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Page 149:-
When we had reached the bottom of this ghastly and tremendous
hollow, we almost wondered at our own temerity in descending into
it, so horridly steep were the yawning cliffs that enclosed us.
This was not one of Flora's favourite haunts, for our only
botanical acquisition was Saxifraga Stellaris, which
glittered with the spray of a brawling little torrent that leaped
down a rocky channel hung with moss, through which the water
oozed from the side of the mountain. But we were tenfold repaid
for this deviation by a prospect of the most fascinating kind, we
were in a spot where two rocky side screens cut off all that was
superfluous in the landscape; our vision was confined to a true
painter's quantity - capable of being comprehended at once by the
eye; but such an eyeful as we thought no mortal had ever been
permitted to contemplate! Beneath us the richly enamelled plain
embellished in the most variable manner imaginable; farms,
cottages and mansions, some overlooking the landscape upon
planted eminences, some embossomed in thickets, and others seated
in the midst of smiling pastures all contributed to heighten the
beauty of the diversified scene. The town of Keswick appeared in
the best point of view; beyond it the peaceful lake with all its
bays and sinuosities, richly margined with wood, and its islands
studding the watery area in the
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