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Something of this kind, without touching upon minute details
and individualities which would only confuse and embarrass,
will here be attempted, in respect of the Lakes in the north
of England, and the vales and mountains enclosing and
surrounding them. The delineation, if tolerably executed,
will, in some instances, communicate to the traveller, who
has already seen the objects, new information; and will
assist in giving to his recollections a more orderly
arrangement than his own opportunities of observing may have
permitted him to make; while it will be still more useful to
the future traveller, by directing his attention at once to
distinctions in things which, without such previous aid, a
length of time only could enable him to discover. It is
hoped, also, that this Essay may become generally
serviceable, by leading to habits of more exact and
considerate observation than, as far as the writer knows,
have hitherto been applied to local scenery.
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To begin, then, with the main outlines of the country; - I
know not how to give the reader a distinct image of these
more readily than by requesting him to place himself with
me, in imagination, upon some given point; let it be the top
of either of the mountains, Great Gavel, or Scawfell; or,
rather, let us suppose our station to be a cloud hanging
midway between those two mountains, at not more than half a
mile's distance from the summit of each, and not many yards
above
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