ous sight.

Up the lake there are no islands; Ben Lomond terminates the view, without
any other large mountains; no clouds were upon it, therefore we saw the
whole size and form of the mountain, yet it did not appear to me so large
as Skiddaw does from Derwent-water. Continued our walk a considerable
way towards the head of the lake, and went up a high hill, but saw no
other reach of the water. The hills on the Luss side become much
steeper, and the lake, having narrowed a little above Luss, was no longer
a very wide lake where we lost sight of it.

Came to a bark hut by the shores, and sate for some time under the
shelter of it. While we were here a poor woman with a little child by
her side begged a penny of me, and asked where she could 'find quarters
in the village.' She was a travelling beggar, a native of Scotland, had
often 'heard of that water,' but was never there before. This woman's
appearance, while the wind was rustling about us, and the waves breaking
at our feet, was very melancholy: the waters looked wide, the hills many,
and dark, and far off--no house but at Luss. I thought what a dreary
waste must this lake be to such poor creatures, struggling with fatigue
and poverty and unknown ways!

We ordered tea when we reached the inn, and desired the girl to light us
a fire; she replied, 'I dinna ken whether she'll gie fire,' meaning her
mistress. We told her we did not wish her mistress to give fire, we only
desired her to let her make it and we would pay for it. The girl brought
in the tea-things, but no fire, and when I asked if she was coming to
light it, she said 'her mistress was not varra willing to gie fire.' At
last, however, on our insisting upon it, the fire was lighted: we got tea
by candlelight, and spent a comfortable evening. I had seen the landlady
before we went out, for, as had been usual in all the country inns, there
was a demur respecting beds, notwithstanding the house was empty, and
there were at least half-a-dozen spare beds. Her countenance
corresponded with the unkindness of denying us a fire on a cold night,
{70} for she was the most cruel and hateful-looking woman I ever saw.
She was overgrown with fat, and was sitting with her feet and legs in a
tub of water for the dropsy,--probably brought on by whisky-drinking.
The sympathy which I felt and expressed for her, on seeing her in this
wretched condition--for her legs were swollen as thick as
mill-posts--seemed to produ