The feelings of schoolboys are usually more excited by the marvellous than the beautiful in nature; and while the two young ladies, with their mamma, were intent on the magnificent scene before them, their two brothers, and young Stately, were engaged in boyish speculations respecting the origin of such frightful abysses. They wondered whether it was at all likely that the same cause, whether earthquake or otherwise, by which they had been formed, would again fill them up.

Mr. Gracelove, however, put a period to the surmises of their juvenile philosophy, as well for the purpose of drawing them away from a dangerous position, as because he had something more entertaining to occupy their attention.

rama.

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“And now, my dear children," he said, come along with me to that grassy mound, from which, while the servant is spreading out our rural repast, I will point out and describe to you the various prominent objects of this magnificent panoThis description, nevertheless, I mean to give you in the words of an accomplished authoress, Mrs. Radcliffe,-a task which she has better performed than I could do myself. While, therefore, I take this gifted lady as our guide, I shall point out to you, as I proceed, the geographical situation of the numerous places indicated in her lucid representations."

The proposal was most willingly acceded to; and while the culinary department was put into immediate activity, the announcement of which was listened to, by some of the party, with at least as much complacency as the forthcoming illustration by Mrs. Radcliffe, Mr. Gracelove drew a book from his pocket, from which he read the following sketch :—

"We stood on a pinnacle,' (says the above-mentioned lady,) commanding the whole dome of the sky. The prospects below, each of which had been before considered separately, as a great scene, were now miniature parts of the immense landscape.

"To the north lay, like a map, the vast tract of low country which extends between Bassenthwaite and the Irish Channel, marked with the silver circles of the river Derwent in its progress from the lake. Whitehaven and its white coast were distinctly seen; and Cockermouth seemed almost under the eye. A long blackish line, more to the west, resembling a faintly-formed cloud, was said by the guide to be the Isle of Man, who, however, had the honesty to confess, that the mountains of Down, in Ireland, which sometimes have been thought visible, had never been seen by him in the clearest weather.

"Bounding the low country to the north, the wide Solway Frith, with its indented shores, looked like a grey horizon; and the double range of Scottish mountains, seen dimly through the mist beyond, like lines of dark clouds above it. The Solway appeared surprisingly near us, though at fifty miles distance, and the guide said that on a bright day its shipping would be plainly discerned.

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Nearly in the north, the heights seemed to soften into plains, for no object was there visible through the obscurity that had begun to draw over the further distance; but towards the east they appeared to swell again; and what we were told were the Cheviot Hills dawned feebly beyond Northumberland.

"We now spanned the narrowest part of England, looking from the Irish Channel on one side, to the German Ocean on the other which latter, however, was so far off as to be discernible only like a mist.

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Nearer than the county of Durham stretched the ridge of Crossfell, and an indistinct multitude of the Westmoreland and Yorkshire highlands, whose lines disappeared behind Saddleback, which was now evidently prominent over Skiddaw,― so much so as to exclude many a height beyond it. Passing

this mountain, in our course to the south, we saw immediately below the fells round Derwentwater; the lake still remaining concealed in their deep rocky bosom. Southward and westward the whole prospect was a "turbulent chaos of dark mountains;" all individual dignity was lost in the immensity of the whole; and every variety of character was overpowered by that of astonishing and gloomy grandeur.

"Over the fells of Borrowdale, and far to the south, the northern end of Windermere appeared, like a wreath of grey smoke that spreads along a mountain's side. More southward still, and beyond all the fells of the lakes, Lancaster Sands extended to the faintly-seen waters of the sea. Then, to the west, Duddon Sands gleamed in a long line among the fells of High Furness.

"Immediately under the eye lay Bassenthwaite, surrounded by many ranges of mountains invisible from below. We overlocked all these dark mountains, and saw green cultivated vales over the tops of the lofty rocks, and other mountains. over these vales in many ridges: whilst innumerable narrow glens were traced in all their windings, and seen uniting behind the hills with others, that also sloped upwards from the lake.

"The air on the summit was boisterous, intensely cold, and difficult to be inspired; though below the day was warm and

Many were the thanks rendered to the kind parent on the conclusion of the description which he had just read to them; particularly, as he paused, on each item of the account, to direct their attention to the quarter referred to in the narrative. Numerous were the exclamations made on the beauty and grandeur of the almost boundless prospect; especially by Mrs. Gracelove and her interesting daughter Laura, who, as delighting to exercise their pencils in sketching the more retired

scenes of nature, observed with a practised eye the various details that serve to complete the harmony of a finished picture.

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"How easy and how natural is the transition," observed Mr. Gracelove, to ascend from nature up to nature's God,' in the presence of such a transcendent scene as that before us! A worshipping spirit towards the Great Supreme may here be felt as in the sanctuary of God.

"In ancient days,” he remarked, "before religious temples were as numerous as they now happily are, the patriarchs of old were accustomed to adore Jehovah under the canopy of heaven. Do you not remember, my dear Laura, that it is recorded of Isaac, that he went out to meditate in the field at the eventide' ?* or, as the marginal reference has it,' to pray.' And where could he have beheld a more sublime display of the Creator's power and goodness to call forth the aspirations of his heart, than we are privileged to behold at this moment? If, then, my dear children, the pious patriarch, living, as he did, under a more shadowy light both of nature and of grace than we do, could pour forth his soul to his Maker in the open field, ought we not to meditate,' also, on such a mountain of glorious vision as this?

"And when we call to mind the omnipresence of that stupendous Being whom we adore,-that throughout innumerable worlds, floating in infinite space, as in every portion of the globe which we inhabit, He is everywhere present; superintending, controlling, and directing all things; that 'He compasseth our path, and our lying down, and is acquainted with all our ways;''what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness.'

"Nothing in the whole Bible," he continued, " can exceed, if equal, the sublimity of that passage in the 139th Psalm

* Gen. xxiv. 63.

which exhibits to us so magnificent an image of the all-pervading Spirit of Jehovah. Although I have often referred you to it, my dear children," he said, "yet can it never too frequently be repeated."

Drawing, as he spoke, a small Bible from his pocket-his constant companion both at home and abroad-he read the inspired address of the psalmist to his Almighty Protector.

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

"If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.

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If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

"Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

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Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to THEE.'

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The sublime Scripture you have quoted is indeed," observed Mrs. Gracelove," the emanation of an inspired mind. The grandeur of the thoughts far exceeds the capacity of unassisted man. But if the thought be so elevated, what must be the stupendous Being to whom that thought refers? of whose glorious attributes such inconceivably marvellous powers are predicated?"

Most justly," replied her husband, "did the late accomplished Sir William Pepys declare, that nothing in ancient literature is at all comparable to the Psalms, even as human compositions. 'What,' he asks,is Pindar to the 139th among others?' Horace, indeed, has described Pindar as in