Gents Mag 1805 p.1123
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Gentleman's Magazine 1805 p.1123
Of the lake-spread plain, prettily illuminated by the last floating beams of the Sun, we commended the whole extent: the double-coned Skiddaw frowned awfully in the distance; while the rocks of Borradaile and Lodore advanced boldly to the very borders of the Lake. The vale of Newlands, an abyss of Elysian beauty, the fanciful meanders of the Derwent and Greeta in the bottom, and the roads to Cockermouth and Penrith intersecting the mountains, contributed to variegate and soften the rougher features of this glorious landscape. 23d. Made a pedestrian survey of the Lake. An hollow in the crumbling summit of Wallow Crag is named Lady's Rake, from a prevalent but almost incredible tradition, that by this steep Lady Derwent effected her escape from Cumberland, at the period of her Lord's arrest. The fall of Lodore presents a singularly-harmonious assemblage of the sublime and beautiful. We seated ourselves within the verge of a spacious and symmetrical amphitheatre; from the hollow of which, the wild wood in picturesque confusion hung. The character of this famous fall (the Niagara of England) varies with the season, as might be expected from the nature of its resources: the cataract, which during the floods rolls with uninterrupted volume and impetuous velocity, and shakes the mountains with its rebound, dwindles in the drought of summer into a thousand little rills, babbling in the hollows moulded by their continued eddy, or fretting to find a passage between the spiculi that start from the ragged bottom of the rock; these at length join, and, as if impatient of delay, wind off into a smooth rivulet on its journey to the Lake. The variegated tints of the foliage, and the rainbow lustre of the tremulous spray, glistening in the Sun's beams, contribute to the splendour of the scene. We proceeded (the sound of the torrent still vibrating in our ears) through the villages of High and Low Lodore. A grey-headed man, bent with age and its infirmities, feebly opened a gate, and implored our charity. We were suprized to learn that this poor man, who appeared to annex a bare subsistence to his employment, was the unenvied possessor of as many acres as would secure to a contented mind the blessing of independence: "Multas inter opes inops."The Grange is a small village in the mouth of Borradaile, once used as the repository of their tithe-grain by the Monks of Furness. A little stone bridge thrown across the river here is nearly gone to decay: here we saw the farm house, whither Mr. Gray fled for shelter from the inhospitable frowns of Borradaile. Following the upward course of the Derwent, we found a path recently led through the wild woods of Lord William Gordon, who has a pretty Cottage orneé washed by a bay of the Lake: the wood walks of his garden are tastefully embroidered with all the rich varieties of fir and ash, and afford a delicious retirement: at intervals we snatched a glimpse of the water, and from a high point of ground, called the silver field, gazed upon the empurpled majesty of Skiddaw. Its insular situation and enormous size afford a striking contrast to the line of rocks girdling the distant shore, which seem shrinking from the perils of competition. Its dun sides, outstretched to a tremendous extent, are broken by frequent gills and excavations; clouds skirt its awful summit; and its stupendous base is blended, by many wavy and fantastic lines, into the smooth level by the subjacent plain. Hence we marched under cover of a huge slate rock, looking down upon the vale, and fell into the Cockermouth road, at a distance of two miles from Keswick. As we crossed the rapid tide of the river Greeta, we observed, at the distance of a stone's throw from the road, an old embattled brick mansion, apparently an uninhabited ruin; in this however we were mistaken; it was the Villa Lucretilis of one among the celebrated of that Corpusculum Poetarum, who, it cannot be denied, have afforded abundant specimens of the exuberance of genius. His lyric brother occupies a cottage on the banks of Grasmere, for which, as his landord assured us, he pays an annual rent of 5l. - Sic itur as astra! Our facetious landlord amused us at the dinner-table with a recital of the feats of those magnanami heroes, whom he termed pedestrians, and of their first incursions into the Northern |
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gazetteer links
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-- Derwent Water | ||
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-- "Grange, The" -- Grange | ||
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-- Greta Hall | ||
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-- "Lady's Rake" -- Lady's Rake | ||
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-- Lodore Falls | ||
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-- Skiddaw | ||
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