Old Cumbria Gazetteer - lakes, Cumbria: Gilpin 1786


included in:-	lakes, Cumbria
	lakes, Cumbria: Gilpin 1786
evidence:-	old print:- Gilpin 1786
source data:-	Print, aquatint, lake shore from a boat, by William Gilpin, 1772-74, published by T Cadell and W Davies, Strand, London, 1808. goto source click to enlarge GLP304.jpg Vol.1 opposite p.102 in Observations on Several Parts of England, Particularly the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland Westmoreland, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, 3rd edn 1808. caption from the list of plates:- "An illustration of the appearance, which the shores of a lake form, when seen from its surface, in a boat. The promontories, and bays, unless very large, lose all their indentations; and the whole boundary of the lake becomes a mere thread." "When you stand upon the shore, if your situation be, in any degree, elevated, the promontories appear to come forward; and all the indentations are distinct." "These two modes of viewing may be compared by turning from this print to page 55, vol.II; in which is represented a lake seen from the shore. This latter mode of viewing a lake is generally the most pleasing; unless indeed the stand be taken too high, which elevates the horizon too much." item:- Armitt Library : A918.4 Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-	old print:- Gilpin 1786
source data:-	Print, aquatint, reflections, by William Gilpin, 1772-74, published by T Cadell and W Davies, Strand, London, 1808. goto source click to enlarge GLP305.jpg Vol.1 opposite p.107 in Observations on Several Parts of England, Particularly the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland Westmoreland, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, 3rd edn 1808. caption from the list of plates:- "This print is meant to exemplify those beautiful reflections, which are sometimes formed on the surface of a lake; and broken by it's tremulous motion ..." item:- Armitt Library : A918.5 Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-	old text:- Gilpin 1786
source data:-	Book, Observations, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the Year 1772, on Several Parts of England, Particularly the Mountains, and Lakes of Cumberland Westmoreland, by Rev William Gilpin, 1772-74; published 1786-1808. goto source vol.1 p.93 "... let us now inlarge our view, and take in the lake, which makes the next considerable part of this romantic country." "The fen, the pool, and the lake would present very different ideas, tho magnitude were out of the question." "The fen is a plashy inundation, formed on a flat - without depth - without lineal boundary - of ambiguous texture - half water - and half lane - a sort of vegetable fluid." "The pool is a collection of the soakings of some common; or the reservoir of the neighbouring ditches, which deposit in it's ouzy bed" goto source vol.1 p.94 "the soil of the country, clay, or mud; and give a correspondent tinge to the water." "In some things the fen and the pool agree. They both take every thing in, and let nothing out. Each of them is in summer a sink of putrefaction; and the receptacle of all those unclean, misshapen forms in animal life, which breed and batten in the impurities of stagnation;" "Where putrefaction into life ferments, And breathes destructive myriads." "Very different is the origin of the lake. It's magnificent, and marble bed, formed in the caverns, and deep recesses of rocky mountains, received originally the pure pellucid waters of some rushing torrent, as it came first from the hand of nature - arrested it's course, till the spacious, and splendid bason was filled brimfull; and then discharged the stream, unsullied, and undiminished, through some winding vale, to form other lakes, or increase the dignity of some imperial river. Here no impurities find entrance, either of animal, or of vegetable life:" "----- Non illic canna palustris, Nec sterilis ulvae, nec acuta cuspide junci." goto source vol.1 p.95 "From the brisk circulation of fluid through these animated bodies of water, a great master of nature has nobly styled them, living lakes:" "----- Speluncae, Vivique lacus. -----" "and indeed nothing, which is not really alive, deserves the appellation better. For besides the vital stream, which principally feeds them, they receive a thousand little gurgling rills, which trickling through a thousand veins, give life, and spirit to every part." "The principal incidents observable in lakes, are, their line of boundary - their islands - and the different appearances of the surface of the water." "The line of boundary is very various. Sometimes it is boldly broken by projecting promontory - sometimes indented by a creek - sometimes it undulates along an irregular shore - and sometimes swells into a winding bay. In each of these circumstances it is susceptible of beauty; in all, it certainly deserves attention: for as it is a line of separation between land and water, it is of course so conspicuous a boundary, that the least harshness in it is discernible. I" goto source vol.1 p.96 "have known many a good landscape injured by a bad water boundary." "This line, it may be further observed, varies under different circumstances. When the eye is placed upon the lake, the line of boundary is a circular thread, with little undulation; unless when some promontory of more than usual magnitude shoots into the water. All smaller irregularities are lost. The particular beauty of it under this circumstance, consists in the opposition between such a thread, and the irregular line formed by the summits of the mountains." "But when the eye is placed on the higher grounds, above the level of the lake, the line of boundary takes a new form; and what appeared to the levelled eye a circular thread, becomes now an undulating line, projecting, and retiring more or less, according to the degree of the eye's elevation. The circular thread was indebted for it's principal beauty to contrast: but this, like all other elegant lines, has the additional beauty of variety." "And yet, in some cases the levelled eye has the advantage of the elevated one. The line, which forms an acute angle from the higher situation" goto source vol.1 p.97 "may be softened, when seen from the water, into an easy curve." "The islands fall next under our view. These are either a beauty, or a deformity to the lake; as they are shaped, or stationed." "If the island be round, or of any other regular form; or if the wood upon it be thick and heavy (as I have observed some planted with a close grove of Scotch fir) it can never be an object of beauty. At hand, it is a heavy lump: at a distance, a murky spot." "Again, if the island, (however beautifully shaped, or planted;) be seated in the centre of a round lake; in the focus of an oval one; or in any other regular position; the beauty of it is lost, at least in some points of view." "But when it's lines, and shape are both irregular - when it is ornamented with ancient oak , rich in foliage, but light and airy - and when it takes some irregular situation in the lake; then it is an object truly beautiful - beautiful in itself, as well as in composition. It must however be added, that it would be difficult to place such an object in any situation, that would be equally pleasing from every stand."
source data:-	goto source vol.1 p.98 "The surface of the lake offers itself last to observation. The several incidents, which arise here, are all owing to the sky, and the disposition of the water to receive it's impression." "That the sky is the great regulator of the colour of the water, is known to all artists." "Olli caeruleus supra caput astitit imber, Noctem hyememque ferens: et inhorruit unda tenebris." "And again" "Jamque rubesebat radiis mare, et athere ab alto Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis." "The effect indeed holds universally; as water in all cases, exposed to the sky, will act as a mirror to it." "In the darkness of a brooding storm, we have just seen, the whole body of the water will be dark: inhorruit unda tenebris." "In clear, in windy weather, the breezy ruffled lake, as Thomson calls it, is a shattered mirror: It reflects the serenity; but reflects it partially. the hollow of each wave is commonly in shadow, the summit is tipped with light. The light or shadow therefore prevails, according to the position of the waves to the" goto source vol.1 p.99 "eye: and at a distance, when the summits of the waves, agreeably to the rules of perspective, appear in contact, the whole surface in that part will be light." "But when the sky is splendid, and at the same time calm, the water (being then a perfect mirror,) will glow all over with correspondent tints; unless other reflections, from the objects around, intervene, and form more vivid pictures." "Often you will see a spacious bay, screened by some projecting promontory, in perfect repose; while the rest of the lake, more pervious to the air, is crisped over by a gentle ripple." "Sometimes also, when the whole lake is tranquil, a gentle perturbation will arise in some distant part, from no apparent cause, from a breath of air, which nothing else can feel, and creeping softly on, communicate a tremulous shudder with exquisite sensibility over half the surface. In this observation I do little more than translate from Ovid:" "----- Exhorruit, aequoris instar, Quod fremit, exigua cum summum stringitur aura." "No pool, no river-bay, can present this idea in it's utmost purity. In them every crystalline particle is set, as it were, in a socket of mud." goto source vol.1 p.100 "Their lubricity is lost. More or less, they all flow cum gurgite flavo. But the lake, like Spencer's fountain, which sprang from the limpid tears of a nymph," "----- is chast, and pure, as purest snow, Ne lets her waves with any filth be dyed." "Refined thus from every obstruction, it is tremblingly alive all over: the merest trifle, a frisking fly, a falling leaf, almost a sound alarms it," "----- that sound, Which from the mountain, previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath." "This tremulous shudder is sometimes even still more partial: It will run in lengthened parallels, and separate the reflections upon the surface, which are lost on one side, and taken up on the other. This is perhaps the most picturesque form, which the water assumes: as it affords the painter an opportunity of throwing in those lengthened lights and shades, which give the greatest variety and clearness to water." "There is another appearance on the surfaces of lakes, which we cannot account for on any principle either of optics, or of perspective." goto source vol.1 p.101 "When there is no apparent cause in the sky, the water will sometimes appear dappled with large spots of shade. It is possible these patches may have connection with the bottom of the lake; as naturalists suppose, the shining parts of the sea are occasioned by the spawn of fish: but it is more probable, that in some way. they are connected with the sky, as they are generally esteemed in the country to be a weather-gage. The people will often say, "It will be no hay-day to day, the lake is full of shades." - I never myself saw this appearance; or I might be able to give a better account of it: but I have heard it so often taken notice of; that I suppose there is at least some ground for the observation. Tho, after all, I think it probable these shades may be owing only to floating clouds." "From this great variety, which the surfaces of lakes assume, we may draw this conclusion, that the painter may take great liberties, in point of light and shade, in his presentation of water. It is, in many cases, under no rule, that we are acquainted with; or under rules so" goto source vol.1 p.102 "lax, that the imagination is left very much at large." "On the subject of lakes, I have only farther to add, that many bodies of water, under this denomination, are found upon the summits of lofty mountains. in this situation they are commonly mere basons; or reservoirs; and want the pleasing accompaniments, which adorn the lower lakes. Lakes of this kind are a collection of springs; and discharge themselves generally from their elevated stations in cascades."

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