aming white
streams; while, from their frequency, they obstruct each other's
influence upon the mind of the spectator; and, in all cases, the effect
of an individual cataract, excepting the great Fall of the Rhine at
Schaffhausen, is diminished by the general fury of the stream of which
it is a part.

Recurring to the reflections from still water, I will describe a
singular phenomenon of this kind of which I was an eye-witness.

Walking by the side of Ulswater upon a calm September morning, I saw,
deep within the bosom of the Lake, a magnificent Castle, with towers and
battlements: nothing could be more distinct than the whole edifice.
After gazing with delight upon it for some time, as upon a work of
enchantment, I could not but regret that my previous knowledge of the
place enabled me to account for the appearance. It was in fact the
reflection of a pleasure-house called Lyulph's Tower--the towers and
battlements magnified and so much changed in shape as not to be
immediately recognised. In the meanwhile, the pleasure-house itself was
altogether hidden from my view by a body of vapour stretching over it
and along the hill-side on which it stands, but not so as to have
intercepted its communication with the lake; and hence this novel and
most impressive object, which, if I had been a stranger to the spot,
would, from its being inexplicable, have long detained the mind in a
state of pleasing astonishment.

Appearances of this kind, acting upon the credulity of early ages, may
have given birth to, and favoured the belief in, stories of sub-aqueous
palaces, gardens, and pleasure-grounds--the brilliant ornaments of
Romance.

With this _inverted_ scene I will couple a much more extraordinary
phenomenon, which will show how other elegant fancies may have had their
origin, less in invention than in the actual processes of Nature.

About eleven o'clock on the forenoon of a winter's day, coming
suddenly, in company of a friend, into view of the Lake of Grasmere, we
were alarmed by the sight of a newly-created Island; the transitory
thought of the moment was, that it had been produced by an earthquake or
some other convulsion of Nature. Recovering from the alarm, which was
greater than the reader can possibly sympathise with, but which was
shared to its full extent by my companion, we proceeded to examine the
object before us. The elevation of this new island exceeded considerably
that of the old one, its neighbour; it was