We were waited
upon by two women, who looked and acted not unlike the countryfolk of New
England,--say, of New Hampshire,--except that these may have been more
deferential.
While we remained here, I took various walks to get a glimpse of
Helvellyn, and a view of Thirlmere,--which is rather two lakes than one,
being so narrow at one point as to be crossed by a foot-bridge. Its
shores are very picturesque, coming down abruptly upon it, and broken
into crags and prominences, which view their shaggy faces in its mirror;
and Helvellyn slopes steeply upward, from its southern shore, into the
clouds. On its eastern bank, near the foot-bridge, stands Armboth House,
which Miss Martineau says is haunted; and I saw a painted board at the
entrance of the road which leads to it advertising lodgings there. The
ghosts, of course, pay nothing for their accommodations.
At noon, on the day after our arrival, J----- and I went to visit the
Enchanted Castle; and we were so venturesome as to turn aside from the
road, and ascend the declivity towards its walls, which indeed we hoped
to surmount. It proved a very difficult undertaking, the site of the
fortress being much higher and steeper than we had supposed; but we did
clamber upon what we took for the most elevated portion, when lo! we
found that we had only taken one of the outworks, and that there was a
gorge of the hill betwixt us and the main walls; while the citadel rose
high above, at more than twice the elevation which we had climbed.
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