We certainly were singularly favoured in the weather; for when we were seated on the summit, our conductor, turning his eyes thoughtfully round, said, ’I do not know that in my whole life, I was ever, at any season of the year, so high upon the mountains on so calm a day.’ (It was the 7th of October.) Afterwards we had a spectacle of the grandeur of earth and heaven commingled; yet without terror.  We knew that the storm would pass away;—­for so our prophetic Guide had assured us.

Before we reached Seathwaite in Borrowdale, a few stars had appeared, and we pursued our way down the Vale, to Rosthwaite, by moonlight.

Scawfell and Helvellyn being the two Mountains of this region which will best repay the fatigue of ascending them, the following Verses may be here introduced with propriety.  They are from the Author’s Miscellaneous Poems.

To—­.

ON HER FIRST ASCENT TO THE SUMMIT OF HELVELLYN.

    Inmate of a Mountain Dwelling,
    Thou hast clomb aloft, and gazed,
    From the watch-towers of Helvellyn;
    Awed, delighted, and amazed!

    Potent was the spell that bound thee
    Not unwilling to obey;
    For blue Ether’s arms, flung round thee,
    Stilled the pantings of dismay.

    Lo! the dwindled woods and meadows! 
    What a vast abyss is there! 
    Lo! the clouds, the solemn shadows,
    And the glistenings—­heavenly fair!

    And a record of commotion
    Which a thousand ridges yield;
    Ridge, and gulf, and distant ocean
    Gleaming like a silver shield!

    —­Take thy flight;—­possess, inherit
    Alps or Andes—­they are thine! 
    With the morning’s roseate Spirit,
    Sweep their length of snowy line;

    Or survey the bright dominions
    In the gorgeous colours drest
    Flung from off the purple pinions,
    Evening spreads throughout the west!

    Thine are all the coral fountains
    Warbling in each sparry vault
    Of the untrodden lunar mountains;
    Listen to their songs!—­or halt,

    To Niphate’s top invited,
    Whither spiteful Satan steered;
    Or descend where the ark alighted,
    When the green earth re-appeared: 

    For the power of hills is on thee,
    As was witnessed through thine eye
    Then, when old Helvellyn won thee
    To confess their majesty!

Having said so much of points of view to which few are likely to ascend, I am induced to subjoin an account of a short excursion through more accessible parts of the country, made at a time when it is seldom seen but by the inhabitants.  As the journal was written for one acquainted with the general features of the country, only those effects and appearances are dwelt upon, which are produced by the changeableness of the atmosphere, or belong to the season when the excursion was made.