Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/146

 diversified by new fantastic forms and uncouth combinations of rock on all sides, we reached a spot in the precipice to the right, called Reynard's-Hole. This consists of two parts; a vast mural mass of rock, extending along the face of the precipice, but perfectly detached from it, and perforated by nature into a grand arch, nearly approaching to the shape of the sharply-pointed Gothick, forty feet high, and nineteen wide; and a natural cavern scooped in the body of the rock within the wall, discovered through the arch by the light thrown in from the chasm of separation above. Passing through this arch, and scrambling up a steep path, we reached a smaller cavern to the left, which we had not seen before, and only remarkable for the pleasing view it presents from within of the upper part of the Dale, its river, and rocks. The superior cavern, or Reynard's-Hole, is fifteen feet high, and about forty long. From the mouth, the scene is singular, beautiful, and impressive. The face of rock we have described rises immediately in front, and would effectually prevent the eye from ranging beyond its mighty barrier, did not its centre open into the above-mentioned arch, through which is seen a small part of the opposite side of the Dale, a mass of gloomy wood, from whose shade a huge