K E S W I C K. 691 
concufl'on from the thunder, afcended higher and higher, 
enveloping the whole mountain, and letling fail a heavy 
(bovver of rain. We thought ourfelves happy, even un¬ 
der this circumftance, to perceive the (form turning north- 
weft, and to hear the next clap burft in the plain beyond 
Bafienthwaite-water. Alike event has frequently hap¬ 
pened to travellers in the heights of the Alps, from 
whence the thunder-(forms are fsen palling over the coun¬ 
tries beneath them. The echoes from the mountains which 
bordered Kefwick Lake, from Newland, Borrow,dale, and 
Lodore, were noble, and gave a repetition of the thunder¬ 
claps diftinflly, though diftant, after an intermilTion of 
feveral feconds: tremendous filence ! The rain, which 
(fill iiicreafed, formed innumerable dreams and cafcades, 
which rulhed from the crown of Skiddaw, Saddle-back, 
and Cawley Pike, with a mighty noife ; but we were de¬ 
prived of the beauty of thefe waterfalls by the intercept¬ 
ing vapour, which was not to be penetrated by the eye 
more than a few yards before us. We defcended the hill 
wet and fatigued, and were happy when we regained our 
inn at Kelwick, which we now' elteemed a paradife. 
“ On my fecond vifit to Kefwick, we mounted the 
crown of Skiddaw on horfeback, an undertaking not to 
be recommended. The clearness of the day afforded a 
beautiful prolpefl to the north-weft ; the fun-beams blazed 
upon the diftant ocean, Solway Firth lay in view for many 
miles, and its variegated margin of tillage, corn, and mea¬ 
dow ; the headlands of Scotland, which Ihot out a vaft way 
into the lea, were ntiftaken by our attendant tortile Ille of 
Man, an objedt not to be viewed from this mountain, by 
reafon of the interpofing highlands to the foUth-weft ; 
Annandale, with Skiddaw’s mighty rival, ScrofFel, were 
diltindlly feen, and a vaft traft of Scotch land. The tem¬ 
perature of the air was much more ciiitindlly to be dilco- 
vered this day than on our former tour ; in the vale it 
was remarkably hot and fultry ; a gentle fouthern breeze 
juft moved the leaves ; but on the mountain we were 
obliged to difmount, to bind down our hats, and button 
our upper coats, the wind was fo fierce and cold.” 
Thus far Mr. Hutchinfon. Mr. Nield, fo well known 
for his vifirs to our prifons, treading in the fteps of the late 
philanthropic Howard, has given an account of his afcent 
of this mountain; which, having been effedled fo recently 
as the 28th of Odlober laft, (1811,) and containing obfer- 
vationsof a philofophical nature, not furnifhed by Mr. Hut- 
chinfon’s narrative, we 11 ■ a 11 prefent to our readers nearly 
in his own words. “The morning was cloudy, and likely 
for Ihowers ; but, this being the laft day that I could conve¬ 
niently ftop in Kefwick, I refolved to attempt the afcent 
of Skiddaw. In the room where I breakfafted the ther¬ 
mometer ftood at 58°, another in the open air out of doors 
flood at 55 0 . The barometer at Kefwick ftood at 29-088 
inches. v\t the top of Skiddaw the barometer ftood at 
26-2 inches, and the thermometer at 40 0 . We had three 
thermometers, all, of which were as near 40 0 as could be 
perceived. On our return on Jenkin Hill, the barometer 
(food at 26-9 inches, and the thermometer at 44 0 5. At a 
fpring nearly a hundred yards below Jenkin Hill the.ba¬ 
rometer ftood at 27-2, and the thermometer in the air, on 
the ground, and in the water, viz. the fpring, as follows: 
in the air 43 0 5, on the ground 42 0 , and in the water 41°; 
all the thermometers agreed here as well as upon the top 
of Skiddaw. On the oppofite fide of the hill to the fpring 
juft mentioned, at another fpring, the barometer ftood at 
27‘2, and the thermometer in the w'ater at 43 0 , in the air 
at 42 0 , on the ground the fame as in the air. At another 
place, the name of which I have forgotten, where the 
barometer ftood at 27’8 inches, the thermometer was at 
45 0 . At the fpring above the High, the barometer ftood 
at 27'89, and the thermometer iiEthe air,at 46-25, in the 
water 44 0 , and on the ground 44 0 ; but the diftance above 
44 0 was fo (mall as not eafily to be expreffed. At a fpring 
near Long Scale Gate the barometer ftood at 28-22. The 
thermometer in the air at 47 0 5, in the water 48°, on the 
ground 4S 0 . At a fpring on the oppofite fide of the hill 
to Long Scale Gate, the barometer ftood at 28*3, and the 
thermometer in the air, in the water, and on the ground, 
ftood at 48°. When we got back to Mr. Calvert’s, the 
barometer and thermometer ftood as in the morning, viz. 
29-1 inches the barometer, and the thermometer at 55 0 . 
On examining Mr. Calvert’s barometer, in a back .room 
where there had been no fire, or any thing to influence 
the alteration of the height of the mercury, lave tire 
weight of the atmofphere, tile barometer had rather rifen 
than otherwife. .The height of Skiddaw from Kefwick is 
930 yards; Jenkin Hill 695; the fpring before-mentioned, 
where the barometer ftood at 27-2, and the thermometer 
in the air at 43 0 , on the ground 42 0 , in the water 41 0 , 
600 yards ; and the top of Laterigg, 296 yards. We 
left Mr. Calvert’s about ten o’clock in the forenoon, and 
returned about half-paft four in the afternoon. There 
was not much rain till after three o’clock. The wind 
w’as exceedingly ftrong upon the top of Skiddaw, and the 
fenfation the cold produced, equalled, if not exceeded, 
any I ever experienced. The party conlifted of Mr. Cal¬ 
vert, Mr. Otley, and myfelf; and, though the thermome¬ 
ter was not below 40 0 , all of.us felt extreme cold fenla- 
tions. There was no rain during the time w-e were upon 
Skiddaw. According to Donald, Skiddaw is 958 yards 
above the level of Baffenthwaite Lake. Kefwick is con- 
fiderably higher than this lake ; hence iris probable that 
both calculations'were accurately made. Paris Mountain 
in Wales is 3720 feet high, and the mercury varied from 
the bottom to the top of this hill 3 75. By comparing 
thefe experiments together, we (ball find, that for every 
inch that the mercury finks in the barometer tube, there 
will be nearly 1000 feet of elevation. It will fall a little 
(hort of 1000 feet for an inch of mercurial depreflion. 
We find that there w-as no fenfible variation in the tem¬ 
perature, from the time we left till the time we returned 
to Mr. Calvert’s. We likewife find that the thermometer 
was 15 0 lower, upon the top of Skiddaw, than at Mr, 
Calvert’s. If we divide the number of yards, 900, which 
the hill is high, by the number of degrees which the 
thermometer links, we (hall have the number of yards 
for each degree of the thennometrical depreffion, viz. 
930 ~ 15 = 62 ; fo that there will be 62 yards of elevation 
for every degree the thermometer links. When the mer¬ 
cury in the barometer falls an inch by afeending a hid, 
we may calculate nearly 1000 feet for its elevation ; and, 
when the thermometer finks a degree, we may reckon 186 
feet of elevation.” 
Within about two miles of Kefwick there is a druidi- 
cal moment placed on a plain formed on the fummit of a 
hill, around which -the adjoining mountains make a fo- 
lemn circle;' it is.compofed of ltones of various forms, 
natural and unhewn; they feem to have been collected 
from the iurface, but from what lands it is impoffible to 
conjedlure, moll of them being a fpecies of granite. The 
ftones are fifty in number, fet in a form not exactly cir¬ 
cular, the diameter being thirty paces from eaft to weft, 
and thirty-two from north to fouth : at the eallern end a 
fmall inclofure is formed within the circle by ten ftones, 
making an oblong-fquare in conjunction with the ftones 
of that fide of the circle, feven paces in length, and three 
in width, within. In this place it is conjectured an altar 
had been erected. At the oppoiite fide a iingle fquare 
ftone is laid at the diftance of three paces from the circle; 
poflibly this may have been broken oft', and is only the 
foot of fuch a column as Long Meg, del'cribed farther on, 
which may have been ufed to bind the-vidlims to. The 
ftones forming the outward line are fome of them (land¬ 
ing eredt, others fallen; and are of various fizes, fome of 
the largeit of thofe (landing being near eight feet in height 
and fifteen feet in circumference. The lingularity noticed 
in this monument by antiquaries, is the recefs on the 
eaftern fide. 
The lake of Balfenthwaite, which lies a little north of 
Kefwick* 
