|
Dr Brown says, "Was I to tell you the full perfection of
Keswick, I would say it consisted of three circumstances;
beauty, horror, and magnificence united. But to give you a
compleat idea of those three perfections as they are joined
in Keswick, would require the united powers of Claude,
Salvator, and Poussin.
"The first should throw his delicate sunshine over the
cultivated vales, the scattered cotes, the groves, the
lakes, and wooded islands. The second should dash out the
horror of the rugged cliffs, the steeps, the hanging woods,
and foaming water-falls; while the grand pencil of Poussin
should crown the whole with the majesty of the impending
mountains.
"So much for what I would call the Permanent Beauties of
this astonishing scene. Were I not afraid of being tiresome,
I could now dwell as long on its varying or accidental
beauties: I would sail round the Lake, anchor in every bay,
and land you on every promontory and island; I would point
out the perpetual change of prospect; the woods, rocks,
cliffs, and mountains, by turns vanishing or rising into
view; now gaining on the sight, hanging over our heads in
their full dimensions, beautifully dreadful; and now, by
change of situation, assuming new romantic shapes, retiring
and lessening on the eye, and insensibly losing themselves
in an azure mist. I would remark the contrast of light and
shade produced by the morning and evening sun: the one
gilding the western, and the other the eastern side of the
immense amphitheatre; while the vast shadow, projected by
the mountains, buries the opposite part in a deep and purple
gloom which the eye can hardly penetrate. The natural
variety of colouring which the several objects produce is no
less wonderful and pleasing: the ruling tincts in the valley
being those of azure, green and gold, yet ever various,
arising from an intermixture of the Lake, the woods, the
grass, and corn fields: these are nobly contrasted by the
grey rocks and cliffs; and the whole heightened by the
yellow streams of light, the purple hues, and misty tops of
the highest hills: at others you see the clouds involving
their summits, resting on their sides, or descending to
their base, and rolling among the vallies as in a vast
furnace. When the winds are high, they roar among the cliffs
and caverns like peals of thunder; then too, the clouds are
seen in vast bodies sweeping along the hills in gloomy
greatness, while the Lake joins the tumult, and tosses like
a sea. But in calm weather, the whole scene becomes new; the
Lake is a perfect mirror, and the landscape in all its
beauty, islands, fields, woods, rocks, and mountains, are
seen inverted, and floating on its surface. I will now carry
you to the top of a cliff, where if you dare approach the
edge, a new scene of astonishment presents itself; where the
valley, lake, and islands, seem lying at your feet; where
this vaste expanse of water appears diminished to a little
pool amidst the vast immeasurable objects that surround it:
for here the summits of more distant hills appear beyond
those you have already seen; and rising behind each other in
successive ranges and azure groups of craggy and broken
steeps, form an immense and awful picture, which can only be
expressed by the image of a tempestuous sea of mountains.
"Let me now conduct you down again to the valley, and
conclude with one circumstance more, which is, that a walk
by still moon-light, (at which time the distant water-falls
are heard in all their variety of sound) among these
inchanting dales, opens a scene of such delicate beauty and
solemnity, as exceeds all description."
|
Lakes Guides menu.
