Lake District

“ This lovely stretch of country is called the Lake District, and every year great numbers of people go to climb the rugged, broken heights, or to wander beside the shores of these pleasant stretches of water in this playground of England.
The great charm of the countryside lies in the wonderful variety of its scenery, and all the scenes so beautiful. The traveller passing through the land by coach or motor traverses, perhaps, a frowning pass, where huge bare rocks rise in gloomy grandeur, and the scene is one of savage desolation. ”

“ No part of the world possesses so many charms for the contemplative mind as the admirable scenery of our English Lake District. None can furnish so wide a field for the excursions of a playful imagination, as those peaceful glens which are formed by the fantastic sweeps of our northern mountains. ”

“ Laissez-faire (lit. let things alone and take their course) , the name given to the let-alone system of political economy, in opposition to State interference, or State regulation, in private industrial enterprise.
Lake District, a district in Cumberland and Westmorland, 20 m. long by 25 m. broad, abounding in lakes, environed with scenery of rare beauty, and much frequented by tourists.
Lake Dwellings, primitive settlements, the remains of which have been found in many parts of Europe, but chiefly in Switzerland, the N. of Italy, and in Scotland and Ireland. ”

“ Whether we contemplate the sublime grandeur of its mountains, or listen to the melodious murmurs of the distant waterfalls, or meditate along the margins of its woodland streams in the evening's calm, we must be enchanted with the scene, and feel fully prepared to exclaim with the poet:—
"Lives there a man with soul so dead,
As never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!"
The Lake District has long been regarded as the romantic "classic ground" of England. ”

“ While, therefore, we urge the importance of preserving the Lake District more particularly on the ground of its especial beauty, and national value as a recreation ground, let ns not lose sight of the other and larger question—How far, even in less favoured regions, the rapid growth of large towns and the peculiar developments of modem trade can be approved as conducing to the formation of noble character, and to the 'Progress,' physical, moral, and spiritual, of the people. ”

“ The changes wrought, during the last thirty years, in our manufacturing centres, have certainly increased, rather than diminished, the difficulty of educating any one to the appreciation of nature in their immediate vicinity. And this alone should make the preservation of the Lake District an object of greater solicitude to the country at large than ever before. ”

“ On the north-west side of the Pennine system, marked off from it by the upper valleys of the rivers Eden and Lune, lies the circular hill-tract whose narrow valleys, radiating from its centre somewhat like wheel-spokes, contain the beautiful lakes which give it the celebrated name of the Lake District. ”

“ The majority of emigrants from the mother country settle in the lake districts, where labour is well remunerated and farmers' profits are good. But the five-and-twenty thousand who annually arrive, are as a drop of water in the ocean; they are imperceptible in that vast extent of country. Here and there, it is true, one finds a tolerably well-peopled district. This is the case in the vicinity of the Bay of Quinté, a narrow arm of Lake Ontario, eighty miles in length, and in many places not more than one broad. ”

“ It has long been a favourite notion with me that if, instead of general guides to, or descriptions of all the Lake country comprised in single volumes, of which we have a superabundance, we could have each distinct locality treated of fully and minutely in a work devoted exclusively to itself, and written by some one whose long residence in, and intimate knowledge of the district described would secure its accuracy, we should possess a series of Lake books much more comprehensive, more useful, and more amusing than any we can yet boast of. ”

“ The attempt to call attention to the threatened destruction of the Lake District, before it is too late, is already meeting with the approval and support of persons in all parts of the country. But the Public has been long accustomed, either to look upon every railway as an unmistakeable boon, or at best, to content itself, when any unusual sacrilege has been done, with a half-ejaculated 'Shame!' so that the work of arousing it to its duty is an arduous one. There are numbers of persons who are with us in principle and in sympathy, who are as yet only lukewarm. ”

“ The English Lake District may be said, in general terms, to extend from Cross-Fell and the Solway Firth, on the east and north, to the waters of Morecambe and the Irish Sea; or, more accurately, to be comprised within an irregular circle, varying from forty to fifty miles in diameter, of which the centre is the mountain Helvellyn, and within which are included a great portion of Cumberland and Westmorland and the northern extremity of Lancashire. ”

“ The Lake scenery really begins, on the south, at Lancaster, where the Cumberland hills are seen over Morecambe Bay; on the north, at Carlisle, where the moors of Skiddaw are seen over the rich plains between them and the Solway. No one who loves mountains would lose a step of the approach, from these distances, on either side. But the stupid herds of modern tourists let themselves be emptied, like coals from a sack, at Windermere and Keswick. ”

“ But living, as I do, at Windermere, I have taken some pains to study the bearing and temper of these crowds, and I do not scruple to say that the majority of the persons composing them are bored by our fine scenery, and have small care for anything in which the Lake District excels a suburban tea-garden. ”

“ If there is any part of Great Britain which can be said to be held in trust for the whole nation, it is the Lakes. It is the most generally accessible of the mountain districts, and notwithstanding all that has been done round Coniston and Ullswater, it is still the most unspoiled. ”

“ The mode of their development is a matter which rests with the Government. It may be suggested, however, that communication with the Lake District is a prime necessity in connection with the settlement of country at Martin’s Bay. ”

“ The projectors have induced many to favour their schemes by declaring that one of their main objects is to place the beauties of the Lake district within easier reach of those who cannot afford to pay for ordinary conveyances. ”

“ Distance lends some "enchantment to the view," as the eye wanders over the array of nature spread out below—green dells, waving patches of wood, broad, pleasant pastures; the clear lake of "Hollingworth" rippling below; old farm-houses, scattered about the knolls and cloughs, by the side of brooklets that shine silverly in the distance; the blue smoke curling up distinctly from each little hamlet and village; mills, collieries, tenter-fields, and manifold evidences of the native industry and manufacturing vigour of the district. ”

“ Yet to add anything to the countless essays and biographies seems presumptuous. For the filling in of this merest outline of one aspect of a noble life readers must become diligent students of John Ruskin, and his books, and his exponents. There are lives of him, appreciations of him and of his teachings, monographs on his personality, on his relation to the Lake District, on his views about Art, on his social politics and religion, on his Bible references, and on every other light-reflecting facet [66] of this many-sided soul. ”

“ People can always go there and enjoy the scenery, and townsfolk can fill their lungs with fresh air, and children play on the greensward. These oases afford sanctuary to birds and beasts and butterflies, and are of immense value to botanists and entomologists. Several properties in the Lake District have come under the ægis of the Trust. Seven hundred and fifty acres around Ullswater have been purchased, including Gowbarrow Fell and Aira Force. ”

“ But the landscape upon the immediate borders of the lake is of a rural and serene character, though touched here and there with moorland sterility; and there is hardly a thing in sight to remind a spectator that he is surrounded by the most populous manufacturing district in the world. But the distant rumble of train after train, thundering through the neighbouring valley, and the railway whistle, rising up clear over the green hill north of the water, are sufficient to dispel any reverie which the sight of the lake and its surrounding scenery may lead to. ”

“ Disturnell, an accurate authority, speaking of the Superior region, says: 'The traveler finds the whole district to within a few miles of Lake Superior, abounding in every resource which will make a country wealthy and prosperous. Clear, beautiful lakes are interspersed, and these have plenty of large trout and other fish. Water and water powers are everywhere to be found, and the timber is of the best kind—maple groves, beech, oak, pine, etc. ”

“ At Keswick the annual mean is 60.02, at Grasmere about 80 ins. The months of maximum rainfall at Seathwaite are November, December and January and September.
Fish taken in the lakes include perch, pike, char and trout in Windermere, Ennerdale, Bassenthwaite, Derwentwater, &c., and the gwyniad or fresh-water herring in Ullswater. The industries of the Lake District include slate quarrying and some lead and zinc mining, and weaving, bobbin-making and pencil-making. ”

“ Scotland, Switzerland, and Italy, gave his judgment that, as a whole, the English Lake District within its narrow limits is preeminent above them all. He thus speaks: "A happy proportion of component parts is indeed noticeable among the landscapes of the North of England; and, in this characteristic essential to a perfect picture, they surpass the scenes of Scotland, and, in a still greater degree, those of Switzerland.... On the score even of sublimity, the superiority of the Alps is by no means so great as might hastily be inferred ”

“ There are many men who think well of the sport, but speak slightingly of the narrow field offered for it by the Lake District. No doubt the Alps offer far more scope both in range and quality. But we cannot very conveniently reach Switzerland at every season of the year. ”

“ A hardy moor-end race, half farmers, half woollen-weavers, inhabit the district; and their rude, but substantial cottages and farmsteads, often perch picturesquely about the summits and sides of the hills, or nestle pleasantly in green holms and dells, which are mostly watered by rivulets, from the moorland heights which bound the township on the east. There is also a beautiful lake, three miles in circumference, filling a green valley, up in the hills, about a mile and a half from the village. ”

“ For twenty or thirty miles before we reached Lake Erie, the fields of this fertile region looked more and more arid and sun-scorched, and I could not but contrast their appearance with that of the neighborhood of New York, where in a district comparatively sterile, an uncommonly showery season has kept the herbage fresh and deep, and made the trees heavy with leaves. Here, on the contrary, I saw meadows tinged by the drought with a reddish hue, pastures grazed to the roots of the grass, and trees spreading what seemed to me a meagre shade. ”

“ In other words, over fifteen million of these travellers were men and women of the Lake and central Western States, where independence and equality are matters of habit. Twelve million were carried by vessels of the Eighth District, which begins at Detroit and ends at Chicago, while only three and a half million were carried in the Ninth District, including all Lake ports east of the Detroit River. ”

“ The lakeside has such ten thousand charms; a fleece of snow or of the hoar-frost lies on the fallen trees or large stones; the grass-points, that just peer above the water, are powdered with diamonds; the ice on the margin with chains of crystal, and such veins and wavy lines of beauty as mock all art; and, to crown all, Coleridge and I have found out that stones thrown upon the lake, when frozen, made a noise like singing birds, and when you whirl on it a large flake of ice, away the shivers slide, chirping and warbling like a flight of finches.'—A letter of Robert Southey's. ”

“ If a man can have no joy in his work, the larger wages he gets the worse, as a rule, he will spend them.
I must not pursue this subject. Both the Letter and the Article are worth careful reading and thought; and may well suggest to the apostles of 'material prosperity' and 'progress,' the propriety of setting somewhat more in order the very considerable territory which they already occupy before attempting to annex thereto the Lake District of England. ”

“ The district lies in the south-east of the province and is traversed by the Drakensberg. In it are Lake Chrissie, the only true lake in the country, and the sources of the Vaal, Olifants, Komati, and Usuto rivers, which rise within 30 m. of one another. The region has a general elevation of about 5500 ft. and is fine agricultural and pastoral country, besides containing valuable minerals, including coal and gold. ”

“ Take the circuit round the lake, beginning at the Waterhead on the west side, and going southwards towards Furness, past the islands and by Brantwood on the east, as one example of the sweetness and the richness of the place. There is first that grand Old Man, at the foot of which you reverently walk, overshadowed by his huge crags as you pass through the ancient village of Church Coniston—one of those quaint villages with the flavour of old times about them, and the generous beautifying of Nature around, so characteristic of our lake country. ”