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from three to eight feet high, having at the east end ten
other stones, forming three sides of a square. From these
stones is seen the whole encircling country; Skiddaw and
Blencathra to the north present their deep-chasmed and
precipitous fronts; the Dodds, Wanthwaite Pikes, with the
savage dale of Naddle, shut up the scene to the south; and
to the west, the fells beyond Keswick rear their majestic
and undulating summits to the clouds; whilst on the east,
the dreary waste of Hutton Moor is over-topped by the blue
summit of Cross Fell. It was amidst such scenes as these
that the Druid sage warmed into piety the hardy tempers of
the Britons, and employed the solemnity of nature to aid the
sanctity of religion: for
'There his temple rose! no fretted aisle,
No vaulted roof adorn'd the simple pile,
But clouds above them, and around the wood -
Roofless and vast the circle columns stood!
Such relics still the wondering shepherd sees
Where ocean rocks the storm-clad Hebrides:
Where Keswick's lake expands its glassy breast,
Or Mona's cliffs conceal the eaglet's nest;
Or where dim silence holds its spectral reign,
O'er Scotia's heaths and Sarum's lonely plain.
Times spares them still - to tell how short the span
Assign'd to earth's uncertain wanderer - man;
How long his works, like summer's twilight ray,
Outlive the sunset of his own decay!'
Having described the neighbouring walks, such as may be made
in an evening, or when the weather has perhaps for part of
the day kept the tourist within, and he is at a loss to fill
up the remainder
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