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[esta]blished. The noble windings of the river, the fruitful
alluvial lands on its banks, the woody and cultivated ridge which
bounds in on the north-west, the striking feature of Hornby
Castle in front, and above all, the noble form of Ingleborough,
certainly compose an assemblage not united in any rival scenery
in the kingdom.' Before reaching Caton, on the high ground, a
little on the right of the road, is the view up the valley
rendered celebrated by the Poet Gray: 'Here Ingleborough, behind
a variety of lesser mountains, makes the background of the
prospect: on either hand of the middle distance, rises a sloping
hill; the left clothed with thick woods, the right with
variegated rock and herbage: between them, in the richest of
valleys, the Lune serpentizes for many a mile, and comes forth,
ample and clear, through a well wooded and richy pastured
foreground. Every feature, which constitutes a perfect landscape
of the extensive sort, is here not only boldly marked, but also
in the best position.'
Green, the faithful delineator of the picturesque lakes and
mountains among which he so long lived, speaking as an artist on
this subject, observes:
'The vale of Lune, all the way from Lancaster to Hornby, (nine
miles,) is singularly beautiful, and has its charms between the
latter place and Kirkby Lonsdale, (eight miles more.) Hornby
Castle, though of various dates and architecture, is a fine
object from many points, the valley in which it stands abounds in
wood, and is watered by the Lune and Wenning; on the northern
banks of the latter river, and higher up the stream than the
Castle, are some exquisite relishes of Claude, which represented
by that faithful naturalist might have more refreshed the eye
than his grandest efforts in pastry walls and jellied fountains.'
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