not always in sight. Others of the mountains lean their rocky heads towards each other, from opposite sides of the dale, as if wishing to embrace. The road runs along the north side of the lake, which is about three miles in length, and three quarters of a mile broad, in the widest part. Seen from the neighbouring heights, Wastdale appears like a charming recess sunk much below the common level of the earth. At the foot of the lake is Wastdale Hall, a site commanding a beautiful panoramic scene. Kirkfell, whose dark edge is Yewbarrow and Great Gable, is an oasis in the mountain desert, and boasts a thriving Pinetum amid luxuriant woods and fertile meadows: a little below this is a ravine in the Screes, called Hole Gill, containing several exquisite miniature cascades, where the delicate filmy fern grows with unwonted vigour. On the north side of the dale, a small tract of cultivated country intervenes between the lake and the mountains, divided into small farms: towards the lower end of the valley the mountains begin to sink, diminishing by degrees, until they terminate in the open country towards Ravenglass and the coasts of the Irish Sea.

The peaks around Wastdale are said to unfold their most bewitching vision when bathed in the glories of the setting sun. Then, when the grey mists of the forenoon have rolled off, ere in the west the sunlight fades away, Great Gable and his compeers often become tinted with the most delicately blended hues, an aurora-borealis of rainbow streamers, whilst their brilliant crests are reflected in the lake to a depth which seems commensurate with the height they tower above it. The clear bright atmosphere reveals every crevice of the opposite mountains: a few sheep bleat among the rocks perfect calmness reigns over the scene. O! let us bow the knee and worship Him Whose living

:

word created yon glorious orb, and measured out its path through infinity, according to the same everlasting laws wherewith He measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance."1

Although the hamlet of Wastdale consists only of six houses, it possesses a structure, dedicated to the LORD of Hosts, and a small, but neat, new school-house. This secluded mountain chapel is "a small building, certainly, and without external decoration; yet is there space enough for Him Who filleth heaven and earth with His Presence ; and beauty enough to delight Him, if but one humble spirit thither brings its offering of prayer and praise. The bell, which hangs at the roof tree, sounds forth each Sabbath a summons which is echoed by the hills, and borne along the waters; and sweet it is to think that the spiritual liturgy, which has been breathed forth for centuries beneath the vaulted roofs of our Cathedrals, is the cherished heritage of England's dalesmen; and felt by them to be a fit form in which to worship Him, in Whose

1 Isaiah xl. 12.

"The waters are accurately measured: were there a much larger proportion, the earth would become a marsh, from the superabundance of aqueous vapour falling back again in rain ; were there much less, the earth would become a desert, from a deficiency of rain. Heaven is indeed meted out; the same laws which have distributed our solar system, have arranged that universe of stars, the heavens which declare the glory of God.' The dust of the earth is comprehended in a measure; for there must be a due proportion between mountain and plain, between arable land and desert, or the present condition of the earth could not be maintained. The mountains and hills also follow those laws of gravitation, which require a due distribution of the matter of this globe. ". Rev. Joseph Baylee, D.D.

hand are all the corners of the earth,' while 'the strength of the hills is His also.'"'l

O Incarnate LORD! let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church. Be Thou unto her a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The hills stand about Jerusalem; even so do Thou, O blessed JESUS, Vouchsafe to stand round about Thy people, from this time forth for evermore.

1 Mrs. Riley.

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CHAPTER XIX.

WASTWATER Lake is formed by the expansion of the waters of the small river Irt, which rises among the mountains around the head of Wastdale. Below the Lake, near the little chapel of Wastdale hamlet, the road divides into two branches: one of these crosses the river, and coils around the foot of the lower extremity of the Screes into Miterdale: the other, after keeping company with the river a very little way, proceeds, amid pleasing views of the Vale of Ravenglass, to Gosforth, a small place where the sole object of interest is the Church, with its ancient sculptured Cross, the quaint epitaphs on the tombstones, and the peculiar cenotaphs. Between the course pursued by these two roads, the River Irt winds its tortuous career towards the little estuary at Ravenglass, where it falls into the sea. A curious thing concerning this river is mentioned by Camden: he says, "Its shellfish produce pearls, after they have been impregnated by the dew, of which they are extremely fond." Another writer says, "These pearls, however they originated, were obtained from muscles, by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who sought for them at low water, and afterwards sold them to the jewellers. About the year 1695, a

patent was granted to some gentlemen, for pearlfishing in this river: how the undertaking prospered, is uncertain, as the pearl muscles never appear to have been very plentiful here. Of late years none have been met with."1

I may here observe, that Ravenglass is a small, but ancient sea-port town, built on the borders of a creek, formed by the confluence of the rivers Irt, Mite, and Esk: the oysters on this coast are extremely fine, and the fishermen are chiefly employed in attending to the beds. A railroad now runs along this western coast of Cumberland, between the mountains and the sea, brushing the base of Black Comb. The view of the mountains is grand from the train, almost all the way from S. Bees to Broughton near Ravenglass the nook in the mountains where Wastwater is nestled can be clearly distinguished. Of the River Mite, it need only be said. that it rises under the savage clefts of Scawfell, and forms the tiny lake known as Burn-moor-tarn, which is seated behind the Screes, at the head of Miterdale, amongst fells so wild that there are scarcely sheep tracks to direct the steps of the explorer. Miterdale lies between the back (or south side) of the Screes, and the Fells of Muncaster: thence the little Mite flows across the plain into the estuary. The Esk appears to have its source somewhere between Scawfell and Bowfell: after flowing under Hardknot and Harter Fell, it receives the stream which comes through Devock-water, a miniature lake not much larger than Burn-moor-tarn, but reported to contain the finest trout in the north of England.

Further along, on the southern side of the Esk, are some singular ruins of considerable magnitude, called the city of Barnscar, ascribed by tradition

1 Beauties of England and Wales.