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SHUT your books, readers all; arrange your libraries by MS. catalogue; see your studies decently dusted; entrust the key of the locked treasures to no man of woman born, and away with you into the country, forgetful of towns and turmoil, and like a bird from a cage, clapping your wings in the air of liberty.

Have you ever seen THE LAKES? Take Maga with you then, and she will be your guide through that region of beauty and grandeur. Encumber yourselves with no needless volumes -Maga and a map are all-sufficient; but trust to no man's eyes but your own; and above all things, carry with you a good conscience.

From Kendal proceed not impatiently, but in the pleasures of hope, to the village of Bowness, on the banks of Windermere. You will see the Lake when you are about a mile from it, and the view is a pleasant one; but first impressions, although often strong, are seldom correct; so on this your first introduction to the Lady of the Isles, admire her beauty without considering its peculiar character, and wait till it has won its way to your heart in the light of a few sunsets.

We shall suppose that you reach the White Lion (one of the best inns in England) before breakfast, that is, between eight and ten o'clock; for a certain latitude in all things must be allowed to travellers; and if you lay down austere rules for your own guidance, you may depend upon being not VOL. XX.

only miserable yourself, but the cause of misery to others during your entire tour. Most true it is, that Time was made for vulgar souls-but you are not a vulgar soul-very far from it—and will prove yourself independent of the Dial,

Many people, immediately on their arrival at an inn, in a picturesque or romantic country, become fidgetty in the extreme, and calling up the landlord, commence an unmerciful system of cross-questioning respecting everything visible in the neighbourhood. Beware of such weakness; and rest assured, that as the scenery can have no reason for concealing itself, you will behold it all in good time, without difficulty or trepidation. No fear of the wonderful hanging-bridge, built by the devil, tumbling down the very hour before you approach it. Although there has been some talk about draining the Lake, operations are not yet commenced. You may very safely take another cup of coffee before the total cessation of the celebrated waterfall; and as for the mountains, they will wait, though perhaps not without murmuring, till you have composedly wound up your breakfast. Be not unduly alarmed at cloud, mist, or rain; for they may come and go twenty times between first egg and last ham; and as you have a soul to be saved, neither hope nor fear in that dull deceiver-the Barometer,

On your arrival, then, at the White Lion, Bowness, walk with an amiable A

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