Page images
PDF
EPUB

194

CHAPTER XVII.

LOITERINGS ABOUT ULLESWATER.

Paul Ritter's unwelcome reflection.-Handsome Ulleswater.-Merry Carlisle.-Wordsworth's estimate of Ulleswater.-The lake visited from Matterdale.-Hallin Fell and Skelley Neb.-Birk Fell and Stybarrow Crag.-Gowbarrow Park.-Lyulph's Tower.-Airey Force.-Mountains seen from near Lyulph's Tower, and from the Blowick Slate Quarry.-Whinfell Forest.-The Hart's-horn Tree. -Greystoke Park.-Brougham Castle.-Lowther Park and Castle.-Long Meg and her Daughters.-Useful and practical remarks. -Conclusion.

THOUGH Paul Ritter put as bright a face on the matter as he was able, yet was it by no means a pleasant reflection that his father had described all the lakes but one. However, of that one he was about to hear all particulars; and as a present gratification with young people is usually more absorbing than a future benefit, his eyes were soon sparkling at his father's account of his loiterings about Ulleswater. In truth there were many circumstances likely to increase his pleasure, for Ulleswater being so noble a lake, and having around it so many places and objects of interest, a description of it embraced more points than many of the relations he had before heard. In addition to this, it being the last

[graphic][merged small]

lake to be described, Paul's father did his best to make it interesting.

"And now, Paul, for my loiterings about Ulleswater," said he cheerfully; "let us see if we cannot throw a little additional life into the affair, and finish up our history in a creditable manner. I have heard the lake called 'Handsome Ulles water,' but, in my opinion, handsome is too poor a word. It is not often that names given to places are happy in all respects. Carlisle is frequently called Merry Carlisle,' but there have been times when the inhabitants of that city were anything but merry. In the reign of Charles I. it was besieged by the parliamentary forces, under the command of general Lesley, when so great was the distress of both the inhabitants and the garrison, that they were glad to get horseflesh, and dogs, and rats for food."

[ocr errors]

"No, they could not be very merry then, certainly. What distress they must have been in !"

"War ever brings crime, and distress, and misery in its train; but we must not make it the subject of our present remarks. Wordsworth says of Ulleswater, that it possesses, perhaps, the happiest combination of beauty and grandeur of any of the lakes. This is a high compliment, but hardly a higher one than it deserves. Before visiting Ulleswater, I had seen it at a distance from several eminences, yet had I no conception that so many beauties, as I approached it, would burst upon me."

"Which way did you go to it-straight from Brothers'

Water?"

"No, Paul. To tell you the truth, though I am describing Ulleswater last, I saw it before I saw Brothers' Water. It would never do, however, to finish my loiterings among the lakes with remarks on so small a mere as Brothers' Water. As a general rule, a lake should not be looked at the same way that its water runs, for in that case the high mountains which give it birth, or supply it, are usually lost sight of in the view. This is not the case when you look up a lake, or towards its source, instead of looking down it."

"I see; that is very clear."

"In order, then, to see Ulleswater to the best advantage, I went from Wythburn to Lothwaite in the vale of St. John, and crossed over to Matterdale. The sky was almost as bright as the sun that was lighting it up with his unbearable beams; and what with Gowbarrow Park and Airey Force thundering down the Ghyll, and the two higher reaches of the lake, and Stybarrow Crag, and the magnificent heights on the other side of Ulleswater, altogether its effect was wondrous. Oh!' said I, bursting into poetry

[ocr errors]

There's beauty in the scenes around,

And wildness in the fall,

And grandeur in the lofty crags,

And glory in them all! "

"I do not at all wonder at your bursting into poetry."

"Ulleswater is the largest of all the lakes, with the exception of Windermere, extending itself nine miles, with a breadth of one mile, and a depth of two hundred

« PreviousContinue »