RED BANK. 77 



and its rocky crest forms the group called the Lion 

 and the Lamb. This rock, us seen from Dunmail 

 EaisCj goes by the name of the Astrologer, from 

 a fancied resemblance to the figure of an old man 

 reading a book. The long white house, near the 

 foot of Dunmail Raise, is the Swan Inn, a country 

 hostelry, whence Scott, Southey, and Wordsworth 

 set forth on ponies for the ascent of the mountain ; 

 and behind it rises the path by which pedestrians 

 cross from Grasmere to Patterdale, by the margin 

 of Grisedale Tarn, — the mountain-tarn of the 

 wild boar, as the words properly signify. To 

 the left of Helm Crag, a deep valley evidently 

 opens; that is Easedale; and there our tourist is 

 to go to-day. Meantime, let him linger awhile, 

 that he may learn by heart every feature of this 

 gay and lovely scene. The lane to the right con- 

 ducts him to the grassy bridle-road called Lough- 

 rigg Terrace, (see p. 65,) where the best views are 

 obtained of both Grasmere and Rydal lakes, and 

 which leads along the uplands, and then by Rydal 

 Lake, back to the valley of the Rothay. We must 

 leave it now, and plunge down Red Bank, which 

 has the characteristics of a Norwegian road. At 

 the cistern at the bottom, the stranger enters his 

 car, and passes farmhouses between him and the 

 lake, and villas on the rocky and wooded bank on 

 the left ; and, at the corner, where the road turns 

 to the village, the cluster of lodging-houses, called 

 St. Oswald^s, where a hydropathic establishment 

 struffffled on for a time, but found the Westmor- 

 land winter too long for invalids. 



The driver may stop at the Red Lion, to order 

 dinner. It is an old-fashioned little place, much 



