thrown into the basin, not a single stem of brushwood that starts from its craggy sides, but has its picturesque meaning; and the little central stream, dashing down a cleft of the darkest coloured stone, produces an effect of light and shadow beautiful beyond description.' When Wordsworth was a younger man than he is now, he sketched the scene in the following manner :

'While thick above the rill the branches close,
In rocky basin its wild waves repose;
Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green,

Cling from the rocks with pale wood-weeds between;
Save that aloft the subtle sunbeams shine

On withered briars, that o'er the crags recline,-
Sole light admitted there: a small cascade

Illumes with sparkling foam the impervious shade;
Beyond, along the vista of the brook,

Where antique roots its bristling course o'erlook,
The eye reposes on a secret bridge,

Half grey, half shagg'd with ivy to its ridge.'

"As I came away from the falls, I went once more to the wooden bridge that crosses the Rothay towards Loughrigg Fell, and mused on the running waters. There were four or five large white pigs asleep on the cool green grass beside the stream, sheltered from the sultry sun. As they lay together heads and tails, one partly upon another, they formed a complete picture of indolent happiness."

"I can see them now lying heads and tails on the green grass."

"And then there were cattle of different colours

standing in the water, idly lashing their backs with their tails, almost as happy as the sleeping swine." "What pictures you do draw!"

"You may loiter on and near the turnpike-road all the way from Ambleside to Keswick, continually finding something to amuse you. The stage-coach passes you, heavily laden outside and in; a party of ladies are walking abroad for the benefit of the air; an open carriage comes down the hill, full of well-dressed company; a fisherman is seen slightly throwing his long line on the surface of the running brook; and then the mountains, the meres, and the glowing skies. After seeing the Rydal Falls, I found, at no great distance from Grasmere Water, an old quarry, or as I will call it, a rocky temple, one of the most beautiful scenes in miniature that I ever gazed on."

"Describe it! please to describe it !"

"I entered it by a water-course through a narrow pass, and found it almost as hot as a baker's oven, for the sun had been shining into it from above for hours. Its sides were formed of many-coloured slaty stone, festooned with creeping and pendant plants, that hung from them in romantic profusion, while three or four streams poured down in different directions from the top. I gazed on the scene with delight."

"And so should I, if I had been with you."

"Not ten minutes had I left the place, before I again fell in with Wordsworth, the laureate, with whom I had had an agreeable interview, which shall be described to you, at Rydal Mount. Sir,' said I, after a cordial

6

shake of the hand,' your mountains and meres and natural beauties are not the only attractions of this delightful neighbourhood, for some of your old stone quarries are lovely to look upon. I then in vivid language, being full of my subject, described the glowing scene I had so recently witnessed. The poet was evidently pleased with my description, and said, 'Sir, all might find these secluded temples of beauty, but all will not give themselves the trouble to seek them."

"I am glad that you met again with the poet. Was he walking or riding?"

"He was on foot, but his four-wheeled carriage came up while we were talking, and away he went towards Keswick. I soon mounted a hill, and as I looked down on Grasmere Water and Rydalmere, with Knab Scar on one side of them and Loughrigg Fell on the other, the fanciful thought struck me, that they seemed as if they had agreed to dwell together in peace, and to adopt the two lakes as their children. Pleased with this fancy, I directly put it into poetry."

"Did you? then I should very much like to hear it. Please to repeat the lines."

"Listen then, and you shall have them.

Said old Knab Scar to Loughrigg Fell,

"In peace together let us dwell,
And form two lakes, however rude,
To cheer us in our solitude.

E'en now the sun is breaking forth,
Take you the south, and I the north,
And Rydal Lake and Grasmere Water
Shall be to us a son and daughter.'

'Agreed!' said Loughrigg Fell, and there
The lakes and mountains still appear;
The mountains towering to the sky,
With the clear, sparkling waters by.

And now you have had quite enough of my loiterings about Grasmere Water."

38

CHAPTER IV.

LOITERINGS ABOUT RYDAL WATER.

Eagerness for that in which the heart delights.-Rydal Water seen from different situations.-Troutbeck.-Potter Fell.-Brotherdale. -Whinfell Beacon.-The bulls, the constables, and the bridges.The giant.-Kirkstone Pass.-The highest house in England.-The black beetle. The churlish dog. The two heifers.-Visit to Wordsworth, the laureate, at Rydal Mount.-Last composition of Coleridge.

IN childhood and in youth, in manhood and in age, how eager are we to attain that in which our hearts delight! It was not long before Paul Ritter again enlisted his father in the relation of his interesting narrative.

"If Windermere is large, Paul," said he, "Rydal Water is very small-not more, perhaps, than half a mile long, and the third of a mile broad. Beauty, however, is not dependant on size, for in lingering and musing around Rydalmere, I found loveliness for the eye, and pleasure for the heart. I gazed on the lake from the wooden bridge, from the road, from Knab Scar, and from Loughrigg Fell, as well as from Rydal Park, and Ivy Cottage, and mused away many an agreeable hour in my loiterings. As I looked up Rydal Water at one time, a light blue smoke from among the distant trees curled up the hills, leading my thoughts heavenward. As I