12 ‘Fournal written during a hafty Ramble to the Lakes. [Auguft 1, 
fand, which fo recently had been covered 
by the ocean, that not the fmalleft trace of 
human footfleps was vifible. At the com- 
mencement of this fingular feene, the in- 
habitant of an inland country feems to bid 
adieu te his accuftomed modes of life, to 
all the little objeéts by which his eye had 
been bounded, and to enter on a new re- 
gion of enjoyment. I could now form 
fome faint idea of travelling over the de- 
farts of Arabia; for here no wanderer ven- 
tures alone, but waits to join fome caravan, 
and fellows with implicit confidence the di- 
rection of him who has gone before. Af- 
ter riding fome miles, the united water 
of the rivers Ken and Winfter prefents it- 
felf, anda guide who is waiting on the other 
fide, and whois allowed a falary by govern- 
ment for the purpofe, comes to conduct 
you over, At fometimes this water, 
which mingles with the tide, 1s fo high, as 
to oblige the horfes to {wim 3 it was con- 
fiderably lower when we pafied, and fo no- 
vel ard fo interefting was the fcenery 
around, that we felt no emotions but thofe 
arifing from enjoyment. A fine bay ex- 
tends itfelf to the right, bounded by moun- 
tains of confidcrable magnitude; others 
range themfeives behind, to a height and 
a diftance where the eye is ata lols to dif- 
tinguifh them from the clouds; fome of 
the lower ones are crowned with groves of 
firs, and the intervening valleys are orna- 
mented with cottages, and fome houfes of 
a higher order, though not ina fiyle of 
pomp fufacient to fpoil, to the genuine 
Jover of nature, the beauty of the fcene. 
In the front, gently floping grounds and 
villages meet the eye, while veflels of dif- 
ferent fizes, waiting the return of the tice, 
ornament the beach; andto the left, the 
ocean fpreads its awful grandeur. This 
ample bay extends about fourteen miles 
acro{s, and as the tide advances or re- 
cedes, alternately dilplays parties on horfe- 
back, and in carriages, with cheertulneds 
aod fecwity traverfing its fhelly floor, or 
the fifhing- {mack and the feuller contend- 
ing with iis majeftic wayes. Atter riding 
about three miles over a peninfula, another 
tract of fand lefs extenfive prefente itfelf; 
the aitendant fcenery, probably by being 
netrer, appears more rich and itereiting. 
Cottages, tarms, feats, villages, and ruins, 
are agreeably interfperfed, while the Cart. 
mel Fels, and the Weftmorland moun- 
tains, bound and aggrandize the finifhed 
picture. An obftrutiing mift had at firft 
contra@ed our view to very narrow limits, 
but the beaming fun foon ‘gave us all the 
heightening effects of hght and fhace. The 
fiver vapour gradually fole away cown 
the gentle declivities.of fome mountains ; 
and denie and folemn clouds on the more 
tremendous fummits of others, flowly, ari. 
“fing, and evaporating in lingering columns, 
produced all the appearance of volcanoes. 
Furnefs Abbey was the grand objeét we 
had to fee that day, and: thither we haf. 
tened, after a fhort repaft at Ulverfton. As 
you approach this auguft ruin, the road 
winds through a deep fequeltered deil, 
where the mind almoft lofes its recolleétion 
of the bufy haunts of men, and where it 
becomes infenfibly attuned to the feene it 
is approaching. The firft vettige of the 
objeét you are feeking is a fine arched gate- 
way, overhung with the mof juxuriant 
ivy. Through this you have an indif- 
tinét view of the abbey, the cffeé&t of which 
is heightened by the thade of old oaks and 
fycamores. As the traveller approaches, 
he is difpofed to blame fome ill judging 
proprietor, for fuffering modern houles to 
ftart before his view, and to pollute the 
fombre fcene: but on proceeding, magni- 
ficent columns and auguft arches meet the 
eye, thofe vulgar intrufions are forgotten, 
and the mind becomes abforbed in recol- 
lections of other times. The feelufion of 
the glen where this venerable ruin is fitu- 
ated, the fight of mouldering towers and 
broken arches, fhaded by trees which ap- 
pear to havecombated the ftorms of a cen- 
tury, all difpofe to that contemplative fi- 
lence which loves not to be interrupted 5 
and our little party infenfibly found itfelf 
feparating, each individual choofing his 
own way amid long dank gra(s and path- 
lefs fern, to that part of the hallowed pile 
where he could beft indulge his own reflec- 
ticns: nor were we in much danger of 
encountering each other till curiofity had 
fatiated itfelf, or reflection was weary ; 
for {o large is the {pace occupied by this 
edifice, tnat there was full {cope for the 
wandering of each. I had with fome dif, 
ficulty clambered to an apartment, which 
perhaps appeared more interefting from its 
being lefs acceffible. Beneath one of ifs 
arched door ways, involving darknels and 
myftery, and deeply overhung with ivy, 
lay half concealed in grafs and fern a large 
fkeleton, while, unconcious of dilturbing. 
either the living or the dead, an owl ftarted 
from the ivy above me, 
¢¢ Where, fhelter’d from the blaze of day, 
In folitary gloom fhe lay, 
Beneath the time-fhook tower,” 
and cenvinced me that I had obtruded on 
both. I hattened from this fcene of loneli- 
nefs, to what appeared to have been the 
principal aifle of the church, where the long 
2 pet- 
