button to main menu  Observations on Picturesque Beauty, vol.1 p.184

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vol.1 p.184
rigourous to make any but a few comparative objections
In the first place, it's form, which in appearance is circular, is less interesting, I think, than the winding sweep of Windermere, and some other lakes; which losing themselves in vast reaches, behind some cape or promontory, add to their other beauties, the varieties of distance, and perspective. Some people object to this, as touching rather on the character of the river. But does that injure ir's beauty? And yet I believe there are very few rivers, which form such reaches, as the lake of Windermere.
To the formality of it's shores may be added the formality of it's islands. They are round, regular, and similar spots, as they appear from most points of view; formal in their situation, as well as in their shape; and of little advantage to the scene. The islands of Windermere are in themselves better shaped; more varied; and uniting together, add a beauty, and contrast to the whole.
But among the greatest objections to this lake is the abrupt, and broken line in several of the mountains, which compose it's screens, (especially on the western, and on part of
the
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