WINDERMERE-SCENERY. 357 ground to believe that in many cases the latter succeed, and are paid for their silence. Nov. 12.-We have explored most of the beauties of the surrounding country; and many a sunsetting has received the tribute of our ever new and unwearied admiration. But no language affords adequate means of description; the richest proves but poor in the attempt; and all the possible combinations of words are few indeed to those of nature, under all its varieties of forms and co-. lours. Such a vision of glory as a fine mountain sunsetting, may be seen a thousand times, but can scarcely be described more than once at all successfully. I shall mention only one view, that from the top of Lough-rigg, at the foot of which the house of our friends is situated. Half an hour's hard tug up a very steep ascent brings you to an extensive plain, of the finest possible turf, fed down by sheep; it is gently varied and broken, and has several natural ponds of very clear water. From a particular spot, seven lakes are seen. Windermere, Rydal water, and Grasmere, are three of them. There had been a fall of snow a few days before, and the highest ridge of the Rydal mountains was still covered, while below, on lower and nearer hills, the fine woods of Rydal park in their rich autumn attire of brown, of yellow, and of red, contrasted with the brightness of the snow behind. grounds of Rydal-House are very beautiful, and have two very fine falls of water;-the one has been celebrated by Gray and by Gilpin; the other, called Stockgill-force, vastly superior, and highly magnificent, has been less noticed. The The air is perfectly mild; it hardly freezes in the night, and the robin-red-breast sings merrily 358 WINDERMERE-SCARLET-FEVER. on the sunny side of bushes. This bird is pri vileged in England, as swans are:-they have nothing to fear from gunners. Notwithstanding the moderate temperature and clear sky we have enjoyed, and every appearance of salubrity in the climate, a very malignant and contagious scarlet-fever, communicated even through third persons, is spreading in Langdale, and is almost as rapidly mortal as our yellow-fever in America. Cold-bathing seems, however, a sort of specific, bringing down the heat and pulse immediately. It is repeated many times every day, and cold water is poured over the head, while the rest of the body is immersed; the patients themselves wish ardently for a repetition of the cold bath, from the immediate relief they experience. Perspiration in the yellow fever is probably beneficial only as cooling the surface by evaporation, which is effected in a more direct way by cold water. The hooping-cough is also very prevalent among children here; a change of place, even from one room to another of the same house, is found to operate favourably, which is certainly very unaccountable. We are preparing to return to Edinburgh; the few days we spent there last summer having made us wish to divide our winter between that capital and London. Before leaving Windermere, I ought to mention an artist, Mr Green, who has spent the last ten years among these mountains, employed in the study of their form and physiognomy, and who draws them with singular truth and originality; he says himself he knows the anatomy of mountains, and he does undoubtedly. There is a certain conventional form of mountains, which passes current in the practice of the art, without WINDERMERE-MR GREEN-GRETNA-GREEN. 359 being at all like nature. Mr Green has etched, in the soft ground manner, sixty large copperplates, forming excellent studies. The outline only is sold at 5s. and, when shaded in Indian ink, 30s. each. Nov. 17.-Edinburgh. We came here in three days, (140 miles.) The roads are made of broken stones, hard, and jolting like a bad pavement, but without ruts. The heavy English waggons, with fellies to their wheels, 16 and 18 inches broad, would soon crush these asperities; in this respect, they are certainly preferable to the light one-horse carts used here. Our entrance into Scotland was this time by Gretna-Green, notorious for smuggled weddings. The marriage forms are very simple in Scotland. It is enough to acknowledge a woman as your wife before witnesses, and even enough to live apparently as married, to be so legally and indissolubly. In England, there are banns to be published in church, and other formalities, inconvenient to unauthorized lovers. I do not exactly know why this village has been chosen in preference to others on the frontier of Scotland, except its being the first on the road, and having acquired, by prescription, the good-will of the trade. We inquired of our landlady about the old drunken blacksmith, said to be the high priest of this fugitive hymen. She denied, however, indignantly his having ever been a blacksmith. He is likely to die soon from age and drinking; and then our informant added, with a sigh, "What will become of us, God only knows!" No less than a hundred couple have been conjoined here annually. We might have been admitted to the sight of this noble personage for a glass of grog. He is neither a clergyman nor a 360 GRETNA-GREEN-SMUGGLED WEDDINGS. magistrate, but reads the English marriage-service to tranquillize the scruples of the lady, and persuade her she is rightfully married, although it is not necessary. The Scotch church does not countenance these clandestine unions, and, I believe, excommunicates the contracting parties. The object of the laws of Scotland is, to prevent concubinage, by rendering it dangerous; not to facilitate improper marriages. Between Moffat and Crook, the road traverses a pastoral district, not unlike Mosspaul. A few miles north of Moffat, the side of the hill over which we passed is worn away into a frightful chasm, called the Devil's beef-tub. The view from the top must be very fine, but all was cloud and mist over the plain below, and we were left to fancy what we pleased. Nov. 27.-Dumbreck's hotel at Edinburgh is the most convenient, the quietest, the cheapest, and, at the same time, the most creditable of any establishment of this sort we have seen anywhere in Great Britain. Furnished lodgings are also very convenient. Two large sitting-rooms, and three bed-rooms, all on the first floor, decently furnished, may be had for four guineas a-week. The people of the house go to market, and cook for you. The table costs about a guinea a-day; a man-servant, three guineas and a half a-month. The distances in the new town are so little, that a carriage is quite unnecessary; sedan chairs are preferable, and very generally used. Hackneycoaches, besides, are here fit to be used by any body; and are on a much more decent footing in every respect than in London. I regretted not having been present, during our 6 EDINBURGH-HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY. 361 residence in London, at some criminal trials; and, having mentioned it, I was obligingly invited to be present at one that took place yesterday in the Court of Justiciary, for a case of murder. At ten o'clock in the morning, we entered a handsome modern built hall. There was on one side a recess, and elevated seats for the judges, and before them, lower down, a table where the lord-advo. cate sat, with the counsel for the prisoner, and other lawyers. On one side, near the window, were the jury, on four benches, one behind the other, in an amphitheatre. Opposite to them, and fronting the light, a raised box for the witnesses. Fronting the judges, but outside of the bar, the prisoner sat between two soldiers; behind them, the public on an amphitheatre, reaching the very ceiling. The judges soon appeared, three in number; - the Lord Justice-Clerk, who presides, * Lord Meadowbank, and a third, whose name I do not remember. Their dress is very odd,-gowns of red and white satin, stuck over with bows of red ribbon, and large wigs covering head and shoulders, a masquerade for which I was not prepared. Out of forty-five jurymen present, the presiding judge selected fifteen from a list he held in his hand, who were empanneled for the trial of the prisoner at the bar. This selection surprised me a little, I own. In England and - The place of Lord Justice-General, or First Lord of Justiciary, is, I believe, a mere sinecure, given to a person who often does not reside, and perhaps never was in Scotland. His secretary, or clerk, however, represents him; and is invested with all the power, and enjoys all the respectability of Lord Chief-Justice, although only the Lord Chief-Justice's clerk. |