THE LAKE DISTRICT 197 



What is a great inducement to take a piscatory ramble 

 among the Cumberland and Westmoreland waters, is 

 the kiad and hospitable attention of the country people. 

 This is very strikingly displayed iu almost every locality 

 the angler can frequent. Everythiug bespeaks real kind- 

 liness, cleanliness, and comfort. There are certainly no 

 fashionable elegances, no parade of ceremonies ; but the 

 tourist is sure to receive a true welcome, which is far 

 superior to the customary formalities, ia which the heart 

 has seldom any part. It is a pleasant thing, after a 

 long day's fagging at the river's side, through a lonely 

 country, to meet a friendly expression of countenance 

 and a cordial welcome. This finds the way to the heart, 

 and tells you, in the language of the affections, to 

 consider yourself no longer a stranger, but at home. 

 Under such circumstances, the exquisite lines of Catullus 

 have often been recalled to our mind — 



" Oil quid est solatia beatius curis ! 

 Cum meus onus reponit, ao peregrino 

 Fessi labore venimus larem ad sacrum." 



How delightful to wander through these solitudes of 

 nature ! How full of interest to the human soul ! We 

 never seem to appreciate the quick animating principle 

 of our being, until we are fairly engulfed in these deep 

 recesses, where the foot of man seldom treads, and his 

 voice is seldom heard. In those inward breathings of 

 the soul which such localities inspire, how often have 

 we thought of the lines of Byron — 



" There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 

 There is a pleasure on the lonely shore. 



There is society where none intrudes, 

 By the deep sea, and music in its roar : 

 I love not man the less, but nature more, 



For these our interviews, in which I steal 

 From all I may be, or have been before, 



To mingle with the universe, and feel 



What I can ne'er express, yet oaimot all conceal." 



We must now turn for a short period to another class 

 of waters, in which there is a considerable range of 

 sporting displayed, though of a somewhat different 



