Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/122

 the traveller above, and every idea of its being connected with a public way is precluded in the mind of the spectator below, by a dark canopy of wood which overshadows the whole. The light let in thro' the arch, relieving the solemnity of the shade around, has an effect better imagined than described.

But our walk included other water-falls besides those at Sir Michael Le Fleming's; that at Ambleside, a village two miles from Rydale. It lies about half a mile to the left of the inn, and may be called a double cascade, as the waters rush from two rents in the rock, about forty feet distant from each other, and pouring down different perpendicular channels, unite into one mighty stream at the depth of one hundred and fifty feet; from whence the blended waters rush with uncontrolable fury over a series of rocky ledges into an unfathomable abyss, the horrors of which are hidden from the eye by some trees that stretch themselves across the gulph. Of all the Cumberland cascades, this perhaps, is the most impressive, not so much on account of its magnitude, as its partial obscuration; not presenting itself to the eye at once, but only shewing detached parts, it allows the creative faculty to be brought into action, and thus affords to the mind one of the most pleasurable excercises it is capable of experiencing.