An alteration in the current of the river has swept
away the beach, and the tree, too, has fallen. All these things were
interesting to me, although Southey was not, I think, a picturesque man,
--not one whose personal character takes a strong hold on the
imagination. In these walks he used to wear a pair of shoes heavily
clamped with iron; very ponderous they must have been, from the
particularity with which the gardener mentioned them.
The gardener took leave of us at the front entrance of the grounds, and,
returning to the King's Arms, we ordered a one-horse fly for the fall of
Lodore. Our drive thither was along the banks of Derwentwater, and it is
as beautiful a road, I imagine, as can be found in England or anywhere
else. I like Derwentwater the best of all the lakes, so far as I have
yet seen them. Skiddaw lies at the head of a long even ridge of
mountains, rising into several peaks, and one higher than the rest. On
the eastern side there are many noble eminences, and on the west, along
which we drove, there is a part of the way a lovely wood, and nearly the
whole distance a precipitous range of lofty cliffs, descending sheer down
without any slope, except what has been formed in the lapse of ages by
the fall of fragments, and the washing down of smaller stones. The
declivity thus formed along the base of the cliffs is in some places
covered with trees or shrubs; elsewhere it is quite bare and barren. The
precipitous parts of the cliffs are very grand; the whole scene, indeed,
might be characterized as one of stern grandeur with an embroidery of
rich beauty, without lauding it too much.
Pages:
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251