of which we look down, almost perpendicularly, observing every sweep in the line of shore. Beyond these the mountains, with verdant skirts, and bosoms purpled with heath, rise in various forms, and discover a small elevated lake, called Elter-water, seated high in the dimpled breast of one of them, and sending forth a silvery stream, which joins the Brathay, and thence pushes over a succession of little cascades to mighty Winandermere. This famous lake, which gradually unfolds itself during our ascent, now spreads out far and wide a shining mirror, studded with numerous islands, and half intersected by stretching promontories. Irregular broken ridges of mountains bound the lake; but more humble than the guardians of those lakes we have before seen, and softened with a profusion of wood, running up from the embayed borders of the water almost to the summits of the hills.. Over the western boundary of Winandermere, Esthwaite-water, a small lake in Lancashire, is seen, extending towards Hawkshead; and to the right of that Conistone-lake, an extensive sheet of water, stretches in a long line, among the high rocky feils of Furness. Farther still, the Irish Sea shines in the horizon, and washes a very indented shore.Tracing back the prospect, the town of Ambleside stands just before us; while Rydal-hall is hid under the brow of the mountain upon which we stand.On the other side the range of mountains extends to an imperceptible distance, covered with a dry verdant turf, and rising up in pointed summits of different elevations; the most prominent of which are Dow-crags, Grisdale-pike, and Helvellin. Nothing can be conceived more romantic than an excursion over the tops of these mountains, which, with a guide, may be made without either danger or inconvenience. と The anonymous writer of "A Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes," traversed these hills to Helvellin, and, in his jocular style, has given the following account of his views from thence: "We then clambered to a heap of stones upon Grisdale-pike, or, as it is called by the country people, in remembrance of some rustic fun, Dolly Waggon-pike; and, I may venture to say, she has a more commanding prospect than any dolly in the kingdom; to the west, immense mountains that hide the vale of Borrowdale, shewing three lakes, and the sea bounding them; to the east, fleecy clouds are rolling about the hills, and she appears (from our si tuation) the head of a delightful valley and of Ulleswater; plainly shewing us Gowbarrow Park, Dunmallet Head, and the outlet of the lake. "We are in the midst of sharp whirlwinds, which rustle up the dry moss, and by lifting up the skirts of my coat, have given some fine colours to my back. "On Whelp side we see Bassenthwaite-lake; and, after declining in order to ascend the south-east flank of Helvellin, a hill, a mile long, extends to the east, so narrow you might sit across any part of the ridge. The clouds are flying before the wind, and reflect their shadows so fantastically, that beggars what we admired when on Windermere." After mentioning his arrival at the highest pinnacle of Helvellin, he says:-"The view gets more hazy, still the magnificence around us is beyond description. Mountains towering above hills, as if they were parents of numerous families, and Helvellin in the centre of them.-Skiddaw is below us to the north. Cross-fell is large enough to be visible from an exalted summit, and is only exceeded by Ingleborough, in Yorkshire, which holds her crowned head amidst a chain of hills, and seems from her height deserving of her royal appearance. Old Man is just in sight, and old friends der serve not to be forgotten. Place-fell cuts off a branch of Ulleswater, and makes the shape of the lake lake resemble a pair of breeches, inlaid with pasturage about the old church, as rich as nature and industry can make it." On resuıning our road to Ambleside, we pass through the valley in front of Rydal hall, and for some distance among the grounds that belong to it, where again the taste of the owner is conspicuous in the disposition of plantations among pastures of extraordinary richness, and where pure rivulets are suffered to wind, without restraint, over their dark rocky channels. Woods mantle up the cliffs on either side of this sweet valley; and higher still, the craggy summits of the fells crowd over the scene.-Two miles among its pleasant shades, near the banks of the murmuring Rotha, brings us to AMBLESIDE, a small market-town, standing in a pleasant situation, and tolerably built, though it has only the appearance of a large village. Its market is on Wednesday, but no principal manufacture is carried on here; the goods made being chiefly for the manufacturers in Kendal. It consists, according to the late population act, of 122 bouses, and 338 inhabitants; viz. 258 males, and 280 females, of whom 187 were returned as being employed in various trades and manufactures, and 127 in agriculture. Ambleside is situated on the steep decline of a hill, at the head of Winandermere-lake, between which and the town, there appears to have been a fort of an oblong figure, about 165 yards in length, and 100 in breadth. It has been secured by a strong rampart and a ditch, and in every part are vast heaps of stones, bricks, &c. This station lies in a meadow on a level with the water, and is supposed to be that called the Dictis, where part of the Cohors Nervicrum Dictentium was stationed. At present the traces of the antiquity of Ambleside are almost defaced; the modern inhabitants have, however, preserved a few of the Roman monuments which were formerly discovered, In Cam "den's den's time many ruins of the ancient Ambogana of the Romans were to be seen here; the extent of the fortress, as he gives the dimensions, was one hundred and thirty-two ells in length, and eighty in breadth. Roman bricks, urns, and other earthen vessels, glass lachrymals, coins, mill-stones, or quern stones, as he calls them, were frequently found here; the ground, in which the traces of such places is now to be seen, forms an oblong square with obtuse angles, and lies near the river Brathay. A little to the south of the above station is Winandermere, of which Mr. Hutchinson has given the following description: "This lake is very different from those of Cumberland, being in length about 12 computed miles, and not a mile in width in the broadest part; the hills seen around the lake, except those above Ambleside, are humble; the margin of the water is irregular and indented, and every where composed of cultivated lands, woods, and pastures, which descend with an easy fall down to the lake, forming a multitude of bays and promontories, and giving it the appearance of a large river; in the narrowest parts not unlike the Thames below Richmond. On that part where Furness-fells forms the shore, the scene is more rude and romantic.The western side of this lake is in Lancashire, the eastern in Westmoreland. As we sailed down the lake, we had two views, which comprehended all the beauties of the lake. We rested upon the oars, in a situation, where, looking down the lake, we took into the prospect the greatest extent of water; the shore was indented by woody promontories, which shot into the lake on each side to a considerable distance; to the right were the hills of Furness-fell, which are the highest that arise immediately from the water, consisting chiefly of rocks, which, though not rugged and deformed, have their peculiar beauty, being scattered over with trees and shrubs, each growing separate and distant; the brow of this rock rock overlooks a pretty peninsula, on which the ferry boat-house stands, concealing its white front in a grove of sycamores. Whilst we were looking on it, the boat was upon its way, with several horsepassengers, which greatly graced the scene; to the left, a small island of a circular form, covered with a thicket of ash and birch wood; beyond which, the hills that arose from the lake in gentle ascents to the right, were covered with rich herbage and irregular groves; on the left side of the lake, inclosures of meadow, sweeping gently away from the water, lay bounded by a vast tract of woods, and overtopped with hills of moorish ground and heath; the most distant heights, which formed the back ground, were fringed with groves, over which they lifted theirbrown eminences, in various shapes. Upwards, on the lake, we looked on a large island of about thirty acres, of meagre pasture ground, in an irregular oblong figure; here and there some misshapen oak trees bend their crooked branches on the sandy brinks, and one little grove of sycamores shelters a cottage. The few natural beauties of this island are wounded and distorted by some ugly rows of firs set in right lines, and by the works now carrying on by the proprietor, who is laying out gardens on a square plan, building fruit walls, and preparing to erect a mansion house. The want of taste is a misfortune too often attending the architect; the romantic site of this place, on so noble a lake, and surrounded with such scenes, requires the finest imagination and most finished judginent to design the plan of an edifice and pleasure-grounds; but, instead of that, to see a Dutch Burgomaster's palace arise, and a cabbage garth extend its bosom to the east, squared and cut out at right angles, is so of fensive to the traveller's eye, that he turns away in disgust. "I would overlook this misshapen object, whilst I view |