|
|
|
Page 84:-
[tre]mendously great. Helvellyn and Cachidecam are the chief;
and, according to Wythburn shepherds, much higher than Skiddaw.
It is, however, certain that these mountains retain snow many
weeks after Skiddaw; but that may be owing to the steepness of
Skiddaw's northern side, and shivery surface, that attracts more
forcibly the solar rays, than the verdant front of Helvellyn, and
so sooner looses its winter covering. A thousand huge rocks hang
on Helvellyn's brow, which have been once in motion, and are now
seemingly prepared to start anew. Many have already reached the
lake, and are at rest. The road sweeps through them, along the
naked margin of the lake. The opposite shore is beautified with a
variety of crown-topt rocks, some rent, some wooded, others not,
rising immediately from, or hanging towards the water; and all
set off with a back ground of verdant mountains, rising in the
noblest pastoral style. Its singular beauty is its being almost
intersected in the middle by two peninsulas, that are joined by a
bridge, in a taste suitable to the genius of the place, which
serves for an easy communication among the shepherds that dwell
on the opposite banks.
|
