enjoys the charming little picture it commands, and which bears no characterestic resemblance to any other in the country. The scene depends not principally on the water for its charms, though it is diversified by the streams which pass in elegant associated lines; it is the general assemblage of its component parts, the sobriety of the colouring of the rocks and trees, the solemn stillness which usually prevails, and the refreshing coolness of these shades, which make this sequestered retreat the favourite haunt of meditation in that sultry season when

"Cancer glows with Phoebus' fiery car."

The excellent description furnished by Mr. Gilpin, better applies to this romantic spot when viewed from a bank a few yards above, than when it is seen from the summer-house. "The water falls within a few yards of the eye, which being rather above its level, has a long perspective view of the stream, as it hurries from the higher grounds; tumbling, in various little breaks, through its rocky channel, darkened with thicket, till it arrive at the edge of the precipice, before the window; from whence it rushes into the bason, which is formed by nature in the native rock."

"The dark colour of the stone, taking still a deeper tinge from the wood which hangs over it, sets off to wonderful advantage, the sparking lustre of the stream, and produces an uncommon effect of light. It is this effect indeed, from which the chief beauty of this little exhibition arises. In every representation,

truly picturesque, the shade should greatly overbalance the light. The face of nature, under the glow of noon, has rarely this beautiful appearance. The artist therefore generally courts her charms in a morning or an evening hour, when the shadows are deep and extended, and when the sloping sun-beam affords rather a catching, than a glaring light. Here we had an admirable idea of the magical effect of light picturesquely distributed."

Mr. Mason, the elegant translator of Fresnoy's art of painting, to which Sir Joshua Reynold's prefixed his admirable annotations, has given a description of the Lower Fall at Rydal, in the following words.

"Here nature has performed every thing in little, that she generally executes in her larger scale; and on that account, like the miniature painter, seems to have finished every part of it in a studied manner. Not a little fragment of a rock thrown into the bason, not a single stem of brushwood that starts from its craggy sides, but has a picturesque meaning; and the little central current dashing down a cleft of the darkest coloured stone, produces an effect of light and shadow beautiful beyond description. This little theatrical scene might be painted as large as the original, on a canvas not bigger than those usually dropped in the opera-house.'

The bridge, which is a valuable feature in this picturesque combination, has not been mentioned by either of these gentlemen.

The Lower Fall is No. 18, in the larger etchings.-Nos. 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, are all scenes in the neighbourhood of Rydal.

The guide retraces the foot path to the road, and after a little ascent, again enters the grounds, passing over a wooden bridge to the Upper Fall, through groves of aged oaks, from amongst which the vale and mountains appear uncommonly beautiful and grand. The path. is on the verge of a rugged bed of rocks, over which the water is agitated into a thousand shapes, and received into basons of white pebble, embanked with stones luxuriantly decorated with fern, mosses, and other vegetation; the whole overhung, by stately trees, through which there are fine eye flights to the neighbouring summits.

At the lower of the upper falls, (for there are two seen in one direction), the rocks, in bold irregularity, stretch across a wide channel, over which the water, after heavy rain, hurled, with the noise of thunder, produces on the mind sensations the most awful and sublime. Though an object of admiration for its grandeur, it boasts, in lesser quantities, an exquisite display of water, and at all times the higher furnishes an elegant apex to the lower fall. After immense rains, the river becomes a majestic flood, the whole surface of which is covered with froth. Should two or three hot and dry days succeed, the wave becomes transparent, and while it still retains its volume, presents, to the eye what might pass for a fairy