9 
1311.] Letters of a Wanderer through England and Wales, 
tlie main. Thirty thousand d'iferent gods, 
according to Varro, were worshipped in 
the single city of Rome ; it is, therefore, 
impossible for Winckelmann, or any other 
person, to be uniformly certain, accord¬ 
ing to hisown rule; and C.^Caylusjustly 
observes, that there are numerous super¬ 
stitions of the ancients with which we are 
utterly unacquainted. Winckehnann, by 
induction, pronounced the dying Gladia¬ 
tor to be a Greek Hcraid, from the cord 
around the iiuck; yet Mongeit 
lustit. Nation. § Literature, Tom ii, 
p. 435)clearly shows, that it was a collar, 
made rope fashion, of which there are 
three in Montfaucon, The figure too 
has mustachoes, the most constant of the 
characieristics wliich designate figures of 
Larbariarm. He has clearly shown the 
mistakes of Winckelmunn all Ihrough, and 
pronounces this illustrious relic to be an 
unknown dying barbarian or slave, evi¬ 
dently not a gladiator. All these errors 
proceed from the names not being inscrib¬ 
ed on the leg. as in use among the Etrus¬ 
can and early Greek sculptors, tlie base 
being liable to be broken off. 
When the scientific catalogues of the 
Townly collection are finished, it is to be 
])oped that a denomination of each marble 
will be annexed to it. How much more 
pleasant and instructive would be the ex- 
liibiiion at the Royal Academy, if the 
spectatorwere released from the tiresome 
latigue of searching the Catalogue, espe¬ 
cially as the pictures do not follow in so 
I'egular a procession as the successive 
kings of Bunquo's line, in Macbeth. The 
antique casts of this school of painting 
are named upon the base; though 
et asures show great fears of 'ao alias be¬ 
ing applicable in several instances. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
T.ETTERS OF A WAilDERER, 
LETTER Vil. 
CONCLUDED my last letter by in- 
fuming you it was our intention to 
prosecute a mountainous excursion on the 
morning after our arrival at the inn in 
Patterdalej and, vvitli that view, having 
tnade an early breakfast, we mounted 
our horses, and, preceded by a guide car¬ 
rying a basket of cold provisions for our 
day’s repast, we entered the sequestered, 
narrow, plain, from the distant vievv of 
^whici’ we had anticipated much gratifica¬ 
tion on a nearer survey of its beauties. 
Where the expectations are highly raised, 
disappointment is too frequently the con¬ 
sequence; on this occasion, we, however, 
found the promised pleasure far short of 
Monthly Mag. No. 21b. 
tlie reality; and the wild, romantic, 
charms of Patterdale exceeding our 
highest expectations. In length this val¬ 
ley is about four miles, and at the widest 
scarcely half a mile. From one extre-’ 
mity to the other, it is enclosed Ijy stu¬ 
pendous mountains, and the upper end 
displays a scene of striking grandeur and 
sublimity, wliere the rugged steeps, unit¬ 
ing with an enormous jutting precipice, 
that forms a magnificent feature in the 
landscape, are over-topped by still higher 
summits, in wild confusion rearing their 
lofty heads, and frequently, enveloped in 
the floating vapours of the sky, appear 
like towers of ancient edifices, discernible 
“ through the rolling mist of heaven.’^ 
In this valley there is a small lake, ex¬ 
tending about a mile and a half along the 
base of an almost-perpendicular, lofty 
mountain, which is in some parts clothed 
wuth brush-wood, in others, containing 
slate-quarries, bears on its shelving decli¬ 
vity iniinense heaps of rubbish, w'hich 
gradiially pressing down theirfoundatious, 
slide down the mountain’s side in stripes 
of various hues, and add much to the 
general wildness of the scene. This lake 
is usually called Broad or Brother-water. 
TJie latter appellation arises from a 
legendary tale of two brothers, who 
quarrelled with each other ou its banks; 
when, Cain-like,-one of them committed 
the unpardonable crime of fratricide, and 
was afterw’ards drowned near the spot 
where he had perpetrated the horrid 
deed. 
Not far from the extremity of the dale, 
there is an ancient family mansion, now 
fallen into disrepair } but whose situation 
is singularly picturesque, placed as it is at 
the foot of some of the highest mountains, 
and embosomed amidst a grove of trees, 
whose age appear coeval with the build-, 
ing. There are also several romantic, 
interesting, spots in Patterdale, winch, 
with the objects already mentioned as 
belonging to it, render it a scene of con¬ 
siderable beauty and sublimity. 
At a cottage, about half vvay up the' 
dale, we left our horses, and on fpot be¬ 
gan to ascend the steep and rugged moun- 
taiit on the eastern side of the plain, the 
surtace of which is covered witli an in¬ 
termixture of stunted-grass, grey rocks, 
and heath, unvaried by a single tree ur 
bush, and, far as the eye can reach, 
presenting a wide-extended tract of par- 
titjl vegetation and the bleakest wildness. 
After ascending aliout a mile and a ivalf, 
vve found ourselves on tlie summit of the 
mountain, and expected to huVe feasted 
B tour 
