the residence of H. Curwen Esq. The island is rather more than a mile in cir cumference, containing upwards of thirty acres. Neat walks, over which fine trees throw their massive arms, intersect the island, which in high floods is cut in two. Strangers are allowed to land; and as the views are extremely pleasing, they should avail themselves of the privilege. The village of Bowness is a pretty object on the east margin of the lake. * One mile and a half from the Ferry Inn, the stream called Cunsey, which runs from Esthwaite Water,

* This island was formerly the property and residence of the Philipsons, an ancient Westmorland family, who were also owners of Calgarth. During the civil war between Charles I. and the Parliament, there were two brothers, both of whom had espoused the royal cause. The elder, to whom the island belonged, was a Colonel, and the younger a Major in the royal army. The latter was a man of high and adventurous courage; and from some of his desperate exploits had acquired amongst the Parliamentarians the appellation of Robin the Devil. It happened when the king's death had extinguished for a time the ardour of the cavaliers, that a certain Colonel Briggs, an officer in Oliver's army, resided in Kendal, who having heard that Major Philipson was secreted in his brother's house on Belle Isle, went thither armed with his double authority, (for he was a civil magistrate as well as a military man

Great on the bench, great in the saddle,

Mighty he was at both of these,

And styled of War as well as Peace,)

with the view of making a prisoner of so obnoxious a person. The Major, however, was on he alert, and gallantly withstood a siege of eight months, until his brother came to his relief. The attack being thus repulsed, the Major was not a man who would sit down quietly under the injury he had received. He therefore raised a small band of horse and set forth one Sunday morning in search of Briggs. Upon arriving at Kendal, he was informed that the Colonel was at prayers. Without further consideration he proceeded to the church, and having posted his men at the entrance, dashed forward himself down the principal aisle into the midst of the assemblage. Whatever were his intentions-whether to shoot the Colonel on the spot, or merely to carry him off prisoner-they were defeated: his enemy was not present. The congregation was at first too much surprised to seize the Major, who, in discovering that his object could not be effected, galloped up the next aisle. As he was making his exit from the church, his head came violently in contact with the arch of the door-way, which was much smaller than that through which he had entered. His helmet was struck off by the blow, his saddle girth gave way, and he himself was much stunned. The congregation, taking advantage of the confusion, attempted to seize him; but with the assistance of his followers, the Major made his escape after a violent struggle, and rode back to his brother's house. The helmet still hangs in one of the aisles of Kendal church. This incident furnished Sir Walter Scott with a hint for his description of a similar adventure in Rokeby, canto vi.

"All eyes upon the gateway hung,

When through the Gothic arch there sprung

A horseman arm'd at headlong speed-
Sable his cloak, his plume, his steed-
Fire from the flinty floor was spurn'd,
The vaults unwonted clang return'd!
One instant's glance around he threw
From saddlebow his pistol drew,
Grimly determin'd was his look,
His charger with his spurs he struck-
All scatter'd backward as he came,
For all knew Bertram Risingham.
Three bounds that noble courser gave,
The first has reach'd the central nave,

is crossed. At a short distance from the place where this stream joins the lake, is the island called Ling Holm. On the opposite margin, the Storrs promontory is seen projecting into the lake. Two miles beyond is the village of Graithwaite, in the vicinity of which is Graithwaite Hall, (J. J. Rawlinson, Esq.) From this place to Newby Bridge the road passes through a woodland section of the country, consisting chiefly of coppices. As the foot of the lake is approached, it narrows rapidly and becomes truly

"Wooded Winandermere, the river-lake."

Landing, (John Harrison, Esq.,) is passed on the left shortly before reaching Newby Bridge, at which there is a comfortable inn. The stream which issues from the lake takes the name of the Leven. From this place to the principal towns in the neighbourhood, the distances are:-Ulverston, eight miles. Kendal, by way of Cartmell Fell, ten miles-by Levens Bridge, fifteen miles. Ambleside, by the road we have described, fifteen miles. Bowness, nine miles. On crossing the bridge, Mr Machell's neat residence is seen on the right, and further on, Fell Foot, (- Starkie, Esq.,) is passed on the left; a short distance beyond, Town Head, (Wm. Townley, Esq.,) is near the road on the left, about two miles from Newby Bridge. The road passes under an eminence of the Cartmell Fell chain, called Gummer's How, which forms a conspicuous object in all views from the upper end of the lake. Six miles from Newby Bridge is Storrs Hall, the mansion of the late John Bolton, Esq. (now Rev. T. Stanaforth), seated amongst fine grounds which extend to the margin of the lake. It was built by Sir John Legard, Bart., but extensive additions were made by its late owner. Here Mr Canning was wont to pay frequent visits, withdrawing for a time from the cares of public life to breathe the fresh air of nature.* The road

While yet the smoke the deed conceals,
Bertram his ready charger wheels-
But flounder'd on the pavement floor,
The steed and down the rider bore-
And bursting in the headlong sway,
The faithless saddle-girths gave way.
'Twas while he toil'd him to be freed,
And with the rein to raise the steed,
That from amazement's iron trance,

All Wycliffe's soldiers waked at once."

The following passage from Mr Lockhart's Life of Scott graphically describes one of these visits, to which the presence of Wordsworth, Southey, Scott, and Professor Wilson gave peculiar interest.

"A large company had been assembled at Mr Bolton's seat in honour of the minister-it included Mr Wordsworth and Mr Southey. It has not, I suppose, often happened to a plain English merchant, wholly the architect of his own fortunes, to entertain at one time a party embracing so many illustrious names. He was proud of his guests; they respected him, and honoured and loved each other; and it would have been difficult to say which star in the constellation shone with the brightest or the softest light. There was high discourse,' intermingled with as gay flashings of courtly wit as ever Canning displayed; and a plentiful allowance on all

leading from Kendal to the ferry is next crossed, and soon afterwards Ferney Green (George Greaves, Esq.), Burnside (G. A. Aufrere, Esq.), and Belle Field, (Mark Beaufoy, Esq.), are successively passed immediately before Bowness, the termination of our perambulation of twenty-nine miles is regained.

AMBLESIDE.

[Inns:-Salutation; Commercial; White Lion.]

AMBLESIDE, a small and irregularly built market-town of 1592 inhabitants, is situate on steeply inclined ground, a mile from the head of Windermere, upon or near to the spot formerly occupied by the Roman Station-Dictis. Lying immediately under Wansfell, and surrounded by mountains on all sides, except towards the south-west the situation is one of great beauty, and consequently during summer it is much frequented by tourists, who make it their abode for some time. There are several inns; two of which, the Salutation and the Commercial, are excellent establishments. The chapel is a modern structure, having been rebuilt in 1812. In a field near the edge of the lake, are the indistinct remains of Roman fortifications, where coins, urns, and other relics, have been frequently discovered. Numerous excursions may be made from Ambleside ; and the interesting walks in the immediate neighbourhood are still more abundant. The valley of Amblesi le, on the border of which the town stands, is well wooded, and watered by several streams; the principal river is the Rothay, which flows from Grasmere and Rydal Lakes, and joins the Brathay, shortly before entering Windermere. Upon STOCK GILL, a tributary to the Rothay, there is a fine fall, or force, in a copsewood, about 700 yards from the Market Cross, the road to which passes behind the Salutation Inn. The fall, or rather falls, for there are four, are 70 feet in height. Portions of all four are visible from the usual stand; but the views may be pleasingly varied by descending the bank to the stream, or proceeding farther up the Gill.

LOUGHRIGG FELL, a rocky hill which rises opposite to the town, to an eleva tion of 1000 feet above Windermere, commands extensive prospects of the vale and surrounding mountains, as well as of Windermere, Grasmere, and Rydal Lakes, Blelham, Loughrigg, and Elterwater Tarns, with the towns of Ambleside and Hawkshead.

sides of those airy transient pleasantries in which the fancy of poets, however wise and grave, delights to run riot when they are sure not to be misunderstood. There were beautiful and accomplished women to adorn and enjoy this circle. The weather was as Elysian as the scenery. There were brilliant cavalcades through the woods in the mornings, and delicious boatings on the lake by moonlight; and the last day, Professor Wilson ('the Admiral of the Lake,' as Canning called him,) presided over one of the most splendid regattas that ever enlivened Windermere. Perhaps there were not fewer than fifty barges following in the Professor's radiant procession when it paused at the point of Storrs to admit into the place of honour the vessel that carried kind and happy Mr Bolton and his guests. The three bards of the lakes led the cheers that hailed Scott and Canning; and music, and sunshine, flags, streamers, and gay dresses, the merry hum of voices, and the rapid splashing of innumerable oars, made up a dazzling mixture of sensations as the flotilia wound its way among the richly-foliaged islands, and along bays and promontories peopled with enthusiastic spectators."

From the summit of WANSFELL PIKE, (1590 feet in height,) which stands on the east, the mountains have a highly imposing appearance, and thence may be seen the whole expanse of Windermere, with its islands; but on account of the altitude of the spectator, the view is not so fine as that from another part of the Pike, called Troutbeck Hundreds, a little to the south.

The village of RYDAL, supposed to be a contraction of Rothay-Dale, is placed in a narrow gorge, formed by the advance of Loughrigg fell and Rydal Knab, at the lower extremity of Rydal Mere, one mile and a quarter from Ambleside. Here, in the midst of a park containing great numbers of noble forest trees,* stands Rydal Hall, the seat of Rev. Sir R. Fleming. The celebrated falls are within the park, and strangers desirous to view them, must take a conductor from one of the cottages near the Hall gates. The fall below the house is beheld from the window of an old summer house. Amongst the juvenile poems of Wordsworth there is a sketch of this cascade.

"While thick above the rill the branches close,
In rocky basin its wild waves repose,
Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green,

Cling from the rocks with pale wood-weeds between;
Save that aloft the subtle sunbeams shine

On wither'd briars, that o'er the crags recline,

Sole light admitted there, a small cascade

Illumes with sparkling foam the impervious shade;

Beyond, along the vista of the brook,

Where antique roots its bristling course o'erlook,
The eye reposes on a secret bridge,

The chapel, from its prominent position, arrests the stranger's notice the moment he arrives at the village. It was erected by Lady le Fleming in 1824, at

her own expense.

Rydal Mount, for many years the dwelling of the poet Wordsworth, stands on a projection of the hill called Knab Scar, and is approached by the road leading to the Hall. It is, as Mrs Hemans in one of her letters describes it, a lovely cottage-like building, almost hidden by a profusion of roses and ivy." The grounds, laid out in a great measure by the hands of the poet himself, though but of circumscribed dimensions, are so artfully, whilst seeming to be so artlessly planned, as to appear of considerable extent. From a grassy mound in front, " commanding a view always so rich, and sometimes so brightly solemn, that one can well imagine its influence traceable in many of the poet's writings, you catch a gleam of Windermere over the grove tops,-close at hand

"The sylvan, or say rather the forest scenery of Rydal Park, was, in the memory of living men, magnificent, and it still contains a treasure of old trees. By all means wander away into those old woods, and lose yourselves for an hour or two among the cooing of cushats, and the shrill shriek of startled blackbirds, and the rustle of the harmless glow-worm among the last year's red beech leaves. No very great harm should you even fall asleep under the shadow of an oak, while the magpie chatters at safe distance, and the more innocent squirrel peeps down upon you from a bough of the canopy, and then hoisting his tail, glides into the obscurity of the loftiest umbrage.' "-PROFESSOR WILSON.