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Page 65:-
"The garrison at last capitulated; and the entertainment of
the water being finished, (towards the evening,) the company
moved to Keswick; to which place, from the water's edge, a
range of lamps was fixed, very happily disposed, and a
number of fireworks displayed off. An Assembly-room, (which
was built for the purpose,) next received the Ladies and
Gentlemen, and a dance concluded the annual festivity. A
chain of amusements, which we may venture to assert no other
place can possibly furnish, and which wants only to be more
universally known, to render it a place of more general
resort than any in the kingdom."
By those whom Nature's works alone can charm, this sport
will at all times be viewed with rapture and astonishment.
But no breast, however insusceptible of pleasure, can be
indifferent to that display of every beauty which decks the
romantic vale of Keswick on a Regatta-day: and, as he justly
says: "when the attack begins" all nature seems in an
uproar; for on every side of you the rebellowings of the
mountains are heard, stand where you will in the valley. Had
the poet who described the battle of the Gods seen a
Regatta-day at Keswick, it would have much enriched his muse
for that subject.
It is discovered that the report of a gun is re-echoed eight
or nine times: hence the reader may very well imagine the
terrible noise among the surrounding rocks, and the
different sounds caused by that of firing a nine pounder, a
musquet, and a four pounder. There are likewise small brass
guns on swivels, sent hither by his Grace the Duke of
Portland, placed on the barges, for the entertainment and
amusement of travellers.
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echoes
waterfalls
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At the Regatta in the year 1784, I observed a most striking
and beautiful effort from the union of the reports of the
guns with the music of the French horns. Upon the retreat of
the fleet, and the firing of the first feu-de-joye,
the music begun and continued till the renewal of the
attack: these pleasing sounds, which when softened and
reverberated by innumerable cliffs exhibit an almost
supernatural tide of harmony, were at times disturbed by the
explosions of the guns. First, the loud fierce report of the
cannon totally drowned the music; then all was silent for a
few seconds, and the music again was heard. Scarce could the
ear comprehend a note when the gun was re-echoed from the
surrounding precipices like a peal of thunder: when this
ceased, the horns again were heard, but almost instantly the
uproar arose among other and more distant cliffs; which was
repeated many times from every discharge.
Least a native may be suspected of partiality, give me leave
to insert Mr Hutchinson's account of the echoes at Ulswater,
wherein a striking similitude may be seen. (He says,)
"Whilst we sat to regale, the barge put off from shore to a
station where the finest echoes were to be obtained from the
surrounding mountains. The vessel was provided with six
brass cannon mounted on swivels: on discharging one of these
pieces, the report was echoed from the opposite rocks,
where, by reverberation, it seemed to roll from cliff to
cliff, and return through every cave and valley, till the
decreasing tumult died away upon the ear.
"The instant it ceased, the sound of every distant
water-fall was heard; but for an instant only: for the
momentary stillness was interrupted by the returning echo on
the hills behind; where the report was repeated like a peal
of thunder bursting over our heads, continuing for several
seconds, flying from haunt to haunt, till once more the
sound gradually declined. Again the voice of water-falls
possessed the interval, till, to the right, the more distant
thunder arose on some other mountains, and seemed to take
its way up every winding dale and creek; sometimes behind,
on this side, or on that, in wondrous speed running its
dreadful course: when the echo reached the mountains within
the line and channel of the breeze, it was heard at once on
the right and left at the extremities of the Lake. In this
manner was the report of every discharge re-echoed seven
times distinctly."
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POEM
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gazetteer links
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-- (Derwent Water: regatta 1781 (CL13inc)2)
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-- (Derwent Water: regatta 1784)
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-- "Ulswater" -- (Ullswater (CL13inc)5)
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