Victorian Collection 914.28 M366c 1858 L. Tom Perry Special Collections Harold B. Lee Library Brigham Young University BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 3 1197 22646 4698 <£*..& '71 m*^ 00 /P62 COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE ENGLISH LAKES & mm* S3I 1 DE T© THE JH&MS3I LAKES ^MOtET MA^TIH^y / #.& t (^/zZZ^Z^^z.^ > WIIBEBIE RE:-JOII GARIETT. I03TO0]g":-I0irG-lfAar&:CP, SIMPKLH'.MAB.SHAI.i &:CO. EAIILTOI&CQ COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE ENGLISH LAKES BY HARRIET MARTINEAU, WITH FRONTISPIECE, TRAVELLING MAPS, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS, FERNS AND MOSSES OF THE DISTRICT, AND A COMPLETE DIRECTORY. SECOND EDITION. WINDERMERE : — JOHN GARNETT. LONDON : WHITTAKEE & CO, ; HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. ; LONGMAN & CO. ; • SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. UPP PREFACE, The Knoll, Ambleside, March 12th, 1855. It is now some months since I committed the manuscript of this Lake Guide to the publisher's hands; and now that the work is just ready to appear, I am thankful to him for the opportunity of saying, in this prefatory page, with what pride and pleasure I have looked over the accessories and embellishments with which, by his zeal and spirit, and by the admirable co-operation he has been so fortunate as to secure, my humble work is elevated to a quality of real importance. When I look at Mr. Ruthven's valuable geological 11. PREFACE. Map, Mr. Aspland's beautiful illustrative Views, so finely engraved by Mr. Banks ; and, again, the Botanical contributions, so essential to the perfect understanding of the Lake District, it seems to me that the book has become, by all this aid, one which may not only be in every tourist's hands, but find a place on the library shelves of those who have never visited, and may not contemplate visit- ing, this district of England. At the same time, the Directories, (a new feature in a Guide Book) are likely to make it valuable to residents, who need no guide to the scenery near their homes. If my gratitude to my coadjutors causes me to overrate the product of our labours, I shall not at least be mistaken in saying that we have all done our best to set forth a true presentment of a land we love, in the hope of inducing and enabling those who live in town or plain to know and love it as we do. If any think that we have painted it too fair, and that we love it fanatically, let them come and see. H. MARTINEAU. CONTENTS. PART I. Page. WINDERMERE ... ... ... ... ... 1 BOWNESS ... ... ... ... ... 8 Walk by Cook's House ... ... ... 13 Steamboat Trip ... ... ... 15 First Tour. To Furness Abbey and Coniston ... ... 20 Second Tour. To Patterdale and Ambleside ... 35 Third Tour. To Skelwith and Grasmere ... ... 47 A day on the Mountains ... ... ... ... 59 PART II. To Keswick from Ambleside ... ... ... ... 69 Excursions from Keswick ... ... ... 76 I. Derwent Water ... ... ... 76 II . By Watendlath to Borro wdale and back by Lodore ... ... ... 78 III. By Vale of Newlands to Scale Hill, and back by Whinlatter ... ... 85 IV. Circuit of Bassenthwaite ... 90 V. Ascent of Skiddaw ... 92 VI. Ascent of Saddleback ... ... 96 PART III. CIRCUIT OP THE LAKE DISTRICT. First Tour. From Keswick by Patterdale to Ambleside 105 Second Tour. From Ambleside to Strands ... 108 11. CONTENTS. Page. Thied Toue. From Strands and Wastwater to Scale Hill Inn ... ... ... ... ... ... 120 Foueth Toue. From Scale Hill to Keswick by Honister Crag ... ... ... ... ... ... 133 PART IV. PASSES AND MOUNTAINS. Langdale from Borrowdale, by the Stake Pass 147 Path to Easedale ... ... ... ... 150 Path to Esk Hause ... ... 152 Sty Head Pass, from Wastdale to Borrowdale ... 154 Ascent of Scaweell ... ... 159 Pass of Scarf Gap . . . ... ... ... ... 163 Grisedale 165 Ascent of Helvellyn ... ... ... ... 166 Coniston Old Man ... ... 169 Walna Scar ... ... ... ... 169 Hawes Water ... ... ... 172 Pass of Nanbield ... ... ... ... 176 Weather in the Lake District 179 PART V. ELOWEEING PLANTS, EEENS, AND MOSSES. Windermere and its Neighbourhood Cumberland .. 181 193 PART VI. DIEECTOEY. The postal address of the Aristocracy, Gentry, and Tradespeople of the District. INDEX. Adventure on Esk Hause 118 Ambleside 43, 58, 218 Ancient Customs 140 „ Chimnies 14 Anecdote of Charcoal Burner 24 Angle Tarn 42, 107,147 Applethwaite, Cumberland, 95 „ Outline of Mountains, 95 Approach to Lakes 3 Ara Force 40, 106, 208 „ View of, facing Titlepage Armboth Fells 71 Atmospheric Changes 14, 53 Barf (mountain) 91 Barrow House 78 Fall 78, 210 Bassenthwaite Lake 81, 90, 210 Beacon 13 Bewitched Cow 144 Birker Force 119, 210 Bishop Watson 9, 13 Biscut How 7 Black Cap (mountain) 147 Blackcombe, ditto, 59, 109, 209 Blacklead Mines 157 Blacksail 163 „ Adventures on, 128 Blakefell 129 Bleaberry Tarn 135 Blea Tarn 117, 149 Blea Water, High Street, 175 Blencathra (Saddleback) 209 Boats, instructions about 18, 23 Bobbin Mill 44, 49 Bowness, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20 Borrowdale 76, 78, 137, 184, xiv „ Anecdotes of 79 „ Yews 158 „ Hawes 207 Botany 181 Bowder Stone 82 „ View of 154 Bowfell, 5, 50, 148, 209 Bowscale Tarn 103 Brackenthwaite xvii Braithwaite 89, xiv Brathay 5, 18, 46, 48 Bridal of Triermain 72 Brothers' Water 39, 210 Broughton Tower 109 Brougham Castle and Hall 173 Buttermere 78, 88, 133, 210, xv „ Hawes 20? Calder Abbey 124 „ Bridge 124 Calgarth 13, 45 Candlemas Settlements 142 Carrock Fell 208 Castle Crag 74, 83 Castlehead, Derwent 76 Castlehead, View from 79 Castlerigg, View from 79 Castle Eock 72 Cat Bells (mountain) 74, 209 Catchedecam 166 Char and Trout 19, 34 Charges at Hotels 8, 17 Charles Lamb on Skiddaw 95 Cheese (hard) 146 Christopher North 11, 62 Churning 144 Clappersgate 5, 13, 48 Climate 192 Cockley Beck 117 Codale Fell 151 Cold Fell 126 Coldfield (mountain) 39 Colouring of Foliage 10 Colwith Bridge and Force 116, 210 College, Windermere 5, 7 Cook's House 14, 35 Coniston Lake 27, 169, 210, viii „ Old Man 5, 28, 30, 60, 169, Copper Mine 170 Craig 7 Croft Lodge 5, 48 Crosthwaite Church 73, 85 Crummock Water 86, 210 11. INDEX. Cuckoo in Borrowdale 80 Curwen's Island 10, 11 Daffodills and Snowdrops 48 Dale Head xiv Dale Management 145 Deepdale 65, 107 Deepening Lake 15 Derwent Lake 73 82, 210 „ View of 76 Eiver 82, 91, 147 Devoke Water 171 Dove Nest 17 Drainage 15 Drinking 162 Druidicial Remains, 98, 172 „ Legend of 96 Dunmail Raise 70, 51 Dunnerdale xvii Duddon 109 Dungeon Ghyll 51, 210 Eagles 155 Eagle Crag 147, 154 Esedale Tarn 53, 151 Ecclerigg 17 Egremont 126 „ Traditions of 127 Elizabeth Smith 29 Elleray 4 Elterwater Powder Mills 18, 50 Ennerdale 127, 210, xvi Enviable Abode 14 Eskdale 113, 115, xvii Esk Hause 152 Esthwaite Water 30, 210 Fairfield 5, 10, 47, 60, 69, 209 Falcon Crags 84 Fell Foot, Langdale 117 Ferry, Windermere 11, 15, 31, 33 " Finest View in Westmorland 5 Finest View 13, 29, 50, 57 Fishing 10, 42, 53 Flintoft's Model 74 Floating Island, Derwent 77 „ „ Esthwaite Foliage 11 Foxes 170 Fox How 58 Furness Abbey 20, 25 Gaitsgarth 135 Gaits Tarn 170 Ghost Stories of Souter Fell 99 Giant's Grave 173 Gillerthwaite 163 Glaramara 79 Glencoin 40 Glenderatera, river 104 Gowbarrow Park 39, 40, 84 Gowder Crag 84 Grange, Borrowdale 38 Grasmere, 51, 139, 166, 182, 210, ix „ View of 51 Grasmoor 87, 209 Great End 116 Great Gable 131, 147, 209 Great Robinson (mountain) 86 Greta Bank 104 „ Hall 85 „ River 94, 104 Grisedale 165 „ Pike 181, 209 „ Tarn 165 Guides on Mountains 59, 69, 92, 161 Hanging Knotts 147 Hardknott 119 Harrison Stickle (Langdale Pike) 149 Harter Fell 174 Hartley Coleridge 54, 56 Hartsop 39, 107 Haunted House, anecdote of 71 Hawes Water 90, 210, 174 Hawks and Buzzards 64 Hawkshead 30, ix Hawlghyll 116, 120 Hays Water 42, 107 Hayrick (mountain) 86 Helm Crag (Lion and the Lamb) 51, 69 Helvellyn 39, 51, 209 „ Ascent of 165 Heronry 55 Hesket Haws 172 Highest inhabited house in England 38 Highstile 86 High Street, 5, 36, 174, 176, 209 HiU Bell 5, 209 High Close 49, 149 High Crag 86 High Pike 209 Honister Crag 135, 209 „ View of 135 Hotels, charges at 10 Ibbotsholme 45 Irt, river 116 Keskadale 86 Kentmere 177 Keswick 74, xi Kirkstone Pass 207 Khmiside xvi Knotty Pike 174 KirkfeU 128 Knot Crag 104 Lakes, length, breadth, and depth of 208 Lamplugh Cross 132 Langdale 50, 116, 148, vii „ Tarn 116 Pikes, 5, 14, 50, 60, 149, 209 Latrigg 94, 209 Lead Mines 165 Legberthwaite 72, xiv INDEX. 111. Legend of Ara Force 41 Levers Water 171 Lilly of the Valley 17 Ling Crag 87 Lingmell (mountain) 116, 121 Linthwaite Woods 88 Fell 102 Little Langdale 150 Long Meg and her Daughters 172 Loughrigg 5, 10, 18, 48, 49, 60 „ Tarn and Terrace 49 Lord Derwentwater 77 Lord's Island 77 Lord's Seat (mountain) 91, 209 Lorton 91 Lowdore Cascade 83, 210 Loweswater 132, 182, 210, xv Lowman 94 Lowther Castle 174 Lowwater Tarn 170 Lowwood Hotel, 17, 60 Lyulph's Tower 40 Mardale 38, xvi Measand xvi Middlefell 116 Milbeck, Keswick 95 „ Langdale 149 Millbreak 87 Miller Brow (unsurpassed view) 13 Mists on Mountains 65 Miterdale 115 Mosedale 122 Mosses 189 Mountains, a day on the 59 height of 207 Museum 8, 74 Mylnbeck 7 Nab Scar 55, 60, 66 Nag's Head, Wythburn 70 Nanbield 176 Native Genius 81 Need Fire 144 Netherwastdale xvi Newby Bridge 16, iii Newfield Church iii Newland Hawes 86 Nook 60 Orrest Head 3 Ouse Bridge 91 Passes 145 Patterdale 39, 84, 106, 165, xv Pavey Ark 150 Peacock in Borrowdale 82 Peel Wyke 91 Penrith 172 Picturesque Farmsteads PiUar 163, 209 Place Fell 32, 107, 165 Portinscale 85, xii Pretty Scenery 15 Priest among the Shepherds 64 Professor Wilson 11, 62 Primitive Farms 49 Provisions for Pedestrians 59 Pull Cottage 17 Pullwyke Bay 17 Railway to Windermere 1 „ in Lake District 2 Rain Guages 64 Rampsholm, Derwent 2 Rannersdale Knot 187 Raven Crag, Yewdale 28 Rayrigg 13 Rectory, Windermere 9 Red Bank 51 Red Pike 86, 88, 209 Red Tarn 166, 210 Robert Walker, the wonderful 110 Roman Road 35, 176 Rosset Gill 152 Rosthwaite 79, 82 Rothay, river 18 Rotten Pulpit 149 Route to Lakes 1 Ruins by Moonlight 25 Rydal 55. 56, 57, 60, 121, 210 Santon Bridge 115 St. Cuthbert, anecdote of 76 St. Herbert, do 76 St. John's Church, Keswick 73 St. John's, Vale of 72 Sawrey 31, iv Scandale Screes 39, 43 Scale Hill Inn 82, 133 Force 82, 87, 210 Scales, village of 98 „ Tarn 98 Scandale Beck 39, 43 Scarf Gap 163 Scawfell 116, 121, 209 „ Ascent of 159 Scott, Sir Walter, anecdote of 11, 69, 172 Screes 116, 120 Seathwaite 111, 118, xvii Tarn 170 Seatoller 137 Seat Sandal, 70, 166 Seclusion, effects of 78 Smoking Lime 80 Sharp Edge 103 Shepherd's Crag 84 Shire Stones 117 Slate Quarries 50, 135 Skiddaw, 73, 92, 209 „ Ascent of 92 „ Forrest 94 „ View from 94 Skelwith Fold and Force 49 IV. INDEX. Solitude 53, 63 Sour Milk Ghyll Force 53, 135, 182 Southey 85 Spectral Mists 64 Sparkling Tarn 152 Squalls on Lakes 19 Stake 146 Stanley Ghyll 114, 182, 210 Statesmen, condition of 141 Station House, Windermere Lake 31 Station, Scale Hill 88 Steamboat Trip 15 Steel Fell 70 Stepping Stones 113 Stickle Tarn 149, 150 Stockghyll Force 44, 210 Stockley Bridge 157 Stock, river 38, 58 Stone Fences 61 Stonethwaite 147 Storm on the Mountains 129 Striding Edge 165 Storrs 11, 23 Stybarrow Crag 39 Sty Head 122, 155, 207 „ Pass 116, 154 „ Tarn 155 Styrups, getting out of 81 Superstitions 144 Swamps, fever and ague 15 Swan Inn, Grasmere 51 Swirrel Edge 166 Tarns, use of 150 Tempest on Mountains 64 Tent Lodge 29 The Knoll 58 The Lark 113 The Wood 7 Thirlmere or Leatheswater 71, 210 Thornthwaite 91, xiv Threlkeld 72, xv Tilberthwaite 171 Torver 109 Trout and Char 19, 34 Troutbeck 5, 11, 15, 35, 178, iv Ulls water 35, 39, 40, 65, 106, 210 „ Outline of Mountains 106 „ View of Ulpha, anecdote of manners 111 xvii Ulverstone 25 Vale of St. John 72, xiv Vicar's Isle, Derwent 76 Wall End 149 Wallowbarrow Crag 74, 77, 84 Walna Scar 169 Wanlas How 18 Wansfell 17, 60 Wastdale Head 121, 155, xvi „ Eural Customs 122 Wastwater 114, 155, 210, xvi View of 120 Watendlath 78 Waterspout 133 Waterfalls 208 Weather 179 Weatherlam 117, 171 Whinlater 89, 91 Whitelees (mountain) 86, 87 Whiteside (mountain) 87 Windermere Lake 10, 15. 32, 56 210 „ Outline of Mountains 5 „ Perfect view of 50 „ View from near Low Wood 17 „ View of, from near Storrs 11 Village of 6, i Wordsworth's Grave 51, 55, 56 Wray Castle 5, 14, 17 Wythburn 71, 167, xiv Yewbarrow 116, 121. 163 Yewdale 30, 171 TRAVELLING CHARGES. During the season, the charges for carriages and drivers are uniform, all over the district. It is probable that at other times there may be some little diversity, depending on the amount of custom ; but the traveller may rely on the prices here given as a safe rule. It must be understood that the drivers of the country cars and other vehicles are dependent on the payment they receive from travellers. The innkeepers charge for the carriage and horses only ; and the payment of the driver is therefore an established one, and not considered dependent on the pleasure of the traveller. The rate is three-pence per mile outwards, — the return journey not being charged for. Another way, in which I have myself been accustomed to pay, is six-pence per hour, — the driver having the benefit of the fraction left over. On excursions which occupy a day, or several days, the driver's pay is five shillings per day. The charge for a one-horse conveyance is one shilling per mile. For a two-horse conveyance one shilling and six- pence per mile. In case of a long stage, as for ten or twelve miles there is a reduction to one shilling and four-pence. The return journey is, of course, not paid for. For conveyance to a certain point, there is no charge for food for man and horse : but if there is any waiting at the end of the drive, in order to return, the feed of the horses and the driver's dinner will amount to about three shillings and six-pence. The hire of a single-horse conveyance for the day is fifteen shillings, and the driver's pay of five shillings makes it one pound a day, exclusive of feed. The tolls are invariably charged to the traveller. A COACH FARES AND ROUTES. As the times of departure and other particulars are frequently changed, the Tourist is recommended to provide himself with Garnett's Time Tables, published monthly, which may be had of the principal booksellers in the Lake District. Coach fares are about three-pence per mile outside, and four- pence-half-penny per mile inside. The routes of the Coaches are 1. — From Windermere Railway Station to Ambleside, Gr as- mere and Keswick, over which line several run daily during the season. 2. — From Ambleside to Patterdale, Lyulph's Tower and Penrith. 3. — From Ambleside to Coniston and Broughton-in-Furness. 4. — From Keswick to Cockermouth. 5. — From Keswick to Lyulph's Tower, Patterdale and Penrith. 6. — From Keswick, via Greystoke, to Penrith. Each of these of course perform the return journey. CHARGES AT HOTELS AND PRIVATE LODGINGS. During the season, which extends from May to November, the charges are two shillings for breakfast, (including meat, fish, &c.,) two shillings and six-pence for dinner ; and one shilling and six- pence for tea. A private sitting-room is charged two shillings and six-pence per day. In some cases servants are charged in the bill ; we quote what may be considered the proper payments when they are not : — nine-pence per day for waiter, — six-pence per day for chambermaid, and three-pence per day for boots. If the stay be longer than one day, the total payment should be one shilling per day. The charges for Private Apartments of a very good order, are from ten to twelve shillings per week for each room, which includes attendance. Sitting-room fire and the use of kitchen fire are extra. a2 ITINERARY OF EXCURSIONS IN THE LAKE DISTRICT. Being a Competition to the subjoined Travelling Map. FROM WINDERMERE,— TERMINUS OP THE RAILWAY. NOTE. — These Excursions can be made from Botvness, with little variation in the distance and route. Those marked * can only be accomplished on foot or horse. TOTAL MILES. 5 9 13 18 24 26 H 26 13 7 24 1* *2 2* *li 25 25 Ambleside, — via Troutbeck Bridge, and Lowwood Hotel , via Bowness, and steam yacht or boat on Lake -, via Bowness, the Ferry, west side of Winder- mere, Wray Castle, Brathay, and Clappersgate Angle Tarn, — via Cook's House, east side of the valley of Troutbeck, Kirkstone Pass, village of Hartsop and by the mountain path ... Ara Force, — via Cook's House, Troutbeck, the Kirkstone Pass, Patterdale, and Ullswater Bassenthwaite Lake, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, Thirlmere, and Castlerigg Birker Force, — via Ambleside road to the Tollgate, Clap- persgate, Langdale, over Wrynose and Hardknot, and down Eskdale Biscut How, — via Bowness road ... Blackcombe, — via Bowness, Ferry, Esthwaite Water, Con- iston, Torver, Broughton, and up the mountain Blea Tarn,— via Ambleside road to the Tollgate, Clappers- gate, Little Langdale, and Fellfoot Blelham Tarn, — via Ambleside Tollgate, Clappersgate, Brathay, and keep to left Blencathra (Saddleback), — via Ambleside, Rydal, Gras- mere, Dunmail Raise, Thirlmere, St. John's Vale, and Threlkeld Bowness, — via main road , via Cook's House , via footpaths, diverging from the Kendal road at the top of Alishow, \ mile from the hotel , via footpath through Rayrigg Wood, & Rayrigg Borrowdale, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, Thirlmere, Keswick, and Derwent Water Bowder Stone, Borrowdale, — See Borrowdale A 3 FOE KOUTE SEE PAGES. 6,45 7, 17, 44 7, 10, 19, 34 14, 35, 42, 107, 147 14.35,40,106 6, 45, 69, 90 45, 48, 116, 113, 119 7 7,11, 30, 28, 109 6, 45, 17, 48, 116, 149 6, 45, 48, 34 45, 69, 98 7 to 9 6, 13, 8 *7, 8 *6, 7, 8 6, 45, 69, 77 ditto DISTANCES FKOM WINDERMERE. TOTAL MILES. 18 11 *30 5i 22 8| i 2 11 12 *32 21 13 22 +24 Hi 12 11 9 *35 5 10 11 3 25 18 9 12 11 *16 7 9 *16 *8£ *6 10 *28 Bowfell,— via Clappersgate, Skelwith Bridge, Little Lang dale, Fell Foot, Blea Tarn, and mountain path Brathay, — via Ambleside road to the Tollgate, Clappers- gate, and over Brathay Bridge Brothers' Water, — via Cook's House, Troutbeck, and the Kirkstone Pass Buttermere, — via Clappersgate, Langdale, Fellfoot, Blea Tarn, Borrowdale, Stake, and Honister Crag Clappersgate, — via Ambleside road to Tollgate, turn to the left, and over Rothay Bridge Cockley Beck, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Little Lang- dale, Fellfoot, and over Wrynose Col with Force, — via Clappersgate and Skelwith Bridge... Cook's House, — via Ambleside road Coniston,— via Bowness, Ferry, Esthwaite Water, and Hawkshead Hill ... , via head of Windermere, Clappersgate, Brathay, Borwick Ground, and High Cross Crummock Water, — via Clappersgate, Little Langdale, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Borrowdale, and Buttermere Curwen's Island, — via Bowness and the Lake Deepdale, — via Troutbeck and Kirkstone Pass Derwent Lake, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, Thirlmere, & Keswick , via Clappersgate, Langdale, Blea Tarn, the Stake Pass, and Borrowdale .. Dunmail Raise, — via Ambleside Rydal and Grasmere Dungeon Ghyll, — via head of Windermere, Clappersgate, Elterwater, and Great Langdale Easedale Tarn, — via Ambleside, and Grasmere Elterwater, — via head of Windermere, and Clappersgate Ennerdale, — via the head of Windermere, Clappersgate, Langdale, Blea Tarn, the Stake, Sprinklng Tarn, Sty Head, Wastdale Head, Black Sail, and Scarf Gap Eskdale, — See Birker Force Esthwaite Water, — via Bowness, the Ferry, and Sawrey Fairfield, — via Ambleside and Rydal Forest ... Fellfoot, Langdale, — via head of Windermere, Clappers- gate, Skelwith, and Langdale ... Ferry Hotel, — via Bowness Furness Abbey, — via Bowness, Newby Bridge, & Ulverston Gowbarrow Park, — See Ara Force Grasmere, the church, — via Ambleside and Rydal , via Bowness, the Ferry, Wray Castle, Brathay, Loughrigg, and Red Bank Hartsop, — See Angle Tarn Haweswater, — via Cook's House, the first lane beyond the How, Troutbeck, Kentmere, Longsleddale, Gatesgaxth Pass, and Mardale Hawkshead, —via Bowness, Ferry, and Esthwaite Lake... via Clappersgate, and Brathay Helvellyn, summit of, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, and Wythburn High Street, summit of, — via Cook's House, and Troutbeck to Troutbeck Park, and by the mountain path Hill Bell, summit of, — via Cook's House, Troutbeck, and the first lane bey ond the How ... High Close, — via head of Windermere, Clappersgate, and Loughrigg Fell Honister Crag, — See Buttermere ... FOB ROUTE SEE PAGES. 45,48, 117, 147 6, 45, 48 7, 35 to 39 45, 48, 116, 147, 135, 133. 6, 45, 48 6, 45, 48, 116, 118 6, 45, 48, 116 6, 14, 35 7, 10, 30, 28 6, 45, 48, 30 45,48,116, 147, 135, 133 7,10 14, 35, 65 6, 45, 69, 76 45, 48, 116, 147, 76 6, 45, 69 45,48,50,148 6, 45, 52 45, 48, 50 45, 48, 116, 147, 152, 120, 163, 127 113, 115 7, 10, 31 60 45, 48, 117 7, 10, 32 20 to 27 40,106 6,45, 52 7,10, 32, 48, 62 39, 107 35, 174, 176 7, 10, 30 45, 48, 30 6, 45, 69, 165 14, 35, 174, 176 14, 35, 37 45, 48, 50 135 DISTANCES FROM WINDERMERE, TOTAL MILES. Kentmere, — via Cook's House, Troutbeck, and the first lane beyond the How , via railway to Staveley, and up the valley Keswick, —via Ambleside, Rydal, Grasmere, the Dunmail Raise, Thirlmere, and Castlerigg -, via Clappersgate, Langdale, Millbeck, Stake Pass and Borrowdale , via Ambleside, Grasmere, Easedale, and moun tain path to Rosthwaite Kirkstone Pass, — via Cook's House and Troutbeck Langdale Chapel Stile, — via head of Windermere, and Clappersgate Langdale Pikes,— via Clappersgate, Langdale, and Mill beck, and by the mountain path Legberthwaite, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, & Thirlmere Loughrigg, — See High Close , via Bowness, Ferry, Wray Castle, and Brathay Lowdore, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, and Keswick Lowwood Hotel, — via Ambleside road , via Bowness and the Lake Lyulph's Tower, — See Ara Force ... Mardale, — See Haweswater Millbeck, Langdale, — via head of Windermere, Clappers gate, Elterwater, and Great Langdale Nab Scar, — See Fairfield Newby Bridge, — via Bowness and road or lake Patterdale, — via Cook's House, Troutbeck, Kirkstone Pass, and Brothers' Water Penrith, — via Troutbeck, Patterdale, and Ullswater Portinscale, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, and Keswick Red Bank, — See Grasmere, via Clappersgate... Rydal Lake, — via Ambleside, on the main road St. John's Vale, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, and Dunmail Raise ... Sawrey, — via Bowness and the Ferry Scawfell, — via Clappersgate, Great Langdale, Millbeck, & the mountain path by Angle Tarn Seathwaite, Lancashire, — via Clappersgate, Brathay, High Cross, Coniston, and Walna Scar Skelwith Bridge, — via head of Windermere, and Clappers gate, ... Stanley Ghyll, — See Birker Force... Thirlmere, — via Ambleside, Grasmere, and the Raise Gap Troutbeck, the church, — via Cook's House Ullswater, — via Cook's House, Troutbeck, and Kirkstone Pass, and Patterdale Ulverston. — via Bowness, Newby Bridge and Greenodd Wastwater, — via Clappersgate, Langdale, Millbeck, and the mountain path by Angle Tarn Windermere Lake, — via Bowness. . . , via footpath to Millerground Wythburn — via Ambleside, Grasmere, & Dunmail Raise FROM AMBLESIDE. Angle Tarn, — via Kirkstone Pass, Brothers' Water, the village of Hartsop, and mountain path ... Ara Force, — via Kirkstone Pass, Patterdale, & Ullswater Armboth, — via Rydal, Grasmere, and Dunmail Raise . . . FOR KOTTTE SEE PAGES. 14, 35, 177 177 6, 45, 69 45, 48, 116, 147, 79 45, 52, 79, 69 35,98 45,48,116,147 45, 48, 116, 147, 150 6, 45, 69 7, 45, 48 7, 10, 18, 34 6, 45, 69, S3 6,45 7, 10, 17 40 38, 175 45, 4S, 50, 149 55,60 7, 10, 15, 23 35 to 39 35 to 39, 172 45,^69 to 74 45 to 51 45, 55 45, 69 to 72 7 to 10, 31 45, 48, 50, 149, 159 45, 48, 28, 169 45, 48, 116 113, 119 45, 69 to 71 35 to 37 35 to 40, 106 20 to 25 45, 41, 149, 120 7 to 13 *6, 13, 10 45, to 69 71 43, 39, 42 43, 38 to 41 55 to 72 DISTANCES PROM AMBLESIDE. TOTAL MILES. 20 22 *24 8* 3 +19 5 5 20 20 13 2 6 *26 32 1 5 4 8* 10 +28 7 *14 41 *31 22 4£ 5 7 5i 6* Bassenthwaite Lake,— via Eydal, Grasmere, Thirlmere, Castlerigg, and Keswick Birker Force, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Colwith, Fell- foot, over Wrynose and Hardknot, and down Eskdale Blackcombe, top of, — via Clappersgate, Brathay, High Cross, Coniston, Torver, Broughton, and up the hill... Blea Tarn, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Colwith, Fellfoot Blelham Tarn, — via Clappersgate, Brathay, and towards Wray Castle Blencathra (Saddleback), — via Eydal, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, Thirlmere, St. John's Vale, and Threlkeld Bowness, — via turnpike road and Cook's House via Waterhead, and Windermere Lake Borrowdale, — via Eydal, Grasmere, Thirlmere, Castlerigg, and Derwent Water , via Grasmere, Easedale, and by the mountain path Bowder Stone, — See Borrowdale Bowfell, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Colwith, Fellfoot, Blea Tarn, and mountain path Brathay chapel, — via Eothay Bridge, and Clappersgate Brothers' Water, — via Kirkstone Pass Buttermere, — via Clappersgate, Langdale, Fellfoot, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Borrowdale, and Honister Crag Calder Abbey, — via Clappersgate, Langdale, Fellfoot, over Wrynose and Hardknot, Eskdale, cross Miterdale, and Gosforth Clappersgate, — via Eothay Bridge Colwith Force, — via Clappersgate, and Skelwith Cook's House, — via Waterhead and Lowwood Hotel Coniston, — via Clappersgate, Brathay, and High Cross ... , via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Colwith, and Tilber- thwaite and Yewdale Crummock Water, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, the Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Borrowdale, and Buttermere Curwen's Island, — via Waterhead and Windermere Lake Deepdale, — via Kirkstone Pass and Brothers' Water Derwent Lake, — via Eydal, Grasmere, the Dunmail Eaise, Thirlmere, and Keswick ,via Grasmere Easedale, the mountain path, Watendlath, and Lowdore Dunmail Eaise, — via Eydal and Grasmere ... Dungeon Ghyll, — via Clappersgate, Elterwater, and Great Langdale Easedale Tarn, — via Eydal and Grasmere ... Elterwater, — via Eothay Bridge, Clappersgate, and the Brathay Valley Ennerdale, — via Clappersgate, Fellfoot, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Sprinkling Tarn, Sty Head Pass, Wastdale Head, Black Sail, and Scarf Gap E skdale, — see Birker Force Esthwaite Water, — via Clappersgate and Brathay Fairfield, — via Eydal Forrest ... ... Fellfoot, Langdale, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Colwith, and Langdale Ferry, —via Waterhead and Windermere Lake via Clappersgate, Brathay, Wray Castle, and the west margin of Windermere FOB ROUTE SEE PAGES. 55 to 75, 90 47, 116 47, 30, 27, 109 47, 116, 149 47,38 55 to 58 69 to 72, 98 45, 14, 8 18, 8 55 to 58, 69,77 55,51 82 47, 116, 147 47, 43,38 48, 116, 147 135, 133 48, 116, 113, 124 47 48, 116 45, 14, 35 48, 30, 27, 48,116,171,28 48, 116, 147, 135, 133 45, 15 43, 38, 65, 107 58, 69 to 76 58, 52, 78, 83 58, 52, 69 47, 50, 148 58, 52 47 to 50 48, 116, 147, 152,120,163 113, 115 47,30 59 47, 116 45,17 47, 14, 34 DISTANCES EROM AMBLESIDE. TOTAL MILES. Furness Abbey, — via Windermere Lake to Newby Bridge, Greenodd, and Ulverston , via Clappersgate, Brathay, the High Cross, east side of Coniston Lake, Blawith and Ulverston ... Gowbarrow Park, — See Ara Force Grasmere, the church, — via the turnpike road by Eydal... -, via Rothay Bridge, under Loughrigg, Loughrigg Terrace, and Red Bank . via Clappersgate, Loughrigg Fell, & Bed Bank Grisedale, — via Kirkstone Pass, and Patterdale Hardknot, top of, — via Clappersgate, Skelwith, Fellfoot, and Wrynose Hawkshead, — via Clappersgate and Brathay Helm Crag (Lion and Lamb), — via Rydal and Grasmere Helvellyn, top of, — via Bydal, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, and Wythburn High Street, — via Kirkstone Pass and the mountain path High Close, — via Clappersgate, and Loughrigg Honister Crag, — See Buttermere ... Keswick, — via Rydal, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, Thirl- mere, and Castlerigg , via Rydal, Grasmere, Easedale, mountain path to Watendlath, and east side of Derwentwater Kirkstone Pass, — via the old Church, and up the road Langdale, Chapel Stile, — via Clappersgate and Elterwater Langdale Pikes, — via Clappersgate, Langdale, Millbcck, and the mountain path Legberthwaite, — via Grasmere, and Thirlmere Loughrigg, — See High Close via Rothay Bridge, under Loughrigg, Lough- rigg Terrace Lowdore cascade, — via Grasmere Keswick, and Derwent , via Grasmere, Easedale, the mountain path by Watendlath Lowwood Hotel, — via the road or lake Lyulph's Tower, — see Ara Force ... Millbeck, Langdale, — via Clappersgate, Brathay Valley, Elterwater, and Great Langdale Nab Scar, — See Fairfield ... Newby Bridge, — via Waterhead and Lake Windermere... -, via the turnpike road, Cook's House, and Bowness Patterdale, — via Kirkstone Pass, and Brothers' Water... Penrith, — via Patterdale and Ulls water Portinscale, — via Rydal, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, Thirl- mere, and Keswick... Red Bank, — via Rothay Bridge, under Loughrigg, and Loughrigg Terrace Rydal Lake, — via the turnpike road , via Rothay Bridge and under Loughrigg St. John's Vale, — via Grasmere, Dunmail Raise and Thirl- mere Sawrey, — via Clappersgate, Hawkshead, and Esthwaite Scawfell, — via Clappersgate, Great Langdale, Millbeck, & the mountain path by Angle Tarn Seathwaite, Lancashire, — via Clappersgate, Brathay, High Cross, Coniston, and Walna Scar Skelwith Bridge, — via Clappersgate, and Brathay Valley FOE ROUTE SEE PAGES. 15,25 47, 27, 25 43, 38 to 31 54 47,52 47 to 52 44, 38, 165 47, 116 47,30 54,51 54,69 44, 174, 176 47 135 54, 69 to 75 54, 52, 78, 76 44 47, 116, 149 47, 116, 147, 150 69 47 47,52 69 to 84 54, 52, 78, 76 45,17 43, 38, to 41 47, 50, 149 55, 60 15 to 18 45, 14, 8, 20 43,38 43, 38, 172 69,85 47,25 58,55 47,25 58, 69 to 72 47,30 47. 149, 159 47, 28, 169 47, 116 DISTANCES FROM AMBLESIDE. TOTAL MILES. 23 8 3 9* 24 *19 »! Stanley Ghyll, — See Birker Force. Thirlmere, — via Bydal, Grasmere, and Dunmail Raise ... Troutbeck, — via lane at Low wood Ulls water, — See Ara Force Ulverston, — via Windermere Lake and Newby Bridge . . . Wastwater, — via Clappersgate, Langdale, Millbeck, and the mountain path by Angle Tarn Windermere Lake, — via the turnpike road to Waterhead Wythburn, — via Grasmere and Dunmail Raise FOR ROUTE SEE PAGES. 113, 119 58, 69 to 71 45,36 43, 38 to 40 15,25 :47, 149, 120 45 58, 69 to 71 7 23 16 10| *15 7 5 21 9* 12| *16 18 *10 6 14 *26 30 7 5 *27 19 21 10* 10 12 6 15 4| 6 FROM CONISTON. Ambleside, — via High Cross, Brathay, and Clappersgate Bassenthwaite Lake, — via Oxenfell, Loughrigg, Grasmere, Thirlmere, and Keswick Birker Force, — via Tilberthwaite, over Wrynose and Hard- knot passes, and down Eskdale Birk's Bridge, — via Tilberthwaite, Fellfoot, and Wrynose Blackcombe, top of — via Torver and Broughton. Blea Tarn, Langdale, — via Tilberthwaite and Fell Foot... Blelham Tarn, — via High Cross and Wray Castle Ara Force,— via Ambleside, Kirkstone Pass and Patter- dale Bowness, — via Hawkshead, Esthwaite Lake, Sawrey, and the Ferry via Brathay, the head of Windermere and Cook's House Borrowdale, — via Tilberthwaite, Langdale, Stake Pass, Glaramara on the left, and Rosthwaite ... Bowder Stone, Borrowdale, — via Stake Pass, &c.3 Bowfell, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Langdale Head, and along the mountain path ... Brathay Chapel, —via High Cross and Borwick Ground ... Brothers' Water, — via High Cross, Clappersgate, Amble- side, and Kirkstone Pass Buttermere— via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Borrowdale, and Honister Crag Calder Abbey, — via Tilberthwaite, Fell Foot, over Wry- nose and Hardknot passes, Eskdale, cross Miterdale, and Gosforth Clappersgate, — via High Cross and Brathay ... Colwith Force, — via Oxenfell, and Colwith Bridge Crummock Water, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Borrowdale, and Buttermere Derwent Lake, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass and Borrowdale via Oxenfell, Skelwith, Loughrigg, Grasmere, Thirlmere, and Keswick Duddon Bridge, — via Torver and Broughton. Dungeon Ghyll, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Wallend, and Millbeck Easedale Tarn, — via Oxenfell, Skelwith, Loughrigg, and Grasmere Elterwater, — via Oxenfell, and Colwith Eskdale (foot of Hardknot), — via Tilberthwaite, Wrynose, & Hardknot Esthwaite Water, — via Hawkshead Hill, and Hawkshead Fellfoot, Langdale, — via Tilberthwaite 30,47 28,49,69 28, 117 28, 117 109 28, 117 30,34 30, 47, 40 30, 47, 45, 14 28, 147 147 117, 147 30,48 30,47,39,106 117, 147, 135 30, 117 to 119 30,47 116 117 147, 137, 133 117, 147, 135 51, 69 to 75 109 28, 117, 143 28,69 28, 116, 50 28, 116, 30 28, 116 DISTANCES FROM CONISTON. TOTAL MILES. Ferry, Windermere, — via Hawkshead Hill, Esthwaite Water, & Sawrey... Furness Abbey,— via Torver and Ulverston ... , via Torver, Broughton, and per railway Grasmere,— via Oxenfell, Skelwith Bridge, and Loughrigg via Yewdale, Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Dun- geon Ghyll, Langdale, Elterwater, and Loughrigg Hardknot, top of, — via Tilberthwaite, and over Wrynose Hawkshead, — via Hawkshead Hill Helvellyn, top of, — via Oxenfell, Skelwith, Loughrigg, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise and Wythburn High Street, — via Ambleside, Kirkstone Top, and thence on foot nor th-east over the mountains High Close, — via Oxenfell, Skelwith, and up Loughrigg FeU Honister Crag,— via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, Borrowdale, and Buttermere road Keswick, — via High Cross, Brathay, Clappersgate, Amble- side, Rydal, Grasmere, Dunmail Raise, and Thirlmere , via Oxenfell, Skelwith, Loughrigg, Grasmere, and Thirlmere , via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, and Borrowdale Langdale Chapel Stile, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, and Millbeck Langdale Pikes, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, and the mountain path Lowdore Cascade, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, and Borrowdale Lowwood, — via High Cross, Brathay, and Clappersgate... Millbeck, Langdale, — via Tilberthwaite and Blea Tarn ... Newby Bridge, — via Hawkshead, Esthwaite Water, and Lake or road , via Hawkshead, west side of Esthwaite Lake, and Graythwaite Patterdale, — via High Cross, Brathay, Ambleside, and Kirkstone Pass Red Bank, — via Oxenfell, Skelwith, and Loughrigg Rydal,— via High Cross, Brathay, Clappersgate, Ambleside , via Oxenfell, Skelwith, and Loughrigg Terrace ... Sawrey, — via Hawkshead and Esthwaite Water Scale Force, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, Stake Pass, • Borrowdale, Buttermere, and Crummock... Scawfell, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, and the moun- tain path Seathwaite, — via Tilberthwaite, and Wrynose , via Torver, Broughton Mill, the river Duddon, Dunnerdale andUlpha , via Walna Scar Shire Stones, — via Tilberthwaite to the top of Wrynose... Skelwith Bridge, — via Oxenfell ... Stake Pass, — via Tilberthwaite, Blea Tarn, and the moun- tain path on the left of Langdale Pikes ... Stanley Ghyll, — via Wrynose and Hardknot, and Eskdale Thirlmere,— via Oxenfell, Skelwith, Loughrigg, Gras- mere, & Dunmail Raise Tilberthwaite, head of ... Torver, — via west side of Coniston Lake FOB ROUTE SEE PAGES. 30 to 34 109, 25 109, 25 28, 49 to 52 28, 117, 148 28. 116 30 28, 48, 69 30, 43, 36 30,48 28, 117, 147 30, 47, 55, 69 30, 49, 69 28,117,147,80 28, 117, 149 28, 117, 151 28,117,147,78 30, 47, 45 28. 117 29,15 29,15 30,48,38,106 28,48 30, 47, 58 28,48 30 28, 117, 146, 133 28, 117, 159 28, 117 109, 111 169 30,48 28, 117, 147 117, 114 28, 48, 69 171 109 DISTANCES FROM CONISTOtf. TOTAL MILES. 18 +9 15 16 26 8 12 n 14 21 Ullswater, — via High Cross, Brathay, Clappersgate, Am- bleside, Kirkstone Pass, and Patterdale Ulpha, — via Walna Scar and Newfield in Seathwaite Ulverston, — via Torver, Blawith, and Lowick , via east side of Coniston Lake, Spark Bridge, and Greenodd Wastwater, — via Tilberthwaite, Wrynose and Hardknot, down Eskdale and across Miterdale Windermere Lake, head of, — via High Cross, Brathay, & Clappersgate Railway Station, — via High Cross, Brathay, Clappersgate, and Lowwood Hotel Wrynose, top of, — via Tilberthwaite Wythburn, — via Oxenfell, Skelwith, Loughrigg, mere, & Dunmail Raise Yewdale, — via High Waterhead and 'Boon Crag Gras- FOE EOUTE SEE PAGES. 30, 48, 38, 106 169, 111 109, 27 29,25 28,117,115 30,48 30, 48, 45 28, 117 30, 48, 69 28 17 +17 +22 2 +8 2 4 9 +17 +6 26| 5 +14 +10 ai 14 +27 FROM KESWICK. Ambleside, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Dunmail Raise, Grasmere, and Rydal , — via east side of Der went water, to Watend- lath, by mountain path to Easedale, Grasmere and Rydal ... , — via east side of Derwentwater, Borrowdale, mountain path to Langdale, Elterwater, and Clappers- gate Applethwaite, — via Great Crosthwaite Armboth Fells, — via east side of Derwentwater to Wat- endlath, and by mountain path towards Thirlmere ... Barrow House, — via east side of Derwentwater Bassenthw aite Lake, — via Portinscale Blacklead Mines, — via east side of Derwentwater, Bow- der Stone Rosthwaite, and Seathwaite Blacksail, — via Derwentwater, Seathwaite, Sty Head Tarn, Wastdale Head and mountain path. Blencathra (Saddleback), — via Penrith road to Threlkeld Bowness, — via turnpike road, Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Dun- mail Raise, Grasmere, Rydal, Ambleside, and Cook's House. — For Mountain routes see Ambleside Borrowdale, Bowder Stone, — via east side of Derwent- water ... Bowder Stone, — see Borrowdale ... Bowfell, — via east side of Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Rosthwaite, Seathwaite, and Sprinkling Tarn Bowscale Tarn, — via Penrith road under Saddleback and Souter Fell, and by mountain paths Braithwaite, — via Portinscale Buttermere Lake, — via east side of Derwentwater, Bor- rowdale, Seatoller, Honister Crag, and Gatesgarth . . . Calder Abbey, — via east side of Derwentwater, Borrow- dale, Seatoller, Sty Head Tarn, Wasdale, Strands, and Gosforth Castle Crag, — via east side of Derwentwater. Castlehead, — via road to Borrowdale Castlehill, — ditto Castlerigg, — via Ambleside road ... 69 to 76, 58 78, 53 to 58 78, 147, 50, 116, 47 95 78,71 78 85, 90 78, 157 78, 157, 123, 128, 163 96 75. 55, 45, 13 78, 137 78 76 to 82, 118, 152, 148 98, 103 89 76, 132 76, 157, 154, 121 to 125 76 76 76 73 DISTANCES FROM KESWICK. TOTAL MILES. Castle Rock, — via Ambleside road Castlerigg to the end of Vale of St. John Cockley Beck, — via Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Stake Pass, Millbeck, Blea Tarn, Fellfoot, and Wrynose ... Coniston Lake, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Grasmere, Loughrigg Fell, and Oxenfell ... via Borrowdale, Stake Pass, Blea Tarn, and Tilberthwaite Crnmmock Water, — via Portinscale, and Swineside Derwent Lake, — via Lake road ... Druid's Temple, — via Castlerigg and lane on the left . . . Dunmail Raise, — via Castlerigg and Thirlmere Egremont, — see Calder Abbey Elterwater, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Grasmere, and Red Bank Ennerdale, — via Portinscale, Braithwaite, Scale Hill, Loweswater, and Lamplugh ... Eskdale, — via Derwentwater and road to Watendlath . . . Fellfoot, Langdale, — see Cockley Beck Furness Abbey, — via Bassenthwaite Lake to Cocker- mouth and per railway Gatesgarth, — see Buttermere Gillerthwaite, — via Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Seatoller, Gatesgarth, Scarf Gap, and mountain path by river Liza Gowbarrow Park, — see Patterdale Grange, — via Derwentwater Grasmere, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, and Dunmail Raise via Borrowdale, Watendlath, mountain path, and Easedale Haweswater, — via Threlkeld, Gowbarrow Park, Lyulph's Tower, north side of Ullswater to Pooley Bridge, and Butterswick Hawkshead, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Grasmere Loughrigg Fell, and Brathay ... Helvellyn, — via Castlerigg and Thrispot Honister Crag, — via east side of Derwentwater, Borrow- dale, and Seatoller ... Keskadale, — via Portinscale, and Swinside Kirkstone Pass, — via Threlkeld, Gowbarrow Park, and Patterdale Langdale, — via east side of Derwentwater, Watendlath and mountain path to Millbeck ... Langdale Pikes, — ditto ditto Latrigg, top of — via Penrith road to tollgate Lead Mines, — via Castlerigg, across end of Vale of St. John, and mountain path Legberthwaite, — via Castlerigg on turnpike road Loughrigg Fell, — see Hawkshead Lord's Island, — by boat on Derwentwater Lorton, — via Portinscale, Braithwaite, and under Whin- latter Fells Lowdore Cascade, — via east side of Derwentwater Loweswater, — via Portinscale, Braithwaite, and Vale of Lorton Lowwood Hotel, — see Windermere Railway . Lyulph's Tower, — see Patterdale ... Mardale, — see Haweswater FOB ROUTE SEE PAGES. 72 to 75 76, 147, 116 73, 69, 61, 25 76t 147, 171 85 76 96 69 to 75 126 69 to 75, 50 85, 89, 121 to 132 78,84 90,25 135 78, 137, 135, 163 39, 84 78 69 to 75 78,53 135, 174 69 to 75 51, 48, 30 70 to 75, 165 78, 137 85 105 76, 147 76, 147, 151 92 74, 165 72 to 75 84, 89 78 69 to 75, 45 105 105, 174 DISTANCES FROM KESWICK. TOTAL MILES. ti7 +14 29 20 8 28 18 1* 6 15 12 14 +15 15 9 +17 9 6 12 7 10 4| 3 4f 15 63 tl5 5 17 21 Martindale, — see Calder Abbey to Strands ... Mosedale, — via Borrowdale, Seathwaite, Sty Head, and Wastdale Head Newby Bridge, — via Thirlmere, Grasmere, Ambleside, and Windermere Lake ... Ouse Bridge, — via Portinscale, Peel Wyke, and west side of Bassenthwaite ... Patterdale, — via Threlkeld, and Gowbarrow Park, Ara Force, Lyulph's Tower, and Ullswater ... Peel Wyke, — see Ouse Bridge Penrith, — via Threlkeld, Gowbarrow Park, and Ullswater via Threlkeld and Penruddock 8| Portinscale, — via Cockermouth road Rosthwaite, — via east side of Derwentwater, and Borrow- dale Rydal Lake, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, and Grasmere ... St. John's Vale, — via Penrith road to Threlkeld Scale Hill Inn, — see Crummock Water Scarf Gap, — via Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Seatoller, and Gatesgarth Scawfell, — via Derwentwater, Borrowdale, Sty Head, Wastdale Head and Mountain path Screes, — see Wastwater Seathwaite, Borrowdale, — see Scawfell , Lancashire, — see Cockley Beck ... Seatoller, — see Calder Abbey Skiddaw, — via Penrith road, Latrigg and mountain path Sprinkling Tarn, — via Borrowdale, Seathwaite and Taylor's Gill Stonethwaite, — via Borrowdale, and Rosthwaite Sty Head, — see Scawfell Thirlmere, — see Legberthwaite ... Thornthwaite, — via Portinscale ... Threlkeld, — via Penrith road Ullswater, — see Patterdale Ulverston, — see Furness Abbey ... Wastdale, — via Borrowdale, Seathwaite and Sty Head ... Watendlath, — via Barrow Windermere Lake, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Grasmere, and Ambleside Railway, — via Castlerigg, Thirlmere, Gras- mere, Ambleside, and Lowwood Wythburn. — via Castlerigg, and Thirlmere FOR ROUTE SEE PAGES. 115 76, 154, 122 69 to 75 58, 18 90 105 90 105, 172 172 78 69 to 74, 56 105, 72 132 76, 132, 162 78, 154, 123, 159 162, 121 78t 118 111 137 92 78, 154, 152 78, 147 154 70 to 75 90 104 105, 39 25 76, 154, 122 78 69 to 75, 55, 58, 18, 69 to 75, 55, 58, 45 71 to 75 PABT I. WINDERMERE. A few years ago there was only one meaning to the word Wikdermere. It then meant a lake lying among mountains, and so secluded that it was some distinction even for the travelled man to have seen it. Now there is a Windermere railway station, and a Windermere post-office and hotel ; — a thriving village of Windermere and a populous locality. This implies that a great many people come to the spot ; and the spot is so changed by their coming, and by other cir- cumstances, that a new guide book is wanted; for there is much more to point out than there used to be ; and what used to be pointed out now requires a wholly new description. Such new guidance and des- cription we now propose to give. The traveller arrives, we must suppose, by the rail- way from Kendal, having been dropped at the Oxen- holme Junction by the London train from the south, or the Edinburgh and Carlisle train from the north. A Z MOUNTAIN FORMATION. The railways skirt the lake district, but do not, and cannot, penetrate it : for the obvious reason that rail- ways cannot traverse or pierce granite mountains or span broad lakes. If the time should ever come when iron roads will intersect the mountainous parts of Westmorland and Cumberland, that time is not yet ; nor is in view, — loud as have been the lamentations of some residents, as if it were to happen to-morrow. No one who has ascended Dunmail Raise, or visited the head of Coniston Lake, or gone by Kirkstone to Patterdale, will for a moment imagine that any con- ceivable railway will carry passengers over those passes, for generations to come. It is a great thing that steam can convey travellers round the outskirts of the district, and up to its openings. This is now effectually done; and it is all that will be done by the steam locomotive during the lifetime of anybody yet born. The most important of the openings thus reached is that of WlNDERMEEE. The mountain region of Cumberland and Westmor- land has for its nucleus the cluster of tall mountains, of which Scawfell is the highest. There are the loftiest peaks and deepest valleys. These are surrounded by somewhat lower ridges and shallower vales ; and these again by others, till the uplands are mere hills and the valleys scarcely sunk at all. It is into these exterior undulations that the railways penetrate ; and, at the first ridge of any steepness, they must stop. It is this which decides the termination of the Windermere railroad, and which prevents the lateral railways from coming nearer than the outer base of the hills on the ORREST HEAD. 3 east and the coast on the west. When the traveller on foot or horseback sees certain reaches of Lake Windermere from Orrest Head, lying deep down below him, he knows he is coming near the end of the rail- way, which cannot yet plunge and climb as our old mail roads must do, if they exist here at all. As a general rule, lakes should be approached from the foot, that the ridges may rise, instead of sinking, before the observer's eye. But so happy is the access to Winder- mere from the station, that it is hard to say that it could have been better ; and that access is, not from the south to its lower end, but from the south-east to about its middle. The old coach road over Orrest Head and the railway meet at the new village of Windermere, whence the road to Bowness descends, winding for about a mile and a half, striking the shore at a point rather more than half way up the lake, and commanding the group of mountains that cluster about its head. Supposing that the traveller desires to see the Win- dermere scenery thoroughly, we shall divide our direc- tions into portions ; first exhibiting what is to be seen in the immediate neighbourhood of the Windermere Hotel, or within a moderate walk ; and then describing three tours, two of which may be easily taken in a day each. One mountain trip will be added, and, these being faithfully prosecuted, the tourist may be assured that he has seen all that falls within the scope of a summer visitor in the opening region of the Lake District. A few minutes will take him to Orrest Head, where A 2 4 ELLERAY. he will see a lovely view, — a picturesque cottage roof, surrounded by trees, in the foreground; grey rocks cropping out of the sward on the other side of the hedges ; and in front, overlapping hills, range behind range, with the grey waters of the lake lying below. Already, a traveller who should remain any time in the district, would find himself introduced to the humours of a remote region. Odd sayings and doings remain, and traditions of old singularities are not lost. This place, Orrest Head, was the residence of the noted Josiah Brown, who amused himself, a century ago, with welcoming beggars, whom he supplied with meat and lodging, — sometimes to the number of twenty in a night. He called them his "jolly companions;" and no doubt he got a world of amusement out of them, in return for his hospitality. The local saying, "that's too big a bo-o for a young horse," was Josiah Brown's, and it was originated thus. He was breaking in a young horse, when one of his men took a liberty, — such as his servants were always taking with him, — but in this case to be repented of. The fellow hid himself behind a gate-post, and yelled so tremendously as his master passed through that Josiah was thrown, and broke his leg. His good-natured criticism was, " that was too big a bo-o for a young horse ;" and this is still the proverbial expression of extreme surprise. The hill to the right is part of the Elleray property, so well known as the lake home of Christopher North, and now so much improved by its present proprie- tor, Mr. Eastted. If the traveller should have the good fortune to obtain a ticket of leave to enter the ELLEKAY. 5 grounds,* his first object should be to walk up that hill at Elleray, by Mr. Eastted's new drive. All the way up, the views are exquisite : but that from the summit, — about 700 feet above the lake, is one of the finest the district can show. The whole length of Winder- mere extends below, with its enclosing hills and wooded islands ; and towards the head, some of the highest peaks and ridges may be seen : — Coniston Old Man to the west ; Bowfell and Langdale Pikes to the north- west ; Fairfield to the north, with Loughrigg lying, as a mere dark ridge, across the head of Windermere; while, to the north-east, Troutbeck is disclosed, with its peaks of High Street and Hill Bell. All below are woods, with houses peeping out ; on a height of the opposite shore, Wray Castle ; further north, the little Brathay Chapel, set down near the mouth of the valley ; and between Loughrigg and the lake, at its head, the white houses of Clappersgate, with the chateau-like mansion of Croft Lodge conspicuous above the rest. This view is a good deal like the one from * A portion of the Elleray grounds are open to the public every Monday and Friday. Tickets of admission, bearing date, are issued on application to Mr. Garnett, at the Windermere Post- office, by paying a small donation, not less than one shilling, for a party of six persons, and, if above that number, the donation must be doubled. The proceeds are for the benefit of the school for the education of the poor, established by the Rev. J. A. Addison, and the sick and aged poor of Windermere, who may need assistance. — Parties will enter at the gate opposite the post-office, and pro- ceed up the road to the right, which is the main road leading to the top of the hill, and return by the same route. All branch roads are strictly private. A 3 6 VILLAGE OF WINDEUMEEE. the hill behind the Windermere Hotel, which is reached by a lane turning off from Orrest Head. The Elleray one is the most extensive and complete to the north ; but to enjoy the other, leave will be readily obtained at the hotel. The village of Windermere is like nothing that is to be seen any where else. The new buildings (and all are new) are of the dark grey stone of the region, and are for the most part of a mediaeval style of architec- ture. The Eev. J. A. Addison, late of Windermere, had a passion for ecclesiastical architecture ; and his example has been a good deal followed. There is the little church of St. Mary, and there are the schools belonging to it, with their steep roofs of curiously-shaped slates : and there is St. Mary's Abbey, (new, in spite of its antique name,) and St. Mary's Cottage.* And there is the new college of St. Mary, standing in a fine position, between the main road and the descent to the lake. This College, which may be distinguished by its square tower, was originally intended as a place of education for the sons of the clergy, having proved unsuccessful in that form is now established on an entirely new basis. It is under the management of G. Hale Puckle, M.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, and B. A. Irving, MA., of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The large house, on the hill and amidst the woods of the Elleray estate, and often mis- * Between the entrance to the Abbey and St. Mary's Cottage, a gate opens upon the footpath through Rayrigg wood. Though in bad order, it is a pleasant shady path, and offers a short cut to the lake. EOAD TO BOWNESS. 7 taken for the new college, is the property of John G-andy, Esq., who has chosen a charming site for his abode; and a little further, on the same side of the road, is the pretty villa-residence of Miss Yates. There are villas on either side the road, on almost every favourable spot, all the way to Bowness. The road past the college grounds leaves the other one to be called by the inevitable title of "the old road." We pass rows of lodging-houses ; and then we see, to the right the college ; and to the left Ellerthwaite, the residence of Mr. George H. Gardner. Further on is the new Hydropathic Establishment, conducted by Mr. E. L. Hudson, P.E.C.S. ; * and then, to the right, the cottage of Mylnbeck, the residence of the Misses Watson, daughters of the late bishop of Llandaff : a common house in its aspect towards the road, but, as seen over the wall, very pretty in its garden-front. The next gate on the left is the entrance to the Craig, built by Sir Thomas Pasley, and now inhabited by W. R. Greg, Esq. Below this, the houses begin to thicken about the entrance to Bowness. Among them, a road to the left leads to one of the most charming points of view in the neighbourhood, — a hill named Biscut How, crested with rocks, which afford as fine a station as the summit of Elleray for a view of the entire lake and its shores. * A gate may be observed just before reaching this point which is the entrance to footpaths leading over the higher ground in the direction of the Railway Station, and affording a pleasant walk. 8 BOWNESS. Bowness is the port of Windermere. There the new steamboats put up ; and thence go forth the greater number of fishing and pleasure boats which adorn the lake. There is a good deal of bustle in the place ; and the lower parts, near the water, are very hot in summer : and the more since the building of a new lodging-house in a space near the church, which used to be called the lungs of Bowness. The three great inns, however, are in airy situations, — the garden platform of Ullock's Royal Hotel overlooking the gardens that slope down to the shore ; and the Crown and Victoria being on a hill which commands the whole place. These inns are extremely well managed ; and it is for the traveller to say whether their charges, which are uniform, justify a complaint which has been made, (we think unreasonably as regards the Lake District in general) of high prices. During the season, which extends from May to Novem- ber, the charges are two shillings for breakfast, (includ- ing meat, fish, &c.,) two shillings and sixpence for dinner ; and one shilling and sixpence for tea. A private sitting-room is charged two shillings and six- pence per day. Ullock's Hotel, called Eoyal since the visit of the Queen Adelaide in 1840, makes up between seventy and eighty beds. Close at hand is a little museum, where the birds of the district may be seen, exceedingly well stuffed and arranged by Mr. Arm- strong, a waiter at the hotel. The Crown has ten private sitting-rooms, and makes up more than a hun- dred beds. Nothing can well exceed the beauty of the view from its garden seats. There is an exhibition open in Bowness during the BOWNESS. 9 summer months, which it will be useful, and particu- larly agreeable to the stranger to visit, before he pene- trates further into the district. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey Aspland exhibit their paintings of lake scenery every summer ; and their pictures are of a high order of merit as works of art, as well as for their fidelity as portraits of scenery. Mr. Aspland' s outline sketches are excel- lent ; and those on which the passes are clearly indicated are of especial value to the pedestrian tourist. The old churchyard of Bowness, with its dark yews, and the old weather-worn church, long and low, is the most venerable object in the place. The chancel win- dow of the church contains painted glass from Furness Abbey. The tomb of Bishop Watson will be found in the churchyard, near the east window. The rectory, which is hardly less venerable than the church, stands at a considerable distance from the village, and is approached through fields and a garden. The old- fashioned porch is there, of which this is said to be the last remaining instance in the whole district, — the roomy, substantial porch, with benches on each side, long enough to hold a little company of parishioners, and a round ivy-clad chimney immediately surmount- ing the porch. Within, there is abundant space, with little elevation; — plenty of room in the hall and parlours, wTith ceilings that one can touch with the hand. Almost every other noticeable edifice in Bow- ness is new, or at least modern ; the schools, the gift of the late Mr. Bolton, of Storrs Hall, — the Italian villa, called Belsfield, the property of the Baroness de Sternberg, and many others. 10 THE SHORE. The visitor will first repair to the strand, to salute the waters. He will find a good quay, with boats in abundance, and several boat-houses within view. A substantial little pier is built out into the lake ; and on either side is a steamboat moored during winter; and to the end these two steamers come, six times a day each, during the summer. To the right, gardens slope down to this little bay ; and they look gay even in winter from their profusion of evergreens, and from the ivy which clothes their walls. The church just peeps out behind the houses above. Looking over the lake, Curwen's Island is just opposite. In May and early June, the woods of that island, and of all the promontories round, present a most diversified foliage, — from the golden tufts of the oak to the sombre hue of the pines, with every gradation of green between. In July and August, the woods are what some call too green, — massy and impenetrable, — casting deep sha- dows on the sward and the waters. Within the shadow on the shore stands the angler, watching the dimpling of the surface, as the fly touches it, or the fish leaps from it : and within the shadow on the water, the boat swings idly with the current ; and the student, come hither for recreation, reads or sleeps as he reclines, waiting for the cool of the afternoon. Turning to the north, the highest peaks are not seen from this strand ; but Fairfield and Loughrigg close in the head of the lake. Turning southwards along the margin, and walking about a mile, the explorer reaches the point of the promontory, Ferry Nab, which stretches out opposite PEEEY NAB. 11 the Ferry House, — itself on the point of an opposite promontory. There can hardly be a more charming resting-place than a seat under the last trees of this projection. It is breezy here ; and the waters smack the shore cheerily. The Troutbeck Hills come into view, and the head of the lake is grander. The round house on Curwen's Island* is seen among the trees. The Ferry house, under its canopy of tall sycamores, and with its pebbly beach, is immediately opposite ; and behind it rises the wooded bank which is, in light or shadow, one of the chief graces of the scene. If the sun shines upon it, it is feathered with foliage to the very ridge, and the bay beneath it is blue and lustrous. If the sun has gone down behind it, the bay is black ; and every dipping bird sprinkles it with silver; and the wild duck that comes sailing out with her brood, draws behind her a pencil of white light. From this point, a view opens to the south. In the expanse of waters lies another island ; and further down, on the eastern shore, a pier extends with a little tower at the end. This is Storrs : and at that pier did the guests embark when Scott went to meet Canning at Mr. Bolton's, and the fine regatta took place, (under the direction of Christopher North) which is celebrated in Lockhart's Life of Scott. This was only two years before Canning's death, and seven before that of Scott. Mr. and Mrs. Bolton are gone ; and Christopher North himself has followed. It is probable that no stranger ever sees that * The shady and well-kept walk round Curwen's Island is well worth a visit. Which can be done by those who are fortunate enough to obtain tickets at the hotels in Bowness. 12 PROFESSOR WILSON. pier at Storrs without thinking of Professor Wilson ; and, indeed, there is no spot in the neighbourhood with which his memory, and the gratitude of his readers, is not associated. Any where such a presence is rarely seen ; and it was especially impressive in the places he best loved to haunt. More than one person has said that Wilson reminded them of the first man, Adam ; so full was his large frame of vitality, force and sen- tience. His tread seemed to shake the ground, and his glance to pierce through stone walls ; and, as for his voice, there was no heart that could stand before it. In his hour of emotion, he swept away all hearts, whithersoever he would. No less striking was it to see him in a mood of repose, as he was seen when steering the packet-boat that used to pass between Bowness and Ambleside, before the steamers were put upon the lake. Sitting motionless, with his hand upon the rudder, in the presence of journeymen and market-women, and his eye apparently looking beyond everything into nothing, and his mouth closed above his beard, as if he meant never to speak again, he was quite as impressive and immortal an image as he could have been to the students of his moral philosophy class, or the comrades of his jovial hours. He was known, and with reverence and affection, beside the trout stream and the mountain tarn, and, amidst the damp gloom of Elleray, where he could not bring himself to let a tree or a sprig be lopped that his wife had loved. Every old boatman and young angler, every hoary shepherd and primitive dame among the hills of the district, knew him and enjoyed his presence. He made others happy by being so in- MOUNTAINS ON THE WFST SIDE oh « I N D"E fl M F R t . ■.4*rm&&*p* - mm^^Ahm^m^^ wmmtw* ■.ao«, t& "'■> 'ir8 *r ^ ^^^ 5gw_ 't'.Jltan. l.J. ( am 2 We&isrlam. 3 Wryrtose Sap 4 LttjiZJc Crags 5 PiAt. of TRLscow fi :>oa*f-kU TOa 7 JSowfhll 7 Wee 12 Hnyrz.^rm Stuilcle 23 Teweyark. • /maor 16 THoh Reuse Ifi Stiver }lr:w 'A'Kr.k: • Sclnirmi^i MILLEE BROW. 13 tensely happy himself, when his brighter moods were on him ; and when he was mournful, no one desired to be gay. He is gone with his joy and his grief; and the region is so much the darker in a thousand eyes. Instead of returning to his inn the way he came, the strange* may make a moderate and pleasant walk by going through Bowness on the Ambleside road, and round by Cook's House. The first noticeable abode that he will see is Eayrigg, — a rather low, rambling, grey house, standing on the grass near a little bay of the lake. It is a charming old-fashioned house, and its position has every advantage, except that it stands too low. On the high wall by the road side, immediately before reaching the gate of Rayrigg, the stranger will be struck with the variety of ferns. That wall is an excellent introduction to the stone fences of the region, richly adorned as many of them are with mosses and ferns. Passing between woods, resounding with brawling streams, the road leads up a rather steep ascent, the summit of which is called Miller Brow.^ Hence is seen what, in our opinion, is a view unsurpassed for beauty in the, whole Lake District. The entire lake lies below, the white houses of Clappersgate being distinctly visible at the north end and the Beacon at the south: and the diversity of the framework of this sheet of water is here most striking. The Calgarth woods, for which we are indebted to Bishop Watson, rising and falling, spreading and contracting below, with green undulating # Skirting the ridge below, there is a quiet lane, leading along the margin of the lake to Calgarth. — After rain, however, it is apt to be flooded. 14 cook's house. meadows interposed, are a perfect treat to the eye ; and so are the islands clustering in the centre of the lake. Wray Castle stands forth well above the promontory opposite; and at the head, the Langdale Pikes, and their surrounding mountains seem, in some states of the atmosphere, to approach and overshadow the waters : and in others to retire, and shroud themselves in soft haze and delicate hues peculiar to cloud land. There is a new house, built just below the ridge at Miller Brow by William Sheldon, which we have thought, from the time the foundation was laid, the most envi- able abode in the country, — commanding a view worthy of a mountain top, while sheltered by hill and wood, and with the main road so close at hand that the conveniences of life are as procurable as in a street. A short descent hence brings the walker to Cook's House, — the point where four roads meet. Cook's House has only just disappeared, and a new residence, built by Peter Kennedy, Esq., has taken its place. With it has disappeared a fine specimen of the old fireplace of the district, with its chimney-corners. It is rather a draw- back to the romance hanging about those wide old chimnies, to know that the good man had to sit with some special covering over his shoulders, to protect him from the soot that the rain brought down. At Cook's house there were recesses and cupboards in that strange roofless alcove, — the door being of the old oak of which such fine specimens may be seen in the farm- houses of the dales. We should rather say, might till lately have been seen ; for we fear there are but few left. The greater number of old chests, cupboard LAKE DRAINAGE. 15 doors, and high-backed chairs, covered with carvings, have found their way to the London curiosity shops, whence agents have been sent through the wildest places in the district to buy up such relics at high prices. Still, there are specimens left, as the observant traveller will notice. Of the four roads which meet here, the one to his left would take him to Ambleside ; the one opposite, to Troutbeck. To reach his inn he must take the one to the right, which leads him straight home. The next thing to be done is to take a survey of the whole lake by a steamboat trip. During the summer, two steamers make six trips each ; so that the stranger can choose his own hour, and go down or up first, as he pleases. In accordance with the rule of lake approach, we should recommend his going down first. He em- barks at the pier at Bowness, and is carried straight across to the Ferry, where the boats touch. Then the course is southwards, with the lake narrowing, and the hills sinking till the scenery becomes merely pretty. The water is very shallow towards the foot, and the practicable channel is marked out by posts. The best work that the whole neighbourhood could undertake would be the deepening of the lake in this part, and of the river which carries off the overflow. Not only is the passage of the steamers difficult : there is a far worse evil in the inundations which take place on all the low-lying lands, even up to Eydal, from the insuffi- ciency of the outlet. The mischief has much increased since drainage has been introduced. The excellent and indispensable practice of land drainage must be followed 16 LAKE DRAINAGE. up by an improvement in arterial drainage, or floods are inevitable. The water which formerly dribbled away in the course of many days, or even weeks, now gushes out from the drains all at once ; and if the main outlets are not enlarged in proportion, the waters are thrown back upon the land. This is the case now in the neigh- bourhood of Windermere, — the meadows and low- lying houses at Ambleside, a mile or two from the lake, being flooded every winter by the overflow of the lake first, then of the river, then of the tributary streams. The Steam Yacht Companies gave fifty pounds to have the lake deepened at Fell Foot, about six years ago ; and Mr. "White, the proprietor of the Newby Bridge Hotel, subscribed the same amount : and this was good as far as it went. But a much larger operation is required. There is a weir below Newby Bridge, to serve a corn mill. Now, the days of weirs and water- mills are coming to an end. In these days of steam engines it is not to be endured that hundreds of acres should be turned into swamps, and hundreds of lives lost by fever, ague, and rheumatism, for the sake of a waterpower, which pays perhaps thirty pounds or forty pounds a-year. We say this of watermills generally ; and in regard to the need of sufficient arterial drainage, we speak of the shores of Windermere in particular. The expense of carrying off the utmost surplus of the waters in the wettest season would be presently repaid, here as anywhere else, by the improved value of the land and house property, relieved from the nuisance of flood. The Swan Inn at Newby Bridge is exceedingly LAKE SHORES. 17 comfortable ; and the charges are very moderate. The stranger will have to come again, on his way to Furness, at all events, and perhaps in some trip to Hawkshead ; or when making the circuit of the lake by land. When he has time, he should climb to the summit of the Beacon, for the sake of the sea-views on the one hand and of the lake on the other. Now, he merely calls for lunch or tea, during the stopping of the steamer ; and then he is off again, up the lake. After the Ferry and Bowness, the next call is at Lowwood Hotel, where there are sure to be passengers landing or embarking. Between Bowness and Lowwood Hotel, Bayrigg has been seen, beside the little bay ; and then Ecclerigg, with its overshadowing trees, and pretty pier. It is inhabited by Richard Luther Watson, Esq., grandson of the late Bishop of Llandaff. Just above Lowwood, high up on the wooded side of Wansfell, will be seen Dovenest, once the abode of Mrs. Hemans, when its appearance was more primitive and less pretty than it is now, — improved as it has been by its present resident, her then young friend, the Rev. Robert P. Graves. Next comes Wansfell Holme, (Thomas Wrigley, Esq.) This is another choice situation. On the opposite shore is Wray Castle, erected by James Dawson, Esq., — a most defensible- looking place for so peaceful a region ; but an enviable i residence, both from its interior beauty and the views it commands. Just above it, Pullwyke bay, where lily of the valley is found, runs far into the land ; and overlooking it is seen Pull Cottage, the residence of Colonel Rogers. Next, the sweet, tranquil Brathay 18 BOATING. valley opens, with Mr. Redmayne's mansion of Brathay Hall, on a green slope above the lake ; and just behind, on a wooded knoll in the gorge of the valley, the beautiful little church, called Brathay Chapel, built by Mr. Redmayne. Two rivers fall into the lake, uniting just before they reach it : — the Rothay, which comes down from Dun- mail Raise, beyond Grasmere, and the Brathay, which issues from Elterwater, a group of pools, rather than a lake, lying at the foot of the hills near Langdale. The valleys of the Rothay and the Brathay are separted by Loughrigg, — the ridge of which, at its further end, commands Grasmere ; its Windermere end shelters Clappersgate and Waterhead. The steamer sweeps round to the pier at Waterhead, where there is a cluster of dwellings, the most imposing of which is the large grey stone house called Wanlas How. Omni- buses are waiting here, from Ambleside and Grasmere, — the one, distant one mile ; and the other, between four and five. Our tourist will, however, complete the circuit of the lake by returning to Bowness. There are plenty of boats to be had at Waterhead and Bowness, and watermen who are practised and skilful. The stranger should be warned, however, against two dangers which it is rash to encounter. Nothing should induce him to sail on Windermere, or on any lake surrounded by mountains. There is no calculating on, or accounting for, the gusts that come down between the hills; and no skill and practice obtained by boating on rivers or the waters of a flat country are any sure protection here. And nothing BOATING. 19 should induce him to go out in one of the little skiffs which are too easily attainable and too tempting, from the ease of rowing them. The surface may become rough at any minute, and those skiffs are unsafe in all states of the water but the calmest. The long list of deaths occasioned in this way, — deaths both of residents and strangers, — should have put an end to the use of these light skiffs, long ago. The larger boats are safe enough, and most skilfully managed by their rowers: and the stranger can enjoy no better treat than gliding along, for hours of the summer day, peeping into the coves and bays, coasting the islands, and lying cool in the shadows of the woods. The clearness of the water is a common surprise to the resident in a level country ; and it is pleasant sport to watch the movements of the fish, darting, basking, or leaping in the sunshine, or quivering their fins in the reflected ray. What the quality of the trout and char is, the tourist will probably find every day, at breakfast and dinner. FIRST TOUR. FBOM BOWNESS, BY NEWBY BBIDGE AND TIIiVEESTONE TO FTTE- NESS ABBEY, EETUENING BY CONISTON, HAWKSHEAD, AND THE FEEEY. MILES. MILES Bowitess to Newby Bridge ».. ... 8 8 Flverstone m . 16 7 Furness ... ... 23 8 Foot of Coniston Water ... , , 31 7 New Inn ... ... 38 4 Hawkshead . 42 3 The Ferry ... ... 45 For the greater convenience of taking his pleasure on the water, the traveller will now shift his quarters to Bowness, where he will find himself, as we have said, comfortably accommodated at either Ullock's Hotel, the Crown, or the Victoria. Now is his time for visiting Furness Abbey. This should be the first of his tours, because it will lead him into the least mountainous parts of the district. At the outset of his tours, he will like to know what the charges of travelling are in the district. Such curious mistakes are occasionally made by strangers, from their being unaware of the customs and arrange- ments of the locality, that I am bound to suppose that visitors will be glad to be saved from either over- paying their drivers, or fancying themselves cheated. During the season, the charges for carriages and drivers are uniform, all over the district. It is probable TRAYEXLING CHAKGKES. 21 that at other times there may be some little diversity, depending on the amount of custom ; but the traveller may rely on the prices here given as a safe rule. It must be understood that the drivers of the country cars and other vehicles are dependent on the payment they receive from travellers. The innkeepers charge for carriages and horses only ; and the pay- ment of the drivers is therefore an established one, and not considered dependent on the pleasure of the traveller. The rate is three-pence per mile outwards, — the return journey not being charged for. Another way, in which I have myself been accustomed to pay, is six-pence per hour, — the driver having the benefit of the fraction left over. On excursions which occupy a day, or several days, the driver's pay is five shillings per day. The drivers are a rather superior sort of men in their vocation, — familiar with the localities, and able to point out all objects of interest to the strangers. They and their horses know every step of the way ; and I never heard of an accident happening with the country cars. I give this assurance thus expressly because the nervous looks of strangers, their wistful glances up at precipices and down upon torrents, seem to show that this kind of encourage- ment may be very welcome. The charge for a one-horse conveyance is one shilling per mile. For a two-horse conveyance one shilling and sixpence per mile. In case of a long stage, as for ten or twelve miles, there is a reduction to one shilling and four-pence. The return journey is, of course, not paid for. b3 22 COACH ROUTES. For conveyance to a certain point, there is no charge for food for man or horse : but if there is any waiting at the end of the drive, in order to return, the feed of the horses and the driver's dinner will amount to about three shillings and sixpence. The hire of a single-horse conveyance for the day is fifteen shillings, and the driver's pay of five shillings makes it one pound a day, exclusive of feed. The tolls are invariably charged to the traveller. In ascending Kirkstone Pass, between Ambleside and Patterdale; and in going from Borrowdale to Buttermere by Honister Crag, all carriages but the light cars must have additional horses. It is a pity that the traveller should contest this with the inn- keepers,— at least till he knows the road. In fact, the trouble of the innkeepers, in the season is to find horses for the work, and not by any means to make work for their horses. Coach fares are about three-pence per mile outside, and four-pence-half-penny per mile inside. The routes of the coaches are (1) from Windermere Railway Station to Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick, over which line several run daily during the season. — (2) From Ambleside to Patterdale, Lyulph's Tower and Penrith; and another line (3) from Ambleside is to Hawkshead and Coniston. From Keswick there are three routes (4) to Cockermouth; (5) to Lyulph's Tower, Patterdale and Penrith ; and (6) via Greystoke to Penrith. Each of them, of course, performs the return journey. The steamers on Lake Windermere have changed WOODLAND LIFE. 23 their fares so often that I cannot venture to make any statement about them. The usual hire of row-boats with one pair of oars is one shilling per hour. In order to proceed to Furness Abbey, the traveller will go down to Newby Bridge, either by steamer or by the road, which passes the grounds of Storrs, and cuts over hill and dale, and winds among the copses, till it crosses the bridge opposite the inn. Those copses have been valuable to the remotest known date, for charcoal ; and they have become more so since the increase of manufactures has stimulated the demand for bobbins. There are bobbin-mills at Skelwith, at Ambleside, at Troutbeck Bridge, and at Staveley. But the charcoal-burning goes on still, we believe, with some activity in these southern parts of the district. The one the traveller has just passed was the scene of the life of two brothers whosp name and fame will not be let die. Their name was Dodgson ; and they lived in Cartmel Fell above a century ago. They were so intent on their wood-cutting that they spent Sunday in cooking their food for the whole week. They ate little but oatmeal porridge ; and, when that fell short, they tried Friar Tuck's ostensible diet of dried peas and hard beans. As they grew old, they began to feel the need of domestic help. Said the one to the other, " Thou mun out and tait a wife." — "Yes ! " was the reply ; " if thear be a hard job, thou olus sets yan tult." The thing was accomplished, however ; and when the old fellows were still chopping away at upwards of eighty, rain or shine, ill or well, there was the wife in the dwelling, and children to help. The 24 WOODLAND LIFE. brothers left considerable property ; but it went the way of miser's money ; and there are no Dodgsons now in Cartmel Fell. All the way to Furness, there are specimens of roads and lanes which are locally called Ore gates (ways,) from their being constructed from the slag and refuse of the iron-ore formerly brought into the peninsula to be smelted, on account of the abundance of charcoal there. There are few objects more picturesque, to this day, than the huts of the woodcutters, who remain on a particular spot till their work is done. Upon piled stems of trees heather is heaped, to make a shaggy thatch; and when the smoke is oozing out, thin and blue, from the hole in the centre, or the children are about the fire in front, where the great pot is boilings the sketcher cannot but stop and dash down the scene in his book. The children will say he is "spying fancies," — as they say of every one who sketches, botanizes, or in any way explores. Perhaps some- body may have the good taste to advise him to come at night, when the glows from the fires makes the thicket a scene of singular wildness and charm. A sad story about a charcoal-burner belongs to this neighbourhood. On two farms lived families which were about to be connected by marriage. The young lover was a " coaler, " — a charcoal-burner ; and one stormy day, when he was watching his fire, and sitting on a stone near his hut to take his dinner, he was struck dead by lightning. The poor crazed survivor, his Kitty Dawson, went to that hut after the funeral, and would never leave it again. She did nothing but sit on that stone, ETJENESS ABBEY. 25 or call his name through the wood. She was well cared for. There was always food in the hut, and some kind eye daily on the watch, — though with care not to intrude. One day in winter, some sportsmen who were passing took the opportunity of leaving some provision in the hut. They became silent in approaching, and silenced their dogs. But she could never more be disturbed. They found her dead. It is eight miles hence to the cheerful little town of Ulverston, which is now reached by the railway from London ; and from Ulverstone the railway stretches south, past Furness Abbey, to the margin of the sea. From Ulverstone to Furness, it is* only seven miles. There is a good inn, — the Furness Abbey Hotel, kept by Mr. Logan ; and here the tourist should bespeak his bed, if he means to study the Abbey. The Abbey was founded in A. D. 1127. Its domains extended over the whole promontory in which it lies, and to the north, as far as the Shire Stones on Wry- nose. They occupied the space between Windermere on the east and the Duddon on the west. The Abbot was a sort of king ; and his abbey was enriched, not only by King Stephen, but by the gifts of neighbour- ing proprietors, who were glad to avail themselves, not only of its religious privileges, but of its military powers for the defence of their estates against border foes, and the outlaws of the mountains, — the decend- ants of the conquered Saxons, who inherited their fathers' vengeance. The Abbey was first peopled from Normandy, — a sufficient number of Benedictine monks coming over from the monastery of Savigny to establish 26 FURlsrESS ABBEY. this house in honour of St. Marye of Furnesse. In a few years their profession changed : they followed St. Bernard, and wore the white cassock, caul and scapu- lary, instead of the dress of the grey monks. It is strange now to see the railway traversing those woods where these grey-robed foreigners used to pass hither and thither, on their holy errands to the depressed and angry native Saxons dwelling round about. The situa- tion of the Abbey, as is usual with religious houses, is fine. It stands in the depth of a glen, with a stream flowing by, — the sides of the glen being clothed with wood. A beacon once belonged to it ; a watch tower on an eminence accessible from the abbey, whose signal- fire was visible all over Low Furness, when assistance was required, or foes were expected. The building is of the pale red stone of the district. It must formerly have almost filled the glen : and the ruins give an impression, to this day, of the establishment having been worthy of the zeal of its founder, King Stephen, and the extent of its endowments, which were princely. The boundary-wall of the precincts inclosed a space of sixty-five acres, over which are scattered remains that have, within our own time, been interpreted to be those of the mill, the granary, the fish-ponds, the ovens and kilns, and other offices. As for the architecture, the heavy shaft is found alternating with the clustered pillar, and the round Norman with the pointed Gothic arch. The masonry is so good that the remains are, even now, firm and massive ; and the winding stair- cases within the walls are still in good condition in many places. The nobleness of the edifice consisted in EURNESS ABBEY. 27 its extent and proportions; for the stone would not bear the execution of any very elaborate ornament. The crowned heads of Stephen and his Queen Maude are seen outside the window of the Abbey, and are among the most interesting of the remains. It is all triste and silent now. The chapter-house, where so many grave councils were held, is open to the babbling winds. Where the abbot and his train swept past in religious procession, over inscribed pavements, echoing to the tread, the stranger now wades among tall ferns and knotted grasses, stumbling over stones fallen from the place of honour. No swelling anthems are heard there now, or penitential psalms ; but only the voice of birds, winds, and waters. But this blank is what the stranger comes for. Knowing what a territory the Abbots of Purness ruled over, like a kingdom, it is well to come hither to look how it is with that old palace and mitre, and to take one more warning of how Time shatters thrones, and dominations and powers, and causes the glories of the world to pass away. The stranger will be among the ruins late, by moon or by star-light ; and again in the morning, before the dew is off, and when the hidden violet perfumes the area where the censer once was swung, and where the pillars cast long shadows on the sward. But he must not linger ; for he has a good circuit to make before night. The lake of Coniston, which is his next object, is in the district between Windermere and the Duddon, which has already been mentioned as formerly belonging to Furness Abbey. It may be reached by railway now, which passes through Broughton and Torver, and ter- minates at the inaccessable mountains at the head of 28 conistost. the lake. Those who do not prefer the railway the whole way, will take the road from Ulverston, which com- mands the estuary of the Leven for a few miles, and then approaches the foot of Coniston Water, which it reaches at eight miles from Ulverstone. Seven miles more bring him to the new inn at Coniston, which, built under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. J. G-. Marshall, is one of the most comfortable hotels in England. This lake, like Windermere, is flanked by low hills at the south end, and inclosed by magnificent mountains at the head, where Mr. J. GL Marshall's house and lands are more gloriously situated than almost any other in the region. The little town of Church Coniston, and the new inn, are a mile short of Waterhead ; and the stranger must stop, and look through the place, while his early dinner is preparing. The Old Man, eleventh in height of the mountains of the district, (2,576 feet) towers above him ; and the abodes of the people will shew him that he is in the neighbourhood of a copper mine. There is one, some way up the mountain ; and he may see the winding road up to it. Higher up, where there is an evident hollow, he is told that he would find a deep black tarn ; and higher up, another. But to climb the mountain is a day's work, with much doubt of success, (that is of a clear summit,) and he must to-day be satisfied with what is below. Yewdale, with its grey rocks, cushioned with heather up to their summits, stretches away northwards from the head of the lake, into a gorge where the mountains overlap. One of the crags there is called Eaven Crag : and it is said that a pair of ravens is living now, there or some- where near. It is to be hoped that, now the eagles are CONISTON BANK. 29 gone, the last ravens will not be destroyed or scared away by the shot of the miners, or other rash sports- men, who are too apt to bring down every bird they see. There are many picturesque dwellings in the area which is between the heights and the lake : but the best view of these is from the point to which the stranger will proceed, after his lunch or early dinner. He must order his car to meet him in an hour at the junction of the two lake roads, on the Hawkshead road ; and then he must walk a mile to the Waterhead, and then on, round the head of the lake, in the direction of Tent Lodge, which is seen nestling in its garden at some elevation above the lake. The road passes the site of the former Waterhead inn, now a young planta- tion of Mr. Marshall's. Then commanding the whole expanse of the lake, it begins to ascend, as it curves round to the east ; and, at about a mile and three- quarters from the new inn, there stands the house in which Elizabeth Smith lived and died ; and, on the opposite side of the road, Tent Lodge, built on the spot where a tent was pitched, that she might draw her dying breath with greater ease, and enjoy, as long as possible, the incomparable landscape there stretched before her. The boat-house is at the bottom of the slope, down which she used to take her mother's guests ; and she and her sister were so well practiced at "the oar that they could show the beauties of the scene from any point of the lake. The best station is, however, in a field, — the first beyond the new house on Coniston Bank. Some people think this the finest view in the whole district: and truly, the frequent visitor pronounces it incomparable, every time he comes ; and 30 HAWKSHEAD. the passing tourist feels that, onee seen, it can never be forgotten. Nowhere else, perhaps, is the grouping of the mountain peaks, and the indication of their recesses so striking ; and as to the foreground, with its glittering waterfall, its green undulations, its diversified woods, its bright dwellings, and its clear lake, — it conveys the strongest impression of joyful charm, — of fertility, prosperity and comfort, nestling in the bosom of the rarest beauty. Retracing his steps for some way, and passing the turn which would lead him down again to Tent Lodge, the stranger has rather a steep ascent before him, from point to point of which he finds, on looking back new views of the lake appearing, while the magni- tude of the Old Man becomes more apparent as he recedes from it. By the roadpost, which indicates the two ways to the two sides of the lake, he finds his car ; and then he proceeds through a wild country — moor- land, sprinkled with grey rock, — in the direction of Hawkshead, which is three miles from Waterhead. The parish church of Hawkshead is ancient; its appearance is venerable; and it stands, as a church should do, in full view of the country round, — of the valley in which Esthwaite Water lies. Elizabeth Smith lies buried there ; and there is a tablet to her memory in the churchyard. At the ancient Grammar School of Hawkshead, Wordsworth and his brother were educated. Passing through the neat little town, the road turns to the left, to reach the northern end of Esthwaite Water, which is two miles long, and half a mile broad ; — a quiet sheet of water, with two promontories stretching SAWREY. 31 into it, which appear like islands, nearly dividing it into a chain of ponds. A round pond at the northern end of the lake, connected with it by a narrow creek, exhibits a strange phenomenon. It has a floating island, — not like that of Derwentwater, which is a mass of mud and vegetable tangle, — but actually bearing trees : and this island is carried by strong winds from the one side to the other. The name of the pond is Priest's pot : a fact which some explain by a tradition that a priest was drowned there ; and others by a supposition of its holding about as much as a thirsty priest would like to drink, if the liquor were sufficiently good. Lakebank (Mr. Bolton's) is a pretty place ; and further on, Lake- field, (J. R. Ogden's Esq.,) at Near Sawrey, commands perhaps the best view in the valley. Just beyond, the road turns to the left, through an undulating country of considerable beauty. We find a trace of the rebellion of 1745 in the name of a lane, called " Scotch Gate " (way.) It was here that the fearful Highlanders were looked for, on their march to Derby; and here they might have had all their own way if they had come ; for Sawrey had no idea of showing fight. All the inhabitants, carrying all their valuables, hied away, and took refuge together in a solitary building which was called Cook's braw bog-house. And braw it must have been, to hold all the Sawreyans. The view of Windermere from the highest point is very fine. The road leads through Farther Sawrey to the Ferry House. If there is daylight left, (and there may be, as the Ferry is only seven miles from Coniston Waterhead) the traveller may as well go to the Station House, 32 THE EEREY. which he must have seen from the opposite side of the lake, peeping out of the ever-green woods. There he obtains fine views, up and down the lake, and may mark, on the way up, the largest laurels he has ever seen. His driver, or some resident, will probably take care that he does not stay till it is more than reasonably dusk. As reasons in plenty are always found for not marrying on a Friday, so it is said to be impossible, somehow or other, to get over to the Ferry Nab in the ferry-boat, except by daylight. And if you should arrive at the Nab too late, you may call all night for the boat, and it will not come. The traveller may judge for himself how much of the local tale may be true. He may probably have heard of the Crier of Claife, whose fame has spread far beyond the district : but if not, he should hear of the Crier now, while within sight of Ferry Nab. If he asks who or what the Crier was, — that is precisely what nobody can tell, though every body would be glad to know : but we know all how and about it, except just what it really was. It gave its name to the place now called the Crier of Claife, — the old quarry in the wood, which no man will go near at midnight : — It was about the time of the Keformation, one stormy night, when a party of travellers were making merry at the Ferry-house, — then a humble tavern, — that a call for the boat was heard from the Nab. A quiet, sober boatman obeyed the call, though the night was wild and fearful. When he ought to be returning, the tavern guests stepped out upon the shore, to see whom he would bring. He returned alone, ghastly and CRIER OE CLAIFE. 33 dumb with horror. Next morning, he was in a high fever ; and in a few days he died, without having been prevailed upon to say what he had seen at the Nab. For weeks after, there were shouts, yells and howlings at the Nab, on every stormy night : and no boatman would attend to any call after dark. The Reformation had not penetrated the region ; and the monk from Furness who dwelt on one of the islands of the lake, was applied to to exorcise the Nab. On Christmas day, he assembled all the inhabitants of Chapel Island, and performed in their presence services which should for ever confine the ghost to the quarry in the wood behind the Ferry, now called the Crier of Claife. Some say that the priest conducted the people to the quarry, and laid the ghost, — then and there. — Laid though it be, nobody goes there at night. It is still told how the foxhounds in eager chase would come to a full stop at that place ; and how, within the existing generation, a schoolmaster from Colthouse, who left home to pass the Crier, was never seen more. Whatever may be said about the repute of ghosts in our day, it is certain that this particular story is not dead. Meantime, the heavy, roomy ferry-boat is ready: the horse is taken out of the car ; and both are shipped. Two or three, or half-a-dozen people take advantage of the passage ; the rowers, with their ponderous oars, are on the bench; and the great machine is presently afloat. The Ferry House looks more tempting than ever when seen from under its own sycamores, — jutting out as it does between quiet bays on either hand. The landing takes place on the opposite promontory : the horse is c 34 TROUT AND CHAR. put to, and the traveller is presently at his inn. He is ready for his meal (be it tea or supper) of lake trout or char. The best char are in Coniston Water : but they are good every where ; especially to hungry travel- lers, sitting at table within sight of the waters whence they have just been fished. The potted char of Coniston is sent, as every epicure knows, to all parts of the world where men know what is good. As for the trout, there can be none finer than that of Windermere. Those who find themselves at the Ferry House with time and daylight before them can do nothing better than pursue the road which there turns northwards, sometimes rising into the woods and sometimes skirt- ing the lake. The woods abound in splendid ferns, rare orchises, and rich and various wild flowers. When the road turns down to the beach the whole scenery of the opposite side, and of the head of the lake, is spread out to view. At the distance of three miles the road passes the gate of Wray Castle, noticed at page 19, and continues round Pullwyke bay to Clappers- gate and Ambleside. AMBLESIDE & ULLESWATER SECTION, SECOND TOUR. BY TEOUTBECK TO KIEKSTONE PASS AND PATTEKDALE, AND DESCENT UPON AMBLESIDE. MILES. MILES. Bowness to Kirkstone ... ... ... 7 6 Patterdale ... ... ... ... 13 4 Lyulph's Tower ... ... ... ... 17 4 Back to Patterdale ... ... ... 21 10 Ambleside 31 As the traveller will have other opportunities of observing the six miles of mailroad between Bowness and Ambleside, he may as well go round, and see Ullswater, on the day of his removal. Sending his luggage on by the omnibus to one of the three chief Ambleside inns, he will take a car for the day, and go by Troutbeck to Patterdale. The country people will tell him, as he turns up to Troutbeck at Cook's House, that he is going to see "the handsomest view in these parts — especially at the back-end of the year." And wonderfully fine the views are, as the road ascends, commanding the entire lake, and the whole range of mountains from Coniston Old Man to Fairfield. The singular valley of Trout- beck was once a wooded basin, where the terrified Britons took refuge from the Romans, while the latter were making their great road from Kendal to Penrith. That road actually ran along the very ridge of the c2 36 TROUTBECK. Troutbeck hills, as any one may see who will climb the mountain called, for this reason, High Street. "What a sight it must have been — the pioneers felling the trees, and paving the way, and the soldiers following, with their armour and weapons gleaming in the sun, while the trembling natives cowered in the forest below, — listening now to the blows of the workmen, and now to the warlike music of the troops, marching up from Kendal ! After Romans and Saxons were gone, the valley was a great park, and the inhabitants were virtually serfs, in danger of the gallows, (which had a hill to itself, named after it to this day) at the will and pleasure of the one great man. In course of time, — that is, a good many centuries ago, — the valley was disparked, and divided among the inhabitants, — only one very large estate being left, — the new park, con- taining 2,000 acres. This was the estate given by Charles I, to Huddlestone Phillipson, for his services in the civil wars. The valley now contains a string of hamlets, — Town End, Town Head, High Green, Crag, and High Fold ; and its farmsteads and outbuildings show some of the most curious specimens of ancient edifices that are to be seen in the district. Josiah Brown, whom we mentioned in connexion with Orrest Head, found nearly his match in oddity in this vale. A "rum fellow " in Troutbeck had a prodigious bull ; and so had Josiah : and what must they do but meet half-way, and have a bull-fight; the terms being that the winner should have the fallen animal. Josiah actually came riding his bull. The battle was tremendous ; and the Troutbeck animal went down before Josiah's, and TEOUTBECK. 37 was given by him to the poor of Troutbeek. These anecdotes appear very strange to people who have lived in towns, or among the more level manners of the south : and this is why we relate them. They are among the curiosities of the district. Troutbeek is the most primitive of the frequented valleys of the district. To find any other so antique and characteristic, it is neces- sary to leave the high road, and explore the secluded dales of which the summer tourist sees and hears nothing. The dale looks from the uplands as if it had been scooped out between the ridges with a gigantic scoop. Its levels are parcelled out into small fields, of all manner of shapes ; and the stream, — the heck abounding in trout, — winds along the bottom, from the foot of High Street, to fall into the lake just by Calgarth. The road now followed by the tourist descends into the vale sharply, by the abode of John Wilson, Esq., at The How, and crosses the bridge, in full view of the chapel, which was consecrated in 1562, and thoroughly repaired in 1828. It is one of the small churches that, with their square tower and bell, look and sound so well in the dales. This one seats 160 worshipers. Imme- diately beyond the bridge, the road mounts again very steeply, till it joins that which runs along the hill sides, on the western slope of the valley. This road is to be followed up the valley ; and the tourist must lose none of its beauties. Behind him, there are views of the receding lake, now diminished to the likeness of a cabinet picture : — below, is the deep vale with its green levels : opposite, the grassy slopes ascend to the ridges of High Street and Hill Bell; and before him, Troutbeek Tongue c 3 38 HIGHEST HOUSE. protrudes, splitting the valley into two, and being itself most lovely with its farmstead, and dropped thorns, and coppice and grey rocks : while, behind and above it, the vale head rises into grandeur, with its torrents leaping down, and its pathway winding up, indicating the pass into Mardale. The stranger is not going that way, however. He turns over a gentler pass to the left, which leads him, on the slope of Wansfell, away from Troutbeck. As he bids farewell to the Tongue, he sees the summit of Kirkstone before him. He is passing over the somewhat boggy upland where the Stock takes its rise, to flow down to and through Ambleside, after having taken the leap called Stockghyll Force. The tourist may see that in the evening, if there is time : — he is going the other way now. His road meets the one from Ambleside at a small public-house, which the Ordnance Surveyors have declared the highest inhabited house in England : and thus it is labelled by a board over the porch. In clear weather, the sea is seen hence, and the thread of smoke from its steamers. The head of Windermere lies like a pond below : the little Blelham tarn, near Wray Castle, glitters behind ; and range beyond range of hills recedes to the horizon. Near at hand, all is very wild. The Ambleside road winds up steeply between grey rocks and moorland pasture, and dashing streams; and the Kirkstone mountain has probably mists driving about its head. There is something wilder to come, however, — the noted Kirkstone Pass, — the great pass of the district. The descent begins about a quarter of a mile beyond the house. Down PATTERDALE. 39 plunges the road, with rock and torrent on either hand, and the bold sweeps of Coldfield and Scandale Screes shutting in the pass ; and the little lake of Brothers' Water lying below, afar off among the green levels ; and, closing in the whole in front, the mass of Place Fell, — the other side of which goes sheer down into Ullswater. The stranger must not omit to observe near the head of the pass, the fallen rock, ridged like a roof, whose form (like that of a miniature church) has given its name to its precincts. All the way as he descends to Brothers' Water, the openings on the Scandale side (the left) charm his eye, — with their fissures, preci- pices, green slopes and levels, and knolls in the midst, crowned with firs. He passes through Hartsop, and then winds on, for three or four miles, among the rich levels of Patterdale, which is guarded by mountains jutting forwards, like promontories. The Patterdale Inn, kept by Mr. Gelderd, is another of the first-rate hotels of the district. The stranger, who must have left Windermere early in the morning, hastens to order a car or a boat, to take him to Gowbarrow Park, and desires that dinner may await him in about three hours' time. If the weather is calm and fine, he has a boat, to which he must walk across the meadows. As soon as he is afloat, the beauties of Ullswater open upon him, — the great Place Fell occupying the whole space to the right ; and Stybarrow Crag, precipitous and wooded, shoots up on the left-hand bank. The road winds below it, under trees, passing good houses, and the paths to Helvellyn, and to the lead works, and to 40 lyulph's tower. Glencoin, — all recesses full of beauty. Tales are told of artists who, turning into Glencoin, to find materials for a sketch, have not come out again for three months, finding themselves overwhelmed with tempting subjects for the pencil. The singularly primitive character of the popular mind in those secluded corners is almost as great an incitement to study as the variety and richness of the foregrounds and the colouring. Ullswater has two bends, and is shaped like a relaxed Z. At the first bend, the boat draws to shore, below Lyulph's Tower, an ivy-covered little castle, built for a shooting-box by the late Duke of Norfolk ; but it stands on the site of a real old tower, named, it is said, after the Ulf, or L'Ulf, the first Baron of Greystoke, who gave its name to the lake. Some, however, insist that the real name is Wolf's Tower. The park which sur- rounds it, and stretches down to the lake, is studded with ancient trees ; and the sides of its watercourses, and the depths of its ravines, are luxuriantly wooded. Vast hills, with climbing tracks, rise behind, on which the herds of deer are occasionally seen, like brown shadows from the clouds. They are safe there from being startled (as they are in the glades of the park) by strangers who come to find out Ara Force by following the sound of the fall. Our tourist must take a guide to this waterfall from the tower. He will be led over the open grass to the ravine, and then along its wooded sides on a pathway above the brawling stream, till he comes to a bridge, which will bring him in full view of the fall. As he sits in the cool damp nook at the bottom of the chasm, where the ARA FORCE. 41 echo of dashing and gurgling water never dies, and the ferns, long grasses and ash sprays wave and quiver everlastingly in the pulsing air ; and as, looking up, he sees the slender line of bridge spanning the upper fall, he ought to know of the mournful legend which belongs to this place, and which Wordsworth has preserved : — In the olden times, a knight who loved a lady, and courted her in her father's tower here, at Grey stoke, went forth to win glory. He won great glory : and at first his lady rejoiced fully in it : but he was so long in returning, and she heard so much of his deeds in behalf of distressed ladies, that doubts at length stole upon her heart as to whether he still loved her. These doubts disturbed her mind in sleep : and she began to walk in her dreams, directing her steps towards the waterfall where she and her lover used to meet. Under a holly tree beside the fall they had plighted their vows ; and this was the limit of her dreaming walks. The knight at length returned to claim her. Arriving in the night, he went to the ravine to rest under the holly until the morning should permit him to knock at the gate of the tower: but he saw a gliding white figure among the trees : and this figure reached the holly before him, and plucked twigs from the tree, and threw them into the stream. Was it the ghost of his lady love ? or was it herself ? She stood in a dangerous place : he put out his hand to uphold her : the touch awakened her. In her terror and confusion she fell from his grasp into the torrent, and was carried down the ravine. He followed and rescued her; but she died upon the bank ; not, however, without having fully 42 HAYS WATER. understood that her lover was true, and had come to claim her. The knight devoted the rest of his days to mourn her : he built himself a cell upon the spot, and became a hermit for her sake. The visitor should ascend the steps and pathway from the bottom of the fall, and stand on the bridge that spans the leap. It is a grand thing to look down. He returns the way he came, by boat, to the inn, and, after dinner up Kirkstone Pass. He will hear and see enough to make him wish to come again, and stay awhile on Ullswater. He would like to walk along Place Fell, above the margin of the lake, where no car- riage road is or can be made ; and, once there, he would certainly climb the mountain. He would like to enter the bridle road, from the foot of the lake, which leads to Grisedale tarn, and comes out above Grasmere. He would like to visit Angle Tarn, on the southern end of Place Fell; and, yet more, Hays Water, the large lonely tarn above Hartsop ; where the angler delights to seclude himself, because the trout delights in it too. It is a high treat to follow up the beck from the road, winding among the farms, and then entering the soli- tude of the pass, till the source of the stream is found in this tarn, a mile and a-half from the main road. The little lake is overhung by High Street, so that the Roman eagles, as well as the native birds of the rocks, may have cast their shadows upon its surface. Its rushy and rocky margin is as wild a place as the most adventurous angler can ever have found himself in. Our traveller must, however, come again to see it ; for there is no time to diverge to it to-day. AMBLESIDE. 43 At the house, at the top of the pass, (which he has walked up, in mercy to his horses) he leaves the Trout- beck road to the left, and descends rapidly upon Ambleside, which is between three and four miles from the house. On the left, is the valley or ravine of the Stock, whose waters are concealed by wood. The road runs along the slopes of the Scandale Fells. Below, Windermere opens more and more ; and at length, the pretty little town of Ambleside appears, nestling at the foot of Wansfell, and the valley of the Eothay opens at the gazer's feet. On the opposite margin of this green recess, and on the skirts of Loughrigg, he sees Pox How, the residence and favourite retirement of the late Dr. Arnold, and now inhabited by his family. Near the pass which opens between Loughrigg and Fairfield, he is told that the residence of Wordsworth may be seen from below. Just under him to the left is the old church ; and near the centre of the valley is the new church, — more of a blemish than an adornment, un- happily, from its size and clumsiness, and the bad taste of its architecture. Though placed in a valley, it has a spire, — the appropriate form of churches in a level country ; and the spire is of a different colour from the rest of the building; and the east window is remarkably ugly. There have been various reductions of the beauty of the valley within twenty years or so ; and this last is the worst, because the most conspicuous. The old church, though not beautiful, is suitable to the position, and venerable by its ancient aspect. It is abundantly large enough for the place, except for a few weeks in summer : but its burial ground, inclosed by 44 AMBLESIDE. roads on three sides, has for many years been over- crowded. Ten years ago, the state of the churchyard, and the health of the people who lived near it, was such as to make the opening of a new burial-ground a press- ing matter; and hence, no doubt, arose the new church, though a larger and more beautiful cemetery might easily have been formed in the neighbourhood. The descent to all the Ambleside inns is steep, — past the old church, and through a narrow street, and into the space dignified with the name of the market- place, and actually exhibiting an ancient market-cross. Half-a-dozen of the few shops of the town are in or about the market-place, and the Salutation and Com- mercial Inns and the White Lion, — the three princi- pal inns, are all conspicuous in it. If his time in Ambleside is precious, the stranger may use the sunset or twilight hour for seeing Stockghyll Force, while his supper is preparing. He is directed or guided through the stable-yard of the . Salutation Inn, when he passes under a tall grove of old trees on the right hand, the stream being on the left. On the opposite bank is the bobbin-mill, the one industrial establishment of Amble- side, placed there on account of the abundant supply of coppice wood obtainable in the neighbourhood. The stacks of wood are seen, high up on the bank ; and the ivy-clad dwelling of the proprietor ; and then the great water-wheel, with its attendant spouts and weir, and sounds of gushing and falling waters. Where the path forks towards and away from the stream, the visitor must take the left-hand one. The other is the way up Wansfell. His path leads him under trees, and up and STOCKGHYLL FORCE. 45 through a charming wood, with the water dashing and brawling further and further below, till his ear catches the sound of the fall : and presently after, the track turns to the left, and brings him to a rocky station whence he has a full view of the force. It is the fashion to speak lightly of this waterfall, — it being within half a mile of the inn, and so easily reached ; but it is, in our opinion, a very remarkable fall, (from the symme- try of its parts,) and one of the most graceful that can be seen. Its leap, of about seventy feet, is split by a rocky protrusion, and intercepted by a ledge running across ; so that there are four falls, — two smaller ones above, answering precisely to each other, and two larger leaps below, no less exactly resembling. The rock which parts them is feathered with foliage ; and so are the sides of the ravine. Below, the waters unite in a rocky basin, whence they flow down to the mill, and on in a most picturesque torrent, through a part of Amble- side, and into the meadows, where they make their last spring down a rock near Millar Bridge, and join the Eothay about a mile from the lake. Supposing the excursion to Patterdale to be left for another day, the stranger will see, after turning into the Ambleside road from Bowness, first, Ibbotsholme, on the right, the residence of Samuel Taylor, Esq., just beyond Troutbeck Bridge. Presently, he will pass, on the left hand, the gate of Calgarth, Bishop Watson's house, now inhabited by Mrs Swinburne. Ecclerigg, the residence of Bd. Luther Watson, Esq., comes next : and then Lowwood Inn, Dove Nest, and Wansfell Holme, and, on the opposite shore, Wray 46 INNS AND BATHS. Castle, all of which, have been mentioned as seen from the lake. Clappersgate, with its white houses, nestles under Loughrigg, at the head of the lake ; and the Brathay valley, with its pretty little church on its knoll, opens beautifully as seen from the toll-bar. From Water-head to Ambleside, there are residences, humble or handsome, on either hand. The traveller can hardly be wrong in his choice of an inn, as all three are comfortable and well served. At present there are no baths in the place ; — a singular deficiency where there is so much of company on the one hand and of water on the other. The inconvenience is, however, in the way of being remedied ; and it is to be hoped that another season will not arrive without a provision of this needful refreshment for the dusty and tired travel- ler, — to say nothing of the residents, who must desire it for purposes of health as well as enjoyment. THIRD TOUR. BY THE VALLEY OP THE BRATHAY, TO HIGH CLOSE, AND DOWN BED BANK TO GRASMERE AND EASEDALE, AND THENCE BY BYDAL TO AMBLESIDE. MILES. MILES. Ambleside to Skelwith Bridge ... ... 4 2 High Close 6 14 Grasmere ... ... ... ... ... 74 24 Easedale Tarn ... ... ... ... ... 10 24 Back to Grasmere ... ... ... ... 124 4 Ambleside ... ... ... ... ... 164 The stranger had better take an entire day for this tour also, if he can spare the time, and means to see Easedale at his ease. The distance in miles is not a day's journey ; but there are things to see which deserve a pause. The road to the right, after leaving the little market- place, is the one to be taken. Between Eothay Cottage and Eothay Bank, the residence of John Crosfield, Esq., the road turns upon Bothay Bridge, whence there is a fine view of the valley, with the cul-de-sac of Fairfield closing it in to the north. Whether the vapours are gathering and tumbling in that basin, — the recess of Fairfield, — or whether every projection, streak, slide, and mossy tract is clearly visible, that northern barrier is very imposing ; and perhaps most so to those who are most familiar with it, and can read its manifold weather signs and tokens. Between Eothay Bridge and Clap- 48 BEATHAY CHUECHYAED. persgate is Croft Lodge, the residence of Edwd. Berry, Esq. ; — the mansion and its woods being on the right of the road, and the gardens stretching down to the river on the left. Then comes the pretty hamlet of Clappersgate, so conspicuous from the lake ; and two roads branch off, leading along each bank of the river Brathay, and meeting at Skelwith Bridge at the other end of the valley. If the stranger has any thought of ascending Loughrigg, some other day, he may now see, above Clappersgate, the path by which he may ascend or descend ; a zig-zag path up the hill side, leading to the two peaks, crowning the south end of Loughrigg, from between which the most perfect possible view of Windermere is obtained. That cannot, however, be done to-day. The left-hand road should now be taken, crossing Brathay Bridge, and passing the parsonage. When the stranger sees the churchyard gate, he must alight, and walk up to the church. From the rock there he commands the mountain range from Coniston Old Man to the Langdale Pikes : the Brathay flows beneath, through its quiet meadows ; and its dashing among the rocks, just under his feet, catches his ear ; — Loughrigg, with its copses and crags and purple heather, rises immediately before- him : and to the right he sees a part of Ambleside nestling between the hills, and a stretch of the lake. This churchyard has the first daffodils and snowdrops on the southern side of its rock ; and, in its copse, the earliest wood ane- mones. Throughout the valley, spring flowers, and the yellow and white broom abound. The road ascends and descends abruptly, and winds LOUGHRIGG TARN. 49 towards, and away from, the right bank of the Brathay, till it reaches Skelwith Fold. There the stranger must alight again, and go through a field gate to the right, to a rocky point, where he commands the finest view of the valley and its environs. And again, just before he comes to Skelwith Bridge, he must go through the gap in the wall to the left, and follow the field-track until he comes in sight of Skelwith Force. He will hardly aver that he ever saw a more perfect picture than this, — with the fall in the centre, closed in by rock and wood on either hand, and by the Langdale Pikes behind. Eeturning to his car, he will next pass over the bridge, and the roaring torrent beneath, and by stacks of wood, — (more coppice wood for another bobbin-mill,) and, turning to the right, will find that he has headed the valley. As he is not going home, however, but to Grasmere, he turns out of the Brathay valley by a steep road on the left, which ascends again and again, leading by farmsteads almost as primitive as those of Troutbeck, and evidently mounting the spurs of Loughrigg, — which he is travelling round to-day, and which must therefore be always on his right hand. After a while, he comes to a sheet of water, so still, if the day be calm, that he might possibly miss it, unless the precision of the reflections should strike his eye. It is more likely, however, to be rippled by some breeze, and to show how deeply blue, or darkly grey, these mountain tarns may be. This is Loughrigg tarn, well known to all readers of Wordsworth. At some little distance beyond it, the stranger must diverge from his road to visit High Close, and see the view which is D 50 LANGDALE. reputed the finest in Westmorland. He may leave Ins car where the road to High Close ascends to the left, and walk to the farm-house at the top. As there are probably lodgers, he had better not present himself at the garden door, but go on to the farmyard gate, pass through the yard to the field, and walk along the brow till he reaches the grey stone bench. There he is ! overlooking "the finest view in Westmorland." To the extreme right, Bowfell closes in the Langdale valley, the head of which is ennobled by the swelling masses of the Pikes. A dark cleft in the nearer one is the place where the celebrated Dungeon Grhyll Force is plunging and foaming, beyond the reach of eye and ear. He can gather from this station, something of the character of Langdale. It has levels, here expanding, there contracting ; and the stream winds among them from end to end. There is no lake : and the mountains send out spurs, alternating or meeting, so as to make the levels sometimes circular and sometimes winding. The dwellings are on the rising grounds which skirt the levels ; and this, together with the paving of the road below, shows that the valley is subject to floods. The houses, of grey-stone, each on its knoll, with a canopy of firs and sycamores above it, and ferns scattered all around, and ewes and lambs nestling near it, — these primitive farms are cheerful and pleasant objects to look upon, whether from above or passing among them. Nearer at hand are some vast quarries of blue slate. Below, among plantations, are seen the roofs of the Elterwater Powder Mills ; whence the road winds through the village of Langdale Chapel, to the margin RED BANK. 51 of the pools which make up the lake. From their opposite shore rise the hills, height above height, — range beyond range. To the left lies Loughrigg Tarn, and, in the distance, Windermere, with Wray Castle prominent on its height, and the Lancashire hills clos- ing in the view. It is a singular prospect, at once noble and lovely; and the comfortable lodgings at High Close farm are in request accordingly. The car is waiting where the traveller left it ; but he had better walk for half-a-mile or so, — the descent of Red Bank being very steep. The great mountain that swells so grandly above the rest before him is Helvellyn. The lake that opens below is Grasmere, with its one island, made up of green slope, black fir clump, and grey barn. At the further end lies the village, with its old square church tower, beneath whose shadow Words- worth is buried. The white road that winds like a ribbon up and up the gap between Helvellyn and the opposite fells is the mail road to Keswick, and the gap is Dunmail Raise. The remarkable and beautiful hill behind the village is Helm Crag ; and its rocky crest forms the group called the Lion and the Lamb. The long white house, near the foot of Helvellyn, is the Swan Inn, whence Scott, Southey, and Wordsworth set forth on ponies for the ascent of the mountain: and behind it rises the path by which pedestrians cross from Grasmere to Patterdale, by the margin of Grisedale tarn, — the mountain tarn of the wild boar, as the words properly signify. To the left of Helm Crag, a deep valley evidently opens. That is Easedale ; and there our tourist is to go to-day. Meantime, let him d2 OZ GEASMEEE INNS. linger awhile, that he may learn by heart every feature of this gay and lovely scene. The lane he has just passed to the right leads him to the grassy bridle-road called Loughrigg Terrace, whence the best views are obtained of both Grasmere and Eydal lakes, and which leads along the uplands and then by Eydal Lake back to the valley of the Rothay. We must leave it now, and plunge down Red Bank, which has the characteristics of a Norwegian road. At the cistern at the bottom, the stranger enters his ear, and passes farm houses between him and the lake, and villas on the rocky and wooded bank on the left ; and, at the corner, where the road turns to the village, the cluster of lodging-houses, called St. Oswald's, where the Hydropathic Establish- ments struggled on for a time, but found the Westmor- land winters too long for invalids. The driver must stop at the Red Lion, to order dinner. It is an old-fashioned little place, where the traveller's choice is usually between ham and eggs and eggs and ham ; with the addition however, of cheese and oat cake. He goes to the Red Lion now merely because it is on the way to his destination. If he were going to stay at Grasmere, he would take up his abode at the Hotel kept by Mr. Brown. The beauty of the view from that house is evident at a glance ; and good accommodations will be found within, with ample means of conveyance of all kinds. Whatever the dinner at the Red Lion is to be, it must not be ready under two or three hours; — rather three than two. He proceeds for a mile between fences before he reaches the opening of Easedale. The gate EASEDALE TARN. 53 and shrubbery to the right are the entrance to Lady Kiehardson's Cottage ; and there the regular road ends. The car can go about a mile further along the farm tracks in the valley, through the meadows which yield a coarse hay, and near the stream which is tufted with alders. At the farm house where the car stops, the people will shew the stranger the way he must go, — past the plantation, and up the hill side, where he will find the track that will guide him up to the waterfall, — the foaming cataract which is seen all over the valley, and is called Sour Milk Grhyll Force. The water and the track together will shew him the way to the tarn, which is the source of the stream. Up and on he goes, over rock and through wet moss, with long stretches of dry turf and purple heather ; and at last, when he is heated and breathless, the dark cool recess opens in which lies Easedale Tarn. Perhaps there is an angler standing beside the great boulder on the brink. Per- haps there is a shepherd lying among the ferns. But more probably the stranger finds himself perfectly alone. There is perhaps nothing in natural scenery which conveys such an impression of stillness as tarns which lie under precipices : and here the rocks sweep down to the brink almost round the entire margin. For hours together the deep shadows move only like that of the gnomon of the sundial ; and, when movement occurs, it is not such as disturbs the sense of repose ; — the dimple made by a restless fish or fly, or the gentle flow of water in or out ; or the wild drake and his brood, pad- dling so quietly as not to break up the mirror, or the reflection of some touch of sunlight, or passing shadow. d 3 54 wobdsworth's giiave. If there is commotion from gusts or eddies of wind, the effect is even more remarkable. Little white clouds are driven against the rocks, — the spray is spilled in unexpected places; now the precipices are wholly veiled, and there is nothing but the ruffled water to be seen : and again, in an instant, the rocks are disclosed so fearfully that they seem to be crowding together to crush the intruder. If this seems to the inexperienced like extravagance, let him go alone to Easedale Tarn, or to Angle Tarn on Bowfell, on a gusty day, and see what he will find. After his return to the Eed Lion, and his dinner, the stranger will inquire whether the promised Exhibition of paintings of the Messrs. Pettitt is open, at a house near the church. The reputation of these rising artists needs no testimony of ours : and lovers of art who have studied their works elsewhere will be glad to meet them here, in the heart of the scenery they paint. The next object is the churchyard. In the church is a medallion portrait of Wordsworth, accompanied by an inscription adapted from a dedication of Mr. Keble's. The simple and modest tombstone in the churchyard will please him better. At present it bears only the name of the poet, — in his case, an all-sufficient memo- rial : but it is understood that some dates and other particulars will be filled in hereafter. Beside him lies his daughter, and next to her, her husband, — whose first wife is next him on the other side. Some other children of Wordsworth, who died young, are buried near; and one grandchild. Close behind the family group lies Hartley Coleridge, at whose funeral EYDAL LAKE. 55 the white-haired Wordsworth attended, not very long before his own death. This spot, under the yews, be- side the gashing Roth ay and encircled by green mountains, is a fitting resting-place for the poet of the region. He chose it himself; and every one rejoices that he did. Just after entering the mail road, the driver will point out the cottage in which the poet and his sister lived, many long years ago, when Scott was their guest. Several good houses have sprung up near it, within a few years. The promontory which here causes the lake to contract to the little river (which is called the Rothay in all the intervals of the chain of lakes,) may be passed in three ways. The mail road runs round its point, and therefore keeps beside the water; — the Roman road, where the Wishing Gate used to be, crosses it by a rather steep ascent and descent ; — and a shorter road still, steeper and boggy, cuts across its narrowest part, and comes out at the Rydal Quarries. Our traveller will take the mail road, probably. It will soon bring him to Rydal Lake ; and he cannot but think the valley very lovely in the summer afternoon. On the opposite side of the lake is Loughrigg, with its terrace-walk distinctly visible half-way up. The islands are wooded ; and on one of them is a heronry ; and the grey bird, with its long flapping wings, is most likely visible, either in flight, or perched on a tree near its nest, or fishing in the shallows. Nab Scar, the blunt end of Fairfield, which overlooks the road and the lake, is very fine with its water- worn channels, its wood, and grey rocks. Nab Cottage, the humble white house by 56 EYDAL MOUNT. the road side, and on the margin of the lake, is the place where Hartley Coleridge lived and died. Those who knew the Lakes of old will remember the peculiar form and countenance which used to haunt the roads between,1 Ambleside and Grasmere, — the eccentric- looking being whom the drivers were wont to point out as the son of the great Coleridge, and himself a poet. He is more missed in his neighbourhood than in the literary world : for he loved every body, and had many friends. His mournful weakness was regarded with unusual forbearance ; and there was more love and pity than censure in the minds of those who practically found how difficult it was to help him. Those who knew him most loved him best ; but he was sufficiently known afar by his works to be an object of interest to strangers who passed his home. He died in January, 1849. In the distance, Ivy Cottage peeps out of the green ; and further on, Rydal Chapel rises out of the foliage on the verge of the park. When the turn to the left, which leads up to that chapel, is reached, the stranger must alight, and ascend it. He is ascending Rydal Mount : and Wordsworth's house is at the top of the hill, — within the modest gate on the left. If the family should be absent, the traveller may possibly obtain entrance, and stand on the moss-grown eminence, (like a little Roman camp,) in front of the house, whence he may view the whole valley of the Rothay to the utmost advantage. Win- dermere in the distance is, as Wordsworth used to say, a light thrown into the picture, in the winter season, and, in summer, a beautiful feature, changing with R1DAL FALLS. 57 every hue of the sky. The whole garden is a true poet's garden ; its green hollows, its straight terraces, bordered with beds of periwinkle, and tall foxgloves, purple and white, — (the white being the poet's favourite) ; and the summer-house, lined with fircones; and then the opening of the door, which discloses the other angle of the prospect, — Rydal Pass, with the lake lying below. Every resident in the neighbourhood thinks the situation of his own house the best : but most agree that Wordsworth's comes next. We should sav that Wordsworth's comes next to Mr. Sheldon's at Miller Brow, but for the great disadvantage of the long and steep ascent to it. That ascent is a serious last stage of a walk on a hot summer day ; but the privileges of the spot, when once reached, are almost incomparable. The guide to the Eydal Falls will by this time have presented herself, and the tourist must visit them. They are within the park, and cannot be seen without a guide : but some one is always to be found at one of the two guides' cottages on the ascent of the hill. The upper fall is the finest, in the eyes of those who prefer the most natural accessaries of a cascade : but the lower is the one generally represented by artists, — the summer-house from which it is viewed affording an admirable picture-frame, and the basin of rock, and the bridge above, constituting, in truth, a very perfect picture. When there is a dash of sunshine on the ver- dure, behind and under the bridge, to contrast with the shadowy basin and pool of the fall, the subject is tempt- ing enough to the artist. 58 AMBLESIDE, These falls seen, the tourist need alight from his ear no more, for he is only a mile and a-half from Amble- side. He presently passes Pelter Bridge, which spans the Bothay on the right. That is the way to Pox How : and he presently sees Fox How, — the grey house embosomed in trees, — at the foot of Loughrigg. He must not mistake for it the gem of a house that he sees — the cream-coloured one, veiled in roses, with the conservatories beside it, just under the wooded preci- pice : — that is Foxghyll, the residence of Hornby Roughsedge, Esq. To the left, there are good views of Eydal Park. Approaching Ambleside, the first house to the left is Lesketh How, the residence of Dr. Davy: the white house to the right is Tranby Lodge, the abode of Alfred Barkworth, Esq. : and the house on the rising ground behind the chapel is the Knoll, the residence of Mrs. H. Martineau. The gates on the left are those of Green Bank, the estate of Benson Harrison, Esq. : and the pretty cottage next reached on the same side is that of James C. Wilson, Esq., called Low Nook. The stream to the right is the Stock, making its way to the river: and the odd little grey dwelling built above it is the ancient house which is considered the most curious relic in Ambleside of the olden time. The view of the mill and the rocky channel of the Stock on the left of the bridge is the one which every artist sketches as he passes by ; and if there is in the Exhibi- tion in London, in any year, a view at Ambleside, it is probably this. The Kirkstone road now joins the mail road, and the tourist finds himself on old ground, — in Ambleside market-place. A DAY ON THE MOUNTAINS. The stranger has now made his three tours. There is one thing more that he must do before he goes on into Cumberland. He must spend a day on the Moun- tains : and if alone, so much the better. If he knows what it is to spend a day so far above the every-day world, he is aware that it is good to be alone, (unless there is danger in the ease) ; and, if he is a novice, let him try whether it be not so. Let him go forth early, with a stout stick in his hand, provision for the day in his knapsack or his pocket ; and, if he chooses, a book : but we do not think he will read to-day. A. map is essential, to explain to him what he sees : and it is very well to have a pocket compass, in case of sudden fog, or any awkward doubt about the way. In case of an ascent of a formidable mountain, like Scawfell or Hel- vellyn, it is rash to go without a guide : but our tourist shall undertake something more moderate, and reason- ably safe, for a beginning. What mountain shall it be ? He might go up Blackcombe, on his way to or from Furness : and from thence he might see, in fair weather, as Wordsworth tells us, " a more extensive view than from any other point in Britain," — seven English counties, and seven 60 CHOICE OP A MOUNTAIN. Scotch, a good deal of Wales, the Isle of Man, and in some lucky moment, just before sunrise (as the Ordnance surveyors say) the coast of Ireland. This is very fine ; but it is hardly what is looked for in the lake district, ■ — the sea being the main feature. He might go up the Old. Man from Coniston ; but there are the copper works, and there is the necessity of a guide : and it is a long way to go for the day's treat. If he ascends the Langdale Pikes, it had better be from some interior station ; and the rest of the great peaks will be best commanded from Keswick. Of those within reach of Ambleside, which shall it be ? Loughrigg is very easy and very charming ; but it is not commanding enough. From the surrounding heights it looks like a mere rambling hill. Wansfell is nearest, and also easy and safe. It may be reached from a charming walk from Lowwood Inn, and descended by the Stockghyll lane, above Ambleside. The immediate neighbourhood is mapped out below ; and there is a long and wide open- ing to the south : but to the north-east, and everywhere round the head of the lake, the view is stopped, first by Nab Scar, and then by other heights. Why should it not be Nab Scar itself ? or, the whole of Fairfield ? That excursion is safe, not over-fatiguing, practicable for a summer day, and presenting scenery as character- istic as can be found. Let it be Fairfield. The stranger should ascend to the ridge, either through Bydal forest, (for which leave is requisite, and not always easily obtained,) or by the road to the Nook which anybody will shew him. The Nook is a farmhouse in a glorious situation, as he will MOUNTAIN FENCES. 61 see when he gets there and steps into the field on the left, to look abroad from the brow. He then passes under its old trees to where the voice of falling waters calls him onward. Scandale Beck comes tumbling down its rocky channel, close at hand. He must cross the bridge, and follow the cart-road, which brings him out at once upon the fells. What he has to aim at is the ridge above Eydal forest or park, from whence his way is plain, — round the whole cul-de-sac of Fairfield, to Nab Scar. He sees it all ; and the only thing is to do it : and we know of no obstacle to his doing it, unless it be the stone wall which divides the Scandale from the Eydal side of the ridge. These stone walls are an inconvenience to pedestrians, and a great blemish in the eyes of strangers. In the first place, however, it is to be said that an open way is almost invariably left, up every mountain, if the rover can but find it ; and, in the next place, the ugliness of these climbing fences disappears marvellously when the stranger learns how they came there. — In the olden times, when there were wolves, and when the abbots of the surrounding Norman monasteries encouraged their tenants to approach nearer and nearer to the Saxon fastnesses, the shepherds were allowed to inclose crofts about their uplands huts, for the sake of browsing their flocks on the sprouts of the ash and the holly with which the uplands were then wooded, and of protecting the sheep from the wolves which haunted the thickets. The inclosures certainly spread up the mountain sides, at this day, to a height where they would not be seen if ancient custom had not drawn the lines which are thus preserved ; and it 62 KTDAL PATIK. appears, from historical testimony, that these fences existed before the fertile valleys were portioned out among many holders. Higher and higher ran these stone inclosures, — threading the woods, and joining on upon the rocks. Now, the woods are for the most part gone ; and the walls offend and perplex the stranger's eye and mind by their unsightliness and apparent use- lessness ; but it is a question whether, their origin once known, they would be willingly parted with, — remind- ing us as they do of the times when the tenants of the abbots or military nobles formed a link between the new race of inhabitants and the Saxon remnant of the old. One of these walls it is which runs along the ridge, and bounds Eydal Park. There may be a gate in it ; or one which enables the stranger to get round it. If not, he must go over it ; and if he does so, high enough up, it may save him another climb. The nearer the ridge, the fewer the remaining walls between him and liberty. Once in the forest, Christopher North's advice comes into his mind, — unspoiled by the fear, only too reasonable in the lower part of the park, — of being turned out of the paradise, very summarily. "The sylvan, or rather, the forest scenery of Eydal Park," says Professor Wilson, "was, in the memory of living man, magnificent ; and it still contains a treasure of old trees. By all means wander away into these old woods, and lose yourself for an hour or two among the cooing of cushats and the shrill shriek of startled blackbirds, and the rustle of the harmless glow-worm among the la^t year's beech leaves. No very great harm should you even fall asleep under the shadow of MOUNTAIN SOLITUDE. 63 an oak, whilst the magpie chatters at safe distance, and the more innocent squirrel peeps down upon you from a bough of the canopy, and then, hoisting his tail, glides into the obscurity of the loftiest umbrage." — Ascending from these shades through a more straggling woodland, the stranger arrives at a clump on the ridge, — the last clump, and thenceforth feels himself wholly free. His foot is on the springy mountain moss ; and many a cushion of heather tempts him to sit down and look abroad. There may still be a frightened cow or two, wheeling away, with tail aloft, as he comes on- wards ; and a few sheep are still crouching in the shadows of the rocks, or staring at him from the knolls. If he plays the child and bleats, he will soon see how many there are. It is one of the amusements of a good mimic in such places to bring about him all the animals there are, by imitating their cries. One may assemble a flock of sheep, and lead them far out of bounds in this way ; and bewildered enough they look when the bleat ceases, and they are left to find their way back again. It is in such places as this that the truth of some of Words worth's touches may be recognised, which are most amusing to cockney readers. Perhaps no passage has been more ridiculed than that which tells of the "solemn bleat "of " a lamb left somewhere to itself, The plaintive spirit of the solitude." The laughers are thinking of a cattle market, or a flock of sheep on a dusty road ; and they know nothing of the effect of a single bleat of a stray lamb high up on the mountains. If they had ever felt the profound 64 RAIN GUAGES. stillness of the higher fells, or heard it broken by the plaintive cry, repeated and not answered, they would be aware that there is a true solemnity in the sound. Still further on, when the sheep are all left behind, he may see a hawk perched upon a great boulder. He will see it take flight when he comes near, and cleave the air below him, and hang above the woods, — to the infinite terror, as he knows, of many a small creature there, — and then whirl away to some distant part of the park. Perhaps a heavy buzzard may rise, flapping, from its nest on the moor, or pounce from a crag in the direction of any water-birds that may be about the springs and pools in the hills. There is no other sound, unless it be the hum of the gnats in the hot sunshine. There is an aged man in the district, however, who hears more than this, and sees more than people below would, perhaps, imagine. An old shepherd has the charge of four rain guages which are set up on four ridges, — desolate, misty spots, sometimes below and often above the clouds. He visits each once a month, and notes down what these guages record ; and when the tall old man, with his staff, passes out of sight into the cloud, or among the cresting rocks, it is a striking thought that science has set up a tabernacle in these wildernesses, and found a priest among the shepherds. That old man has seen and heard wonderful things : — has trod upon rainbows, and been waited upon by a dim retinue of spectral mists. He has seen the hail and the lightnings go forth as from under his hand, and has stood in the sunshine, listening to the thunder growling, and the tempest bursting beneath his feet. FAIRFIELD. 65 He well knows the silence of the hills, and all the solemn ways in which that silence is broken. The stranger, however, coming hither on a calm summer day, may well fancy that a silence like this can never be broken. Looking abroad, what does he see ? The first im- pression probably is of the billowy character of the mountain groups around and below him. This is per- haps the most striking feature of such a scene to a novice; and the next is the flitting character of the mists. One ghostly peak after another seems to rise out of its shroud ; and then the shroud winds itself round another. Here the mist floats over a valley ; there it reeks out of a chasm : here it rests upon a green slope ; there it curls up a black precipice. The sunny vales below look like a paradise, with their bright meadows and waters and shadowy woods, and little knots of villages. To the south there is the glittering sea ; and the estuaries of the Lev en and Duddon, with their stretches of yellow sands. To the east there is a sea of hill tops. On the north, Ullswater appears, grey and calm at the foot of black precipices; and nearer may be traced the whole pass from Patter- dale, where Brothers' Water lies invisible from hence. The finest point of the whole excursion is about the middle of the cul-de-sac, where on the northern side there are tremendous precipices, overlooking Deepdale, and other sweet recesses far below. Here, within hear- ing of the torrents which tumble from those precipices, the rover should rest. He will see nothing so fine as the contrast of this northern view with the long green slope on the other side, down to the source of Eydal E 66 TEN LAKES AND TAENS. Beck, and then down and down to Rydal Woods and Mount. He is now 2,950 feet above the sea level ; and he has surely earned his meal. If the wind troubles him, he can doubtless find a sheltered place under a rock. If he can sit on the bare ridge, he is the more fortunate. The further he goes, the more amazed he is at the extent of the walk, which looked such a trifle from be- low. Waking out of a reverie, an hour after dinner, he sees that the sun is some way down the western sky. He hastens on, not heeding the boggy spaces, and springing along the pathless heather and moss, seeing more and more lakes and tarns every quarter of an hour. In the course of the day he sees ten. Winder- mere, and little Blelham Tarn beyond, he saw first. Ullswater was below him to the north when he dined ; and, presently after, a tempting path guided his eye to Grisedale Tarn, lying in the pass from Patterdale to Grasmere. Here are four. Next, comes Grasmere, Easedale Tarn above it, in its mountain hollow : then Rydal, of course, at his feet ; and Elterwater beyond the western ridges ; and finally, to the south- west, Esthwaite Water and Coniston. There are the ten. Eight of these may be seen at once from at least one point — Nab Scar, whence he must take his last complete survey ; for from hence he must plunge down the steep slope, and bid farewell to all that lies behind the ridge. The day has gone like an hour. The sun- shine is leaving the surface of the nearer lakes, and the purple bloom of the evening is on the further moun- tains; and the gushes of yellow light between the RETURN. 67 western passes show that sunset is near. He must hasten down, — mindful of the opening between the fences, which he remarked from below, and which, if he finds, he cannot lose his way. He does not seriously lose his way, though crag and bog make him diverge now and then. Descending between the inclosures, he sits down once or twice, to relieve the fatigue to the ancle and instep of so continuous a descent, and to linger a little over the beauty of the evening scene. As he comes down into the basin where Eydal Beck makes its last gambols and leaps, before entering the park, he is sensible of the approach of night. Loughrigg seems to rise : the hills seem to close him in, and the twilight to settle down. He comes to a gate, and finds himself in the civilised world again. He descends the green lane at the top of Bydal Mount, comes out just above Wordsworth's gate, finds his car at the bottom of the hill, — (the driver beginning to speculate on whether any accident has befallen the gentleman on the hills,) — is driven home, and is amazed, on getting out, to find how stiff and tired he is. He would not, however, but have spent such a day for ten times the fatigue. He will certainly ascend Helvellyn, and every other moun- tain that comes in his way. E 2 PART II. KESWICK AND ITS ENVIRONS ILE s. Amble side to Grasmere MILES. 4 a* Dunmail Raise 6* i* Nag's Head 7f 2i St. John's Vale (mail road) 10 4f Castlerigg 14| i| Keswick 16 Some call Ambleside the head quarters of the lake district, and others Keswick. It is not necessary to settle this point of precedence here. Having treated of Ambleside first, because the tourist arrived there first, Keswick claims the next notice. The road from Ambleside to Keswick has already fallen under our observation as far as Grasmere, and its conspicuous white inn, the Swan. That inn had the honour of providing Scott with a daily draught of something good, when he was, in his early days, the guest of Wordsworth and his sister at Grasmere, — their board being conscientiously humble, as they used to tell, to a degree which did not suit the taste of their guest. By some device or another, Scott ma- naged to pay a daily visit to the Swan without his E 3 70 JDUNMAIL EAISE. friends being aware of it. But, when he, Wordsworth, and Southey were to ascend Helvellyn, mounting their ponies at the Swan, the host saw their approach, and cried out to Scott, " Eh, sir ! you've come early for your drink to-day." It was a complete escape of the cat from the bag; bat Wordsworth was not one to be troubled by such a discovery. No doubt he took the unlucky speech more serenely than his guest. From the Swan, the road to Keswick ascends Dun- mail Baise ; — a steep pitch of road, though its highest point is only 720 feet above the sea. On the right there is a stream which divides the counties of Cum- berland and Westmorland ; and on either hand rise the mountains of Steel Fell and Seat Sandal. The cairn, a rude mass of stones near the top of the ascent, which the stranger should be on the look out for, marks the spot of a critical conflict in the olden time, — that is7 in A J). 945, — when the Anglo Saxon King Edmund defeated and slew Dunmail, the British King of Cum- bria, and then put out the eyes of the two sons of his slain foe, and gave their inheritance to Malcolm, King of Scotland. At the Nag's Head, the little inn which is about a mile and a quarter further on, the traveller must decide on one of three courses, — as politicians are wont to do. He may go up Helvellyn, or he may bowl along on the high road, straight through Legberthwaite, and imme- diately under Helvellyn ; or he may go on foot, or on a pony, round the western side of the lake, whieh is known by the various names of Wythburn Water, Leathes Water, and Thirlmere. It is a choice of plea- THIELMEEE. 71 sures ; and he will ascend Helvellyn hereafter, if he does not now. Of the two lake roads, the rude western one is unquestionably the finest. The woods, which were once so thick that the squirrel is said to have gone from Wythburn to Keswick without touching the ground, are cleared away now ; and the only gloom in the scene is from the mass of Helvellyn. The stran- ger leaves the mail road within a mile of the Nag's Head, passes the cottages called by the boastful name of the City of Wythburn, and a few farm-houses, and soon emerging from the fences, finds himself on a grassy level under the Armboth Pells, within an am- phitheatre of rocks, with the lake before him, and Helvellyn beyond, overshadowing it. The rocks behind are feathered with wood, except where a bold crag here, and a free cataract there introduces a variety. There is a clear pool in the midst of the grass, where, if the approaching tread be light, the heron may be seen fishing, or faithfully reflected in the mirror. The track leads by the margin of the lake, and through a shady lane, and a farm yard, to the bridge by which the lake is to be crossed. The water is shallow there, between two promontories ; so that piers are easily built, with little wooden bridges at intervals : and thus is solved what is to novices a great mystery ; — how there can be a bridge over a lake. There is another mystery just behind, under the Armboth Fells, — a haunted house. Lights are seen there at night, the people say ; and the bells ring ; and just as the bells all set off ringing, a large dog is seen swimming across the lake. The plates and dishes clatter ; and the table 72 VALE OE ST. JOHN. is spread by unseen hands. That is the preparation for the ghostly wedding feast of a murdered bride, who comes up from her watery bed in the lake to keep her terrible nuptials. There is really something remark- able, and like witchery, about the house. On a bright moonlight night, the spectator who looks towards it from a distance of two or three miles, sees the light re- flected from its windows into the lake ; and, when a slight fog gives a reddish hue to the light, the whole might easily be taken for an illumination of a great mansion. And this mansion seems to vanish as you approach, — being no mansion, but a small house lying in a nook, and overshadowed by a hill. The bridge being crossed, another bit of lane leads out upon the high road near the clean little inn, the King's Head, and within view of the vale of St. John. One would like to know how often the Bridal of Triermain has been read within that vale. The Castle Eock, in its disenchanted condition, is a prominent object in approaching the vale from Legberthwaite, or by the road just described ; and there are lights and gloomy moments in which it looks as like as may be to a scene of witchery, — now engrossing the sunshine when the range to which it belongs is all in shadow ; and now perversely gloomy, because there is a single cloud in the sky. The narrow vale is full of character and charm, from end to end ; and at its northern ex- tremity it comes out upon a spot of strong historical interest. The village of Threlkeld will, by its name, remind the traveller of the good Lord Clifford, the story of whose boyhood is familiar to all readers of CASTLEEIGG. 73 Wordsworth. That place is, indeed, the refuge where the boy passed his shepherd life ; and there is a local tradition that, though he never learned to read or write, during the twenty-four years that he spent in keeping sheep, his astronomical knowledge was con- siderable, and so interesting to him that he improved it by study after he came to his estates. The road through Threlkeld will, however, be followed by the traveller on another occasion, and not now: for he must not miss that view from Castlerigg, which made the poet Gray long to go back again to Keswick ; and he will not, therefore, now pass through the vale. Within five miles from the peep into it, the view opens, which presently comprehends the whole extent from Bassenthwaite Lake to the entrance to Borrow- dale, — the plain between the two lakes of Bassen- thwaite and Derwent Water presenting one of the richest scenes in England, — with the town of Keswick, and many a hamlet and farmstead besides ; and the two churches, — the long, white, old-fashioned Cros- thwaite church, in which Southey is buried, and the new red-stone church of St. John, with its spire, and the school houses and pretty parsonage at hand. These were built by the late John Marshall, of Hallsteads, — a name which is more spoiled than dignified by any conventional addition. The church and parsonage were occupied by the husband of one of his daughters ; and now he and his son-in-law lie buried there together. Skiddaw is here the monarch of the scene. That mountain mass occupies the north of the view. Bas- senthwaite lake peeps from behind it : then the plain 74 ME. FLINTOlVs MODEL. of the Derwent stretches out to the lake of that name ; and at the southern end the Borrowdale mountains are grouped with wonderful effect, — Castle Crag occupying the most conspicuous place. On the eastern side, to the left of the spectator, Wallabarrow Crag rears its crest, and unfolds its woods below ; while the opposite side of the lake is guarded by Cat Bells and other mountains, bare and pointed, and possessing a character of their own. A steep winding road descends into the valley ; and at the foot of the hill lies Keswick. There is no beauty in the primitive little town itself ; but it has its attractions, besides the convenience of its central situation among so many mountains and valleys. Of these attractions, the first is, undoubtedly, Mr. Flintoft's Model of the Lake District, which is within a few yards of all the principal inns, and may be seen during a shower, when, otherwise, the stranger might be losing temper in hearing the rain drip. That model, — at first sight an uneven ugly bit of plaster, — will beguile a sensible traveller of a longer time than he would suppose possible. Ten minutes would give him a better idea of the structure and distribution of the country than all maps and guide books ; but he will probably linger over it till he has learned all the sixteen large lakes, and some of the fifty-two small ones, and traced every road and main pass in the dis- trict. Crosthwaite's Museum is also a place of great interest, for its own sake, as well as that of its founder, — Peter Crosthwaite, the first real explorer, surveyor and draughtsman of the district, and the inventor of the seolian harp, the lifeboat (the reward of which inven- KESWICK. 75 tion he missed through carelessness in a government office,) and various other matters, useful or curious. The museum contains ancient coins, ancient books, and a good geological and mineralogical collection. It was begun between 70 and 80 years ago ; and the founder died in 1808. It is preserved, improved and exhibited by his descendants. The inns of Keswick are numerous. The chief are the Eoyal Oak, the Queen's Head, and the King's Arms, — all good. EXCURSIONS FROM KESWICK. DEEWENT WATEE. The first object of attention will be the lake itself; and it will probably be viewed by boat. The upper- most thought at all points about the foot of the lake is of the Derwentwater family. They had once a castle on the hill called Castlehead, where they built upon the site of a Druidical circle. This hill should be visited for the view. The Eatcliffes also possessed Lord's Island, the largest on the lake, where their mansion is said to have been built from the stones of the old one on Castlehead. Eamps Holme, another of the islands, was their' s also ; and the hermit, the dear friend of St. Cuthbert, who lived in St. Herbert's Isle in the seventh century, is somehow mixed up in legends, in local imaginations which are careless of dates, with the same family. All that is known of St. Herbert is, that he really had a hermitage in that island, and that St. Cuthbert and he used to meet, either at Lindisfarn or Derwentwater, once a year. The legend about their deaths is well known ; that, according to their prayer, they died on the same day. There is beauty in the tradition that the man of action and the man of medi- tation, the propagandist and the recluse, were so dear to each other, and so congenial. Vicar's, or Derwent KESWI CK S ECHO N DERWENT WATER. 77 Isle, is the other of the four larger islands. Lord's Isle was once a part of the mainland. The Eatcliffes cut a fosse, in the feudal times, and set up a draw- bridge. When the young Lord Derwentwater was captured for being " out " in 1715, his lady escaped, and saved her liberty and the family jewels (to use them on behalf of her husband) by clambering up one of the clefts of Wallabarrow Crag, since called the Lady's Eake. Every where are there traces of the unhappy family; even in the sky, where the aurora borealis is sometimes called, to this day, Lord Der- wentwater's lights, because it was particularly brilliant the night after his execution. The lake is about three miles long, and, at its broad- est part, about a mile and a half wide. Its waters are singularly clear, and its surface often unruffled as a mirror. Then it reflects the surrounding shores with marvellous beauty of effect, — from the bare crest of the crag and peak of the mountain to the grassy knoll and overhanging birch. Pike, trout, and perch abound in the lake ; but not char, which requires deeper water. The Floating Island, whose appearance is announced in the newspapers at intervals of a few years, has obtained more celebrity than it deserves. It is a mass of soil and decayed vegetation, which rises when distended with gasses, and sinks again when it has parted with them at the surface. Such is the explanation given by philosophers of this piece of natural magic, which has excited so much sensation during successive genera- tions. Sometimes it comes up a mere patch, and some- times measuring as much as an acre. FIRST TOUR. WATENDLATH, BOEROWDALE, EOSTHWAITE, GEANGE, L0D0EE. MILES. MILES. Keswick to Watendlath Road If 3£ Watendlath 5 2 Rosthwaite 7 3 Lodore 10 3 Keswick ,. 13 If the tourist desires, (as it is to be hoped that he does) to see one of the primitive valleys of the district, — one of those recesses lapped in the mountains, where the sounds of civilized life have hardly penetrated, let him now go to Watendlath (locally called Wathen- dal) and descend into Borrowdale by Bosthwaite. The circuit is one of thirteen miles ; and it must be accom- plished on foot or horseback ; for there is no carriage- road in the upper part. So few pass that way that the women afford a remarkable specimen of the effects of a life of exclusive seclusion. The men go to markets and sales, and have more use of their tongues and wits accord- ingly. The road along the lake side is followed, till it gives out a branch before reaching Barrow House. Up this by-road the explorer goes, and passes behind and above Barrow House, soon reaching the stream that feeds the Barrow fall, which may be visited by strangers in the grounds below. The upland valley runs parallel with the lower one ; and in it lies the clear circular pool which feeds the fall of Lodore. Stout pedestrians say BOREOWDALE. 79 that the walk over the trackless heather, turning to the left, over the fells to Thirlmere, is glorious in a fine autumn day. No doubt it is : but our business now is to follow the track before us. It takes us to the little foot-bridge between the tarn and the verge of the crag ; and the peep down the 'chasm shows the lake and the Skiddaw range in beautiful union. Helvellyn rises to the east, and Scawfell and Bowfell show them- selves in front, all the way down into Borrowdale. The descent upon Rosthwaite is the concluding treat. The way is easy, — a gentle slope over grass and elas- tic heather ; and the whole surface is starred over with bright heath flowers. The head of the dale, imposing under all aspects, opens out, and seems to be spreading its green levels for the stranger's rest. The passes to Langdale by the Stake, to Wastdale by Sty Head, and to Buttermere by Honister Crag, disclose themselves round the projecting Grlaramara. The other way lie Grange and the lake ; and beneath lies Eosthwaite, with the brattling stream behind, which must be crossed by stepping-stones to reach the little inn. Before turning his face lakewards, the traveller must go forward a few yards from Simpson's inn, to where he will see a narrow entrance and steps in the right- hand fence. He must go in there, and mount that little hill, called Castlehill, whence the truest and best total view of Borrowdale is obtained ; for the station is nearly central. He is now standing in the middle of that far-famed Borrowdale, of which so many curious tales are told. Its inhabitants were once considered as primitive as we 80 ANCIENT WISDOM. now consider those of Watendlath ; and a good deal more, if the current stories are true. It is said that an old Borrowdale man was once sent a very long way for something very new, by some innovator who had found his way into the dale. The man was to go with horse and sacks (for there were no carts, because there was no road) to bring some lime from beyond Keswick. On his return, when he was near Grange, it began to rain ; and the man was alarmed at seeing his sacks begin to smoke. He got a hatful of water from the river ; but the smoke grew worse. Assured at length that the devil must be in any fire which was aggra- vated by water, he tossed the whole load over into the river. That must have been before the dalesmen built their curious wall ; for they must have had lime for that. Spring being very charming in Borrowdale, and the sound of the cuckoo gladsome, the people deter- mined to build a wall to keep in the cuckoo, and make the spring last for ever. So they built a wall across the entrance, at Grange. The plan did not answer ; but that was, according to the popular belief from generation to generation, because the wall was not built one course higher. It is simply for want of a top course in that wall that eternal spring does not reign in Borrowdale. Another anecdote shows, how- ever, that a bright wit did occasionally show himself among them. A "statesman" — (an " estatesman," or small proprietor) — went one day to a distant fair, or sale, and brought home what neither he nor his neighbours had ever seen before ; — a pair of stirrups. Home he came jogging, with his feet in his stirrups ; BENEFITS OF EDUCATION. 81 but, by the time he reached his own door, he had jammed his feet in so fast that they would not come out. There was great alarm and lamentation ; but, as it could not be helped now, the good man patiently sat his horse in the pasture for a day or two, his family bringing him food, till the eldest son, vexed to see the horse suffering by exposure, proposed to bring both into the stable. This was done ; and there sat the farmer for several days, — his food being brought to him, as before. At length it struck the second son that it was a pity not to make his father useful, and release the horse ; so he proposed to carry him, on the saddle, into the house. By immense exertion it was done ; the horse being taken alongside the midden in the yard, to ease the fall : and the good man found himself under his own roof again, — spinning wool in a corner of the kitchen. There the mounted man sat spinning, through the cleverness of his second son, till the lucky hour arrived of his youngest son's return, — he being a scholar, — a learned student from St. Bees. After duly considering the case, he gave his counsel. He suggested that the goodman should draw his feet out of his shoes. This was done, amidst the blessings of the family ; and the goodman was restored to his occupations and to liberty. The wife was so delighted that she said if she had a score of children, she would make them all scholars, — if only she had to begin life again. It is by no means to be supposed, however, that there was no wit in the valley, but what came from St. Bees. On the contrary, a native genius, on one occa- F 82 THE BOWDEE. STONE. sion, came to a conclusion so striking that it is doubt- ful whether any university could rival it. A stranger came riding into the dale on a mule, and, being bound for the mountains, went up the pass on foot, leaving the animal in the care of his host. The host had never seen such a creature before, nor had his neigh- bours. Fearing mischief, they consulted the wise man of the dale ; for they kept a Sagum, or medicine man, to supply their deficiencies. He came, and after an examination of the mule, drew a circle round it, and consulted his books while his charms were burning ; and, at length, announced that he had found it. The creature must be, he concluded, a peacock. So Bor- rowdale could then boast, without a rival, of a visit from a stranger who came riding on a peacock. There is a real and strong feeling in the district about these old stories. Only last year, when a Borrowdale man entered a country inn, a prior guest said simply "cuckoo," and was instantly knocked down; and a passionate fight ensued. This cannot last much longer, — judging by the number of new houses, — abodes of gentry, — built or building in Borrowdale. The wrath must presently turn to a laugh in the humblest chim- ney corner in the dale. Eosthwaite is beautifully situated near the centre of the dale, and at the confluence of the two mountain brooks which form the Derwent. This river flows through the lakes of Derwent Water and Bassen- thwaite, passes Cockermouth, and falls into the sea at Workington. Following its course, the traveller reaches the Bowder Stone at a mile from Eosthwaite, GRANGE. 83 a fallen rock, standing on its point, and about thirty feet high, and sixty long. There are steps for ascent to the top ; but it is as well seen from below, where it cannot but catch the eye of the passenger. A mile further lies Grange, at the entrance of the dale, with its undulating bridges crossing the windings of the river. When the Abbots of Furness owned the whole of Borrowdale, a few monks were placed at its entrance, to receive and guard the crops ; and this place was their granary. It is now a picturesque hamlet, which must be familiar to all who haunt exhibitions of pictures. Nobody who carries a pencil can help sitting down on the grass to sketch it. Just behind it, the noble wooded rock, which leaves room only for the road and the river, is Castle Crag ; and nimble youths who have reached its summit, say the view is splendid. It is, in itself, a fine spectacle. After this, the traveller begins to listen for the fall of Lodore, and he finds the inn at the distance of a mile from Grange. It is a delightful little inn, clean and well managed, and by its situation, preferable to those at Keswick, except for the convenience of head- quarters. To visit the fall, the way is through the gay little garden, and the orchard, (where the fish-preserves are terrible temptations to waste of time) and over a foot bridge, and up into the wood, where the path leads to the front of the mighty chasm. It is the chasm, with its mass of boulders and its magnificent flanking towers of rock, that makes the impressiveness of the Lodore fall, more than the water. No supply short of a full river or capacious lake could correct the dispro- of 84 LODOKE. portion between the channel and the flood. After the most copious rains, the spectacle is of a multitude of little falls, and nowhere of a sheet or bold shoot of water. The noise is prodigious, as the readers of Southey's description are aware : and the accessaries are magnificent, Gowder Crag on the left, and Shepherd's Crag on the right, shine in the sun or frown in gloom like no other rocks about any of the falls of the dis- trict ; and vegetation flourishes every where, from the pendulous shrubs in the fissures, 200 feet overhead, to the wild flowers underfoot in the wood. On a lustrous summer evening, when the lights are radiant, and the shadows sharp and deep, the scene is incomparable, whatever may be the state of the water. When the stream is fullest, and the wind is favourable, it is said the fall is heard a distance of four miles. There is something else to be heard here ; and that is the Bor- rowdale echoes. A cannon is planted in the meadow before the inn, which awakens an uproar from the sur- rounding crags to Glaramara. The road from Lodore to Keswick, about three miles, runs between the lake and the Wallabarrow and Falcon Crags. It is a charming walk in all seasons, — sheltered in winter, shady, for the most part, in summer ; and in spring and autumn presenting a vast variety of foliage, bursting forth or fading. SECOND TOUR. BY THE VALE OP NEWLANDS, CRTTMMOCK WATEE, SCALE HILL INN, AND BACK BY WHINLATTEE. MILES. Keswick to Portinseale 1| Swinside 4J Keskadale ... If Newlands Haws 1| Buttermere Inn 4 Scale Hill 4 Lorton 3 Summit of Whinlatter 2| Braithwaite 2| Keswick MILES. If 2| 7 8| 10 14 18 21 23^ 26 The tour which embraces the country between the four lakes, Derwent Water, Buttermere, Crummock Water and Bassenthwaite, is one of twenty-six miles ; and it should be allowed to occupy the greater part of a day, — time being taken both for survey and refresh- ment. Its outset will afford a good opportunity for visiting Greta Hall, Southey's abode, and his monu- ment in Crosthwaite Church ; — a recumbent statue by Lough, — the inscription being written by Wordswort^. The villages along the road, beginning with Portinseale, will exhibit their own evidence of the employment of the inhabitants in the woollen manufacture ; an ancient staple of the town and district, as is shown by the inscription which has come down from the olden time, engraven on a flagstone. " May God Almighty grant His aid To Keswick and its woollen trade." r3 86 TALE Or KEWLAKDS. Afterwards, the views over the rich plain, and glimpses into fertile valleys are charming, till the road winds in among what the oldest guide-books truly call the solemn pastoral scenes that open after leaving Keskadale. The houses of Keskadale are the last seen before entering on the ascent of Newlands Haws. The vale formed by the rapid slope of mountains that are bare of trees, boggy in parts, and elsewhere showing marks of winter slides, is wholly unlike any thing else in the district. Its silence, except for the bleating of sheep ; its ancient folds, down in the hollow, the length and steepness of the ascent, and the gloom of the mountain, — Great Robinson, with its tumbling white cataract, — render this truly " a solemn pastoral scene." At the head of the vale, it is found not to be shut in. A turn to the right discloses a new landscape. A descent between green slopes of the same character leads down directly upon Buttermere. The opposite side of the hollow is formed by the mountain Whitelees. The stream at the bottom flows into Crummock Water; and the four peaks of High Crag, Hayrick, High Stile, and Eed Pike, are ranged in front. * The Lake of Buttermere and Honister Crag must be left for another day. To-day, the turn is to the right, and not to the left. The traveller may proceed along Crummock Water either by boat or in his carriage. Or he may leave the horse to bait at Buttermere while he takes a boat to see Scale Force, and returns. The meadow between the two lakes is not more than a mile in extent. The walk to the boat lies through its small patches of pasture and wooded knolls ; and a CRTJMMOCK WATER. 87 pretty walk it is. The path is prolonged to Scale Force over the fields ; but it is usually too swampy to be agreeable, when a boat can be had. A short row brings the stranger to the mouth of the stream from the force ; and he has then to walk a mile among stones, and over grass, and past an old fold. The chasm between two walls of rock, which are feathered with bright waving shrubs, affords a fall of 160 feet, — high enough to convert the waters into spray before they reach the ground. It is one of the loftiest waterfalls in the country ; and some think it the most elegant. There is a point of view not far off which the traveller should visit. His boat will take him to the little promontory below Melbreak, called Ling Crag. From 200 yards, or rather more, above this, he will see two lakes and their guardian mountains to the greatest advantage. The drive along Crummock Water is one of the most charming we know ; especially where the road forms a terrace, overhanging the clear waters, and sweeping round Eannerdale Knot. Melbreak fills up the opposite shore, with its isolated bulk ; and Eed Pike discloses its crater ; both being streaked with red and lead-coloured screes, and tracts of bright verdure and darker moss. On the side where the road is, Whitelees, Grassmoor, and Whiteside rear their swel- ling masses ; and the road winds pleasantly among fields and meadows, till it passes behind the Lan- thwaite Woods, and turns down, in full view of the rich Vale of Lorton, to Scale Hill Inn. That best and most home-like of inns should be the traveller's resting 88 SCALE HILL INK. place for days together, if he desires a central point whence he may visit a great extent of the lake country, while in command of a variety of pleasures near at hand. From Scale Hill he can descend into the vale of Lorton, and enjoy a change from the ruggedness of the dales. Or, he may visit the most solemn and imposing of the lakes, — Wast Water ; and also En- nerdale. He commands all the roads to Keswick, and the vales that lie between. Crummock Water yields char, as well as every other lake fish, in abundance. The mountain tops are accessible : from Lowfell, which may be a lady's morning walk, to Eed Pike, which is a pretty good day's scramble for a stout student. There is Lowes Water at one end of Crummock, and Buttermere at the other : and at home there is a spacious, clean, airy house, standing in a garden ; good fare, careful attendance, and reasonable charges. Scale Hill is a place to spend a month in, in a fine season. A few minutes will take the stranger up to the Station, by a path from the inn door. The Station is a hill in Lanthwaite Wood, whence a magnificent view is obtained of a stern mountain group, (the central group of the whole district,) on the one hand, and the rich levels of Lorton Yale on the other, backed, in favourable lights, by the Scotch mountains. This spot is one on which to linger through a long summer day, pacing the sward, and choosing seats from rock to rock, along the whole crest. The stranger must now, however, take this brief survey, and hope to come again. He has twelve miles to go to Keswick ; and TALE OE LOETOK. 89 the early part of it is steep and slow. The turn is to the right, at about a mile from Scale Hill, leaving the Cockermouth road, which traverses the vale of Lorton. The higher he ascends, the more lovely are the views over that vale that the traveller obtains, till at length the Solway gleams in the sun, and the Scotch moun- tains appear beyond. If he has good eyes, the driver will point out to him, at a vast distance, the famous old Lorton yew, appearing like a dark clump, beside a white farmhouse. When fairly under Whinlatter, six or seven miles from Scale Hill, he cannot but admire, — in one or the other sense of the word, — the colour- ing of the hill itself, if the time be anywhere from June to September. The gaudy hues of the mingled gorse and heather are, at that season, unlike any exhi- bition of colour we have seen elsewhere, — exceeding even the far-famed American forest. As the north- western vision vanishes, the south-eastern opens ; and the vale of Keswick and Skiddaw in its noblest aspect, and the lakes far below, looks finer than ever. After passing through Braithwaite, he soon recognises the road, and returns to Keswick by the well-known bridge over the Derwent. THIRD TOUR. CIECTJIT OF BASSENTHWAITE. MILES. Keswick to Peel Wyke 1 Ouse Bridge 1 Castle Tim 3 Bassenthwaite 5 Keswick MILES. . 8 . 9 10 , 13 18 Bassenthwaite is perhaps the last of the lakes to be visited, unless it be Hawes Water. Hawes Water is difficult of access to the ordinary tourist : and Bassen- thwaite verges towards the flat country, which is not what the traveller came to visit. It is amusing to observe how the residents in the district became more sensible every year to the beauty of the merely undu- lating country through which the mountains sink into the plains : while strangers have hardly patience to look at it, in their eagerness to find themselves under the shadow of the great central fells. Bassenthwaite is one of the outermost lakes ; and it is therefore no more cared for by the tourists in general than the foot of Coniston or Windermere. Still, considering that Skiddaw overshadows its eastern shore, it would seem worthy of some attention ; and the drive of eighteen miles round it is, in truth, a very pleasant one. This lake is larger than Derwent Water, being four BASSEKTHWAITE. 91 miles in length and one mile in breadth. The distance from lake to lake is between three and four miles, a large proportion of which is apt to be flooded in winter ; and occasionally the waters actually join, so as to present the appearance of a lake of ten miles long, — the length of Windermere. These floods are a serious drawback to the productiveness of the lake levels, and the health and comfort of the inhabitants. The side opposite Skiddaw is the most interesting of the two; so the traveller takes it first. The road passes through Portinscale and Braithwaite to Thorn- thwaite, and leaves Whinlatter on the left. It passes through woods and pretty glades which make a charm- ing foreground, while old Skiddaw fills the view on the opposite shore. Lord's Seat and Barf rise boldly to the left, and the road runs, for the most part, on the margin of the lake. It winds round after passing Peel Wyke, to Ouse Bridge, beneath which the lake discharges itself in the form of the much enlarged river Derwent, which flows away towards Cockermouth. If it is thought worth while to go a mile or two out of the way for an exceedingly fine view, the traveller will follow the Hesket road for a mile beyond Castle Inn, and ascend the Haws on the right. Thence he will see a charming landscape, — the open vales of Embleton and Isell, and the whole expanse of the lake, with its rich terraced shores. From Castle Inn, it is eight miles to Keswick. The road turns away from the lake, and presents nothing more of remarkable beauty. FOURTH TOUR. ASCENT OF SKIDDAW. The ascent of Skiddaw is easy, even for ladies, who have only to sit their ponies to find themselves at the top, after a ride of six miles. There must be a guide, — be the day ever so clear, and the path ever so plain. Once for all let us say, in all earnestness, and with the most deliberate decision, that no kind of tourist should ever cross the higher passes, or ascend the mountains, without a guide. Surely, lives enough have been lost, and there has been suffering and danger enough, short of fatal issue, to teach this lesson. But the confident and joyous pedestrian is not the most teachable of human beings. In his heart he despises the caution of native residents, and in his sleeve he laughs at it. The mountain is right before him; the track is visible enough ; he has a map and guide book, and boasts of his pocket-compass. With the track on his map, and track on the mountain, both before his eyes, how should he get wrong ? So he 'throws on his knapsack, seizes his stick, and goes off whistling or singing, — the host and hostess looking after him and consulting as he strides away. For some time he thinks he can defy all the misleading powers of heaven and earth. But, once out of reach of human help, he finds his case not quite so easy as he thought. Instead of one path, as marked GUIDES. 93 on his map, he finds three; and perhaps the one he relies on may have disappeared under recent accidents, or have lapsed into swamp. He finds himself on the edge of a precipice, and does not know how far to go back. He finds the bog deepen, and thinks he can scarcely be in the right road. He finds a landslip, which compels him to make a wider circuit, and mean- time it is growing dusk. Worst of all, a fog may come on at any moment ; and there is an end of all security to one who does not know the little wayside-marks which guide the shepherd in such a case. Tales are current through the region of the deaths of natives, even in the summer months, through fog, wet, fatigue, or fall, — the native having a better chance than a stranger, ten times over. And why should the risk be run ? It cannot be to save the fee, in the case of a journey of pleasure. The guide is worth more than his pay for the information he has to give, — to say nothing of the comfort of his carrying the knapsack, — as many knapsacks as there are walkers. If solitude be desired, the meditative gentleman will soon find that anxiety about the way, and an internal conflict with apprehen- siveness are sad spoilers of the pleasures of solitude. Better have a real substantial, comfortable, supporting shepherd by his side, giving his mind liberty for con- templation and enjoyment of the scene, than the spectres of the mountain perplexing him on all sides, and marring his ease. But enough. Travellers who know what mountain climbing is, among loose stones, shaking bog, and slippery rushes or grass, with the alternative of a hot sun or a strong wind, and perpetual 94 ASCENT. liability to mist, will not dispute the benefit of having a guide: and novices ought to defer to their judgment. If we have seemed to dwell long on this point, it is because warning is grievously wanted. It will probably not be taken by those who want it most ; but it ought to be offered. Even in the mild ascent of green Skiddaw, then, there is a guide. — At the distance of half-a-mile from Keswick, on the Penrith road, just through the tollbar, a bridge crosses the Greta. The road, after crossing this bridge, winds round Latrigg, and in the direction of Low Man, crossing the barren plain called Skiddaw Forest. The plain of Keswick, and the lake and its islands, grow smaller and smaller, and the surrounding mountains seem to swell and rise, as the road gently climbs the side of Skiddaw ; and, when about half way up, that lower world disappears, while a more distant one comes into view. The Irish Sea and the Isle of Man rise, and the Scotch mountains show themselves marshalled on the horizon. At the first summit, after a mile of craggy ascent, steeper than the rest, the city of Carlisle comes into view, with the coast and its little towns, round to St. Bees, with the rich plains that lie between. But there is a higher point to be reached, after an ascent of 500 feet more ; and here Derwentwater comes into view again. And how much besides ! Few lakes are seen ; but the sea of mountain tops is glorious ; and the surrounding plains ; and the ocean beyond ; and land again beyond that. In opposite directions, lie visible, Lancaster Castle and the hills of Kirkcudbright, Wigton and Dumfries. Lancaster Castle FOUNTAINS SEE I ■ *~&, DESCENT. 95 and Carlisle Cathedral in the same landscape ! and Snow- don and Criffel nodding to each other ! Ingleborough, in Yorkshire, looking at Skiddaw over the whole of Westmorland that lies between ; with the Isle of Man as a resting place for the glance on its way to Ireland ! St. Bees Head, with the noiseless waves dashing against the red rocks, being almost within reach, as it were ! And, as for Scawfell, Helvellyn, and Saddleback, they stand up like comrades, close round about. Charles Lamb was no great lover of mountains : but he enjoyed what he saw. " 0 ! its fine black head," he wrote of Skiddaw, " and the bleak air atop of it, with a prospect of mountains all about and about, making you giddy ; and then Scotland afar off, and the border countries, so famous in song and ballad ! It is a day that will stand out like a mountain, I am sure, in my life ! " " Bleak " the air is indeed " atop," — exposed as the summit is to the sea winds. If the stranger desires to take a leisurely view, he must trouble his guide or his pony with a railway wrapper, or something of the sort, to enable him to stand his ground. The descent may be made, for the sake of variety, by a road through Milbeck and the pretty village of Applethwaite ; or by descending the north side of the mountain, and coming out upon the road, just north of the village of Bassen- thwaite. FIFTH TOUR. ASCENT 0E SADDLEBACK. An expedition to Saddleback affords a good opportu- nity of visiting the Druids' Temple, a mile and a-half from Keswick. This very well-preserved memorial of antiquity stands in a field, near the entrance of St. John's Vale. The stones, forty-eight in number, form an oval ; and there is a peculiarity in this case which distinguishes it from all other Druidical monuments extant in England. On the eastern side, within the circle, there is a small recess formed by ten stones, making an oblong square. As Southey observed, the spot is the most commanding that could be chosen, short of a mountain side ; and it is indeed nearly sur- rounded by mountains, which it recognises in their true forms, from the levels, — with the exception of the plain towards Penrith, — being sunk out of view. The old legend about the last human sacrifice of the Druids may belong to any of the monuments of that age in the district ; and it is probably claimed for them all. According to that old story ; when some people settled in a clearing of the woods, beside a river, somewhere to the south of the district, the priests took up their station further north, among the mountains, where there were plenty of stones fit and ready for their temple. After a time, a fever laid waste the lower LEGEND. 97 settlement; and the oracle demanded a sacrifice to appease the divine wrath. The lot fell on a young girl who was betrothed : and, on an appointed day, she was conveyed, with all the ceremonies, to the temple. A small hut of wickerwork, like a large beehive, was found set up on the western side of the temple. The girl was led into the circle, and placed in the midst, while the dedication proceeded. "We are even told that she was adorned with an oak garland, and held mistletoe in her hand. The whole population was looking on from a distance : but it must have been within reasonable reach, as every one was required to contribute a stick to the fire. The wretched lover saw all from afar ; and he daringly resolved, — let the god be as wrathful as he pleased, — not to contribute so much as a twig to the burning of his beloved. She was seen to enter the door, which was next the circle ; and then the priest closed it up, and heaped the dried leaves and sticks that were brought all round the hut. The arch-druid mean- time was procuring fire from two pieces of wood. He succeeded, and set the pile in a blaze. In this moment of desperation, the lover saw every mountain round give forth a great cataract; and all the floods gushed to the temple as to a centre, and made an island of the little hut, — returning when they had extinguished the fire. The victim came forth, with not a hair singed, and not a leaf of her garland withered. The arch-druid, skilled to interpret thunder, seems to have understood in this case the voice of waters ; for he announced that, henceforth, the god would have no more human sacri- fices. Any resident who is sufficiently familiar with a 98 DETJIDICAL CIKCLES. the country people to get them to speak their minds fully, will find that they still hold to the notion that nobody can count the druid stones correctly ; and also that a treasure is buried under the largest stone. As to the first, — there are, in most such circles, some smaller stones cropping out of the ground which some visitors will, and others will not, include among those of the circle. We ourselves counted Long Meg and her daughters, near Penrith, many times before making out the prescribed sixty-seven, with any certainty. As for the treasure, can any one prove that it is not there ? Nobody wants to undermine the stone, to get rid of the tradition : so our neighbours are like the Arabs at Petra, who have been shooting with sling, bow, and matchlock, for a thousand years, at the urn, where they are sure Pharaoh's treasure is, — in its niche in the rock temple. For a thousand years, they have failed to bring it down, and are determined that no European shall. And no European would dismantle the temple to disabuse the Arabs ; and so the tradition and the urn stand untouched. So may it be for ages to come with Long Meg, and the giant of eight tons' weight that presides over the Keswick circle ! The ascent of Saddleback may begin behind Threl- keld, up a path which the villagers will point out : but an easier way, is to diverge from the main road some way further on, by the road to Hesket, near the village of Scales. The hill-side path is to be taken which leads along Souter Fell, by the side of the stream which descends from Scales tarn. This part is the very home of superstition and romance. This Souter, or Soutra SOTJTER FELL GHOSTS. 99 Fell, is the mountain, on which ghosts appeared in myriads, at intervals during ten years of the last century, — presenting precisely the same appearances to twenty-six chosen witnesses, and to all the inhabi- tants of all the cottages within view of the mountain ; and for a space of two hours and a-half at one time — the spectral show being then closed by darkness. The mountain is full of precipices which defy all marching of bodies of men ; and the north and west sides present a sheer perpendicular of 900 feet. On Midsummer eve, 1735, a farm-servant of Mr. Lancaster's, half-a-mile from the mountain, saw the eastern side of the summit covered with troops, which pursued their onward march for an hour. They came, in distinct bodies, from an eminence in the north end, and disappeared in a niche in the summit. "When the poor fellow told this tale, he was insulted on all hands ; as original observers usually are when they see anything wonderful. Two years after, also on a Midsummer eve, Mr. Lancaster saw some men there, apparently following their horses, as if they had returned from hunting. He thought nothing of this ; but he happened to look up again ten minutes after, and saw the figures now mounted, and followed by an interminable array of troops, five abreast, marching from the eminence and over the cleft, as before. All the family saw this, and the manoeuvres of the force, as each company was kept in order by a mounted officer who galloped this way and that. As the shades of twilight came on, the discipline appeared to relax, and the troops intermingled, and rode at unequal paces, till all was lost in darkness. Now, of o2 100 SOTTTER TELL GHOSTS. course, all the Lancasters were insulted, as their servant had been : but their justification was not long delayed. On the Midsummer eve of the fearful 1745, twenty-six persons, expressly summoned by the family, saw all that had been seen before, and more. Carriages were now interspersed with the troops ; and every body knew that no carriages ever had been, or could be, on the summit of Souter Fell, The multitude was beyond imagination ; for the troops filled a space of half-a-mile, and marched quickly till night hid them, — still march- ing. There was nothing vaporous or indistinct about the appearance of these spectres. So real did they seem that some of the people went up, the next morn- ing, to look for the hoof-marks of the horses; and awful it was to them to find not one foot-print on heather or grass. The witnesses attested the whole story on oath before a magistrate ; and fearful were the expectations held by the whole country-side about the coming events of the Scotch rebellion. It now came out that two other persons had seen something of the sort in the interval, viz., in 1743, — but had concealed it to escape the insults to which their neighbours were subjected. Mr. Wren, of Wilton Hall, and his farm- servant, saw, one summer evening, a man and a dog on the mountain, pursuing some horses along a place so steep that a horse could hardly, by any possibility, keep a footing on it. Their speed was prodigious, and their disappearance at the south end of the fell so rapid, that Mr. Wren and the servant went up, the next morning, to find the body of the man who must have been killed. Of man, horse, or dog, they found SCALES TAEN. 101 not a trace: and they came down, and held their tongues. When they did speak, they fared not much the better for having twenty-six sworn comrades in their disgrace. As for the explanation, — the Editor of the Lonsdale Magazme declared (Vol. ii. p. 313.) that it was discovered that on that Midsummer eve of 1745, the rebels were "exercising on the western coast of Scotland, whose movements had been reflected by some transparent vapour, similar to the Fata Morgana." This is not much in the way of explanation : but it is, as far as we know, all that can be had at present. The facts, however, brought out a good many more ; as the spectral march of the same kind seen in Leicestershire in 1707: and the tradition of the tramp of armies over Helvellyn, on the eve of the battle of Marston Moor. And now the tourist may proceed, — looking for ghosts, if he pleases, on Souter Fell. Here, too, lies another wonder, — that tarn (Scales Tarn) which is said to reflect the stars at noonday, — a marvel which we by no means undertake to avouch. The tarn is so situated at the foot of a vast precipice, and so buried among crags, that the sun never reaches it, except through a crevice in early morning. This dark water is one of the attractions which bring strangers to this mountain ; though the easy ascent of Skiddaw better suits the greater number. Another attraction here is the deeper solitude of the recesses of old Blencathra, — as Saddleback should still be called. Another is the view of Derwent Water from the sum- mit. Southey says, " Derwent Water, as seen from the || top of Saddleback, is one of the finest mountain scenes g3 102 ASCENT. in the country." That summit is called Linthwaite Fell; and there the guide will point out, better than we can do, the various objects, — seas, islands, castles in their woods, and cities of the plain ; mountains, far and near ; shores, like the boundaries of an estate, and lakes like its fish ponds. People who made the ascent sixty years since have left a terrifying account of its dangers, such as now excites a smile among energetic tourists. One gentleman was so "astonished," near the' outlet, "with the different appearance of objects in the valley beneath," that he chose to stay behind. Another of the four presently "wished to lose blood and return:" but he was coaxed onward to the tarn, where, however, he could see no stars, though it was noonday. Mr. Green, with his companion, Mr. Otley, was among the earlier adventurers who stood on the highest ridge. He was so accurate an observer that his descriptions of unfrequented and unalterable places will never be anti- quated. "From Linthwaite Pike," he says, "on soft green turf, we descended steeply, first southward, and then in an easterly direction to the Tarn; a beautiful circular piece of transparent water, with a well-defined shore. Here we found ourselves engulphed in a basin of steeps, having Tarn Crag on the north, the rocks falling from Sharp Edge on the east, and on the west, the soft turf on which we had made our downward progress. These side-grounds, in pleasant grassy banks, verge to the stream issuing from the lake, whence there is a charming opening to the town of Penrith; and Cross Fell seen in extreme distance. Wishing to vary our line in returning to the place we had left, we SHAEP EDGE. 103 crossed the stream, and commenced a steep ascent at the foot of Sharp Edge. We had not gone far before we were aware that onr journey would be attended with perils; the passage gradually grew narrower, and the declivity on each hand awfully precipitous. Prom walking erect, we were reduced to the necessity either of bestriding the ridge, or of moving on one of its sides, with our hands lying over the top, as a security against tumbling into the tarn on the left, or into a frightful gully on the right, — both of immense depth. Some- times we thought it prudent to return; but that seemed unmanly, and we proceeded; thinking with Shakspere that c dangers retreat when boldly they're confronted.' Mr. Otley was the leader, who, on gain- ing steady footing, looked back on the writer, whom he perceived viewing at leisure from his saddle the remainder of his upward course." On better ground they had a retrospect on Sharp Edge, — which is the narrowest ridge on Saddleback, or any other north-of- England mountain. In places, its top is composed of loose stones and earth; and, the stepping on the sides being as faithless as the top, the Sharp Edge expedi- tion has less of safety in it than singularity. And now, — those who, after this, like to go there, know what they have to expect. The other mountain-lake, lying north-east of this, and called Bowscale Tarn, is also reputed to reflect the stars at noon-day, but under so many conditions, that it will be a wonder if any body ever has the luck to see them. It is in this tarn that, in the belief of the country people, there are two fish which cannot die; — 104 DESCENT. the same fish that used to wait on the pleasure of the good Lord Clifford when, in his shepherd days, he learned mathematics from the stars upon the mountain. The traveller can return either by the way he came; or by Knott Crag, down upon Threlkeld; or by following the course of the Glenderaterra, along the skirts of Saddleback and Skiddaw, — coming out upon the Kes- wick road about a mile from Threlkeld. This last mode of descent is considered by far the most interesting. Whenever he passes that bit of road to Keswick, he will be more and more struck with the advantages of the situation of the mansion on Greta Bank, with its airy position, its walks through the woods, with the Greta dashing below; and afar, the uninterrupted view of the whole of Derwentwater basin and surround- ing mountains. The tenth commandment is, we imagine, offcener broken there than in most places. PAET III. CIRCUIT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT. FIRST TOUR. MILES. MILES. Keswick to Threlkeld 4 3 Moor End 7 7 Gowbarrow Park 14 5 Patterdale 19 3 HighHartsop 22 7 Ambleside 29 There is a circuit by which the chief objects of the Lake District can be seen in four days, even by ladies and elderly persons. We will describe this route, interpolating some directions for stout pedestrians who can undertake more than the majority of tourists. The starting-point of this tour may be either Kes- wick or Ambleside, according as the traveller enters the district from the north or the south. Supposing it to be Keswick, the first day's journey is by Matterdale to Ullswater, and by the Kirkstone Pass to Ambleside. The distance from Keswick to Patterdale is nineteen miles ; and from Patterdale to Ambleside ten more ; so that the journey should begin in good time, if the 106 MATTEEDALE. scenery is to be truly enjoyed. The first part of the road, as far as Threlkeld, has been abundantly described. It then becomes wild and bleak, while commanding noble distant views of the Keswick mountains, and of the saddle-shaped aspect of Old Blencathra. Mell Pell, the ugliest of hills, — like a tumulus planted all over with larch, grows larger as the traveller proceeds, till he finds he is to make a sharp turn to the right, and pass directly under it. Judging from our own ex- perience, we should say that this part of the journey is always broiling hot or bitterly cold. A bleak high- lying tract it certainly is, where the old monks no doubt suffered much and often in their expeditions. Their paternosters said among the perils of Ullswater, and their Ave Marys here are supposed to have given the names of Patterdale and Matterdale, which become more interesting as soon as their origin is known. From Matterdale, the road drops down upon G-ow- barrow Park, already described at p. 40. It is a usual practice to send on the carriage to the Patterdale Inn, (weather permitting) where the driver will order dinner to be ready in two hours or so: and then the traveller will explore the park, and see Ara Force, and walk the remaining four miles, — enjoying as he goes, the very finest views of Ullswater. An ordinary party of travellers will be content with the road to Ambleside, to close the labours of the day. But young men will choose, if there be daylight left, to diverge to the left at Hartsop, to see Hays Water. The track passes among the farms, and beside the beck, between the mountains, and up till the source is HATS WATEB. 107 reached, — the secluded tarn called Hays Water. This little lake is a mile and a-half from the main road, and the ascent is rather steep. It is the delight of the angler, because it is also the delight of the trout. It is overhung by High Street; so that perhaps the Eoman Eagles, as well as the native birds of the rocks, have cast their shadows upon its surface. Not far off lies Angle Tarn, on the southern end of Place Fell. Both these tarns send their brooks down, to swell the stream from Brothers' Water, which is itself supplied from the busy, noisy beck that descends the Kirkstone Pass; and the whole, united with a tributary from Deepdale, form the clear brown stream which winds through Patterdale, and empties itself into Ullswater. Brothers' Water derives its name from the accident — which is said to have happened twice, — of brothers being lost in it, in the attempt of one to save the other. On one of the two occasions, the accident happened through the breaking of the ice, when the brothers were making a venturesome short cut across it to church. — No persuasion of ours can be necessary to induce any traveller to visit Deepdale, if he has time. Its aspect from the road is most tempting ; — only, it cannot, like the walk to Hays Water, be accomplished, in the longest summer day, in addition to the route given for the day. An account of Ambleside will be found at p.p. 44. SECOND TOUR. AMBLESIDE TO STBANDS AND WAST WATEB. MILES. Ambleside to Collision 9 Broughton 4* Ulpha Kirk 4 Stanley Ghyll 4 Santon Bridge 2 Strands MILES. 9 18 22* 26* 30* 32* MILES. Ambleside to Skelwifch Bridge 1 Colwith Bridge 2* Fell Foot 1* Top of Wrynose 2* Cockley Beck 3 Bridge over the Esk ... 2* Stanley Ghyll 4 Santon Bridge 2 Strands miles. 3 4 6* 8 10* 13* 16 20 22 There are two ways, meeting at Stanley Ghyll, — (the grand waterfall of the district,) — which are about equally beautiful, though entirely unlike; but the shorter one, by Cockley Beck, is fit only for good walkers, in fair weather. There is no reason why ladies should not achieve it, by taking ponies, or a car, which they will quit in the steeper parts. We will suppose, in order to describe both, that the party divides, — the young men going sixteen miles on foot, by the moun- tains to Stanley Grhyll, and meeting there the carriage party, who have made a circuit of about ten miles longer, and will take up the pedestrians for the remain- ing six miles to Strands. The drive to Coniston has been already described. THE DTTDDON. 109 The road now to be followed, passes through Coniston and Torver, and then diverges from the lake, overlook- ing a region in which the hills sink into heathery undulations, which again subside into a wide alluvion, which stretches to the estuary. When it is high water, the scene is fine: but the vast reaches of sand at low water are dreary. The coast railway is seen crossing the estuary, — its cobweb tracery showing well against the sand or the water. Near at hand Brough- ton Tower rises from the woods above the little town : but there is nothing else to detain the eye. Tourists who desire to ascend Blackcombe, should do it from hence, — the summit being only six miles from Brough- ton ; and guides are here to be procured. Wordsworth says of this mountain that "its base covers a much greater extent of ground than any other mountain in those parts; and, from its situation, the summit com- mands a more extensive view than, any other point in Britain." One would think that this testimony, and Col. Mudge's information that, when residing on Blackcombe for surveying purposes, he more than once saw Ireland before sunrise, would bring strangers to try their luck in seeing Scotland, Staffordshire, and Ireland, from the same point : but the mountain lies out of the ordinary track of tourists, and very few visit it. The next portion of the drive is charming ; — up the valley of the Duddon. The series of sonnets that Wordsworth has given us may have led strangers to expect too much : but to an unprepossessed eye the valley must appear lovely. Leaving the Bootle road 110 TTLPHA KIRK. and the bridge to the left, the road ascends so steeply that the travellers will get out and walk; and many a time will they turn to the sea-view, and the wooded slopes on the way to Bootle, and the rocks, dressed with wild flowers, that enclose the road. Then comes a common covered with fern, in which the greenest of paths form a net-work : and far below dashes the brown river, between rocky banks ; and Duddon Grove, with its conservatories and beautiful grounds and green clearings, is seen in the hollow of the vale. Four miles from Broughton, the bridge at Ulpha Kirk spans the river, and discloses a beautiful view, up and down. One thing which the traveller is always expected to remark is the strange holes (called pots) worn by the waters in the rocks, and the rounding of the edges of the boul- ders and shelves in the channel. Ulpha Kirk is a mere hamlet ; but there is a little inn at which the horses can rest if the party are disposed for a walk to the scene of Robert Walker's life and labours. Ulpha Kirk itself is one of the primitive places where the old man- ners of the district may yet be traced more clearly than in most road-side settlements. The people still think it no sin to do their farm work on Sundays, when the weather, — so precarious here, — is favourable; and the familiar style of " the priest" in these parts makes the transition from work to worship very natural. Some time since there was a blind " priest" settled there. One Sunday morning, the bell rang before the people were all ready; and especially the stoutest farmer in the neighbourhood, who, detained by some cow, pig, or sheep, entered the church last of all, " thunnerin' down ROBERT WALKER'S CHURCH. Ill the aisle." "Wha's comin' now?" asked the blind priest ; and, being informed by the clerk that it was John T , he inquired further, " a-foot or a-horse- back?" Odd sprinklings of learning are found in these by-places, as in Scotland. Some students staying at this same little inn, and wanting to settle their account, wrote a note in Latin to the landlord, asking for the bill, and sent it by the girl who waited. Mr. Gunson, the landlord, (from whom the present landlord is descended) immediately sent in the bill in Greek. It was too much for the students, who were obliged to ask to have it in English. There was a " heigh-larned" woman, not far from hence, who married a farmer on the moor. When every body was lamenting the hard times, she declared that, for her part, she would be contented if she could obtain food and raiment; where- upon her husband rebuked her presumption. "Thoo fule," said he : " thoo dusn't think thoo's to hey mare than other folk. J'se content wi' meeat and claes." Newfield Church, in Seathwaite, is the place where Eobert Walker, called " the Wonderful," exercised his office for sixty years. The grey farmsteads stand under their sycamores, dispersed in the vale, and up the slope which meets the Walna Scar track from Coniston. Eocky and wooded knolls diversify the dale ; and the full beck runs down to join the Duddon, for which it is often mistaken : but the Duddon is unseen here, so deep lies its channel among the rocks. The church is little loftier or larger than the houses near* But for the bell, the traveller would hardly 112 THE PAKSOltfAGE. have noticed it for a church on approaching: but when he has reached it, there is the porch, and the little graveyard with a few tombs, and the spreading yew, encircled by the seat of stones and turf, where the early comers sit and rest till the bell calls them in. A little dial, on a whitened post in the middle of the enclosure, tells the time to the neighbours who have no clocks. Just outside the wall is a white cottage, so humble that the stranger thinks it cannot be the par- sonage : yet the climbing roses and glittering ever- greens, and clear lattices, and pure uncracked walls, look as if it might be. He walks slowly past the porch, and sees some one who tells him that it is indeed Eobert Walker's dwelling, and courteously in- vites him in to see the scene of those life-long charities. Here it was that the distant parishioners were fed on Sundays with broth, for which the whole week's supply of meat was freely bestowed. Hither it was that in winter he sent the benumbed children, in companies, from the school in the church, to warm themselves at the single household fire, while he sat by the altar all the school hours, keeping warmth in him by the exercise of the spinning wheel. But the story is too well known, as it stands in "Wordsworth's works, to need further celebration here : too well known, we should think, not to induce tourists to walk two miles from Ulpha Kirk and back again, to visit the homes, in life and in death, of Eobert Walker. There are changes even here. There is a school-house, warmer in winter than the church: and there is a decline in the number of attendants at church. The Wesleyan chapel at Ulpha BIEKEB MOOR. 113 has drawn away some; and the taste for Sunday diversion, which has found its way over the hills from Coniston, estranges more; and the descendant and successor of the good pastor says that " the old stocks are gone, and the new families are different." Thus is the large world's experience reflected in this little vale ! The finest part of the Duddon scenery is just here ; and it is a charming walk by the stepping-stones, celebrated by Wordsworth, and up and over the moor, to descend upon Eskdale. The travelling party sees nearly the same view, as far as the mountain is con- cerned, by crossing at Ulpha Kirk, and getting upon the moor that way. As soon as the enclosures are past, up springs the lark, and freely runs the rills, and keen is the air ; and ghostlike are the mountains that appear by degrees above the high foreground of the moor. It is a rare pleasure in the lake district to meet with the lark. It is only on a very wide expanse of moorland that it can happen ; for in the valleys the birds of prey allow no songsters. The eagles are gone (or nearly,) and few ravens are left among the crags ; but there are hawks domineering in every vale ; so that those who would hear the lark must go out to such places as Birker Moor. — The mountain group in front is that which has been remarked upon before as the centre of the region ; the lofty nucleus whence the vales diverge (as Wordsworth observed after Green) "like the spokes of a wheel." Scawfell is the highest; and the whole line, from that peak to Hardknot, is very fine in all lights. The dark basin formed in the midst H 114 STANLEY GHTLL. of the group will be observed. There Wast Water lies. On the right, a rude new road at length appears, tending towards a wooded ravine. That ravine is Stanley Gill, and at its head is the waterfall. The key may be had at the farmhouse of Dalegarth ; and there perhaps, or in the glen, the party from Fellfoot may be found to have arrived first. The Stanley Ghyll Fall has much the character of Ara Force ; and the immediate surroundings may per- haps be rivalled by other waterfalls in the district. But the glen itself is indisputably the finest in the region ; and it is scarcely possible to say too much of the view from the Moss-house on the steep, which should certainly be the first point of view. From hence the eye commands the whole ravine, whose sides are feathered with wood from base to ridge. The fall is between two crags, — the one bare, the other crowned with pines ; and if there is a slant of sunlight between them, it gives the last finish of beauty to the chasm. The most modern element in the scene, the young larches, cannot offend the eye, — so well is their vivid green intermingled with the well-grown beech, oak, birch, and hollies, of a somberer hue. There is a bridge below, descried from the moss-house, which will tempt the stranger to find his way down ; and there he will meet with two more, by means of which he will reach the fall. Here, among a wilderness of ferns and wild flowers, he may sit in the cool, damp abyss, watching the fall of waters into their clear rock-basin, till his ear is satisfied with their dash and flow, and his eye with SANTOS BRIDGE. 115 the everlasting quiver of the ash sprays, and swaying of the young birches, which hang over from the ledges of the precipice. A path then leads him under the rocks, now on this side of the stream, and now on that, till he emerges from the ravine, and winds his way through the hazel copse to the gate. It may be thought that our travellers have not leisure for much of this meditating in the glen : and it is true that by this time the sun is sloping westwards ; but there are only six miles to be travelled ; and there are no more rough mountain tracks to-day, but a good road, — (wonderfully red) across Eskdale, and all the way to Strands. After crossing the Esk, and passing the little inn at Bout, the road runs above the river, till, at the King of Prussia Inn, it turns up out of Eskdale, arid crosses into Miterdale. Before Eskdale is lost sight of, the opening of the valley to the sea affords a fine view, with the little town of Ravenglass seated in the bay where the Irt, the Mite, and the Esk flow into the sea. Then comes a long ascent, and more views of the levels towards the coast, — rich with woods and fields, bounded by sands and sea. Then there is a descent, to cross the Mite ; and another ascent ; and a descent again to pretty Santon Bridge, on the winding Irt. Instead of passing the bridge, however, the road to the right must be taken, which leads, in two miles, to Strands. There is again a long ascent : but even the tired traveller will not complain of it, when the circle of mountains round Wast Water opens before him. The lake is not visible ; but there is no mistaking where it lies. To the right, H2 116 STRANDS. and close at hand, the Screes present their remarkable sweep of debris, and crests streaked with red, grey, and vivid green, and here and there cloven for the passage of cataracts from the brow, which tumble down through the gloom of woods. Hawlghyll is the largest of these ravines. Next, the Scawfell peaks rise above the rest ; and Great End just peeps over the shoulder of Lingmell. The cleft between Lingmell and Great Gable is Sty Head Pass ; and to the left, from Great Gable, are Yewbarrow and Middlefell. The broken foreground on the common whence this view is seen adds greatly to its beauty. Descending upon Wastdale, the Irt is crossed ; and then the road meets others on the green. The one to the right leads to the lake. Sweeping round to the left, and passing the church, — so small and domestic-looking as to appear like a house, — the road reaches the two little inns. They are humble but clean; and horses can be had, and boats for the lake. Now we must see how the party by Fellfoot has fared. Their route has been described, as far as Skelwith Bridge ; — viz : the road by Clappersgate, and the Brathay valley, in which, however, they must keep the right-hand road. Passing Skelwith Bridge, they had better, if on foot, go through the gap in the wall mentioned in p. 49, and follow the path in the wood which will lead them out into the road at the top of the hill. After about a mile from hence, they must take the road to the right, which turns sharp down the very steep hill to Colwith Bridge. Colwith Force, a little THE SHIEE STONES. 117 further on, will make itself heard and seen. It tumbles from a height of seventy feet, and the adjuncts are beautiful. One mile further along the winding road or lane, Langdale Tarn comes into view, with Wetherlam swelling up grandly to the south of it. About a mile further on, there is a gate from which the road parts ; — the straight forward one leading on to Blea Tarn and Langdale, and the left hand one, which our travellers must follow, leading to Pellfoot, and the old road from Kendal to Whitehaven, which was the only route before carriers' carts found their way into the region. Fellfoot was the house of entertainment whence the pack-horse cavalcade began the ascent, or where they stopped to congratulate themselves on having accom- plished the descent. The ascent of Wrynose from this point is long and rather steep : but the views behind become grander with every step. The travellers are now in Westmorland; but at the three shire stones at the top, where three counties meet, they will step into Lancashire, in order to leave it for Cumberland at Cockley Beck bridge, within three miles further on. We are glad to hear that a spirited citizen of Amble- side, to whom his neighbours are under great obliga- tions, has erected a stone pillar at the spot where the shire stones are, that the junction of counties may not be overlooked (as it easily might be before) by the unob- servant traveller. Young tourists, who happen to have long limbs, may enjoy the privilege of being in three counties at once, by setting their feet on two of the three stones, and resting their hands on the third. The stream which is now on the right, divides Lancashire h3 118 COCKLEY BECK. from Cumberland ; and Westmorland is left behind. We know nothing wilder in the district than the next two miles. These are the desolate hills in which the Duddon and the Esk take their rise ; and Cockley Beck is the spot where the Duddon must be left, to cross over to the Esk. There is a farmhouse near the bridge, where horses can be refreshed, when a car comes this way, while travellers sit down by the stream to dinner. A melancholy and harassed traveller once came this way, whose adventure is still talked over in Eskdale and Borrowdale. A party of tourists, among whom were two sisters, were on the heights, intending to cross Esk Hause into Borrowdale, and to spend the night at Seathwaite, — the first settlement there. Now there is, as we have seen, another Seathwaite on the Duddon ; and mistakes frequently arise between them. On Esk Hause, one of the ladies lost sight of her party behind some of the rocks scattered among the tarns there, and took a turn to the right instead of the left. A shepherd of whom she enquired her way to Seath- waite pointed down the Duddon valley ; and that way she went till she found herself at Cockley Beck, when the old shepherd farmer who lived there was getting his supper in the dusk of the autumn evening. He used his best courtesy to induce her to stay till day- light : but she was bent on going at once, — so great would be her sister's terror. As she would not be persuaded, the old man went with her, putting his crust into his pocket. It was dark, and the lady was weary ; and she was not aware what she was undertaking. After a long struggle, she fainted. The old man was ESKDALE. 119 afraid to leave her, lest lie should not find her again ; but he succeeded in reaching the water without losing sight of her white dress. He dipped his crust and brought water in his hat to bathe her face. She revived, ate the crust, and strove onwards, — persevering on her weary way till between one and two in the morning, when she meet her sister and a party coming from Seathwaite to Borrowdale, with a dozen lanterns, to search for her. She gave her guide " a one pound note ; " (it was so long ago as that) and afterwards, sent him two more. The whole family connexion of that lady will remember for ever that there is a Seathwaite on each side of Esk Hause. From Cockley Beck, the road climbs the side of Hardknot, and from the highest point commands a view of the sea. The descent into Eskdale is charming, — the ravine to the left, in which the infant river flows down, being beautifully wooded, and the whole valley, with its few hamlets and many sheep, lying open, as far as the sea. In three miles from Cockley Beck, the bridge over the Esk is passed; and Stanley Ghyll is less than three miles further. Scawfell and all that group of summits, are in view to the right, during the descent : and to the left, Birker Force is seen dashing over the rocks. Bout comes next, and then Dalegarth and Stanley Grhyll, where our travellers will join their party, after a walk of sixteen miles from Ambleside. THIRD TOUR. EROM STRANDS AND WAST WATER TO SCALE HILL INN. MILES. MILES, Stbands to Gosforth 3 4 Calder Bridge 7 7 Ennerdale Bridge 14 3 Lamplugh Cross 17 4 Lowes Water 21 2 Scale Hill 23 The objection to seeing Wast Water early in the morning, is that Scawfell may too probably be covered with clouds. He does not take off his night cap so soon as the pleasure-seeker. On this account, we have preferred, when weather was favourable, the Pellfoot way to Strands, as leaving time for an evening drive to Wastdale Head, — five miles and back again. The travellers by Broughton must no doubt wait till the morning. Taking a cup of tea and a crust, and order- ing breakfast for two hours hence, the party may start early for the far-famed Wast Water, — the most solemn and imposing of all the lakes. For some way, the road is a pretty lane, with frequent gates, till the beautiful abode of Crook End, the seat of Stanfield Rawson, Esq., is passed. Hawlghyll and the other fissures are probably breathing forth their vapours, which keep ascending all the way. There are the Screes, with the grey and still lake, — too deep to be ever frozen, — lying at the base of their prodigious sweep, WASTWATER SECTION. WASTDALE HEAD. 121 The lake is three and a-half miles long, and has the Screes for its south-eastern shore. The line of this singular range is almost unbroken. The crags are hidden, about a-third of the way down, by the slope of many-coloured debris which slants right into the lake. The summer thunderstorm and the winter tempest sometimes shiver the loosely-compacted crags above ; and then, when a mass comes thundering down, and splashes into the lake, the whole range feels the shock, and slides of stones rush into the water, and clouds of dust rise into the air. We gave, in approaching Strands, (p. 79.) the names of the mountains as they are now seen. The road winds pleasantly round bays and over promontories, and the pyramidal Yewbarrow, Great Gable, which closes in the dale, and Lingmell and the Scawfell Pikes to the right, all explain themselves. Several brooks and rills are passed, flowing down from the valleys; and the stranger exclaims that he should like to spend a whole summer here, to explore all the ways among the mountains. Several gentlemen have spent weeks together at Bitson's farm-house, at the dale head, where there are clean beds, and farm-house fare in plenty and perfection. The opening out of the dale head, when the valley has appeared to close in round the lake, is as wonderful a spectacle to strangers as any thing they see. The dale is one of those perfect levels, shut in by lake and mountains, which give a different impression from any other kind of scenery in the world. The passes themselves are so high as to leave no appearance of outlet, except by the lake; and of these I 122 STJPEESTITIONS. passes there are but two, — the Sty Head and Mosedale paths. The green and perfect level, to which the mountains come down with a sheer sweep, is partly- divided off into fields; and a few farm-houses are set down among the fields, on the bends of the gushing and gurgling stream. There is a chapel, — the humblest of chapels, — with eight pews, and three windows in three sides, and a skylight over the pulpit. There is now a school: — a chapel and a school and no public house ! The schoolmaster is entertained on " whittle- gate" terms; that is, he boards at the farm-houses in turn. An old man told us that the plan answers- "He gets them on very well," said he; "and particularly in the spelling. He thinks that if they can spell, they can do all the rest." Such are the original conclusions arrived at in Wastdale Head. It struck us that the children were dirtier than even in other vales, though the houses are so clean that you might eat your dinner off the board or the floor. But the state of children's skin and hair is owing to superstition, in all these dales ; and the schoolmaster is the one who should cure the evil. A young lady who kindly undertook to wash and dress the infant of a sick woman, but who was not experienced in the process, exclaimed at the end, "O dear! I forgot it's hands and arms. I must wash them." The mother expressed great horror, and said that " if the child's arms were washed before it was six months old, it would be a thief;" and, added she, pathetically, " I would not like that." The hair and hltils must not be cut for a much longer time, for fear of a like result. The Yorkshire people put the alterna- KIEKFELL. 123 tive of dirty and clean rather strongly in their proverb, " Better hev a bairn wi a mucky feace than wash its noase off:" but the Cumberland folk view the matter more in a moral way, and refuse to have their children baptised into thievery. Kirkfell, which stands backward, between Yewbar- row and Great Gable, was very tempting to a tourist who explored this neighbourhood some years ago ; and he set out to get to Buttermere by Blacksail and Scarf Gap. After hours of walking, he struck into the deep ravine between Kirkfell and Great Gable; and when he arrived within sight of a lake at night, he was con- founded to find it still Wast Water. He had walked completely round the mountain, instead of getting on. We observed to a comrade that this could not have happened if the tourist had carried a pocket-compass. "And not having a compass," said our friend, "he fetched one." Wastdale Head is the place whence the ascent of Scawfell should be made: but we must defer that ; as it would occupy the energies of a whole day. The party will now return the way they came; for there is no road, of course, under the Screes, though the shepherds venture along a perilous thread of a path in the loose debris. After breakfast, the travellers will address themselves to the very different spectacle of Calder Abbey and its environs. After climbing the long hill from Strands, an eager look-out will be kept for the Isle of Man: but the most probable point for seeing it is at the top of the hill between Gosforth (the reddest of villages) and 1 2 124 CALDER ABBEY. Calder Bridge. Far off at sea rises the outline of its mountains ; and when the wind is east, we have repeat- edly seen the shadows filling the hollow of its hills. From this eminence, the road descends through an avenue of heech, ash, and other trees, to Calder Bridge. Here the travellers will leave the carriage, which will meet them within an hour at Captain Irwin's gate, on their quitting the Abbey. They must now step into the inn garden at the bridge, and see how beautifully the brown waters swirl away under the red bridge and its ivied banks, while the waving ferns incessantly checker the sunshine. It is a mile to the Abbey, through the churchyard, and along the bank of the Calder, where again the most beautiful tricks of light are seen, with brown water and its white foam, red precipitous banks, and the greenest vegetation, with a wood crowning all. The scene is thoroughly monastic. There is no sound at noonday besides the gushing water, but the woodman's axe and the shock of a falling tree, or the whirr of the magpie, or the pipe of the thrush : but at night the rooks on their return to roost fill the air with their din. The ruins are presently seen, springing sheer from the greenest turf. Belies from the abbey are now placed beside the way ; and the modern house appears at hand. The ruins should be approached from the front, so that the lofty pointed arches may best disclose the long perspective behind of grassy lawn and sombre woods. The Abbey is built of red sandstone of the neighbourhood, now sobered down by time (it was founded in A J). 1134.) into the richest and softest tint that the eye could desire. But little CALDER ABBEY. 125 is known of it beyond its date and the name of its founder, Kanulph, son of the first Eanulph de Mes- ehines, a Norman noble. The church was small, as the scanty remains show ; and the monastery, which now looks like a continuation of the same building, could not have contained a numerous company. From the fragments of effigies preserved, it appears that some eminent persons were buried here ; but who these knights and nobles were, there is no record that can tell, — carefully as these memorials were wrought to secure the immortality of this world. The eye is first fixed by the remains of the tower, from whose roofless summit dangles the tufted ivy, and whose base is embossed by the small lilac blossoms of the antirrhi- num ; but at last the great charm is found in the aisle of clustered pillars. Almost the whole aisle is standing, still connected by the cornice and wall which supported the roof. The honeysuckle and ivy climb till they fall over on the other side. There is a sombre corner where the great ash grows over towards the tower, making a sort of tent in the recess. There are niches and damp cells in the conventual range. It is a small ruin, but thoroughly beautiful : and when the stranger looks and listens, as he stands in the green level between woods, he will feel how well the old monks knew how to choose their dwelling-places, and what it must have been to the earnest and pious among these Cistercians to pace their river bank, and to attune their thoughts to the unceasing music of the Calder flowing by. In the broad noon it is a fine thing to see the shadows flung, short and sharp, on the sward, and to 1 3 126 EGEEMOKT. catch the burnish of the ivy, and woo the shade of the avenue : and in the evening, it is charming to see how the last glow in the west brings out the projections and recesses of the ruins, and how the golden moon hangs over the eastern mass of tree tops, ready to take her turn in disclosing the beauties of the monastic retreat. The Abbey is carefully preserved, and liberally laid open to strangers by Capt. Irwin. It is no fault of his that his house, a plain substantial modern dwelling, stands too near the ruins. He did not build it ; so there is nothing personal in the natural wish of strangers that it stood somewhere else. At the gate the carriage is waiting, and it takes the cross road, almost opposite the gate, up to Cold Fell. The drive over that fell is commonly called dreary ; and it is so in bad weather : but it has its charms. The sea-view is fine, — all flecked with cloud shadows as with islands : and the wide down sprinkled with sheep, that look as ragged as terriers, after tearing their fleeces with the furze and brambles with which the swelling slopes are embossed. In a hollow, at rare intervals, stands a farm-house, under the ordinary syca- more canopy ; and far away, between the slopes of the down below, the soil is cut up into fields, with woods hanging above ; and at the mouth of the vale, between it and the coast, stands Egremont, a little town of 1,500 inhabitants or so, and which certainly looks very pretty from the uplands ; — and cheerful too, in spite of its Eoman name, — (the Mount of Sorrow.) It is distinguished by Eoman traditions. It was at the gateway of Egremont Castle that the horn was hung, THE DE LACTS. 127 in crusading days, which was twice blown by the gallant Sir Eustace de Lacy. As the Cumberlanders tell, Sir Eustace and his brother Hubert rode forth together to the Holy Wars ; and Sir Eustace blew the horn, saying to his brother, " If I fall in Palestine, do thou return and blow this horn, and take possession ; that Egremont may not be without a Lacy for its Lord." In Palestine, ambition of this lordship so took possession of Hubert, that he hired ruffians to drown his brother in the Jordan : and the ruffians assured him that the deed was done. He returned home, and stole into the castle by night, — not daring to sound the horn. But he soon plucked up spirit, and drowned his remorse in revels. In the midst of a banquet, one day, the horn was heard, sounding such a blast that the echoes came back from the fells, after startling the red deer from his covert, and the wild boar from his drinking at the tarn. Hubert knew that none but Eustace could or would sound the horn: and he fled by a postern while his brother Eustace entered by the gate. Long after, the wretched Hubert came to ask forgiveness from his brother ; and having obtained it, retired to a convent, where he practised penance until he died. The ruins of this castle stand on an eminence to the west of the town. Before descending to Ennerdale Bridge, the outline of the Scotch mountains may be sometimes seen. Few travellers see more of this lake than in passing ; for, while exceedingly wild, it has not the solemnity of Wast Water ; and there is a want of wood, to give it grace and beauty. The enclosure of the waters by 128 TOUKISTS ASTKAY. bare mountains is, however, very fine. The neighbour- hood is full of stories of escapes and strange adventures of such pedestrian tourists as have explored the moun- tains : but carriage travellers look down from the road, and pass on. We have mentioned the young man who spent the whole of a previous day in walking round Kirk Fell. Worse happened, in October, 1852, to two gentlemen who went, with a pony, but without a guide, from Buttermere to Wastdale Head, by Scarf Gap and Blacksail. In Ennerdale valley, wind and rain met them. They struggled part of the way along Black- sail, when they became bewildered, and soon so exhausted that they had a narrow escape with their lives. But for a brandy flask, which one of them carried, they could not have survived. The pony seems to have sunk as rapidly as the men. These gentlemen have publicly suggested the erection of some conspicu- ous landmarks, to show the track ; and they have uttered their warning, in corroboration of so many others, against crossing mountains without a guide. One of their chief difficulties was the paths being turned into watercourses, and thereby disguised. It was on the same track that the three Kendal young ladies, mentioned by Mr. Green in his "Guide" (two of whom are still living) lost their way, from dismissing their guide too soon, and actually staid all night on the mountain, where, if it had not been fine summer weather, they would have perished. They took a guide over Scarf Gap, and as far as the junction of the three roads from Buttermere, Ennerdale, and Wastdale. The STOEM OlS' THE EELL. 129 guide left them on the right road, and with full infor- mation as to the rest of the way. They took the wrong side of the brook, however, and so got bewildered. It was only four p.m., when the guide left them : but darkness overtook them still wandering. When they came down upon Tyson's house, early in the morning, the family could not believe the story of their descent, so perilous was the way they had come. One of the ladies had, however, lost a pocket-book : and they had seen a dead sheep : and, somebody immediately going up, these incidents were verified : and the adventure of the Kendal ladies remains one of the wonders of the dales. We had once an adventure in this neighbourhood, the moral of which is, the comfort and security of having a guide. We wanted to cross Blake Fell to Loweswater. The distance to Scale Hill Inn was only six miles ; the time summer ; and the track well marked on map and mountain. If there ever was a case in which a guide might be thought unnecessary, it was this: but two of the party were young strangers; and the third would not assume the charge of them. The heat was excessive that day ; so we lagged behind the guide, on the ascent, though he carried knapsack and baskets. He was a quiet-looking elderly mountain- eer, who appeared to walk very slowly ; but his progress was great, compared with ours, from the uniformity and continuity of his pace. In the worst part of the walk, we tried the effect of following close behind him, and putting our feet in his tracks ; and we were surprised to find with what ease and rapidity we got on. At first we stopped repeatedly, to sit down and drink from 130 STOEM ON THE PELL. the streams that crossed the track, or flowed beside it : and during those halts, we observed that the blackness which had for some time been appearing in the west, now completely shrouded the sea. Next, we remarked that while the wind still blew in our faces, — that is, from the north-east, — the mass of western clouds was evidently climbing the sky. The guide quietly observed that there would be rain by and by. Next, when we were in the middle of the wide fell, and we saw how puzzling the network of swampy paths must be at all times, we pointed out to one another how the light fleeces of cloud below the black mass swept round in a circle, following each other like straws in an eddy. Soon, the dark mass came driving up at such a rate that it was clear we should not finish our walk in good weather. The dense mist was presently upon us. On looking behind, to watch its rate of advance, we saw a few flashes of lightning burst from it. The thunder had for some time been growling afar, almost inces- santly. The moment before the explosion of the storm was as like a dream as a waking state can be. We were walking on wild ground, now ascending, now descending ; a deep tarn (Floutern Tarn) on our right hand, our feet treading on slippery rushes, or still more slippery grass ; the air was dark, as during an eclipse ; and heavy mists drove past from behind, just at the level of our heads, and sinking every moment ; while before us, and far far below us — down as in a different world — lay Buttermere and the neighbouring vales sleeping in the calmest sunshine. The contrast was singular — of that warm picture, with its yellow lights STOEM ON THE FELL. 131 and soft blue shadows, with the turbulence and chill and gloom of the station from which we viewed it. We had but a moment to look at it ; for not only did the clouds sink before our eyes, but the wind scudded round to the opposite point of the compass, throwing one after another of us flat as it passed. Within a few minutes, one of us had six falls, from the force of the wind and the treachery of the ground, — now in a trice, a medley of small streams. It was impossible to stop the guide, for a moment's breath. In the roar of the blast, and crash of the thunder, and pelt of the hail, one might as well have spoken to the elements : so it was necessary for us all to keep up our pace, that he might not stride away from us entirely. Through stumblings and slidings innumerable, we did this, — the lightning playing about our faces the while, like a will-o'-the-wisp on the face of a bog. The hail and rain had drenched us to the skin in three minutes. The first hailstones reached the skin. They were driven in at every open- ing of our clothes ; they cut our necks behind, and filled our shoes. Our hats and bonnets were imme- diately soaked through, and every body's hair wringing wet. The thunder seemed to roll on our very skulls. In this weather we went plunging on for four miles, through spungy bogs, turbid streams, whose bridges of stones were hidden in the rushing waters ; or by narrow pathways, each one of which was converted by the storm into an impetuous brook. When we had descended into a region where we could hear ourselves speak, we congratulated one another on our prudence in having engaged a guide. Without him, how should 132 LOWES WATER. we have known the path from the brook, or have guessed where we might ford the streams, when the bridges were out of sight ? Two horses, w^e afterwards heard, were killed on the same fell in that storm : and we should never have come down, we wTere persuaded, if we had been left to wander by ourselves. Lamplugh Cross is three miles from Ennerdale Bridge ; and thence the road begins to descend, and for the most part continues descending for the remain- ing six miles to Scale Hill Inn. On leaving the com- mon, from which the Solway and Scotch mountains are visible, and turning down through a gate upon Lowes Water, the view of the central mountain group is again very fine. Lowes Water is one of the out-lying lakes, and its lower end is tame accordingly : but it is only a mile long ; and the peaks congregate finely about its head. The circuit of Lowes Water, (seven miles) is a charming morning's walk. There is a prosperous look about the homesteads there, and a richness about the meadows which smacks of the level country, which, in the shape of the Vale of Lorton, is near at hand. On the road between Lowes Water and the inn at Scale Hill, the great peaks of the central group are all visible, from Grassmoor to Great Gable, and from Scaw- fell round to Melbreak ; while the prominent Ranner- dale Knot projects into Crummock Lake in front ; and Honister Crag peeps over from behind. As the reader knows, the whole group may be studied from Scale Hill ; and to the utmost advantage from the Station, (p. 88.) At Scale Hill Inn the travellers may close in comfort the third day of their circuit. FOURTH TOUR. FROM SCALE HILL, BY HWISTER CEAG, TO KESWICK. MILES. MILES, Scale Hill to Buttermere 4 2 Gatesgarth 6 2 Honister Crag- 8 2 Seatoller 10 2 Rosthwaite 12 3 Lodore 15 3 Keswick 18 The road as far as Buttermere has been described (p. 84). But the attention of the traveller has hardly been sufficiently called to the stormy character of this central district, as shown by the aspect of the moun- tains. No where else are they so scarred with weather marks, or so diversified in colouring from new rents in the soil. Long sweeps of orange and grey stones descend to Crummock Water; and above, there are large hollows, like craters, filled now with deep blue shadows, and now with tumbling white mists, above which yellow or purple peaks change their .hue with every hour of the day, or variation of the sky. The bare, hot-looking debris on the Melbreak side, the chasms in the rocks, and the sudden swellings of the waters, tell of turbulence in all seasons. The most tremendous waterspout remembered in the region of the lakes, descended the ravine between Grassmoor and Whiteside, in 1760. It swept the whole side of Grassmoor at midnight, and carried down everything that was lying loose all through the vale below, and 134 GEASSMOOR FLOOD. over a piece of arable land at the entrance, where it actually peeled the whole surface, carrying away the soil and the trees, and leaving the rocky substratum completely bare. The soil was many feet deep, and the trees fullgrown. Then it laid down what it brought, covering ten acres with the rubbish. By the channel left, it appears that the flood must have been five or six yards deep, and a hundred yards wide. Among other pranks, it rooted up a solid stone cause- way, which was supported by an embankment appa- rently as strong as the neighbouring hills. The flood not only swept away the whole work, but scooped out the entire line for its own channel. The village of Brackenthwaite, which stood directly in its course, was saved by being built on a stone platform, — a circum- stance unknown to the inhabitants till they now saw themselves left safe on a promontory, while the soft soil was swept away from beside their very doors, leaving a chasm where the flood had been turned aside by the resistance of their rock. The end of the matter was, that the flood poured into the Cocker, which rose so as to lay the whole south-western plain under water for a considerable time. On leaving Buttermere, and passing the very small chapel (which yet is " quite big" compared with the former one on the same site) the road up Buttermere Haws to Newlands is seen ascending to the left. The Lake of Buttermere is only a mile and a-quarter in length, and a little more than half-a-mile in breadth. The mountains which enclose it have been already named (p. 86.) The torrent that will be observed HONISTER CRAG. 135 flowing down the steep into the lake is called (as others in the district are) Sourmilk Ghyll : and it issues from Bleaberry, or Burtness Tarn, on the side of Eed Pike. The pretty domain near the margin of the lake is Hasness (General Benson's.) Then comes Gatesgarth, — the farmstead whence the road to Scarf Gap is taken, by which, as we have told, London gentlemen and Kendal ladies have run into such extreme danger. From Gatesgarth begins one of the wildest bits of road in the district. It climbs Buttermere Vale, by an ascent at first gradual, and latterly extremely steep, to the base of Honister Crag. It is a vast stony valley, where sheep and their folds, and a quarryman's hut here and there, are the only signs of civilization. There are no bridges over the stream (the infant Cocker), which must be crossed many times ; and where there are no stepping-stones, the pedestrian must wade. Every body walks up the last reaches of the ascent, — so steep and stony is the narrow road, and so formidable its unfenced state. The dark, stu- pendous, almost perpendicular, Honister Crag frowns above ; and as the traveller, already at a considerable height, looks up at the quarrymen in the slate quarries near the summit, it almost takes his breath away to see them hanging like summer spiders quivering from the eaves of a house. These quarrymen are a hardy race, capable of feats of strength which are now rarely heard of elsewhere. No heavily-armed knight, who ever came here to meet the Scot (and there were such encounters on this spot in the ancient border wars) carried a greater weight, or 136 SLATE QTJARRYMEIS". did more wonders in a day than these fine fellows. The best slate of Honister Crag is found near the top : and there, many hundred feet aloft, may be seen (by good eyes) the slate-built hovels of some of the quarry men, while others ascend and descend many times between morning and night. Now the men come leaping down with their trucks at a speed which appears appalling to strangers. Formerly, the slate was brought down on hurdles, on men's backs : and the practice is still continued in some remote quarries, where the expense of conveyance by carts would be too great, or the roads do not admit of it. Nearly forty years ago there was a man named Joseph Clark at Honister, who made seventeen journeys, (including seventeen miles of climbing up and scrambling down,) in one day, bringing down 10,880 pounds of slate. In ascending he carried the hurdle, weighing eighty pounds ; and in descending, he brought each time 640 pounds of slate. At another time he carried, in three successive journeys, 1,280 pounds each time. His greatest day's work was bringing 11,771 pounds; in how many journeys it is not remembered : but in fewer than seventeen. He lived at Stonethwaite, three miles from his place of work. His toils did not appear to injure him : and he declared that he suffered only from thirst. It was believed in his day that there was scarcely another man in the kingdom capable of sus- taining such labour for a course of years. In some places where the slate is closely compacted, and presents endways and perpendicular surface, the quarryman sets about his work as if he were going DESCENT INTO BORROWDALE. 137 after eagles' eggs. His comrades let him down by a rope from the precipice ; and he tries for a footing on some ledge, where he may drive in wedges. The diffi- culty of this, where much of his strength must be employed in keeping his footing, may be conceived : and a great length of time must be occupied in loosen- ing masses large enough to bear the fall without being dashed into useless pieces. But, generally speaking, the methods are improved, and the quarries made accessible by tracks admitting the passage of strong carts. Still, the detaching of the slate, and the loading and conducting the carts, are laborious work enough to require and train a very athletic order of men. In various parts of the district, the scene is marked by mountains of debris, above or within which yawn black recesses in the mountain side, where the summer thunders echo, and the winter storms send down formidable slides into the vales below. At the turn under Honister Crag, the vales behind disappear, and Borrowdale begins to open upon the eye ; — at first in the form of a triangular bit of green level far below among the hills. By degrees, the over- lapping mountains part asunder, and disclose more farmsteads and broader levels, till the fences are reached. Thence, it is a steep and rough descent upon Seatoller, by the side of the plunging and roaring stream, and its canopy of trees. Passing through the farm-yard at Seatoller, the travellers find themselves in Borrowdale, with only two miles more to Eosthwaite, (p. 79.) and eight to Keswick, and an excellent road all the way. Thus have our travellers, in the space of four days, 138 KATTJKAL EMBELISHMENT. seen the greater part of the lakes and mountains. If they have used their eyes and minds, they must have observed something of the material, moral, and social changes going on perpetually in this once secluded corner of the United Kingdom. As for the material changes, — those wrought in silence by Nature are of the same quiet, gradual, inevitable kind that have been going on ever since the mountains were upreared. She disintegrates the rocks, and now and then sends down masses thundering along the ravines, to bridge over a chasm, or make a ne\v islet in a pool. She sows her seeds in crevices, or on little projections, so that the bare face of the precipice becomes feathered with the rowan and the birch : and thus, ere long, motion is produced by the passing winds, in a scene where all once appeared rigid as a mine. She draws her carpet of verdure gradually up the bare slopes, where she has deposited earth to sus- tain the vegetation. She is for ever covering with her exquisite mosses and ferns every spot which has been left unsightly, till nothing appears that can offend the human eye, within a whole circle of hills. She even silently rebukes and repairs the false taste of unedu- cated man. If he makes his dwelling too glaring a white, she tempers it with weatherstains : if he indo- lently leaves the stone walls and blue slates unrelieved by any neighbouring vegetation, she supplies the need- ful screen by bringing out tufts of delicate fern in the crevices, and springing coppice on the nearest slopes. — The most significent changes, however, are in the disposition of the waters of the region. The margins NATURAL CHANGES. 139 of the lakes never remain the same for half a century- together. The streams bring down soft soil inces- santly ; and this more effectually alters the currents than the slides of stones precipitated from the heights by an occasional storm. By this deposit of soil new promontories are formed, and the margin contracts till many a reach of waters is converted into land, inviting tillage. The greenest levels of the smaller valleys may be seen to have been once lakes : and no one who looks down upon Grasmere, for instance, from the hill field behind the Hollins, can have any doubt as to what was once the extent of the waters. And, while Nature is thus closing up in one direction, she is opening in another. In some low-lying spot a tree falls, which acts as a dam when the next rains come. The detained waters sink, and penetrate, and loosen the roots of other trees ; and the moisture which they formerly absorbed goes to swell the accumulation till the place becomes a swamp. The drowned vegetation decays and sinks, leaving more room, till the place becomes a pool, on whose bristling margin the snipe arrives to rock on the bulrush, and the heron wades in the waterlilies to feed on the fish which come there, nobody knows how. As the waters spread, they encounter natural dams, ^behind which they grow clear and deepen, till we have a tarn among the hills, which attracts the browsing flock, and tempts the shepherd to build his hut near the brink. Then the wild swans see the glittering expanse in their flight, and drop down into it ; and the waterfowl make their nests among the reeds. This brings the sportsman ; and a k2 140 THE DALES. path is trodden over the hills ; and the spot becomes a place of human resort. While nature is thus work- ing transformations in her deeper retreats, the genera- tions of men are more obviously busy elsewhere. They build their houses, and plant their orchards on the slopes which connect the mountains with the levels of the valleys: they encroach upon the swamps below them, and plough among the stones on the uplands, — here fencing in new grounds, there throwing several plots into one : they open slate quarries, and make broad roads for the carriage of the produce: they cherish the young hollies and ash, whose sprouts feed their flocks, thus providing a compensation in the future for the vast destruction of the woods. Thus, while the general primitive aspect of the region remains, and its intensely rural character is little impaired, there is perhaps scarcely a valley in the district which looks the same from one half-century to another. The changes among the people proceed faster : and some of these changes are less agreeable to contem- plate, however well aware we may be that they are to issue in good. Formerly, every household had nearly all that it wanted within itself. The people thought so little of wheaten bread that wheat was hardly to be bought in the towns. Within the last few years, an old man of eighty-five was fond of telling how, when a boy, he wanted to spend his penny on wheaten bread ; and he searched through Carlisle from morning to evening before he could find a penny roll. The cultivator among the hills divided his field into plots where he grew barley, oats, flax, and other produce, to THE STATESMEN". 141 meet the needs of the household. His pigs, fed partly on acorns or beech mast, yielded good bacon and hams ; and his sheep furnished wool for clothing. Of course he kept cows. The women spun and wove the wool and flax, and the lads made the wooden utensils, baskets, fishing tackle, &c. Whatever else was needed was obtained from the pedlars, who came their rounds two or three times a-year, dropping in among the little farms from over the hills. The first great change was from the opening of carriage roads. There was a temptation then to carry stock and grain to fairs and markets. More grain was grown than the household needed, and offered for sale. In a little while the mountain farmers were sure to fail in competition in the markets with dwellers in agricultural districts. The mountaineer had no agricultural science, and little skill ; and the decline of the fortunes of the "statesmen," as they are locally called, has been regular, and mourn- ful to witness. They haunt the fairs and markets, losing in proportion to the advance of improvement elsewhere. On their first losses, they began to mort- gage their lands. After bearing the burden of these mortgages till they could bear it no longer, their children have sold the lands : and among the shopboys, domestic servants, and labourers of the towns, we find the names of the former yeomanry of the district, who have parted with their lands to strangers. Much misery intervened during the process of transition. The farmer was tempted to lose the remembrance of his losses in drink when he attended the fairs and markets. The capacity of the dalesmen in this respect, *r 3 142 BEAM DEHSTKINGL — in the quantity of strong liquor that they can carry — is remarkable; and they have only too good a training. Spirits are introduced on all occasions. At sales, of which there are many, every spring and autumn, in the dales, and which are attended by all the inhabitants who can go, for miles round, — glasses of spirit are handed round among the purchasers, all day long. The settling of accounts at Candlemas is attended by the same curse, — every debtor expecting his creditor to offer him the compliment of a glass of strong liquor. On that day, it is unpleasant for ladies to be abroad, near settlements where the Candlemas payments are making, — so many are the drunken people whom they meet. It is common to swallow the strong liquor undiluted, in considerable quantity. An old dalesman, welcome in Ambleside for his shrewd- ness, simplicity and originality, appeared one day at a house where the gentleman was absent, but the lady at home. The lady asked the visitor to sit down and await her husband's return, proposing to offer him some spirit and water meantime. He replied he wonnet be nice about t' first part e't' offer, but as tot' watter, it could be gitten at ony gate (way) side. To return to the former condition of the " states- man." The .domestic manufactures he carried to town with him, — the linen and woollen webs woven by his wife and daughters, — would not sell, except at a loss, in the presence of the Yorkshire and Lancashire woollens and cottons made by machinery. He became unable to keep his children at home ; and they went off to the manufacturing towns, leaving home yet more KAI1WAYS. 143 cheerless — with fewer busy hands and cheerful faces — less social spirit in the dales — greater certainty of continued loss, and more temptation to drink. Such is the process still going on. Having reached this pass, it is clearly best that it should go on till the primitive population, having lost its safety of isolation and independence, and kept its ignorance and gross- ness, shall have given place to anew set of inhabitants, better skilled in agriculture, and in every way more up to the times. It is mournful enough to meet every- where the remnants of the old families in a reduced and discouraged condition : but if they can no longer fill the valleys with grain, and cover the hillsides with flocks, it is right that those who can should enter upon their lands, and that knowledge, industry and temper- ance should find their fair field and due reward. We have no fear of injury, moral or economical, from the great recent change, — the introduction of railways. The morals of rural districts are usually such as cannot well be made worse by any change. Drinking and kindred vices abound wherever, in our day, intellectual resources are absent : and nowhere is drunkenness a more prevalent and desperate curse than in the Lake District. Any infusion of the intelligence and varied interests of the townspeople must, it appears be eminently beneficial : and the order of workpeople brought by the railways is of a desirable kind. And, as to the economical effect, — it cannot but be good, considering that mental stimulus and improved educa- tion are above every thing wanted. Under the old seclusion, the material comfort of the inhabitants had 144 SUPERSTITIONS. long been dwindling ; and their best chance of recovery is clearly in the widest possible intercourse with classes which, parallel in social rank, are more intelligent and better informed than themselves. In the pastoral valleys, the trouble occurs now and then that the milk will not churn. Elsewhere, the causes of this are understood, and cow and milk are treated accordingly. Not so here. The cow is at once concluded to be bewitched ; and it is apprehended that she will spread the witchery to the whole dairy. So, instead of any sensible method, the remedy tried is depositing in the cowhouse some soil from the nearest churchyard. As it is probable that this fails, time is lost in other proceedings. Stirring with a stick from the rowan tree is one of the least troublesome. If the cows are distempered, it is actually a practice in many of the dales to light the " need fire." Notice being given throughout the neighbouring valleys, that the charm may be sent for if wanted, the need fire is produced by rubbing two sticks together. A great pile of combustible stuff is prepared ; and the more smoke it can be made to give the better. When lighted, the neighbours snatch some of the fire to hurry home with, and light their respective piles. The cattle, diseased and sound, are then driven through the fire, as some of the Irish, by a remnant of pagan- ism, charm their property, and even their children, by passing or snatching them through the fire, making strangers ask wThether Moloch is acknowledged there still. It is said in a certain Cumberland dale, that when a farmer had driven all his other live property DALE MANAGEMENT. 145 through, he proceeded to drive his wife after the cows, saying he should then be safe from all distempers. If a cock crows in the night, horror and grief seize on the household : — some one is sure to die. If people meet a black ram, they turn their money for luck. They occupy their minds and waste their time in the silliest superstitions which keep true knowledge out. For the result, look at the productions of the region, — the torn and dirty wool, the sapless and scentless hay, allowed first to run to seed, and then to lie soaking and parching for weeks in the field, — the flour, the meat, the butter, the cheese, — look at any of these products in the more retired vales, and say whether intercourse with the world outside will not be a good thing for the fortunes of those within. To take only the last, — the cheese. After coming from the other grazing districts, and seeing how scientific a matter the management of a dairy has become, and what the best cheese is, the dairy management of Cumberland is marvellous. Our readers cannot be expected to believe the facts without good testimony : and we may refer them to such local publications as the "Lonsdale Magazine," where, (in Vol. ii. p. 13.) we are told that the Cumberland cheese is harder than buck-horn : and that in some places where the husbandmen wear clogs shod with iron, it is no uncommon thing to supply the absence of the iron with the crust of a dry cheese. There is plenty of testimony to cheese striking fire like a flint. A soldier used a cheese paring for a flint ; and a blacksmith at Cartmel averred that he struck sparks from a cheese while cutting it up with an axe. L 146 COUNTRY CHEESE. A tract of dry heather burned without intermission for three weeks, having been kindled by sparks from a cheese which had rolled from a cart on the road above, and bounded from crag to crag. These things are like the barbarism of two centuries ago. It is the railroad that must mend them. In a generation or two, the dale farms may yield wool that Yorkshire and Lan- cashire, and perhaps other countries, may compete for. The cheese may find a market, and the butter may be in request. And at the same time, the residents may find their health improved by the greater wholesome- ness of their food ; and, before that, their minds will have become stirred and enlarged by intercourse with strangers who have, from circumstances, more vivacity of faculty and a wider knowledge. The best, as well as the last and greatest change in the Lake District is that which is arising from the introduction of the railroad. PART IV. PASSES. LANGDALE, PROM BORROWDALE, BY THE STAKE PASS. — PATH TO EASED ALE. — PATH TO ESKHAUSE. The top of the Stake Pass is five miles and a-half from Eosthwaite. The last house, — Stonethwaite, — is left behind at the end of a mile. The path follows, and at length crosses, the stream, which is the infant Derwent, — finding its way down from Angle Tarn, lying high up in a recess of Bowfell. The rocky mass of Eagle Crag rises on the left; and further on, the curious stone called Black Cap. At the top of the Stake, the guide (who may be had from the inn at Eosthwaite) will point out the great summits, — the Scawfell Pikes, Bowfell, Hanging Knotts and Great Gable. Half a-mile of moorland leads to the descent on the Langdale side ; a zigzag path which keeps near the stream that dashes down into Langdale. The l2 14*8 DTTNGEOtf GHYLL. traveller is under the shadow of Bowfell now, and in the very centre of the mountains. Four miles from the top of the Stake will bring him down to Langdale Head ; and two miles more, to the farmhouse of Milbeck. Prom that farmhouse, where travellers can make a good meal of farmhouse fare, there is one thing to be done without doubt ; — to visit Dungeon Ghyll. As for the rest, this house is the point of departure in various directions, among three of which the traveller must make his choice. Strangers who arrive untired generally go to the Ghyll while their ham and eggs are preparing. The green path on the hill side will be pointed out from the farm : and the traveller must take care not to make for the waterfall he sees in front. The path he wants tends to the left, till it reaches a fence and gate, when it turns sharp to the right ; after which there is no possibility of losing the way. It presently joins the stream from the force, which leads up into a deep and dark fissure, — " Dungeon" and "Ghyll" both meaning a fissure. There is a well secured ladder, by which ladies easily descend to the mouth of the chasm ; and when they have caught sight of the fall, they can please themselves about scrambling any further. There is the fall in its cleft, tumbling and splashing, while the light ash, and all the vegetation besides is everlastingly in motion from the stir of the air. Above, a bridge is made, high aloft, by the lodgment of a block in the chasm. The finest season for visiting this force is in a summer afternoon. Then the sun streams in obliquely, LANGDALE CHAPEL. 149 — a narrow, radiant, translucent screen ; itself lighting up the gorge, but half concealing the projections and waving ferns behind it. The way in which it converts the spray into sparks and many-coloured gems can be believed only by those who have seen it. The three ways from Milbeck are, first, down Lang- dale to its junction with the Brathay valley, or by High Close to Grasmere : secondly, by Wall End to Blea Tarn, and the Fellfoot road : and thirdly, by Stickle Tarn, up Harrison Stickle, or over into Ease- dale. We have little to observe about the first, — Langdale having been described (p. 50) as seen from High Close. Langdale Chapel is a primitive hamlet, where the old character of the district is well pre- served. The little chapel is a good specimen of the churches of the vales. A few years since, the rotten old pulpit fell, with the clergyman, Mr. Frazer, in it, just after he had begun his sermon from the text " Behold, I come quickly." The pulpit fell on an elderly dame, who escaped wonderfully. Mr. Frazer, as soon as he found his feet, congratulated her on sur- viving such an adventure : but she tartly refused his sympathy, saying, " If I'd been kilt, I'd been reet sarrat, (rightly served), for you'd threatened ye'd be comin doon sune." Near this chapel is the Thrang Slatequarry, where the stranger should look in, and see what a mighty excavation has been caused by the demand for this tine slate. Just beyond the chapel, the roads part, — that which ascends to High Close climbing the hill to the left. As for the second road from Milbeck, — the main l3 150 TALE OP THE SOLITAET. inducement is the valley in which Blea Tarn lies, — the scene of those books of Wordsworth's Excursion which relate to the Solitary. The very rough road scrambles up from Langdale, by Wall End, to the upland vale where the single farmhouse is, and the tarn, and the stone, " like a ship, with keel upturned," which is lodged in a stream near to the tarn. Some people have un- accountably fixed on the Bowder Stone to answer this description ; but, besides that the Bowder Stone is far away, it rests on its edge, instead of its " keel" being " upturned." " The two huge peaks, that from some other vale peer into this," are the Langdale Pikes ; and very fine is the view of them from this wild and somewhat dreary hollow. Since the Excursion was written, large plantations of larch have arisen ; but they do not much ameliorate the desolation of the place. The road descends the common to Little Langdale Tarn ; whence it is described, in a reverse manner, in its course to Colwith Force, Skelwith, and Ambleside, at p. 115. In the third direction lies the way up the Pikes, and over into Easedale. The guide from Milbeck will take the traveller up the peat road to Stickle Tarn, — famous for its trout, and much beloved by anglers. Its circular basin, brimming with clear water, lies finely under the steep rocks of Pavey Ark. There is nothing amidst this mountain scenery more interesting than its tarns. Their very use is one which gratifies one's sense of beauty. Their use is to cause such a distribu- tion of the waters as may fertilize without inundating the lands below. After rains, if the waters came down LANGDALE PIKES. 151 all at once, the vales would be flooded, — as we see, very inconveniently, by the consequences of improved agricultural drainage (p. 15). The tarns are a secu- rity, as far as they go ; and at present the only one. The lower brooks swell after rain, and pour themselves into the rivers, while the mountain brooks aloft are busy in the same way, emptying themselves into the tarns. By the time the streams in the valley are sub- siding, the upper tarns are full, and begin to overflow ; and now the overflow can be received in the valley without injury. As for their aspects, under all lights, and in all weathers, they must be studied on the spot, for no description can afford any impression of the truth to highway tourists. If the traveller means to ascend Harrison Stickle, (the higher of the Langdale Pikes,) it will be from this point. The summit of the Pike is 2,409 feet above the level of the sea. The height is not very great ; but the view is interesting, from being unlike most others that can be obtained, — extending over the level country to the south and south-east, while commanded by the loftiest peaks of the district. — Passing the way up the Pike, the moorland path leads over into Easedale, and down upon Easedale Tarn, which has been noticed at p. 53. There is a way down into Borrowdale also, by crossing Codale Fell, and getting into the Stake road. There are other mountain paths out of Langdale. There is one into Easedale, easier than that just described,, and commonly used in good weather. It was by this track that the unfortunate couple, — the 152 ESK HATTSE. Greens, whose story is so well known, — were lost in the snow, on their return from a sale in Langdale, to their home and six children in Easedale. There is also a very rough path at Langdale Head up Eosset G-hyll, answering on the left to the Stake road on the right. It at once catches the eye ; and the invariable question of the stranger is which of the two is the Stake. This track leads by Esk Hause and Sprinkling Tarn to the Sty Head Pass. This is truly a glorious mountain walk. From Esk Hause, there is a singular view, composed of three lines of landscape. One begins with Borrowdale, lying immediately below, and extends to Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite, past Skiddaw, in full glory, and on over the whole inter- vening plain, to the Sol way and the Scotch mountains. This is the north-western view. — The opposite, or south-eastern one, begins with Langdale, and proceeds by the opening of the Brathay valley and Windermere, till it is closed in by Ingleborough, in Yorkshire. — The third, and intermediate view, is down Eskdale, past its verdure and its cataracts, past the sands, past lonely Blackcombe, to the broad sea. When we were on Esk Hause, the spectacle of these three lines of landscape was remarkable. Towards Keswick, the at- mosphere was thick, just to the degree that gave a visionary character to the long perspective. The lake of Derwentwater was hardly distinguishable from its shores, so that the wooded islands and the town of Keswick lay as if in air, still and unsubstantial. In the direction of Eskdale, all was bright and glittering; while from Langdale and the head of Borrowdale the MOUNTAIN CHANGES. 153 white mists came tumbling out towards us, as if to stifle us ; and nothing could be seen, except at inter- vals, when a whiff of wind disclosed long sweeps of the sides of the valleys, and stretches of the streams and fields below. It is these changes that give a singular charm to this mountain district. The residents of the valleys, in their occasional ascents to these heights, never see the scene twice alike, — the great landmarks themselves being scarcely recognizable but by certain incidents of their forms. II. STY HEAD PASS, EE0M WASTDALE TO BOEKOWDALE. We have noticed the eastern prong of the fork into which Glaramara divides the head of Borrowdale. We now have to notice the western, — the Sty Head Pass. The Stake Pass descends, as we saw, upon Stonethwaite. The Sty Head Pass descends upon Seathwaite, — each of these farms being the last dwelling at the head of the dale. Antiquarians tell us that Borrowdale was anciently called Boredale, " having its name probably from the wild boars which used, in former times, to haunt the woody part of Wastdale Forest; the hill above it being called Sty Head, where the swine were wont to feed in the summer, and fall down in autumn into this dale, where they fed upon nuts and acorns. Here are large flocks of sheep ; and anciently were mines of lead and copper. Here also, in a very high and perpendi- cular rock called Eagle Crag, is every year an eyrie or nest of eagles." So says the old history. # But the traveller will find no swine near Sty Head now, sum- mer or winter. No creature comes to drink at the tarn, — the little clear rippling lake, where the moun- taineer throws himself down to rest on the bank, when heated by the ascent from the vales. He has found everything sunny and dry, perhaps ; but here he sees, * History and Antiquities of Westmorland and Cumberland, ii. p. 69. — Nicholson and Burn. STY HEAD TAKING 155 by the minute diamond drops resting thick on the grass, that a cloud has lately stooped from its course, and refreshed the verdure in this retreat. It looks very tempting — this bright sheet of water ; but no creature now comes to drink, unless a sheep may have strayed far from the flock, and in its terror may yet venture to stoop to the water, with many a start and interval of listening, till, at the faint sound of the distant sheep dog, it bounds away. The solitude is almost equally impressive whether the traveller comes up from the one dale or the other; but perhaps the most striking to him who comes from Wastdale, because he has rather more lately left the dwellings of men. He ascends from Wastdale Head, by the steep path clearly visible from below, up the side of Great Gable. At the top of the pass, the view behind is extremely fine, — the dale lying 1,000 feet below, while the precipices of Scawfell rise 2,000 feet over head. The rill from Sprinkling Tarn is close by, and it leads to this Sty Head Tarn, where the boars used to come to drink. Long after the boars were gone, the eagles came hither : and this was one of their last haunts. The eagles which gave their name to the crag in Borrowdale, being disturbed, settled themselves on a rock at Seathwaite, and at length crossed the ridge into Eskdale. The disturbance was of course from the shepherds, who lost so many lambs as to be driven desperate against the birds. There was no footing on the crag by which the nest could be reached ; so a man was lowered by a rope sixty yards down the precipice. He carried his mountain staff 156 EAGLES. with him ; its spiked end being the best weapon against the birds. He did not expect to kill the old ones ; but year after year the eggs of the young were taken. If he brought the young away alive he had the birds for his pains ; if the eggs, every shepherd gave five shillings for every egg. It is said that no more than two eggs were ever found at one time. The nest was made of twigs, and lined with a sort of grass from the clefts of the rock. When the fowler failed, and the eaglets were reared, they were led away, as soon as strong enough, by the parent birds, — no doubt to settle in some other spot ; and the parents returned without them. One of this pair was shot at by the master of a sheep dog which had been actually carried some distance into the air by it, escaping only by its flesh giving way. The shot took effect, but the eagle vanished. About a week after, it was found lying on the grass on the uplands at Seatoller, nearly starved. Its bill had been split by the shot, and the tongue was set fast in the cleft : it could not make much resistance, and was carried home captive. But, when relieved and restored, it became so violent that it was necessarily killed. Its mate brought a successor from a distance, a much smaller bird, and of a different species. They built, however, for fourteen more years in Borrowdale, before they flew over to Eskdale. They were not long left in peace there; and, when the larger bird was at length shot, his mate disap-j peared entirely. Such devastation as was caused by; these birds is not heard of now; but while there are crags aloft and lambs in the vales, there will be more j BLACKLEAD MINE. 157 or fewer, nobler or meaner, birds of prey. We are unable to ascertain positively, amidst conflicting testi- mony, whether any eagles at all remain in the region. It appears that one has certainly been seen within ten years ; and three gentlemen, two of whom are travelled men, and not likely to be mistaken in such a matter, declare that, in 1850, they saw one sweep down from Scandale Fell into Kirkstone Pass, and rest on a crag in the vale, some way above Brothers' Water. There is, however, a preponderance of disbelief of there being now any nest and settlement of eagles among the mountains of Westmorland and Cumberland. The descent upon Stockley bridge is easy ; and the bridge itself was, a few years since, a favourite subject for sketches. A more picturesque one we never saw : but it has been spoiled in the repairing. — As he pro- ceeds, the traveller will find no "nuts and acorns" in this "Boredale," nor any remarkable number of swine. But he may see the place, — if he looks up the hill- side to the left, — whence was drawn the modern pro- duct that has, in modern times, distinguished the dale, — the blacklead of which the Keswick pencils are made. It is understood that the productiveness of the mine has much lessened ; and the works are, we believe, often suspended; but, while the best ore brings 30s. per lb., there will be more or less perseverance in seek- ing it. The heaps of rubbish, high up the mountain, show the spot. In the clay slate of the mountain is a bed of greenstone rock; and "nests" or "sops" or "bellies" of black lead are found in the greenstone. The plumbago is the finest ever discovered : but there 158 BORROWDALE YEWS. is great uncertainty about finding it. At one time, a mass of it was discovered lying along like a mighty tree, the thicker part being of the finest quality, and the ramifications of a poorer, till, at the extremities, it was not worthy even to clean stoves. At other times the searchers have been altogether at fault, for a long time together. There was a period when the value of this plumbago was so little known that the shepherds used it freely to mark their sheep : and next, the proprie- tors were obtaining from thirty to forty shillings a pound for the lead of one single "sop " which yielded upwards of twenty-eight tons. Those were the days when houses were built at the entrance, where the workmen were obliged to change their clothes, under inspection, lest they should be tempted to carry away any of the precious stuff in their pockets. Under the mine, (the wad) and a little onward, amidst the copsewood, are the dark tops of the Bor- rowdale yews to be seen, — the " fraternal four," which, as Wordsworth tells us, form " one solemn and capa- cious grove." The size attained by the yew in this district is astonishing. One which for many years lay prostrate at the other end of Borrowdale, measured nine yards in circumference, and contained 1,460 feet of wood. The famous Lorton yew (p. 87.) has about the same girth ; and one of these four measures seven yards round, at four feet from the ground. At Seatoller, the roads which part off right and left are familiar to the traveller who has accomplished the preceding excursions, — the one leading to Kosthwaite and the other to Honister Crag. III. ASCENT OF SCAWEELL. The ascent of Scawfell is sometimes made from the Sty Head Pass ; sometimes from Lingmell ; and some- times from Langdale, whence the path meets that from Sty Head on Esk Hause. Prom Esk Hause the summit of the Pike is visible ; but still, care is necessary not to ascend the wrong summit. There are four summits which collectively go under the name of Scawfell ; viz., the most southerly, which is called simply Scawfell; Scawfell Pike, which is sixty feet higher, and the highest mountain in England (3,160 feet :) and the lower hills, Lingmell and Great End, — the last being the northernmost, and fronting Borrowdale. The Ordnance surveyors set up a staff on a pile of stones on the highest peak; so that there need be no mistake henceforth. The two summits are about three-quarters of a-mile apart, in a straight line ; but the great chasm between them, called Mickledore, renders a wide circuit necessary. There have been fool-hardy persons who have passed Mickledore without losing their lives ; and there are strangers, almost every season, who attempt the ascent without a guide. These last usually pay the penalty of their rashness in hours of uneasy wandering and excessive fatigue. When they think they see their way clearly enough, they are pretty sure to find them- selves brought up on the verge of a chasm, and com- 160 SUMMIT OP SCAWFELL. pelled to " try round " many times before they succeed. If darkness comes on, there is nothing to be done but to wait for daylight where they are. Another reason for having a guide is that the mountains around are not recognisable by their forms, — so great is the change caused by their being looked at from above. By map and compass they may be made out : but the summit is usually windy : and much time and trouble are saved by the information needed being ready at one's elbow. The summit is bare of every thing that grows, except moss. Not a blade of grass is to be seen : and it follows that the herdsman and shepherd never have to come here after their charge. Blocks and inclined planes of slate rock, cushioned and draped with mosses, compose the peak. As for what is seen from it, — the best service to the stranger is still to copy portions of that " Letter to a friend " which Mr. Wordsworth published many years ago, and which is the best account we have of the greatest mountain excursion in England. The weather was, however, unusual. The guide said, when on the summit, " I do not know that in my whole life, I was ever, at any season of the year, so high upon the mountains on so calm a day." It was the seventh of October. " On the summit of the Pike," says the letter, " which we gained after much toil, though without difficulty, there was not a breath of air to stir even the papers containing our refreshment, as they lay spread out upon a rock. The stillness seemed to be not of this world. We paused, and kept silence to listen, and YIEW FROM SCAWEELL. 161 no sound could be heard. The Scawfell cataracts were voiceless to us ; and there was not an insect to hum in the air. The vales which we had seen from Esk Hause lay yet in view, and, side by side with Eskdale, we now saw the sister Vale of Donnerdale terminated by the Duddon Sands. But the majesty of the moun- tains below, and close to us, is not to be conceived. We now beheld the whole mass of Great Gable from its base — the Den of Wastdale at our feet — a gulf immeasurable ; Grasmire, and the other mountains of Crummock ; Ennerdale and its mountains ; and the sea beyond!" # # ^ " While we were gazing around, c Look,' I exclaimed, c at yon ship upon the glittering sea ! ' ' Is it a ship ? ' replied our shepherd guide. ' It can be nothing else,' interposed my com- panion. ' I cannot be mistaken ; I am so accustomed to the appearance of ships at sea.' The guide dropped the argument ; but, before a minute was gone, he quietly said, i Now look at your ship — it is changed into a horse.' So it was ; a horse with a gallant neck and head. We laughed heartily ; and I hope, when again inclined to be positive, I may remember the ship and the horse upon the glittering sea; and the calm confidence, yet submissiveness, of our wise man of the mountains, who certainly had more knowledge of the clouds than we, whatever might be our knowledge of ships. " I know not how long we might have remained on the summit of the pike, without a thought of moving, had not our guide warned us that we must not linger, for a storm was coming. We looked in vain to espy M 162 PASSING STOEM. the signs of it. Mountains, vales and sea were touched with the clear light of the sun. 6 It is there ! ' said he, pointing to the sea beyond Whitehaven, and there we perceived a light vapour, unnoticeable but by a shep- herd accustomed to watch all mountain bodings. We gazed around again, and yet again, unwilling to lose the remembrance of what lay before us in that moun- tain solitude ; and then prepared to depart. Mean- while, the air changed to cold, and we saw that tiny vapour swelled into mighty masses of cloud, which came boiling over the mountains. Great Gable, Hel- vellyn and Skiddaw were wrapped in storm; yet Langdale, and the mountains in that quarter, remained all bright in sunshine. Soon the storm reached us; we sheltered under a crag ; and almost as rapidly as it had come, it passed away, and left us free to observe the struggles of gloom and sunshine in other quarters. Langdale had now its share ; and the Pikes of Lang- dale were decorated by two splendid rainbows. Before we again reached Esk Hause, every cloud had vanished from every summit." We cannot do better than stop at thep auspicious words. May the tourist who reads this on the Pike see every cloud vanish from every summit ! IV. SCAEF GAP. The other exit from Wastdale Head is by the road to Scarf Gap, already referred to as having been found dangerous by inexperienced travellers. A rough foot- road leads through the valley of Mosedale, between Kirkfell and Yewbarrow, till it enters Gillerthwaite, at the head of Ennerdale. Kirkfell and the stream being kept on the right, the track passes between Kirkfell and the Pillar. Coming down into Gillerthwaite, the view is beautiful. Great Gable and Kirkfell close in the dale at its head ; High Stile and Eed Pike are in front, and Gillerthwaite is below, with its circular green level, dropped over with wood, its farmhouse and stream, and the lake at the other end. Behind, the wild valley of Mosedale winds away between Kirkfell and Yewbarrow, and discloses the great summits of Scawfell and Bowfell. The Pillar is 2,893 feet high, and inaccessible, from its craggy and precipitous character. The path leads along the Pass called Blacksail to a sheepfold on the little river Liza, which falls into Ennerdale Lake : at that fold the stream will be crossed, and an indistinct path will be seen crossing a hollow in the direction of Buttermere. That hollow is Scarf Gap ; and the path leads out upon Gatesgarth, at the head of Buttermere. From Gatesgarth it is four miles to Seatoller in Borrowdale, one mile to m2 164t GATES GAETH. Honister Crag, and two miles from the Inn at Butter- mere. As nearly as we can make out, the walk from Wastdale to Gatesgarth is somewhat short of twelve miles. Most of it must be traversed on foot, though a horse may be led, to be occasionally mounted. V. GRISEDALE. — ASCENT OF HELVELLYN. There is a charming walk of ten miles from Patter- dale to Grasmere (from inn to inn) by Grisedale, which may as well be enjoyed by the pedestrian traveller, whether he chooses to ascend Helvellyn or not. Gras- mere and Grisedale have the same derivation, — Gris being the old Saxon for wild swine : and these are therefore the lake and the valley of the wild boar. A deep and still retreat must both have been in the days of wild boars. From Patterdale the traveller crosses Grisedale beck, and ascends by a steep well-wooded road to the table- land of Grisedale. The old hollies in the woods are remarkably fine. At every step the grandeur and gloom overhead increase, — the path leading directly under the frowning Helvellyn. The Greenside lead mines are about half way up, under Striding Edge ; and the tourist is likely to mistake the track to the mines for his own road: but he must keep the stream to the right, — in other words, he must keep on the right bank of the stream for some way further. The path crosses and recrosses the beck in climbing the steep ascent to the tarn; but there is no further danger of losing the track. The view of Place Pell behind is fine, as seen through the steep sides of the dale ; and north-westwards, the mountains about the Vale of m3 166 GKISEDALE TAEK. Newlands are seen peeping between Seat Sandal and Helvellyn. The tarn lies under the east flank of Seat Sandal in a deep hollow ; and a more sweet and solemn resting place than Grisedale Tarn is not perhaps to be found among these mountains. A wall runs along the ridge ; and through the gate in that wall the track leads down to Grasmere. The views are gayer and more extensive by far than those presented by the other half of the pass. The mountains seen thence are the Langdale Pikes and Coniston Old Man, with Scawfell and Bowfell predominant. The first part of the descent is steep, and the latter part gradual and pleasant, over grass, and finally between fences and among farmhouses, till the path comes out upon the mail road, opposite Helm Crag, and some way above the Swan at Grasmere. If the traveller ascends Helvellyn from Grisedale, he must take the road to the right, soon after entering the dale, in order to reach Red Tarn. Some sturdy climbers go on to Grisedale Tarn, and climb the moun- tain from its head : but it is best to take the road to Red Tarn, either by Grisedale or Glenridding, — the next turn from Patterdale. It is possible to go on ponies to within half an hour's walk of the summit. Red Tarn lies 600 feet immediately below the highest point, parted off from Grisedale by the rocky ridge of Striding Edge, and surmounted in the opposite direc- tion by the similar ridge of Swirrel Edge. This last is the ridge along which the track lies, — the conical head of Catchedecam being its termination. This part of the ascent is that which is most trying to unaccus- ASCENT OF HELTELLTK. 167 tomed nerves, though there is no real danger. It was in trying the other ridge, (which it is always fool- hardy to do,) that Charles Gough fell from the preci- pice, where his corpse was watched by his dog for two months, till it was found. Every one knows the story, as told by Wordsworth and Scott. There are stakes near the tarn where horses are fastened, and then there is a steep scramble to the top. There are precipices on the east of the summit ; but its mossy plain slopes gently towards the west. No mountain in the district is, we believe, so often climbed. Its central situation renders the view at- tractive on every account ; it is very conspicuous ; and it is not difficult of ascent. According to the Ord- nance Surveyors, its height is 3,055 feet above the level of the sea ; that is, 33 feet higher than Skiddaw, and rather more than 100 feet lower than Scawfell Pike. There are three modes of ascent from the Gras- mere side ; — the one by Grisedale Tarn : another from Wythburn ; and a third further on from Legberthwaite. The one from Wythburn is the shortest, but by much the steepest, — the track beginning at once to climb the hill opposite the Nag's Head. The gushing stream which crosses the mail road near the Nag's Head comes down from Brownrigg's well, — the spring which refreshes the traveller on his way up or down, — bursting from the mountain side within 300 yards of the summit. There are two cairns on two summits, not far apart, from between which, in an angle in the hill, the best view to the north is obtained. These Men, (as such piles of stones are called) mark the 168 SUMMIT OF HELVELLYtf. dividing line between Cumberland and Westmorland. Northwards, the view is bounded by the Scotch moun- tains, with the Solway at their feet. Nearer stands Saddleback, with Skiddaw a little to the left. Kepel Cove Tarn lies below, with Catchedecam on the right. Eastwards, Red Tarn lies immediately below, between its two solemn precipices. Ullswater shines beyond, its nearer bank fringed by Gowbarrow Park; and Crossfell closes in the view afar. The Troutbeck mountains here peep over Striding Edge. Kirkstone and Fairfield rise to the south ; and over the latter, there is a peep at Windermere, and sometimes, in clear weather, a glimpse of Lancaster Castle. Esthwaite Water and the sea in Morecambe Bay are seen at the same time. Blackcombe is caught sight of through Wrynose Gap ; and the Coniston range and Langdale Pikes lead the eye round to the superior summits at the head of Wastdale and Buttermere. Even Honister Crag is seen, in a hollow, a little to the left of Cat Bells. Derwentwater is not seen : nor, from the higher Man, either Thirlmere or Bassenthwaite ; though the two last are visible from the Lower Man. Six lakes are seen, besides many tarns : — Ullswater, Windermere, Esthwaite Water, Coniston, Bassenthwaite and Thirl- mere. Angle Tarn is particularly conspicuous, while its neighbour, Hays Water, is hidden in its hollow under High Street. The streams it sends down to Brothers' Water are however, very conspicuous when the sun is upon them. VI. CONISTON OLD MAN. — WALNA SCAE. There is one more enterprise which the tourist would not excuse our omitting. He wants to see the copper mine and the series of tarns on Coniston Old Man ; and he hears it said, and very truly, that the prospects are finer than any but those from Scawfell and Helvel- lyn, — if not, indeed, finer than the latter. The ascent is best made by following the Walna Scar road which leads from Coniston into Seathwaite. When the traveller has left the bright and prosperous environs of Coniston behind him, and entered upon the moor, he begins to feel at once the exhilaration of the mountaineer. Behind him lies a wide extent of hilly country, subsiding into the low blue ridges of Lanca- shire. Below him he sees, when he turns, here and there a reach of the Lake of Coniston, — gray, if his walk be, as it should be, in the morning : gray, and reflecting the dark promontories in a perfect mirror. Amidst the grassy undulations of the moor, he sees, here or there, a party of peat-cutters, with their crate : and their white horse, if the sun be out, looks absolutely glittering, in contrast with the brownness of the ground. It is truly a wild moor ; but there is some- thing wilder to come. The Coniston mountain towers to the right, — and the only traces of human existence that can be perceived are the tracks which wind along 170 ASCEKT OF CONISTON OLD MAK. and up its slopes, — the paths to the Coppermine, — and a solitary house, looking very desolate among its bare fields and fences. The precipice called Dow (or Dhu) Crag appears in front ere long; and then the traveller must turn to the right, and get up the steep mountain side to the top, as he best may. Where Dow Crag and the Old Man join, a dark and solemn tarn lies beneath the precipice, as he will see from above, whence it lies due west, far below. Eound three sides of this Gait's Tarn, the rock is precipitous ; and on the other, the crags are piled in grotesque fashion, and so as to afford, — as does much of this side of the mountain, — a great harbourage for foxes, against which the neighbouring population are for ever waging war. The summit is the edge of a line of rocks overhanging another tarn, — Low Water, — which is 2,000 feet above the sea level, while the summit of the Old Man is 2,632. On this rock, a "Man" formerly stood; but it was removed by the Ordnance Surveyors, who erected another, much inferior in convenience; for the first contained a chamber, welcome to shepherds and tourists overtaken by bad weather. The mountain consists chiefly of a very fine roofing slate, from which a large tract of country is supplied, and in which a very important trade was formerly carried on. Several of the quarries are now deserted. From the earliest recorded times, there have been works here for the extraction of copper ; and at present it is no unusual thing for £2,000 per month to be paid away in wages. The works commence at about half a-mile up the mountain, on its east side ; and there is a large estab- SUMMIT OE CONISTON OLD MAN. 171 lishment of sheds, shops and offices, clustered at the upper end of a basin among the hills. If the traveller desires to explore the mines, he can descend on that side of the mountain. Meantime, looking abroad from his perch, he sees, (beginning from Gait's Tarn) Devoke Water, in a line with Gait's Tarn, to the west. It is said that the trout in that lake are the best known ; and tradition declares that the comfortable abbots of Furness imported them from Italy. There is a fine stretch of sea visible, with the Isle of Man, conspicuous in good weather. "We need not recapitulate the names of the chief mountains. Suffice it that Ingleborough is visible in one direction, and Lancaster Castle again in another ; and in clear weather, Snowdon. The number of tarns within view is remarkable. We have mentioned Gait's Tarn and Low Water. Beyond the latter lies Seathwaite Tarn, whence the infant Duddon issues. Stickle Tarn is conspicuous, lying under Pavey Ark. In a hollow of the mountain, on its north-east side, lies Lowes Water. Only the nearer lakes are seen ; but there is a glorious stretch of sea ; and, when *the estuaries are full, the coast is a beautiful spectacle. The shores of Coniston and Windermere, studded with woods and dwellings, are the nearer beauties. The finest descent, though the longest, is by the ridge of Wetherlam, above Levers Water, descending into Tilberthwaite, and returning to Coniston through Yewdale, noticed at p. 29. VII. HAWES WATER. — PASS OP NAKBIELD. MILES. MILES. Penrith to Askham 5 4 Bampton Church 9 4 Mardale Green 13 2| Nanbield 15^ 3^ Kentmere Chapel 19 OE, Mardale, by Nanbield and High Street, to Troutbeck Inn, 6 miles. There remains but one lake to be noticed, and that is Hawes Water, which is less visited than any other in the district. It is beautiful, but rather out of the way, except to visitors who come by Penrith ; as they are usually bent on seeing at once the most celebrated points of scenery. Penrith is a neat little town, busy, from being the great thoroughfare of the district, but not particularly interesting, except from some Druidical remains in the neighbourhood, a curiosity in the churchyard, and the vicinity of Brougham Castle. The circle called Long Meg and her daughters is six miles from Penrith ; and no relic of the kind in England is better worth a visit. In the churchyard of Penrith is the monument about which nobody really knows any thing, though it goes by the name of the Giant's Grave. It consists of two stone pillars, with four slabs between them, set up on edge. There are some unde- cipherable carvings on the upper part of the pillars. This was the monument which Sir Walter Scott's BBOTTGHAM CASTLE. 173 family could not get him past, (though they had all seen it "dozens of times,") when, failing and infirm, he set out on his last sad journey in pursuit of health. Passing through Penrith, he would see the Giant's Grave; and thither he limped, to wonder once more what it could mean. The parish of Brougham, Burg-ham (meaning Castle-town) was the Brovacum of the Eomans, where, as we learn from Nicolson and Burn, they had a company of Defensores, and left many tokens of their presence in antiquities which have come to light from time to time. The Village of Brougham passed into the hands of the Veteriponts in the reign of John or Henry III. The Castle of Brougham has been held by the Yeteriponts, Cliffords and Tuftons, and is at present the property of the Earl of Thanet. It is now in ruins ; and fine ruins they are. They stand at the confluence of the Eamont and Lowther Bivers, at the distance of a mile from Penrith. Brougham Hall, the seat of Lord Brougham, is within a mile and a-half of Penrith. The traveller should walk along the river bank from the bridge at Brougham Hall to Askham, and then ascend the steep bank of red sandstone, overshadowed by trees, to the park of Lowther Castle. The grounds here are fine ; especially the terrace, which affords a noble walk. It is very elevated; broad, mossy, shady, breezy, and overlooking a considerable extent of country, — some of which is fertile plain, and some undulating surface, — the margin of the mountain region. The most remarkable feature of this landscape is perhaps the 174 HAWES WATER. hollow, within which lies Hawes Water. The park has some fine old trees ; and the number and size of the yews in the grounds will strike the stranger. But lasting injury was done to the woods by the hurricane of 1839, which broke its way straight through, level- ling every thing in its path. On the road from Askham to Bampton, the high grounds of Lowther present on the left a nearly straight line of great elevation, along which runs the park wall, almost to the extremity of the promontory. From a distance, it looks the most enviable position for a park that can be imagined. Hawes Water lies about four miles from Askham. It is little more than three miles long, and about half a-mile broad. One side is richly wooded; the other nearly bare : and a pair of bold promontories threaten to cut it in two, in one part, where the passage is only two or three hundred yards wide. Round the head of the lake cluster the great mountains of Harter Fell, High Street, Kidsty Pike and others, leaving space among the skirts for the exquisite little valley of Mar- dale. Those who are able to obtain one of Lord Lonsdale's boats for the traverse of the lake may think themselves fortunate ; for this is, of course, the most perfect way of seeing the surroundings of so small a sheet of water : and all other persons are deprived, by prohibition, of the means of doing so. There are some good houses on the shores and at the further end ; but the occupants who live on the very brink are not allowed to keep any sort of boat. His lordship's boats are said to be procurable for the asking ; but the preliminaries are a hindrance. The walk along the lake side is, MAKDALE GKEEF. 175 however, easy and agreeable enough. The road skirts the western bank. The crags which are sprinkled or heaped about the head of the lake are very fine. They jut out from the mountain side, or stand alone on the green slopes, or collect into miniature mountain clus- ters, which shelter tiny dells, whence the sheep send forth their bleat. There is a white house conspicuous at the head of the lake which is not the inn, however the tired traveller may wish it were. The inn at Mar- dale Green is a full mile from the water ; and sweet is the passage to it, if the walker be not too weary. The path winds through the levels, round the bases of the knolls, past the ruins of the old church, and among snug little farms, while, at one end of the dale is the lake, and the other is closed in by the passes to Kent- mere and Sleddale ; and the great Pikes tower on either hand. The stream which gushes here and pauses there, as it passes among rough stones or through a green meadow, comes down from Small Water, reinforced by a brook from Blea Water on High Street, which joins the other a little above Mardale. The hostess at Mardale Green Inn will make her guests comfortable with homely food and a clean bed : and the host will, if necessary, act as guide up the passes. The small green level which from the moun- tains looks such a mere speck, is of some importance at a distance. It actually sends 3,000 pounds of butter weekly to Manchester by the railway. The carrier's waggon picks up the baskets from the scattered dwel- lings in the dale, and transmits no less than thirty cwts. per week to the Manchester folk. 176 PASS OF KANBIELD. The traveller must either go back the way he came, or climb out of the dale at the head, whence three tracks branch off from the top of the pass of Nanbield. One of these tracks turns to the left before reaching Small Water, and goes down into Long Sleddale, — to follow which we know of no sufficient inducement, unless it be that the way is practicable for a horse, — which the others are not. Another pass ascends, by the pretty Blea Tarn, the slope of High Street on the right, where the Roman road runs along the ridge. The third goes forward past Small Water, and drops into Kentmere, whence it is easy to strike over the fells into Troutbeck. The choice will depend much on weather, of course ; and we wish the traveller some- thing more of a choice than was permitted to us when we were last there, when the wind laid the whole party flat on the summit of the pass, and put all thought of High Street quite out of the question. The account of the weather given by a resident not far off is " It donks and it dozzles ; and whiles its a bit siftering : but it don't often make no girt pel." That is, — it is misty, and drizzles ; and it is sometimes showery ; but there is not often a great down-pour. The wind however is often strong; and the exhaustion from a high wind on high ground is greater than any one would believe who has not experienced it. There is no difficulty in the ascent from Mardale Green ; but the traveller indulges in frequent rests, for the sake of looking back upon the singularly-secluded valley, with its winding stream, its faintly-marked track, and its little inn, recognised to the last by the KENTMEEE. 177 sycamores and poplars which overshadow its roof, and rustle before the door. Then he comes to the hollow where lies the tarn, — Small Water. Here he will rest again, sitting among scattered or shelving rocks, and drinking from this pure mountain basin. Arrived at the top, he loses sight of Mardale, and greets Kent- mere almost at the same moment. The dale behind is wild as any recess in the district : while before him lies a valley whose grandeur is all at the upper end, and which spreads out and becomes shallower with every mile of its recession from the great mountain cluster. When he has gone down a mile, he finds that he is travelling on one side of Kentmere Tongue, — the pro- jection which in this and most other valleys, splits the head of the dale into a fork. When he arrives at the chapel, he finds that there is a carriage-road which would lead him forth to Stavely and Kendal. But he is probably intending to go over into Troutbeck : so he turns up to the right, and pursues the broad zigzag track which leads over the Tell, till Troutbeck opens beneath him on the other side. Before beginning the ascent, however, he will note Kentmere Hall, — the birthplace of Bernard Gilpin, in 1517. If familiar with the old description of the district, he will look for Kentmere Tarn, and wonder to see no trace of it. It is drained away; and fertile fields now occupy the place of the swamp, reeds and shallow water which he might have seen but a few years ago. While this tarn existed, the mills at Kendal were very irregularly sup- plied with water. Now, when the streams are collected in a reservoir, which the traveller sees in coming down 178 DESCENT UPON TKOUTBECK. from the pass of Nanbield, and the intercepting tarn is done away with, the flow of water no longer fails. The track crosses Applethwaite common into Trout- beck, descending upon the chapel and the bridge in the very depth of that primitive valley, which was one of the first we described (p. 36.) We believe that in the whole circuit there is no scene or object of importance omitted in our detail. WEATHER. The only remaining consideration is the weather. There is no need to observe that where there are many mountain tops, there must be much rain. The Lake District does receive a high average of rain, as is shown by the following set of observations, published by Dr. Miller of Whitehaven. FALL OF RAIN AT SEATHWAITE, BORROWDALE. 1845. 1846. 1847. 1848. 1849. 1850. 1851. 1852. 1853. Inches 152. 143. 129. 161. 325. 144 140. 157. 114 AVERAGE OF TEN YEARS. At Keswick 60 inches. „ Crummock 85 „ „ Ambleside 82 „ „ Kendal 56 „ „ Bowness 61 „ „ Troutbeck 81 „ „ Greenwich 25 „ „ Chiswick 24 „ Much of the rich and verdant beauty of the region is derived from its frequent rains ; but inexperienced tourists complain bitterly of them. For the guidance of strangers, it may be mentioned that, generally speaking, the worst months of the year in the Lake n2 180 THE SEASONS AT THE LAKES. District are November and December for storms ; March for spring gales ; and July for summer rains. The driest season is usually for a month or more onwards from the middle of May. September and October are often very fine months. Those who come but once, and take only a very cursory view, cannot be too careful in choosing the most favourable season for their trip, though to those who are familiar with the characteristics of this paradise, there is no aspect or accident of earth or sky that has not its charm. FLOWERING PLANTS, FERNS, AND MOSSES. WINDEEMEEE AND ITS KEIGHBOUKHOOD. The banks of Windermere afford many objects of interest to the lover of British wild flowers ; so numer- ous and various, indeed, are the more or less rare plants to be found in the lake itself, — in the mountain tarns, streams, woods and bogs, and on the fells and heaths, that it is difficult to give a satisfactory account of them in the space of a short chapter. A general description of the Flora of the district may however, be of some use to the tourist who, in passing through the country, wishes to secure anything which may be worthy of a place in his herbarium or garden. The writer proposes to enumerate the least common plants which have been found within about three miles of the lake, occasionally noticing objects of peculiar interest which are found at a greater distance. Of the order Eanunculacsee, Thalictrum flavum is not uncommon about the margin of the lake ; T. minus is also found ; the beautiful globe-flower Trollius europoeus is abundant in various situations ; Helle- borus virdis occurs in two situations near Winder- mere terminus, and H. foeetidus grows near the ]*3 182 FLOWEKLN'G PLANTS. road between Bowness and Kendal ; it is very pro- bable that both these are introduced ; Aquilegia vulgaris is found in numerous places. Of Nymphoeacece, Nymphcea alba and Nuphar lutea are frequent in the lake and many of the mountain tarns. Of Papaveracese, Meconopsis cambrica is not uncommon, and in some places, such as near the Ferry Inn and other parts of Furness Fells, and in Troutbeck it is abundant ; Chelidonium majus is common. Of Fumariacece, Corydalis claviculata is not uncommon in heathy places. Of Cruciferse, Lepidium Smithii is abundant ; L. draba grows near Newby Bridge ; Arabis hirsuta is found on Whitbarrow ; Cochlearia officinalis on Kirkstone. Helianthemum canum, of the order Cistaca?, occurs in Witherslack. Of Droseracese, Drosera rotundifolia is abundant, and D. longfolia is rare. Of Caryophyllacese, Stellaria nemorum is found in some wet woods and ghylls ; Silene acaulis grows on Fair- field. Of Malvaceae, Malva moschata and sylvestris are frequent in various places. Of Hypericacese, Hypericum androsoeum is not un- common on wooded fellsides, generally near rivulets; H. quadrangulum and humifusum are common, and H. hirsutum is plentiful on Whitbarrow. Of Geraniacese, Geranium sylvaticum is not uncommon ; G. lucidum is frequent ; G. sanguineum and pratense are abundant on Whitbarrow. FLOWEEING PLAKTS. 183 Of Balsaminacese, Impatiens noli me tangere is plentiful on Furness Pells, near the Ferry Inn, at Miller- ground, Grill Head, and many other places. Of Bhamnacese, Bhamnus catharticus and frangula are found on the islands of Windermere. Of Leguminiferese, Genista tinctoria is very abundant and beautiful in heathy places ; Hippocrepis comosa is found at Grange. Of Bosacea?, Prunus padus is common ; Spiraea salici- folia grows near the Ferry Inn, but this is doubtless introduced, as this plant is now found to be nowhere indigeneous in Great Britain ; Eubus suberectus is found in woods and sometimes on open mountain sides ; B. saxatilis occurs in a few places ; E. idoeus rhamnifolius, leucostachys and rudis are the most common species of Eubus here; B. ehamsemorus grows in Long Sleddale ; we have seen Eosa spinosis- sima in a few places ; E. villosa is very common. Of Haloragiacese, Myriophyllum spicatum and verticil- latum abound in the lake. Of Grossulariacese, Eibes rubrum and grossularia are plentiful in the woods. Of Crassulacese, Sedum telephium and anglicum are very common ; S. Ehodiola grows on Fairfield ; and Cotyledon umbilicus is found in many places. Of Saxifraga aizoides, stellaris, and hypnoides are found on the mountain tops ; we have not seen S. oppositi- folia nearer than Helvellyn ; S. platypetala grows on the heights of Fairfield; Chrysoplenium alternifo- lium is also found by some rivulets; Parnassia palustris is very abundant. 184 FLowEKora plakts. Of Rubiacese, Galium boreale grows on the islands of Windermere and Asperula cynanchica is found on Whitbarrow. Of Umbelliferse, Sium angustifolium is common in the streams, and Myrrhis odorata is by no means rare in old orchards and elsewhere. Of Composite, Apargia hispida is common and very handsome ; Sonchus palustris occurs in some marshy places ; Crepis paludosa is frequent in wet woods. Hieracium alpinum is found on Langdale Pikes ; H. lawsoni, on Kirkstone Pass ; H. inuloides, in moun- tain rills ; H. sylvaticum and boreale are common ; but we are not able to give a list of all the mountain species of Hawkweed which may be found in the district ; the lower range of fells, near the lake, are not likely to produce any rare species, but the higher series, Fairfield, High Street, Hill Bell, &c, would be very likely to repay a more careful search than has hitherto been made. Serratula tinctoria is plentiful on the shores of the lake ; Cardus hetero- phyllus grows in Troutbeck, Carlina vulgaris on Whitbarrow ; Centaurea nigrescens is not unfrequent on dry banks ; Bidens cernna is found in Cros- thwaite ; Eupatorium cannabium is everywhere common ; Grnaphalium dioicum and sylvaticum are abundant, the former on mountain heaths, the latter in woods ; Petastites vulgaris is found in several places ; Senecio saracenicus grows near New by Bridge, and in some old orchards, but it is probably not indigenous ; Inula conyza is abundant on the Whitbarrow Fells. FLOWERING PLANTS. 185 Of Campanulacese, Campanula latifolia is not unfrequent in woody places ; Jasione montana everywhere abundant, and the larger form, which has been thought by some to be a distinct species, is often seen in the meadows ; Lobelia dortmanna grows in shallow water, in almost every part of the lake. Of Ericaceae, Yacinium myrtillus is found in nearly every wood ; and V. oxycoccus in a few places : V. vitis-idea on Langdale Pikes ; Pyrola minor in Stockghyll. Of Jasminacese, Ligustrum vulgare grows wild in the mountain woods. Of G-entianaccse, Menyanthes trifoliata is not uncom- mon in the bogs ; Polemonium caeruleum is found in Graythwaite woods. Of Scrophularianae, Digitalis purpurea is everywhere most abundant and beautiful, ornamenting every hill and dell with its splendid spikes and purple flowers ; Verbena officinalis may be gathered on Whitbarrow. Of Orobanchacese, Lathrsea squamaria grows on Wans- fell. Of Lamiacese, Lycopus europceus is found in a few places, as is also Calamintha clinopodium ; Mentha piperita grows on Whitbarrow ; M. sativa is hot uncommon throughout the district ; Scutellaria minor occurs in some of the bogs. Of Boraginacese, Symphytum officinale is not uncommon. Of Pinguiculacese, Pinguicula vulgaris is very frequent in damp places ; Utricularia vulgaris is also found. Of Primulacece, Primula farinacea may be found in many moist meadows : it is abundant on Wansfell, and will be seen when ascending the mountain by 186 FLOWERING PLANTS. Stockghyll ; Lysimachia vulgaris, nummularia and memorum are common, the two former by the side of the lake. Of Plantaginacese, Plantago media is common near Kendal and on Whitbarrow ; Littorella lacustris covers the margins and bottom of the lake, with a perennial verdure. Of Polygonacese, Polygonum bistorta is common and very ornamental in low meadows ; Oxyria reniformis is found in Longsleddale, and elsewhere. Of Thymelacese, Daphne laureola and mezereum have been found in Eayrigg and Grraythwaite woods. Of Empetracese, Empetrum nigrum grows on the higher fells. Of Amentiferse, Carpinus betulus is not uncommon, but probably not indigenous ; Salix pentandra occurs in many places; S. fragilis, alba, viminalis, caprea and aurita are common ; but we are not sufficiently acquainted with this genus to mention all the species found here. Of Orchidacese, List era ovata is common, and L. cordata is found on Helvellyn; L. nidusavis is rare; Gym- nadenia conopsea and Habenara bifolia are very common ; Cypripedium calceolus has been found on Whitbarrow; and Epipactis latifolia, palustris and ensifolia also grows there. Of Amaryllidacese, Narcissus pseudo-narcissus is most abundant, and in early spring makes many a bank and woody glen yellow with its numerous flowers. Of Liliacece, Allium carinatum is found in one locality ; H. ursinum is very common ; H. schcenoprasum may FEKKS. 187 be found on Cartmel Fell ; Convallaria majalis grows on some of the islands, but is becoming scarce from too frequent depredations ; in Eauncey woods, about three miles below Newby Bridge, this plant is most abundant and fine, covering some acres of ground ; here also may be found the Ply orchis ; C. multiflora abounds in Graythwaite woods, about two miles north of Newby Bridge. Of Triliaeece, Paris quadrifolia is found in many of the shady woods. Of Alismacece, Alisma plantago and ranunculoides are plentiful in the lake. Of Fluviales, Potamogeton prcelongus is found in many parts of Windermere; P. perfoliatus and hetero- phyllus are very common. Of Juncaceoe, Juncus glancus grows on Whitbarrow, and J. triglumis on Fairfield. Of Cyperacece, Eriophorum vaginatum is frequent in mountain bogs ; Carox dioica, ovalis, riparia, pulicaris, curta, remota, stricta, proecox, vesicaria, and ampul- lacea are common; C. lcevigata and sylvatica are found in some places. Of Gramina, Avena pubescens and flavescens, are com- mon ; Festuca ovina var, vivipara is found ; Bromus giganteus is very frequent ; B. asper and Sesleria caerulea grow on Whitbarrow; Triticum caninum may be seen in many places ; and Melica nutans is found in some moist woods. Of the Ferns — Caterach officinarum, occurs on some walls, but' is abundant and indigenous on Whitbarrow. 188 FERNS. Polypodium vulgare grows very luxuriantly, and in some shaded situations with a south aspect, assumes a form resembling P. cambricum, but does not retain its peculiar character under cultivation ; the variety serratum, also grows in similiar situations : it is very handsome. Polypodium phegopteris is more than usually common in this district, and may be found in many woods and often by the road sides ; P. dryopteris is not quite so frequent, but by no means uncommon in similar situations : it is very abundant in the woods of Furness Fells. Polypodium calcareum is common on Whitbarrow. Allosorus crispus is not rare in stone walls or rocks, and among loose stones, generally in high situations. Cystopteris fragilis is very fine in some situations, but it is not abundant here ; a form is found which somewhat resembles C. regia. Polystichum lonchitis has been found ; P. aculeatum is common by rivulets, through mountain woods and coppices, and its varieties lobatum and lonchitoides ; P. angulare is less common, but may be found in many warm shady ghylls and groves growing very luxuriantly. Lastrea oreopteris is very common ; the different forms of L. dilatata abound; the variety called by Mr. Newman L. collina, is rare; L. Spinu losa is to be found in many wet woods ; also in some open bogs, and a few roots of a form of this species closely resembling, if not identical with L. cristata, have been found ; L. recurva occurs in a few places. MOSSES. 189 Athyrium felix-femina var rhceticum is not uncommon. Asplenium viride is found on some of the mountain screes, and is very abundant on Whitbarrow ; A. Trichomanes, Adiantumnigrum and ruta-muria are common, and A. marinum is found on Meathop, near Witherslack. Scolopendrium vulgare grows very fine in some sheltered situations. Blechnum boreale is common everywhere. Hymenophyllum Wilsoni is found in many dark fissures in the rocks in high wooded fells, generally near a stream. Osmunda regalis is common and fine. Botrychium lunaria is pretty frequent on high moun- tain heaths. Ophioglosum vulgatum is very scarce. In giving an account of the ferns of Windermere, the important discovery of Woodsia liven sis in West- morland, although not in the immediate neighbourhood of Windermere ought to be mentioned. This rare fern was founded by Mr. Huddart, the nurseryman of Waterloo Gardens, immediately opposite Bowness, who has some roots of it, and of almost all the British ferns, in his possession. All the British club Mosses are found near Winder- mere. Lycopodium clavatum grows on most of the higher fells ; L. annotium has been found in Langdale : L. inundatum is not unfrequent on the margins of mountain tarns ; L. alpinum grows on many heathy fellsides ; L. selago in similar situations ; and L. 190 MOSSES. selaginoides is common in rivulets in high situations. Isoetcs laustris is abundant in all parts of the lake, but rather difficult to find, because it is nearly always in deep water. Equisetum plaustre var, polystachyon is the only uncommon Horsetail which has hitherto been found here. The common Mosses are abundant, but some species may be found which are very scarce in Great Britain, and are only seen in some alpine or sub-alpine districts . The Museologist will be delighted with the general appearance of this tribe of plants, their luxuriance in some situations is truly wonderful. In the following list the species mentioned have been found in fruit, excepting in those cases in which it is specified that they have been found in the barren state only. Some of the species enumerated are not uncommon in moun- tainous countries ; others are rare or critical species. Andreoea alpina, rupestris ; Eothii on Eed Screes, Hill Bell, &c. Weissia verticillata, Whitbarrow. Ehabdoweissia denticulata, Furness Fells, Grasmere Fells, and other rocks. G-ymnostomum rupestre, wet rocks, Helvellyn; G. micros tomum, Millerground, Windermere. Blindia acuta, Windermere. Dicranum polycarpum, Eed Screes; D. squarrosum, Dunmail Eaise; D. rufescens, Calgarth, Windermere. Distichium capillaceum, Hill Bell, Helvellyn, &c. Didymodon cylindricus, Troutbeck Park, Cook's House. Trichostomum homomallum, Calgarth, Windermere. MOSSES. 191 Tortula tortuosa, abides, ambigua, Whitbarrow. Encalypta ciliata, Fairfield, Helvellyn, &c. Hedwigia ciliata, common on rocks and walls. Grimmia Doniana, on rocks and walls in high situa- tions; Gr. spiralis and torta, below Red Screes, Kirkstone, not in fruit. Eacomitrium aciculare, caneescens, fasciculare and lanuginosum, comman on rocks and walls. Ptychomitrium polyphylllum, common. Orthotrichum stramineum, Lyellii and crispulum, common ; 0. rupincola, on walls by Mardale and Haweswater. Zygodon Mougcotii, in crevices of rocks, without fruit, Kirkstone ; Z. viridissimus, on ash trees, near Windermere College and elsewhere. Leucodon sciuroides, near St. Mary's Cnurch, Winder- mere. Diphyscium foliosum, Hill Bell, on rocks and crevices of rocks, Helvellyn, Eydal Park. Pogonatum alpinum, Hill Bell, Fairfield, &c. ; P. urnigerum, common. Bryum crudum, polymorphum, elongatum, not rare on the mountains ; B. Wahlenbergii, in mountain rills ; B. acuminatum, on the eastern precipices of Fair- field, between the summit and Eydal Head; B. alpinum, common, not barren ; B. Ludwigii, on wet rocks, Glaramara, not in fruit ; B. uliginosum, in a branch of the Wythburn Beck, High Eaise ; B. pallens, High Bell ; B. julaceum, mountain rills, fruiting abundantly on Kirkstone Pass, in Wythburn Beck, and on Hill Bell ; B. subglobosum, Helvellyn ; 192 MOSSES. B. Zierrii, in crevices of rocks, and on the ground, Red Screes, Rydal Park, and elsewhere. Mnium serratum, Fairfield, Helvellyn, &c. Funaria Miihlenbergii, Whitbarrow. Physcomitrium ericetorum, Windermere. Bartramia halleriana, on shaded rocks ; B. arcuata, near Storrs, Windermere, bearing fruit sparingly, abundant at Lodore. Oedipodium grifnthianum, Fairfield, Helvellyn, Red Screes, Hill Bell, &c. Ancectangium compactum, Bed Screes, &c. Antitrichia curtipendula, abundant in fruit near Storrs, Windermere, and elsewhere. Anomodon viticulosus, Whitbarrow, Kendal. Pterogonium gracile, rocks and walls. Climacium dendroides, Derwentwater. Hypnum Schrceberi, in fruit near Storrs, Windermere ; H. umbratum, near Keswick ; H. brevirostre, com- mon in woods; H. squarrosum, not rare in fruit; H. crista-castrensis, Troutbeck Park, by the road over Kirkstone, Dow Craig, Mardale, Fairfield, Borrowdale ; H. resupinatum, not rare ; H. sylvati- cum, common; H. succulentum, Black Beck, near Storrs, Windermere ; H. rugosum, on Whitbarrow ; H. Flagellare, in rocky streams, Stockghyll. BOTAKY. 193 CTTMBEKLA1SD. The Lake District, and the margin of comparatively level land extending to the Cumberland shore, affords such a scope for the natural production of plants as few of the English counties possess. The great diversity of altitude,^ and consequent variety of climate ; the numerous and extreme changes of mineral and vegetable soils ; the complete circuit of aspect occasioned by the multiplicity and varied char- acter of its hills and dales ; the perfect exposure to the sea-breezes in some parts, and the exclusion from them in others ; and the very different degrees of moisture to which the district is subject, varying from nearly 169 inchest of rain-fall per annum in one or two of the mountain vales to only about 24 inches^ in some of the lowland levels, accommodate the growth of a great variety of the British flora — the product of almost every locality between extreme anglo-alpine and the verge of the sea. It is true that agricultural enterprise is quietly and gradually, but surely, diminishing the numbers of the species ; and perhaps the monopolising avarice of pro- # Scawfell Pike, the highest land in the county, is 3160 feet ahove the level of the sea. — Me. Otley. f At Borrowdale per Dr. Miller. J Harraby, near Carlisle. O 194 BOTANY. fessed collectors # may aid the destructive progress not a little, even to the total extermination of some .plants. Still, such a range of variety is found between the littoral and alpine extremes of West Cumberland as may fairly gratify the wishes of the true botanist. It must be understood that these remarks, and the following list of plants and localities, relate almost exclusively to the Cumberland limits of the district; and that the botanical resources of that district have been tolerably well explored by the writer for a length- ened period. His endeavours have also been aided by several friends (whose names are quoted) ; but it is still posssble that some of the floral treasures may have been overlooked, or may yet remain undiscovered. Those will be but few, and of course valuable when their localities become known. Many common plants are omitted from the list, under the impression that what is open to every one's eye needs no record ; and numerous localities are also left out as redundant. Perhaps no district, of the same limited extent, furnishes a more numerous assemblage of Cryptogamic plants ; — that least explored, but very beautiful de- partment; and which may be not inappropriately called winter-botany. A great proportion of the singular system of bloom- * Only a year or two ago, one of this class being told of the habitat of the rare Grammitis Ceterach, went and picked out of the wall in which it grew, with the point of a knife, every plant ! Fortunately, some seeds had been deposited, and they have restored the treasure. BOTANY. 195 ing peculiar to this class is developed at the season when most other vegetation is at rest, and therefore uninteresting ; here then may the zealous botanical tourist still continue his study with as much ardour as in the summer ; and derive pleasure and edification from the contemplation of the various gay or modest tints of these minute works of the Creator, when the casual observer will find nothing to attract his attention from the general dreariness of a wintry landscape. Those who would acquaint themselves with the mosses and lichens of the lake and mountain district, will need some degree of perseverance and sure- footedness in exploring the dark ravines and cavernous fissures of the moist and slippery rocks, and of the gloomy woods where these delight to grow ; and will meet with perhaps the greatest variety, and those in the highest perfection, where the sun shines seldomest and the rain falls oftenest upon them. And it should be remembered that no satisfactory progress can be made in collecting and distinguishing the cryptogamia when the plants are shrivelled by drought. No little energy will be requisite, also, to hunt out the lichens — some of which are found inhabiting almost every rood of undisturbed ground from the verge of the ocean, to the storm-beaten summits of the highest mountains. And last, not least, very consider- able patience is necessary to duly investigate and deci- pher the microscopic stamp of family, so minutely, but distinctly impressed upon every specific member of the whole tribe of both mosses and lichens ; and a great o2 196 BOTANY. many are too small to be accurately determined by the naked eye. But to the enthusiast in botany, the pleas- ing excitement of the pursuit, and the gratification of the capture, well reward the fatigues of the search. The subjoined list follows the order and nomen- clature of Macgillivray's hand-book, to save the time required to adapt it to the more recent alterations. Salicornia herbacea, Eavenglass, Workington ; S. pro- cumbens, Workington north shore. Hippurus vulgaris, Dub mill. Zostera marina, Bootle shore, brought up by the tide. Chara flexilis, Whillimoor ; C. aspera, Harras Moor. Callitriche verna, Whinlatter ; C. pedunculata, Enner- dale. Circsea alpina, Barrow side ; C. lutetiana, Keswick. Veronica Anagallis, St. Bees and Ellen; V. scutellata, Ullock Moss ; Y. montana, Walla Crag ; V. hederi- folia, Distington, Workington. Pinguicula vulgaris, common in bogs. Utricularia minor, Shoulthwaite Moss, Eskmeals. Lycopus europceus, Bibton Hall. (Mr. Tweddle.) Lemna minor, ponds in Whillimoor. Fedia olitoria, Moresby Hall ; F. dentata, Frizington. Scirpus lacustris, Loweswater Lake; S. setaceous, Ennerdale ; S. maritimus, Workington, (Mr. Twed- dle); S. sylvaticus, banks of the Marron. Eleocharis ccespitosus, Murton Moss ; E. paueiflorus, Murton Moss ; E. fluitans, Cogra Moss in Lamp- lugh ; E. palustris, Loweswater Lake ; E. multieaulis, Ennerdale Lake ; E. acicularis, Egremont. Eriophorum vaginatum, common in bogs ; E. angus- BOTANY. 197 tifolium, Calder Ghylls and Edge Tarn; E. poly- stachion, Brigham Moss. Catabrosa acquatica, Coulderton Shore — scarce — per- haps extinct. Arundo Phragmites, Eiver Derwent ; A. calamagrostis, Eiver Derwent ; A. arenaria, sea shore, Coulderton. Botbollia incur vata, Skate Dubs, Workington. (Mr. Tweddle.) Hordeum murinum, Flimby; H. maritinum, Coulderton. Triticum juncum, Braystones. Asperula odorata, Lodore Fall. Galium cruciatum, Lamplugh, &c. ; G. palustre, Brack- enthwaite, Lodore ; G. saxatile, St. John's vale ; G. Mollugo, Crofton Hall, Pardshaw, &c. ; G. verum, Tallantire, Lamplugh, Lodore ; G. boreale, Derwent Lake shores, and river Irthing. Plantago major, Arlecdon; P. media, Arlecdon and Egre- mont; P. maritima, Moota, Flimby and Gillerthwaite; P. Coronopus, shore at Flimby, Ravenglass, &c. Parietaria officinalis, Torpenhow Church. Buppia maritima, Cloffocks (Mr. Tweddle.) Alchemilla alpina, Borrowdale Hause and Helvellyn. Badiola Millegrana, var. maritima, Ehenside (M. G. Chambers.) Lithospermum officinale, Mosser and Westward Parks ; L. arvense, Stanger; L. maritimum, Bootle Shore and Workington. Anchusa sempervirens, Gosforth, Sandwith. Cynoglossum officinale, Flimby. Lycopsis arvensis, St. Bees. Primula elatior, Seaton, Lamplugh ; P. veris, (red o3 198 BOTANY. variety), Egremont Clints ; P. farinosa, Wanthwaite Mill, Caldbeck, and a dark red variety near Ireby-low . Lysimachia vulgaris, Keswick, Ennerdale, Lorton ; L. nemorum, Castlehead Wood and Lamplugh. Anagallis cerulea, Hensingham Toll-bar. Convolvulus arvensis, Fitz Toll-bar (Mr. Tweddle.) ; C. Soldanella, Shore at Coulderton and Harrington. Jasione montana, common. Lobelia Dortmanna, nearly all the lakes. Viola lutea, Brigham. Hyoscyamus niger, Cockermouth, Flimby, Harrington. Atropa Belladonna, once plentiful around Egremont Castle, but now only retained in a few gardens there. Solanum Dulcamara, St. John's vale, Setmurthy. Erythrcea Centaurium, Bootle, Distington, and a pure white variety in Loweswater. Samolus Valerandi, Coulderton Shore. Lonicera Caprifolium, Lorton Hall (Mr. Tweddle) ; L. Xylosteum, Workington Park (Mr. Tweddle.) Ehamnus frangula, Ullock Moss. Euonymus europceus, Lodore Woods. Eibes rubrum, banks of the Derwent ; R. nigrum, ditto ; It. Grossularia, limestone rocks at Sunderland. Glaux maritima, Ravenglass, St. Bees. Salsola Kali, Coulderton ; S. fruticosa, Ravenglass. Gentiana Amorella, Tallantire Hill ; G. campestris, Tal- lantire Hill, Workington Warren ; G. verna, till lately on Egremont Green, perhaps now extinct. Eryngium maritimum, common along the sea shores. Hydrocotyle vulgaris, common in bogs. Sanicula europcea, Wythop Woods. BOTAtfY. 199 Torilis nodosa, Bewaldeth — scarce. Anthriscus vulgaris, Workington Bridge. Chcerophyllum sylvestre, Grillfoot and Whicham. Daucus carota, Eavenglass. Sium augustifolium, Drigg Haws ; S. nodiflorum, Gill, near St. Bees ; S. repens, Naddale ; S. verticillatum, Naddale S. inundatum, Loweswater Lake. Crithmum maritimum, St. Bees rocks. Apium graveolens, Workington Marsh. Imperatoria Ostruthium, Gilsland Woods. Meum athamanticum, Fell End in Ennerdale (Dr. Lawson.) Pimpinella dioica, Tallantire Hill. Cnidium Silaus, Seaton, Schoose Farm. Sambucus Ebulus, Brackenthwaite, Scalelands. Parnassia palustris, meadows and bogs, not rare. Statice Armeria, Scawfell and sea shores ; S. Limonium, sea shore near Bootle, &c. ; S. spathulata, S. Bees Heads (Mr. Eobson.) Drosera rotundifolia, common in bogs ; D. longifolia, Borrowdale (Mr. Tweddle) ; D. anglica Helvellyn (Mr. J. Flintoft.) Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, Duddon Woods. Allium arenarium, banks of the Derwent (Mr. Tweddle; A. vineale, Bearpot, near Workington ; A. ursinum, Salter Hall. Juncus filiformis, Crummock and Derwent Lakes ; J. ccenosus, Millom Marsh; J. uliginosus, Working- ton (Mr. Tweddle) ; J. triglumis, Helvellyn (Mr. J. Flintoft.) Luzula pilosa, common in woods; L. Fosteri, woods 200 BOTANY. between the mountains and the sea; L. sylvatica, banks of the Marron; L. campestris, common on bare heaths ; L. congesta, common on bare heaths. Peplis Portula, Harras Moor, Kinniside long Moor, Calder Gills. Oxyria reniformis, Ashness Gill. Triglochin palustre, common at the edges of bogs ; T. maritimum, Cloffocks. Alisma plantago, Keswick Cass ; A. ranunculoides, Eskmeals. Epilobium hirsutum, river Eden and its tributaries. Vaccinium Myrtillis, common on woods and on moun- tains ; V. uliginosum, Wardrew Moss, Moorside Parks ; V. vitis idcea, Skiddaw, Iron Crag, Swinside Fell, &c. ; V. oxycoccus, common in bogs. Acer campestre, Mirehouse Woods. Polygonum Bistorta, in meadows, and cultivated as a pot herb ; P. viviparum, Helvellyn (Mr. J. Flintoft) ; P. aviculare, Lodore road; P. convolvulus, Bassen- thwaite ; P. amphibium, Dearham ; P. Hydropiper, Lodore. Paris quadrifolia, woods in Lamplugh. Andromeda polifolia, Moresby, Drumburgh. Arbutus uva-ursi, Bootle Fell (Eev. Isaac Hodgson), Brackenthwaite (Mr. Wilson Robinson) . Pyrola rotundifolia, Walla Crag ; P. media, Kirklinton Moors ; P. secunda, Helvellyn. Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, common in wet woods ; C. alternifolium, Portinscale Bridge. Saxifraga stellaris, Helvellyn, Iron Crag, &c. ; S. nivalis, Legberthwaite Gills; S. oppositifolia, Borrowdale, BOTANY. 201 Wastwater Screes (Mr. Eobson) ; S. aizoides, Barrow Side, Grasmoor ; S. granulata, Harrington Church ; S. tridactylites, Moota and Whicham ; S. hypnoides, Armboth Fell, Shoulthwaite. Scleranthus annuus, St. Bees, Knockmurton, Eskdale. Saponaria officinalis, Derwent Side, near Workington (Mr. Tweddle.) Silene inflata, Clifton, Dean Scales, &c. ; S. maritima, Eskmeals, Brackenthwaite, Grange ; S. nutans, Dean, Moorland Close ; S. acaulis, Borrowdale. Stellaria nemorum, Burdoswald, Moorside Hall. Arenaria peploides, Seaton, Flimby; A, serpyllifolia, Pardshaw Hall, Cockermouth. Cotyledon umbilicus, Ehenside, Cosforth. Sedum Telephium, Castlehead, Millom ; S. album Bray- stones ; S. villosum, Mosedale ; S. anglicum, Beck- cote ; S. acre, St. John's ; S. sexangulare, Hunday. Lychnis alpina, Brackenthwaite Fells. Cerastium tetrandum, Cockermouth; C. alpinum, Helvellyn (Mr. J. Flintoft). Spergula nodosa, Lilly Hall (Mr. Tweddle). Lythrum Salicaria, Ennerdale, Newlands, Beckermont. Agrimonia Eupatoria, Lamplugh churchyard ; A. eupa- toria var odorata, Lorton (Mr. W. Eobinson). Reseda Luteola, Flimby, Eaglesfield, Workington. Rosa rubella, Thirlwall ; R. spinosissima, plentiful on the coast at Seascale, &c. ; R. Hibernica, Bracken- thwaite ; R. Sabini, Derwent Bay ; R. villosa, Gils- land ; R. tomentosa, Lamplugh ; R. canina, Lowes- water ; R. arvensis, Whillimoor. Rubus idaeus common ; R. coesius, Tallantire ; R. cory- 202 BOTANY. lifolius, Arlecdon ; E. fructicosus, very common ; E. rhamnifolius, Ulpha, Lowca, Flimby ; E. glandulosus, Pardshaw; E. suberectus, Moorside Hall ; E. saxatilis, Gilsland ; E. Chamoemorus, Styx moss. # Comarum palustre, common in meadow ditches. Chelidonium majus, Kirkland, St. Bees. Glaucium luteum, Flimby, Coulderton, Bootle shores* Meconopsis Cambricum, Naddale. Nymphoea alba, Mockerkin Tarn. Nuphar lutea, Mockerkin Tarn, Bassenthwaite Lake, Wormanby Lough. Aquilegia vulgaris, shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, Dovenby. Stratiotes aloides, Ennerdale Lake (Mr. Eobson). Thalictrum minus, Side woods in Ennerdale ; T. majus, Derwent Lake shores ; T. alpinum, Great End, Scawfell (Mr. Eobson). Eanunculus Lingua, Naddale beck, Cardew, Wasdale and Eskdale (Mr. Eobson) ; E. Flammula, common in cold soils ; E. auricomus, Pardshaw ; E. hirsuta, Drigg, Workington Marsh ; E. hederaceus, Lamp- lugh Hall Pardshaw ; E. aquatilis, St. Bees Moor. Trollius europceus, Arlecdon churchyard. Helleborus viridis, Duddon Woods and Plumbland (Mr. Tweddle). Mentha rotundifolia ; M. piperita ; M. hirsuta ; M. gentilis, near Sykes in Naddale, in ditch sides. Glechoma hederacea, Barrow Side. Galeobdolon luteum, Crosedale. Ballota nigra, Workington (Mr. Tweddle). Stachys annua, Lingbank, in Gosforth. BOTANY. 203 Leonums Cardiaca, Workington Eow (Mr. Tweddle). Clinipodium vulgare, Mockerkin, Papcastle. Thymus Acinos, Low Lingbank, Nethertown (Mr, Chambers) ; T. Calamintha, Calva Hall. Scutellaria galericulata, Dub Beck, Braithwaite Beck ; S. minor, Ladstocks in Thornthwaite. Ehinanthus crista-galli var. majus, Chapel Bank, St. Helens. Melampyrum pratense, common in old woods. Camelina sativa, Workington Mill field (1848 Mr. Tweddle). Teesdalia nudicaulis, St. John's, Eaven Crag, Thief Gill in Dean. Cochlearia officinalis, Coulderton Shore, Fleswick Bay"; C. anglica, Workington Shore ; C. groenlandica var. alpina, rills on Helvellyn. Senebiera coronopus, Seaton (Mr. Tweddle). Crambe maritima, Coulderton Shore. Cakile maritima, Seaton Shore. Cardamine hirsuta, elevated situations in Whillimoor ; C. pratensis, common sometimes double ; C. amara, Moorside Woods, Bearpot (Mr. Tweddle). Arabis stricta, Lamplugh Hall, Pardshaw Hall ; A. hirsuta, Shoulthwaite, Moota. Turritis glabra, Stainburn (Mr. Tweddle). Chieranthus fruticulosus, walls of Scaleby Castle. Brassica Monensis, Flimby and St. Bees Shore. Erodium cicutarium, Gosforth ; E. maritimum, St. Bees. Geranium sylvaticum, St. John's vale; G. pratense, Lamplugh ; G. rotundifolium, Yeorton Hall ; G. pusillum, Etterby Scar ; G. Eobertianum, St. John's 204 BOTAKY. vale; G. lucidum, Lodore Bridge; G-. eolumbinum, Cockermouth Fitz ; G. sanguineum, St. Bees Shores. Genista scoparia, Bridekirk ; Gr. tinctoria, Seaton, Tal- lantire, Arlecdon ; Gr. anglica, Drigg, Bootle. Ulex nana, Gosforth, Lamplugh Fells. Anthyllis vulneraria, Maryport Bailway. Pisum maritimum, Harrington Rocks. Lathyrus Nissolia, Irton, in sand. Vicia sylvatica, Clifton Woods, Parton ; V. angustifolia, Stainburn, Santon. Ornithopus perpusillus, Irton Churcli, St. Bees Moor. Trifolium officinale, Workington Station, Etterby Scar ; T. ornithopodioides, Workington Warren (Mr. Twed- die) ; T. arvense, Flimby ; T. striatum, St. Bees (Mr. Chambers) ; T. procumbens, Drigg ; T. fili- forme, Gosforth. Hypericum calycinum, Irton ; H. quadrangulum, Clif- ton; H. perforatum, Keswick Woods; H. humifusum, Lodore Fall; H. hirsutum, Camerton, Clifton; H. pulchrum, Castlehead Woods ; H. elodes, Birker Moor, Aitcha Moss. Tragopogon pratensis, Bransty, Schoose ; T. porrifolius, Workington. Prenanthes muralis, Borrowdale, Ulpha. Apargia autumnalis, Ennerdale. Hieracium subaudum, Ennerdale, in side woods ; H. umbellatum, Kirkland How. Crepis tectorum, Woodcock Nook, near Egremont (Mr, Chambers.) Serratula tinctoria, Embleton, Lorton. Saussuria alpina, Helvellyn (Mr. J. Flintoft.) Carduus acanthoides, Carlisle Castle. UPB BOTANY. 205 Cnicus heterophyllus, Armboth, Watendlath ; C. acaulis, Barrow Side, Hardknot. Carlina vulgaris, Ennerdale. Bidens cernua, Braithwaite, ClofFocks (Mr. Tweddle) ; B. tripartita, Keswick Cass, Bootle. Gnaphalium dioicum, Helvellyn ; G. germanicum, Drigg ; Gr. rectum, base of Helvellyn ; G. uligino- sum, Arlecdon ; G-. minimum, Fieldhead in Eskdale ; G. gallicum, Drigg, Gosforth. Senecio tenuifolius, Little Brougbton ; S. saracenicus, Moresby, Sebergham. Aster Tripolium, Eskbolm, Holborn Hill. Solidago Yirgaurea, Scalebill. Inula Helenium, Mosser; I. dysenterica, St. Bees Heads. Pyretbrum Parthenium, Nether Hall. Matricaria ehamomilla, Sylcroft. Antbemis maritima, Coulderton. Centaurea Scabiosa, Eaglesfield. Orcbis bifolia, Whillimoor ; 0. pyramidalis, common ; O. mascula, common, Dovenby, &c; 0. albida, Little Brougbton (Mr. W. Eobinson) ; 0. viridis, Murton Moss. Gymnadenia conopsea, Wanthwaite, St. Jobn's Moota. Listera ovata, common; L. cordata, Castlerigg Fell, Melbreak ; L. nidus-avis, Flimby Wood, Wood Hall. Epipactis latifolia, Dean Scales, Bridgefoot. Eupborbia Peplus, Egremont, Bootle Station ; E. exigua, Bridgefoot ; E. helioscopia, Gosfortb ; E. portlandica, Bray stones (Mr. Chambers) and Drigg shores ; E. paralia, Haverigg and Harrington shores. Typhalatifoba,Naddale,Crofton,ChapelSucken,Brayton. 206 BOTAKY. Sparganium ramosum, Portinscale, Naddale; S. sim- plex, Harras Moor ; S. natans, Shoulthwaite Moss. Carex dioica, Orgill ; C. pulicaria, Hunday ; C. arenaria, Harrington shore; C. vulpina, Yeorton Hall; C. limosa var. irrigua, Gilsland, rare ; C. pallescens, Sel- lafield ; C. flava, Hardknot ; C. extensa, Marron Side; C. stricta, Bullgill Bridge ; C. riparia, Stubbin Mire ; C. vesicaria, Braithwaite ; C. ampullacea, Cocker Side ; C. filiformis, Workington (Mr. Tweddle.) Many other Carices grow within the district. Littorella lacustris, Derwent Lake, Wythburn. Urtica urens, Distington, Ullock. Myriophyllum spicatum, Naddale. Sagittaria sagittifolia, Bray stones Tarn (Mr. Eobson.) Arum maculatum, Wood Hall, Branthwaite. Betula alba, var. pendulosa, round Derwent Lake. Salix herbacea, Skiddaw top. Upwards of thirty species over West Cumberland. Empetrum nigrum, moors and bogs. Humulus Lupulus, Keswick, Egremont. Tamus communis, Millom, Eskdale. Ehodiola rosea, Ennerdale Coves and Pillar Fell. Taxus baccata, very large trees in Borrowdale. Atriplex laciniata, St. Bees and Harrington shores ; A. patula, Workington north shore. Isoetes lacustris, Derwent Lake. Subularia acquatica, Ennerdale Lake (Mr. Eobson.) Polypodium vulgare, common; P. Phegopteris, Esk- dale, Ulpha, Braithwaite ; P. Dryopteris, Legber- thwaite, Dean. Aspidium oreopteris, Ponsonby Fell, Ulpha ; A. loba- BOTANY. 207 turn, Flimby, Walla Crag, Caldbeck; A. angulare, Whicham ; A. spinulosum, Keswick, &c. ; A. dilata- tum, Keswick, &c. Cystea fragillis, St. Bees Moor ; C. dentata, Naddale, Braithwaite, Whillimoor. Asplenium Trichomanes, Carleton, &c. ; A. viride, Oastlerigg Fell, river Irthing ; A. marinum, St. Bees Heads ; A. ruta-muraria, common ; A. septentrionale, Borrowdale, near Lorton (Mr. W. Robinson) ; A. Adiantum nigrum, common. Scolopendrium vulgare, common in dark ravines ; S. var. multifidum, Dearham; S. var. crispum, Catgill Hall. G-rammitis ceterach, Sandwith, Mosser, Grosforth, &c. Bleclmum boreale, common. Allosurus crispus, Wasdale, Ponsonby, Lamplugh. Hymenophyllum Wilsoni, Scale Force, Ponsonby; H. Tunbridgense, Ponsonby Hall. Osmunda regalis, Millom, Irton, Egremont, Ullock Moss. Botrycbium Lunaria, not rare on dry pastures. Ophioglossum, rather common. Lycopodium clavatum, common on fells and moors ; L. inundatum, Shoulthwaite, Wasdale ; L. Selaginoides, L. Selago, Hardknot, Helvellyn, &c. ; L. annotinum, near Bowfell (Mr. J. Flintoft) ; L. alpinum, Sty Head, &c. Equisetum arvense, common; E. fiuviatile, Flimby, Salter Hall, Parton Rocks ; E. sylvaticum, Watend- lath, &c. ; E. palustre, Cold Fell (Mr. Robson) ; E. variegatum, Gilsland, in the Irthing. MOUNTAINS AND PASSES, 209 A TABLE OF THE HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS IN THE COUNTIES OF CUMBERLAND, WESTMORLAND, AND LANCASHIRE. No. Names of Mountains. Counties. Height in Feet above the Sea Level. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Scawfell Pikes Scawfell Helvellyn ... Skiddaw Fairfield Great Gable, Wastdale ... Bowfell Rydal Head Pillar Blencathra, Saddleback ... Grassmoor ... Red Pike, Buttermere High Street, Kentmere Grisdale Pike Coniston Old Man ... HiUBell Langdale Pikes High Pike, Caldbeck ... Carroek Fell, Caldbeck ... Causey Pike... Black Combe Lord's Seat ... Honister Crag ... Whinfell Beacon, near Kendal Cat Bell, Newlands Latrigg, Keswick Cumberland j> tt >> Westmorland Cumberland Westmorland Cumberland » »> Westmorland Cumberland Lancashire Westmorland Cumberland a ij a » Westmorland Cumberland 3160 3100 3055 3022 3950 2925 2914 2910 2893 2787 2756 2750 2700 2680 2632 2500 2400 2110 2101 2040 1919 1728 1700 1500 1448 1160 Height in Feet. Highest English Mountain, Scawfell Pike, Cumberland Highest Welsh Mountain, Snowdon, Carnarvonshire Highest Irish Mountain, Gurrane Tual, Kerry Highest Scotch Mountain, Ben Macdui, Aberdeen Highest European Mountain, Mount Blanc Highest Mountain in the World, Dhawalagiri, Asia 3,166 3,571 3,404 4,408 15,781 26,862 PASSES. Sty Head Buttermere Hawes, Newlands Kirkstone Borrowdale Hawes, to Buttermere Dunmail Raise ... Cumberland Westmorland Cumberland ... West. & Cumb. Heights above the Level of the Sea. ... 1250 1160 ... 1200 1100 ... 720 210 LAKES AND WATERFALLS. A TABLE OP THE LENGTH, BBEADTH, AND DEPTH OP THE LAKES. 1 1 Length Extreme ^breadth Extreme Height No. 1 Names of Lakes. Counties. in depth above 1 1 Miles. Miles. in Feet. the Sea 1 Windermere Westmorland. 10 1 240 116 2 Haweswater 3 I — 443 3 Grasmere 11 i s 180 180 4 Brothers' Water ... Of 1 72 — 5 Eydal Water o* I 54 156 6 Eed Tarn, Helvellyn — 2400 7 Coniston Water ... Lancashire 6 i 160 105 8 Esthwaite Water 2 I 80 198 9 Ullswater Cumberland 9 1 210 380 10 Bassenthwaite Water 4 1 68 210 11 Derwentwater 3 If 72 228 12 Crummock, 3 I 132 240 13 Buttermere H 3L I 90 247 14 Loweswater l I 60 — 15 Ennerdale 2* I 80 — 16 Wastwater 3 i 270 160 17 Thrilmere » 2f i 108 473 WATEEPALLS. Feet No. Names and Situations of Falls. Counties. m Height. 1 Colwith Force, five miles from Ambleside Westmorland 90 2 Dungeon Ghyll Force, Langdale j> 90 3 Stockghyll Force, near Ambleside ... M 70 4 Eydal Fall, near Ambleside a 70 5 Scale Force, S.W. Side of Crummock Lake Cumberland 180 6 Lodore Cascade, near Keswick » 150 7 Barrow Cascade, near Keswick a 122 8 Ara Force, West Side of Ullswater a 80 9 Birker Force, Eskdale » 65 10 Stanley Gill, Eskdale » 62 11 Sour Milk Force... » 60 mkf ^^^^^MMMH