Gents Mag 1792 p.1114

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	introduction
	list, 4th qtr 18th century
	Gentleman's Magazine 1792 p.1114
book review   Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes
	Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes Review of New Publications ... ... 264. A Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Cumberland. By a Rambler. 8vo. WE were agreeably struck, at the opening of this book, to find it the production of a lively correspondant, who, in our present volume, has favoured us with pleasing specimens of his descriptive powers both in verse and prose (see pp.882, 941); and to whom, in our vol.LVIII. p.1107, we were indebted for an exquisite poetical simile. It wall naturally occur to all who may peruse this Ramble, that it is the unlaboured effusion of a young, a generous, and a cultivated mind; and if we hint a regret that the pruning knife has not been extended to a very small part of the first chapter, and a few lines of the twelfth, it will not be constructed into a derogation of that unqualified praise we heartily think the work deserves. After the description we have already given (p.882) of Helm Crag, it may be superfluous to add, that the future Traveller to the Lakes will find this "Rambler" a very valuable companion. In Levens park our Tourist observed "a tree whose trunk is cut off a foot from the earth, and whose branches were engrafted into another tree. It was in full foliage, and seemed alive to the bottom of the trunk. Although it may once have been a complete tree, its neighbour becomes the parent, and the sap of it in Winter must go into the root." We cannot resist this opportunity of introducing to the notice of our readers the Lake, the Village, and the Beauty of Buttermere. "The road we took was very uneven and boggy, with a number of beau traps, As we ascended we gained a full view of both Buttermere and Crummock lakes, separated by good land and a deep river. There are two small islands upon the latter; and at the bottom the country looks fertile. It is about two miles to the Waterfall, and we found it an uncomfortable task. But mountain-troubles vanish the instant you behold the object of a walk. My ears first caught the mellow sound, and, after clambering over a rough wall, we came suddenly upon the cause of it. I was lost in admiration in one of those vacant delights in which the mind thinks of nothing but what is before it, and makes you feel yourself more than a man. I required a tap on the shoulder to return to mortality; I receieved it, and I thus feebly described the cause of it. "Scale-Force Waterfall is two hundred feet perpendicular, except where it flushes over a small jut. The steep on both sides is covered with variety of moss, fern, ash, and oak, all fed by the constant spray; and flourish in indescribable verdure. The delicacy of the effect is heightened by being in a narrow chasm, a hundred yards in the rock, before it rushes into the lower fall, at the point of which you have the grand view. Clamber up the left side, and look into the first basin; and, although you may be wet with the spray, you cannot help feeling the solemnity of the deep, this musical abyss, enchanting as verdure and melody can make it: and although there has been no rain for nine days, it far exceeds any thing of the kind I ever saw, and the boasted one at Coo* in Germany sinks below comparison. I suppose we saw it in the best state it could be received in. Had it been after rain, it might have filled us with astonishment; but what would have becomre of the verdure of the sides? The foam would have nearly covered them. As we saw it, every part was in unison with the musick it created; the mind comprehended it, and carried away one of the most inimitable scenes that ever enriched the fancy of man, or graced the pencil of a Moore. "We met a rosy boy, with a satchel on his back; he was going to one of the householders for a stated time. The poor live amongst the farmers in proportion as they are assessed, and they are always treated like one of the family. The only pauper at
	* Of which the Rambler gives a good description. REV.
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