can well imagine its influence
traceable in many of the poet's writings, you catch a gleam of Windermere
over the grove tops." "A footpath," Mr. Phillips says, "strikes off from the
top of the Rydal Mount road, and, passing at a considerable height on the
hill side under Nab Scar, commands charming views of the vale, and rejoins
the high road at White Moss Quarry. The commanding and varied prospect
obtained from the summit of Nab Scar, richly repays the labour of the ascent.
From the summit, which is indicated by a pile of large stones, eight
different sheets of water are seen, viz., Windermere, Rydal, Grasmere, and
Coniston Lakes, and Loughrigg, Easdale, Elterwater, and Blelham Tarns. The
Solway Firth is also distinctly visible." Knab, a delightful residence
formerly occupied by De Quincy, "the English Opium Eater," and by Hartley
Coleridge, eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is situated close by. In
the walk from Ambleside to Rydal, should the tourist pursue his course along
the banks of the Rothay, he will, having crossed the bridge, pass the house
built and inhabited by the late Dr. Arnold, Master of Rugby School.

Grasmere Village is a short walk from Rydal, and only four miles from
Ambleside. Wordsworth lived here for eight years, at a small house at Town
End; here he wrote many of his never-dying poems; to this spot be brought his
newly-wedded wife in 1822; and in the burial ground of the parish church are
interred his mortal remains. Wordsworth quitted this sublunary scene, for a
brighter and a better, on April 23, 1850. Gray once visited Grasmere Water,
and described its beauties in a rapturous spirit. Mrs. Hemans, in one of her
sonnets, says of it:--

"--------------------- Fair scene,
Most loved by evening and her dewy star!
Oh! ne'er may man, with touch unhallowed, jar
The perfect music of the charm serene!
Still, still unchanged, may one sweet region wear,
Smiles that subdue the soul to love, and tears, and prayer."

A comfortable hotel has recently been opened, from which, as it stands on an
eminence, a fine view is obtained; and at the Red Lion and Swan Inns every
necessary accommodation for tourists may be had.

In the neighbourhood there is some delightful panoramic scenery. From
Butterlip How and Red Bank the lake and vale are seen to great advantage.
"The Wishing Gate," about a mile from Grasmere, should be visited. It has
been so called from a belief that wishes i