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Page 279:-
sensations of terror ran coldly through our veins, which we
should have felt if we had looked down, though secure, from its
lofty top. Nothing, however, fell upon us, but a few large drops,
which sweat from out its horrid prominent front. Some goats
frisked about, with seemingly a wanton carelessness, on the brink
of this dreadful precipice, where none of us would have stood for
all the pleasant vales washed by the river Air. Some lines in
Virgil's Eclogues seemed to receive additional beauties when
repeated in this grotesque scene.-
Non ego vos posthac, viridi projectus in antro,
Dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbo.
Ecl. 1. l.76.
No more extended in the grot below,
Shall I e'er see my goats high up the brow,
Eating the prickly shrubs, or void of care,
Lean down the precipice, and hang in air.
A little higher up is a fine cascade, where the river, striving
for an easier and gentler descent, has forced a way through the
rocks, leaving a rude natural arch remaining above. If a painter
wanted to embellish his drawing of this romantic scene with some
grotesque object, he could add nothing which would suit his
purpose better, if nature had not done the work for him.
[1] From Gordale, we proceeded to a curious lake, called Maum or
Malham-tarn, abounding with fine trout, upon the top of the moor;
and from thence, by Kilsey-Crag, to Grassington, on the banks of
the river Wharf. Coming unexpectedly to the crags of Kilsey, I
was a good deal amazed at the
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