A T O U R
I
Rawlinfon's Nab. On the left hand obferve the termination of I
Lancajhire, juft South of the Star, ,a great promontory in Weft- I
moreland, all the remaining Weftern fide as clamed by the firft;
but Wefimoreland bounds the reft, fo has the faireft clame to call
itfelf owner of this fuperb water.
On doubling the Star a new expanfe opened before us; left the
little ifle of Crowholme on the right, traverfed the lake ,towards
the horfe ferry, and a little beyond, the great Holme of thirty
acres crofies the water, and conceals the reft. This delicious ifle
is bleft with a rich pafturage, is adorned with a pretty grove, and
;has on it a good houfe.
. It has been the fortune of this beautiful retreat often to change !
mafters : the flattering hopes of the charms of retirement have
mifled feveral to purchafe it from the laft cheated owner, who
after a little time difcovered, that a conftant enjoyment o f the
fame objefts, delightful as they were, foon fatiated. There muft
be fomething more than external charms to make a retreat from
the world long endurable ; the qualifications requifite fall to the
ihare o f a very few; without them difguft and wearinefs will foon
invade their privacy, notwithftanding they courted it with all the
pafiion and all the romance with which the poet did his mif-
trefs *.
Sic ego fecretis poflum bene vivere fylvis,
.Qua nulla humano fit via trita pede.
Tu mihi curarum requies, tu no&e vel atra
Lumen, et in folis tu mihi turba locis*
* Tibullus iv» 13, 9.
From
*
I N S C O T L A N D. 39
' From this ifland began a new and broader extent o f water, bounded
on the Weft by the bold and lofty face of a fteep hill, patched
with the deep green o f vaft yews and hollies, that embelliihed
its naked flope. This expanfe is varied with feveral very pretty
¿ifles, fome bare, others juft appear above water, tufted with trees : ■
on the North-Eaft fide is the appearance of much cultivation; a
/ tract near the-village of Boulnefsfalls gently to the water edge,
... and rifes-again far up a high and large mountain, beyond which
I f is a grand ikreen of others, the pointed heads of ‘Troutbeck fells,
R the vaft rounded mafs-of ■ Eairfidd> and the ftill higher fummit off- .
-r Rydal.
Land, and dine in
W E S T M O R E L A N D,
" at Bouhefs, antiently called Winander, giving name to the lake; and ;
' am here treated with moft delicate trout and perch, the fiih of this
* water. The eharr is found here in great plenty, and o f a fize fu- Char-r.’
perior to thofe in Wales. They fpawn about Michaelmas, in the river
■ Bratbay, which, with the Rowthay are the great feeds o f the lake,
preferring the rocky bottom of the former to the-gravelly bottom
of the other. The fiihermen diftinguilh two varieties, • the ■cafe-
,-i charr and the gelt-eharr, i. e. a fiih which had not fpawned th e ;
laft feafon, and efteemed by them the more delicate: this fpawns -
»i from the beginning of January to the-end of March, and never
jj afcends the river, but fele&s for that purpofe the moft gravelly.-'
pjrts. of-the lake, .and that which abounds- moft with fprings,’- <
It