its beauties against all rivals. _ 
_ Comparisons for the sake of any disparagement on either side — 
are proverbially odious, but in order to form a judgment on most _ 
_, subjects they are necessary, and in speaking of a a : 
_ country one’s thoughts naturally turn to the Alps, and there is — 
. desire to compare Lakeland with Switzerland. In point om . 
fact _they have little in common—they are not. Lee Sly 
sublimi cis be the annie the. terri ible: + inaccess aks pata 
