Confounding, astounding.
Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound;
All at once, and all o'er, with mighty uproar--
And this way the water conies down at Lodore."

Thus we reach the border of Derwentwater, nestling beneath the fells and
crags, as its miniature surrounding mountains are called. Little wooded
islets dimple the surface of the lake, in the centre being the largest,
St. Herbert's Island, where once that saint lived in a solitary cell: he
was the bosom friend of St. Cuthbert, the missionary of Northumberland,
and made an annual pilgrimage over the Pennine Hills to visit him;
loving each other in life, in death they were not divided, for
Wordsworth tells us that

"These holy men both died in the same hour."

Another islet is known as Lord's Island, where now the rooks are in full
possession, but where once was the home of the ill-fated Earl of
Derwentwater, who was beheaded in 1716 for espousing the Pretender's
cause. It is related that before his execution on Tower Hill he closely
viewed the block, and finding a rough place which might offend his neck,
he bade the headsman chip it off; this done, he cheerfully placed his
head upon it, gave the sign, and died: his estates were forfeited and
settled by the king on Greenwich Hospital. Castle Hill rises boldly on
the shore above Derwent Isle, where there is a pretty residence, and
every few years there is added to the other islets on the bosom of the
lake the "Floating Island," a mass of vegetable matter that becomes
detached from the marsh at the upper end. At Friar's Crag, beneath
Castle Hill, the lake begins to narrow, and at Portinscale the Derwent
flows out, receives the waters of the Greta coming from Keswick, and,
after flowing a short distance through the meadow-land, expands again
into Bassenthwaite Lake, a region of somewhat tamer yet still beautiful
scenery.

The town of Keswick stands some distance back from the border of
Derwentwater, and is noted as having been the residence of Southey. In
Greta Hall, an unpretentious house in the town, Southey lived for forty
years, dying there in 1843. He was laid to rest in the parish church of
Crosthwaite, just outside the town. At the pretty little church there is
a marble altar-tomb, the inscription on which to Southey's memory was
written by Wordsworth. Greta Hall was also for three years the home of
Coleridge, the two families dwelling under the same roof. Behind the
modest house rises Sk