River Kent

The vale you go in has little breadth, the mountains are vast and rocky, the fields little and poor, and the inhabitants are now making hay, and see not the sun by two hours in a day, so long as at Keswick.

came to the foot of helvellyn along which runs an excellent road looking down from a little height on leith's water called also thirlmere or wyburn water and soon descending on its margin the lake looks black from its depth and from the gloom of the vast crags that scowl over it though really clear as glass it is narrow and about three miles long resembling a river in its course little shining torrents hurrying down the rocks to join it but not a bush to overshadow them or cover their march all is rock and loose stones up to the very brow which lies so near your way that not above half the height of helvellyn can be seen next i passed by the little chapel of wyburn out of which the sunday congregation were then issuing soon after a beck near dunmail rise where entered westmorland for a second time and now began to see home crag distinguished from its rugged neighbours not so much by its height as by the strange broken outlines of its top like some gigantic building demolished and the stones that composed it flung across each other in wild confusion just beyond it opens one of the sweetest landscapes that art ever attempted to imitate the bosom of the mountains spreading here into a broad basin discovers in the midst of grasmere water its margin is hollowed into small bays with bold eminences some of rock some of turf that half conceal and vary the figure of the little lake they command from the fhore a low promontory pufhes itfelf far into the water and on it ftands a white village with the parish church rifing in the midft of it hanging inclofures corn-fields and meadows green as an emerald with their trees and hedges and cattle fill up the whole fpace from the edge of the water and just opposite to you is a large farm-house at the bottom of a steep smooth lawn embosomed in old woods which climb half-way up the mountain-side and discover above them a broken line of crags that crown the scene not a single red tile no gentleman's flaring house or garden walls break in upon the repose of this little unsuspected paradise but all is peace rusticity and happy poverty in its neatest most becoming attire the road winds here over grasmere hill whofe rocks foon conceal the water from your fight yet it is continued along behind them and contracting itfelf to a river communicates with ridal water another fmall lake but of inferior fize and beauty it feems hallow too for large patches of reeds appear pretty far within it into this vale the road descends on the opposite banks large and ancient woods mount up the hills and just to the left of our way stands ridal hall the family seat of sir michael the fleming a large old-fashioned fabric rounded with wood sir michael is now on his travels and all this timber far and wide belongs to him near the house rises a huge crag called ridal head which is said to command a full view of windermere and i doubt it not for within a mile that the lake is visible even from the road as to going up the crag one might as well go up i now reached ambleside eighteen miles from keswick meaning to lie there but on looking into the best bedchamber dark and damp as a cellar grew delicate gave up windermere in despair and resolved i would go on to kendal directly fourteen miles farther footnote by not ftaying a little at ambleside mr gray lost the fight of two magnificent cascades the one not half a mile behind the inn the other down ridal crag where sir michael le fleming is now making a pathway to the top of it these when i faw them were in full torrent whereas lodore waterfall which i vifited in the evening of the very fame day was almoft without a ftream hence i conclude that this diftinguifhed feature in the vale of keswick is like the moft northern rivers only in high beauty during bad weather but his greateft lofs was in not feeing a fmall waterfall vifible only through the window of a ruined fummer houfe in sir michael's orchard here nature has performed everything in little that she usually executes on her larger scale and on that account like the miniature painter seems to have finished every part of it in a studded manner not a little fragment of rock thrown into the basin not a little stem of brushwood that starts from its craggy sides but has its picturesque meaning and the little central stream dashing down a cleft of the darkest coloured stone produces an effect of light and shadow beautiful beyond description this little theatrical scene might be painted as large as the original on a canvas not bigger than those usually dropped in the opera-house there is a cascade at nunnery near kirkeswald in cumberland much in the fame ftyle as this the accompaniments are as beautiful the bafon larger and the perpendicular fall eighteen feet and a foot the road in general fine turnpike but fome parts about three miles in all not made yet without danger for this determination i was unexpectedly well rewarded for the afternoon was fine and the road for the fpace of full five miles ran along the fide of windermere with delicious views acrofs it and almoft from one end to the other it is ten miles in length and at moft a mile over refembling the courfe of fome vaft and magnificent river but no flat marfhy grounds no ozear beds or patches of fcrubby plantations on its banks at the head two valleys open among the mountains one that by which we came down the other langdale in which rhinos and hard not two great mountains rise above the rest from thence the fells visibly sink and soften along its sides sometimes they run into it but with a gentle declivity in their own dark and natural complexion oftener they are green and cultivated with farms interperfed and round eminences on the border covered with trees towards the fouth it seemed to break into large bays with feveral islands and a wider extent of cultivation the way rises continually till at a place called orreft head it turns fouth eaft lofing fight of the water passed by ing's chapel and staveley but i can say no further for the dusk of the evening coming on i entered kendal almost in the dark and could distinguish only a shadow of the castle on a hill and tenter grounds spread far and wide around the town which i mistook for houses my inn promised sadly having two wooden galleries like scotland in front of it it was indeed an old ill-contrived house but kept by civil sensible people so i stayed two nights with them and fared and slept very comfortably october ninth the air mild as summer all corn off the ground and the skylark singing aloud by the way i saw not one at keswick perhaps because the place abounds in birds of prey i went up the castle hill the town chiefly consists of three nearly parallel streets almost a mile long except these all the other houses seem as if they had been dancing a country dance and were out there they stand back to back corner to corner some uphill some down without intent or meaning along by their side runs a fine brisk stream over which there are three stone bridges the buildings a few comfortable houses excepted are mean of stone and covered with a bad rough cast footnote the accounts of things given by hasty travellers are generally inaccurate and often injudicious as to the principal streets of kendal they are neither three in number nor nearly parallel they are but two one about a mile in length and another of about half a mile these streets contain indeed but few elegant houses they are however on the whole as open and well built as in most other towns as to the bad rough cast our author speaks of judges of rough cast have always supposed this country no way deficient either in its materials or in the manner of laying it on near the end of the town stands a handsome house of colonel wilson's and adjoining to it the church a very large gothic fabric with a square tower it has no particular ornaments but double aisles and at the east end four chapels or choirs one of the pars another of the stricklands the third is the proper choir of the church and the fourth of the bellinghams a family now extinct there is an altar-tomb of one of them dated fifteen seventy seven with a flat brass arms and quarterings and in the window their arms alone argent a hunting-horn sable-strung gules in the strickland's chapel several monuments and another old altar-tomb not belonging to the family on the side of it a fest d'ancet between ten billets in the pa's chapel is a third altar tomb in the corner no figure or inscription but on the side cut an escutcheon of ross of kendal three water budgets quartering par two bars in a bordeaux engraled secondly an escutcheon verre a fes for marmion thirdly an escutcheon three chevronnelles braced and a chief which i take for fitzhugh at the foot is an escutcheon surrounded with the garter bearing ross and parr quarterly quartering the other two before mentioned i have no books to look in therefore cannot say whether this is the lord parr of kendal queen katharine's father or her brother the marquis of northampton perhaps it is a cenotaph for the latter who was buried at warwick in the remains of the castle are seated on a fine hill on the fide of the river oppofite the town almoft the whole inclofure of the walls remains with four towers two fquare and two round but their upper parts and embattlements are demullifhed it is of rough ftone and cement without any ornament or arms round inclofing a court of like form and furrounded by a moat nor ever could it have been larger than it is for there are no traces of outworks there is a good view of the town and river with a fertile open valley through which it winds after dinner i went along the milthrop turnpike four miles to see the falls or force of the river kent came to caesar and turned down a lane to the left this seat of the stricklands an old catholic family is an ancient hall-house with a very large tower embattled the rest of the buildings added to it are of a later date but all is white and seen to advantage on a background of old trees there is a fmall park alfo well wooded oppofite to this turning to the left i foon came to the river it works its way in a narrow and deep rocky channel overhung with trees the calmnefs and brightness of the evening the roar of the waters and the thumping of huge hammers at an iron forge not far diftant made it a fingular walk but as to the falls for there are two they are not four feet high i went on down to the forge and saw the demons at work by the light of their own fires the iron is brought in pigs to milthrop by sea from scotland c and is here beat into bars and plates two miles further at leavens is the seat of lord suffolk where he sometimes passes the summer it was a favourite place of his late countess but this i did not see october the tenth i proceeded by burton to lancaster twenty two miles very good country well enclosed and wooded with some common interperfed passed at the foot of farlton knot a high fell four miles north of lancaster on a rifing ground called bowton we had a full view of cartmell sands with here and there a passenger riding over them it being low water the points of furnace fhooting far into the sea and lofty mountains partly covered with clouds extending north of them lancaster also appeared very conspicuous and fine for its most distinguished features the castle and church mounted on a green eminence were all that could be seen woe is me when i got thither it was the second day of their fair the inn in the principal street was a great old gloomy house full of people but i found tolerable quarters and even slept two nights in peace in a fine afternoon i ascended the castle hill it takes up the higher top of the eminence on which it stands and is irregularly round encompassed with a deep moat in front towards the town is a magnificent gothic gateway lofty and huge the overhanging battlements are supported by a triple range of corbels the intervals pierced through and showing the day from above on its top rise light watch-towers of small height it opens below with a grand pointed arch over this is a raw tabernacle doubtless once containing its founder's figure on one fide a fhield of france femmi quartered with england on the other the fame with a label ermine for john of gaunt duke of lancaster this opens to a court within which i did not much care to enter being the county gaol and full of prifoners both criminals and debtors from this gateway the walls continue and join into a vafs fquare tower of great height the lower part at leaft of remote antiquity for it has fmall round-headed lights with plain fhort pillars on each fide of them there is a third tower alfo fquare and of lefs dimensions this is all the caftle near it and but little lower ftands the church a large and plain gothic fabric the high fquare tower at the weft end has been rebuilt of late years but nearly in the fame ftyle there are no ornaments of arms c anywhere to be feen within it is lightfome and fpacious but not one monument of antiquity or piece of painted glafles left from the churchyard there is an extenfive sea-view for now the tide had almoft covered the fands and filled the river and befides the greateft part of furncfs i could diftinguifh peel caftle on the isle of fowdry which lies off its fouthern extremity the town is built on the slope and at the foot of the castle hill more than twice the bigness of auckland with many neat buildings of white stone but a little diforderly in their pofition and ad libitum like kendal many alfo extend below on the quays by the river fide where a number of fhips were moored fome of them three mafted veffels decked out with their colours in honour of the fair Here is a good bridge of four arches over the lune that runs when the tide is out, in two streams divided by a bed of gravel which is not covered but in spring tides.

Below the town it widens to near the breadth of the Thames at London, and meets the sea at five or six miles distance to the south-west.

October 11th I crossed the river and walked over a peninsula three miles to the village of Poulton, which stands on the beach.

I take them to be the parents of the famous Sir Thomas Fairfax.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

extract from a six months 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 firft down to coxhut hill a fmall rifing ground within the amphitheatre of mountains and has been lately planted the view of the lake from hence is very beautiful you have a moft elegant fheet of water at your feet of the fineft colour imaginable fpotted with islands of which you fee five and are high enough to command the water around them one is in the middle of about five acres of grafsland with a houfe under a clump of trees on one fide of it the whole object beautifully picturesque you look also upon another planted with scotch firs 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 bare 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 fhore presents you a full view of a vafs range of hills and behind you look upon the prince of the furrounding mountains skiddaw whofe tremendous head rears above the clouds leaving this hill you walk down to your boat and are ftruck with the limpid transparency of the water which almoft exceeds belief the bottom is quite paved with ftones and the white ones glitter through the tremulous curl of the furface like fo many diamonds you row to the left pafs a variety of fhore here rocky and projecting there low and retiring coaft a planted island and coming under wallow crag one of the immenfe rocks before mentioned you have from its foot a very fine view the furrounding 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 bramps 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 oppofite the opening between wallow and barrow crags the noife of a water-fall unfeen will induce you to land again walking on to a little ruinous bridge you look upon a romantic hollow of rocks and woods with a ftream pouring down the clefts in many fheets and feen among the trees in the moft picturesque manner a romantic fcene of rock and wood and water thirty feet high rowing from hence under barrow crag the fhore is rocky and various passing fome low ground and landing on a rifing one the view is exquisite the water breaks in the moft beautiful manner imaginable into bays and fheets ftreching away from the eye moft gloriously between the ftable hills lord's island and vicar's island bramps home cuts in the middle and st albans isle presents his broad fide to your full view at the other end of the lake the rifing hills part of cultivated waving inclofures and part of hanging woods all fcattered with white houfes and the whole crowned with the lofty mountains are beautifully picturesque and contraft finely with the view of the fouth end of the lake around which the rocks and mountains are tremendously bold pendent and threatening following the coaft the fhore is thinly fringed with wood then you row around a projecting land containing feveral inclofures and come under a fine thick hanging wood with a raging torrent breaking through it over rocks juft feen between the wood and barrow fide but heard in the moft romantic manner you next anchor in a bay the environs of which are dreadful you are under a monstrous craggy rock throng crag scattered with shrubby wood to the very edge and almost perpendicular and 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 stocked 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 coaft you fail round a fweet 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 purfuing the voyage you come into the narrow part of the lake and have a full view of moft romantic terrible craggy rocks enclosing a moft 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 impetuosity and trickling down that with the most pleasing 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 which rushes out as it were from the rotten stump of an old tree and falling down an irregular surface of rock it breaks into larger and more sheets some full others thin and trickling a most sweet variety after this it 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 stupendous rocks broken 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 most glorious amphitheatre of rocks and mountains on one side craggy broken and wildly irregular and on the other a vast range of mountain-side the hollow magnificently 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 brandelow 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 tafte nor is the view of the lakes environs unworthy of admiration the crags and cliffs to the right are tremendous skiddow fronts you in the sublimest 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 coaft you next land at the lead mines which if you have a tafte for grotto work will entertain as a boat may be loaded with fpar of various glittering and beautiful kinds here alfo are two curiosities of an uncommon kind viz two faitprings sailing along the fhore it leads you under a noble hill moft beautifully fpread with wood it is covered thick with young timber trees which grow in the moft picturesque manner down to the very water's edge you next enter a little bay and look upon a moft elegant fmall 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 acnes fell they are exquisite sailing by some very beautiful grass inclofures you catch a white house romantically situated and then skirting more inclofures turn round a small but most exquisite promontory with a fweet clump of trees on it this leads into a very fine landlocked bay which commands a beautiful floping hanging wood the fcene enlivened by a white houfe quite in the fpot of tafte from hence you look over the lake upon castlehead crag a fine round of rocky wood rifing out of a vale and backed with waving inclofures the fhore from hence is moft beautifully indented and irregular running up among little hills finely fringed with wood from hence you wind in and out of feveral bays and creeks commanding very picturesque views of the land and around a moft noble hill of fhrubby 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 first 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 pafs many romantic spots and come to a projection of the hill from which you look down not only upon the lake as before but alfo upon a semicircular vale of inclofures of a moft beautiful verdure which gives a fine curve into the lake one of the fields is fcattered over with trees which from hence have the moft truly picturesque effect imaginable advancing further yet you come to the head of crastig fall which is a vast opening among these immense rocky mountains that lets in between them a view across the lake catching two of the islands c 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 gained 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 and rocks rise most picturesquely to the view to the right you look down upon a beautiful vale of cultivated enclosures whose verdure is painting itself the town presents its scattered houses among woods and spreading trees above it rises skiddaw 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 skiddaw 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 as 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 of her moments are the most striking objects seen from skiddow 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 tracts of adjacent country keswick upon the whole contains a variety that cannot fail of astonishing the spectator the lake the islands the hanging woods the waving enclosures and the cascades are all most superlatively elegant and beautiful while the rocks cliffs crags and mountains are equally terrifying and sublime there 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 the luxuriant 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 pendent cliffs and wild romantic spots which command the most delicious scenes but which cannot be reached without the most perilous difficulty to such points of view winding paths should be cut in the rock and resting-places 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 hull's water a very fine lake about six 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 cut by islands three miles long and a mile and a half broad in some places in others a mile it is enclosed within an amphitheatre 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 on to a mountain-side which presents to the eye a swelling slope of turf and over it saddle-back rises in a noble style another view from this hill is down upon a beautiful vale of cultivated enclosures mr hassell's house at delmaine 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 firs 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 solby fell 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 swarth fell 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 unseen taking boat again and sailing with the course of the lake you turn with its bend and come into a very fine fheet of water which appears like a lake of itfelf it is under how town and hauling fell the environs here are very striking cultivated inclofures on one fide 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 hauling fell had come again into a new sheet of water under martindale fell which is a prodigious fine hill of a bold abrupt form and between that and howling fell 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 amphitheatre 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 martindale fell 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 fprinkled by three or four fmall islands the views are in the fame ftyle very wild and romantic it is an exceedingly pleafing entertainment to fail about this fine lake which is nineteen miles round and presents to the eye feveral very fine fheets of water and abounds for other amufement with noble fifh 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 to hawes 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 ponton vale to the left it is several miles in length of an oblong figure all cut into enclosures of a charming verdure and scattered in the most picturesque manner with villages clumps of wood houses bridges trees c 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 pafs between two high ridges of mountain the banks finely fpread with inclofures upon the right two fmall beautiful hills one of them covered with wood they are moft pleafingly 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 strait 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 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 pendent 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 twelve of the fifteen miles from shap to kendal 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 kendal you at once look down from off this desolate country upon one of the finest landscapes in the world a noble range of fertile inclofures richly enamelled with the most beautiful verdure and coming to the brow of the hill have a most elegantly picturesque view of a variegated track of waving inclofures 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 kendal 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 wild fowl and game in great plenty woodcocks often at twopence apiece partridges are sold common in the market and very cheap fish in great plenty trout oftentimes 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 ten miles west of kendal by much the longest water of the kind in england it is fifteen miles long and from two 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 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 that it is not uncommon to see barges with spreading sails all thefe circumftances give it a very cheerful appearance at the fame time that they add to its beauty i would advife thofe who view this lake not to take the common road down to the village of bownes where the boats are kept but for reafons which i fhall hereafter add to go thither round almoft by the ferry the landlord at the inn at that village keeps a boat and can always provide rowers 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 boat at the village you row first to the island so called by way of pre-eminence being by much the largest in the lake it contains between thirty and forty acres of land and i cannot but think it the sweetest spot and full of the greatest capabilities of any forty acres in the king's dominions the view from the south end is very fine the lake presents a 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 berkshire island an elegant spot finally wooded in one part and by craw island almost covered with wood 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 pendant 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 range of irregular mountains which contrast finely 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 ferry-point and the woody island join and seem one prodigious fine promontory of wood the ferry-house seen among the trees in a picturesque manner they form the boundary in front of a fine bay walled in to 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 finely 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 and offer a variety 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 slip 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 amphitheatre 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 fcattered woods into a vaft fweep of inclofures 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 rising 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 berkshire a little hilly wood of scattered trees the views are various rich and truly picturesque from the north side of it you look upon a fine sheet of water to the great island c 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 crow island which appears fine and the ferry-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 strait between one is high and rocky the other a line of waving wood and inclofures and catch beyond it the diftant hills which complete the view the weftern profpedt is on to a range of craggy hills some moft beautifully fringed with hanging woods and cut in the middle by a cultivated wave of inclofures broken by woods hedges clumps and fcattered trees and rifing one above the other in the moft picturesque irregularity that fancy can fuppose at the top a farm-house 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 berkshire to the shore under these enclosures which are called round table nothing in nature can be more exquisite than the view as you move of a fine long grass 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 has a noble appearance crowned with a sweep of wood sailing under the weftern fhore you command moft beautiful landfcapes on the oppofite one confifting of the finest banks of cultivated inclofures fcattered with trees clumps of wood farm houfes c and hanging to the water's edge in the moft charming variety of fituation the fields in some places dipping in the very lake in others thick woods rising from the water scenes which call for the pencil of a genius to catch graces from nature beyond the reach of the most elaborate art coming to lingholm 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 knab 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 berkshire island breaks the sheet of water in one place and adds to the picturesque variety of the scene without injuring its noble simplicity common knab 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 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 by-road 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 prospects spread forth at your feet which if not the most superlative view that nature can exhibit she is more fertile in beauties than the reach 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 is 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 twelve 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 for navies to anchor in promontories fpread with woods or fcattered with trees and enclofures projecting into the water in the moft picturesque ftyle imaginable rocky points breaking the fhore and rearing their bold heads above the water in a word a variety that amazes the beholder but what finishes the fcene with an elegance too delicious to be imagined is this beautiful fheet of water being dotted with no lefs than ten 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 farm-house on the water's edge and backed with a little wood vying in simple elegance with borromean palaces some of the fmaller isles rifing from the lake like little hills of wood fome only fcattered with trees and others of grafs of the fineft verdure a more beautiful variety nowhere to be feen 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 verdure 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 part six of early guides to the english lake district an extract from a tour in scotland seventeen sixty nine by thomas pennant the country near carlisle consists of small enclosures but a little farther on towards penrith changes into coarse downs on the east at a distance are ridges of 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 lockarby nature as if exhausted with her labours in the lofty hills of scotland seemed to have lain down and reposed herself for a considerable space but here began to rise again with all the sublimity of alpine majesty penrith as 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 is fupported by large columns each formed of a fingle ftone in the churchyard is a monument of great antiquity confifting of two ftone pillars eleven feet six inches high and five in circumference in the lower part which is rounded the upper is fquare and tapers to a point in the fquare part is fome fretwork and the relevo of a crofs both thefe ftones are mortified at their lower part into a round one they are about fifteen feet afunder the fpace between them is enclosed on each fide with two very large but thin semi-circular ftones fo that there is left a walk between pillar and pillar of two feet in breadth two of thefe lefler ftones are plain the other two have certain figures at prefent fcares intelligible cross the imot a small river and soon after the lowther over yeoman's bridge near which i enter westmoreland about four miles further cross clifton moor where the rebels made a short stand in seventeen forty five and sacrificed a few men to save the rest of their army pass over shat 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 kendal a large town on the river kent in a rich and beautiful vale well cultivated and prettily wooded here is a very great trade in knit worsted stockings some linzes 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 lune a river navigable for ships of two hundred and fifty 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 surbase 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 gaol the front is very handsome consists of two large angular towers with a handsome gateway between end of part six part seven of early guides to the english lake district this librivox recording is in the public domain ode to the sun by mr cumberland soul of the world refulgent sun oh take not from my ravished sight those golden beams of living light nor ere thy daily course be run precipitate the night lo where the ruffian clouds arise usurp the abdicated skies and seize the ethereal throne sullen sad the scene appears huge helvellyn streams with tears hark tis giant skiddaw's groan i hear terrific lodore roar the sabbath of thy reign is o'er the anak is begun father of light return break forth refulgent sun what if the rebel blast shall rend these nodding horrors from the mountain's brow hither thy glad deliverance send and save the votarist and accept the vow and say through thy diurnal round where great spectator hast thou found such solemn soul inviting shades ghostly dells religious glades where penitence may plant its meek abode and hermit 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 grot where nature dwells and in the witching hour of night whilst thy pale sister lends her shadowy light summon the naked wood-nymphs to my sight trembling now with giddy tread press the moss on gowdar's head but lo where sits the bird of jove couched in his eyrie 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 summit 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 vales 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 night such were the heights enshrined bruno trod 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 impart 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 see 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 sacerdotal rome and lay her glittering gilded trophies low now downward as i bend my eye what is that atom i espy 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 insect say my lakes my mountains my demesne o weak contemptible and vain the tenant of a day say to old skiddaw change thy place heave helvellyn from his base or bid impetuous derwent stand at the proud waving of a master's hand now with silent step and slow descend but first forbear to blow ye felon winds let discord cease and nature seal an elemental peace hush not a whisper here beware the echo on the watch sits with erect and listening ear the secrets of the scene to catch then swelling as she rolls around the hoarse 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 naiad she defies the faithless echo and with yelling cries howls on the summit of rude lodar's brow then with a desperate leap springs from the rocky steep and runs enamoured to the lake below so the cambrian minstrel stood bending o'er old conway's flood white as foam his silver beard and loud and shrill his voice was heard all the while down snowdon'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 idol gods and died ah where is he that swept the founding lyre and while he touched the master string bad ruin seized the ruthless king with all the prophet's fire mourn him ye naiads and ye wood 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 suns 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 mountain-tops 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 grasmere's calm retreat and stately windermere i greet and keswick's sweet fantastic vale but let her naiads 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 poussin 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 sun for this display what glorious orb can i repay not memnon's costly shrine nor the white coursers of imperial rome nor the rich smoke of persia's hecatomb such proud oblations are not mine nor thou my simple tribute shall 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 paeans crown the finished year End of Part 7 End of Early Guides to the English Lake District