1800. ] 
lake were ftill grand, though diminifhed ; 
while the furrounding {eas of mountains, 
too numerous to number, ttood like trans- 
fixed waves, the fhadows of their fum- 
mits giving an inexpreflible foftnefs to the 
intervening declivities, and adding new 
beauties to the lake they embcfomed. On 
the weft, the ocean Spread its glories to our 
view ; the Ifle of Man ornamenting the 
fcene, and Scotland with its difinguithed 
towns and hills aggrandizing the north. 
So vait 1s the range and fo numerous the 
onjeéts, that the eye was gled toclofe, and 
repoie itftlf for a moment, while the mind 
involuntarily breathed, 
§« Vifions of glory, fpare my aching fight !” 
We turned from this ftupendous fcene 
of grandeur with regret, and would plad- 
ly have fiayed lorger, but the air, although 
in the vailey the néat was fo intenfe that 
we could with difficulty proceed, is fo ex- 
tremely celd and piercing, that it is dan- 
gerous to remain long at the top. Parties 
have fometimes been fo completely enve- 
Jeped in clouds, as to be 1endered inca- 
pable of finding their way down, snd 
becn reduced to the neceffiry of paffing 
the night on the fummit of this avgutt 
movntain!. Fortunately for us, the day 
was remarkably clear, and few are the 
adventurers whoare favoured with a more 
extenfive view, Other guides and other 
wanderers approached tne tep while we 
were on it, and each feemed giad to com. 
municate emotion, and to participate en- 
jcyment ; and we began our defcent with 
the confeicufnefs of ample recompenfe for 
our labour. When we had reached the 
inn, we tound we had been feven hours in 
making this pilgrimage of ten miles, 
though our loite: ings had neither been long 
nor frequent. Benevolent and interefling 
ftranger, though we have parted from thee 
for ever, yet fo long as Ski’ low can be 
recoile&ted, the fociety whic.s rendered its 
afcent delighttul fhall not be forgetten !—- 
The next day we left Kefwick, and re- 
traced our road back; but fo different a 
view does this enchanting {cenery prefent, 
when contemplated from different afpects, 
that we found it as interefting as a new 
ride. ‘The firft range cf mcuntains before 
us had acquired an awful darknefs by the 
fhadows of impending clouds, though not 
at all veiled in their mift, as we had often 
feen them; a range beyond were gilt with 
glittering fun-beams, while their fummits 
were jult dimly feen through feas of filver 
vapour. The eye unaccuftomed to this 
fcenery can have no adequate ideas of the 
wariety, the beauty, or the grandeur pro. 
Montuix Mac. No, 63. . 
Sournal written during a Ramble to the Lakes, 
121 
duced by light and fhade on thefe magni’ 
ficent moun’aims. 
*« Who can paint like nature ? 
—Can imagination boatt, 
Amidft its gay creation, hues like her’s ? 
Or canit mix them with that matchlefs fkill, 
And lofe them ia each other?” 
By quitting the road, and waking 
through a narrow lane, we gained a good 
view of Lethes-water, which we had only 
had a tranfient gaze at in going. About 
the middle, it 1s interfected by two penin- 
fulas; the thepherds have united thefe, by 
piling heaps of loofe ftones, and laying 
planks from one to the other, thus form- 
ing a bridge fuitable to the genius of the 
place. Near this is an interefling old 
houfe on the margin of the lake, over 
which the windows of its Gothic parlour 
open fecluded from all human obferva- 
tion, and fecluding every objet but the 
water and its furrounding mountains. 
This habitation is ccompietely theltered 
from the view of the traveller along the 
common road: it feems a ‘ thelter from 
the blaft,”’ and an inviting abode for him 
«¢ whom nature’s works can charm.” 
We gave our horfes water at the cot- 
tage ale houfe we had flept at in going, 
and felt rejoiced that it was neither night 
nor dark to eblige us to fleep there again. 
Helm crag foon attra@ed our attention ; 
it appeared more tremendous this way than 
it had done the other. The vaft cha'm or 
crater near its fummit was more percep- 
tible, and the projecting cliff on its point 
looked like an enormeus giant guarding 
his tremendous domains. 
At Rydall we fiopped to fee the water- 
falls at $t. Michael le Fleming’s. Rude 
winding paths conduét you through the 
wild undrefs fcenery of nature to that 
which is moft remote from the houle, till, 
fromaconfiderable elevation, you difcover 
it rufhing amidft ornamental thickets 
through a fort of arch of its Own exca- 
vating, down -a precipice, into an ample 
refervoir its force has formed, from whence 
the feathe: y foam rifes inthe fineit particles, 
and fills the adjacent atmofphere with a 
tranfparent filvery fhower. From this re- 
fervoir it rolls ‘magnificenily over beds of 
fragtured reck, toa diftance far greater 
than the hafty traveller is fuffered to trace 
it. You are led back again to the road, 
and afier a few paces re-enter the inclo- 
fure, into a more ornamented part near 
the houfe, and from thence defcend into a 
dark walk, inclofed by a deep fhade of 
fits from every objet below and around 
you. After making a fudden angle, a 
little rude byilding, which bounds the 
view 


