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in our maps. It is nine miles long; and at the widest part it is
under a mile in breadth. After extending itself three miles and a
half to the south-west, it turns at the foot of Place-fell almost
due west, and is here not twice the breadth of the Thames at
London. It is soon again interrupted by the root of Helvellyn, a
lofty and very rugged mountain, and spreading again, turns off to
the south-east, and is lost among the deep recesses of the hills.
To this second turning I pursued my way about four miles along
its border, beyond a village scattered among trees, and called
Watermillock, in a pleasant grave day, perfectly calm and warm,
but without a gleam of sunshine; then the sky seemed to thicken
and the valley to grow more desolate, and the evening drawing on,
I returned by the way I came, to Penrith.
Oct. 2. I set out at ten for Keswick, by the road we went in
1767; say (sic) Greystock town and castle to the right, which lie
about three miles from Ulls-water over the fells; passed through
Penruddock and Threlkeld at the foot of Saddleback, whose
furrowed sides were gilt by the noon-day sun, whilst its brow
appeared of a sad purple, from the shadow of the clouds as they
sailed slowly by it. The broad and green vallies of Gardies and
Lowside, with a swift stream glittering among the cottages and
meadows, lay to the left, and the much finer, but narrower valley
of St. John, opening into it: Hill-top, the large, though low
mansion of the Gasgarth's, now a farm-house, seated on an
eminence among the woods, under a steep fell, was what appeared
the most conspicuous, and beside it a great rock, like some
ancient tower nodding to its fall. Passed by the side of Skiddaw
and its cub, called Latrigg; and saw from an eminence at two
miles distance, the vale of Elysium in all its verdure; the sun
then playing on the bosom of the lake, and lighting up all the
mountains with its lustre. Dined by two o'clock at the
Queen's-head, and then straggled out alone to the parsonage,
where I saw the sun set in all its glory.
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