A slate mine, or quarry, in some cases assumes the form of a crater, or vast basin, the bottom of which communicates with a passage mined under the mountain; so that as the masses of slate are broken down from the tops or sides, they are conveyed, in carts, through the passage below. Men wearing wooden clogs descend the precipice with iron crows, each having a strong cord fastened round his waist, the other end of which is held by another man, standing on the verge of the precipice. The workmen who descend the craggy precipice find a precarious footing on the pointed rocks, depending partly on themselves, and partly on the vigilance of their fellow labourers above. Breaking the strata of slate with their iron crows, from the rocky sides of the quarry they drop other pieces of slate in the fissures, to act as wedges: when a sufficient portion is loosened, they adroitly move on one side, and the rude mass thunders down the rocky precipice. It is a dreadful occupation! In the event of the workman's foot slipping, which it repeatedly does, he is entirely dependent on the strength and watchfulness of his companion above. A fall would, in many cases, inevitably occasion death; or result in an injury which would cripple for life.

Who has not often heard of the lakes of

Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire? And who, not having seen them, has not longed to revel in their beauties? The fame of Windermere is gone abroad to the world. Derwent and Ullswater have become almost a proverb for their attractions; and Coniston, Grasmere, Bassenthwaite, Wastdale, Loweswater, Rydal, Buttermere, and others, make glad the heart of the spectator.

It is

And I, also, shall see the lakes! Nay, in part, I have seen them already; and am, even now, in the midst of their varied beauties. not easy to suppose, that these delightful scenes could become common-place and unattractive, even to one residing among them; and yet every heart is not tuned in unison with moors and mountains, woods, and streams, and waterfalls. One man goes to his farm, and another to his merchandise; some engage in studious pursuits, and others in the healing art; absorbed too much in their several callings, to revel in that prodigality of natural beauty which affords others so much delight. This variety in taste and feeling confers many advantages on mankind, and provides for the discharge of many a duty that would otherwise be left unperformed. To one who is a stranger to the lakes, and who thirsts after the sweet, the lovely, and the romantic in

naturc, Westmoreland and Cumberland are delightful.

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I am now running to and fro among the hills and valleys, with no definite object; following out the whim of the moment; attracted by every sight and sound; and pleased with every thing I

meet.

Hark! There is one singing, in a clear and thrilling voice, a verse of the evening hymn.

The sacred song the valley fills,

And winds around the rocks and hills;
But hills and rocks refuse the strain,
And rudely fling it back again.

This is indeed a banquet, and a rich one. At one time I am on the hill, at another in the valley. Now I gaze on the headlong cataract, and then muse silently beside the still waters. In the gloom of the projecting rock, my reflections are calm, weighty, and solemn; but my fancy is awakened on emerging from the shade, for there await me silvery clouds, and dazzling rays of light; illumined cliffs, with deep and rugged chasms; lakes glistening in the sunbeam, and spiry-topped, romantic mountains! Umbrageous woods are wanting, yet here and there are trees well clothed with verdure.

The glowing scene delights my wondering eyes!
I gaze around me with unfeign'd surprise;
With rapture hail the charms that day adorn;
Exulting breathe the purer breath of morn;
While soothing sounds, and objects of delight,
Enchant mine ear, and burst upon my sight.

We are told in the Holy Scriptures, that Daniel 66 kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God," Dan. vi. 10. And if we were to give thanks to the High and Holy One five times a day for the benefit and blessing of our five senses, it would be none too often. When we think for a moment, amid such scenery as this, how much we enjoy that the blind cannot partake of, our tongues and our hearts should be eloquent with praise for his unmerited goodness. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever," Psa. cxviii. 1.

For the last day or two, the Salutation Inn, at Ambleside, has been my head quarters. Thence have I gazed on Windermere, and thence have I strolled into the surrounding neighbourhoods of the four cardinal points of the compass. Whether at the river Leven, Fellfoot, Grathwaite, Coniston, or Langdale, on the south and west; or at Troutbeck, Kentmere, and Potterfell, on the north and east; there has

I

always been enough of beauty to delight me. have been to Skelgill, Rothay Bridge, and Loughrigg Fell. I have mused over the waterfalls of Rydal; roamed in the park; visited Grasmere, Brathay River, Langdale Pikes; and pondered over the Blea Tarn, the scenery of which place drew from the poet Wordsworth the following lines:

66 Behold,

Beneath our feet, a little lowly vale,
A lowly vale, and yet uplifted high

Among the mountains; even as if the spot
Had been from eldest time by wish of theirs
So placed, to be shut out from all the world!
Urn-like it was in shape, deep as an urn;
With rocks encompass'd, save that to the south,
Was one small opening, where a heath-clad ridge
Supplied a bound'ry less abrupt and close;
A quiet, treeless nook, with two green fields,
A liquid pool that glitter'd in the sun,
And one bare dwelling; one abode, no more!
It seem'd the home of poverty and toil,
Though not of want; the little fields, made green
By husbandry of many thrifty years,

Paid cheerful tribute to the moorland house.
There crows the cock, single in his domain:
The small birds find in spring no thicket there
To shroud them; only from the neighbouring vales
The cuckoo, straggling up to the hill tops,
Shouteth faint tidings of some gladder place."

I have visited Dungeon Ghyll Waterfall, as

G