e
mountain. A beautiful water-break of the same stream was before us at
our feet, and he noticed the connection which it formed in the landscape
with the distant waterfall. Then, as he mused for an instant, he said,
'I have often thought what a solemn thing it would be, if we could have
brought to our mind, at once, all the scenes of distress and misery,
which any spot, however beautiful and calm before us, has been witness
to since the beginning. That water-break, with the glassy, quiet pool
beneath it, that looks so lovely, and presents no images to the mind but
of peace,--there, I remember, the only son of his father, a poor man,
who lived yonder, was drowned. He missed him, came to search, and saw
his body dead in the pool.' We pursued our way up the stream, not a very
easy way for the horses, near to the waterfall before mentioned, and so
gradually up to the Tarn. Oh, what a scene! The day one of the softest
and brightest in autumn; the lights various; the mountains in the
richest colouring, fern covering them with reddish gold in great part;
here and there, trees in every variety of autumn foliage; and the rock
itself of a kind of lilac tint; the outlines of the mountains very fine;
the Tarn, which might almost be called a lake for size and abundance of
water, with no culture, or trees, or habitation around it, here and
there a great rock stretching into it like a promontory, and high
mountains surrounding it on three sides, on two of them almost
precipitate; on the fourth side, it is more open, and on this the
stream, crossed by four great stepping-stones, runs out of it, and
descends into Grasmere vale and lake. He pointed out the precipitous
mountain at the head of the Tarn, and told us an incident of his sister
and himself coming from Langdale, which lies on the other side. He
having for some reason parted, she encountered a fog, and was
bewildered. At last, she sat down and waited; in a short time it began
to clear; she could see that a valley was before her. In time, she saw
the backs of cattle feeding, which emerged from the darkness, and at
last the Tarn; and then found she had stopped providentially, and was
sitting nearly on the edge of the precipice. Our return was somewhat
more perilous for the riders than the ascent; but we accomplished it
safely, and, in our return, turned in Butterlip How, a circular, soft,
green hill, surrounded with oak trees, at the head of Grasmere. It is
about twenty acres, and