 Part 5 of Early Guides to the English Lake District This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Extract from a six-month tour through the north of England by Arthur Young. Now, sir, for the glory of Keswick, its lake so famous all over England. Let me first inform you that it is by computation ten miles round of an oblong figure and enclosed by a prodigious range of formidable mountains of such a height that they are cloud-topped for several months in the year. The best way of viewing it is to row round the lake and land now and then for catching the varieties of the prospect. You walk from the town first down to Cockshut Hill, a small rising ground within the amphitheatre of mountains and has been lately planted. The view of the lake from hence is very beautiful. You have a most elegant sheet of water at your feet of the finest colour imaginable, spotted with islands of which you see five and are high enough to command the water around them. One is in the middle of about five acres of grassland with a house under a clump of trees on one side of it, the whole object beautifully picturesque. You look also upon another planted with scotch furs and also upon three others more distant. This is the view of the floor of this noble amphitheatre. The walls are in different style, sublime. To the left you look first on a hilly rock partly covered with shrubby wood and further on upon a chain of tremendous rocks near four hundred yards high. Their feet are spread with hanging woods but their heads bear broken and irregular. Following the line the lake seems to lose itself among a wood of rocks and mountains, the tops rising one above another in the wildest manner imaginable. The opposite shore presents you a full view of a vast range of hills and behind you look upon the prince of the surrounding mountains, Skiddo, whose tremendous head rears above the clouds. Leaving this hill you walk down to your boat and are struck with the limpid transparency of the water, which almost exceeds belief. The bottom is quite paved with stones and the white ones glitter through the tremulous curl of the surface like so many diamonds. You road to the left pass a variety of shore, here rocky and projecting, there low and retiring, coast a planted island and coming under Wallow Crag, one of the immense rocks before mentioned, you have from its foot a very fine view. The surrounding rocks and mountains are truly noble, the Crag above you fringed about a third of its height with pendant woods. The lake at your feet breaks beautifully into a bay behind a promontory called Stable Hills. Against it is Brampe's home island belonging to Greenwich Hospital and over the low part of the promontory you catch the wood on Lord's Island in a very pleasing manner. The opposite shore is beautifully scattered with hanging woods and some white houses give a liveliness to the view, truly pleasing. Taking your boat again and rowing till you are opposite the opening between Wallow and Barrow Crags, the noise of a waterfall unseen will induce you to land again. Walking onto a little ruinous bridge, you look upon a romantic hollow of rocks and woods with a stream pouring down the clefts in many sheets and seen among the trees in the most picturesque manner, a romantic scene of rock and wood and water 30 feet high. Rowing from hence under Barrow Crag, the shore is rocky and various. Passing some low ground and landing on a rising one, the view is exquisite. The water breaks in the most beautiful manner imaginable into bays and sheets, stretching away from the eye most gloriously between the Stable Hills, Lord's Island and Vickers Island. Brampe's home cuts in the middle and St. Albans Isle presents his broad side to your full view. At the other end of the lake, the Rising Hills, part of cultivated, waving enclosures and part of hanging woods, all scattered with white houses and the whole crowned with the lofty mountains are beautifully picturesque and contrast finely with the view of the south end of the lake, around which the rocks and the mountains are tremendously bold, pendent and threatening. Following the coast, the shore is thinly fringed with wood. Then you row around a projecting land, containing several enclosures and come under a fine, thick, hanging wood, with a raging torrent breaking through it over rocks just seen between the wood and Barrow Side, but heard in the most romantic manner. You next anchor in a bay, the environs of which are dreadful. You are under a monstrous, craggy rock, a throng crag, scattered with shrubby wood to the very edge and almost perpendicular and are moving the eye from the formidable object. You find this end of the lake, surrounded with a chain of them, in the boldest and abruptest style imaginable. The opposite shore of mountains very great and noise of distant waterfalls heard most gloriously. From hence you coast a dreadful shore of fragments, which time has broken from the towering rocks, many of them of a terrible size. Some stopped on the land by larger than themselves and others rolled into the lake through a path of desolation, sweeping trees, hillocks and everything to the water. The very idea of a small shiver against the boat strikes with horror. Advancing you catch the view of a most beautiful waterfall within the wave of a gentle bend of the rocks. But to enjoy the full luxuriance of this exquisite landscape it is necessary to land and walk to an opening in the grove from whence it is seen in surprising beauty. You look up a tremendous wall of rock, perpendicular to the top, scattered with wood that seems to hang in the air. A large stream rushes out of a cliff near the top and falls in the most broken and romantic manner several hundred feet. It falls in one gush for several yards. The projecting part of the rock breaks it then into three streams which are presently quite lost behind hanging woods. Lower down you again catch it in a single bright sheet among the surrounding dark wood in the most elegantly picturesque manner that fancy can conceive. Losing itself again behind the intervening trees it breaks to the view in various scattered streams half seen glittering in the sunbeams among the branches of the trees in the most bewitching colours of nature's clear obscure. Lower still you again catch it united in one bright rushing fall in the dark bosom of a fine hollow wood which finishes the scene. The surrounding hills, rocks and scattered pendant woods are all romantic and sublime and tend nobly to set off this most exquisite touch of rural elegance. Following the coast you sail round a sweet little island a clump of wood growing out of the lake but it is joined to the mainland when the water is very low. From hence pursuing the voyage you come into the narrow part of the lake and have a full view of most romantic terrible craggy rocks in closing a most grand and beautiful cascade. It is a view that must astonish the spectator. You look up to two dreadful pointed rocks of a vast height which almost hang over your head partly scattered with shrubby wood in the wildest taste of nature. Between them is a dreadful precipice of broken craggy rock over which a raging torrent foams down in one vast sheet of water several yards wide just broken into ebullitions by the points of the rocks unseen. At another time I saw it when the craggy rock appeared and the stream was broken by it into several gushing torrents which seemed to issue distinctly from clefts in the rock in the most picturesque manner imaginable. The water is lost in one spot caught again in another foaming out of this cleft with rushing in petuosity and trickling down that gushing elegance. Nothing can be fancied more grand more beautiful or romantic. Taking a winding walk through the wood it leads down to a rapid stream which you cross and presently come to a new and most delicious scene. To the right you catch a side view of the fall just described in a new direction most beautifully embosomed in rock and hanging wood. Full in front you look upon another cascade out as it were from the rotten stump of an old tree and falling down an irregular surface of rock its breaks into larger and more sheets some full, others thin and trickling a most sweet variety. After this its breaks again and falls into the stream in fresh beauty elegantly romantic. Following the shore into fleet water you come into a region of most dupendous rocks and irregularly pointed in the most abrupt and wild manner imaginable with monstrous fragments large as a house that have tumbled from their heads dreadful in the idea. Pursuing the water to its point you come into a new and the most glorious amphitheater of rocks and mountains. On one side craggy broken and wildly irregular and on the other a vast range of mountainside sufficiently great. Going up the river to Grange Bridge under Grange Crag the lake is lost the prospect new and terrible a whole sweep of rocks, crags, mountains and dreadful chasms. Leaving the boat and walking up to the village you gain a view of a cone like rocky woody hill rising in the midst of a hollow of mountains most nobly romantic from hence following the road to the lake under Brandelo Hill you have the noblest view of rocks and hills in the world. Grange Crag and Crown Head appear in full view surrounded by an immense wall of rock and mountain the effect astonishingly great. Taking boat again you row round a prodigious fine promontory, beautifully wooded and upon turning it you tack about round a most exquisite little island in the bay and if the water is very high there are two more very fine woody islands around which you may row. This little archipelago will entertain a person of the least taste nor is the view of the lake's environs unworthy of admiration the crags and cliffs to the right are tremendous. Skidow fronts you in the sublimist style saddleback on one side of him rears his head in the boldest manner. To the left you look upon an exceeding fine hanging wood beautifully spread over a waving hill advancing with the coast you next land at the lead mines which, if you have a taste for grotto work, will entertain as a boat may be loaded with spar of various glittering and beautiful kinds. Here also are two curiosities of an uncommon kind vis two salt springs sailing along the shore it leads you under a noble hill most beautifully spread with wood it is covered thick with young timber trees which grow in the most picturesque manner down to the very water's edge you next enter a little bay and look upon a most elegant small round hill covered with wood inimitably beautiful this you also coast nor can anything be more truly exquisite than these two slopes of wood with beautiful enclosures between them contrasting the sublimity of the rocks and mountains in the noblest style. Nor should you here forget to remark three or four enclosures on the other side of the lake down to the water's edge under Agnes fell they are exquisite sailing by some very beautiful grass enclosures you catch a white house romantically situated and then skirting more enclosures turn round a small but most exquisite promontory with a sweet clump of trees on it. This leads into a very fine landlocked bay which commands a beautiful sloping hanging wood the scene enlivened by a white house quite in the spot of taste from hence you look over the lake upon castle head crag a fine round of rocky wood rising out of a veil and backed with waving enclosures the shore from hence is most beautifully indented and irregular running up among little hills finely fringed with wood from hence you wind in and out of several bays and creeks commanding very picturesque views of the land and around a most noble hill of shrubby wood covered to the very top from hence around the town the shore is flat your next view of Keswick must be from land by walking up the vast rocks and crags thus described this is a journey which will terrify those who have been only used to flat countries the walk to the highest rock is a mile and half up and almost perpendicular horribly rugged and tremendous it is rather a climbing crawl than a walk the path crossed the stream which forms the first mentioned cascade in the midst of dreadful cliffs and romantic hollows the torrent roars beneath you in some places seen in others hid by rock and wood from hence you climb through a slope of underwood to the edge of a precipice from which you look down upon the lake and islands in a most beautiful manner for coming at once upon them after leaving a thick dark wood the emotions of surprise and admiration are very great following the path if it may be so called you pass many romantic spots and come to a projection of the hill from which you look down not only upon the lake as before but also upon a semicircular veil of enclosures of a most beautiful verdure which gives a fine curve into the lake one of the fields is scattered over with trees which from hence have the most truly picturesque effect imaginable advancing further yet you come to the head of Crustigfall which is a vast opening among these immense rocky mountains which lets in between them a view across the lake catching two of the islands etc in a most beautiful manner nor can anything be more horribly romantic than the adjoining ground where you command this sweet view at last we gain the top of the crag and from it the prospect is truly noble you look down upon the lake spotted with its islands so far below as to appear in another region the lower hills rise most picturesquely to the view to the right you look down upon a beautiful veil of cultivated enclosures whose verdure is painting itself the town presents its scattered houses among woods and spreading trees above it rises Skidow cloud topped in the most sublime magnitude descending to the town we took our leave of this enchanting region of landscape by scaling the formidable walls of Skidow himself it is five miles to the top but the immensity of the view fully repays for the labour of gaining it you look upon the lake which here appears no more than a little basin and its islands but to so many spots it is surrounded by a prodigious range of rocks and mountains wild as the waves sublimely romantic these dreadful sweeps the sport of nature in the most violent moments are the most striking objects seen from Skidow but in mere extent the view is prodigious you see the hills in Scotland plainly you view a fine reach of fen command the Isle of Man and see part of an object which I take to be an island in Ireland besides prodigious tracks of adjacent country Keswick upon the whole contains a variety that cannot fail of astonishing the spectator the islands, the hanging woods the waving enclosures and the cascades are almost superlatively elegant and beautiful while the rocks, cliffs, crags and the mountains are equally terrifying and sublime they cannot be a finer contrast but it is much to be regretted that art does not yield more of her assistance, not in decoration for the lake wants it not but in enabling the spectator to command with greater ease brilliant beauties and striking views which to so many travellers are hitherto quite unknown there are a vast many edges of precipices bold projections of rock pendant cliffs and wild romantic spots which command the most delicious scenes but which cannot be reached without the most perilous difficulty to such point of view winding path should be cut in the rock and resting place is made for the weary traveller many of these paths must necessarily lead through the hanging woods openings might be made to let in views of the lake where the objects such as islands etc were peculiarly beautiful at the bottoms of the rocks also something of the same nature should be executed for better viewing the romantic cascades which might be exhibited with a little art in a variety that would astonish it is amusing to think of the pains and expense with which the environs of several seats have been ornamented to produce pretty scenes it is true but how very far short of the wonders that might here be held up to the eye in all the rich luxuriance of nature's painting what are the effects of a Louise magnificence to the sportive play of nature in the Vale of Keswick how trifling the labours of art to the mere pranks of nature returning to Penrith our next expedition was to Hullswater a very fine lake about 6 miles from that town the approach to it is very beautiful the most advantageous way of seeing it is to take the road up Dunmanlet Hill for you rise up a very beautiful planted hill and see nothing of the water till you gain the summit when the view is uncommonly beautiful you look down at once upon a sheet of the lake which appears prodigiously fine it is an oblong water that runs 3 miles long and a mile and a half broad in some places in others a mile it is enclosed within an amphitheater of hills in front at the end of the reach projecting down to the water edge but retiring from it on each side so as to leave a space of cultivated enclosures between the feet and the lake the hedges that divide them are scattered with trees and the fields of both grass and corn waving in beautiful slopes from the water intersected by hedges in the most picturesque manner upon the right a bold swelling hill of turf rises with a fine air of grandeur another view from off this hill is onto a mountain side which presents to the eye a swelling slope of turf and over it saddleback rises in a noble style another view from this hill is down upon a beautiful veil of cultivated enclosures Mr. Hassel's house at Delmayne in one part almost encompassed with a plantation here you likewise catch some meanders of the river through the trees and hear the roar of a waterfall this hill itself is a very fine object viewed every way but the simplicity of its effect is destroyed by being cut by a double stripe of scotch furs across it which varies the colour of the verdure and consequently breaks the unity of the view another point of view from which this part of the lake is seen to good advantage is from off Solbifel you look down upon the water which spreads very finely to the view bounded to the right by the hills which rise from the very water at the other by Dunmanlet hill in front by a fine range of enclosures rising most beautifully to the view and the water's edge skirted by trees in a most picturesque manner directing your course under the lake and landing at Swarthfell the next business should be to mount its height the lake winds at your feet like a noble river the opposite banks beautiful enclosures exquisitely fringed with trees and some little narrow slips like promontories jet into it with the most picturesque effect imaginable and at the same time hear the noise of a waterfall beneath but on scene taking boat again and sailing with the course of the lake you turn with its bend and come into a very fine sheet of water which appears like a lake of itself it is under Howtown and Hawlingfell the environs here are very striking cultivated enclosures on one side crowned with the tops of hills and on the other a woody craggy hill down to the very water's edge the effect fine next you double Hawlingfell had come again into a new sheet of water under Martindalefell which is a prodigious fine hill of a bold abrupt form and between that and Howlingfell a little rising wave of cultivated enclosures skirted with trees the fields of the finest verdure and the picturesque appearance of the whole most exquisitely pleasing it is a most delicious spot within an amphitheater of rugged hills following the bend of the water under New Crag the views are more romantic than in any part hitherto seen New Crag to the right rears a bold abrupt head in a style truly sublime and passing it a little the opposite shore is very noble Martindalefell rises steep from the water's edge and presents a bold wall of mountain really glorious in front the hills are craggy broken and irregular in shape not tight like those of Keswick they project so boldly to the very water that the outlet or wind of the water is shut by them from the eye it seems enclosed by a shore of steep hills and crags from hence to the edge of the lake which there is sprinkled by three or four small islands the views are in the same style very wild and romantic it is an exceedingly pleasing entertainment to sail about this fine lake which is nineteen miles round and presents to the eye several very fine sheets of water and abounds for other amusements with noble fish pike to thirty pounds perch to six pounds trout to six pounds besides many other sorts the water is of a most beautiful colour and admirably transparent I took the opportunity of being at chap to ride a horse water a lake some miles to the westward the road thither leads for some distance along the side of a hill which commands an exceeding fine view of Pont and Vale to the left it is several miles in length of an oblong figure all cut into enclosures of a charming verdeur and scattered in the most picturesque manner with villages clumps of wood, houses bridges, trees etc a fine river takes the most beautiful serpentine course in the world through it the opposite bank is a large ridge of mountain it is a sweet landscape which brings to one's imagination the idea of an Arcadian paradise the approach to the lake is very picturesque you pass between two high ridges of mountain the banks finally spread with enclosures upon the right two small beautiful hills one of them covered with wood they are most pleasingly elegant the lake is a small one about three miles long half a mile over in some places and a quarter in others almost divided in the middle by a promontory of enclosures joining only by a straight so that it consists of two sheets of water the upper end of it is fine quite enclosed with bold steep craggy rocks and mountains and in the centre of the end a few little enclosures at their feet waving upwards in a very beautiful manner the south side of the lake is a noble ridge of mountain very bold and prominent down to the water's edge they bulge out in the centre in a fine bold pendants broad head that is venerably magnificent and the view of the first sheet of the lake losing itself into the second among hills rocks, woods etc. is picturesque the opposite shore consists of enclosures rising one above another and crowned with craggy rocks 12 of the 15 miles from Shaft to Kendall are a continued chain of mountainous moors totally uncultivated one dreary prospect that makes one melancholy to behold for the soil itself is highly capable of cultivation and of profitable uses much of it is of a good depth and the spontaneous growth proves that the very nature of the land is equal to many valuable uses after crossing this dreary track the first appearance of good country is most exquisitely fine about three miles from Kendall you at once look down from off this desolate country upon one of the finest landscapes in the world a noble range of fertile enclosures richly enameled with the most beautiful verdure and coming to the brow of the hill have a most elegantly picturesque view of a very gated track of waving enclosures spreading over hills and hanging to the eye in the most picturesque and pleasing manner that fancy can conceive three hills in particular are overlooked cut into enclosures in a charming style of themselves forming a most elegant landscape and worthy the imitation of those who would give the embellishments of art to the simplicity of nature Kendall is a very plentiful and cheap place fat stubble geese are sold at one shillings and fourpence each fat fowls at one shilling a couple fat ducks the same price wildfowl and game in great plenty woodcocks often at tuppence apiece partridges are sold common in the market and very cheap fishing great plenty trout often times at a penny a pound besides many other sorts it is a neat well built town from hence we viewed the famous lake called Winandamere 10 miles west of Kendall by much the longest water of the kind in England it is 15 miles long and from 2 miles to half a mile broad it gives gentle bends so as to present to the eye several noble sheets of water and is in many places beautifully scattered with islands the shores are nobly varied consisting in some places of fine ridges of hills in others of craggy rocks in some of the waving enclosures and in others of the finest hanging woods several villages and one market town are situated on its banks and a ferry crosses it to another there is some business carried on upon it so this is not uncommon to see barges with spreading sails all these circumstances give it a very cheerful appearance at the same time that they add to its beauty I would advise those who view this lake not to take the common road down to the village of Bones where the boats are kept but for reasons which I shall hear after add to go live around almost by the ferry the landlord at the inn at that village keeps a boat and can always provide rows for any company that comes the extreme beauty of the lake induced me to explore every part of it with attention but as I have already troubled you with several recitals of these water expeditions I shall only mention a few of the principal points of view and to which I should particularly recommend any traveller to row if he had not time to view the whole lake but no scheme of this sort can be more amusing than two or three days spent here in rowing, sailing fishing and wild duck shooting all which are here to be had in great perfection and I should add that the end of May or the beginning of June is the proper time for such an expedition taking boats at the village you row first to the island so called by way of preeminence being by much the largest in the lake it contains between 30 and 40 acres of land and I cannot but think at the sweetest spot and full of the greatest capabilities of any 40 acres in the king's dominions the view from the south end is very fine the lake presents the most noble sheet of water stretching away for several miles and bounded in front by distant mountains the shores beautifully indented by promontories covered with wood and jetting into the water in the most picturesque style imaginable particularly the ferry points on both sides it is broke by barcha island an elegant spot finally wooded in one part and by craw island almost covered in another and just hides a house on the mainland the eastern shore is spread forth with the most beautiful variety in some places waving enclosures of corn and grass rise one above another and present to the eye a scenery beyond the brightest ideas of painting itself in others, shrubby spots and dependent woods hang down to the very water's edge in some places these woods are broke by a few small grass enclosures of the sweetest verdure and in others run around large circuits of them and rising to the higher grounds lose themselves in the wilds above here you see slips of land running into the lake and covered with trees which seem to rise from the water there, a boldly indented shore swelling into fine bays and skirted with spreading trees an edging as elegant as ever fancied by Claude himself the village is caught among some scattered trees in a sweet situation on the bank of a bay followed by a promontory of wood the background a sweep of enclosures rising one above another following this line of shore towards the north you command Bannerig and Orest Head two hills all cut into enclosures to the very top to the north you look upon a noble and ordinary regular mountains which contrast finally with the other more beautiful shores the western is a fine sweep of craggy rocks here and there fringed with wood advancing to the very farthest point of land these objects are varied and new ones appear that are truly beautiful the Lancashire fairy point and the woody island join and seem one prodigious fine promontory of wood in a picturesque manner they form the boundary in front of a fine bay walled into the right by a noble rocky cliff and in the middle of it a sweet little woody island over the low part of the promontory the distant hills are seen finally the shore to the left here appears peculiarly beautiful for half a dozen enclosures of the most elegant verdure rise from the water's edge among sloping woods the beauty of colours of the most picturesque hues from hence likewise you look back on Bannerig a fine cultivated hill rising from the lake in a most pleasing manner moving from this end of the island along the west coast of it the view is extremely picturesque the strait is broke by three islands two of them thickly covered with wood the other a long slit scattered with tall upright trees through the stems of which and under the thick shade of their spreading tops the water is seen glittering with the sunbeams a landscape truly delicious from the north end of this isle so happy in the beauties of prospect the views are various and some of them exquisite looking towards the south you command a prodigious fine view of the lake spreading to the right and left behind promontories one beyond another in a gloriously irregular sheet of water encircled by an amphitheater of hills in the noblest style to the north you look upon another sheet different from the first it is broke by a cluster of four small but beautiful islands full in front you look upon a noble sweep of mountains and on one in particular that is very curious it is of a circular form rising out of a vast hollow among the rest and is overtopped by them romantic in the highest degree a little to the right of it you command one of the most noble of cultivated hills it is intersected by hedges, trees and scattered woods into a vast sweep of enclosures which reach the very top a view beautifully magnificent more to the right the eye is delighted with the most elegant waves of cultivated enclosures that can be conceived to the view in the most picturesque varieties of landscape and forcing admiration from the most tasteless of mortals to the left a vast range of rocks and mountains form the boundary of the lake and project into it in the boldest manner sailing from this noble island to that of Barksha a little hilly wood of scattered trees the views are various, rich and truly picturesque from the north side of it on a fine sheet of water to the great island etc and abounded by a noble variety of shore to the left and in front high ridges of hills and mountains to the right most beautiful waving hills of enclosures some just rising enough to show their hedges distinctly and others hanging full to the eye beneath a boundary of rough hills and wild uncultivated ground to the left you see a crow island which appears fine and the fairy house beneath a clump of trees on the point of a promontory jetting into the water with an effect really exquisite to the east you look against a very fine bank of enclosures most elegantly scattered with trees to the south the lake is lost between two promontories projecting into it against each other and leaving a fine straits between one is high and rocky the other a line of waving wood and enclosures and catch beyond it the distant hills which complete the view the western prospect is on to a range of craggy hills some most beautifully fringed with hanging woods and cut in the middle by a cultivated wave of enclosures broken by woods, hedges, clumps and scattered trees and rising one above the other in the most picturesque regularity that fancy can suppose at the top of farmhouse under a clump of trees the whole forming a bird's eye landscape of the most delicious kind nor can anything be finer than the hanging woods on this side of the lake broken by grass enclosures of a beautiful verdure sailing across the lake from Barksha to the shore under these enclosures which are called round table nothing in nature can be more exquisite than the view as you move through this enclosure at the water's edge on the opposite shore bounded by fine woods except to the lake edged with some spreading trees through which the view of the grass is truly picturesque other waving slopes of enclosures to the right hang to the lake under the shade of a rough wild hill and down to a skirting of wood on the water's edge in the finest manner behind the rocky cliff of furnace fells a beautiful appearance crowned with a sweep of wood sailing under the western shore you command most beautiful landscapes on the opposite one consisting of the finest banks of cultivated enclosures scattered with trees, clumps of wood farmhouses etc and hanging to the water's edge in the most charming variety of situation the fields in some places dipping in the very lake in others thick woods scenes which call for the pencil of a genius to catch graces from nature beyond the reach of the most elaborate art coming to Ling Holm a small rocky island with a few trees on it you have a double view of the two shores finely contrasted the western spread with noble hanging woods and the eastern one cultivated hills waving to the eye in the finest inequalities of surface the distant hills are also seen in a bold style over the low enclosures of Rawlinson's Nab a promontory to the south landing on the point of that promontory the view is very noble it commands two glorious sheets of water north and south each of four or five miles in length that to the south is bounded in general by rough woody hills broken in a few spots by little enclosures in front of the promontory several very beautiful ones cut by irregular sweeps of wood and hanging to the water's edge in the finest manner the whole crowned with craggy tops of hills but the view to the north is much the most beautiful Barkshire Island breaks the sheet of water in one place and adds to the picturesque variety of the scene without injuring its noble simplicity Common Nab a promontory from the east shore projects into it in another place elegantly variegated with wood and enclosures waving over sloping hills and crowned with rough uncultivated ground one enclosure in particular breaks into the wood in the most picturesque manner imaginable this end of the lake is bounded by the noble hills of cultivated enclosures already mentioned which are viewed from hence to much advantage they rise from the shore with great magnificence to the left a ridge of hanging woods spread over wild romantic ground that breaks into bold projections abrupt and spirited contrasting the elegance of the opposite's beautiful shore in the finest manner having thus viewed the most pleasing objects from these points let me next conduct you to a spot where at one glance you command them all in fresh situations and all assuming a new appearance for this purpose you return to the village and taking the byroad to the turnpike not that by which you came mount the hill without turning your head if I were your guide I would conduct you behind a small hill that you might come at once upon the view till you almost gain the top when you will be struck with astonishment at the prospect spread forth at your feet which if not the most superlative view that nature can exhibit she is more fertile in butis each of my imagination will allow me to conceive it would be mere vanity to attempt to describe a scene which beggars all description but that you may have some faint idea of the outlines of this wonderful picture I will just give the particulars of which it consists the point on which you stand as the side of a large ridge of hills that form the eastern boundaries of the lake and the situation high enough to look down upon all the objects a circumstance of great importance and which painting cannot imitate in landscapes you are either on a level with the objects or look up to them the painter cannot give you the declivity at your feet which lessens the objects as much in the perpendicular line as in his horizontal one you look down upon a noble winding valley of about 12 miles long everywhere enclosed with grounds which rise in a very bold and various manner in some places bulging into mountains abrupt wild and uncultivated in others breaking into rocks craggy pointed and irregular here rising into hills covered with the noblest woods presenting a gloomy brownness of shade almost from the clouds to the reflection of the trees in the limpid water they so beautifully skirt there waving in glorious slopes of cultivated enclosures adorned in the sweetest manner with every object that can give variety to art or elegance to nature trees, woods, villages houses, farms scattered with picturesque confusion and waving to the eye in the most romantic landscapes that nature can exhibit this valley so beautifully enclosed is floated by the lake which spreads forth to the right and left in one vast but irregular expanse of transparent water a more noble object can hardly be imagined its immediate shore is traced in every variety of line that fancy can imagine sometimes contracting the lake into the appearance of a noble winding river at others retiring from it and opening large swelling bays as if a nave is to anchor in promontories spread with woods or scattered with trees and enclosures projecting into the water in the most picturesque style imaginable rocky points breaking the shore and rearing their bold heads above the water in a word a variety that amazes the beholder but what finishes the scene with an elegance too delicious to be imagined is this beautiful sheet of water being dotted with no less than 10 islands distinctly commanded by the eye all of the most bewitching beauty the large one presents a waving various line which rises from the water in the most picturesque inequalities of surface high land in one place low in another clumps of trees in this spot scattered ones in that adorned by a farmhouse on the water's edge and backed with a little wood vying in simple elegance with Borromean palaces some of the smaller aisles rising from the lake like little hills of wood some only scattered with trees and others of grass of the finest Virdior a more beautiful variety nowhere to be seen strain your imagination to command the idea of so noble an expanse of water thus gloriously environed spotted with islands more beautiful than would have issued from the pencil of the happiest painter picture the mountains rearing their majestic heads with native sublimity the vast rocks boldly projecting their terrible craggy points and in the path of beauty the variegated enclosures of the most charming Virdior hanging to the eye in every picturesque form that can grace a landscape with the most exquisite touches of la belle nature if you raise your fancy to something infinitely beyond this assemblage of rural elegances you may have a faint notion of the unexampled beauties of this ravishing landscape end of part 5 part 6 of early guise to the English late district this Librivoct recording is in the public domain an extract from a tour in Scotland 1769 by Thomas Pennant the country near Carlisle consists of small enclosures but a little farther on towards Penrith changes into course downs on the east at a distance high hills running parallel to the road with a good enclosed country in the intervening space above Penrith is a rich enclosed tract mixed with hedgerow trees and woods on the south west a prospect of high and craggy mountains after I left Lockerbie nature as if exhausted with her labours in the lofty hills of Scotland seem to have lain down and reposed herself for a considerable space here began to rise again with all the sublimity of Alpine majesty Penrith is an ancient town seated at the foot of a hill is a great thoroughfare for travellers but has little other trade except a small one of cheques the church is very neat the gallery supported by large columns each formed of a single stone in the churchyard is a monument of great antiquity consisting of two stone pillars six inches high and five in circumference in the lower part which is rounded the upper is square and tapers to a point in the square part is some fretwork and the relief over cross both these stones are mortified at their lower part into a round one they are about 15 feet asunder the space between them is enclosed on each side with two very large but thin semicircular stones there is left a walk between pillar and pillar of two feet in breadth two of these lesser stones are plain the other two have certain figures at present scarce intelligible cross the emot a small river and soon after the lauher over yeoman's bridge near which i enter west meland about four miles further cross clifton moor where the rebels made a short stand in 1745 and sacrificed a few men to save the rest of their army pass over chap fells more black dreary and melancholy than any of the highland hills being not only very barren but destitute of every picturesque beauty this barren scene continued to within a small distance of kendall a large town on the river kent in a rich and beautiful veil well cultivated and prettily wooded here is a very great trade in knit wusted stockings some linsers and a coarse sort of cloth called cottons for the guinea trade near Burton enter Lancashire reach its capital Lancaster after a large and well built town seated on the loon a river navigable for ships of 250 tons as high as the bridge the custom house is a small but most elegant building with a portico supported by four ionic pillars on a beautiful plain pediment there is a double flight of steps a rustic service and coins a work that does much credit to Mr. Gillow the architect an inhabitant of this town the church is seated on an eminence and commands an extensive but not a pleasing view the castle is entire the courts of justice are held in it and it is also the county jail the front is very handsome consists of two large angular towers with a handsome gateway between end of part six part seven of early guise to the English late district this Librivox recording is in the public domain O to the sun by Mr. Cumberland 1776 soul of the world refulgent sun O take not from my ravished sight those golden beams of living light nor ere thy daily course be run precipitate the night low where the ruffian clouds arise usurp the abdicated skies and seize the ethereal throne sullen sad the scene appears huge hell velling streams with tears hark to his giant skidaws groan I hear terrific lodor roar the sabbath of thy reign is o'er the anarch is begun father of light return break forth refulgent sun what if the rebel blast shall rend these nodding horrors from the mountains brow hither thy glad deliverance send and save the voterist and accept the vow and say through thy diurnal round where great spectator has thou found such solemn soul inviting shades ghostly delves religious glades where penitents may plant its meek abode and hermit's meditation meet its god now by the margin of yon glassy deep my pensive vigils let me keep there by force of runic spells shake the grots where nature dwells and in the witching hour of night whilst thy pale sister lends her shadowy light summon the naked wood nymphs trembling now with giddy tread press the moss on Gouda's head but lo where sits the bird of Jove couched in his airy far above oh lend thine eye thy pinion lend higher yet higher let me still ascend tis done my forehead smites the skies to the last summits of the cliff I rise I touch the sacred ground where step of man was never found I see all nature's rude domain around peace to thy empire queen of calm desires health crown thy hills and plenty robe thy veils may thy groves wave untouched by wasteful fires nor commerce crowd thy lakes with sordid sails press not so fast upon my aching sight gigantic shapes nor rear your head so high as if ye meant a war against the sky sons of old chaos and primeval knights such were the heights enshrined brunotrod when on the cliff he hung his towering cell amongst the clouds aspired to dwell and half ascended to his god the prim canal the level green the close clipped hedge that bounds the flourished scene what rapture can such forms with all the spruce impertinence of art ye pageant streams that roll in state by the vain windows of the great rest on your muddy ooze and sea old majestic derwent force his independent course and learn of him and nature to be free and you triumphal arches shrink ye temples tremble and ye columns sink one nod from wallows craggy brow shall crush the dome of saccadotal Rome and lay her glittering gilded trophies low now downward as I bend my eye what is that atom I aspire that speck in nature's plan great heaven is that a man and hath that little wretch its cares its freaks its follies and its airs and do I hear the insects say my lakes my mountains my domain oh weak contemptible and vain the tenance of a day say to old skidor change thy place heave hell vellum from his base or bid in petuous derwent stand at the proud waving of a master's hand now with silent step and slow descend but first for bear to blow ye felon wins let discord cease and nature seal an elemental peace hush not a whisper here beware but echo on the watch sits with erect and listening ear the secrets of the scene to catch then swelling as she rolls around the horse reverberated sound with loud repeated shocks she beats the loose impending rocks tears down the fragments big with death and hurls it thundering on the wretch beneath not so the nyad she defies the faithless echo and with yelling cries howls on the summits of rude lodars brow then with a desperate leap springs from the rocky steep and runs an amour to the lake below so the Cambrian minstrel stood bending o'er old Conway's flood white as foam his silver beard and loud in shrill his voice was heard all the while down Snowden's side winding slow in dread array he saw the victor king pursue his way then fearless rushed into the foaming tide cursed him by all his idle gods and died ah where is he that swept the founding liar and while he touched the master string bad ruin sees the ruthless king with all the prophets fire mourn him ye nyads and ye would nymphs mourn but chiefly ye who rule o'er Keswick's Vale your visitor bewail and pluck fresh laurels for his hallowed urn he saw your scenes in harmony divine on him indulgent sons could shine me turbid skies and threatening clouds await emblems alas of my ignoble fate but see the embattled vapours break disperse and fly posting like couriers down the sky the grey rock glitters in the glassy lake and now the mountaintops are seen frowning amidst the blue serene the variegated groves appear decked in the colours of the waning year and as new beauties they unfold dip their skirts in beaming gold thee savage wyburn now I hail delicious grass mers calm retreat and stately windermere I greet and Keswick's sweet fantastic Vale but let her nyads yield to thee and lowly bend the subject knee imperial lake of Patrick's Dale for neither Scottish Lowman's pride nor smooth Killarney's silver tide nor aught that learned Pusan drew or dashing Rosa flung upon my view shall shake thy sovereign undisturbed right great scene of wonder and sublime delights Hail to thy beams, O son for this display what glorious orb can I repay not Memnon's costly shrine nor the white courses of imperial Rome nor the rich smoke of Persia's heccatome such proud oblations are not mine nor thou my simple tribute I'll refuse the thanks of an unprostituted muse and may no length of still returning day strike from thy forehead one refulgent ray but let each tuneful each attendant sphere to latest time thy stated labours cheer and with new peons crown the finished year End of Part 7 End of Early Guides to the English Lake District