C 98 ]
The scenery of the lakes has been so ably ana- lysed by the pen of a gentleman, the Rev. William Gilpin, who viewed nature with the justest, most: discriminating, and correctest eye, that it is need- less, and would be impertinent, in me to go into a minute detail of their beauties; a few hints, there- fore, are all that you ought to tolerate, or I venture upon. With respect to Keswick, we remarked that however imposing its first appearance, when combined with its accompaniments, might be, yet it lost great part of its charms on a second survey; partly owing to nature, and partly to what, for want of another term, we must call art. Its islands, of which there are three principal ones, (Vicar's Island, St. Herbert's, and Lord's Island) and se- veral smaller ones, are all round, and consequently disagreeably uniform; and the broad sheet of water itself, stretching in one right line from the south-west to the north-east, is submitted to the eye at once, with no windings, promontories, or other interruptions, to break this longitudinal view. To heighten these defects, some miser- able buildings have been erected on the islands, and along the eastern margin of the lake, which not only disgrace the grand scenery of the place, but, utterly at war with all rational archi- tecture, convenience, and taste, scarcely deserve
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