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beauty it hath little: nature having left it almost a desart:
neither its small extent. nor the diminutive and lifeless form of
the hills, admit magnificence - But to give you a complete idea
of these 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 cots, the groves, the lake, and wooded
islands. The second should dash out the horror of the rugged
cliffs, the steeps, the hanging woods, and foaming waterfalls;
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
prospects; 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 this
immense amphitheatre; while the vast shadow projected by the
mountains, buries the opposite part in 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 tints 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 finely contrasted by the grey rocks and cliffs; and the
whole heightened by the yellow streams of light, the purple hues,
and misty azure of the mountains. Sometimes a serene air and
clear sky disclose the tops of the highest hills; at others you
see the clouds in-
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