You behold,
High on the breast of yon dark mountain, dark
With stony barrenness, a shining speck.--J. C.)[B]

The dog which we met with soon after our starting belonged to Mr.
Rowlandson, who for forty years was curate of Grasmere in place of the
rector who lived to extreme old age in a state of insanity. Of this Mr.
R. much might be said, both with reference to his character, and the way
in which he was regarded by his parishioners. He was a man of a robust
frame, had a firm voice and authoritative manner, of strong natural
talents, of which he was himself conscious, for he has been heard to say
(it grieves me to add) with an oath--"If I had been brought up at
college I should have been a bishop." Two vices used to struggle in him
for mastery, avarice and the love of strong drink; but avarice, as is
common in like cases, always got the better of its opponent; for, though
he was often intoxicated, it was never I believe at his own expense. As
has been said of one in a more exalted station, he would take any
_given_ quantity. I have heard a story of him which is worth the
telling. One summer's morning, our Grasmere curate, after a night's
carouse in the vale of Langdale, on his return home, having reached a
point near which the whole of the vale of Grasmere might be seen with
the lake immediately below him, stepped aside and sat down on the turf.
After looking for some time at the landscape, then in the perfection of
its morning beauty, he exclaimed--"Good God, that I should have led so
long such a life in such a place!" This no doubt was deeply felt by him
at the time, but I am not authorised to say that any noticeable
amendment followed. Penuriousness strengthened upon him as his body grew
feebler with age. He had purchased property and kept some land in his
own hands, but he could not find in his heart to lay out the necessary
hire for labourers at the proper season, and consequently he has often
been seen in half-dotage working his hay in the month of November by
moonlight, a melancholy sight which I myself have witnessed.
Notwithstanding all that has been said, this man, on account of his
talents and superior education, was looked up to by his parishioners,
who without a single exception lived at that time (and most of them upon
their own small inheritances) in a state of republican equality, a
condition favourable to the growth of kindly feelings among them, and
in a stri