The hills about Rydal Water are not
very lofty, but are sufficiently so as objects of every-day view,--
objects to live with; and they are craggier than those we have hitherto
seen, and bare of wood, which indeed would hardly grow on some of their
precipitous sides.
On the roadside, as we reach the foot of the lake, stands a spruce and
rather large house of modern aspect, but with several gables and much
overgrown with ivy,--a very pretty and comfortable house, built, adorned,
and cared for with commendable taste. We inquired whose it was, and the
coachman said it was "Mr. Wordsworth's," and that "Mrs. Wordsworth was
still residing there." So we were much delighted to have seen his abode,
and as we were to stay the night at Grasmere, about two miles farther on,
we determined to come back and inspect it as particularly as should be
allowable. Accordingly, after taking rooms at Brown's Hotel, we drove
back in our return car, and, reaching the head of Rydal Water, alighted
to walk through this familiar scene of so many years of Wordsworth's
life. We ought to have seen De Quincey's former residence and Hartley
Coleridge's cottage, I believe, on our way, but were not aware of it at
the time. Near the lake there is a stone-quarry, and a cavern of some
extent, artificially formed, probably by taking out the stone. Above the
shore of the lake, not a great way from Wordsworth's residence, there is
a flight of steps hewn in a rock and ascending to a rock seat where a
good view of the lake may be attained; and, as Wordsworth has doubtless
sat there hundreds of times, so did we ascend and sit down, and look at
the hills and at the flags on the lake's shore.
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