om the public road; but the noble proprietor has contrived to
shut himself up so with plantations and chained gates and locks, that
whatever prospects he may command from his stately prison, or rather
fortification, can only be guessed at by the passing traveller. In the
state of blindness and unprofitable peeping in which we were compelled
to pursue our way up a long and steep hill, I could not help observing
to my companion that the Hibernian peer had completely given the lie to
the poet Thomson, when, in a strain of proud enthusiasm, he boasts,

I care not, Fortune, what you me deny,
You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace;
You cannot shut the windows of the sky,
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The woods and lawns by living stream, &c.
(_Castle of Indolence_.)

The _windows of the sky_ were not _shut_, indeed, but the business was
done more thoroughly; for the sky was nearly shut out altogether. This
is like most others, a bleak and treeless coast, but abounding in
corn-fields, and with a noble beach, which is delightful either for
walking or riding. The Isle of Man is right opposite our window; and
though in this unsettled weather often invisible, its appearance has
afforded us great amusement. One afternoon, above the whole length of
it was stretched a body of clouds, shaped and coloured like a
magnificent grove in winter when whitened with snow and illuminated by
the morning sun, which, having melted the snow in part, has intermingled
black masses among the brightness. The whole sky was scattered over with
fleecy dark clouds, such as any sunshiny day produces, and which were
changing their shapes and position every moment. But this line of clouds
immoveably attached themselves to the island, and manifestly took their
shape from the influence of its mountains. There appeared to be just
span enough of sky to allow the hand to slide between the top of
Snafell, the highest peak in the island, and the base of this glorious
forest, in which little change was noticeable for more than the space of
half an hour. We had another fine sight one evening, walking along a
rising ground, about two miles distant from the shore. It was about the
hour of sunset, and the sea was perfectly calm; and in a quarter where
its surface was indistinguishable from the western sky, hazy, and
luminous with the setting sun, appeared a t