Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 1 (of 2)Wordsworth, Dorothy
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Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Wordsworth, Dorothy
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Diaries; Wordsworth, Dorothy, 1771-1855 -- Diaries; Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 -- Family
When we had travelled about two miles the lake became considerably
narrower, the hills rocky, covered with copses, or bare, rising more
immediately from the bed of the water, and therefore we had not so often
to regret the want of inhabitants. Passed by, or saw at a distance,
sometimes a single cottage, or two or three together, but the whole
space between Luss and Tarbet is a solitude to the eye. We were reminded
of Ulswater, but missed the pleasant farms, and the mountains were not
so interesting: we had not seen them in companies or brotherhoods rising
one above another at a long distance. Ben Lomond stood alone, opposite
to us, majestically overlooking the lake; yet there was something in
this mountain which disappointed me,--a want of massiveness and
simplicity, perhaps from the top being broken into three distinct
stages. The road carried us over a bold promontory by a steep and high
ascent, and we had a long view of the lake pushing itself up in a narrow
line through an avenue of mountains, terminated by the mountains at the
head of the lake, of which Ben Lui, if I do not mistake, is the most
considerable. The afternoon was showery and misty, therefore we did not
see this prospect so distinctly as we could have wished, but there was a
grand obscurity over it which might make the mountains appear more
numerous.
I have said so much of this lake that I am tired myself, and I fear I
must have tired my friends. We had a pleasant journey to Tarbet; more
than half of it on foot, for the road was hilly, and after we had
climbed one small hill we were not desirous to get into the car again,
seeing another before us, and our path was always delightful, near the
lake, and frequently through woods. When we were within about half a
mile of Tarbet, at a sudden turning looking to the left, we saw a very
craggy-topped mountain amongst other smooth ones; the rocks on the
summit distinct in shape as if they were buildings raised up by man, or
uncouth images of some strange creature. We called out with one voice,
'That's what we wanted!' alluding to the frame-like uniformity of the
side-screens of the lake for the last five or six miles. As we
conjectured, this singular mountain was the famous Cobbler, near
Arrochar. Tarbet was before us in the recess of a deep, large bay, under
the shelter of a hill. When we came up to the village we had to inquire
for the inn, there being no signboard. It was a well-sized white house,
the best in the place. We were conducted up-stairs into a sitting-room
that might make any good-humoured travellers happy--a square room, with
windows on each side, looking, one way, towards the mountains, and
across the lake to Ben Lomond, the other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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