orn fields--made the way cheerful. But
there is an uniformity in the lake which, comparing it with other lakes,
made it appear tiresome. It has no windings: I should even imagine,
although it is so many miles long, that, from some points not very high
on the hills, it may be seen from one end to the other. There are few
bays, no lurking-places where the water hides itself in the land, no
outjutting points or promontories, no islands; and there are no
commanding mountains or precipices. I think that this lake would be the
most pleasing in spring-time, or in summer before the corn begins to
change colour, the long tracts of hills on each side of the vale having
at this season a kind of patchy appearance, for the corn fields in
general were very small, mere plots, and of every possible shade of
bright yellow. When we came in view of the foot of the lake we perceived
that it ended, as it had begun, in pride and loveliness. The village of
Kenmore, with its neat church and cleanly houses, stands on a gentle
eminence at the end of the water. The view, though not near so beautiful
as that of Killin, is exceedingly pleasing. Left our car, and turned out
of the road at about the distance of a mile from the town, and after
having climbed perhaps a quarter of a mile, we were conducted into a
locked-up plantation, and guessed by the sound that we were near the
cascade, but could not see it. Our guide opened a door, and we entered a
dungeon-like passage, and, after walking some yards in total darkness,
found ourselves in a quaint apartment stuck over with moss, hung about
with stuffed foxes and other wild animals, and ornamented with a library
of wooden books covered with old leather backs, the mock furniture of a
hermit's cell. At the end of the room, through a large bow-window, we
saw the waterfall, and at the same time, looking down to the left, the
village of Kenmore and a part of the lake--a very beautiful prospect.

MEMORANDUM BY THE AUTHOR.

'The transcript of the First Part of this Journal, and the Second as far
as page 149, were written before the end of the year 1803. I do not know
exactly when I concluded the remainder of the Second Part, but it was
resumed on the 2d of February 1804. The Third Part was begun at the end
of the month of April 1805, and finished on the 31st of May.' {190}

* * * * *

_April_ 11_th_, 1805.--I am setting about a task which, however free and