and other towers forms a good study. On the margin of the Derwent is a plain of considerable extent, in which is a public walk beautifully terminated by lofty cliffs, covered with trees at the other by the ruins of the castle impending over the river, whose opposite banks are diversified by tillage. Indeed the country round the town is pleasantly varied with hill and dale, wood and water. The Globe is the chief inn, and is most respectably conducted.

Before leaving this town the village of Papcastle crowning the ridge on the northern banks of the Derwent should be visited. Many of the houses are genteel and commodious; but above the village is the site of a Roman Castrum, where a great variety of coins, urns, inscriptions, remains of baths, have been found. It subsequently became the seat of the first Lords of Allerdale, before they transferred themselves to the more advantageous position occupied by Cockermouth Castle.

As Bridekirk is only two miles distant, the antiquarian tourist ought to spare time for the purpose of inspecting the rare and curious font in the parish church.

The new road from Cockermouth to Bassenthwaite lies through the cultivated vale of Embleton, stretching at a short distance in a direction parallel to that through which the Derwent flows. There is nothing very interesting for a few miles, till the traveller obtains a view of the lake, with the lordly Skiddaw booming over it, his head most probably graced with a tiara of clouds. After descending a hill, the road winds through a narrow dale, with moderate eminences on either side clothed with wood, till it reaches the water's edge; at this

point there is spread out before the eyes a sweet view of Armathwaite Hall, the residence of Sir Francis Fletcher Vane, with its trees, single or in clumps, sprinkled over the sloping lawns, the rising grounds behind enrobed with forests, and the silvery lake filling the middle of the picture.

BASSENTHWAITE WATER

Is four miles in length, and in some places almost one mile in breadth. Lying on the edge as it were of the mountain district, it is not viewed with the same interest as others both less in magnitude and inferior in beauty or grandeur. It has no islands. Its western side is bounded by the Wythop Woods and Lord's Seat, which approach close to the water's brink. Its eastern side is indented by several pretty bays and promontories, as Bradness and Scarness, which present excellent views, and rich cultivated grounds occupy the space between the margin of the lake and the lofty Skiddaw with his Dodd; on the south are the flats irrigated by the Derwent, its main feeder; and on the north are the beautiful park-grounds of Armathwaite Hall with Binsey behind. Pike and perch are its principal fish, and salmon pass through to deposit their spawn in the Derwent.

The road passing through the woods of Wythop which are too thick and umbrageous, though affording here and there partial views of the lake and Skiddaw, we should recommend going round the foot of the lake and passing by its eastern side to Keswick. The tourist must ascend the road as it rises up the hill, leading towards Ireby, and when immediately above the Haws village, he will have

the whole vale below on his right hand, a scene of rich cultivation waving with the golden harvest, the lake stretching along, gleaming and flashing under the dark woods of Wythop; houses, hamlets, woods, and the far-spreading landscape fading away in the blue mountains heaped together about the head of Derwent Water. This is a view for beauty, grandeur, and magnificence, which has not its superior. From the same point, looking westward, a different prospect is beheld, one almost entirely rural, the vale of Embleton divided from the vale of Derwent and each swelling out into eminences scarcely aspiring to be hills, and adorned with joyful crops, laughing under the ripening beams of a glowing sun. The descent is rapid down to the Haws, a village watered by a stream, called White Water Dash, and issuing from the north side of Skiddaw. The bridge is uncommonly picturesque, and indeed the artist may here enrich his portfolio with several choice studies. A chapel of ease is placed here, totally devoid of a single charm. Follow the higher road of the two, to Keswick, because its elevation gives a greater command over the details of the valley and a peep of the lake. You come into the low road, where a branch leads off to the church, which is old and was built about 1471, on the margin of the lake, not far from the promontories of Bradness and Scarness. On the direct road to Keswick, on the right, is Mirehouse, the seat of T. Spedding, Esq., enveloped in woods. The upper end of Bassenthwaite has been said to bear some resemblance to the Lake of Como. It may be worth while to deviate to Millbeck, which is situated on the left in one of those deep gullies in the front of Skiddaw. Derwent Water is seen

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from it to great advantage, with some pleasing foregrounds that are not always to be had, at least such as are suitable and appropriate. Hence to Keswick the return is through the open vale. From the stone stile leading over the fields, the church, with the Newlands mountains behind, is a pleasing object.

The next ramble we shall take is not so extensive, and is comprehended within the last, like a small circle in a larger, touching only at the common point at Keswick.

Passing over the same ground then, till he reaches Rosthwaite, the observant tourist will discover many new objects to amuse that had escaped his notice on the former occasion, even if the weather should produce no alteration in the aspect of the scenery. From this village, instead of proceeding on to Seathwaite, we shall turn sharp on the right up to Seatoller, a small hamlet seated on the mountain's side, in a recess, filled with oak, ash, birch, and larch. From a picturesque wooden bridge, appears in retrospect the mountains at the head of Watendlath and Wythburn, Rosthwaite, Camcoom Head, and Glanamara. The top of this road, which is not passable for carriages, is eight hundred and eighty feet above the Derwent.

On the right is Yew Crag Quarry: on the left that stupendous precipice Honistar Crag, rises sheer out of the valley to the height of one thousand six hundred feet, on it are extensive blue-slate quarries. The river that runs through to the lake, "in light and clouds it has its mortal birth," is as wild as the valley itself, having no banks but such as are formed of fragments of rocks; no bed, but a channel composed of rocky strata, among which the

water forces its course. Lower down is a view of Buttermere, with High Street and High Crag in the distance. The sheep-farm-house and others called Gatesgarth, stand at the end of Honistar Crag, half a mile from the head of the lake, which is here seen under the Hay Stacks, High Stile, and Red Pike, with the wooden bridge between Buttermere and Crummock, and the inn. From this hamlet are several fine views of the lakes. Hasness is on the banks of Buttermere, whence it is a mile to the inn, which is more closely and deeply entrenched in mountains than any other.

BUTTERMERE

Is a mile and a quarter long, half a mile broad, and about fifteen fathoms in depth. It is situated in a valley of its own name, and is encompassed by superb rocky mountains. Buttermere Moss and Robinson bound it on the east; the Hay Stacks, High Crag, High Stile, and Red Pike on the west; and the north end or outlet is separated from Crummock Water by a fertile plain of meadows.

The chapel of ease is a small ancient building, scarcely capable of holding more than two score souls. "A man must be very insensible who would not be touched with pleasure at the sight of this chapel, so strikingly expressing by its diminutive size, how small must be the congregation there assembled, as it were, like one family; and proclaiming at the same time to the passenger, in connection with the surrounding mountains, the depth of that seclusion in which the people live that has rendered necessary the building of a separate place of worship for so few. The edifice is scarcely