higher than Cader Idris.* Some state Whernside, in Yorkshire, to be the highest mountain in South Britain, and more than 4000 feet. Helvellyn is 3324 feet, Benlomond 3262. But what mole-hills are all these compared with Mount Blanc, rising 15,680 feet, the highest mountain in Europe; or with the American Chimboraco, 20,909 feet, the highest ground ever trodden by man, or with the mountains of Thibet, above 25,000 feet, and the highest at present known. †

ever.

The air is sharp on the top of Snowdon, but you may bear it without the help of brandy. There really needs no previous preparation whatThe walk is rather laborious, but may be leisurely taken in five hours, and the whole distance is about ten miles. It is amusing to observe the anxiety of the adventurers to record their exploit: scraps of paper are carefully packed among

* Pennant makes Snowdon 3568 feet above the level of Caernarvon Bay, and Cader Idris 2850 feet above the level of the green, near Dolgelle. Snowdonia, p. 164, and 88.

+ According to Colonel Crawford. For the height of these mountains, see Reece's Encyclopædia, Art. Mountain.

stones at the top, with their names, and the date

of their excursion:

So strong the zeal t' immortalize himself

Beats in the breast of man, that e'en a few,

Few transient years, won from th' abyss abhorr'd

Of blank oblivion, seems a glorious prize. Cowper,

We descended to the same point, a cottage on the Caernarvon road, about three miles from Beddgelert, by a less interesting track, and with no better success in finding any memoranda for my pencil to make of my exploit.

Yours, &e,

M

LETTER XVI.

FROM Beddgelert to Llanberis * the distance is about twelve miles, eight along the Capel Curig road, then to the left down a tremendous mountain pass, not easily found without a guide; impending rocky precipices on either side, enormous fragments lying about in the wildest confusion, no animal life, no vegetation, no sound but of a tiny rill, that rather makes the stillness audible-the

The church of Peris. Llan, or Lhan, properly signifies a yard, or small enclosure, as may be observed in compound words. For we find a vineyard, called Gwin-llan; an Orchard, Per-llan; a hay-yard, Yd-llan; a church-yard, Korph-llan; a sheep-fold, Kor-llan, &c. However, it denotes separately a church or chapel, and is of common use in this sense throughout Wales: probably, because such yards or enclosures might be places of worship in times of heathenism, or upon the first planting of Christianity, when churches were Camden. edit. Gibson, p. 166.

scarce.

whole is a scene of almost savage desolation,* and continues so nearly three miles, then gradually opening upon the hamlet of Llanberis and its peaceful lake. Some bold rock composition might probably be made, looking up the pass, but I had no opportunity of trying; a hazy rain through which I saw it, though congenial with such scenery, and increasing its sublimity, hastened me on to the village. I got civility there, and a decent bed, but very scanty fare. If you stay longer than a day or two, you must carry your own provisions: remember too, that Llanberis is accessible on horseback, but not, I think, by a carriage; down the mountain pass, certainly not.

The village, shut out from the world by a wall of mountains, consists of a few moss-grown stone cottages, with a very mean church, †

* One farm in this neighbourhood, of 2,400 acres, is let at sixty pounds per annum; another, 600 acres, at five pounds per annum, or two-pence an acre. Hutton's Remarks, p. 166. + Dedicated to Peris, a cardinal missioned from Rome, as legate to this island. He is said to have settled and died here. Bingley, vol. i. p. 238.

Where no bones of heroes lie;

The rude inelegance of poverty

Reigns there alone.

BLOOMFIELD.

Many fine drawings have been made of the lake; one of the best, perhaps, is that by Turner, in the council-room of the Royal Academy. Its character differs from any of the northern lakes that I have seen: Windermere is cheerful; Derwentwater, romantic; Wastwater, gloomy; Grasmere, peaceful; Loweswater, engaging; but stately grandeur distinguishes Llanberis. I think, with Bingley, that it most resembles Ulswater, though more picturesque, especially in the form of the mountains. But it has, equally with that fine lake, another advantage; it is not seen in detail, like a river; nor, as some Scottish and American lakes, so extensive, that you might as well look at the sea;-the whole is seen at once. Llanberis lake, in fact, consists of two, separated by a narrow slip of land, and communicating by a stream, which runs from one into the other, The upper is about a mile long, and rather less than half a mile broad; the lower is longer, and far more