button to main menu  Wordsworth's Guide 1810, edn 1835
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page 95
be seen with effect under any atmosphere which allows them to be seen at all; but he is the most fortunate adventurer, who chances to be involved in vapours which open and let in an extent of country partially, or, dispersing suddenly, reveal the whole region from centre to circumference.
  time of day
  light
A stranger to a mountainous country may not be aware that his walk in the early morning ought to be taken on the eastern side of the vale, otherwise he will lose the morning light, first touching the tops and thence creeping down the sides of the opposite hills, as the sun ascends, or he may go to some central eminence, commanding both the shadows from the eastern, and the lights upon the western mountains. But, if the horizon line in the east be low, the western side may be taken for the sake of the reflections upon the water, of light from the rising sun. In the evening, for like reasons, the contrary course should be taken.
After all, it is upon the mind which a traveller brings along with him that his acquisitions, whether of pleasure or profit, must principally depend. - May I be allowed a few words on this subject?
  comparisons
Nothing is more injurious to genuine feeling than the practice of hastily and ungraciously depreciating the face of one country by comparing it with that of another. True it is Qui bene distinguit bene docet; yet fastidiousness is a wretched travelling companion; and the best guide to which, in matters of taste we can en-
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