|
|
|
Mr. Gray's account of Barrowside, and his relation of Borrowdale,
are hyperboles; the sport of fancy he was pleased to indulge
himself in. A person that has crossed the Alps or Appenines, will
meet here only miniatures of the huge rocks and precipices, the
vast hills, and snow-topt mountains he saw there. And though he
may observe much similarity in the style, there is none in the
danger. Skiddaw, Helvellyn, and Cachidecam, are but dwarfs, when
compared with mount Maudite, above the lake of Geneva, and the
guardian mountains of the Rhone. If the roads in some places be
narrow and difficult, they are at least safe. No villainous
banditti haunt the mountains; innocent people live in the dells.
Every cottager is narrative of all he knows; and mountain virtue
and pastoral hospitality are found at every farm. This
constitutes a pleasing difference betwixt travelling here and on
the continent, where
|
