|
|
Page 71:-
whose boyhood is familiar to all readers of Wordsworth. That
place is, indeed, the refuge where the boy passed his
shepherd life; and there is a local tradition that, though
he never learned to read or write, during the twenty-four
years that he spent in keeping sheep, his astronomical
knowledge was considerable, and so interesting to him that
he improved it by study after he came to his estates. The
road through Threlkeld will, however, be followed by the
traveller on another occasion, and not now: for he must not
miss that view from Castlerigg, which made the poet Gray
long to go back again to Keswick; and he will not,
therefore, now pass through the vale. Within five miles from
the peep into it, the view opens, which presently
comprehends the whole extent from Bassenthwaite Lake to the
entrance of Borrowdale,- the plain between the two lakes of
Bassenthwaite and Derwent Water, presenting one of the
richest scenes in England,- with the town of Keswick, and
many a hamlet and farmstead besides; and the two churches,-
the long, white, old-fashioned Crosthwaite church, in which
Southey is buried, and the new red-stone church of St. John,
with its spire, and the school houses and pretty parsonage
at hand. These were built by the late John Marshall, of
Hallsteads,- a name which is more spoiled than dignified by
any conventional addition. The church and parsonage were
occupied by the husband of one of his daughters; and now
heand (sic) his son-in-law lie buried there together.
Skiddaw is here the monarch of the scene. That mountain mass
occupies the north of the view. Bassenthwaite lake peeps
from behind it: then the plain of the Derwent
|
Lakes Guides menu.
