Page:Lives of Poets-Laureate.djvu/375

Rh massy Skiddaw, smooth, green, high with two chasms, and a tent-like ridge in the larger. A fairer scene you have not seen in all your wanderings."

The benefit Southey had derived from his residence in Portugal induced him to hope for some foreign appointment, which would enable him to fix his abode in a warmer latitude. He had some prospect of obtaining a secretaryship to the embassy at Constantinople, and contemplated a tour in the East with great satisfaction. He was at a little trouble in raising the necessary funds for his travelling expedition to the Lakes, where he arrived in the course of the summer. The scenery disappointed him at first; his memory still dwelling on the broader waters, and the loftier mountains, and the purer and brighter sunshine of a southern landscape; but more familiar acquaintance converted disappointment into admiration and love. The gorgeous splendour of other lands may appeal to the imagination, and captivate the eye; but the gentler loveliness of English scenery, like that of our English women, speaks imperceptibly to the heart, and fascinates affection.

In the autumn of the year, he paid a visit to his friend Mr. Wynn at his seat Llangedwin, in North Wales, where on his arrival he found a letter awaiting him, offering him the appointment of secretary to Mr. Corry, the Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland with a salary of £350 a-year. He accepted the post, and as his services were required at once, hastened back to Keswick to make the necessary preparations for his journey. At Dublin he was presented with a visible argument in favour of the Union, by some glaring specimens of the inveterate peculation that had flourished under the native government. The duties of his office required him after a very short stay there to proceed to London, and he expresses an unusual soreness at his altered position with regard to the world, or rather a