button to main menu   West's Guide to the Lakes, 1778/1821

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Page 282:-
[no]tice in and near the road from thence, I shall here take my leave of you, and no longer tire you with a relation of the adventures and curiosities I met with in my summer's journey.

Address

To the Genius of the Caves.
... Hail, kindred glooms!
Congenial horrors, hail!
Thomson.
... ... THOU Spirit dread,
That hoverd'st o'er this rocky region erst,
With burning sulphur, and volcanic streams
Of fire extinct, all hal! - thou, whose loud shriek,
'Midst scowling tempests, oft the list'ning swain
Hast heard aghast; oft in slow-pacing clouds,
That drag their sweeping trains o'er Gragareth's steep,
Has trac'd thy wild fantastic form. Thy steps,
Through many a rugged, uncouth path, well pleas'd
I follow. Whether, from the dread abyss
Of some unfathom'd cavern[1], Echo's groans,
With many a dreary pause between, from rock
To rock rebound, and break upon my ear
Like distant thunder;- or my rapture gaze,
E'en from the yew-fring'd margin, down the steep
Pursues the foaming cataract's[2] headlong course,
Till, spent and dazzled on those wat'ry hues,
Midway it rests, where light reflected paints
Each clust'ring dew-drop's glassy orb, and vies
With melting Iris' vernal tinctur'd bow;-
Or, whether, by the taper's glimm'ring ray
[1] Gingling-cave, on Gragareth.
[2] Weathercoat-cave, in Chapel-in-the-Dale.
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