tribunal, and lets in a pleasing distance spotted with An involuntary se

woods and gentlemen's seats.

riousness crept upon our minds, aided by these local circumstances, and the recollection of the ancient appropriation of the spot;

" and awed our souls,

"As if the very Genius of the place
"Himself appear'd, and with terrific tread
"Stalk'd through his drear domain."

Broome-Hall and Castle make pleasing objects through the vista from Mayburgh. Passing the old tower of Clifton-Castle, the only remain of the ancient possessions of the Morvilles and Engaynes, we were detained for a moment at the new village of Lowther, to smile at the fantastical incongruity of its plan; which exhibits the grandest features of city architecture, the Circus, the Crescent, and the Square, upon the mean scale of a peasant's cottage. These groupes of houses were built for the labourers of Lord Lonsdale, but from their desolate deserted appearance it should seem that no sufficient encouragement had been held out to their inhabitants to continue in them. In the adjoining carpet-manufactory, belonging to the above-mentioned peer, and carried on for his exclusive use, we were gratified with the sight of some exquisite work in this line; the produce of the joint labour of Mr. Bloom

and his apprentice. These carpets are worked in frames, in the manner of tambour, and their surface afterwards sheared. Nothing can exceed the beauty of their patterns, the brightness of their colours, and the strength of their texture; but these advantages are well paid for, since the cost of one only sixteen feet wide and twenty-four feet long, if sold, would be 350 guineas. Mr. Bloom was then employed about one worth 500l.

Lowther-Hall, the seat of the Earl of Lonsdale, is seen to the left of the road, which, passing through the park, drops down a steep hill into a deep and most picturesque valley, through whose dark bottom the river of Lowther leads his shaded waters, whilst the opposite bank rises abruptly in front, crowned with the old turretted mansion called Ascham-Hall. Having ascended the height, we presently found ourselves in Ascham, and taking a road to the left in the centre of the town, passed through the villages of Henton, Bamton, and Haweswater; all lying in a broad valley, surrounded on every side by heathy mountains; a naked scene, as far as respected its natural features, that agreeably contrasted with the more luxuriant banks of Haweswater lake, to which we now approached. Close by the western margin of this sheet of liquid crystal the road pursues its way through a

lane thickly shaded by trees, but admitting frequent peeps at the lake, and the opposite rude and lofty mountains. Though the scene be confined, it yet affords considerable variety, and many points of view of great interest. Of the lower part of the lake the character is for the most part that of beauty and softness, its features consisting of a steep declivity, mantled with young wood to the left, and a verdant rising ground sprinkled with a few cottages to the right. But as we proceed towards the head of Haweswater, the face of Nature is changed; she now assumes a rude appearance, and moulds her mountains into harsher forms. Black precipices and naked crags, usurping the place of wooded declivities and verdant downs, present an impenetrable barrier against the bold intruder who should dare to penetrate to the sacred fountainhead of the lake. Haweswater is nearly three miles long, and about four or five hundred yards over in the widest part.

Returning by Yanwath-Hall to Penrith, which made our excursion about twenty miles, we consumed the remaining part of the day in a visit to Brougham-Castle, three miles from Penrith on the Appleby road; a ruin, which though it have nothing picturesque in its form, consisting of bare walls thrown into right angles, yet blending with

the pleasing adjoining accompaniments, contributes to form a most beautiful picture. A fine wood of elm trees, inhabited by a large colony of rooks, defends the falling fabric from the blasts of the east wind; and the united waters of the Emmont and the Lowther murmur by its western walls. On the opposite side of this river, a mill is happily introduced, which is hedged in by a thick wood, above whose head are seen the awful forms of

"Mountains, on whose barren breast

"The lab'ring clouds do often rest.”

The castle, built of ferrugineous freestone, is in itself (like the castle of Penrith, unadorned with ivy) rather a disgusting object; but its remains are curious, as they point out the jealousy and jeopardy of the times when it was constructed; gloomy caverns, narrow passages, pigeon-hole windows, which, whilst they evince the strength of the fabric, equally mark the licentiousness of manners and weakness of government, that rendered these means of security necessary to the subject. The oldest parts of the fabric are probably of Anglo-Saxon architecture, as its recorded history may be traced back to the time of William the Conqueror, who granted it to Hugh de Abrinsis. At present it makes part of Lord Thanet's possessions.

Our route to Ulswater lake led us once more by the Druidical monuments already mentioned, which the road to Pooly divides from each other, and then wound through a country infinitely beautiful, diversified with gentle hills and broad valleys, in whose luxuriant bosoms many mansions of ancient and modern date are securely seated, defended from the tempests by the aërial height of the immense Saddleback, who, shooting into points, presents a singular contrast to the neighbouring round-headed mountains. Before us lay a rich carpet of meads and woods, backed by the dark precipices and rude summits of the august Helvellyn, the father of the Cumbrian mountains, and other heights which surround Ulswater. This extended scene, however, gradually narrows as we approach the lake; the right screen is formed by the woody hill Dunmallard, sanctified by the monastery of Benedictines, which formerly crowned its lofty head. On the other side we have steep declivities of verdant down. Turning over Pooly bridge, at the northeastern extremity of the lake, we catch on a sudden a grand reach of this beautiful piece of water, at least four miles in length, terminated by meadows covered with trees, and backed by mountains of every variety of outline. Our admirable road. kept for the most part the northern margin of the