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page 110
[pass]ed into a glimmering and dim inversion, and
then totally disappeared; - leaving behind it a clear open
area of ice of the same dimensions. We now perceived that
this bed of ice, which was thinly suffused with water, had
produced the illusion, by reflecting and refracting (as
persons skilled in optics would no doubt easily explain) a
rocky and wooded section of the opposite mountain named
Silver-how.
Having dwelt so much upon the beauty of pure and still
water, and pointed out the advantage which the Lakes of the
North of England have in this particular over those of the
Alps, it would be injustice not to advert to the sublimity
that must often be given to Alpine scenes, by the agitations
to which those vast bodies of diffused water are there
subject. I have witnessed many tremendous thunder-storms
among the Alps, and the most glorious effects of light and
shadow; but I never happened to be present when any Lake was
agitated by those hurricanes which I imagine must often
torment them. If the commotions be at all proportionable to
the expanse and depth of the waters, and the height of the
surrounding mountains, then, if I may judge from what is
frequently seen here, the exhibition must be awful and
astonishing. - On this day, March 30, 1822, the winds have
been acting upon the small Lake of Rydal, as if they had
received command to carry its waters from their bed into the
sky; the white billows in different quarters disappeared
under clouds, or rather
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