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ANGLER IN THE LAKE DISTRICT 
 
 OR, 
 
 PISCATOEY COLLOQUIES 
 
 AND 
 
 FISHING EXCUESIONS 
 
 IN 
 
 WESTMORELAND AND CUMBERLAND, 
 
 JOHN DAVY, M.D., P.E.S., Etc. 
 
 ' And, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves, 
 Think not of any severing of our loves." 
 
 WOEDSWOETH. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GHEEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. 
 
 1857: 
 
 . The right of translation u reserved. 
 
"Remember that the wit and invention of mankind were bestowed for 
 other purposes than to deceive silly fish ; and that however delightful AngUng 
 may be made to appear, it ceases to be innocent when used otherwise than a 
 recreation." Izaak Walton. 
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by Spottiswoode & Co. 
 
 New-street Square. 
 
1)33 
 
 DEDICATORY NOTE. 
 
 The Angler to his Friend. 
 
 Dear Amicus, 
 
 Two years have gone by since I 
 addressed you last — two short years — yet how 
 pregnant of events — of heroical feats of arms 
 in the field, of feeble doings in council, and 
 their inevitable consequence — national losses, 
 and all but national disgrace. 
 
 The even tenor of the Angler's way and 
 those pleasant journeyings we have had to- 
 gether, described in the following pages, are a 
 remarkable contrast to the scenes we might 
 have witnessed in the East, and the horrors we 
 
 A 2 
 
 ^^ii*P^'y^'>''^ 
 
 t/W rf'ywi 
 
DEDICATORY NOTE. 
 
 might have been sharers of there, had our 
 offered services been accepted. 
 
 As our art is " the contemplative man's re- 
 creation/' and we have so enjoyed it together, 
 can I do better than inscribe this little volume 
 to you as a donum amiciticB^ and through you to 
 all gentle lovers of the angle, and of scenery 
 and scenes such as those of the Lake District, 
 — once the favourite haunts of the angler, and 
 which might be so again, could unlawful fish- 
 ing be prevented ? 
 
 I am, 
 
 Your loving Friend, 
 
 PiSCATOR. 
 
 Lesketh How, Ambleside : 
 December, 1856. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 In the following pages the Author, availing 
 himself of his leisure, has endeavoured to give 
 an account of those parts of the Lake District 
 which are most interesting to the angler and 
 tourist. 
 
 The form of dialogue which he has adopted, 
 so tempting and favourable to varied discussion, 
 has often led him on to the consideration of 
 other matters than piscatory, and some of them 
 of higher moment, such as the instincts of 
 animals, the poets' homes, and kindred subjects, 
 for the introduction of which he trusts he may 
 be pardoned so long as Angling deserves to be 
 called ^^ the contemplative man's recreation.'* 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Dedicatory Note iii 
 
 Advertisement ------ y 
 
 Colloquy I. 
 Angler*s Home.— Table Talk - - - - 1 
 
 Colloquy IL 
 Mountain Tarns. — Tarn Fishing. — Scenery and 
 
 Incidents - - - - - - 35 
 
 Colloquy III. 
 Santon Bridge, Cumberland. — The River Irt. — 
 
 Evening Fishing. — Varied Discussion - 62 
 
 Colloquy IV. 
 Wasdale Head. — Wastwater. — Lake- fishing - 92 
 
 Colloquy V. 
 Ennerdale Lake. — Lake-fishing continued - 111 
 
 Colloquy VI. 
 Eskdale, and the River Esk - - - - 129 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Colloquy VII. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Lake-District revisited. — Varied Discussion, 
 
 Local and Piscatory - - - - 157 
 
 Colloquy VIII. 
 Vale of St. John. — Memorabilia, and Discussion 
 
 by the Way ------ 184 
 
 Colloquy IX. 
 The River Duddon and its Course - - - 216 
 
 Colloquy X. 
 The Greta. — Derwentwater. — The Derwent - 251 
 
 Colloquy XI. 
 Merry May. — Derwentwater. — Borrowdale - 275 
 
 Colloquy XIL 
 Crummock Water 301 
 
 Colloquy XIII. 
 Windermere ------- 318 
 
 Colloquy XIV. 
 Sunday and Sunday Musings - - - - 338 
 
THE 
 
 ANGLER IN THE LAKE DISTRICT. 
 
 f 
 
 COLLOQUY L 
 The Angler's Home. Table Talk, 
 
 Amicus. 
 OOKINGr out at my bedroom win- 
 dow, on rising this morning, I in- 
 voluntarily exclaimed, " My friend 
 has chosen well the spot for his 
 
 retirement ! " — the pastoral valley was so bright 
 below, lighted up by a gleam of sunshine ; — 
 the little stream, winding through it, swollen 
 by the night's rain, making music ; — the hill 
 opposite, bounding the valley, which I think 
 you call Loughrigg, so charming in its fine 
 form and varied surface of coppice, grove, and 
 // B 
 
THE ANGLERS HOME, 
 
 meadow ; and your beautiful lake, your Winder- 
 mere, partly seen where the valley expands 
 in the distance. 
 
 PiscATOR. I am well content with my choice : 
 to me, it has much to recommend it ; climate, 
 scenery, and quietude, and this without soli- 
 tude. I hope, after the fatigues of yester- 
 day, you slept well, and are refreshed. 
 
 Amicus. That I did, and with great enjoy- 
 ment of my cool bed. I thought of tropical 
 heat, and the tropical annoyance of insects, and 
 enjoyed it the more. Have you ever hot nights 
 here? 
 
 PiscATOE. I may say never; and like you, 
 having felt, more than I ever wish to feel again, 
 the oppressive night's heat of the tropics, and 
 of the south of Europe and of the East in 
 summer, the coolness of the nights here, with 
 the absence of insects within doors, I hold to 
 be one of the blessings of the place. So cool is 
 it even in the height of summer early and 
 late, that we are seldom without a fire in the 
 morning and evening; — this is a comfort — a 
 word, by the by, untranslatable into the lan- 
 guages of the East, owing, I presume, to the 
 want of the reality. 
 
CLIMATE OF THE LAKE DISTRICT, 3 
 
 Amicus. But have you not more rain than 
 you wish, and less sunshine? And have you 
 not, in consequence, too damp an atmosphere, 
 and too wet a soil ? 
 
 PiscATOR. There is a belief to that effect ; 
 but I think it is held only by those not per- 
 sonally acquainted with the district. It is true 
 that the quantity of rain that falls here is 
 great; but not so the number of rainy days. 
 The difference is chiefly in the heaviness of the 
 showers : a fall of two inches of rain in the 
 twelve hours is not at all uncommon. In 
 many parts of England, where the yearly 
 amount of rain is vastly less, the number of 
 rainy days is even greater. The pouring rain, 
 the heaviest, is most frequently followed by a 
 clear sky, as if the atmosphere were purged and 
 purified by it. Moreover, owing to the pecu- 
 liarity of our soil, the absence of clay, — the 
 peculiarity of the surface, one of almost unin- 
 terrupted declivities, — the rain rapidly runs 
 off, feeding those innumerable rills, those 
 many rivers and lakes, which constitute so 
 marked and beautiful a feature of the district, 
 leaving the roads dry and clean. And this 
 reminds me of an anecdote of our great poet, 
 
 B 2 
 
4 FECULIARITIES OF CLIMATE 
 
 which I heard him himself relate. What think 
 you induced him to take up his abode here? 
 You may suppose it was the surpassing beauty 
 of its scenery. No such thing ; none of those 
 poetical elements which he so finely describes 
 in his poem, written on the banks of the Wye, 
 tempted him ; or in these other lines, — 
 
 " Clouds, mists, streams, watery rocks and emerald turf, 
 Bare hills and valleys full of caverns, rocks. 
 And audible seclusions, dashing lakes. 
 Echoes and water-falls and pointed crags. 
 That into music touch the passing wind." 
 
 No, it was none of these, but the dry, clean 
 roads, so favourable for walking exercise. Pray 
 remember how different this district would be^ 
 were it not so amply supplied with rain. It 
 would no longer be a lake district ; no longer a 
 pastoral district: desolation would take the 
 place of fertility ; a repulsive, arid aspect the 
 place of the attractive verdant covering now so 
 delightful. Even as it is, we have rather to 
 complain of times of drought, to which the 
 country is subject, than to excess of rain ; — a 
 drought of three or four weeks, drying up our 
 springs and almost our streams, withering and 
 arresting the growth of our pastures, as un- 
 
OF THE LAKE DISTRICT, 
 
 pleasing in its effects on the eye, as it is trying 
 to the interests of the farmer. Now, let us sit 
 down to breakfast ; after which, we will, if you 
 please, make the tour of our little valley, and 
 visit spots which I am sure will interest you, 
 both for their intrinsic beauty, and the minds 
 associated with them. Fox How, which from 
 the window you may see peering above the 
 trees, shall be one of them, the Holiday Eetreat 
 of the gifted and energetic Arnold ; and Rydal 
 Mount, not more than half a mile distant, the 
 beloved home of Wordsworth, and worthy of 
 him, shall be another; not to mention other 
 and minor notabilities. 
 
 Amicus. Now that we are at this social meal, 
 indulge me with some further particulars of 
 your district ; for, by what you have said, you 
 have excited my curiosity. Being in the midst 
 of mountains, have you not severe winters ? 
 And having so much rain, have you not a pro- 
 portional amount of snow ? 
 
 PiscATOR. No, indeed ; we have neither the 
 one nor the other ; and so we are favoured. Our 
 winters are comparatively mild ; and what is 
 remarkable, we have comparatively little snow ; 
 — a happy circumstance, for were it as you 
 
 B 3 
 
6 ADVANTAGES OF CLIMATE 
 
 suppose, we should be buried in snow, and 
 have to lead a terrible winter life. Our valleys 
 stand but little above the level of the sea : this 
 circumstance, and the proximity of the sea on 
 either side, and our deep lakes and other col- 
 lections of water, such as the smaller lakes or 
 tarns, and the innumerable springs and streams, 
 may account for the absence of intense winter 
 cold, and in part also, though not so distinctly, 
 for the little snow that falls. 
 
 Amicus. Your explanation seems satisfac- 
 tory; collections of water seeming to be the 
 great moderators of temperature, absorbing heat 
 in summer, giving it out in winter, and so 
 conducing to an equilibrium. I have often 
 thought how great are our obligations to the 
 sea, and that we are hardly grateful enough 
 for its benefits. 
 
 PiscATOii. For which of our common benefits 
 are we sufficiently grateful, whether it be 
 the beautiful face of nature that delights us, 
 the atmosphere with its vital air that we 
 breathe, or the fertile earth that supports us ! 
 As to the sea, I may mention another circum- 
 stance in connection with it, affording further 
 scope for gratitude. There was, there is good 
 
OF THE LAKE DISTRICT. 
 
 ground for belief, a time when England was 
 not an island, but a portion of the Continent, 
 and when, before other and distant terrestrial 
 changes had taken place, not having its shores 
 washed by a warm sea, such as the Grulf-stream, 
 it was subject to such severe winters, that these 
 our valleys, in their length and breadth, were the 
 seat of glaciers, of the existence and action of 
 which we have here everywhere proof, as I shall 
 have pleasure, in the excursions which I hope 
 we shall make together, to point out to you. 
 
 Amicus. You spoke of the absence of clay 
 in the district, as one of its happy peculiarities' 
 How is that, especially as the rocks of the 
 district are, I understand, chiefly of slate, — clay- 
 slate ? 
 
 PiscATOE. Of metamorphic clay-slate; that 
 is, of slate that has been subjected to an indu- 
 rating cause, — an action rendering it hard, and 
 little liable to disintegrate, such as that of heat. 
 There is reason to believe that, before the 
 glacier period, there might have been a fiery 
 one, when the effect I allude to was produced. 
 Moreover, owing to the heavy rains, and the 
 little stagnant water in the district, hardly an 
 opportunity is afforded for the accumulation of 
 
 B 4 
 
POTTED CHARR. 
 
 clay. CJay is composed of disintegrated par- 
 ticles of extreme fineness most easily suspended 
 in water, and consequently can never find 
 their rest till they are carried to a place of 
 rest from the mountains where abraded, and 
 from the higher levels, to the plains and lower 
 levels; and thus transported, — happily from 
 regions where clay is less needed, that is, where 
 there is most rain, to those where it is most 
 wanted, the plains, where there is less rain, — 
 and being specially retentive of moisture, and 
 giving it out slowly, it thus, in a manner, 
 compensates for the deficiency. 
 
 Amicus. How good are these potted fish 
 which I have been enjoying along with your 
 eulogy of the district I Are they the famed 
 charr of your lake, or trout ? One pleasant 
 property belonging to - them is their freedom 
 from bones. Is this in consequence of solution 
 in the process of cooking, or one of the felicities 
 specially belonging to a fish of your favoured 
 country ? 
 
 PiscATOR. You are not serious, I know, in 
 asking the latter question ; but I will answer 
 you seriously. As to your first question, were 
 you at an inn, the waiter probably would call 
 
EFFECT OF COOKING ON BONES. 9 
 
 the fish charr, the charr being in greater esti- 
 mation, especially for potting ; but if you in- 
 quired of the cook who prepared them, and 
 she would tell the truth, most likely you would 
 be informed that they are trout, such as you 
 have been eating. Know that a large pro- 
 portion of the so-called potted charr is trout ; 
 the distinction is difficult ; and if the trout be 
 of good quality, it is not, when thus prepared, 
 inferior to charr. As to your second question, 
 if you carefully examine the fish you are eating, 
 you will find that it retains its bones ; but that, 
 instead of being hard and resisting, as they 
 originally were, they are now soft and yielding. 
 This change is the effect of the cooking — of 
 the baking process by which the animal matter, 
 the cartilaginous portion of the bone, has been 
 rendered almost gelatinous. It is by an ana- 
 logous process that bones have been softened 
 so as to admit of being easily chopped and 
 divided for agricultural use, viz., by steaming 
 or boiling under pressure. 
 
 Amicus. Might not a small quantity of 
 vinegar be added with advantage ? It would 
 promote, as an antiseptic, the keeping of the 
 fish, and might do away with the necessity of 
 
10 A RECEIPT FOR 
 
 covering them with butter to exclude the air. 
 In Greece and the Ionian Islands, vinegar is 
 much used for the like purpose; in this way 
 quails are preserved as well as fish, and most 
 easily and economically. 
 
 PiscATOK. And salmon, you know, in this 
 country. Though vinegar is wholesome, it 
 is not every one who likes vinegar ; and I may 
 mention, as an economical hint, that if the fish 
 be potted for immediate use, the covering of 
 butter may be dispensed with ; they will keep 
 untainted for at least a week, and even in the 
 height of summer. 
 
 Amicus. Having got on this subject, I 
 shall be glad to know if you can inform me 
 what is the best method of potting ; so that, 
 should I be at any time successful in my distant 
 angling expeditions, I may have it in my power 
 to instruct a cook in the method, and I may 
 have the benefit of it in conveying home some 
 of my spoils. 
 
 PiscATOK. I cannot do better than let you 
 have the receipt of an experienced potter of 
 charr, a worthy neighbour of mine, and a 
 woman of skill in most things that come 
 within her sphere of action, — a woman so 
 
POTTING CHARR. 11 
 
 worthy, and so esteemed for higher qualities, 
 that her portrait in her old age has been 
 painted, paid for by a friendly subscription, 
 and presented to her daughters. It is as follows, 
 and in her own words : — " One dozen of charr, 
 dress and wipe with a dry cloth ; strew a little 
 salt in and over them, and let them lie all 
 night ; then wipe them with a dry cloth, and 
 season with one ounce of white pepper, quarter 
 of an ounce of cayenne, half an ounce of pounded 
 cloves, and a little mace. Clarify two pounds of 
 butter. Then put them with their backs down 
 into a pot lined with paper ; and then pour the 
 butter over, and bake four hours in a slow oven." 
 There are other methods of preserving fish 
 not undeserving of the attention of the angler. 
 I shall mention one which I saw practised in the 
 wilds of Connemara, and in my behalf, by the 
 very civil, and I may add very handsome, 
 hostess of " Flyn's or Half-way House." The 
 white trout, as fresh as possible, as soon as they 
 were brought to the inn after the day's fishing, 
 were divided longitudinally, sprinkled thickly 
 with salt and sugar, and then left to dry. 
 After two or three days they would be fit for 
 packing, and would keep a considerable time. 
 
32 AN ANGLING INCIDENT, 
 
 affording an article relishable at the breakfast 
 table, at least by many. 
 
 Amicus. Thank you for this information ; 
 and now let me remind you of what you were 
 about to mention, from the letter before you, 
 which you thought would interest me, and I 
 have no doubt will. 
 
 PiscATOR. In this letter which I have just 
 received from a friend, an ardent angler and a 
 very accurate observer, and as truthful a relator, 
 he mentions an incident strikingly showing 
 how low is the sense of feeling in the trout. 
 The incident was this: He was fishing in 
 Derbyshire, in the Lathkin, — that river cele- 
 brated by Izaak Walton as affording the best 
 trout in England; — he caught one of herring- 
 size, an under-size according to the rules for 
 angling there. In extricating the hook, which 
 he did hastily, a portion of the upper jaw was 
 torn off. The fish, as he could not keep it, he 
 threw back into the river. Keturning an hour 
 after, he made a cast at the same spot, hooked 
 a fish, and on landing it, to his surprise, found 
 it was the identical one he had taken before, 
 minus the half of its jaw. What think you of 
 this ? Could you have imagined it ? 
 
DEGBEES OF ANIMAL SENSITIVENESS. 13 
 
 Amicus. Unless so well authenticated, I 
 could not have believed it. 
 
 PiscATOR. Considering the predatory habits of 
 fish, how subject they are to accidents, this low 
 degree of sensitiveness has no doubt been kindly 
 and wisely bestowed on them. We are too apt 
 to reason from our own feelings concerning the 
 feelings of other animals, and thereby make 
 snreat mistakes. Different races of animals are 
 
 o 
 
 certainly endowed with different degrees of 
 feeling ; we have a rough criterion of the degree 
 in the nervous system of each. Shakspeare it 
 is, I think, who says — 
 
 " The sense of death is most in apprehension ; 
 And the poor beetle which we tread upon 
 In corporal suffering feels a pang as great 
 As when a giant dies." 
 
 Here we have truth and error mixed, and ad- 
 mirably expressed, and most humanely. The 
 truth is, and it is most true, that the sense of 
 death is most in apprehension, dying being 
 mostly without any acute pain, a state of stupor 
 or insensibility commonly preceding it. The 
 error is, the implied idea that the insect and 
 man are equally sensitive. 
 
 Amicus. I am glad to hear you speak thus. 
 
14 PERCEPTION HOW MODIFIED, 
 
 and to have enforced the fact that the feeling of 
 the salmonidae — for I suppose the incident you 
 have related applies to the whole of the family — 
 is so obtuse, inasmuch as too often, when I pull 
 a beautiful trout out of the water and see it 
 writhing in the act of extricating the hook 
 from its mouth, I am seized with compunction 
 of conscience, and feel as I would not wish to 
 feel for the deed I have committed. 
 
 PiscATOR. You have forgotten the maxim to 
 kill your fish before extracting the hook. But 
 passing that by, I can assure you that with more 
 practice you will lose your over-acute feeling. 
 It is remarkable how habit reconciles one to 
 acts : I may mention an anecdote in illustration 
 of this. When a student engaged in some 
 physiological inquiries on the blood, I had 
 occasion to ask the assistance of a butcher ; it 
 was to hold the head of a sheep whilst I laid 
 bare the jugular vein of the animal. It required 
 a little careful manipulation with the scalpel, 
 some gentle strokes of the knife after the first 
 incision, which could occasion little pain and 
 were attended with hardly any loss of blood. 
 Suddenly, the butcher let go his hold of the 
 head, turning away, saying " he could not stand 
 
OVER-POWERED, OR NEGLECTED. 15 
 
 it," — he who would have had no hesitation in 
 thrusting his knife into the throat of the sheep, 
 or knocking down with his pole-axe a bullock. 
 The one which " he could not stand " was new to 
 him ; the other, to which he was indifferent, he 
 was accustomed to. There is another quality 
 befriending the over-sensitive angler, — that of 
 abstraction. Eager in the sport, at the instant 
 of success, the mind is more intent on the 
 capture, the prize gained, than on the feelings 
 of the captive. Even when man is contending 
 with man, this is the case, whether the struggle 
 be that of the athlete, or of the warrior. 
 The surgeon, in performing an operation, is 
 a good example. It is related of Cheselden 
 that, before entering on an operation, he was 
 always affected constitutionally in a very dis- 
 agreeable manner ; but that when engaged in 
 it, his unpleasant sensations all vanished, his 
 mind was so concentrated on what he was 
 about. A friend of mine, a surgeon, has told 
 me of his own experience, similarly illustra- 
 tive, how, when operating, he did not hear — 
 that is, he was not conscious of — the screams 
 of his patient (it was before chloroform was 
 in use), though so loud that they attracted 
 
16 MEMORY OF PAIN SHORT. 
 
 the attention of persons in the street, their 
 attention being free, while his was otherwise 
 directed. 
 
 Amicus. This, indeed, is a singular instance 
 of an unobserved impression ; for of course the 
 ear must have been affected. The wave of 
 sound must have been conveyed to the tym- 
 panum, though in vain as to the production of 
 intelligent cognition. 
 
 PiscATOR. How many lost or unrecognised 
 impressions are there of the same kind, though 
 not so remarkable; indeed, how few of the ever- 
 flowing impulses of light, from visible objects, 
 do we perceive, unless the mind be prepared 
 to see them! — and as regards the more deli- 
 cate, unless the observer be trained for the pur- 
 pose, they, as is well known to the astronomer, 
 take place unnoticed. Is it not Cicero who 
 said, " How many things does the painter ob- 
 serve, which we do not see ? " Moreover as to 
 pain, even in the instance of man, — and we may 
 well suppose it is not less so in the instance of 
 fish, — the memory of it is of short duration. 
 How soon is the suffering from sea sickness for- 
 gotten ! How soon does the mother forget the 
 pains of labour ! Were it otherwise, how few 
 
. THE TROUT OF THE LATHKIN, 17 
 
 would go down a second time to the "great 
 deep ! '' how few would be the second births ! 
 
 Amicus. Yet, as the adage has it, " the burnt 
 child dreads the fire." 
 
 PiscATOK. In its destructive, consuming 
 agency, and by its increasing heat with proxi- 
 mity, it gives constant warning. 
 
 Amicus. You just now spoke in praise of the 
 trout of the Lathkin. What I have heard of 
 them is not so favourable : I have been assured 
 by a friend, who has often fished that well- 
 preserved stream, that a trout in good condi- 
 tion is rarely to be taken there. 
 
 PiscATOK. Izaak Walton is my authority, and 
 the time, of course, the past. He, speaking of 
 the stream, describes it as " by many degrees 
 the purest and most transparent he had ever 
 seen, either at home or abroad" — (he had never 
 been in Westmoreland), — "and as breeding 
 the reddest and best trouts in England." 
 These are his words. As to the real quality of 
 these trout at present, I agree with your friend ; 
 they may have been excellent, but now they 
 certainly are not: all I have taken, excepting 
 the smaller, have borne marks of being ill fed ; 
 they were soft, lank and flabby, 
 c 
 
18 BAD EFFECT OF OVER STOCKING. 
 
 Amicus. Is there any obvious cause for the 
 change, supposing that, in Walton's time, they 
 deserved the reputation they had for excel- 
 lence ? Is the quality of the water altered? 
 Is it less pure or transparent than it was ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Still the little stream retains its 
 beauty, as regards purity and transparency. 
 The water, I fancy, is not in fault. You spoke 
 of the river as carefully preserved. My belief is, 
 strange as it may seem, that here lies the cause. 
 Let me explain. Owing to the severe restriction 
 on fishing this stream, so few fish are taken 
 from it that it is overstocked; it has more 
 in its waters than they can properly support, 
 and the consequence is, that food failing, or, 
 what is equivalent, food of a good quality, the 
 effects are exhibited in a falling off in the 
 condition of the fish. I scarcely need remind 
 you, that one rule is applicable to all living 
 things, whether animals or vegetables, of what- 
 ever class, a population or herd, trees or fishes : 
 for their proper growth, support, and well- 
 being there must be an adequate supply of 
 food, adequate space, adequate air ; stint them 
 of these, and deterioration follows. If you 
 plant too thickly and do not thin, you have 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF MALTHUS, 19 
 
 worthless wood ; if you encourage breeding, as 
 in the instance of the trout, and carefully, too 
 carefully, preserve the fish, they will soon 
 multiply in excess, and be in danger of starving 
 each other. Were their numbers thinned, so 
 that what remained might have a sufficiency 
 of food, I have no doubt the trout of the 
 Lathkin would soon be worthy of, and recover, 
 their old repute. I have known instances of 
 the like kind, of waters overstocked having 
 fish of indifferent quality, and of their im- 
 proving in quality and size on their numbers 
 being diminished. 
 
 Amicus. I fancy, from what you say, you are 
 a disciple of JNIalthus, who, if I recollect rightly, 
 advocates the principle, that the amount of 
 population must be regulated by the amount of 
 supply of subsistence. 
 
 PiscATOE. In a large sense, I adopt his 
 doctrine, which, in principle, I think unim- 
 peachable, so long as man — and the same may 
 be said of other animals, and of plants, — in 
 brief, of all organic living things — cannot exist 
 without food ; and so long as the tendency is in 
 the instance of man, and of other animals 
 inhabiting a suitable climate, — that is, a 
 
 C 2 
 
'20 THE DOGS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, 
 
 climate favourable to health, life, and increase, — 
 CO increase in a higher ratio than the ordinary 
 means of subsistence, a check is needed, that the 
 mouths be not too many for the available food, 
 or, in other words, that the increase of the one 
 should bear a due proportion to that of the 
 other. Even intelligent man feels the moral 
 check too feeble. We are assured in Holy Writ 
 that we shall always have the poor with us, 
 which all experience confirms — a proof of the 
 inadequacy of this check. Amongst brute 
 animals — and the remark especially applies to 
 fish — the only natural checks are feebleness, 
 disease, and death, with the evil of degeneracy 
 affecting the whole race. 
 
 Amicus. Notwithstanding all the objections 
 which have been made to the doctrines of 
 Malthus, I cannot but think he is right, and, 
 like you, I can hardly avoid adopting his | 
 principles. When in Constantinople, I wit- 
 nessed what seemed to me in exact accordance 
 with them, in the instance of the canine race, 
 there free and unowned, living as best they 
 can, and one hardly knows how. Now, what 
 is remarkable, each quarter of the city has a 
 limited number, and tolerably stationary, I was 
 
MAN AND BRUTE ANIMALS. 21 
 
 assured, one year with another, neither in- 
 creasing nor diminishing, the means of sub- 
 sistence being their limit, there being no other ; 
 for they are most jealous of rights as to 
 quarters, as much so as if they were fully 
 indoctrinated in the principles we are talking 
 about. If one ventures to pass his boundary 
 into an adjoining quarter, he is immediately 
 attacked ; and woe befall him, unless he is able 
 to make a precipitate retreat. 
 
 PiscATOK. It is curious to trace the resem- 
 blances that are observable in the societies of 
 animals and of men, and how many qualities 
 they have in common. An interesting book I 
 have no doubt might be written on the subject 
 by a competent person, tending to show that the 
 line between instinct and reason, or, more pro- 
 perly speaking, intelligence, is nowise a strongly 
 marked one ; that in some degree, in propor- 
 tion to the similitude of organisation, there 
 is a similitude of nature, and that the highest 
 in the scale amongst brutes are but little in- 
 ferior to the lowest in the scale of our own 
 species ; in other words, inasmuch as the 
 reasoning faculty is connected with the brain 
 in man, so may the instinctive faculty be con- 
 c 3 
 
22 EXAMPLES OF THE RESEMBLANCE 
 
 nected with the brain and nervous system of 
 brute-animals ; and as man in some of his 
 actions is guided by instinct, so brutes in some 
 of their doings may be guided by reason. Ee- 
 member the analogy that exists, with diffe- 
 rences, comparing the nervous system in 
 different classes of animals ! May not such 
 a vast variety of structure, associated as we 
 know it to be with as great a variety of in- 
 stincts, be the corporeal cause of that variety ? 
 Amicus. If not asking too much, I should be 
 glad to hear you illustrate what you say by 
 examples, general propositions being so easily 
 made, and of so little value. But I will not 
 task you to enter into the anatomical and 
 physiological part of the subject : that had 
 better be reserved for a winter evening and 
 the fireside. 
 
 PiscATOE. The subject, even limited as you 
 wish, is so large, that I hesitate on entering 
 upon it, for I am nowise prepared to do it 
 justice ; however, to give you some definite 
 idea of my meaning, I will mention a few 
 facts that have come under my notice, or that 
 I have heard of well authenticated, — facts 
 displaying conduct on the part of brutes very 
 
BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 23 
 
 like that of man under the same circumstances. 
 When in Ceylon many years ago, a friend of 
 mine, who was Deputy Quartermaster-Greneral, 
 consulted me about an elephant belonging to 
 his department, one that had a deep burrowing 
 sore on its back, just over the back-bone, which 
 had long resisted the ordinary mode of treat- 
 ment employed. After due examination I re- 
 commended, as necessary, the free use of the 
 knife, that issue might be given to the accu- 
 mulated matter; but no one of the ordinary 
 attendants would undertake the operation. 
 Being assured by my friend that the brute 
 would behave well under it, I undertook it. 
 The elephant was not bound ; he was made to 
 kneel down, his keeper at his head : with an am- 
 putating knife, using all my force, I made the in- 
 cision requisite through his tough integuments ; 
 he did not flinch, but rather inclined towards 
 me when using the knife, and uttered merely a 
 low, as it were suppressed groan ; in short, he 
 behaved as like a human being as possible, as 
 if conscious, as I believe he was, that the pain 
 inflicted was unavoidable, and that the opera- 
 tion, as I am happy to say it proved, was for 
 c 4 
 
24 EXAMPLES OF THE RESEMBLANCE 
 
 his benefit. From the elephant, I will pass to 
 the dog. The then Grovernor of Ceylon, the 
 late Sir Eobert Brownrigg, had one of more 
 than ordinary sagacity ; he always accompanied 
 his master, being allowed so to do, except on 
 particular occasions, as on going to church, or 
 council, or to inspect the troops, when the 
 general always wore his sword. Now, when 
 he saw the sword girded on, he would give his 
 attendance no further than the outer door ; 
 without a word being said he would return and 
 wait the coming back of his master, patiently 
 waiting up stairs at the door of his private 
 apartment. Here is another instance : once, 
 when fishing in the Highlands, I saw a party 
 of sportsmen with their dogs cross the stream, 
 the men wading, the dogs swimming, with the 
 exception of one who stopped on the bank pite- 
 ously howling ; after a few minutes, he suddenly 
 ceased and started off full speed for a higher 
 part of the stream. I was able to keep him in 
 view, and he did not stop till he reached a spot 
 where a plank connected the banks, on which 
 he crossed dry-footed and soon joined his com- 
 panions. Are not these instances of memory 
 associated with a certain degree of reasoning ? I 
 
BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 25 
 
 shall mention another, in which memory — ex- 
 perience — was associated with feeling. It also 
 occurred in Ceylon ; it impressed me so much 
 at the time that I made a note of it, which, 
 with your leave, I will read to you, the note- 
 book being at hand. "Kandy, April 7th, 1818, 
 4 P.M." (pray endure my tediousness) : the note 
 proceeds: — "This afternoon there has been a 
 good deal of lightning, thunder, and rain. At 
 this instant the lightning is vivid, and the 
 thunder loud, bursting overhead, and rolling 
 as it were from hill to hill. What surprises 
 me is, that the birds are now unusually vocal ; 
 they seem to rejoice in the storm, as if conscious 
 of its beneficial effects, like the inhabitants of 
 the desert, who, when they see sheet lightning, 
 hail it (according to Park) with acclamations as 
 a sure indication of rain." The account con- 
 tinues : " I cannot help listening attentively to 
 the birds, and I am confident that not a note is 
 interrupted by the loudest thunder. Their 
 singing at this time is the more extraordinary, 
 since had the weather been dry and fine, and 
 of course hot, they would at this hour of the 
 day have been silent. How different (I add) is 
 the effect of a thunder storm in England, where 
 
26 EXAMPLES OF THE BESEMBLANCE 
 
 it is generally accompanied by hail or cold rain ! 
 Beasts and birds retire to cover, and keep a 
 mournful silence, or utter notes of distress. 
 Comparing the two, — the birds of England, 
 and Ceylon, — may I not say that they are 
 as differently affected by the thunder storm, as 
 the sailor on the ocean apprehensive of, and the 
 traveller in the desert welcoming, its effects ? 
 And may it not be inferred, that birds -as well 
 as men are taught by experience, have the same 
 confidence in the uniformity and constancy of 
 nature, and are under the influence of associated 
 impressions ? " 
 
 Amicus. The incident is an interesting one, 
 and I thank you for the relation so precisely 
 given. It brings to my recollection one nowise, 
 like yours, of a poetical kind ; but belonging, 
 I think you will agree with me, to the same 
 category. When in the West Indies, officially 
 employed, every morning, on week days, I had 
 to drive to my office. Near my house were 
 many negro huts, and poultry, not a few, the 
 property of their inmates. No sooner did 
 my carriage pass into the common road, than 
 the fowls gave chase ; it was a regular occur- 
 rence. Questioning my intelligent native driver 
 
BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 27 
 
 on the subject, he pointed out the cause, — the 
 hungry, ill-fed poultry expected some droppings 
 from the horses. Close also to my house, 
 an industrious man, who had been a slave, 
 was intently occupied in reclaiming a piece of 
 rocky ground, and occasionally used gunpowder 
 to break the rocks. This was in hearing of 
 the same poultry : I watched them sometimes 
 when an explosion took place ; the sound 
 startled them at the instant, but they did not 
 rush towards the spot. I need not draw the 
 inference. Pray proceed. 
 
 PiscATOR. Your instance is a good one. 
 The next I shall give betokens, I think, — and I 
 hope you will agree with me, — a kind of moral 
 sense. The cook in the house of a friend of 
 mine, a lady on whose accuracy I can rely, from 
 whom I had the anecdote, missed a marrow- 
 bone : suspicion fell on a well-behaved dog, 
 a great favourite, and up to that time distin- 
 guishedly honest; he was charged with the 
 theft ; he hung down his tail, and for a day or 
 two was altered in his manner, having become 
 shy, sullen, and sheepish, if I may use the 
 expression for want of a better ; and so he con- 
 tinued, till, to the amusement of the cook. 
 
28 EXAMPLES OF THE RESEMBLANCE 
 
 he brought back the bone, and laid it at her 
 feet ; when, with the restoration of the stolen 
 property, he resumed his cheerful manner. 
 Now, how can we interpret this conduct of the 
 dog, unless we suppose that he was aware he 
 had done amiss, and that the evil doing preyed 
 on him till he had made restitution ? Even 
 in animals most under the influence of pure 
 instinct, we often see adaptation of means to 
 ends, under new circumstances, very like the 
 prompting of reason. A pair of swallows have 
 constructed their nest under the eaves of my 
 dressing-room window. On their arrival, they 
 generally find it broken into and used by the 
 house-sparrow, which breeds earlier in the 
 spring than the swallow. If the weather be 
 favourable for repairing it, they immediately 
 undertake the work; but, if otherwise, — if it 
 be a time of drought, when it may be difficult 
 to find moist clay, or, could it be found, to use 
 it advantageously, — they do not attempt the 
 repair, but wait patiently for the first rains and 
 damp weather ; which being come, they no longer 
 procrastinate. Animals, we know, are capable 
 of a certain degree of education ; the ape, the 
 bear, the dog, the horse, afford good examples. 
 
BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 29 
 
 And, as you are aware, what is taught in some 
 instances, becomes in a manner hereditary ; in 
 this respect again, as it is believed by many, 
 resembling the human race. 
 
 Amicus. I thank you for these few details. 
 I am willing to adopt your notion of the ap- 
 proximation of the higher order of brutes to 
 our own race, in faculties as well as in organi- 
 sation ; and, for the sake of humanity, I wish it 
 were generally adopted. 
 
 PiscATOE. If true, I could wish it adopted ; 
 not else. As regards humanity, I doubt its 
 having any material influence, reflecting how 
 gently and kindly brutes are treated by the 
 gentle and kind ; and how rudely and cruelly 
 treated are beings of our own kind by the rude 
 by nature, and cruel. 
 
 Amicus. Yet, on the idea you entertain, may 
 there not be a greater disposition to show 
 kindness to animals, and consideration for 
 their feelings, than on the opposite presump- 
 tion of an altogether absence of resemblance ? 
 In training, more I believe is effected by gentle 
 means than by harsh, by encouragement than 
 by fear ; by gaining the regard of the animal, 
 than by exciting its terror. We know that 
 
30 MORAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 animals are capable of attachment, and seem to 
 have a decided sense — many of them at least 
 — of what is amiable and good. How much 
 nobler and more pleasing is this view of their 
 character, and how much more grateful a 
 conduct in accordance towards them, than the 
 considering them mere brutes, and treating them 
 as brutes most commonly are treated ! 
 
 PiscATOE. I grant your views are pleasing, 
 and may have some influence if inculcated and 
 adopted. But thej^e is the difficulty in this 
 busy world of ours, in which the business or 
 pleasure of the hour occupies almost entirely 
 most minds, and in which too seldom is there 
 just consideration given for the feelings of our 
 fellow-men. 
 
 Amicus. You spoke of the Lathkin as too 
 strictly preserved. That surprises me ; — I 
 mean the accomplishment of the thing, being 
 told by you of the difficulties attending it here 
 in your Lake District. Pray how is it ef- 
 fected ? 
 
 PisCATOR. What is difficult in Westmore- 
 land, almost impracticable, is easy in Derby- 
 shire. In the one county — ours — landed pro- 
 perty is much more divided than in the other ; 
 
FREE ANGLING. 31 
 
 and the yeomanry class, under the designation 
 of statesmen, is still a large one, though their 
 number is diminishing. In consequence, per- 
 haps, of there being few great properties here 
 with manorial rights, the rivers and lakes have 
 been considered in a manner free ; and not only 
 have the small farmers, but also the labouring 
 men, whether in village or country, indulged 
 themselves in angling, affording proof how 
 general is the taste for it. In the latter 
 county, on the contrary, this taste is checked ; 
 the landed properties are large ; for instance, 
 the river, the Lathkin mentioned, and the 
 adjoining larger ones, the Wye and the Der- 
 went, run through the domains of two great 
 proprietors, the Dukes of Rutland and Devon- 
 shire. The aristocratic feeling is strong for 
 the preservation of game ; it is almost a dis- 
 tinctive mark; no right than that of fishing 
 and shooting is more jealously maintained. 
 Gret permission, if you can, to wet a line in the 
 Lathkin, and be assured you will not be half 
 an hour, whether late or early on its banks, 
 \vithout having a visit from a keeper, and 
 probably from another and another m the 
 course of the day, who will require the pro- 
 
32 VAJRIED CONDITION OF PEASANTRY, 
 
 duction of your credentials, and inspect them 
 most inquisitorially. As to the labouring men 
 thereabouts, fishing they never think of; 
 they might as well think of doing any other 
 impossible thing. Not only, if detected, would 
 they be subject to fine or imprisonment, but 
 they would be sure to be sent out of the 
 country, being so much at the mercy of the 
 great landlords. Even were an a.ngling rod 
 found in their cottage, they would have to rue 
 the discovery. So lost are they to all interest 
 in the sport, that I never saw a passing labourer 
 stop to watch my doings, or to inquire after my 
 success. 
 
 Amicus. Such exclusiveness is almost to 
 be regretted. I fear in Derbyshire, at least, 
 the different classes are too wide apart, and 
 that the peasantry have not that kindness 
 shown them, which, as fellow-men, they are 
 entitled to, and the exercise of which would be 
 for the advantage of all concerned. Such a 
 state approaches too nearly that of serfage, as 
 serfage does too nearly that of slavery. I, for 
 my part, would rather live amongst your freer 
 peasantry with very indifferent angling, than in 
 those princely territories under such absolute 
 
THE POETS HOME. 83 
 
 rule and restricted water privileges. Surely 
 the character of the peasantry must suffer. 
 
 PiscATOR. I think it does suffer, but I 
 cannot say to what extent. The northern 
 peasantry are distinguished for their bold and 
 independent bearing, their rough manners and 
 plain talk, and I hope I may add for simple 
 honesty : of the Derbyshire peasantry I know 
 less, and I am not prepared to give an opinion. 
 And now,' having finished our pleasantly pro- 
 tracted meal, let us prepare for our walk. 
 
 PiscATOK. Now we are alone, tell me how 
 you liked our after breakfast walk. 
 
 Amicus. It more than pleased, it delighted 
 me; especially Eydal Mount, its house, its 
 gardens, its terraces ; so unpretending, so beau- 
 tiful, everything so well preserved, and I 
 should suppose, unaltered. When you kindly 
 afforded me an opportunity of paying my 
 respects to the revered widow of the poet, I 
 could almost imagine myself in his presence, 
 and realize what Eydal Mount was during his 
 lifetime. 
 
 PiscATOR. Never was there a place so little 
 
 D 
 
34 BYDAL MOUNT, 
 
 altered, so carefully and lovingly preserved 
 There is a moral charm in it heightening all its 
 other charms. I am sure you will never forget 
 them ; I fear almost to talk about them, lest I 
 should expose myself to the charge of sentimen- 
 tality. 
 
 Amicus. Truly the home of a good man and 
 a great poet is a sacred place, vatis sacra domus, 
 a subject for thoughtful musings rather than for 
 common conversation : I respect your feeling. 
 In coming here, you promised me a further plea- 
 sure, the exploring in your company some of 
 your wilder fishing haunts ; where, you told me, 
 and I believe you, if we have not good angling, 
 we shall have some compensation in the 
 scenery. 
 
 PiscATOK. I well remember, and to-morrow, 
 if you please, I will be your guide to one of our 
 highest neighbouring tarns, where there are 
 good trout, though not easily taken, and scenery 
 of a kind that can hardly fail to interest you. 
 
COLLOQUY IL 
 
 Mountain Tarns. — Tarn Fishing. — Scenery 
 and Incidents. 
 
 Amicus. 
 EEE we are at last at Goodie Tarn, 
 and though it is not a perfect spe-- 
 culum DiancB^ it reminds me in its 
 form and mirror-like surface of that 
 celebrated one at Albano, and yet how different 
 are the accompaniments of the two. Here we 
 are in profound solitude, not a vestige of human 
 art apparent, or of man except a trace of his 
 footsteps, of some angler's like ourselves im- 
 pressed on the peaty ground. 
 
 PiscATOK. Truly the accompaniments are dif- 
 ferent. From the Italian tarn, or rather I should 
 say from its elevated crater-like margin, the 
 majestic dome of St. Peter's is in sight, the 
 triumph of modern architecture, and on the 
 intervening campagna, the old Eoman aque- 
 
36 MOUNTAIN AIR. 
 
 ducts, hardly less impressive even in their ruins, 
 both noble works. Yet, those around us are 
 not less impressive or noble in their native 
 wildness and grandeur, — the everlasting hills 
 that were uplifted who can say how long before 
 a stone of the "eternal city" was laid, and 
 which will endure in all probability to the end 
 of time, when not a stone of that city may be 
 found standing one upon another. 
 
 Amicus. Though it is calm, and against our 
 angling, how delightfully cool and fresh is the 
 air here! How charming the pure ethereal 
 blue of the sky overhead appearing through 
 the broken masses of white fleecy clouds ! How 
 fine the effects of the mountains looking south- 
 wards, chain after chain. I can count five^ 
 rising in succession, marked by different tints 
 of grey passing into blue with the distance, and 
 those nearer and loftier with their heads hid 
 in, or partially seen through, the clouds ! 
 
 PiscATOR. We are now at an elevation little 
 short of 2000 feet, and consequently have a 
 , commanding view. Let me direct your attention 
 to another feature of the scenery, that which 
 gives the district its name. How many lakes 
 do you see ? 
 
MOUNTAIN VIEWS. 37 
 
 Amicus. The more conspicuous mountains 
 diverted my attention; now you direct it to 
 them, I fancy I can distinguish four or five. 
 Pray what are they ? 
 
 PiscATOK. That immediately below us is 
 Easedale Tarn, which is partly fed from this 
 tarn, this probably nearly 1000 feet above it ;* 
 the next is Grrasmere; the next, Kydalmere; 
 and the last and most distant, Windermere; 
 the whole constituting one chain, and owing 
 their origin to so many basin-like depressions 
 in the ground formed when the mountains 
 were uplifted, and their enduring character as 
 lakes to the abundant supply of water in the 
 form of rain with which this district is blessed. 
 
 Amicus. How peculiar is the silence, as well 
 as solitude of this lofty region. Since we have 
 been here, the only sound I have heard has 
 been that of the lone cuckoo, that "wandering 
 voice." How different from the dale by which 
 we ascended, which I think you called Far- 
 Easedale ; there even in its upper and wildest 
 part, I was charmed with the pastoral sounds, 
 the bleating of the sheep and lambs, making 
 the solitude cheerful. Pray, has the sheep any 
 note or cry of alarm? I fancy I heard one, 
 
 ]> 3 
 
38 MOUNTAIN SOLITUDE. 
 
 when we came upon them suddenly, and they 
 ran off affrighted, something between a hiss 
 and a whistle. Surely I was not mistaken ! 
 
 PiscATOE. You were not. I believe the cry 
 is peculiar to our mountain breed of sheep.*" It 
 is wel] known to the shepherds. It denotes 
 their wildness, and the wild sheep, I have read, 
 uses the same note of alarm. The silence you 
 speak of, is indeed peculiar, and worthy of 
 note : commonly when I have been here, it has 
 been less marked. I have rarely been here at 
 this season without hearing, besides the wan- 
 dering voice of the cuckoo, the shrill scream of 
 the hawk, soaring over its eyrie, or the deep 
 croak of the passing raven floating in mid-air, 
 and to the angler, the more pleasing and 
 cheering sound, that of the leaping trout. The 
 perfect calm bodes us anglers no good. Were 
 there a wind we should hear its music amongst 
 the rocks, and might have a chance of success 
 in our angling. I fancied when we stopt, 
 after climbing the steep ascent of the mountain 
 side, coming from Far-Easedale, that I saw you 
 counting your pulse. If so, what was the 
 result ? 
 
 Amicus. My breathless state and my beating 
 
MO UNTAIN EXERCISE AND ITS RISKS. 39 
 
 heart reminding me of some former hints of 
 yours, on the impropriety of elderly gentlemen 
 attempting the ascent of mountains and its 
 danger, I wished to have some exact evidence 
 in my own case, and therefore I counted my 
 pulse. To my surprise and almost alarm I 
 found it exceedingly quick. However, now we 
 have rested awhile in the cool air, I am so 
 refreshed and easy in my feelings that we will 
 attempt, if you please, the hill above, for the 
 sake of the prospect, which I have no doubt 
 must be glorious. 
 
 PiscATOR. Would 'that we were a few years 
 younger, I will not say how many, then I 
 should have no objection to the higher ascent, 
 to climb the hill rising above us ; I would even 
 propose the ascent of the Langdale Pikes within 
 two miles of where we are, or the mighty Scaw- 
 fell not far distant, where, as the poet sings, you 
 may be 
 
 " Awed, delighted, and amazed." 
 
 But the time is past, not for the enjo3niient in 
 our case of the sublime pleasure, but for the 
 attaining it without experiencing a degree of 
 fatigue that would mar the pleasure and with- 
 
 I D 4 
 
40 PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS 
 
 out running a risk as regards health, which it 
 is well to avoid. You allude to my former 
 warnings briefly given. I have had many a 
 trial in ascending mountains, as I know you 
 have in your wanderings, and though I have 
 not reached the greatest altitudes, I have been 
 on some, as Etna, only second to them. The 
 result of my experience, I may repeat, is that 
 only the young, or at most those of middle life 
 and with vigorous and unimpaired constitutions, 
 should subject themselves to such labours, 
 such trials, and I use the latter word advisedly, 
 for I know no exercise so trying to the vital 
 organs, or more endangering them. How often 
 have I seen even young men, thoroughly over- 
 come in ascending a mountain, and, having 
 reached its summit, throw themselves on the 
 ground, and there remain prostrate till it was 
 time to descend, altogether incapable, from 
 sheer fatigue, of the enjoyment they looked 
 forward to when they set out. In the exertion 
 of ascending, the strain is mainly on the heart, 
 and indirectly through it on the lungs and 
 nervous system, especially the brain. I have 
 made some observations on these occasions on 
 the pulse and respiration, the results of which 
 
OF ASCENDING MOUNTAINS, 41 
 
 I may briefly mention in confirmation of your 
 own. The pulse I have always found amazingly 
 accelerated, and also the respirations; but 
 without any marked increase of the temperature 
 of the body, I mean of the deep seated parts, 
 as shown by the thermometer placed under the 
 tongue. The last mountain I ascended, was 
 Groatfield in the island of Arran, in height only 
 a little inferior to Scawfell, being 2900 feet 
 above the level of the sea, from Which it rises 
 rapidly, the distance from the shore from 
 Brodick, the village from which I started, 
 being only about two miles and a half as it is 
 roughly estimated. On reaching the summit, 
 I counted my pulse and respirations ; the pulse 
 was 120 and bounding, the respirations 32 and 
 laborious. After resting ten minutes, the res- 
 pirations were diminished to 16, the pulse to 
 90 ; and after ten minutes more, to 14 and 84 ; 
 . ordinarily the one is about 13 or 14, the other 
 about 50. Even after this rest, looking at the 
 second hand of my watch I saw double, warning 
 me of the danger of apoplexy. Such danger it 
 is easy to understand, from the increased action 
 of the heart, if, as is so often the case in 
 advancing age, there is a weakened state of the 
 
42 CAUTIONS REGARDING 
 
 bloodvessels of the brain. A youth of seventeen 
 accompanied me : his pulse also I counted when 
 we reached the top, and found it to be 120. 
 This I mention to show that the great accele- 
 ration of mine was not peculiar to me. No, 
 my friend, let us confine ourselves to these 
 middle heights, give up those ambitious aspi- 
 rings, or, what may be better still, keep to our 
 low and safe levels, the river, and the lake, and 
 our gentle art. 
 
 Amicus. Are you not pointing a moral ? I 
 dare say you are right, and that men of our 
 standing would do well to leave to their juniors 
 those labours, whether they be official, tasking 
 the intellect, or pursuits tasking both mind and 
 body, to the undertaking of which, a restless 
 ambition too frequently increasing with years 
 is the prompter. 
 
 PiscATOR. There is no harm in the moral 
 application which was casual, and, in our case, 
 little danger of being exposed to temptation, as 
 we are neither general officers nor statesmen. 
 Let me, however, modify my advice as to shun- 
 ning altogether mountain heights. There are 
 mountainous districts of easy reach, some two 
 or three thousand feet above the level of the 
 
MOUNTAIN EXERCISE, 43 
 
 sea, inhabited countries with passable carriage 
 roads : these regions are very desirable abodes, 
 especially within the tropics, for their pure and 
 cool air, as well as for the grand scenery by 
 which they are commonly surrounded. Such 
 regions are well fitted for us, and if you please, 
 you may attach a moral to the recommendation. 
 To recur for an instant to the exercise of ascend- 
 ing mountains, I may state, that here in our 
 district amongst the peasantry, heart complaints 
 are of common occurrence attributable, and 
 they commonly are so attributed, to this cause, 
 the ascending the hills after their sheep, espe- 
 cially in winter, when, if there be snow on the 
 fells, they have the additional fatigue and 
 strain of carrying up hay. In our own instance 
 to-day, we were imprudent, we ascended too 
 fast, I suppose from a natural impatience to 
 reach the tarn. We should have taken more 
 time, and stopt at spots almost inviting rest, 
 those little green terraces of beautiful pasture 
 not of unfrequent occurrence, where, besides 
 rest, we should have done well to have exercised 
 our eyes whilst reposing our limbs, directing 
 them to the dale below, and its bounding 
 hills. 
 
44 DURABILITY OF MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Amicus. Even in our somewhat laborious 
 ascent, I had an eye to them ; and I was struck 
 with the beauty of vegetation, all so fresh and 
 verdant, the bracken in its tender green, 
 ferns of many kinds, dwarfing as we ascended, 
 the delicate pasture accounting well for the ex- 
 cellency of the mutton fed on it, and the many 
 little flowering plants springing out of the turf, 
 as if intended for ornament even in these wilds. 
 Nor did the rocks escape my notice, so many 
 detached in great masses, and in one spot espe- 
 cially, quite a ruin of rocks, a vast shattered 
 heap at the foot of a precipice. Surely, judging 
 from what I saw, these mountains which you call 
 everlasting, are subject to decay and degradation! 
 
 PiscATOR. Yes, like all earthly things ; yet 
 I think we may call them everlasting. That 
 they are lower than they once were, I have no 
 doubt. These broken rocks to which you refer, 
 and the vast collection of detritus now forming 
 their sides, are demonstrative proofs. Probably 
 when they were first elevated, their summits 
 might have consisted of softer materials, because 
 less subjected to the hardening influences which 
 may have acted on the deeper parts ; and at one 
 period, I allude to the glacial period, they 
 
THE ANGLER'S REST. 45 
 
 might have been exposed to an agency greatly 
 more destructive than any which they are 
 now liable to suffer from. This, I say, is pro- 
 bable ; and remember, that now there is, as it 
 were, a conservative element in action, — the 
 beautiful turf, which, in clothing the sides of 
 the hills, protects them in a great measure from 
 the wasting and destructive effects of frost and 
 rain. As we cannot fish, there not being a breath 
 of wind to ruffle the tarn, we will, if you please, 
 take our luncheon. I will guide you to a 
 spot, with which I am sure you will be pleased, 
 and with which I have a pleasant association. 
 
 Amicus. This is, indeed, a pleasant spot. 
 Here we can rest on the soft-flowering heather, 
 drink from the living water falling into the 
 rock-basin, and should we be disposed to sleep, 
 be lulled by the sound, little more than a 
 tinckle of the trickling stream. But what of 
 the association you revert to, evidently with so 
 much pleasure ? 
 
 PiscATOK. It was not an ordinary incident of 
 an angler's life, at least not of mine, inasmuch 
 as the association was that of a charming, 
 blooming girl, now a happy wife and mother, — 
 who after a long forenoon's wanderings with me 
 
4^ AN ANGLING INCIDENT. 
 
 from tarn to tarn, over the hills, here sat down 
 with me, as we are about to do, to an angler's 
 meal, and after refreshment, poured out some 
 wild snatches of song, which, as I now think 
 of them, bring to my mind the lady in Comus, 
 or rather, I should say, the effect of her voice. 
 Now, do not think me romantic. Had you 
 heard my young friend — would that she were 
 here now, and as young — I am sure you would 
 absolve me, she had so rare a charm of voice, 
 and power of music. 
 
 Amicus. It was indeed a pleasant incident, 
 and might not be so rare (excepting the vocal 
 part) did a little more confidence exist between 
 the sexes, and were the world less fastidious 
 and censorious. 
 
 PiscATOE. Anglers and old anglers like us, 
 may well adopt the knightly motto, Honni soit 
 qui mat y pense. There is a little addition, 
 which I may make, and which will amuse you, 
 and I give it as somewhat marking the primi- 
 tive subjection of the sex in these parts. My 
 young friend, in her activity and love of scenery, 
 had ascended high up Langdale Pike, when I 
 was fishing in Stickle tarn, below : on descending, 
 not seeing me, and seeing two men, natives. 
 
TARN FLIES. 47 
 
 fishing with the lath — that poaching implement 
 — she addressed herself to them for informa- 
 tion — asking " If they had seen a gentleman 
 ansflino:, and could direct her to him." Oh I 
 they replied, "your master is yonder, hid by 
 that big rock." And she was soon by my side, 
 laughing, and making me smile at this strange 
 mistake, and I may surely say, no common 
 compliment. See, the water is beginning to 
 move ; a breeze is springing up, and let us be 
 moving. Though I have little hope of much 
 success, we will try ; you take one side of the 
 tarn, I will follow the other. I would recom- 
 mend you to try brown flies, or woodcock's 
 speckled wing, with hare's ear dubbing ; brown 
 flies, some speckled, some light brown, abound 
 amongst the heather and bracken. 
 
 Amicus. We have soon made the circuit of 
 this little tarn. What have you done ? I have 
 taken one trout only, — an ill-fed one, of about 
 half a pound, the only fish I rose. 
 
 PiscATOR. I have not had a rise ; nor have I, 
 seen a fish rise. The wind is so light and 
 unsteady, that it is not worth our while to stop. 
 We will descend, if you please, to Easedale 
 Tarn, and try it. There perhaps we may be 
 
48 TARNS AND THEIR CHARACTER. 
 
 more successful ; I wish I could dispense with 
 the perhaps, an odious word, but too applicable 
 to tarn-fishing, in which the chances always are 
 against success, so much so, that I would give 
 it up entirely, were it not for the sake of the 
 mountain air and the mountain scenery. 
 
 Amicus. I admire these mountain tarns, in 
 their naked beauty. These I infer are good 
 examples of the whole, — Easedale of the larger 
 class. Goodie Tarn of the smaller. Nakedness, 
 the almost total absence of trees, verdant 
 slopes, and rugged rocks, seem to be their 
 characteristics. The vast quantity of rain that 
 falls amongst these woodless mountains, with- 
 out which I have heard you say your lakes 
 and tarns would be in danger of becoming 
 horrid chasms, confirm an idea I have long 
 formed, that too much stress has been laid by 
 meteorologists on the presence of wood, as the 
 promoter of rain. Do you suppose these tarns 
 like the Speculum Diance and most of the 
 smaller Italian lakes, to be of volcanic origin, 
 and their basins the craters of extinct volcanoes ? 
 
 PiscATOR. The features you have mentioned, 
 are the common ones of our tarns, and these, 
 you see, are fair specimens of the whole. 
 
QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF TARNS, 49 
 
 There is one adjoining which I should like you 
 to see, for the sake of the grand fa9ade of rock 
 that rises from its shore. I speak of that one 
 already mentioned. Stickle Tarn, at the head of 
 Langdale, and at the foot of the Pikes. As to 
 the question of the formation of these tarns, I 
 am not aware there is any proof of their having 
 been volcanic, at least craters of volcanoes, there 
 being no traces of volcanic ejecta anyivher^ 
 known in the district. Moreover, their forms, 
 mostly very irregular, or, in the instance of the 
 larger ones and of all the lakes, more or less 
 elongated, rather favour the idea of their 
 hollows being rents or chasms, and these formed 
 contemporaneously with the mountains. 
 
 Amicus. Why such a nakedness of wood? Is 
 it owing to elevation, or to peculiarity of soil 
 and climate. 
 
 PiscATOR. The cause here is, I believe, the 
 same as in the wilder parts of Ireland, Donegal, 
 Connemara, and Kerry, — the want of protec- 
 tion from cattle, and especially from sheep. 
 The treeless fells, remember, are unenclosed. 
 Wherever in this district enclosures are made 
 and planted, the result is successful. Even 
 here at Goodie Tarn, you see there is one tree, 
 
 E 
 
50 DERIVATION OF THE WORD TARN, 
 
 a mountain ash of tolerable size, growing out 
 of a steep bank and overhanging the water, so 
 situated as to be free from depredation; and 
 often in the higher fells, in cutting for peat, 
 buried trees, the remains of old forests, are 
 exposed, and these of no inconsiderable size. 
 In this instance, as in so many others, do we 
 not see an adaptation of circumstances to pre- 
 vailing wants ! Pasture is the great want of 
 sheep ; and here, where the land, the fells are 
 given up to them, the close cropping of the 
 herbage, as well as their droppings, favour the 
 growth of the grasses they like best, and are 
 best fitted for them. 
 
 Amicus. Whence the name Tarn ? Is it not 
 peculiar to the Lake District ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I am not an etymologist, and may 
 not be able to satisfy you. I have heard it 
 derived from Taarne, the Danish for tears, 
 implying, as it were, that these collections of 
 water we call tarns are fed and supported by 
 the drops of water from the rocks. 
 
 Amicus. If not true, the derivation is at least 
 poetical, or rather, I should say, fanciful ; 
 genuine poetry, in strictness, never being severed 
 from truth. Our great poet had for his motto — 
 
WORDSWORTH AND " VERITASr 51 
 
 it was a family one — " Veritas." And may not 
 that word have had an influence on his mind, 
 and through his mind on his writings, so distin- 
 guished for truthfulness ? 
 
 PiscATOK. I agree with you that the highest 
 poetry is the most truthful, and also that the 
 poet's motto might have had some faint in- 
 fluence, as well as his name, on the poet's muse. 
 You will see, as I think, a happy use of this 
 motto in the new church at Ambleside, where, 
 inscribed on the three memorial windows 
 placed there to the poet and his dearest female 
 relations, it serves as a connecting link; and 
 let me tell you, that these windows denote 
 equally near and remote respect for and admi- 
 ration of the poet's worth and genius, the 
 subscription that paid for them having been 
 made principally in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood amongst the friends of the deceased, and 
 across the Atlantic, in the United States 
 amongst those who knew him chiefly through 
 his writings, at the invitation of a man who 
 revered the poet, and was worthy of his friend- 
 ship, the late Professor Henry Eeed. You 
 may remember his fate, — how, like Milton's 
 friend, so eloquently bewailed in Lysidas, he 
 
 E 2 
 
 k 
 
52 PROFESSOR HENRY REED. 
 
 perished by shipwreck, returning from this 
 country, — his first visit, as well as his last. 
 May he, too, not be 
 
 " Without the meed of some melodious tear." 
 
 Now let us descend, and be careful, for our 
 descent will be by a shorter way than our 
 ascent, of greater steepness, and not without 
 risk, where the rocks are rugged, and so nearly 
 precipitous, that a false step might cost you 
 your life. 
 
 Amicus. Besides trout, are there any other 
 fish in the tarn we have just left, and in that 
 we are descending upon ? From their situation, 
 bounded by such lofty heights, I infer they are 
 deep; and as deep water is favourable to the 
 charr, am I right in supposing that there are 
 charr in them ? 
 
 PiscATOR. They may have been once deep, 
 but at present they are not remarkably so ; 
 there is hardly a winter that they are not 
 frozen over. Judging from the debris on the 
 skirting hill sides, there must be a vast accu- 
 mulation of the same in their beds. As to the 
 fish in them, in Coodle Tarn I believe there is 
 only one kind, the trout : in Easedale Tarn 
 
CHARR'BREEDING PROCESS. 53 
 
 there are perch as well as trout, and I hope 
 now some charr, for only last summer I intro- 
 duced a few, some hatched in my own room. 
 
 Amicus. Considering the delicacy of this fish 
 in its habits and its rareness, I am surprised 
 to hear you speak thus of their hatching. 
 Pray, how was it accomplished ? 
 
 PiscATOK. Wait a minute till we have de- 
 scended this steep, almost a precipice, and have 
 got safely on the green slopes below. Do not 
 miss that transverse projection of rock, bearing 
 marks in its wear how long it has been trodden 
 by the foot of man, an impress lost in the ever 
 growing turf, — a circumstance this which may 
 well be matter of reflection. 
 
 Amicus. Now we are over the perilous part, 
 and on the soft and pleasant turf, tell me of 
 the breeding process. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is remarkable for its facility. 
 The ova, taken from a live charr when quite 
 mature (it was on the 25th of November), were 
 mixed at the instant of expulsion with milt 
 also from a living fish equally mature ; and 
 then distributed, some in shallow earthen pans 
 with or without gravel, and some in finger- 
 glasses, and covered with water to the depth of 
 
 E 3 
 
54 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HATCHING. 
 
 three or four inches. The vessels thus charged 
 were placed in a room, where there was 
 commonly a fire by day, the temperature 
 rarely falling below 50°, or rising above 5^°, 
 The water — pure spring water — was changed 
 twice a day. Such were the circumstances. 
 In due time, without any further trouble, 
 no more than when seeds are sown in a pot 
 and watered, the eggs were hatched, the young 
 produced, varying in time from forty-four to 
 sixty-six days. For about six weeks, the only 
 attention the fry required was a daily change 
 of water ; so long they needed no food, sub- 
 sisting, as in the instance of the young salmon 
 and trout in the same stage of growth, on the 
 attached residual yolk, — that yolk from which 
 they had been originally developed and organ- 
 ised. \\Tien the whole of the yolk was ab- 
 sorbed, and they required other food, and were 
 so advanced in form and power as to be able to 
 seek it, then I brought them here. 
 
 Amicus. Would it not have been better to 
 have kept them some time longer, till of a less 
 tender age, and better capable of avoiding 
 their many enemies ? 
 
 PiscATOE. My means were not adequate. 
 
INTERESTING PHENOMENA, 55 
 
 Such trials as I made to keep some longer 
 were unsuccessful^ whether owing to not giving 
 them proper food, or not affording them a 
 sufficient supply of fresh and cold water. 
 Eemember they are not, in this early stage, so 
 helpless as at first might be imagined : they are 
 quick in their movements ; this and their 
 minuteness of size, and their tendency to nestle 
 under stones, tolerably secure them. Let me 
 advise you, whenever you have an opportunity, 
 to engage in the breeding of any of the 
 Salmonidse of which you can procure the ova 
 and the milt, whether of the trout, salmon, or 
 charr (the facilities in each instance are much 
 the same), not to lose it. You will find the 
 subject interesting, especially if you call in aid 
 the microscope; then, you may witness the 
 progressive formation of a living being in all 
 its complicated organisation, from its crude 
 elements comprised in the substance of the 
 egg, — to compare delicate things with coarse — 
 nature's work with man's — like the building 
 up of a house, or the construction of a ship ; 
 you may watch the changes, the metamor- 
 phoses in their course ; you may see demon* 
 strated in the transparent structure of the 
 £ 4 
 
56 EASEDALE TARK 
 
 embryo, the marvellous circulation of the blood, 
 its double course through the gills, corre- 
 sponding to the lungs, and through the body, 
 from the mere impulse of the ever-acting 
 heart ; with other particulars, of a curious kind, 
 which you may well imagine. Now we are at 
 the margin of the lake, let us follow the same 
 plan as at Goodie Tarn ; you go in one direction, 
 I in the other. The fresh breeze that has 
 sprung up is in our favour. As we part where 
 the rivulet enters, I think we may calculate on 
 meeting where, in a somewhat fuller stream, 
 the out-flowing one starts on its downward 
 journey. 
 
 Amicus. We have met as you calculated ; and 
 unless you have had much better sport than I 
 can boast of, I infer, as it is gettmg late, you 
 will not be disposed to make another circuit. 
 I have taken only three fish, — trouts of herring 
 size. 
 
 PiscATOR. And I have taken only twice that 
 number, and the largest little larger than 
 yours ; but they are well fed, and will appear 
 to advantage, if you compare them with any 
 we may take in our descent; and it' may be 
 
SOUR'MTLK GILL. 57 
 
 worth while to try the beck, were it merely 
 for the sake of comparison. 
 
 Amicus. This " beck," as you call the rivulet, 
 is in its broken rapid course a good example 
 of the mountain stream ; and what a fine fall 
 is this we are just come to; the volume of 
 water, white in foam, making one clear leap 
 over the black rock into the deep ruffled pool 
 below. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is Sour-milk-gill; and in 
 that pool between two no inconsiderable falls, — • 
 in that dubb, as such a pool is here called, — ' 
 where you would least expect to find a fish, you 
 will, if you make a cast, probably get a rise, 
 and hook one. 
 
 Amicus. See, I have one! and how dark 
 and ill formed ; how large its head, how lank 
 its body, and how shattered its tail-fin. Poor 
 fish ! what a specimen of the half starved and 
 tempest-tossed. I infer by mishap it has come 
 down the cataract and got imprisoned. And 
 lo ! now I have opened it, though this is July, 
 there are a few ova of full size loose within. 
 
 PiscATOR. The fact is worthy of note, and 
 pray make a note of it ; see, they are trans- 
 parent, and without any marks of development. 
 
58 NORTHERN DIALECT. 
 
 Amicus. " Sour-milk-gill/' — what a signi- 
 ficant name ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Our JSTorthern dialect is rich in 
 descriptive and distinctive names. Mere, tarn, 
 beck, gill, force, dubb, are words expressive 
 of different varieties of water. Almost, indeed 
 I may say every natural object here has a 
 name, and commonly an expressive, and often 
 a picturesque one. That bold headland is 
 Helm-crag ; that connecting ridge, Lancrigg ; 
 the opening gently descending dale, Easedale ; 
 the higher dale, Far-Easedale; that pretty knoll 
 far down in the dale, crowned with wood with 
 grassy slopes, is Butterlip-How ; then, not far 
 off, some of them in sight, are Silver-How, Fair- 
 field, the Pikes, Wry-nose, Hard-knott,the Great 
 Gable, and others, more than I can remember. 
 This richness of names marks well the old 
 country, and the breed of its people, — names 
 to me more pleasing than those, rarely found 
 here, of castellated holds and baronial resi- 
 dences. 
 
 Amicus. I like your predilection. How 
 different the associations, and how well adapted 
 for the poetry of nature ! 
 
 PiscATOR. And Nature's Poet has made 
 
NAMING OF I'LACES. 59 
 
 good use of them. There is a good example 
 in Wordsworth's Poems on the naming of 
 places, in that entitled Joanna. I will task 
 my memory to repeat some of the resounding 
 lines : — 
 
 — " When I had gazed perhaps two minutes' space, 
 
 Joanna, looking in my eyes, beheld 
 
 That ravishment of mine, and laughed aloud. 
 
 The rock, like something starting from a sleep. 
 
 Took up the Lady's voice and laughed again ; 
 
 That ancient Woman seated on Helm-crag, 
 
 Was ready with her cavern; Hammar-Scar, 
 
 And the tall steep of Silver-How, sent forth 
 
 A noise of laughter ; southern Loughrigg heard, 
 
 And Fairfield answered with a mountain tone : 
 
 Helvellyn far into the clear blue sky, 
 
 Carried the Lady's voice ; old Skiddaw blew 
 
 His speaking-trumpet ; — back out of the clouds 
 
 Of Glaramara southward came the voice ; 
 
 And Kirkstone tossed it from his misty head." 
 
 And besides their poetical use, let me tell 
 you, they have another, an historical one, — 
 they are, as it were, the records of the early 
 times of the district and of its inhabitants, 
 of which for proof let me recommend to you 
 for perusal a little work containing a good deal 
 of research, lately published, entitled "The 
 Northmen in Cumberland and Westmoreland," 
 the author of which, as you may infer from the 
 
60 NORTHMEN— DESCENT. 
 
 title, considers those hardy independent races, 
 especially the Norwegians, as the original of 
 the existing population. Alluding to the 
 practice of the Northmen, of giving the name 
 of the departed chief not only in the mound 
 {How) in which he was buried, but also in 
 many cases to the valley or plain in which 
 it was situated, he remarks, — and I repeat his 
 words now, because so applicable, — "Upon 
 many of the lower heights which encircle 
 our beautiful lakes, the Viking has reared his 
 tomb — from the summit of Silver-How, an 
 old chieftain looks down upon the lowly grave 
 of Wordsworth ; and the tourist, as he climbs 
 upon Butterlip-How, a favourite site for the 
 survey of the lovely plain of Grrasmere, treads 
 over the ashes of a once nimble-footed North- 
 man. We might almost imagine, in the still- 
 ness of a summer eve, the ghosts of those grim 
 warriors, seated each on his sepulchral hill, 
 looking down, as was their firm belief, upon 
 the peaceful scene below. Silver-How is de- 
 rived from the proper name of Solvar; while in 
 Butterlip-How we find the name Buthar Lipr 
 (pronounced, as nearly as may be, Butterlip,) 
 Buthar the nimble, " 
 
NORWEGIAN ORIGIN OF PEOPLE, 61 
 
 Amicus. This, too, is poetical ; and if worthy 
 of any credit historically, imparts a fresh in- 
 terest to those scenes, and to the district gene- 
 rally. I am glad to hear you say that I shall 
 find in the book to which you refer me, 
 weighty evidence that the hypothesis is not a 
 fiction. 
 
 PiscATOR Indeed you will, and not only 
 in the names of places analogous to those 
 in Norway, but also in the idiom of the people, 
 their customs, bodily form, and complexion; 
 and a goodly origin it is, of which the people 
 may well be proud. 
 
 Now let our day's fishing end ; let us make 
 the best of our way home, where we can re- 
 sume the pleasant subject ; and where you can 
 consult the book itself. Let us hope that 
 to-morrow we may have as pleasant a day, with 
 better sport. 
 
COLLOQUY IIL 
 
 Santon Bridge, Cumberland. — The River Irt, 
 — Evening Fishing, — Varied Discussion, 
 
 Amicus. 
 OW pleasant has been our morning 
 ride from your mountain home, 
 under Fairfield and Scandale Pike, 
 through the pastoral valleys of Lang- 
 dale and Eskdale, and over the wild bounding 
 hills with those singular names of Wry-nose 
 and Hard-knott. I hardly know of what I saw 
 which pleased me most, there was such an 
 accordance and harmony throughout ; the neat 
 and substantial farm-house of stone, in its 
 sheltered site, with its ornamental tre^s, the 
 dark yew, the umbrageous sycamore, or stately 
 fir, or graceful birch; the meadows, whether 
 lying low, or on the hill sides, so well enclosed 
 and cared for, with their beautiful pastures, won 
 
GLACIER PHENOMENA, 63 
 
 by a toilsome industry from the marsh or 
 mountain ; and in addition, the fine finish of 
 nature — if I may use the expression — in the 
 rounded lower hills and hummocks, dome-like, 
 often in a manner insulated, so advantageously 
 contrasting with the loftier heights, the bold 
 girding mountains. I can readily believe what 
 you stated the other day, that glaciers have 
 existed here. Are not the forms I have men- 
 tioned, with others, such as the terrace-shape 
 of many of the declivities, owing to their action? 
 
 PiscATOR. It can hardly be doubted. There 
 is not a valley in the Lake District which does 
 not bear marks more or less of such an action : 
 the harder rocks recently exposed are invari- 
 ably found scratched and grooved in lines 
 almost parallel ; boulders are of frequent occur- 
 rence, and moved worn stones, after the manner 
 of moraines, and enormous beds of drift are 
 common ; in brief, here on a comparatively small 
 scale may be seen and studied all the pheno- 
 mena of glacier action, — an epitome of what 
 is to be seen on a larger scale, and in progress 
 in the valley sof the Alps. 
 
 Amicus. What of their antiquity ? Are there 
 any data for calculating the age of the glaciers 
 
64 GLACIAL PERIOD. 
 
 of which we thus see, or presume we see, the 
 effects ? 
 
 PiscATOE. From the nature of the materials 
 of which the drifts or moraines consist, the 
 glacial period here, it may he inferred, was 
 a recent one in geological history ; and, were 
 we authorised in coming to a conclusion, from 
 the circumstance that nothing organic has yet 
 been discovered in these accumulations, — no 
 implement of art, no bones, no remains of 
 trees, — it would be that the glacial followed 
 the fiery period, and was anterior to the time 
 of the country being inhabited by man, or even 
 in a state fitting it for the support of animals 
 or plants. But the inquiry is in its infancy: I 
 can lay no stress on this inference. 
 
 Amicus. We crossed two mountain streams 
 on our way, and saw three pretty lakes or tarns ; 
 what were they ? 
 
 PiscATOR. That long piece of water in 
 Langdale, more like a river than a lake, and 
 from which the Brathay flows, is Elter Water ; 
 the next is little Langdale Tarn, a tarn 
 abounding in trout of herring size ; and the 
 third, at a greater elevation, is Blea Tarn, of 
 which, in the "Excursion," you will find a 
 
mVJER AND MOUNTAIN SCENERY, Q5 
 
 description, with its surrounding scenery, in 
 the account of the Kecluse, whose abode was 
 in the solitary farm-house, such a one as there 
 still is in this secluded little highland dale. 
 The rivers we passed were the Duddon, so well 
 known now in song, in its infant stage near its 
 source, which we crossed at Cockley Beck, and 
 the Esk, somewhat further from its source, — a 
 stream, to my mind, in its purity, frequent falls 
 and deep pools in rocky basins, not less deserving 
 of a poet's notice, — perhaps in its beautiful 
 wildness and accompaniments even more worthy 
 of admiration. Nowhere does Scawfell, the 
 highest of our mountains, appear to such ad- 
 vantage as from the upper valley of the Esk, 
 with its companion Bowfell, rising grandly in 
 their drear moorland solitude. 
 
 Amicus. In ascending from Langdale, we 
 had a view of a pretty water-fall. Can you tell 
 me its name ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is Colwith-Force, the stream 
 a tributary of the Brathay. I am glad that you 
 have mentioned it, not that I intend to descant 
 on its beauty, but to notice a fact relative to 
 the Charr, which has lately come to my know- 
 ledge ; namely, its ascending thus far and 
 F 
 
66 BREEDING PLACE OF CHARR. 
 
 through rough water, and, according to my 
 informant, in the breeding season, and only 
 then, and for the purpose of spawning. The 
 person from whom I learnt this is a notorious 
 poacher, and well acquainted with the habits of 
 the fish. According to him, though some 
 -^.spawned at the foot of the fall, more preferred 
 the lower, wider, and stiller portion of the 
 Brathay, and still more the shoals of Winder- 
 mere, for their breeding-place; thus, in such 
 variety of locality, showing a remarkable latitude 
 of choice for a purpose in which we suppose 
 instinct to be so mainly concerned. You may 
 ask, perhaps, " Am I certain of the fact ? " Had 
 the man a theory to support, or any interest, I 
 might have my doubts of his accuracy ; but, as 
 his object was only the nefarious one of taking 
 breeding charr, I cannot question it. 
 
 Amicus. This village, which you tell me is 
 called Santon Bridge, both in its situation and 
 simple character, reminds me of our last fishing 
 station, Bampton Grrange.* Here, as there, 
 we seem to be on the outskirts of the Lake 
 District; and I fear too, as there, at some 
 -distance from our fishing ground. 
 
 * The Angler and his Friend, p. 232. 
 
S ANTON BRIDGE. 67 
 
 PiscATOE. You are right again ; we are on 
 the boundaries of the Lake District, but much 
 nearer the sea and at a lower level, and are 
 leaving the pastoral region for the arable, — the 
 sheep country for the corn country; and the 
 lake, where we purpose to have a day's fishing, 
 Wastwater, is from hence somewhat more distant 
 than Haweswater from Bampton Grrange, not 
 less than three miles ; but the river, the Irt, in 
 which I hope we shall get some sport, is close 
 at hand : the bridge in the village which we 
 crossed, and which gives name to the village, is 
 over it. Whether we have any success or not 
 in fishing this stream, I am sure you will be 
 pleased with it, especially that part of it flowing 
 through the grounds of Irton Hall, — grounds 
 hardly inferior in sylvan beauty to the banks of 
 the Teme, in Oakley Park, and superior in 
 another respect, in the impressive grandeur 
 imparted by the mountains seen in the distance. 
 Now, in the middle of July, they are without 
 snow; were it April or October, they would 
 probably be crested with snow, and would have 
 even more of an Alpine character. As the 
 fishing here is best in the evening and the sun 
 is yet high, we will, if you please, whilst our 
 
68 THE RIVER IRT. 
 
 dinner is getting ready, take a stroll by the 
 river side, pay our respects to the worthy 
 gentleman, the proprietor of the Hall, and ask 
 his leave for our angling, which, knowing his 
 courtesy and kindness of old, I am sure will not 
 be refused. How well do I remember when I 
 first asked it ; it was in company, alas ! with the 
 same friend who was my companion at Bampton 
 Grange, and this was his last fishing excursion, 
 and a most pleasant one it was ; he died a few 
 days after his return from it, — so near often, and 
 too often, are our pleasures and griefs, enjoyable 
 life and the cold grave. 
 
 Amtcfs. I thank you for this our walk ; you 
 spoke justly of the scenery and of its sylvan 
 beauty. I shall not fail to advise any friend of 
 mine coming here to go where you brought 
 me ; first, to the pretty summer-house, near the 
 Lodge, looking down on the tumbling stream 
 raging amongst rocks in its rapid descent, par- 
 tially hid by its wooded banks, partially dis- 
 closed; and next to the terrace on which the 
 Hall stands, flanked, especially on the left, by 
 those noble trees, and overlooking the park-like 
 meadows stretching down to the river, here 
 winding quietly along, with occasional breaks, — 
 
IRTON HALL. 69 
 
 the delight of the angler, — those little falls 
 and rapids giving life to its waters, 
 
 PiscATOR. It is, indeed, a spot of heauty! 
 Would that the trees, those silver firs that 
 you admired, could be secured from the effects 
 of age. Did you not notice that they are 
 showing marks of decay ? 
 
 Amicus. Do you speak of the largest trees, 
 the domicile of the innumerable rooks ? 
 
 PiscATOR. The same; and let me tell you 
 that the rooks have the blame for their decay. 
 
 Amicus. And do you believe it ? May they 
 not, in this instance, as in many others, do good 
 rather than harm ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Probably so. Their droppings — a 
 kind of guano, abounding in lithic acid, a rich 
 manure — cannot fail to fertilise the soil where 
 they fall; it is not unlikely, indeed, that the 
 trees owe their noble growth rather than their 
 decay to the very birds they shelter : this, at 
 least, is the more pleasing and grateful view of 
 the association. 
 
 Amicus. Pray, what were those small pro- 
 jecting platforms, which I saw by the margin 
 of the stream in several places ? 
 
 PiscATOR. They are deserving of attention, 
 F 3 
 
70 HOD-FISHING. 
 
 being a contrivance, and I am sure you will 
 think a poaching one, for the capture of fish. 
 Be on your guard how you step on them, for 
 they are of feeble structure, and will not always 
 support the weight of a man, especially one 
 part, an opening, which is only lightly covered. 
 They are here called " hods," and are made of 
 wicker-work, sticks thrust into the overhanging 
 bank, and crossed with others, and covered 
 with turf. Their intent is to produce deep 
 shade, a tempting resting place during the day 
 for the larger fish, which, as I before men- 
 tioned, when speaking of the evening angling, 
 shun the garish light. There is, I know, one 
 close by. Ha ! I see the landlord is going to 
 the garden with a lister, that three-pronged 
 spear in his hand. Let us follow him ; I dare 
 say he is about to look into his hod, with the 
 hope of getting a fish in part for his supper 
 fare and in part for our dinner. 
 
 Amicus. You were right. What a strange 
 proceeding. He throws himself down with his 
 face to the earth over the hod ! 
 
 PiscATOR. See, he removes some dried ferns, 
 and now through the opening he has made, he 
 looks into the water. Now he clutches his 
 spear, and carefully introduces it without rais- 
 
CULINARY HINT, 71 
 
 ing his head. Be sure there is a fish there. 
 He strikes, and with effect I Behold the prize, 
 " a mort," of at least three pounds, — a fresh- 
 run fish, and in excellent condition. 
 
 Amicus. A most easy and rude way this of 
 fishing, and well deserving the name of poach- 
 ing : yet, truly on the part of the man, it is a 
 prostration with profitable effect ! If there be 
 many of these hods, and they are well attended 
 to, the angling cannot be good. 
 
 PiscATOR. Indeed they are too many, every 
 small proprietor having one or more, spoiling 
 the river for fair angling, except shortly after a 
 fresh, such as that which the late heavy rains 
 have produced, and which has tempted me to 
 bring you here, when at this season we may be 
 pretty sure that a good many fish have run up 
 from the sea ; and now that the water is clear- 
 ing, we may have a tolerable chance of success. — 
 " Landlord, I know you intend a portion of this 
 fish to be on the table at our dinner. Let it, if 
 you please, be the tail portion: and do tell 
 your good woman, who is not above taking and 
 remembering a hint from an old and travelled 
 angler, to boil it, and in the manner I described 
 to her when I was last* here." 
 
 F 4 
 
72 EVENING FISHING. 
 
 Amicus. Favour me with your cooking pro- 
 cess, as skill in dressing a fish I hold to be a 
 proper accompaniment of the skill of catching 
 it ; and, according to my reading, most accom-. 
 plished anglers seem to pride themselves in 
 possessing it. 
 
 PiscATOR. Is not this another of the advan- 
 tages attending angling ; I mean its promoting 
 an art so low as that of cooking in this country, 
 and so little cultivated in its refinements ? As 
 to this process, it is a simple one, and well 
 known to our craft. It is simply this : to make 
 the water boil before putting in the fish, and 
 that the temperature, the boiling point may 
 be higher, throwing into the kettle a handful 
 of salt. In ten or fifteen minutes such a piece 
 of fish as we are to have, of about a pound 
 and a half, will be thoroughly dressed, will be 
 firm and flaky, with the curd preserved and 
 bloodless, — the last-mentioned quality the proof 
 of its being sufficiently done. 
 
 PisCATOR. I hope this evening fishing has 
 not disappointed you, and that your success 
 has been at least equal to mine, which has 
 
PLEASURES OF A SUMMER EVENING. 73 
 
 not been great, having killed only two morts, 
 the largest not exceeding three pounds, one 
 " spod " of about ten ounces, and a few small 
 river trout. 
 
 Amicus. My success has been less ; one large 
 fish, of the kind you call a "mort" I infer (would 
 that it were mori) I hooked and lost from its 
 getting entangled in weeds ; and the trouts I 
 have taken, about a dozen, were hardly worth 
 taking, they were so small. Notwithstanding, 
 I have had no small enjoyment in my ramble 
 by the river-side this fine evening after the 
 heat of the day. At this time, by such a 
 stream and amidst such scenery, angling is 
 indeed "the contemplative man's recreation," 
 and something more ; may we not say, that the 
 river-side is the contemplative man's study. 
 How glorious were the mountain peaks rising 
 above the dark wood, reflecting the lingering 
 light of day ! How pleasant, almost musical 
 in the silence of the late evening, the sound 
 of the falling water and of the rippling stream ! 
 How refreshing the cool air ! I felt grateful 
 for so much enjoyment. — My thoughts at times, 
 heightening perhaps the enjoyment, reverted 
 to other scenes, in other countries less favoured 
 
74 INFL UENCES OF CL IMA TE. 
 
 by nature, to the hot south, and hotter tropics, 
 where exercise is a toil, the "far niente" a 
 pleasure, and where even the pleasure of rest 
 is broken in upon by the pest of insects. 
 Thinking of such distant scenes, I thought 
 how thankful we Englishmen should be for 
 such a land as ours, and such a climate ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Yours was a pleasant train of 
 thought! How much, indeed, do we owe 
 to our climate ! Perhaps even our rational 
 freedom, our best institutions. Were it dif- 
 ferent, were it either like that of Northern 
 Eussia, or of Southern Naples or Sicily, should 
 we have preserved the sustained vigour that 
 marks our race, and which is as remarkable in 
 the races of our domestic animals, — a vigour 
 to which we owe so much ? 
 
 Amicus. In my pensive mood by the river 
 side, I remembered me of a former remark of 
 yours, how angling affords an opportunity, 
 hardly to be enjoyed otherwise, • to become 
 acquainted with the habits of the people, and 
 began to reflect on the contrast that is so 
 marked between the natives of this district and 
 of any part of Ireland which I have yet visited. 
 How different their manners, how different 
 
CHARACTEIl OF THE PEASANTRY, 75 
 
 their dress, how different their dwellings ! An 
 incident shortly before probably conduced to 
 the train of thought. It was the assistance 
 given me by a working man, an angler, who 
 seeing my flies entangled in a tree, out of my 
 reach, without being asked, mounted into the 
 tree, cut off the branch without saying a word, 
 or more than a word, and taking, without 
 thanking me, a few flies I gave him, with thanks 
 for his trouble. 
 
 PiscATOE. There is good and bad in both, 
 and perhaps tolerably balanced. Steadiness 
 here is commonly associated with a repulsive 
 silent gravity; levity there with an agreeable 
 conversational sprightliness ; neatness and pro- 
 priety of dress here with thrift and parsimony ; 
 raggedness and little attention to dress there 
 with less regard to saving and lucre, and more 
 devotion to the kindly feelings. Here bastardy 
 is common ; there it is most uncommon ; 
 prudence, in one instance, checking early 
 marriages; early marriages, in the other, 
 fostering female virtue, and that virtue en- 
 hancing respect for the sex. But I am 
 running into a parallel, tempted by the subject, 
 which, pray, excuse. 
 
76 INFLUENCES ON CHARACTER. 
 
 Amicus. There are puzzling features in both 
 people : as mountaineers, from what I have 
 heard and seen of those of this country, they 
 are nowise an impulsive or imaginative people, 
 are poor in traditionary lore, little tainted with 
 superstition, and not remarkable for religious 
 feeling. The Lake-poets, I believe, were not of 
 the district ; respected in their adopted country, 
 as they all were, it was, I am assured, rather 
 as men than as poets. You will smile at what 
 I am about to mention, — and perhaps with 
 better knowledge may question its truth, — 
 how a farmer's wife, a shrewd woman in 
 her way, when one of these distinguislied 
 men was taken to his last home, — on the 
 family of the deceased poet becoming the 
 subject of conversation, — naively remarked, 
 
 she supposed Mrs. , the widow, " would 
 
 carry on the business." Such was her view of 
 the divine art. 
 
 PiscATOR. There is a consistency in cha- 
 racter. How the character of a people is 
 formed is commonly a difficult problem to 
 solve. Its formation seems to depend on a 
 variety of circumstances, something probably 
 on race, a good deal ab initio on climate and 
 
HAWKSTEAD SCHOOL. 77 
 
 soil and geographical position ; these most 
 commonly determining the prevailing occu- 
 pations, and the occupations having their 
 influence in the formation of habits and modes 
 of thought. Not an imaginative people, any 
 more than the Danes, those"" of this district are 
 a calculating people. I was assured by an 
 eminent man, a native, himself a distinguished 
 mathematician and astronomer, and who had 
 received his school education in one of the 
 villages of the district, Hawkshead, that that 
 school had sent to Cambridge in his recol- 
 lection, then extending to fifty years, no fewer 
 than twelve senior wranglers. 
 
 Amicus. When we visited that neat and 
 pretty village the other day, you pointed out 
 the school-room ; you pointed out the Dame's 
 house where our great Poet nestled when a 
 boy, and the yew tree by the road side, an 
 early subject of his muse, — of those ^^ lines," as 
 they are called, which contain the germ of his 
 after writings, and are almost equal to anything 
 he ever wrote, but you said nothing of the glories 
 of the school. 
 
 PiscATOR. Alas ! they are passed away. A 
 school, which, when at its height, little more 
 
78 DECLINE OF ENDOWED SCHOOLS. 
 
 than half a century ago^ had at one time more 
 than 100 boys within its walls, many of them 
 in preparation for our universities, has not, I 
 believe, now one fifth of that number, and 
 most of this small number are instructed, it is 
 said, only in the merest rudiments of reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic. The causes of the 
 decline I will not enter upon; it is nowise a 
 pleasant subject, and I regret to think it is not 
 a solitary example : too many of the endowed 
 schools of the district, which in their time have 
 done good service, have fallen off in like 
 manner. Would that the government would 
 look to them ; and in originating new not 
 forget the old ; nor let their endowments make 
 them independent and exempt from all super- 
 vision and correcting control. — How we have 
 strayed from what we began conversing about ! 
 Pray, if you can, put the broken thread into 
 my hand. 
 
 Amicus. I was telling you of the pleasure I 
 had in the late evening : it was I that digressed, 
 nor do I regret it, from fishing into a higher 
 though not pleasanter subject of talk. 
 
 PiscATOE. I remember ; and pray remember 
 that I forewarned you of this tendency, when 
 
NIGHT-FISHING. 79 
 
 speaking of the social privileges of anglers. 
 As regards evening fishing, I agree with 
 you as to its enjoyments, provided it be not 
 extended into the night, nor followed longer 
 than it is agreeable ; if longer, then I think 
 we must call it poaching. Dark-fishing, that 
 is, when you cannot see your flies, and are 
 guided by the ear and not by the eye, is 
 truly a deed of darkness ; — being a killing 
 time, the larger fish then on the alert foraging, 
 it is a favourite time of the poacher. If an 
 exception is to be made in favour of night- 
 fishing, it is, I think, in the north, and in the 
 height of summer, when the late and early 
 twilight meet. Then and there, it certainly 
 has its charms ; and I would advise the young 
 angler, — that is, the man young in years, — 
 to try it occasionally. Apart from the sport, 
 there is an enjoyment of another kind, arising 
 out of the peculiarities of the hour, — the 
 mysterious light, the solemn stillness, the 
 profound solitude, — the sleep of nature. Even 
 now, after the lapse of so many years, I have 
 fresh in memory the feelings produced at such 
 a time, when a student youth fishing in the 
 romantic grounds of Craigy Hall, hear Edin- 
 
80 MORTS AND SPODS. 
 
 burgh, amongst the rocks under that picturesque 
 wide-spanning arch, the utile dulci bridge, so 
 inscribed, and so fittingly. 
 
 Amicus. As a traveller I know well the 
 feeling to which you refer and its solemnity, 
 and could wish myself younger to have the 
 enjoyment as an angler unchecked by thoughts 
 of risk of health, and other prudential considera- 
 tions. — Now to return to our fish; — pray, what is 
 the fish which is here called a Mort, and what 
 that called a Spod ? 
 
 PiscATOR, The terms, I need not tell you, 
 are provincial. Here, I believe, they are 
 indiscriminately applied to the white trout or sea 
 trout and to the salmon on its first advent from 
 the sea. The distinction between morts and 
 spods rests chiefly on size ; the former of larger 
 size, commonly from a pound and a half to four 
 pounds and a half, — the latter, smaller, from ten 
 ounces to a pound and a half. 
 
 Amicus. Provincial as the terms are, they 
 sound oddly. What is their derivation and 
 meaning, if they have any ? If there be truth 
 in the Northmen original of the people, ought 
 we not to find that these terms have a Norwe- 
 orian root ?" 
 
WHENCE THE NAME SALMO ? 81 
 
 PiscATOK. They are as local as they are 
 provincial ; but whence derived is somewhat 
 uncertain. Perhaps mort may be from old 
 Norse, murta ; Danish, murt ; Suiv-Grothic, mbrt 
 a trout ; and spod, from the Danish, speed, signify- 
 ing tender, delicate. I am indebted for these 
 derivations, conjectural as they are, to the author 
 of the work of which we were speaking ; and they 
 are as plausible as the derivations of many 
 others in common use, especially the names of 
 fishes. 
 
 Amicus. That I had not thought of. Pray 
 are the words by which the Salmonidse are 
 now known, such as you speak of, so obscure 
 and unintelligible as regards their signification ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I fear I must answer in the 
 affirmative. Let us go over them, beginning 
 with the generic name Salmo, You will smile 
 when I say it is a question whether the word 
 is derived from a river, the Sale, a branch of 
 the Elbe, frequented by the fish, or from sal^ 
 salt, it having been chiefly known to the 
 Komans, and in the market of Eome as a 
 salted fish. Pliny, I believe, is the earliest 
 author in which mention is made of it, and that 
 very briefly and not very correctly, seemingly 
 
82 WHENCE THE NAME TROUT f 
 
 ignorant of its migratory habits. The passage 
 is this : — " In Aquitania salmojluviatilis marinu 
 omnibus prcEfeHur.''^ 
 
 Amicus. Were not the Greeks acquainted 
 with it, and does not the searching Aristotle 
 make mention of it ? 
 
 PiscATOK. Eemember it is a fish of cold waters, 
 and that it is unknown in the Mediterranean 
 and in all the rivers emptying themselves 
 into that sea, as well as into its branches, the 
 ^gean and the Euxine, and you are answered. 
 Even the trout, it would appear, had not the 
 attention of Aristotle, though it might have 
 come under his notice, occurring as it does in 
 some of the rivers of ancient Macedonia. 
 
 Amicus. What of its name ? I hope you can 
 say something satisfactory concerning it. 
 
 PiscATOR. I wish I could ; judge for yourself, 
 when I tell you that some naturalists have 
 given it up in despair, that some have referred 
 it to the base Latin of the middle ages, after 
 this manner. Trout, Trutta ; Trocta^ rpcuKTYj^, 
 vorator ; others to the German, Trutt, signify- 
 ing that which is pleasing, an object of desire ; 
 a derivation, I think you will agree with me, 
 we may at least highly approve of as anglers. 
 
 \ 
 
NAMES OF OTHER SPECIES. 83 
 
 Amicus. Good ! I quite approve. What have 
 you to say of the specific names of Ferox^ Solar ^ 
 Eroxy Umbla*i 
 
 PiscATOE. You impose on me a hard task. 
 To begin with the last on your list, the charr, — 
 S. umhlay the umbra probably of Ausonius, — 
 may owe its name, it has been conjectured 
 with some plausibility, to its colour and shy- 
 ness, — seen as a shadow, obscurely seen in 
 the water. Of the first, S, ferox, a name re- 
 cently given, the explanation is obvious; the 
 size of the fish, its strength and voracity, its for- 
 midable teeth, have well earned it this its appel- 
 lation, that is, if it be truly a distinct species, 
 and not the common trout, the growth of many 
 years, coarsely and abundantly fed. The word 
 Salar applied to the chief of the Salmonidae, 
 the noble salmon, labours under the same ob- 
 scurity as the generic name, and may be held to 
 be a synonyme. Of eriox sudfario, I can offer 
 nothing satisfactory, even less so than of the 
 provincial terms, Mort and Spod, with which 
 we started our conversation; — perhaps these 
 also were originally provincial names, and might 
 have been used with as little accuracy. There 
 is a verse or two of Ausonius which may be 
 
 G 2 
 
84 CONFUSION OF NAMES, 
 
 mentioned in point, applicable to one of 
 
 them, 
 
 " Teque inter geminas species neutrumque et utrumque, 
 Qui necdum salmo, nee jam salar, ambiguusque 
 Amborum, medio Fario intercepte sub aevo." 
 
 Now as Ausonius was a native of Graul, of 
 Bordeaux, he might have had an opportunity 
 of becoming familiar with the names as applied 
 to the salmon provincially used, and the fisher- 
 men of the Garonne might have made as many 
 distinctions (which his words imply) as some of 
 ours do at present, or till very recently : take 
 the Eibble, for instance. Willughby informs^ 
 us, in his Historia Piscium, that the fishermen of 
 that river applied to the salmon no less than, 
 six different names, according to the age of 
 the fish ; calling those of one year, smelts, 
 those of the second, sprods, of the third, morts, 
 of the fourth, fork-tails, of the fifth, half-fish, 
 and of the sixth, lastly, when presumed to be 
 of full size, and not till then, salmon. And, 
 in Connemara, I have heard nearly as many 
 distinctive names used, founded on a like sup- 
 position as to age ; thus they call there the 
 young fish, before descending to the sea, fry 
 (salmon-fry), on their first return, peel, on their 
 
SOURCES OF ERRORS OF NAMES. 85 
 
 next^ that is, in the following year, forked-tails^ 
 and not till the year after, salmon. 
 
 Amicus. Great, indeed, is the obscurity : the 
 subject of the names, the specific ones, from 
 what you say, I presume is an almost hopeless 
 one ; fortunately, it is of little importance. 
 
 PiscATOK. Excepting in connexion with facts. 
 The subject is unquestionably obscure in itself, 
 but that is not a reason it should be given up 
 in despair. The provincial names we have 
 been speaking of, I have no doubt have been 
 assigned with little care, and may be, many 
 of them, incorrect, whilst given to distinguish 
 ages confounding species, or vice versa, as in 
 the well known instances of the parr and smolt. 
 Let us hope, as in these instances, the exact re- 
 searches of the naturalist will make clear what 
 is uncertain and obscure. 
 
 Amicus. You have made mention of Pliny 
 and Aristotle ; since I have become addicted to 
 angling, I have at spare hours been consulting 
 these authors, those main authorities in the 
 ancient world on natural history, relative to 
 fishes, but I cannot say with adequate return 
 for the trouble of turning over the pages. The 
 Roman seems to be the echo of the Greek, and 
 
 o 3 
 
86 ARISTOTLE'S HISTORY OF ANIMALS. 
 
 not unfrequently a broken and confused one. 
 In Aristotle I find a great quantity of infor- 
 mation, indicating extraordinary acuteness on 
 his part as an observer, and uncommon in- 
 dustry and perseverance; but as regards its 
 communication, expressed too often so gene- 
 rally as to be of little avail. 
 
 PiscATOR. His history of animals is a re- 
 markable treatise; and in considering it, we 
 should remember the time when it was written, 
 and the plan of the work, — how, it may be 
 presumed, the author had little help from the 
 writings of others, was chiefly dependent on 
 his own observations; and how he undertook 
 not to enter on the history of animals in detail, 
 — that boundless expanse of created living 
 things, — but merely to give a general sketch 
 of the more remarkable families. 
 
 Amicus* What you say may be just ; I will 
 not question it ; or that Aristotle was the father 
 of Natural History, and that we are under 
 great obligations to him; but surely, it was 
 tinfortunate that so great a master, who became 
 so great an authority, should have adopted such 
 a method. 
 
 PisCATOR. Let us think of him in his ex 
 
EXAMPLES OF HIS ACCURACY. 87 
 
 cellences rather than in his defects. Genera- 
 lization is the characteristic of an early period 
 and of an infant stage of science, as well as 
 of impatient intellect and of daring genius. 
 The inductive method, the strictly natural 
 history method, belongs to a more advanced 
 period and stage of knowledge, when the at- 
 tention is given more to differences than to 
 resemblances. Had Bacon lived at the time 
 of Aristotle, he probably would not have 
 proposed a scheme for inquiry like that de- 
 tailed in his Novum Organum, The defects 
 of the old plan, long worked on, and so un- 
 profitably, may well have led to the new one. 
 When you say you have turned over the pages 
 of Aristotle with little profit, you are, I think, 
 hardly just. Eemember that, though he deals 
 much in general propositions, he commonly 
 enforces them by examples, and often gives 
 striking instances of the minuteness as well 
 as accuracy of his observations. How well 
 he describes the eyes of the mole which, even 
 now, is considered by the vulgar to be blind 
 and without eyes. How correctly he describes 
 the peculiarities of the cuckoo, separating the 
 fabulous from the true, which in recent times 
 
 G 4 
 
88 HOW PLINY AND ARISTOTLE 
 
 were hardly believed till confirmed by Jenner. 
 How curious are his observations on the manner 
 of breeding of fish of the cartilaginous family ! 
 How well selected the circumstances which 
 he adduces in presumptive evidence that fish 
 hear, and smell, and sleep ; I say presumptive, 
 because I do not hold them to be conclusive. 
 I agree with you in your opinion respecting 
 the Koman, as very inferior to his great pre- 
 cursor and original ; but even from his pages, 
 some knowledge may be gleaned. 
 
 Amicus. I stand rebuked for the hasty 
 opinion I first offered, — that, respecting the 
 Stagyrite, and thank you for what you have 
 said. I see my mistake ; I overlooked the vast 
 chasm of centuries between the early and ad- 
 vanced stage of natural science, and incon- 
 siderately expected in the one what could 
 only be attained in the other. When I next 
 refer to Aristotle, it will be with due respect, 
 and in search of particulars, — his miscellaneous 
 observations. 
 
 PiscATOR. Pray do so. You will find it 
 a warehouse in which there are many rare and 
 valuable articles, as well as many crude and 
 imperfect ones. To read either with benefit — 
 
SHOULD BE READ, 89 
 
 Aristotle or Pliny — we must use our own light, 
 that which modern science affords. 
 
 Amicus. As, for instance, when the former 
 states that the eel is of no sex ; that it has not 
 its origin from an egg, but is of spontaneous 
 evolution from mud aided by rain ; or, when 
 the latter adduces, under the proposition, 
 quGBdam gignuntur ex non genitis, that the eel 
 is produced from filaments detached from 
 the surface of an old eel, by the rubbing itself 
 against a rock in the sea, — the filaments thus 
 abraded becoming young eels. 
 
 PiscATOK. The instance you give is a 
 glaring one. But remember, it is only very 
 recently that the true mode of the produc- 
 tion of the eel has been ascertained. I 
 can recollect when as loose ideas nearly 
 as those of Aristotle and Pliny were enter- 
 tained respecting this then mysterious fish, 
 and by naturalists and physiologists of emi- 
 nence. One advantage afforded by consulting 
 such works as those we are speaking of, be- 
 longing to the remote past, is that they bring 
 strongly before us the state and quality of 
 knowledge of the times in which they were 
 written j and are doubly instructive, as not only 
 
90 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANCIENT 
 
 showing the amount of that knowledge, but 
 also the methods employed in obtaining it and 
 in reasoning upon it. Comparing modern 
 science with ancient, as portrayed by these 
 authors, what strikes us more forcibly than the 
 silence on all instrumental helps and demon- 
 strated experiments ! Instruments the arms 
 of science, and more than the arms, even the 
 eyes, by which her great conquests have been 
 made, are of modern times, and how com- 
 paratively recent ! The ancients used only their 
 unaided senses, — increasing the more our ad- 
 miration of what they accomplished. 
 
 Amicus. You mentioned the cuckoo and the 
 knowledge of its peculiarities, I presume, in 
 breeding, as an example of Aristotle's accuracy 
 of observation, and how for a time doubted, 
 confirmed by our illustrious countryman Jennen 
 Pray, where is his account of the bird to be 
 found ? 
 
 PiscATOK. You will find it in the Philo- 
 sophical Transactions for 1788. Do read it* 
 It is most curious and interesting in its details^ 
 and an admirable example of the modern 
 method of inquiry compared with the ancient. 
 After reading it, you will not feel surprised 
 
AND MODERN SCIENCE, 91 
 
 that its author (then a young man, and it was 
 his first paper) should have become the dis- 
 coverer of that which has immortalised his 
 name. 
 
 Our conversation has brought us, as it has so 
 often done before, and I hope often will again, 
 late into the night. Now let us to our beds. 
 We shall find them all that anglers need, neat 
 and clean, though perhaps too soft, and our 
 bed-room (a double-bedded one, with which we 
 must put up), like this little sitting-room, a 
 pattern of its kind. 
 
COLLOQUY IV. 
 Wasdale Head, — Wastwater. — Lake-fishing, 
 
 Amicus. 
 this is Wasdale Head, which I 
 have so long desired to see. How 
 grand are these mountain forms 
 by which it is surrounded ! How 
 charming the little pastoral region which they 
 inclose ; a farm house here, a farm house there, 
 and there the humblest of churches distin- 
 guishable only by its primitive and charac- 
 teristic belfrey; a single arch supporting its 
 single bell. Pray, what are the names of those 
 majestic heights ? 
 
 PisCATOR. That in front of us is the Great 
 Gable, that on the right Great End, a shoulder 
 of Scawfell ; that nearer the lake and less bold, 
 Lingwell ; on the other side are Blacksail, Kirk- 
 fell, and Yewbarrow; and that deep and gloomy 
 
FISH OF WASTWATER. 93 
 
 hollow, from which the pretty stream breaks 
 out, the principal feeder of the lake, is Morsdale 
 Bottom. We are fortunate in our weather and 
 season : never have I seen this mountain valley 
 look more charming ; the clouds partially hiding 
 the mountain tops ; the breaks of sunshine here 
 and there — those smiles of nature ; the bright 
 light green of the new mowed meadows con- 
 trasted, where nearest to the lake, with the 
 dark hue of its surface ; and how much more 
 not to be described. But let us hasten to the 
 farm house, and get some refreshment ; we are 
 yet in time for a little evening fishing. I have 
 engaged a boat ; and I am assured, if the wind 
 do not fail us, we may have a good chance of 
 taking some nice trout, and perhaps a charr. 
 Trout and charr are the principal fish as 
 constant residents, besides which there are perch 
 and the migratory ones, the salmon, morts, and 
 spod; but these latter are rarely taken with 
 the fly : nor, must I omit another, the boiling, 
 the history of which is somewhat obscure. 
 
 Amicus. This farm house is quite worthy of 
 the place, and I may say the same of our kind 
 hostess. Did you ever see more cleanliness, 
 neatness, and order ! The little flower garden 
 
94 A DALE FARM HOUSE. 
 
 in front, with its trimmed shrubs; the pretty 
 entrance porch ; and here within, the flagged 
 floors of sandstone, freshened with ochre ; the 
 black oaken polished staircase ; the clean, car-^ 
 petted bed-rooms, — all in such keeping. 
 
 PiscATOR. This is a fair specimen of a Dale 
 farm house. All here are alike ; and altogether, 
 I am told, there are only seven; and those 
 belonging to so many farms ; the little chapel 
 in accordance, its side walls imder six feet in 
 height, enclosing eight pews, one for each 
 family, with the parson's. It is a curiosity of 
 its kind; that is, in its smallness ; in other 
 respects, differing but little from the churches 
 of the district generally. You noticed its 
 belfrey, perched on its western gable; I dare 
 say the bell may often be heard sounding in the 
 dead of night, when the wind is high — for 
 it hangs, you may perceive, unsheltered. 
 
 Amicus. I have enjoyed our tea, with such 
 good cream, bread and butter. I did not 
 expect to fare so well. 
 
 PisCATOR. Here where there is no inn or 
 public house, the farmers are in the habit of re- 
 ceiving casual tourists. The care of them is left 
 to their wives, and some provision is commonly 
 
WASTWATER, 95 
 
 made to supply their wants — for which we 
 may well be grateful, — though of course it is 
 for their profit. Now let us be off for the lake. 
 
 Amicus. Inform me, if you please, as we 
 go, about the lake, — this Wastwater — a dreary 
 name, if " wast " signifies as I infer waste, — 
 its aspect is so dark and gloomy. 
 
 PiscATOE. Certainly ; and it may owe this its 
 name to the colour of its shore, which you may 
 perceive is composed chiefly of dark rock and 
 shingle, to the depth of its water, and the shade, 
 and that especially of the mountain ridge which 
 rises so abruptly from its southern side. The 
 lake you see conforms in shape to the majority 
 of those of the larger size belonging to the dis- 
 trict, its length greatly exceeding its width ; 
 the one about three miles and a half, the other 
 about half a mile where widest. In depth, 
 it is hardly second to any: it was sounded, 
 I have been told, in different places by an 
 accurate observer. Colonel Mudge of the Eoyal 
 Engineers, in 1818 and 1826; and found, where 
 deepest, to be 47 fathoms or 282 feet. Owing 
 to this, its depth, it is somewhat paradoxical 
 in its qualities. It is reported never to freeze, 
 and yet to be very cold. That it never freezes 
 
 I 
 
96 QUALITIES OF WASTWATER, 
 
 — has never been frozen — is not correct : last 
 winter, that of 1854-5, an unusually severe 
 one, it was in part frozen ; on its lower end 
 there was ice, I was told, at least an inch thick; 
 and seventeen years previously, I was assured 
 by the same person, an eye-witness, that it was 
 also in part covered with ice. As to its tem- 
 perature, it is not surprising that it should 
 be considered cold, being the subject of remark 
 chiefly in summer, when, like springs from 
 a certain depth, its temperature is low, ap- 
 proaching nearer the mean annual one than 
 shallower waters which are more readily affected 
 by atmospheric influences. Owing to this 
 peculiarity, the early fishing is not good ; nor 
 are the fish, it is said, early in condition. July 
 is esteemed the best month here for angling. 
 Another singularity of this lake anglers should 
 be aware of is, its being subject to sudden 
 and violent squalls, and these from the south, 
 whence, perhaps, you would least expect them 
 in that direction, being sheltered by the Screes. 
 
 Amicus. The Screes ! pray what are they, 
 or it? 
 
 PiscATOE. The mountain ridge, the southern 
 boundary of the lake is known by this name. 
 
THE SCREES. 97 
 
 It is a peculiar feature of the scenery; is almost 
 everywhere inaccessible; and this, whether 
 in its scarped portion, consisting of loose, 
 shifting debris, like a volcanic mountain, or 
 in its perpendicular and rent precipices. The 
 name is, I believe, provincial; but whence 
 derived, I am ignorant, or what its exact 
 meaning. Perhaps it may be the synonyme 
 of scratch, implying the worn, naked, and torn 
 aspect of the mountain side. 
 
 Amicus. Indulge my curiosity about the 
 Botling. I have heard of the fish, thus called, 
 before, as peculiar to Wastwater, and as seldom 
 taken, except in the fall of the year, and then, 
 when running up the stream with the intent of 
 spawning. Do you consider it a distinct species 
 of the Salmonidee ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I can speak of the Botling only 
 from what I have heard concerning it, for 
 I have never seen it. I owe all I know of it 
 chiefly to one of the statesmen of the place, 
 himself an angler, and whose house is the chief 
 resort of tourists, — that which we first passed, 
 and found so crowded that we were obliged 
 to go to the next. According to him, the 
 Botling is always a male; he describes it as 
 
 H 
 
98 THE BOTLING, 
 
 a powerful fish, differing chiefly from the 
 common trout in its greater size, greater thick- 
 ness, and the marked manner in which its 
 under jaw is turned up and hooked. It varies 
 in weight from four pounds to twelve pounds ; 
 one of the latter weight, which he killed with 
 the lister, he found, on measuring, so thick, 
 that its girth exceeded its length by four inches. 
 In colouring and marking, he said, it also 
 resembled the ordinary lake trout, the brown 
 spots on its back being only proportionally 
 larger. 
 
 Amicus. Is it a monster lake trout that has 
 had the good fortune to escape capture, till 
 it has attained this, its goodly size ? or is it a 
 Salmo-ferox ? 
 
 PiscATOK. I am disposed to consider it the 
 first, as I am told its teeth are like those of 
 the lake-trout; but on this information I cannot 
 depend, not having been given by a naturalist. 
 There being males only met with, may perhaps 
 be accounted for by the circumstance that 
 the female trout, in the act of spawning, is more 
 easily taken; and, consequently, none escape 
 long enough to attain so large a size. Here 
 is our boat and boatmen. Let us lose no time 
 
LAKE FLIES, 99 
 
 in putting together our rods, and starting on 
 our evening excursion. Step in. As there 
 is little breeze, we will go towards the further 
 end of the lake, trolling as we go, and take our 
 chance for a little more wind, and only a little 
 more is required to try our flies in returning, 
 — rough water, I am assured, being here un- 
 favourable for sport. I shall use my brass 
 minnow. 
 
 Amicus. And I shall troll with flies. What 
 kind had I best use ? 
 
 PiscATOK. The cock-a-bundy and Broughton 
 point are esteemed good killing flies here. 
 You cannot do better than try them, and for 
 your third dropper I would recommend a red 
 hackle. 
 
 Amicus. How different is this lower part of 
 the lake, which we have at length reached, from 
 the upper ! There all is in harmony ; the pas- 
 toral little meadows, the lonely farm-houses, 
 the upland treeless enclosures, the wild moun- 
 tains, — these the grand features of the scene. 
 Here, is there not rather incongruity than har- 
 mony ? at least to my mind : the villa, such as 
 that amongst the trees and the ornamental 
 planting about it, do not accord well with the 
 
 H 2 
 
100 INCONGRUOUS SCENERY, 
 
 desolate wild Screes with which they stand so 
 in contrast. 
 
 PiscATOK. As a matter of taste^ I am dis- 
 posed to agree with you. Yet I almost envy 
 the proprietor of that pretty villa, and I cer- 
 tainly cannot but admire his courage in having 
 selected such a spot for his residence, and in 
 having planted so largely. Who would have 
 supposed that trees could so flourish here, for 
 already, you see, there are many of a respect- 
 able size? You too, I think, might envy the 
 proprietor were you to land and see how, 
 from some points of view, the incongruity you 
 complain of disappears, as is the case when 
 the wood forms either the foreground or the 
 middle distance to the landscape, adding beauty 
 to almost sublimity. 
 
 Amicus. Our fishing in returning has been 
 little better than our trolling. I have taken 
 only two small trouts, and you, I perceive, have 
 taken only two or three more, and the largest 
 of them under half-a-pound. 
 
 PiscATOK. The wind and weather have not 
 favoured us ; let us hope for better success to- 
 morrow morning. 
 
THE DALE TEACHER. 101 
 
 Amictjs, I was up early, and before you, 
 wishing to see more of this valley. I walked 
 up the height, from whence I could look down 
 into Morsdale Bottom, which, owing to bright 
 sunshine, I found less gloomy than I expected. 
 I had the company of the school-master, of 
 whom last night we had so favourable an 
 account from our worthy hostess, the farmer's 
 wife. He seems to me an excellent specimen 
 of the Dale-teacher. Anywhere he might be 
 taken for a school-master, so formal in his 
 •conversation, and a little dictatorial ; but at 
 the same time modest and simple-mannered, 
 as if his natural disposition could not be over- 
 powered by his calling. He interested me by 
 what he told me of himself and his little flock, 
 how his only payment from the parents of the 
 children he taught was in board and lodging, 
 residing with each family a week or more in 
 turn, according to the number of scholars the 
 family yielded, — a week the allowance for each 
 one. At this time his abode is here, in this very 
 house, and for three weeks, three of the seven 
 children belonging to the farmer being under 
 .his care. At the end of the three weeks, he 
 .will take up his abode with the next family in 
 
 H 3 
 
102 WHITTLEGAIT, 
 
 turn, he says, and so on in succession through- 
 out the year, there being no interruption, I 
 understood him to say, to his labours. His 
 salary, i, e, money salary, is the small one of 8/. 
 a year, and that from an endowment, if I was 
 correctly informed. 
 
 PiscATOR. I know the man and respect him^ 
 and know that he is respected, and a welcome 
 guest from house to house. The manner in 
 which he is remunerated is far better, is more 
 friendly and kind than that of the ^^whittle- 
 gait," a mode in usage in many of the other 
 Cumberland dales, according to which the 
 school-master has to seek his victuals merely 
 from the houses in succession, the children of 
 which he teaches, without having a bed in the 
 house, or being considered an inmate, and con- 
 sequently has to trudge often from a distance to 
 his lodging, which, if he be a bachelor, as our 
 friend is, must be comfortless enough. As we 
 go to the lake after breakfast, we will look in 
 on his little school. The schoolroom is by the 
 road side, and in size is small, in just proportion 
 with the church, and therefore I think we may 
 justly conclude, the smallest in the kingdom. 
 Both the church and schoolroom present a 
 
PASTURES AND FLOCKS, 103 
 
 singular contrast with the barns, which here, as 
 in most parts of the Lake District, are large 
 and substantial buildings, greatly larger even 
 than the dwelling-houses. But there is reason 
 in this disparity, — they are so capacious to 
 hold the hay required for the winter feed of the 
 flocks, — those belonging to this valley, reck- 
 oning the number in each, amounting to many 
 thousands, which during the summer range the 
 fells.* 
 
 Amicus. What you have just said reminds 
 me of a pretty sight I saw in my morning 
 ramble, — a flock of two or three hundred 
 sheep descending like a little army from the 
 higher fells, marshalled by the shepherds' dogs, 
 and followed in the rear by the shepherds 
 themselves. Enquiring, I learnt they were 
 driven down for change of pasture, now the hay 
 had been gathered in, the change being con- 
 sidered serviceable to the ewes and lambs. 
 
 PiscATOR. The change you speak of is 
 commonly practised in the Lake District. And, 
 
 * Three thousand two hundred and two was the 
 actual number at the time of our visit : the largest 
 flock of the five, one of one thousand two hundred ; the 
 smallest of two hundred and two.^ 
 
 H 4 
 
104 WAFTUD SOOT. 
 
 in connection with it, I may mention that 
 whilst on the fells, at least in my neighbour- 
 hood, they become of a very dark and im- 
 comely hue, as if smirched with soot, which I 
 believe to be really the case, — soot wafted 
 from the nearest manufacturing districts to our 
 hills; which said soot, I would hope may, in com- 
 pensation, whilst freeing them from a nuisance, 
 help to fertilise our upland pastures. What 
 confirms me in forming this opinion of the source 
 of the blackening matter is, that I have often 
 seen a black pellicle, or thin film on our lakes 
 and mountain tarns, occurring simultaneously 
 with light rain in an almost calm state of the 
 atmosphere after dark and windy weather ; and 
 moreover from finding the matter of the tarn- 
 film, and of that adhering to the fleeces of the 
 sheep, to possess the chemical qualities of 
 soot. 
 
 Amicus. I can readily believe what you say, 
 and adopt your opinion, considering how 
 heavier matters than soot, or the substance of 
 smoke, are conveyed by the wind to distances 
 that may be called immense. When in the 
 Mediterranean, it was in 1830, I witnessed at 
 Malta a shower of dust that hid the sun, con^ 
 
VILLAGE SCHOOL, 105 
 
 sisting of earthy particles, which spread over 
 thousanis of square miles of that sea, having 
 been observed to fall about the same time in 
 Sicily, Sardinia, and many parts of Italy, as 
 well as in Malta, supposed to have been raised 
 from the deserts of Africa, and driven by a 
 wind or gale known to have prevailed on that 
 coast, to the limits of its force : the dust fell 
 when there was a lull. Analogous to this, when 
 in the West Indies, I saw in Barbadoes the 
 remains of a shower of volcanic dust, in places 
 some lines thick, which occurred during the 
 last eruption of the Soufriere mountain in St. 
 Vincent, in 1812, at least sixty miles distant in 
 a straight line, and which, in falling, not only hid 
 the sun, but so obscured its light as to create 
 the darkness of night at midday. 
 
 PiscATOK. We were speaking of the school- 
 master — a more important subject: I can 
 assure you that the children, whom on a former 
 occasion I had the curiosity to examine, I found 
 as well advanced in reading as those in the 
 better class of our village schools. Besides 
 reading, they are taught writing, the common 
 rules of arithmetic, and, as the master said, a 
 little geography. When I last paid a visit to 
 
106 DALE PASTOR. 
 
 the school, the girls were receiving their lesson, 
 the boys were out at play. 
 
 Amicus. I like to think of this primitive 
 teacher, and of the respect attached to his 
 character for his usefulness and good conduct. 
 I hope he is aided by the clergyman, whose 
 comfortable house and spacious barns you 
 pointed out to me, and who, with his 30Z. 
 a year salary, house and glebe, is a compara- 
 tively wealthy man. 
 
 PiscATOK. I believe not ; but do not ask me 
 about him, for what I have heard I could not 
 repeat with any satisfaction. You have read 
 of Eobert Walker, that remarkable man, the 
 former pastor of Seathwaite, in the vale of the 
 Duddon. Would that he were taken and fol- 
 lowed as a model by the clergymen of the 
 dales. Too frequently, judging from what has 
 been told me, they are the reverse of him ; 
 neither making themselves useful nor respected; 
 lowering themselves mentally, and consequently 
 not elevating the minds of the people under 
 their care ; too often, in brief, giving way to 
 drinking, and fallifig into low sottish habits. 
 
 Amicus. I almost regret having started the 
 subject ; yet I should not say so ; for what you 
 
DALE CLERGYMEN. 107 
 
 have stated may help to explain one of the 
 peculiarities of the dale people which has 
 always puzzled me; I allude to their feeble 
 religious feeling, their want of poetical senti- 
 ment, and of the imaginative faculty — admitted, 
 I think, by you in our conversation at Santon 
 Bridge — feelings these and sentiments which 
 we are disposed to associate with mountain 
 scenery, and which we so often find so asso- 
 ciated, whether in the instance of our own, 
 the Scottish Highlanders, the Vaudois of the 
 Vallais, or the Nestorian Christians of the 
 Chaldean mountains. 
 
 PiscATOR. The subject is a delicate, as well 
 as an obscure and painful one. The Dale- 
 clergymen, in most instances, have been Dale- 
 men, who have entered the church as a business 
 for maintenance. Poorly paid, as they com- 
 monly are, and withdrawn from the society 
 of educated men, is it surprising that they 
 should fall into the habits of those with whom 
 they associate, attend more to farming than 
 to learning, to the culture of their land than of 
 themselves ; and if not so occupied, do worse 
 in their idleness? Unless there be strength 
 of character and worthy energy with resolve. 
 
108 DANGERS OF SECLUSION. 
 
 I do not see how deterioration, under such 
 circumstances, is to be avoided ; or how, gene- 
 rally speaking, better influences can be ex- 
 pected to be exercised on the minds of the 
 people. I have heard it remarked, and that 
 by a worthy successor of Eobert Walker, not 
 his immediate successor, it was in expressing 
 disappointment of the people, — that, provided 
 he, the clergyman, drank gin and water with 
 them, they would be satisfied, and require 
 no more from him. I should add, he had been 
 but a short time with them, yet long enough 
 to make him despair of the grown-up gene- 
 ration. Sometimes I have thought that a 
 change of system might be useful, and correct 
 the evil, — the adoption of one somewhat like 
 that followed by the Methodists, that of 
 relieving the ministers periodically, and se- 
 lecting men best fitted for the work before 
 them; you know the adage, if I may intro- 
 duce so humble a one, when speaking on so 
 high a subject, of the new broom and its effi- 
 cacy; and there are, are there not? other 
 adages as telling and in point. Even as re- 
 gards the ordinary race of men, — being con- 
 fined long to one spot, to the same routine of 
 
EXAMPLES OF ENNUI. 109 
 
 duties, too often has an injurious and deadening 
 effect on the faculties, leading to a tcedium vitce, 
 to vice, and sometimes even to suicide. Our 
 army was an example of the kind during the 
 late long peace, especially the regiments sta- 
 tioned in our colonies before the relief plan 
 was entered upon, viz., that of changing them 
 every third year. In Malta and Gibraltar, I 
 remember, striking instances occurred, illus- 
 trating what I have said; in the latter gar- 
 rison, when the tcedium had reached its acme, 
 it was shown by frequency of desertion ; in 
 the former, where desertion was less prac- 
 ticable from its being an island, by frequency 
 of suicide. As to the character of the Dales- 
 people, I am disposed to think that, such as it 
 is, it acts more at present on their ministers, 
 than any neglect on the part of the latter 
 on them. Let us discuss this further some 
 other time. Our car is arrived from Strands 
 to take us to Ennerdale. As the wind is high, 
 too high for a boat on the lake, we will stop 
 and try the fishing from the shore, from whence, 
 I am assured, it is commonly as good as from 
 a boat, owing to the great depth of the water 
 at a distance from the shore. 
 
no SHORE FISHING. 
 
 Amicus. I suppose in the deep water there 
 is little feed ; and on that account the shore- 
 fishing here, where the lath is prohibited, is 
 not inferior to the other. Pray let us not forget 
 the school-room in passing. 
 
COLLOQUY V. 
 Ennerdale Lake, — Lake-fishing continued. 
 
 Amicus. 
 AM charmed with this lake, and 
 not a little pleased with our drive 
 here. Earely, in so short a space, 
 have I witnessed greater and more 
 
 sudden transitions of scenery. First, on leaving 
 Wasdale-head, and arriving at the pretty 
 village of Strands in Nether- Wasdale, though 
 little more than three miles distant, we had 
 left behind the wild and grand, the pastoral 
 and mountain, for the comparatively tame and 
 cultivated, a cheerful hilly country, with suf- 
 ficiency of wood, a good proportion of arable 
 land, now in its harvest glory, and no want 
 of substantial farm-houses, with here and there 
 a house of greater pretensions, denoting the 
 well-kept country gentleman's residence. Next, 
 
112 BORDER DISTRICT. 
 
 after quitting Calder Bridge, where, thanks to 
 its second inn, we succeeded in getting a car, 
 how sudden was the change from the rich park 
 bordering the river and village, it almost a 
 town, to the naked upland fell, seemingly- 
 stretching away on the right interminably 
 into the wild mountain district from which we 
 had started. And, next in our descent, how 
 rapid was our passage from the bordering hilly 
 com country into this, in one direction at least 
 hardly less wild and grand than that from 
 which we took our departure. 
 
 PisCATOE. We are, remember, on the borders 
 of the' Lake District, and the transitions you 
 speak of are the natural consequences. We 
 witnessed the same when we visited Hawes- 
 water last year, going from Shap-fells to Bamp- 
 ton Grrange, and from thence by Lowther to 
 Pooley Bridge and Ulswater. The variety 
 afforded in these border rambles is, to me, very 
 delightful, — a variety not confined to scenery, 
 but extending as much, or more, to almost 
 every particular object that meets the eye, the 
 crops, the farm-houses, the natives, and even 
 the wild vegetation by the way side. I hope 
 you saw and admired the beautiful colouring in 
 
VILLAGE MAIDENS. 113 
 
 many a spot after our leaving Strands, between 
 it and Calder Bridge, — the golden blossom 
 of the gorse, mixed with the purple heath and 
 blue bell. 
 
 Amicus. I did — in Autumn reminding me 
 of spring ; and you, I hope, saw at Strands the 
 village maidens performing their toilet at the 
 little stream, which runs close to the inn, 
 nowise abashed at being observed, as if it were 
 their regular habit; to be sure, it consisted 
 merely in the washing of their face, hands 
 and arms, and the combing their hair; and 
 the time was the early morning, when few were 
 out and stirring. 
 
 PiscATOK. That I did; and that, too, in- 
 terested me, as marking primitive ways; I 
 witnessed it in going to the church, one of the 
 same form as that of Wasdale-head, but triple 
 its size, and with the complement of two bells 
 to its belfry, and a churchyard well filled with 
 graves and grave-stones inscribed with simple 
 lines " in memoriam^^ — very many of them of 
 persons of advanced ages; the church (a de- 
 pendency of St. Bees) having the privilege 
 of burying, whilst that at Wasdale-head is 
 limited in its offices to marrying and chris- 
 I 
 
114 PARISH OFFICERS, 
 
 tening. This I mention, lest, from having 
 seen no grave-stones in its churchyard, you 
 might come to the wrong conclusion that they 
 are there dispensed with, which I believe is 
 no where the case in the Lake District. 
 
 Amicus. Even short as our stay was at 
 Strands, I did not neglect the churchyard, nor 
 fail to observe what you speak of. Another 
 thing I saw which pleased me was that in the 
 list of those on the church door liable to fill 
 parish offices, all but one were landed pro- 
 prietors, yeomen, or, in the language of the 
 country, statesmen. In crossing the fell, the 
 driver called it " an unstinted common." What 
 does that mean ? 
 
 PiscATOE. A common in the strictest sense of 
 the word, in contradistinction to a stinted one, 
 in which there is some kind of division or 
 limited right. This fell, I have been informed, 
 belongs to Calder Bridge, and being "unstinted," 
 any one living there possessing but the smallest 
 portion of land may send on the common as 
 many sheep, horses, or cattle, as he pleases. 
 This is a great boon, and as such I believe 
 is peculiar to England, and may have had 
 some influence in checking that abject poverty 
 
BOON OF RIGHT OF COMMON. 116 
 
 and dependence which we too frequently 
 witness amongst the peasantry of Ireland and 
 Scotland^ where there is no common land. 
 The notion is an old one ; there are some in- 
 teresting remarks on the subject in Languet's 
 Letters to his friend Sir Philip Sidney, 
 not unworthy of attention at the present 
 time. 
 
 Amicus. I cannot but think with you, that 
 the advantage is a great one ; and may it long 
 be continued, for the sake of the small pro- 
 prietors ! What an advantage to a labourer, as 
 I understand it, to inhabit a dwelling with a 
 right of common, on which he can feed a cow 
 or a few sheep ; and what a motive in the 
 desire to possess them, and better his circum- 
 stances, to labour hard and put by his earnings, 
 and defer marriage. I have read those letters 
 to which you refer, and if I remember right, 
 the occasion of the reflections was the then 
 tendency towards enclosing and turning common 
 lands into private pastures, and thereby dimi- 
 nishing the means of subsistence of the people, 
 and consequently their numbers, — the people, 
 in the old doctrine of Languet and Sidney, 
 "an abundant people," constituting "the surest 
 
 I 2 
 
 I 
 
116 BARENESS OF PEAT 
 
 strength of a country." In crossing the fell, I 
 learnt that it is enclosed — though an extent of 
 many miles — the enclosing wall the work, at a 
 distant period, of the Calder Bridge people ; and 
 I remarked that though called fell, it yields good 
 pasture, is little infested with rushes, and, as far 
 as I could see, is entirely without peat or bog, — 
 indeed, the absence of bog in the Lake Dis- 
 trict, comparing it with the Highlands of Scot- 
 land, or with most parts of Ireland, surprises me. 
 PiscATOR. The absence is not entire. There 
 are some low situations in the district, or on 
 its confines, where there is perfect peat, and 
 others, even on the high grounds, where it is 
 met with in the act of forming. Of the former 
 a good example is afforded in more than one of 
 the valleys lying between the mountains and 
 the sea, between Broughton and Ulverstone. 
 Why peat is not so common here as in Ireland 
 and Scotland may be owing to some difference 
 in the features of the country, and also to some 
 difference of climate. The steepness of the 
 declivities, the rapid descent of most of the 
 valleys, are hardly favourable situations for the 
 formation of bog ; and the heavy rains producing 
 torrents, with occasional drought, must likewise 
 
IN THE LAKE DISTRICT 11 7 
 
 be unfavourable. Besides, there may be some 
 special cause in Ireland favouring the growth 
 of bogs, which may be absent here. In 
 Belgium and Holland, one would expect to find 
 rushes of common occurrence; yet, in a little 
 tour I recently made through a good part of 
 both countries, I hardly ever saw a rush. 
 What determines the growth of one plant more 
 than another, — and bog, remember, is formed 
 by the decay of certain aquatic plants, — is 
 always more or less a problem. In crossing 
 the fell, how vast was the view ! in one direc- 
 tion, the Solway and the hills of Dumfriesshire, 
 in another, the open sea, and the Isle of Man, 
 like a shadow in the horizon. 
 
 Amicus. What impressed me most were some 
 masses of clouds, resembling distant snow-cap- 
 ped Alps, both in form and colouring. How 
 grand I thought would the appearance have 
 been considered, — what an effect it would have 
 had on the mind, were the forms real moun- 
 tains, instead of their simulacra ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Your reflection is just as regards 
 impression; and your instance is a good ex- 
 ample in point : — how much depends on asso- 
 ciation ; that is, on the ideas connected with the 
 
 I 3 
 
118 ENNEBDALE LAKE, 
 
 appearances ! Eob what is most esteemed and 
 held to be precious of this, — whether a ribbon 
 or a jewel, — and how poor and valueless they 
 become ! But see, our boatman is beckoning 
 to us ; and not too soon, as we seem to be in 
 danger of passing into the sentimental. Whilst 
 you are finishing the putting together your 
 rod (mine is in order), I will step into the inn, 
 — well called the " Angler's Inn," and give 
 some directions for our evening meal, and 
 secure our beds ; a necessary precaution where 
 tourists often come in suddenly and unex- 
 pectedly. 
 
 Amicus. You did well, for I see a party 
 approaching. Now we are afloat, tell me, if 
 you please, the names of the more conspicuous 
 hills which rise in varied forms and different 
 distances so finely above the lake. 
 
 PiscATOK. I admire with you these hills, 
 they are so picturesque in their forms and 
 grouping, and, as their names imply, bearing 
 resemblance, in many instances, to familiar 
 objects, the works of man, a circumstance, 
 I fancy, which has a heightening impressive 
 effect on the mind. But, to answer your 
 question : that nearest headland projecting into 
 
SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS, 119 
 
 the lake, the emerald green summit of which 
 is so conspicuous and beautiful in sunshine, 
 is Angle-fell, so called from the goodness 
 of the fishing-ground below, where, projecting 
 into the water, is a rock called " Angle-stone." 
 That distant mountain overtopping the others, 
 rising column-like, is the well-known " Pillar." 
 That one of more massive form is Grreen Grable. 
 Those others are High Fell, Hardess, and Bow- 
 ness-knot. 
 
 Amicus. What is that midway in the Lake, 
 where it is narrowest, between Angle-fell and 
 the opposite promontory? Is it a boat or a 
 rock? 
 
 PiscATOR. Indeed, it resembles a boat, and 
 at a distance may well be mistaken for one ; 
 but it is no such thing ; neither is it a rock ; 
 in brief, it is a puzzle, for it is a collection of 
 water-worn stones, the largest not exceeding 
 a man's head in size. Judging from the ap- 
 pearance, you would say surely it must be 
 artificial, the work of man; yet there is no 
 tradition in the country that a single stone 
 was ever conveyed to the spot by man; and 
 then the improbability of forming an islet 
 of stones in the middle of this lake is so great 
 
 I 4 
 
120 SINGULAR ISLET. 
 
 as to discountenance even the romance of the 
 attempt. The solution of the problem I be- 
 lieve to be, that it is of glacier origin, and* 
 a portion of an ancient moraine. I have 
 examined it with some care, and this is the 
 only conclusion I can arrive at. 
 
 Amicus. What are its dimensions, and what 
 the depth of water adjoining ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It may be about twelve yards 
 in leng-th, and three or four where widest; 
 you see, it tapers to a point at each end. 
 There is deep water on each side, but deepest 
 at its upper side ; from its ends a shoal extends 
 across the lake, of which the islet may be 
 considered the summit, the shoal, like it, where 
 I could observe it, being formed of small 
 rounded stones. 
 
 Amicus. A very curious phenomenon, and 
 to my mind well explained : I must land on it 
 before we return. 
 
 PiscATOR. That we will do after going to the 
 head of the lake, where I wish to show you 
 the charr-dubb, — the breeding place of the 
 charr, of which I made mention to you on a 
 former occasion.* As it is calm, all we can 
 
 * The Angler and his Friend, p. 246. 
 
CHARACTER OF A BORDER LAKE. 121 
 
 do in the way of fishing is by trolling, re- 
 peating our practice in Wastwater. 
 
 Amicus. Judging from the appearance of 
 the lake, I infer it is about the size of Wast- 
 water ; and judging from the height of the 
 enclosing hills, in parts it must be almost as 
 deep. 
 
 PiscATOR. You are not far from the mark. 
 It is about three miles long ; about one mile 
 wide where widest, and about half a mile 
 where narrowest; where deepest, it is said to 
 be twenty-five fathoms. Its freezing is a rare 
 occurrence ; last winter, that of 1854-5, the 
 greatest part of it, the boatman says, was frozen 
 over. 
 
 Amicus. How much of its beauty it owes 
 to its irregularity of form, — these ins and outs 
 of its shores, and their varied aspect, wooded 
 and naked, wild and cultivated, meadow land 
 and rock ; truly in its character a border-lake ! 
 
 PiscATOR. We are nearing the head of the 
 lake : it is time to wind up. The fish are no 
 in a feeding mood ; we have not had a single 
 run. Observe the bottom, how it is formed 
 of shingle. Here, I am told, a good many 
 charr are known to spawn. 
 
122 CHARR—DUBB. 
 
 Amicus. Our boatman has cleverly brought 
 us up this narrow arm of the lake ; and now 
 you say we must land, to see the charr-dubb. 
 
 PiscATOK. Here we are at it. Observe it 
 well; how shallow it is, — now the water is 
 low, not more than one or two feet deep, and 
 of equable depth from bank to bank, and about 
 the average width of thirty feet, with a bottom 
 throughout well adapted for spawning, com- 
 posed of sand, gravel, and stones. Were it 
 not for the slight fall where it joins the lake, 
 denoted by the ripple, it might be a question 
 whether it is not a continuation of the narrow 
 branch of the lake rather than an expansion 
 of the tributary rivulet, the Lissa, — Lissa- 
 beck in the language of the country. 
 
 Amicus. I am glad to have seen the dubb. 
 From the term, I had formed a different idea 
 of it ; I had fancied it a deep pool, and as such 
 ill fitted for a breeding place. 
 
 PiscATOE. I experienced the same difficulty 
 till I saw it and found how, from its situation 
 and other circumstances, it is well adapted for 
 the breeding place of a fish like the charr, that 
 commonly spawns in the lake itself. 
 
 Amicus. Our boatman tells me that in 
 
i 
 
 STRUCTURE OF SKIN OF TOAD, 123 
 
 November, when the charr enter the dubb, 
 so great is the crowd of fish, that the water 
 is actually darkened by them. What a curious 
 sight it must be ! 
 
 PiscATOK. I have been assured of the same 
 by a friend, a naturalist, who has witnessed 
 it himself, as I hope some day to do. 
 
 Amicus. Here in the grass is a young toad, 
 fully formed, yet so small, that very recently 
 it must have been a tadpole. In miniature, 
 it has the repulsive aspect of the full-grown 
 reptile ! Is its ugliness its defence ? Its ac- 
 tivity is hardly sufficient to secure it against 
 enemies. How easily I have caught it ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Its aspect certainly is as little 
 inviting as that of the full-grown, but it is not 
 to this, I apprehend, it owes its safety ; rather, 
 as in the instance of its senior, to its being 
 unpalatable. If your curiosity is strong enough 
 to overcome an aversion, and you bring the 
 little toad in contact with the tip of your 
 tongue, you will experience a disagreeable 
 taste; at least, this is the result of my ex- 
 perience ; and leading me to the conclusion 
 that the structure of its young skin, like 
 that of the old animal, is glandular, and its 
 
124 POISON OF TOAD QUESTIONED, 
 
 glandules capable of secreting an acrid, offen- 
 sive matter. 
 
 Amicus. Is it not Shakspeare, through his 
 witches in the dark cave by the side of their 
 bubbling cauldron, that speaks of the "sweltered 
 venom " of the toad ? Yet I have been taught 
 to believe — and Cuvier is my authority, — 
 that the toad is harmless, and the notion of 
 its poison a vulgar error. 
 
 PiscATOR. According to two countrymen of the 
 great naturalist, who have recently given their 
 attention to the subject, not only is the toad 
 poisonous, but its poison is of a very deadly 
 kind; such, they say, is the conclusion they 
 have been led to by their experiments. 
 
 Amicus. What am I to believe? What is 
 your belief in the matter ? 
 
 PiscATOR. That which I before mentioned, 
 viz., that the secretion yielded by the cu- 
 taneous glandules is an acrid, offensive matter, 
 not such a poison as to be entitled to be called 
 deadly. Such trials as I have made, and I 
 have made many, only admit of this inference. 
 But, apart from experiment, it is not easy, nor 
 do I think it wise, to put aside the doctrine of 
 final causes ; viewed in this relation, it seems 
 
FINE TACKLE, 125 
 
 to me more satisfactory that such a helpless 
 animal, and one so useful in our gardens as a 
 devourer of insects, worms, and slugs, should 
 owe its safety to an acrid secretion, sufficiently 
 acrid for the purpose, than to an intensely 
 poisonous one, which can be of no use to the 
 creature in procuring it its food. We linger 
 here too long ; let us away. The want of wind, 
 and the perfect purity and clearness of the 
 water of the dubb, in which I see fish rising, 
 may caution us not to wet our lines here. 
 
 Amicus. See, a ripple is appearing. We are 
 now a good way down the lake, and still with- 
 out a run. Let us give up trolling, and try 
 our best flies and finest tackle. I shall use a 
 casting-line delicately graduated, made of gut 
 that has been passed through a " gut-finer," an 
 ingenious little implement, for the knowledge 
 of which I stand indebted to an accomplished 
 angler. I see there is a reddish fly on the 
 water, and the fish are beginning to stir and 
 rise, 
 
 PiscATOR. We may make the trial: I shall 
 use a casting-line, ending in a single hair, and 
 small flies tied to hair. But though we may 
 put forth all our skill, I cannot be sanguine of 
 
126 ANGLING SUCCESS. 
 
 success, it is so bright ; and the little wind that 
 is, is from a bad quarter, — the chilling and 
 inauspicious east. Would that we had a west- 
 erly or south-westerly breeze, and that the 
 month was April or May, when the fishing is 
 best, instead of September, when I believe it is 
 worst. I have heard of an angler who, at a 
 favourable time and season, has killed here in 
 one day, with his single rod, fourteen dozen, 
 many of a pound, but the majority under six 
 ounces. Further to enhance your opinion of 
 Ennerdale Lake as a fishing station, I may 
 mention, that trout even of six pounds are 
 occasionally taken with the troll, and even of 
 eight pounds with the net ; and that it is fre- 
 quented by the salmon. And now, whilst wield- 
 ing our rods, I fear to little purpose, tell me, 
 if you please, of your " gut-finer," for it is new 
 to me. 
 
 Amicus. It is very simple, — a steel blade, 
 about four inches long, and less than one wide, 
 in which sixteen circular apertures have been 
 drilled, each provided with an inner rasping 
 edge, and from the first to the last in regular 
 gradation as to size, so that by passing the gut 
 through them in succession, you may reduce it 
 
GUT'FINJER. 127 
 
 to any degree of fineness you please. The 
 instrument is to be had at a fishing-tackle 
 shop in Derby ; thence I got the one I have, 
 and by post ; it weighs under an ounce. The 
 friend at whose recommendation I got it 
 assures me — and this is the chief recommen- 
 dation — that using gut fined by it, he has been 
 able to take good fish, over a pound, in still 
 water, where, with ordinary tackle, nothing can 
 be done. I cannot speak of it yet from my 
 own experience. 
 
 PiscATOR. The gut you have shown me, so 
 prepared, is beautifully fine, and for fine fishing 
 I do not doubt must be invaluable, and 
 superior, I should think, to the single hair. I 
 hope we shall presently have proof of its excel- 
 lence. 
 
 Amicus. The sun is set, and the fish have 
 long ceased rising. Is it not time to stop? 
 We have had a pleasant day, thanks to the 
 scenery, not to our sport. The latter has as 
 much come short of my expectations, as the 
 former has exceeded them ; so I am well content 
 though even my fine gut has had little efficacy. 
 I see in our pannier there are less than a dozen 
 trout, and not one of them of a respectable size. 
 
128 THE ANGLER'S HOPE. 
 
 The boatman tells me, as a consolation, that he 
 has witnessed as little success before, but that 
 rarely, an addition nowise consolatory. 
 
 PiscATOR. Eemember, that on starting I fore- 
 boded in some measure what has occurred, 
 founded on the season, and more so on the low 
 state of the water, and promised you rather the 
 enjoyments of scenery than angling success. 
 To-morrow, with a like interest — that is, 
 scenery rather than fishing — we will go ta 
 Eskdale. That dale, I am sure, will interest 
 you in its wild beauty and varied character. 
 Some future day, and not later in the spring 
 than the first week in May, I hope we may 
 have our revenge here, redeem our character as 
 anglers, and give your fine gut a fair trial. 
 
k 
 
 COLLOQUY VL 
 JEskdale, and the River Esk, 
 
 Amicus. 
 N this bleak morning, with a cold 
 easterly wind, and leaden sky, we 
 have done well in taking the lower 
 road to the railway, which you say 
 passes about two miles and a half from Calder 
 Bridge at Sellafiel. 
 
 PiscATOR. We shall not only avoid the fell 
 which ought to be crossed in fine weather, but 
 we shall, moreover, see another variety of coun- 
 try, and pass through Egremont, a place famed 
 in poetic story. 
 
 Amicus. What is the little village we have 
 just left behind us, bordering the river that 
 runs out of the lake ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is the village of Ennerdale, and 
 the river is the Ehen. I have been guilty of 
 
130 ENNERDALE VILLAGE AND CHURCH. 
 
 an omission, both in coming and going, in not 
 calling your attention to it, to the churchyard 
 on one side of the road, and the clergyman's 
 dwelling on the other, for they are the scene 
 of Wordsworth's beautiful and pathetic poem, 
 " The Brothers." 
 
 Amicus. Both in going and returning, I had 
 a passing glance at them. In the churchyard 
 I observed some grave-stones. Are they of 
 later date than that affecting poem ? For, if 
 I recollect rightly, it is mentioned therein, as 
 denoting the simple primitive manners of the 
 people — the natives of this secluded district — 
 that grave-stones were not used here. 
 
 PisCATOR. True : the poet's words are, — 
 
 " In our churchyard 
 Is neither epitaph nor monument ; 
 Tombstone nor name — only the turf we tread ; J 
 And a few natural graves." I 
 
 But in this particular he idealised : as I before ' 
 said, grave-stones are to be met with in every 
 burying-ground of the district, however wild its 
 situation and primitive the manner of the 
 people. In a note to the poem, the author 
 mentions that "it was intended to conclude , 
 a series of pastorals, the scene of which waaii 
 
WORDSWORTH'S POETRY. 131 
 
 laid amongst the mountains of Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland." How much is it to be regretted 
 that the intention was not carried into effect, 
 though perhaps you will say, it has been ac- 
 complished in the body of his poetry; that 
 his poems altogether are a great pastoral, and 
 almost all that can be desired as regards the 
 Lake District. Be this as it may, need I re- 
 mark that in these delightful productions of 
 the poet's mind, we must not expect literal 
 exactness of description. His object was to 
 convey his own impressions to the minds of 
 his readers ; and this he probably thought he 
 could best effect after the manner of the 
 accomplished artist, whether in sculpture or 
 painting, by the refining, idealising method. 
 This I mention in consequence of your re- 
 mark. Had the poet been more exact, would 
 he have been more successful ? His de- 
 scriptions probably would have ceased to be 
 poetry, and might have been unendurably tire- 
 some. And I mention this the more to im- 
 press on you that in reading Wordsworth, even 
 when particular objects are introduced, whether 
 mountain, lake, or ruin, church or dwelling, we 
 are not to look for exactness of local descrip- 
 
 K 2 
 
132 ''THE PILLAR'' Sr " THE BROTHERSr 
 
 tion. This grave-yard is one instance in point ; 
 the mountain, " The Pillar/' of which notice is 
 taken in the same poem, is another : the 
 younger of the two brothers is described as 
 having ascended this mountain, falling asleep 
 on its summit, and subject to the malady of 
 walking in his sleep, rising and losing his life 
 in his precipitous fall ; yet when the poem was 
 written, " The Pillar " mountain was considered 
 inaccessible ; we are assured, in a recent history 
 of Cumberland, that till 1826 it had never 
 been scaled. 
 
 xAlMICUS. I thank you for the caution, and 
 shall repeat it to some friends of mine, who 
 occasionally trouble me, when reading the " Ex- 
 cursion," to point out to them the exact spots 
 the scenes of the incidents described. As to 
 the justness of the thing, I am hardly com- 
 petent to judge. I am a great -advocate for 
 truthfulness, even in poetry, and fancied that 
 truthfulness, even to a fault as some thought, 
 was one of the characteristics of Wordsworth's 
 poetry. 
 
 PisCATOE. So it is in general ; from no writ- 
 ings, I believe, can you derive a more accurate 
 idea of the Lake Country than from his, though 
 
AN IRON BEGION. 133 
 
 no one description may be strictly exact. I 
 may have my doubts as to the theory, as you 
 have, with all deference to the artistic views 
 of a man who considered poetry as matter of 
 highest art, and elaborated his verse accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Amicus. What a change in the aspect of the 
 country ! We seem to be in a region of iron 
 and forges. The road is actually coloured by 
 iron, so too are the dresses of the labourers, 
 and what a number of carts we have passed 
 bearing iron-ore, as I infer, to be smelted, 
 where in more than one spot in the distance 
 we see volumes of smoke pouring forth into . 
 the atmosphere. And lo ! a turnpike gate, the 
 first we have come to since we left the turn- 
 pike road at Ambleside. And lo ! an embank- 
 ment, thrusting itself out in the valley as if it 
 were a railway in growth. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is a branch railway in pro- 
 gress, from the coast junction line, of which 
 we shall soon have the benefit. We are now 
 in a district of the red sandstone formation, 
 in which there is limestone, coal, and iron ; 
 and in what you point out, you see the con- 
 sequences. These, limestone, coal, and iron, 
 
 K 3 
 
134 EGHEMONT, 
 
 where there is intelligent energy amongst the 
 people, are as surely productive of manu- 
 factories, as the mountain fells and wholesome 
 pastoral valleys are of flocks and herds. 
 
 Amicus. And this is Egremont through 
 which we are now passing. Its somewhat 
 trist appearance, with those castellated ruins, 
 of imposing aspect on the adjoining mount, 
 is in accordance with its name. Surely it 
 is a declining place. It reminds me a little, 
 in its single long street, and those thatched 
 dark-roofed dwellings, breaking the line of 
 slate-roofed houses, of an Irish country town. 
 
 PiscATOK. Like the castle, I believe it has 
 seen better days; and will probably, though 
 not so with the castle, see them again, when 
 the railway is completed; but even now its 
 material condition may be better than it ap- 
 pears, for it is supported by industry, and 
 is not without productive trades, especially 
 tan-yards. 
 
 Amicus. You spoke of Egremont's fame 
 in poetic story : what of it ? 
 
 PiscATOR. That fame is connected with 
 the history of the castle and its earlier pos- 
 sessors, the Lucys. The most interesting le- 
 
SELLAFIEL STATION, 135 
 
 gend belonging to it you will find described 
 in spirited verse by Wordsworth, "The Horn 
 of Egremont," a tale of two noble brothers, one 
 noble by nature as well as birth, the other, 
 a craven and a fratricide in intention, pros- 
 perous in villany for a while, but at length, 
 exposed and punished, contrite and forgiven. 
 But read the poem ; it is as happy an example 
 of poetry in action, as the other poem, " The 
 Brothers," is of poetry in meditation ; the 
 contrast is altogether striking. 
 
 Amicus. Here we are at the Sellafiel Station, 
 and with a few minutes to spare before the 
 arrival of the train that is to convey us on. 
 What a hut of a station! And what a spot 
 for a station! the wide sea in front, a low 
 lying land in the rear, and a long waste of 
 sandy shore making the junction; rarely have 
 I seen a less inviting spot, or more dreary 
 landscape. 
 
 PiscATOR. Pray make allowance for the 
 murky sky, the chilling east wind, and the 
 lowering clouds, shutting out the distant moun- 
 tains. On a fine day, with sunshine on the sea 
 and the mountains unobscured under a bright 
 sky, you might think differently of it. See, 
 
 K 4 
 
136 SMELT-FISHING IN MAY, 
 
 there is the estuary of the river, which, little 
 more than two hours ago, we saw pleasantly 
 gliding out of its parent lake, now about to 
 be lost in the all-devouring and boundless sea. 
 
 Amicus. Our conversation this morning 
 seems to have made you somewhat poetical. 
 With equal justice the sea may be considered 
 the parent of the stream, — the ocean the com- 
 mon parent of all streams. What it receives it 
 returns, and in a purer state ; and so both are 
 fed and preserved in their unchanging con- 
 dition ; both ever giving and ever taking. But 
 of the river, — as an angler I should like to know 
 of its fishing. In its sluggish course it is 
 unpromising. 
 
 PiscATOE. The angler who can reconcile his 
 conscience to the killing of Salmon-fry, when 
 about to take their departure from their native 
 stream, may, I am assured, have good sport 
 here in the latter end of April, and the be- 
 ginning of May, when they are of their largest 
 size and best condition as smelts; and, as it 
 said that for a while they go backward and 
 forward, gradually seasoning themselves to 
 the salt water, a day's fishing here at that 
 season, to determine this point, might be 
 
JiAVENGLASS. 137 
 
 instructive. Young salmon of half a pound, 
 I am told, are occasionally taken here when 
 the smelts are migrating. 
 
 Amicus. A quarter of an hour's "ride," 
 as the Americans would call it, has brought 
 us to Eavenglass. This town, too, seems to 
 have seen better days. 
 
 PiscATOK. Its sand-barred harbour, the 
 estuary of three rivers, the Irt, Ite, and Esk, 
 is better adapted for receiving the small 
 coasting craft of the olden time than the 
 larger vessels now in use; and at that time 
 there were more border baronial residences 
 and religious houses, priories and monasteries 
 than at present, and with more of influence 
 and power; hence, it may be, its falling off. 
 As there is nothing to detain us here, the 
 sooner we start for Eskdale the better. The 
 car with its single horse is ready. 
 
 Amicus. What a change again, and how 
 sudden ! I little expected these stately groves ; 
 and if I am not mistaken, I see a castellated 
 building through the trees. 
 
 PiscATOR. That building is Muncaster Castle ; 
 and this fine avenue opening into Eskdale, and 
 these stately woods, belong to the domain. 
 
138 ENTRANCE OF ESKDALE, 
 
 Did our time permit, we would go to the 
 castle, for from it is a view of surpassing 
 beauty, Eskdale in its whole length, from the 
 sea to its limitary mountains. 
 
 Amicus. Fortunately, the sun is shining 
 out, blue sky is appearing, and the higher 
 hills in the distance are showing themselves 
 above the clouds. As we advance, how wilder 
 and wilder it becomes, and with how many 
 touches of beauty, — the river acquiring the 
 character of the mountain stream, gushing 
 amongst rocks from pool to pool, — the skirting 
 hills pine-crowned, and the bosky hollows with 
 all their variety of underwood. Even the few 
 farm-houses we pass seem to denote transition 
 in their aspect to a ruder and more primitive 
 condition, — such as, perhaps, might be ex- 
 pected in going from a frequented to a more 
 secluded region. 
 
 PiscATOE. The rock formation here is of a 
 bolder kind than any we have yet seen, and the 
 hills are nobler in their forms. The prevailing 
 rock is granite, accounting for these forms ; and 
 the qualities of soil it yields on disintegration 
 may equally account for the luxuriancy of the 
 wild vegetation which we witness, and the fine 
 
ESKDALE, ]39 
 
 growth of timber amongst crags and precipices, 
 as if designed for the study of the landscape- 
 painter. 
 
 Amicus. There is the sign of a public-house. 
 Is that to be our resting place ? In its low- 
 liness of appearance, it seems very suitable 
 to its secluded situation. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is the "Wool Pack," a 
 fitting name; wool is the chief commercial 
 staple of the dale: I know it well. Like 
 most of the public-houses of the dales, its pro- 
 prietor is a farmer. The comforts it affords 
 to the wayfaring man, for whom it is chiefly 
 intended, are greater than might be expected, 
 judging from its appearance. One objection 
 to it is that it is rather far from the best part 
 of the river for angling, and from the finest 
 portion of the dale for its scenery. We will 
 go about a mile higher, where I hope we shall 
 find shelter; and where, if the good people 
 of the farm are, as I trust, well and doing well, 
 we shall be sure of a kind reception. 
 
 Amicus. I hope you have not forgotten 
 the way ; our driver says he never was so far 
 in Eskdale before. See, the road terminates ! 
 Where are we ? What are we to do ? 
 
140 BROTHERELKELD, 
 
 PiscATOR. Do not be uneasy. That gate 
 opening into the meadow is our way. Beyond 
 are the chimneys of the farm-house, rising 
 above the trees. Though it is three years since 
 my last visit, I cannot be mistaken ; the house 
 is the last in the dale. 
 
 Amicus. A welcome cry, and yet in no 
 friendly guise ! What a rush of clamorous 
 dogs ! 
 
 PisCATOR. Were other wanting, a sure sign 
 we are near the house. Those five or six 
 barking dogs are sheep-dogs; it is a harvest 
 field they are rushing from, at the sound of our 
 wheels. The people must be there ; so near, 
 we are sure of finding the house opeli. 
 
 Amicus. I thank you for bringing me to 
 Brotherelkeld, — a name, you inform me, of 
 the olden time. * The house, the situation, the 
 family, are in happy keeping, — all smacking of 
 the olden time, and in character with pastoral 
 life; — at least, so it seems to me, at first 
 sight. I liked the hearty welcome the old 
 people gave you, and their quick recollection 
 of you. 
 
 * Buther Elldr, the house of Buther, the older or 
 old. See " The Northmen in Cumberland." 
 
A DALESMAN FARMER, 141 
 
 PiscATOR. These good people — the farmer 
 and his wife — are what they appear ; and, may 
 I not say, something more, both in substance 
 and worth. From the appearance of the old 
 man in his rough apparel, you would hardly 
 suppose him to be one of the largest sheep- 
 farmers in the country, with a flock probably 
 not under 2000; nor, from the hard aspect 
 of the dame, and her curt words, would you 
 expect so warm a heart and such genuine kind- 
 ness. But I will not anticipate : while we are 
 here, you will be able to judge for yourself; and 
 I need not say be observant, for the place 
 is a study; I hardly know another affording 
 so good an example of the dale shepherd's life. 
 But we must not forget Eskdale and our 
 angling. On a former occasion, I explored the 
 higher dale, and have a pleasant recollection 
 of its wildness and grandeur. Do see it ; you 
 cannot miss the way ; you can fish as you go. 
 I will presently follow, and we will meet here 
 in the evening. 
 
 Amicus. Well met. Since we parted at 
 noon, I have not seen the face of man. How 
 
142 WILD UPLANDS. 
 
 profound are these mountain solitudes, and 
 how dismal they must be in gloomy weather ! 
 Happily, there were gleams of sunshine, patches 
 of blue sky with light clouds over head, and 
 with cattle here and sheep there, even in the 
 wildest and most secluded spots where not the 
 faintest vestige of man was to be seen, I felt 
 only a cheerful influence, reminding me of 
 what I used to feel within the tropics, when in 
 a mountainous region, three or four thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea, where I could 
 almost tell the elevation by the pleasant inward 
 feeling, as if breathing an air at once soothing 
 and exhilarating. 
 
 PiscATOK. I have experienced what you 
 describe ; it is one of the pleasures of mountain 
 travel, especially in a warm climate. I hope 
 you were not disappointed in what you saw. 
 
 Amicus. No wise. I went up as far as the 
 foot of Bowfell and Scawfell. The wild and 
 dreary grandeur of the scenery there ex- 
 ceeded anything I have seen in the Lake 
 District, and has left an impression I shall 
 not soon forget. I tried the rivulet, but 
 with no success, taking only, in the deeper 
 pools, a few small ill-fed brook trout. See- 
 ing the character of the stream, now so small, 
 
THE RIVER ESK. 143 
 
 with its wide shingly bed, denoting how at 
 times it is a wide raging torrent, I was rather 
 surprised at taking even these. Lower down, 
 where the two streams meet to form the Esk, there 
 I captured a half dozen better fed and larger 
 fish, — the largest of herring size, and as many- 
 more in those deep and beautiful pools between 
 that junction and the house. Never have I 
 seen water of greater purity or of finer colouring, 
 or a more picturesque succession of the rapid 
 and still. 
 
 PiscATOR. I confined my fishing, and with 
 success little exceeding yours, to the lower part 
 which you so much admire, and justly. The 
 light-coloured rock forming the channel of the 
 river, the green skirting banks, the pure white 
 of the falls, the equally pure and almost azure 
 hue of the deep pools, are indeed charming 
 in their variety and contrasts with the accom- 
 paniments of wood and meadow and marks of 
 culture, separating this from the wilder naked 
 mountain region which you ascended. 
 
 Amicus. I can now more readily believe 
 that the colour of water in mass is blue, for 
 were it not for the faint yellowish hue reflected 
 from the worn rock-basins, these pools would 
 be entirely azure, little differing from that of 
 
144 THE ANGLER'S EVENING MEAL, 
 
 the sky, — that depending too on water, or 
 aqueous vapour. Pray what is the rock ? Is 
 it not granite ? 
 
 PiscATOR. In its forms it resembles granite, 
 and belongs, I infer, to the same formation; 
 but in composition it is different ; I have some 
 difficulty in giving it a name. Compact and 
 finely crystalline, it is probably felspathic ; the 
 light hue it acquires from the effect of wea- 
 thering is in accordance. Now let us sit down 
 to our evening meal. Our kind hostess has 
 her kettle boiling, her little round table spread 
 before the wood fire, and some roasted potatoes 
 ready. With the tea we have brought with us, 
 and the remains of our piece of spiced beef, and 
 the bread, butter, and milk she will provide, 
 we cannot fail, if you have such an appetite 
 as I have, making a hearty good comfortable 
 meal. We are to have the room to ourselves, 
 this outer room, " the house," as it is provin^ 
 cially called, not the inner, the spacious one in 
 which we have just put our rods, and which 
 I believe is never used excepting on grand 
 occasions, such as the yearly clipping-feast, 
 a christening, or a wedding. 
 
 Amicus. Why, this is more than comfort 
 
DALE DIET. 145 
 
 it is luxury. You in the nursing rocking-chair 
 which you have chosen^ I in the elbow-chair, 
 both cushioned, — the chairs, I presume, of the 
 old master and mistress ; the cheerful hearth 
 and our well-provisioned table ; potatoes, milk, 
 butter, all excellent. 
 
 PiscATOR. These are the produce of the farm, 
 with the exception of the wheaten bread. The 
 flour is imported ; but the bread is made here, 
 and with yeast from their own brewing. About 
 this yeast I learnt a secret, when I was last 
 here, how it can be kept good at least a month, 
 by changing the water daily ; and, what is also 
 worth knowing, how brewer's yeast can be 
 deprived of its bitterness by a like change of 
 water. 
 
 Amicus. Surely this bread, which reminds 
 me of Spanish bread, and is superior to any I 
 have tasted since I left Cadiz, is not household 
 bread. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is " quality bread," as they call 
 it, and is a dainty, I dare say, reserved for the 
 old people. The family bread is oaten cake, 
 of which there is a baking every two or three 
 months. It and cheese are two of the chief 
 articles of diet of the farm-servants. 
 L 
 
146 SKIMMED MILK CHEESE 
 
 Amicus. As we were coming by train to 
 Eavenglass, I looked into a recently published 
 Gruide-book of the Lake District, and read some 
 particulars about the cheese of the district 
 which surprised me, given, as they were, as 
 matter-of-fact to show the backward and rude 
 state of the country, and the benefit likely 
 to result by the force of example, from inter- 
 course, according to the writer, with a more 
 enlightened and advanced stage of society. 
 It, the cheese, is described as hard enough 
 to strike fire with steel, as fit to be used as 
 a substitute for flint in the gun-lock; and, 
 marvel of marvels, it is told that one rolling 
 down a hill side occasioned a conflagration by 
 setting fire to the brushwood. 
 
 PiscATOR. You may well say "marvel of 
 marvels." The skimmed-milk cheese of the 
 district is certainly hard enough, and un- 
 avoidably, the butter being entirely and inten- 
 tionally separated ; but it is not miraculously 
 hard ; like other things, it is obedient to phy- 
 sical laws. Had the writer considered what 
 are the qualities requisite for a substance to 
 act the part of a flint to strike fire with steel, 
 and the conjunction of circumstances necessary 
 
AND ITS ROMANCE, 147 
 
 to produce the effect, she would have escaped 
 being imposed on by the laughter-making 
 hyperboles of the shrewd and sometimes 
 humorous natives. Need I remind you that, 
 to strike fire with flint, a filament of steel 
 must be abraded, which, heated by the friction 
 of the collision, burns in the air by uniting 
 suddenly with its oxygen. And, further, that 
 no hardness that is known to belong to, or that 
 can be imparted to any animal substance, not 
 even bone or ivory, tooth or nail, is capable 
 of producing the effect, L e, the abrasion of 
 steel, in the manner required. As to the ad- 
 vantages of intercourse such as are likely to 
 result from the system of railways in progress, 
 let us hope there will be an exchange of 
 benefits ; and that the dalespeople will not only 
 derive some knowledge, and learn improved 
 methods from their lowland neighbours, but 
 that the latter also may learn something 
 from the former, and most of all, not to hold 
 them in disrespect. 
 
 Amicus. Those who can entertain such a 
 feeling towards them should come here to 
 be disabused of it. Where have I ever seen 
 more order, neatness, and propriety? I have 
 
 L 2 
 
148 IN-DOOR ORDER. 
 
 been prying about, but in vain, to find anything 
 dirty or out of place. Upstairs, where I have 
 been to change my wet shoes, the same order 
 and neatness are to be seen as below, and not 
 only in the comfortable spare bedrooms, where 
 we are to sleep, but also in those of the servants. 
 Even the oaken floors are polished. I am 
 astonished; and also at the number and 
 quantity of useful articles, — so much crockery, 
 so much glass, and the endless variety of little 
 useful articles. This within doors; but without, 
 how different; I can see no garden ground, 
 no vegetables grown, not a single flower ; and 
 in the fields, no green crops, only potatoes. 
 In regard to these, may not lowland example 
 be useful ? 
 
 PiscATOK. I thought you would be surprised 
 as well as pleased at what you saw of the 
 domestic economy, seen as you have seen it 
 in its ordinary working order. Did you ob- 
 serve the small detached building in the yard, 
 opposite the entrance? it is the working kit- 
 chen, and may partly account for the perfect 
 cleanliness of the house. The chief cause, 
 however, as far as I have had an opportunity 
 of observing, is, that everything is cleaned 
 
HOUSEHOLD GEAR. 149 
 
 the instant it has been used, and that instant 
 put in its place, everything having a place. 
 The contrivances for bestowing things away 
 are curiously varied, — hooks, shelves, bags, 
 drawers, and above all, chests, are in requisition 
 for the purpose. In that large cupboard of old 
 quaintly carved oak, the aumbry, as it would 
 be called in Scotland, the family supply of 
 oaten bread is kept. On the shelves, in the 
 inner room, you might have seen a goodly 
 array of cheeses ; that orderly collection of big 
 earthen jars, of small kegs and barrels, are 
 for holding and conveying beer to the field 
 labourers. Look at this wall ; what a miscel- 
 lany of things is there arranged. I wish you 
 would make a catalogue of them; but that 
 would tire an auctioneer; and long may the 
 time be before any such labour be required ! In 
 the inner room the cupboards, the beaufets 
 are as well replenished, and with the more 
 valuable articles of glass and earthenware. 
 
 Amicus. But why such an endless variety, 
 and such profusion ? 
 
 PiscATOK. I fancy these mark the family 
 means and wants ; — well to do in the world, 
 
150 DALE SHEEP-SHEARING. 
 
 long settled here, far apart from borrowing 
 help, and having occasionally to exercise a 
 large hospitality, for instance, at the sheep- 
 shearing, when, I am told, there are more 
 than 100 persons collected, most of them 
 dalesmen unpaid, volunteers to help in the 
 clipping, with a few specially invited to witness 
 the work and partake of the festivities, — all 
 of whom are to be fed and feasted, — for such 
 is the old usage on the occasion. 
 
 Amicus. I should like to see our notable 
 active hostess at such a time, and to witness 
 the doings. 
 
 PiscATOR. Do you remember the sheep- 
 shearing festivity as described by Shakspeare 
 in his ^^ Winter's Tale." From what I have 
 heard, this, as conducted here, is very much 
 the counterpart of that, the day being given 
 to business, to work ; the evening to carousing, 
 singing, and dancing ; and sure I am that the 
 dame here is quite equal to her, the old farmer's 
 wife in the play, in her best days, as described 
 by him — 
 
 " when my old wife liv'd, upon 
 
 This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook ; 
 Both dame and servant : welcom'd all : serv'd all," 
 
THE RUSH CANDLE. 151 
 
 Amicus. It is interesting to find old usages 
 preserved ; and where can they be so well 
 preserved as here, and in places like this? 
 As I first observed, everything here smacks of 
 the olden time : look at these cups and saucers ; 
 how antique is their pattern, how dark and 
 grotesque the colouring and the figures on 
 them. I can fancy them from Fienza. I have 
 been asking whether rushlights are still in use 
 here ; and I am told they are, and are home 
 made. 
 
 PiscATOR. See the stand for burning them, 
 partly made of wood, the bottom ; partly of 
 iron, the stem, and the latter so constructed 
 with its terminal cavity and side bracket, as 
 to answer both for the rush candle and the 
 " white candle," as the common tallow candle 
 is called here. 
 
 Amicus. Pray show me how it is used ; and 
 tell me how the rushlight is prepared, and why 
 the common candle is called a " white candle? " 
 
 PisCATOR. To distinguish it from the greenish 
 rush candle. The latter is prepared much 
 in the same manner as in Connemara; here 
 a mixture of butter and grease is employed 
 to saturate the rush. And in burning, of 
 
 L 4 
 
152 DRINKS COMPARED. 
 
 course it is placed obliquely at a regulated 
 angle ; and I may remark that, in using a 
 common tallow candle, it is well to adopt the 
 same practice, so that it may consume its own 
 wick, and not require snuffing : the chemical 
 reason of this I need not explain to you. You 
 well observe that old habits and things have 
 their resting place. Yet, I believe, only within 
 certain limits, and that even in these seclusions, 
 there is no want of tendency to change; all 
 that is required is the conviction that the 
 change will be beneficial and practicable. The 
 dales people are shrewd people and keenly alive 
 to their own interest. I was glad to hear, — it is 
 an instance in point, — that the field labourers 
 here are beginning to substitute coffee for beer. 
 Our hostess tells me that they prefer it, find- 
 ing it more refreshing than beer, and not so 
 soon followed by thirst. The change has 
 been made since my last visit ; and, probably, 
 on our next visit, we may find that coffee 
 has given place to tea, — as experience proves 
 that the ]atter, for the refreshment it affords, 
 deserves the preference. This I have had 
 assurance of from a distinguished Arctic ex- 
 plorer and naturalist. As to the absence of 
 
THE BED A MAllK OF CONDITION. 153 
 
 flowers, vegetables, and green crops, noticed 
 by you as a defect, — that of the two first, I 
 apprehend, is characteristic of the absolute 
 pastoral life ; that of the last of the same — of 
 a want of the goodly modern union of the 
 pastoral and agricultural, which is more or 
 less a desideratum throughout the dale district, 
 and, I may say, the Lake District likewise. 
 
 Amicus. Within the inner room is an inner, 
 a bedroom. The door was open, and I looked 
 into it. It too was a pattern of neatness and 
 order, as if for show rather than use. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is the bedroom of the master 
 and mistress, and comparing it with the servants' 
 bedrooms, clean and decent as they are, marks 
 well the difference of rank. The bed, I believe, 
 is one of the best characteristics of condition, at 
 least in all the lower grades of society. 
 
 Amicus. I have been looking for books, 
 somewhat curious to know the literature of the 
 dales; but the only book I have found has 
 been an almanac and of the present year. 
 
 PiscATOR. This too must surprise you; in 
 truth, the dales folk are not very much of a 
 reading people ; they are too much occupied ; 
 and the men are so much abroad as to have 
 
154 THE DALESMEN AND BOOKS, 
 
 little time and opportunity for reading. Here 
 they rise early, before day in the winter ; they 
 are little within doors; and they go to bed 
 early, even in winter, almost as soon as it is 
 dark, never using a light. Did you not observe 
 them half an hour ago passing through, and how 
 they took off their clouted shoes before going up 
 stairs ? — which, by the bye, may account, with 
 the application of a little beeswax now and 
 then, for the stairs and flooring being so clean 
 and polished. 
 
 Amicus. What a singular state ! Now indeed 
 I can fancy the dales people as representing a 
 past period, — that when books were scarce and 
 princely property ; or somewhat later, when the 
 few books in use were chained to the reading- 
 desks. 
 
 PiscATOH. This idea of yours is rather an 
 exaggerated one. Probably the books belong- 
 ing to the family, now that the young people 
 are settled in life and out in the world, are put 
 by in some drawer or chest well cared for. 
 Though not a reading people, I can assure 
 you that commonly, in the poorest houses even, 
 there is a shelf holding a few volumes. 
 
 Amicus. Though I have not seen it, yet I 
 
THE SAMPLER. 155 
 
 will believe there is a Bible in the house ; I am 
 not so sure mentally of the stored library. 
 
 PiscATOK. Do not at least doubt the Bible. 
 Did you in the best bedroom observe the 
 framed sampler hung on the wall ? It pleased 
 me much, so much indeed that I made a copy 
 of the words worked on it by the daughter of 
 our host, a maid, as stated, in her twelfth year. 
 I will read them to you, for they too are of the 
 olden time, and distinctive, as I hope and 
 believe, of the simple morals and religion of the 
 dales people : — 
 
 " Be you to others kind and true, 
 As you'd have others be to you, 
 And neither say or do to men 
 Whatever you would not take from them. 
 
 " Teach me, Lord, Thy name to know, 
 Teach me, Lord, Thy name to love : 
 May I do Thy will below. 
 As Thy will is done above." 
 
 Amicus. Excellent w^ords; I thank you for 
 repeating them. What a homily are they ; and 
 how much more deserving of being imprinted 
 on the mind than any of the formulas of the 
 modern Positive Philosophy. 
 
 PiscATOE. And now, after our long talk, let 
 
156 VALUE OF GOOD HABITS. 
 
 us say good night, and to our beds ; remem- 
 bering, however useful books may be, and book- 
 learning, that all knowledge is not written, and 
 that the most elaborate and profound, without 
 such habits as we have here witnessed, is of 
 little worth and of little avail in the conduct of 
 life. 
 
COLLOQUY VIL 
 
 The Lake- District revisited, — Varied Discus^ 
 sion, Local and Piscatory, 
 
 PiSCATOK. 
 
 ELCOME again to my mountain 
 home and to our pastoral valley. 
 When you last visited us, autumn 
 was advancing; the flocks were 
 quitting the brown fells for the green meadows ; 
 and the District in the rich autumnal hues of its 
 woodlands and mountain slopes was in its most 
 attractive dress, according to the ordinary esti- 
 mation of Lake-tourists. 
 
 Amicus. It is a pleasure to me at all seasons 
 to come here, apart even from that of shaking 
 an old friend by the hand, and the receiving 
 his friendly welcome. The season is indeed 
 changed ; and yet the change of aspect is not 
 so great as I should have expected; for the 
 
158 PECULIAR BEAUTIES OF SEASONS. 
 
 meadows now in April are only of a darker 
 green, and the woodlands only more delicately 
 tinted than they were in September; and as 
 then, the flocks, I perceive, are in the lowland 
 pastures. When I compare the two seasons, I 
 hardly know which to like most, — each here, 
 and indeed everywhere in the country, where 
 the face of nature is fairly displayed, having so 
 many charms. What is your opinion of each 
 as regards beauty ; or rather, I would ask you, 
 what is your opinion as regards beauty of 
 scenery of the District at the different periods 
 of the year ? and I am the more particular in 
 asking, inasmuch as an acquaintance of mine, 
 fastidious about scenery — unhappy man in 
 being so fastidious ! — has often questioned me 
 about it. 
 
 PiscATOK. The inquiry is not easily answered, 
 so much depending on individual taste and 
 feeling, and even on the pursuits of individuals. 
 My own opinion I will give you freely. First, 
 I would remark that each season of the year 
 has its peculiar beauties. Of spring and autumn 
 I need not speak, they in their peculiarities are 
 so well marked and striking. Summer and 
 winter are more open to question ; and perhaps 
 
WINTER AND SUMMER COMPARED, 159 
 
 you will be surprised when I say, I hardly 
 know which here to give the preference to. In 
 the full-blown summer in this district there is 
 almost an excess of verdure ; all is beautiful 
 of its kind, but there is comparatively little 
 variety; the eye becomes tired for want of 
 variety; it ranges from hill to valley, and the 
 same hue, or nearly the same, the unfailing 
 green, is the one predominating colour. In the 
 winter, on the contrary, especially in a mild 
 winter, the more common one here, in 
 place of such monotony there is an endless 
 diversity of colouring and effect. We have the 
 dark evergreens, the pines, and yews, and 
 hollies, imparting solemnity, the silver-barked 
 birch, and the golden-trunked Scotch fir giving 
 brightness to the woodland ; then, there are 
 the cryptogamous plants, — mosses, lichens, 
 and some ferns, and in addition, the ivy in 
 full strength of vegetation, clothing the rocks 
 and the more venerable trees with a rich 
 embroidery of many hues, — the finest green 
 and silvery white the prevailing colours. Then, 
 moreover, what we witness in the atmosphere — 
 do not charge me with exaggeration if I say,— 
 more than compensates as regards beauty for 
 
160 WINTER ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 any deficiencies on this account chargeable to- 
 the earth. 
 
 Amicus. What of the mnter atmosphere of 
 which you speak with so much emphasis? 
 Pray, be a little more explicit. 
 
 PiscATOR. The accidents of light and shadow, 
 the qualities of clouds and mist; it is these 
 I have in mind, and these are hardly to be 
 described, which in the winter season are most 
 remarkable, whether for beauty, as in fine 
 weather with gleams of enlivening sunshine, 
 or for grandeur of effect in bad, in the dark 
 and driving storm. But let me not overpraise 
 winter. It has its drawbacks, even in relation 
 to scenery. There are times, as when the 
 country is covered with snow, that even I 
 cannot praise it. Then the face of nature is 
 dreary and repulsive, — monotonously dreary, 
 and chillingly repulsive. Snow may well be 
 called nature's winding sheet! Fortunately, 
 however, as I mentioned on a former occasion, 
 snow-storms are of rare occurrence in che 
 District, and the continuance of snow of short 
 duration. 
 
 Amicus. You have not spoken of your frozen 
 state ; for, I presume, favoured as you describe 
 
EFFECTS OF FROST. 161 
 
 your district to be, a time of frost is not un- 
 known to you. What can you say in its com- 
 mendation ? How then is your landscape ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I ought not to have forgotten 
 a well set-in frost with which we are occasionally 
 visited, as indeed you know from what you 
 heard related when we were last year at 
 Wastwater, — an event the delight of the skater 
 and fowler, of the young and active, and 
 healthy, with its bright sunshine by day, and 
 bright starlight by night, its clear sky and 
 bracing air, and within doors the glowing fire, 
 illustrating, may I say, the effect of the cold 
 condensed air on the blood. Believe me then, 
 our district is not without its charm of land- 
 scape. How magical, as it were, is the change 
 that then comes over the scene, — the babbling 
 brook silent, the liquid lake a glassy plain, the 
 watery rocks brilliant with ice and pendent 
 icicles ! Look into the first book of " The 
 Prelude ; " no doubt you know it ; what a 
 charming picture is there given of the aspect 
 of nature at such a time! Moreover, to the 
 inquirer, this is a time specially for his study, 
 — the rock rifted by ice, the clod pulverised, 
 the soil opened, the temperate stream favour- 
 M 
 
162 WINTER THE SEASON OF INTELLECT. 
 
 able to life, flowing from beneath the ice- 
 covered lake; the tepid spring, so it seems 
 by comparison, gushing from the frozen ground. 
 How instructive are these ! and how can they, 
 with other specialties, fail to excite both interest 
 and admiration in the reflecting mind ? When 
 speaking of snow, I expressed myself un- 
 guardedly ; I called it nature's winding sheet ; 
 but, considering its use in the economy of 
 nature, it ought not to be so called, unless 
 indeed, we look to the revival imder it; and 
 that what is so death and shroud-like, is not 
 an extinguisher but a preserver of vegetable 
 life, a nourisher of the fertile earth. 
 
 AiCMUS. What you say of your wintry aspect 
 I am sure will be attractive to my enquiring 
 friend. He has his own views about the sea- 
 son, independent of locality and scenery. He 
 holds it to be the intellectual season, — that 
 which throws us further from the sensuous 
 south to the reflecting north ; that which 
 hardens and gives vigour to both our minds and 
 bodies, checking effeminacy and preventing 
 degeneracy. You would be amused to hear 
 him speak of the influences, the ennobling 
 «ind strengthening of this his favourite season ; 
 
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES, 163 
 
 illustrating his notions by comparing the feeble 
 races of the south with the hardy races of the 
 north ; he even goes so far as to maintain that, 
 most of our great truths, especially in morals 
 and religion, are of northern origin, or what is 
 equivalent, of the mountain or desert. And, 
 even in our northern regions, he is confident we 
 owe the greatest efforts of genius, whether in 
 science or literature, to winter. He refers, in 
 confirmation, to what Milton says of his muse, 
 — how its visitations were mostly between the 
 autumnal and vernal equinox. Turn, he would 
 add, to that great record of science, the " Phi- 
 losophical Transactions," and find if you can 
 any important paper or announcements of dis- 
 covery, unless bearing date of the same period 
 of the year. 
 
 PiscATOR. Speculation is amusing, and, 
 fairly followed out, is always more or less 
 instructive. I hope to see your friend here, 
 and to have his company by my winter fire- 
 side, — a proper time and place for discussing 
 such a topic. So far I can agree with him, 
 that difficulties are requisite to stimulate the 
 mind to exertion ; and that nothing very great 
 or good has been accomplished in countries, 
 
 H 2 
 
164 DIFFICULTIES STIMULATE MIND. 
 
 whether from climate or other circumstances, 
 favouring rest and indulgence. The Jewish 
 law was promulgated in the Desert, and from 
 Mount Sinai ; the Mahommedan in the arid 
 Arabia; Eome rose to greatness contending 
 with difficulties ; Spain fell off from her great- 
 ness when ease and indulgence took the place 
 of exertion. But does not all history, the rise 
 and fall of every empire and state, tell the 
 same story ? 
 
 Amicus. I believe so; thankful, therefore, 
 let us be — and can we be too thankful ? — that 
 England has such a climate, and especially 
 a winter climate, which I trust will always 
 prevent our degenerating, aided, as our climate 
 is, by our field and river sports, so conducive to 
 manly exertion. 
 
 PiscATOR. What you now say reminds me 
 of our favourite sport, and of my promise, when 
 I invited your visit, to take you another ramble 
 through our Lake District. 
 
 Amicus. I shall be glad to be under your 
 guidance ; and, at this season, I hope to have 
 better sport than last year at a later season, — 
 a hope founded on what you told me, that 
 s-pring is the best time for trout-fishing. 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES. 165 
 
 Now, I pray, allow me to ask one or two ques- 
 tions on points connected with angling, or 
 rather the natural history of the prized species. 
 And first of their distribution : on a former 
 occasion*, when expressing your doubts as to 
 there being a parr, a distinct species, you 
 mentioned an inquiry you were then engaged 
 in, and some of the results you had obtained, 
 tending to show how it was probable that the 
 ova of the Salmonidae might be conveyed by 
 foreign agents from river to river, from lake 
 to lake, and so the species might be introduced 
 de novo. Pray, have you brought your inquiry 
 to a conclusion ? or what further progress have 
 you made ? Do tell me. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is too much to say that I have 
 brought the ' inquiry to a conclusion, — if by 
 that you mean I have exhausted it. That 
 is not easily done, if ever accomplished, in any 
 matter of physical research. However, I have 
 obtained some additional results, not without 
 interest, as I think you will consider them. 
 I shall mention only those I consider the 
 more important. First, I have found that 
 
 * The Angler and His Friend, p. 260. 
 SI 3 
 
166 EXPERIMENTS RELATING TO 
 
 the impregnated ova, when tolerably advanced, 
 may be kept for many days in air, saturated 
 with moisture, without suffering loss of vitality, 
 or having their power sensibly impaired. Se- 
 condly, in accordance with the foregoing, that, 
 in rainy weather, they will bear exposure to the 
 atmosphere, if placed on moss or other moist 
 plants, so long as three days, without detri- 
 ment. Thirdly, that they are capable of 
 bearing a reduction of temperature to thirty- 
 two degrees Fahrenheit, i. e,, to the freezing 
 point of water, and may be attached to ice, 
 and included in ice, provided they are not 
 themselves frozen, without losing their vitality. 
 Now, reasoning from these results, there seems 
 little difficulty in imagining how a certain 
 diffusion of the species may be accomplished, — 
 whether, as hinted at when we last conversed 
 on the subject, by means of water-fowl, the 
 ova adhering to their feet, beak, or plumage, 
 or of other erratic animals, — or, to offer an- 
 other conjecture, even by means of travelling 
 masses of ice, glaciers, and icebergs. This last 
 conjecture may seem far-fetched ; but reflecting 
 on the erratic masses of rock, so widely scattered 
 from their original site, conveyed, there is good 
 
' SPREAD OF SPECIES, 167 
 
 ^reason to believe, through the instrumentality 
 of ice, I think you will allow that this idea 
 of the mode of distribution comes within the 
 scope of probability. 
 
 Amicus. What you say seems plausible ; but 
 is there not a more commonly received notion 
 as to the manner of the spread of species, — at 
 least, of certain species, those in greatest es- 
 timation, — viz., by artificial means rather than 
 by natural? When speaking of the grayling, 
 you mentioned the conjecture that it was 
 introduced into this country in the time of the 
 monastic institutions, and I think I have read 
 in one of your provincial papers, that the charr 
 of the Lake District was similarly imported. 
 
 PiscATOK. It is a popular notion that the 
 monks were our great benefactors in this re- 
 spect. It is a most easy way of explaining the 
 fact — the spread of certain fish ; and how can 
 we gainsay it or prove a negative? That in 
 some instances they may have introduced 
 certain fish is highly probable; — but it does 
 not thence follow that natural causes have not 
 been in operation, effecting the same thing. 
 And, if we enter fully and fairly into the sub- 
 ject, I think we must arrive at the conclusion 
 
 M 4 
 
168 POPULAR NOTIONS AND ERRORS. 
 
 that these natural causes have been on the, 
 whole most potential. How often do we meet 
 with rare species in situations where it is diffi- 
 cult to imagine that they owe their advent to 
 the hand of man ? Thus the charr is not only 
 found in the lakes of the Lake District within 
 sound of the abbey bell, but also in those of 
 some of the wildest parts of Connemara and of 
 the Scottish Highlands. A like remark applies 
 to some of the Coregoni, such as the Schelly 
 and Vendace. Popular notions I am disposed 
 to hold always in doubt. How rude are they 
 and often unfounded : the monks in many 
 instances have taken the place of the giants. 
 Think of the Fingalian roads, of the cave 
 named after the same mythical hero, of the 
 Giant's Causeway, and the like : natural effects 
 referred to superhuman or supernatural agency ! 
 Amicus. You have just said that the ova are 
 capable of retaining their vitality under the 
 circumstances you described, provided they are 
 tolerably advanced. Do you mean by that, 
 their drawing near the time of being hatched ? 
 I should have supposed that it would have 
 been the contrary, — that the simpler the 
 structure of the ovum, the less would be the 
 
INSECURITY OF EARLY LIFE. 169 
 
 danger of suffering from external agents, — - 
 the more retentive it would be of life, according 
 to the analogy of seeds. 
 
 PiscATOR, According to another analogy and 
 more akin, viz., that of young animals, es- 
 pecially of our own kind, the hold of life is 
 least secure the earlier the age, — the most dis- 
 tant from the complete and complex structural 
 development. To say nothing of abortions, 
 how dreadful is the loss of life amongst infants 
 when not tenderly cared for ; and even with all 
 possible care how much greater is the risk of a 
 fatal termination of the same disease in the in- 
 stance of the child than of the adult. But what 
 I stated was not founded on analogy, — never to 
 be trusted except as a guide to inquiry, — it is 
 founded on carefully made experiments, and 
 those of two kinds ; one in which ova, after 
 impregnation, were exposed in water to a tem- 
 perature certain degrees above the natural 
 hatching temperature of the breeding beds: 
 another, in which they were sent packed in 
 moist wool to considerable distances, — not less 
 than 500 miles, or including their return not 
 less than 1000, and on one occasion double that 
 distance. The results of both accorded; the 
 
170 STOCKING OF RIVERS. 
 
 ova of the earliest age were all killed in the 
 trials ; those most advanced, the oldest, mostly 
 escaped with retention of life.* 
 
 Amicus. Your experimental results are better 
 than my analogical conjectures. Your opposite 
 analogy would hardly have satisfied me, but 
 your facts do completely. I shall take a note 
 of them and hope to profit by them practi- 
 cally, that is, by introducing fish into waters 
 seemingly fitted for them, such as the charr and 
 the grayling, at present unknown in them. 
 
 PiscATOR. Such attempts are laudable, and in 
 many instances, probably, will be rewarded with 
 success ; it is too much to expect that they will 
 invariably be so; for as with plants so with 
 animals, — with fishes, — there are physical cir- 
 cumstances of locality difficult of appreciation, 
 favourable and unfavourable, the effect of 
 which can only be ascertained by actual ex- 
 perience ; and which require to be taken into 
 account in considering the distribution of 
 species. 
 
 Amicus. There is another point on which 
 
 * For an account of these experiments, see the 
 "Philosophical Transactions," for 1856 ; and the "Pro- 
 ceedings of the Royal Society, vol. viii. p. 27. 
 
HATCHING: ITS MEANING. 171 
 
 perhaps you can enlighten me. In speaking of 
 the ova of the Salmonidse, when describing the 
 production of the young fish, you have used the 
 term hatching. Pray is it in the same sense as 
 you would employ it, were you describing the 
 chick breaking out from the imprisoning egg- 
 shell ? the word, as I understand it, meaning, in 
 its radical sense, to break, and the chick in ovo 
 effecting the breaking by means of its sharp- 
 pointed, hammer-like, hard beak, — by a process 
 of repeated tapping — a capital instance surely 
 of instinctive action, and of a natural provision 
 in such a beak for accomplishing it, especially 
 considering that the hard horny point is cast 
 off after it has done its work, — that is, when 
 the chick is at large. 
 
 PiscATOR. I use the term in the same sense ; 
 for the egg-shell of the Salmonidae and, I believe, 
 of fish generally, is ruptured by the efforts of 
 the young fish acting instinctively, somewhat, 
 though not exactly, after the same manner as 
 that practised by the chick in ovo. 
 
 Amicus. How is it accomplished ? I should 
 like to know ! Pray, tell me ; for these first 
 efforts of animals seem to me peculiarly inte- 
 resting as pure examples of instinct. 
 
172 PROCESS OF HATCHING. 
 
 PiscATOR. I will tell you as well as I can the 
 little I know of the process collected from my 
 own observations. The embryo fish undergoes 
 development, gradually increasing in size from 
 the absorption of the substance of the yolk, and 
 the conversion of that substance into the sub- 
 stance of its various dissimilar organs. This is 
 the most remarkable of metamorphoses, WTien 
 near its full time, an absorption, I believe, of the 
 shell commences and proceeds till rendered so 
 thin as to be no longer able to resist the force 
 acting on it within — that is, the efforts of the 
 foetal fish. But as the foetus is folded in the 
 egg so as to form nearly a circle, its muscular 
 exertions to straighten itself, chiefly by the ac- 
 tion of the tail, impel it forward, and the head 
 being one of the firmest parts of the body, the 
 probability is that the membrane will yield to 
 it, and that the young fish will be impelled 
 head foremost into its world of waters. Some- 
 times, as I have seen, the tail first appears; 
 this is a mishap, and it may be of a fatal kind, 
 for the tail being the chief moving power of the 
 fish, its action, impelling forwards, tends rather 
 to prevent than promote the extrication of the 
 head. It is a somewhat curious siofht to see 
 
PISCICULTURE. 173 
 
 the young fish in this predicament, — its bulk 
 being still within the shell, and the protruding 
 tail so delicate as easily to escape observation 
 when in motion; the appearance is as if the 
 egg itself moved spontaneously. 
 
 Amicus. You have made angling interesting 
 to me, and, now, — I thank you for it, — you are 
 doing the same for the breeding of fish ; give 
 me, if you please, a little further information on 
 the matter. Tell me what is most essential 
 for conducting the process with the best chance 
 of a successful issue, and with the least trouble 
 and the simplest means. 
 
 PiscATOR. You are easily answered. All 
 that I have found necessary, whether in the 
 instance of the ova of the chair, the salmon, or 
 the minnow, have been pure water, changing 
 it once a day, and clean vessels of glass or 
 earthenware, — the size and volume of water in 
 some proportion to the number of ova : if not 
 exceeding half a dozen, a tumbler will suffice. 
 The temperature is of less importance : if that 
 of a room, with a fire in winter, so as to range 
 from 45° to 65i°, the hatching will be unduly 
 early ; if of a lower temperature, the hatching 
 will be retarded; and the lower it is, the 
 
174 CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURING 
 
 greater will be the retardation ; in this respect, 
 analogous to what occurs in vegetable life, in 
 the case of germinating seeds. 
 
 Amicus. You say nothing of gravel for a bed 
 or of the exclusion of light, — the one and the 
 other, noticeable, I think you have said, in the 
 natural process. 
 
 PiscATOR. They may be useful though not 
 essential in that process; remember I am 
 speaking of the artificial, and of the easiest 
 mode, and most inviting way of conducting it. 
 Try it, and be assured you will find it answer, 
 and in the curious phenomena of young life and 
 development it will exhibit, especially if you 
 call in the aid of the microscope, it will most 
 amply repay the little care and attention it may 
 require. 
 
 Amicus. Of what use is the gravel in the 
 natural process, if not required in the artificial ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I believe it has a double use or 
 more, — first, that of covering and protecting 
 the ova during the foetal development; and 
 next, after their hatching, that of affording 
 hiding places for the young fish, and the means 
 of keeping themselves free of impurities by the 
 friction which can hardlv be avoided whilst 
 
ARTIFICIAL BREEDING. 175 
 
 they are in motion amongst the gravel. I may 
 mention that the surface of the fish, however 
 young, is covered with mucus, apt by its ad- 
 hesive quality to retain minute impurities, — 
 vegetable and animal organisms and their 
 semina, from which scarcely any water is 
 absolutely free, and which growing, acting as 
 parasites, may, if not rubbed off, have a fatal 
 effect on the young fish. 
 
 - Amicus. Do not these impurities and para- 
 sitical growths collect chiefly about the gills in 
 the instance of the young fish ? If I recollect 
 rightly, you have told me so. 
 
 PiscATOR. They do, and, I believe, for this rea- 
 son, that the gills through which the water passes 
 in the act of respiration, or the function of aera- 
 tion of the blood analogous to it, perform the 
 part of a filter catching at their outer margins 
 and detaining the matters suspended in the 
 water as impurities, — thereby proving a check 
 on the flow of water, and the aeration depending 
 on that flow. I have often examined with the 
 microscope the obstructing adhering matter, 
 and have found it commonly of a mixed nature, 
 fibres of the simplest form of vegetation, — 
 particles of soot entangled in them, and granules 
 
176 USE OF GRAVEL TO YOUNG FISH. 
 
 and nuclei of various kinds. I may mention 
 that, besides gravel, if you do not wish to 
 restrict yourself to the simplest means, it may 
 be of some advantage to put into the water, in 
 the artificial process, some aquatic plants, which, 
 in vegetating, may help to keep the water 
 pure, and favour the increase of infusoria, the 
 food of the young fish. 
 
 Amicus. You have spoken of the interest 
 attending the artificial process of hatching. 
 Favour me, if you please, with some of the 
 results of your experience, so that I may be 
 able better to appreciate the interest. 
 
 PiscATOR. Perhaps you will not consider 
 them in the relation so interesting as they ap- 
 peared to me in the observation, — the interest 
 in a thing happily increasing with the attention 
 bestowed, often imparting a momentary im- 
 portance to what, except to the actual observer, 
 must seem trifling. But do not mistake me ; 
 do not suppose that I make the remark with 
 any intent to undervalue minute observations. 
 As to your request, let me recollect, for without 
 reference to notes, the describing of observa- 
 tions of this kmd tasks the memory. I had best 
 begin again ab ovo. 
 
RISKS OF OVA IN HATCHING. 177 
 
 In the artificial mode of breeding, when I 
 have obtained ova from living fish, under water, 
 and added to them milt in its milk-like state — 
 also from living fish, and expressed under water 
 — a certain number, and only a certain num- 
 ber, of these ova have become impregnated, 
 and have been hatched ; of the remainder, 
 some have become opaque almost immediately 
 from the absorption of water; and some, the 
 larger proportion, have retained their trans- 
 parency for a variable time ; many of them 
 more than a month. Why a portion should 
 receive into their interior the spermatozoon, the 
 impregnating particle, why others should so 
 soon absorb water, and by the congelation of 
 the yolk become opaque ; and why another 
 portion should resist so long the entrance of 
 water without progressive development, at 
 present, I believe, can only be conjectured. 
 Next, of the impregnated ova : these, if carefully 
 examined will be found to vary in size *; to be 
 
 * Of twelve mature ova of a salmon from the Dee, 
 the heaviest weighed one grain and eight-tenths, the 
 lightest one grain and two-tenths of a grain. The ova 
 of the oharr I have found to vary in diameter, from 
 sixteen to twenty hundredths of an inch, and in weight 
 from one grain to seven-tenths of a grain. 
 
 N 
 
178 VARIABLE TIME OF HATCHING. 
 
 hatched at different times, even though kept 
 in the same vessel and treated exactly alike; 
 and the young fish likewise to differ in size, in 
 activity and in strength. In the instance of 
 the ova of salmon, I have witnessed in the 
 time of hatching, under the same circumstances, 
 a difference of seventeen days; and in that 
 of the charr a difference of ten days and more, 
 with a slight variation of circumstances, such 
 as a difference of two or three degrees of tem- 
 perature. Further, as regards the absorption 
 or consumption of the yolk, by which, for a 
 certain time the young fish are supported, that 
 too in different individuals is variable in point 
 of time. Such variations at first, may seem 
 somewhat startling, but when we consider the 
 course of nature generally, it seems rather in ac- 
 cordance with that course; her laws, especially 
 in regard to living beings, having a certain lati- 
 tude, exceeding commonly our idea of them. 
 It is well to keep this in mind ; it may help 
 to explain and reconcile disputed points and 
 differences of opinion, as, for instance, regarding 
 the time that elapses between the hatching of 
 the ova of the salmon and the migration of the 
 salmon fry to the sea. 
 
THE STORMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 179 
 
 Amicus. Your remarks remind me of the 
 account I have lately read, of the results of 
 an experiment recently made on the artificial 
 breeding of the salmon, at Stormontfield, on 
 the Tay, how some of the young fish assumed 
 the silvery scale, became smelts, and migrated ' 
 the first year ; whilst others continued parrs, 
 and did not assume the smelt state till the 
 following year, when in turn they also sought 
 the sea. 
 
 PiscATOR. Those results are instructive; 
 they help to reconcile the apparently conflicting 
 observations of Messrs. Yoimg and Shaw. It 
 has been made a question whether the fry 
 that migrated the second year were in reality 
 hatched at the same time as those which took 
 their seaward departure twelve months earlier 
 — on the supposition that parr of the year 
 following might possibly find their way into 
 the pond ; but, from all I have been able to 
 learn, there . is no good ground whatever for 
 the suspicion, inasmuch as the water, the feeder 
 of the pond, passes through a bank of gravel, 
 excluding thereby the idea of any such error. 
 In reasoning, perhaps, on these matters, we 
 are too apt under the influence of ana- 
 
 N 2 
 
180 ANALOGIES DECEPTIVE. 
 
 logies, to create difficulties for ourselves. Ee- 
 gardless of that latitude already alluded to, 
 fixing more the attention on the periodical 
 changes of animals of the higher classes, we 
 are too apt to presume there is the same 
 regularity in the changes of the lower; but 
 this does not necessarily follow : on the con- 
 trary, the lower we descend in the scale of 
 beings, the wider, I apprehend, will be the 
 range of time for the metamorphosis to- which 
 the several species are subject. In the instance 
 of the frog, to give an example, I have 
 known the change from the tadpole to the 
 perfect animal arrested for many weeks, when 
 the supply of food has been scanty. Eecurring 
 to the Stormontfield experiment, may it not 
 be inferred that those which migrated first, 
 were probably those of greatest vigour, and had 
 the lion's share of food ; and vice versa of those 
 remaining? 
 
 Amicus. You spoke of the interest in the 
 inquiry being increased, by bringing into use 
 the microscope. 
 
 PiscATOR. And to an almost unlimited 
 degree; indeed, I believe that the subject — 
 the microscopic examination of the embryo 
 
INTEREST OF EMBRYOLOGY. 181 
 
 fish in its progress — might occupy one's whole 
 life without being exhausted, so wonderful, 
 mysterious, and complicated are the changes 
 which take place in the course of the organic 
 development. Even to the superficial observer 
 the phenomena cannot fail of being interesting, 
 such as the heart in its action, the cir- 
 culation of the blood in its vessels, the change 
 of form of the blood corpuscles from circular 
 as is their outline in the embryo, to elliptical, 
 as they are in the fully formed young fish, — 
 such, moreover, as the advanced state of some 
 of the organs at an early period, the eyes and 
 pectoral fins, for example, and the late pro- 
 duction of others, the dorsal and abdominal fins, 
 for instance, the scales, its defensive armour, 
 which are but slowly formed, no traces of them 
 existing in the foetal fish. Even, in what is 
 abnormal, there is an interest ; as in animals 
 of higher organisation, so in these, — occa- 
 sionally marks of imperfect or partially ar- 
 rested development may be witnessed; thus, 
 I have seen a young salmon, destitute en- 
 tirely of eyes, otherwise on quitting the egg 
 well formed, and at the same time active, and 
 
 N 3 
 
182 ADMIRABLE ADAPTATIONS. 
 
 as well as I could judge, with instinctive habits, 
 the same as if it had perfect vision. 
 
 Amicus. If leisure permit, there is nothing 
 I should like better than the pursuit you 
 speak of. And since, under your guidance, 
 I have become an angler, I will not despair of 
 the higher calling. 
 
 PiscATOR. And rest assured you will be 
 well repaid. The building up of an organic 
 being, is one of the most wonderful of works ; 
 nowhere is design more manifestly exhibited, 
 and the fine adaptation of means to ends. I 
 will mention one example. The young of the 
 salmon, of the Salmonidae, and indeed of fish 
 generally, on quitting the egg, carry with them 
 a load, a liberal supply of aliment in the 
 yolk sac attached to them, on which, in their 
 feeble state, they feed by an act, not of eating, 
 but of absorption ; thereby losing weight ; 
 thereby becoming lighter, less encumbered, and 
 fitter for action. Comparing the young fish 
 on quitting the egg with one six weeks old, 
 just when the vitelline sac — the store of food 
 it brings with it — has disappeared, removed 
 by absorption, I have found a diminution of 
 weight equal to forty per cent. ; and this, accom- 
 
SERMONS IN MORE THAN STONES. 183 
 
 panied with a marvellous increase of energy 
 and activity, fitting the young fish to provide 
 for itself; and, remember that this change 
 from comparative indolence to vigorous exer- 
 tion follows change of season, the hatching 
 being at a time when the water is cold, and 
 insects and all kinds of food are scarce; the 
 stage of activity, when the spring is com- 
 mencing, and food of a suitable kind is be- 
 coming plentiful. Can you wish for, or ima- 
 gine a more striking instance of adaptation ? 
 
 Amicus. It is, indeed, admirable ! If there 
 be " sermons in stones," what theology is there 
 not, what evidences of Natural Eeligion are there 
 not in the ovum, and its living products ! 
 
 N 4 
 
COLLOQUY VIIL 
 
 St JohfLS Vale, — Memorabilia by the Way : 
 varied Discussion. 
 
 PiSCATOR. 
 
 HIS fine April morning is tempting ; 
 the wind from the south-west and 
 warm ; the streams in good condi- 
 tion, clearing after the late rains. 
 Let us lose no time. With your leave — and 
 you have placed yourself under my guidance, 
 whilst you are my guest — we will mount our 
 ponies and proceed to the Vale of St. John. 
 We shall have a chance of some small angling 
 sport, and the certainty at least of a most 
 pleasant ride. 
 
 Amicus. Now we are on our way, if you 
 please, remember that I am almost a stranger 
 here ; so point out, I pray, whatever things you 
 think interesting and worthy of note ; and, I 
 
ROADSIDJE INTJE RESTS. 185 
 
 am sure there must be many such, when I call 
 to mind the charm of immortal verse, and that 
 hereabouts was the abode of the charmer. 
 
 PisCATOR. I will attend to your request ; for 
 what is pleasanter than to relate to another, 
 a friend, what is interesting to oneself ? I may 
 begin even on starting. You see how good this 
 turnpike road is leading to Eydal and Gras- 
 mere, and yet it is little beyond the memory of 
 man when it was first made passable for car- 
 riages, or even carts. A worthy yeomen of the 
 former place has told me that he knew the 
 labourer, who was one of those first employed 
 in making a cart-road between Grasmere and 
 Ambleside, a man who died only about fifteen 
 years ago ; and, in Clark's account of the district, 
 written little more than sixty years ago, he 
 describes how, before the turnpike road was in 
 being, a causeway was begun between Eydal 
 Hall and Ambleside, not by means of ordinary 
 labour, but by that of schoolboys and their 
 master. Every Thursday and Saturday after- 
 noon Mr. Bell, the master, and his scholars 
 gave themselves to the work, they gathering 
 and bringing the stones, he paving with them. 
 
 Amicus. What you mention is indicative of a 
 
186 RYDAL HALL. 
 
 rude and primitive state, difficult now to realize, 
 especially in sight of that large white house of 
 modern aspect. Is it Kydal Hall ? The scenery 
 around it is worthy of a more picturesque 
 building. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is ; and that woodland is Eydal 
 forest ; a familiar haunt of Wordsworth. Some 
 day we must have a ramble in it. I can point 
 out to you many of his favourite old trees, oaks 
 of a goodly size, the largest hardly inferior in 
 stateliness to the Lord's Oak which we are now 
 under ; and, do observe it, for it is an arboretum, 
 so to speak, in itself, from the many plants 
 which have taken root and are growing on it, 
 not only ferns^ mosses and lichens, but like- 
 wise the holly, the yew and the ash. We 
 must have a walk too through the grounds, 
 and see the pretty falls. The stream that 
 makes them we have just crossed as it flows 
 meandering through the park to join the 
 Eothay. It takes its rise in Fairfield, that fine 
 mountain ridge, above 2000 feet in height, 
 which, you may observe, screens Eydal from the 
 north, and is still crested with snow. The beck, 
 to use the Dale-idiom, is a charming mountain 
 stream in its upland part, and not without trout. 
 
THE LORD'S OAK. 187 
 
 Some fine day, rod in hand, we must follow it 
 up — or better down, as the Poet sings — 
 
 " Down Rydal cove from Fairfield's side." 
 
 There, though so near the busy haunts of man, 
 you will find perfect seclusion, and all, or almost 
 all, you could wish to have in solitude ; — in brief, 
 it is the counterpart of Far-Easedale with 
 an improvement, a lighter and fresher air, from 
 being more elevated, and more extended, and 
 having a finer prospect, Windermere being seen 
 in the distance ; on which account the following 
 it down deserves the preference. 
 
 Amicus. Had you not directed my attention 
 to the oak which you call the Lord's Oak, I 
 infer, from its superior magnitude, the parasi- 
 tical growths you pointed out would have 
 escaped my notice. You did not mention the 
 mistletoe as one of them — that true parasite. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is somewhat remarkable, that in 
 a district such as this, in which, probably owing 
 to the quantity of rain that falls, adventitious 
 growths are far from uncommon on the older 
 trees, the mistletoe is unknown ; and I believe 
 the few attempts that have been made to 
 introduce it, have, with one exception, failed 
 
188 RYDAL VILLAGE, 
 
 of success ; and yet we know not why ; a priori, 
 one would say, that a plant which is even too 
 common in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire 
 could not be rare in Westmoreland ; but, in 
 truth, advanced as botanical science is, there is 
 little known as to the habitats of plants in the 
 way of idiosyncrasy and causation. 
 
 Amicus. This little village of Eydal delights 
 me; — its situation, its neatness, the happy 
 admixture of the lowly cottage and substantial 
 dwelling, with its becoming chapel, all so 
 accordant! What is its history, if history it 
 has? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is almost entirely a dependance 
 of the adjoining Hall, and a good example of 
 the feudal dependency mitigated by modern 
 usage. The cottages are occupied chiefly by 
 old servants, they and their houses older than 
 the chapel, which, as you may judge from its 
 style, is a modern erection. You will find its 
 story in two interesting poems of Wordsworth 
 dedicated to it, and in one of them an explana- 
 tion at once poetical, and I believe true, of the 
 direction, pointing to the east, 
 
 " That symbol of day-spring from on bigh," 
 of our sacred buildings. 
 
GLEN ROTH A COTTAGE. 189 
 
 Amicus. Whose is this cottage or nee ^ skirting 
 the village? There is nothing feudal in its 
 appearance. 
 
 PiscATOK. It too has its history. It is a 
 creation of fine taste, and has been the residence 
 of a succession of men of cultivated tastes, 
 Kydal Mount, rising above and contiguous to 
 it, no doubt the attraction, with its own special 
 beauty. Its first inmates were men who, at 
 the end of the last war, not the Crimean, laid 
 by the sword and here courted the Muses. 
 Here the translator of Camoens, of whom I 
 have before made mention as a friend and an 
 angler, enjoyed a few short years of domestic 
 happiness, too soon interrupted by the loss of 
 his wife, in a most distressing way, from her 
 dress taking fire. His successor, the graceful 
 narrator of his campaigns and travels, owed his 
 removal to a happier cause, not the disruption 
 but the accomplishment of a union with an 
 amiable woman; and his successor again, a 
 man the whole tenor of whose life has been 
 peace, one of the Society of Friends, makes the 
 spot his occasional retreat, not unmindful of the 
 Muses. We are approaching Nab Scar. Do 
 you see that cottage by the roadside ? It too 
 
J 90 NAB'SCAR, 
 
 is not without fame. There lived, and there 
 died a man of genius, — the son of a man of 
 genius, gifted intellectually almost like his 
 father, and even more infirm of purpose. 
 
 Amicus. You speak of Hartley Coleridge. 
 Alack ! Alack ! That so much power should 
 have been combined with so much weakness. 
 It reminds me of an early pathetic letter I have 
 seen of his father's, written when the son was a 
 joyous boy. His words were " There is a some- 
 thing, an essential something wanting in me. 
 I feel it, / know it, though what it is, I can- 
 not but guess. I have read somewhere that in 
 the tropical climates there are annuals of 
 as ample girth as forest trees ; so, by a very 
 dim likeness, I seem to myself to distinguish 
 power from strength and to have only the 
 power." 
 
 PiscATOR. A curious and melancholy psycho- 
 logical condition, and yet I dare say true. 
 
 Amicus. What loud harsh note was that ? It 
 seems to come from yonder wooded islet. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is the cry of the heron. This 
 beautiful little lake Eydalmere, is the sole 
 property of the lady of the manor ; and under 
 protection a few herons, here secure from mo- 
 
RYDALMERE. 191 
 
 lestation, yearly build their nests in those 
 Scotch firs, and at this season add an interest 
 to the spot. 
 
 Amicus. Pray, how lies the road to Gras- 
 mere ? Eydalmere seems to be shut in almost 
 as much above as below by the approaching 
 mountain abutments. 
 
 PiscATOR. There are, and it may surprise you, 
 three roads to Grasmere, — the upper, the first 
 made and the most rugged ; the middle, an 
 improvement on that; and the lower, the 
 present turnpike road, as good as you could 
 wish, the three well marking advancing im- 
 provement. As we have a choice, we will take 
 the middle way, — not as tutissime, though safe 
 it is, but as jucundissime. 
 
 Amicus. And now we are well on it, most 
 pleasant it is. Eydalmere so delectable in one 
 direction to look down upon, and Grasmere in 
 the other. How fine is the effect of the green 
 islet with its clump of dark firs, — it, and the 
 surrounding hills reflected from the mirror face 
 of the calm lake. Does the mere derive its 
 name from its colouring ? 
 
 PiscATOR. You are far off the mark. Wliat 
 think you of the wild boar giving it a name ? 
 
192 GBASMERE. 
 
 It was formerly written Grresmere, sometimes 
 Grismere ; and grise being the old name of the 
 wild swine, the derivation I hope you receive as 
 unobjectionable. What renders it not im- 
 probable is, that the country round in the 
 olden time was covered with wood, and wild 
 boar abounded here. There is a saying in 
 accordance, that once the squirrel could travel 
 from Kendal to Keswick without once touching 
 the ground. 
 
 Amicus. On the islet, under the shade of the 
 firs, I see a house, but without windows; yet 
 of stone and strongly built. What is it ? 
 
 PiscATOK. A hog-house ; a shelter, how- 
 ever, not for swine, but sheep. It, as his verses 
 tell us, was once a favourite haunt of the 
 Poet : — 
 
 Hither does a poet sometimes row 
 His pinnace, a small vasrant barge up-piled 
 With plenteous stores of heath and withered fern, 
 (A lading which he with his sickle cuts 
 Among the mountains,) and beneath this roof, 
 He makes his summer couch, and here at noon 
 Spreads out his limbs, while yet, unshorn, the sheep, 
 Panting beneath the burden of their wool, 
 Lie round him, even as they were a part 
 Of his own household : nor, while from his bed 
 
THE WISHING'GATE. 198 
 
 He looks through the open door-place toward the lake, 
 And to the stirring breezes, does he want 
 Creations lovely as the work of sleep. 
 Fair sights and visions of romantic joy." 
 
 Ah ! here we are at the " Wishing-Grate/' 
 another object of the poet's regard, so well 
 testified when he mourned in verse (happily 
 labouring under a mistake) " The Wishing- 
 Grate destroyed/' — verse as amiable as philoso- 
 phical, and I may add moral ; one stanza I will 
 repeat to you, — 
 
 " Not fortune's slave is man : our state 
 Enjoins, while firm resolves await 
 
 On wishes just and wise. 
 That strenuous action follow both, 
 And life be one perpetual growth 
 Of heaven-ward enterprise/* 
 
 Amicus. This, a spot commanding a scene of 
 so much beauty, one that might so occupy and 
 charm the senses and delight the mind, is the 
 last I should expect that would be chosen for 
 wishing ! But in this even we may find a 
 moral. 
 
 PiscATOR. Presently we shall come in sight 
 
 of the poet's first abode in the Lake District ; — 
 
 a house known before (as if auspicious of its 
 
 coming inmates) by the sign of "The Dove 
 
 o 
 
194 fHE POETS MARRIED HOME. 
 
 and Olive-Bough."* There it is, with its little 
 orchard rising above it. There began his 
 married life; there, probably, he passed some 
 of his happiest days, in "Plain living and 
 high thinking." Would that we had a faithful 
 account of this portion of his life ! How in- 
 teresting would it be and instructive, — a model 
 kind of life, in its simplicity, frugality and 
 dignity, and I am sure I may add, in true en- 
 joyment. With a very limited income, — li- 
 mited we have been told to a hundred a-year f — 
 yet he exercised hospitality. Here he had for 
 his guests, men whose names will go down with 
 his to after times, — South ey, Coleridge, Lamb, 
 Scott, — not to mention others of hardly less 
 mark. Plain living indeed was theirs, and 
 high thinking. Wine or beer never appeared 
 
 * " There, where the Dove and Olive Bough 
 Once hung, a poet harbours now, 
 A simple water-drinking bard." 
 
 The Waggoner, Canto I. 
 
 •j- The means of the poet at the outset of his marriage 
 life were so limited, owing in part to an unsettled 
 account, and unpaid debt due to the family irom a noble 
 lord, whose agent Mr. Wordsworth's father had been, 
 and which was not paid till the late Lord Lonsdale came 
 to the title and property. See Memoirs, vol. i. p. 88. 
 
A GROUNDLESS ANECDOTE. 195 
 
 at his table. Water or tea was their symposial 
 beverage. 
 
 Amicus. What you say reminds me of a 
 little anecdote, which I have read, — how Sir 
 Walter Scott, a man of more luxurious habits, 
 when a guest of Wordsworth, not satisfied with 
 such a paradisaical mode of living, after his 
 dinner, was wont to resort to the public-house 
 for a draught of home-brewed; and, at the 
 same time, to avoid giving offence, would say 
 he was going to take a meditative stroll. 
 
 PiscATOR. And, one day walking earlier 
 than usual, with his friend, and coming to the 
 inn, he was addressed by the publican, '^ Ay, 
 Master Scott ! you are early to-day for your 
 drink," thus disclosing the secret. So runs the 
 story, does it not ? 
 ' Amicus. Precisely so. Is it not true? 
 
 PisCATOR- It is one of the many stories that 
 might be true, but are not true. It was the 
 invention of an author who too often did not 
 distinguish between the creations of his fancy 
 and the realities occurring around him ; and 
 by fine writing and a happy style, always gave 
 the air of truth to his narrative. Scott, I 
 rknow, once only, and for a day, visited Words- 
 
196 ERRONEOUS STATEMENTS, 
 
 worth whilst residing here, and then in company 
 with Davy; it was the day they ascended 
 Helvellyn together. \ 
 
 Amicus. It little imports, whether true or 
 false. The incidents of such a life are of minor 
 interest. His poetry, I apprehend, reflects his 
 mode of life. 
 
 PiscATOK. Just so. It was his wish that 
 his life should be read in his writings; he 
 desired no other biography. Many things said 
 of him had better been left unsaid, such as have 
 been given to the world with no kindly feeling 
 towards a man to whom we owe so much ; and, 
 more objectionable still, such as have been 
 founded in error, as the statement derived from 
 the writer just mentioned, that he was reserved 
 and close in conversation, — that he was slo- 
 venly and had little regard for order in his 
 dealings with books ; — instead of which, I can 
 assure you, he was more than commonly orderly 
 and careful about books ; and in conversation, 
 open and confiding, giving utterance to his 
 thoughts — to compare him to a gushing spring 
 — as they welled up in his mind. 
 
 Amicus. I remember the charges, and am 
 glad to hear them rebutted. I think I have 
 somewhere read of his cutting the leaves of a 
 
" THE COTTON I AN LIBRARY:' 197 
 
 costly new work he found on a friend's table 
 with a knife smeared with butter. 
 
 PiscATOR. Just so ; and the friend, the 
 narrator! How often has the exclamation 
 been made " Oh ! save me from my friends ! " 
 It is possible that the ||oet may have done 
 what is reported of him ; but who that knew 
 him well would have any hesitation in de- 
 claring that it was done inadvertently. I have 
 been favoured, as a neighbour, with books from 
 his library (he had a goodly collection of books, 
 though they were not his pride, after the manner 
 of Southey), and never did I find one of them 
 in a state otherwise than denoting proper care. 
 Some of them, from their peculiar binding — 
 done in the house when under the influence 
 of the res angusta — were not a little inte- 
 resting and curious, their covering being 
 printed cotton ; and pleasant were they to look 
 at, and in cold weather, pleasant were they to 
 handle, from their soft feel and absence of chill. 
 They were called by the ladies, whose handy 
 work they were, ^' The Cottonian Library." 
 
 Amicus. I suppose, it was from hence that 
 he went forth in the wain with wife and chil- 
 dren, driven by a serving maid, — 
 
 o 3 
 
198 CHANGES OF ABODE. 
 
 " Something in the guise 
 Of those old patriarchs, when from well to well, 
 They roamed through wastes where now the tented 
 Arabs dwell," 
 
 as related in the charming descriptive epistle 
 addressed to his friend Sir Greorge Beaumont. 
 
 PiscATOE. It was from Grrasmere that he 
 set out in that primitive style, but not from 
 the cottage at Townend ; I believe it was from 
 Allan Bank, that larger house you see yonder, 
 conspicuous under those dark crags, for the 
 verses to which you allude bear the date of 
 1811 ; and he informs us in his brief, too brief, 
 autobiography that he changed his abode to 
 Allan Bank in the spring of 1808. Undoubt- 
 edly, his manner of life, as you remark, is 
 portrayed in his poetry, that is, partially ; 
 how can it be otherwise ? The words I have 
 quoted, and to which I like to return, are, 
 as you may remember, from a noble outbreak 
 of feeling worthy of Milton. I will repeat 
 them to you. Their being written in London, 
 and in 1802, will account for the outbreak. 
 
 " O friend ! I know not which way I must look 
 For comfort, being as I am opprest. 
 To think that now our life is only drest 
 For show : mean handy-work of craftsman, cook, 
 Or groom ! We must run j^littering like a brook 
 
NOBLE THOUGHT, 199 
 
 In open sunshine, or we are unblest : 
 The wealthiest man among us is the best : 
 !No grandeur now in nature or in book 
 Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense, 
 This is idolatry ; and these we adore : 
 Plain living and high thinking are no more : 
 The homely beauty of the good old cause 
 Is gone ; our peace, our fearful innocence, 
 And pure religion breathing household laws." 
 
 Amicus. And, I would repeat to you, were I 
 not sure that you know it, the sonnet that 
 follows, addressed to Milton, one of that stirring 
 series dedicated to national independence and 
 liberty, not uncalled for at the time, — a time 
 of inglorious peace, of prostration to despotic 
 power in the first Napoleon, not unlike that 
 witnessed at present in the person of his suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 PiscATOK. And would that we had a like 
 -poet to address us in the same stirring language, 
 to warn us of impending danger, and recall 
 our thoughts to better things than military 
 glory. But a truce to these reflections. Here 
 we are on the beaten turnpike, and there is 
 Dunmail-raise before us, a^d there is Grrasmere 
 Church. You must see its interior; it is so 
 near that a quarter of an hour will suffice for 
 the deviation, 
 
 o 4 
 
200 THE POETS GRAVE. 
 
 Amicus. And here we are in the church- 
 yard ; and here, shaded by yew and sycamore, 
 is the poet's earthly resting place; children, 
 sisters, friends, congregated around him ; — 
 
 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 
 the sole inscription on his simple head-stone. 
 Now, let us enter the church. So, that is his 
 mural monument. 
 
 PiscATOK. Eead the inscription. I will not 
 ask whether you like it or not; for it is not 
 for criticism, it is too sacred for that; you 
 will, I am sure, agree with me as to its truth- 
 fulness. 
 
 TO THE MEMORY 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, 
 
 A TRUE THILOSOPHER AND POET, 
 
 WHO BY SPECIAL GIFT AND CALLING OF ALMIGHTY GOD, 
 
 WHETHER HE DISCOURSED ON MAN OR NATURE, 
 
 FAILED NOT TO LIFT UP THE HEART TO HOLY THINGS, 
 
 TIRED NOT OF MAINTAINING THE CAUSE OF THE 
 
 POOR AND SIMPLE ; 
 
 AND, SO, IN PERILOUS TIMES WAS RAISED UP 
 
 TO BE A CHIEF MINISTER, NOT ONLY OF NOBLEST POESY, 
 
 BUT OF HIGH AND SACRED TRUTH. 
 
 And pray read what is below. 
 
 THIS MEMORIAL IS PLACED HERE BY HIS FRIENDS AND 
 NEIGHBOURS, IN TESTIMONY OF RESPECT, AFFECTION, AND 
 GRATITUDE. 
 
PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE. 201 
 
 Of the friends, I may mention many were 
 Americans of the United States : a noble 
 fellowship, and may we not hope a pledge of 
 enduring union? Now let us hasten away. 
 That house within its garden, which we are 
 passing, is the Eectory, where the poet lived 
 two years, between his leaving Allan Bank and 
 his taking up his residence at Kydal Mount. 
 
 Amicus. That Eydal Mount in its beauty so 
 fit for a poet's living residence, as the spot 
 where he lies interred is for his grave ! What 
 a place of pilgrimage it will be, and his grave 
 too, to all true admirers of genuine poetry and 
 beautiful nature ! The road you have brought 
 me, seems to me, as it were a via sacra, full of 
 memorabilia and of a worthy kind and pleasure- 
 able in reflection. 
 
 PiscATOR. I cannot say so without reserve. 
 Before we ascended the hill leading to the 
 " Wishing-Grate," where the rock has been broken 
 up in working a quarry, a spot of wildness and 
 confusion in its littered heaps of stones and 
 neglected culture, — a spot, — the ground being 
 common, where many a tramping party has 
 spent the night, and crime has been committed 
 I can tell nothing of but evil; — the locality 
 
202 DUNMAIL-HAISE. 
 
 seems as if it were cursed. In the solitary 
 cottage by the road side a man hanged himself; 
 and just opposite, where there is the ruin of 
 another cottage, a like act was perpetrated 
 before the dwelling was deserted. It is too 
 much to expect in our pilgrimage on earth, 
 however favoured the region, to find it an 
 Eden, that is, in its primitive blissfulness. Pray 
 excuse the shade which I have thrown into your 
 sunshine. Here is Dunmail-raise : and now we 
 are in Cumberland. That pile of stones marks 
 the boundary of the two counties and a 
 memorable event, — the end of the aboriginal 
 British sway, in the time of the Saxon king 
 Edmund, by whom the native chief was here 
 defeated and slain : you will find notice of it in 
 Wordsworth's " Waggoner," that picturesque 
 descriptive poem, a mixture of the comic and 
 pathetic, describing to the life an unhappy 
 waggon journey, and the end of the grand old 
 commodious waggon and team. 
 
 Amicus. A fit place for battle, rout and 
 slaughter, as " White-Moss," as I think you 
 called the last-mentioned ill-favoured spot, is for 
 acts of violence. This limitary spot, with the 
 
WYTHBURN. 203 
 
 wild fells on each side, is little inferior to 
 Kirkstore in savage grandeur. 
 
 PiscATOE. It is indeed a wild pass ; and here 
 the waters divide. That little stream is the 
 infant Eothay ; and that other descends to 
 Wythburn, and is one of the principal feeders 
 of Thirlmere. Both take their rise in the 
 " mighty Helvellyn/' the vast mountain mass 
 which we see rising on our right. 
 
 Amicus. Cultivation is again appearing. I 
 see a few houses, and lo ! there is a little chapel, 
 almost rivalling that of Wasdale-head in small- 
 ness, and built after the same model, with its 
 adjunct (the two emblematic of good and evil) 
 the public house.* 
 
 PiscATOR. See the long line of lake is open- 
 ing out before us. Yonder is Eagle, or, more 
 corrrectly, Grlimmer-crag, Crag of the Ewe- 
 lamb, and yonder is Eaven-crag ; and there is 
 " the Eock of Names." 
 
 Amicus. ^\Tiat mean you by that, " the Eock 
 of Names?" 
 
 PiscATOR. Stop and look. What see you on 
 that perpendicular face ? 
 
 * " The Horse," late " The Nag*s Head ; " later, when 
 " The Wagojoner " was written, " The Cherry Tree." 
 
•204 THE ROCK OF NAMES, 
 
 Amicus. I see well cut in goodly and conspi- 
 cuous letters W. W. and others.* 
 
 PiscATOR. They were cut by the hand of the 
 poet, and long may they be preserved in memo- 
 riam, in accordance with the poet's wishes and 
 hopes as expressed in the lines written respect- 
 ing this rock, ending 
 
 " fail not, thou loved rock ! to keep 
 
 Thy charge when we are laid asleep ."f 
 
 I heard a dear friend of his say, that the rock 
 was pointed out to him by Wordsworth himself, 
 and with a fond earnestness, showing regard. 
 They two walked from Eydal Mount here, ex- 
 pressly for the purpose of seeing it. Mark well 
 the spot ; how it is close to the road on our right, 
 and nearly in a line with the head of the lake. 
 Amicus. I do ; and I join heartily in your 
 wish for its preservation. To appreciate the 
 
 * The other initials are, 
 
 M. W., Mary Wordsworth. 
 
 D. W., Dorothy Wordsworth. 
 
 S. T. C, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 
 
 J. W., John Wordsworth. 
 
 S. H., Sarah Hutchinson. 
 
 See Memoirs^ vol. ii. p. 310. 
 t See Notes to the Eighth Edition of Poems. London, 
 1845, p. 538. 
 
D ALTON'S RAIN-GAUGE. 205 
 
 value of such a relic, an autograph on an endu- 
 ring rock, and that rock a chosen one in a choice 
 spot, one should imagine how it will be valued, 
 should it be spared, centuries hence ! Had we 
 the initials of Shakespeare or of Milton thus in- 
 scribed, how inestimable would they be ! 
 
 PiscATOR. As I have what is notable to point 
 out to you on our way, know that this road we 
 have travelled, was travelled yearly and for many 
 a year by Balton to ascend Helvellyn in the 
 cause of science. There he had a rain-gauge, the 
 first, I believe, ever brought into the district ; it 
 it was used in prosecution of those meteoro- 
 logical researches, on which and on his atomic 
 theory his well earned reputation as an original 
 inquirer chiefly rests. 
 
 Amicus. How pleasant is this road : the rich 
 furze in bloom on the fell scenting the mild 
 breeze ; the dark waters delicately rippled, re- 
 flecting the hues rather than the forms of the 
 girding hills ; and those in advance not with- 
 out the ornament of wood. 
 
 PiscATOE. We are now fast approaching the 
 vale of St. John; one ascent more, and you 
 will see it. 
 
 Amicus. A noble and beautiful prospect ! 
 
206 VALE OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 PiscATOR. Observe that rocky eminence stand- 
 ing out from the hill, of a somewhat castellated 
 form, and in a misty state of the air, with 
 refracted lights, if there happen to be gleams of 
 sunshine, having a greater resemblance to a 
 baronial stronghold. See in it the magical 
 towers of romance, at times appearing and at 
 times disappearing, as so picturesquely described 
 by the latest Wizard of the North. 
 
 Amicus. A curious delusion ! But how often 
 are we cheated by our senses, without the 
 pleasure of a resulting romance ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Here we leave the high road. 
 This on our right, which we are now entering, 
 will lead us to a hamlet, where in a stedding 
 belonging to an honest " statesman," the pro- 
 prietor of some twenty acres, which he himself 
 farms, we can put up our ponies ; and after 
 our day's fishing return to and refresh our- 
 selves with what provisions we have brought in 
 our baskets. The river is close to the house, 
 and the best part for angling. 
 
 Amicus. I hope your friend is a credit to the 
 name. 
 
 PisCATOE. He is an honest industrious fellow ; 
 would that all statesmen were! neighbourly 
 
A STATESMAN. 207 
 
 and kind hearted, and his wife equally so. I 
 have never found them idle, and always found 
 them ready to give me shelter. Here we are at 
 his gate. His dogs sound the alarm ; and 
 behold the man himself ! 
 
 Amicus. What a Hercules ! and what an 
 honest open face ! indeed, as to frame and 
 looks, he is a good specimen of a Cumberland 
 yeoman. 
 
 PiscATOR. Now our ponies are taken care of, 
 let us to the river, and there part for a time, 
 to meet here not later than six ; and, that you 
 may have a remembrancer, I have put under 
 the care of the good woman of the house what 
 we brought with us ; and have had her word 
 that some potatoes shall be ready for us at that 
 hour. 
 
 Amicus. Here are stepping-stones almost 
 under water, and so distant from each other, 
 and so rough and uneven, that it must be a bold 
 and active person to use them for crossing. 
 What a charming stream, and what noble 
 heights near and distant ! Pray what flies had 
 I better use ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Small and bright ones; for our 
 fishing to-day must be fine ; and as much for 
 
208 ANGLING RESULTS. 
 
 smolts or smelts, as the salmon-fry ready to 
 migrate are called here, as for trout. And, 
 that you may not be disappointed, pray consider 
 angling secondary to seeing the vale and 
 having the enjoyment of exercise in the open 
 air, and by the river side in this pleasant 
 weather. You, if you please, follow the 
 stream ; I will take the contrary course. 
 
 Amicus. I have come in before you, having had 
 but little success, and finding that the valley 
 became tamer the farther I went. You had pre- 
 pared me for little angling sport, and it could 
 hardly have been worse ; for I have taken only 
 four smolts and two small trouts. Nevertheless, 
 I have passed the time not unpleasantly; 
 besides now and then stopping at a farm house, 
 the two or three that were near the river, for 
 curiosity sake, I rested awhile to indulge the 
 same feeling in examining my captured fish. Of 
 the smolts, two I found were males and two 
 females ; the milts in the former were very 
 narrow, as if shrunk, after having been emptied 
 of their fluid contents ; the roes in the latter 
 were very small and granular. The largest of 
 
PARR AND SMOLT SCALES. 209 
 
 the four was seven inches in length, and was 
 very salmon-like in form ; the smallest was only- 
 four inches. Well fed and fat, their scales 
 were loose and easily detached, and very silvery 
 from much lustrous matter deposited on their 
 inner surface. The transverse markings had 
 nearly disappeared ; but when the scales were 
 removed, they were to be seen, though less 
 distinct than in the parr, indicating some 
 absorption of the colouring matter. 
 
 PiscATOK. These your observations accord 
 with mine, tending to prove that the silvery 
 scales you speak of are new ones ; and that they 
 hide the markings in the true skin, partly from 
 being less transparent than the old, owing to a 
 thicker deposit of pearly or nacreous matter on 
 their inner surface, and partly to the markings 
 themselves having faded a little, and it may be, 
 as you say, from absorption. The nacreous 
 matter, I may observe, is easily detached by 
 rubbing the scales with water in a mortar. If 
 you compare the quantity obtained from pan- 
 scales and smolt scales, you will be satisfied how 
 great is the preponderance of this matter in the 
 latter. 
 
210 ROMAN PEARLS. 
 
 Amicus. Is what you call nacreous matter 
 the same as that used to make Koman pearls ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is the same, obtained from 
 white fish, such as the bleak, white-baite, roach 
 and dace applied to glass. You will find the 
 method described in Mr. Yarrell's " History of 
 British Fishes." The same matter is used by 
 the Chinese in their drawings ; by means of it 
 they impart to the coloured figures of fishes 
 a perfectly natural silvery gloss worthy of imita- 
 tion by our artists. 
 
 Amicus. Now, tell me, if you please, what 
 has been your success. 
 
 PiscATOR. Much on a par with yours, 
 have taken only a few smelts, and a few 
 trout, neither worth mentioning. I have 
 had a very pleasant ramble too; and have 
 got, as I hope you have, a good appetite. See, 
 the table is laid, and the potatoes are on it, and 
 smoking by the side of our cold meat and fruit 
 pasties. 
 
 Amicus. These potatoes are excellent : so 
 mealy and dry ! How have they been dressed ? 
 
 PiscATOR. There is the cooking utensil still 
 on the fire, — an iron crock with an iron cover ; 
 and in the way it is used serving as an oven. — 
 
ENGLISH YEOMEN. 211 
 
 You see peats are placed above as well as 
 below, 
 
 Amicus. I see; and can readily understand 
 that it is applicable to many uses. How useful 
 it might be to a colonist ! 
 
 PiscATOR. And what an excellent colonist 
 would this our friend the statesman make, and 
 the like of him, accustomed as he is to hardy 
 life and able to turn his hand to many things ; 
 leading with his wife, as nearly as it is possible 
 in a civilised country, a life akin to that of the 
 colonist. 
 
 Amicus. And what an excellent soldier too he 
 would make for the same reasons, — so self- 
 relying and self-dependent, as well as strong 
 and active. 
 
 PiscATOR. In the olden time, the yeomanry 
 of the country formed the greater part of the 
 body of our armies; whilst now it is chiefly 
 composed of men brought up in our manufac- 
 tories and almost unacquainted with rural life 
 and its various occupations ; and hence their 
 helplessness in the field and that inferiority in 
 providing for and taking care of themselves as 
 compared with foreign troops, especially the 
 French. A general now-a-day could not 
 
 P 2 
 
212 DALE PECULIABITIES. 
 
 address his men preparing for the storm — 
 such as that of the Eedan — after the manner 
 of Shakespear in " Henry V." 
 
 " And you, good yeomen, 
 Whose limbs were made in England, show us here 
 The mettle of your pasture." 
 
 Another advantage attending yeomen soldiers 
 was that at the end of the war they resumed 
 with their return home their home occupations, 
 like the Eomans in the best time of the 
 Eepublic. 
 
 Now let us to horse; it is time to be 
 starting on our return. The moon is up ; so we 
 shall have the advantage of its light. 
 
 You spoke just now of having looked into 
 some farm houses, indulging your curiosity : 
 now we are on our way, pray tell me the impres- 
 sion you received ? It is well to know what a 
 stranger observes. 
 
 Amicus. All I have seen to day, both in the 
 houses I looked into and that one in which we 
 were so kindly received, accord with my former 
 experience, — the experience of last autumn. 
 Within, I observed the same neatness, cleanli- 
 ness and order ; without, a somewhat careless 
 agriculture and a total neglect of horticulture* 
 
HABITS OF A PASTORAL PEOPLE, 213 
 
 Not a cultivated flower have I seen to-day 
 since we crossed Dunmail-raise, nor a garden 
 vegetable and a fortiori, not a garden. Why 
 this neglect ? 
 
 PiscATOK. The tastes of men are more or 
 less acquired ; and happy favouring circum- 
 stances seem to be required to form the more 
 delicate and refined taste. This I mention in 
 relation to flower-gardens. As to the neglect of 
 kitchen-gardens, may it not be said, that they 
 imply a certain opulence, and if not luxury, 
 certainly a degree of comfort in the way of 
 living hardly to be found in a poor moun- 
 tainous district such as this? Moreover its 
 being a pastoral district greatly stands in the 
 way of horticulture of any kind ; it would be 
 difficult for a farmer here to defend a garden- 
 plot from the incursions and depredations of his 
 stock, especially his sheep, which, when pressed 
 by hunger in the spring hardly any ordinary 
 wall will keep out. Eemember, no pastoral 
 people have been an horticultural people ; the 
 two occupations are in a manner incompatible ; 
 from Holy Writ we learn that they were sepa- 
 rated from the commencement. 
 
 Amicus. Yet agriculture is not so incom- 
 
 P 3 
 
214 RUDE FARMING. 
 
 patible with pastoral life ; on the contrary, in 
 its improved state a union of the two is re- 
 quired. 
 
 PiscATOR. Truly, in its improved state ; but 
 that is not the condition of farming in this 
 district, in which the holdings are commonly 
 small and the farmers without capital whether 
 of money or knowledge. Look at their dung- 
 heaps exposed to the action of the heavy rains, 
 washing out their richest portion, and you need 
 not look further to be convinced at least of 
 their want of the more precious article. 
 
 Amicus. On this little fishing excursion how 
 sparing has been our conversation on fishing. 
 Let me ask a question about it : Why is it that 
 you have not proposed trying the lakes we have 
 passed; first Eydalmere, next Grrasmere, and 
 last Thirlmere, which, from their situation and 
 character as pieces of water, I should suppose 
 would abound in fish. 
 
 PiscATOR. Simply because I could not pro- 
 mise you sport in them. In each of them 
 there are pike as well as trout ; and that may be 
 one and probably is the chief cause that angling 
 is bad in them. Eydal lake and Thirlmere 
 are both tolerably preserved ; and as the trout 
 
PIKE, THE DESTROYER. 315 
 
 in them are of excellent quality, it seems more 
 than probable that were it not for the pike — 
 that most voracious of fishes — they would soon 
 be plentiful. Another cause, in addition, ope- 
 rates in Grrasmere — it is over fished, and 
 another, that the lath or otter is used in it, as 
 it is also, though in a less degree, in the others. 
 See, the descending moon is not far above the 
 mountain ridge ; we must quicken our speed, or 
 we shall lose the benefit of her light, — and 
 how charming is it in its mysterious effects. 
 A canter, where we can canter, is advisable, 
 both to escape the dark and to counteract the 
 chilling effect of the night air. Allons. 
 
 T A 
 
COLLOQUY IX. 
 The Duddon and its course. 
 
 Amicus. 
 HEKE shall our next angling ex- 
 cursion be? I hope to the Dud- 
 don; that river so well sung by 
 the poet. 
 
 PiscATOR. Your wish is my law. Let it be 
 to the Duddon, " that cloud-born stream," and 
 that you may see it well, we will ascend to its 
 birth-place, and follow it downwards. Carpe 
 diem should be the angler's motto, and in more 
 senses than one ; so, if you please, we will 
 presently set out. In half an hour we shall be 
 able to make our preparations and have our 
 horses ready. We will not go by the beaten 
 way, but by the pleasantest, — as the seeing the 
 country will be as much an object in this excur- 
 sion a-s in our last to the vale of St. John. 
 
AMBLESIDE CHURCH. 217 
 
 Amicus. The half-hour is hardly ended and 
 we are in our saddles. What alacrity, when 
 what is agreeable is before us ! And, this in- 
 deed promises to be a pleasant day : — the wind 
 is again from the right quarter, mild and 
 fragrant, stealing sweets from your sweetbriar 
 hedge and the violets, your garden violets, 
 beneath it. Again, if you please, as we proceed, 
 point out to me what you think worthy of 
 notice. I have almost forgotten what I saw 
 last year, when we went to Santon Bridge. 
 
 PiscATOR. That I will do with pleasure. And 
 now we are leaving the village, pray be ob- 
 servant of our new church, so finely and well 
 situated both for picturesque effect and con- 
 venience of access. I hope you admire its 
 form, and do not object to its lofty, massive 
 and conspicuous spire. Next Sunday, you must 
 see its interior, and those offerings which it 
 holds to the memory of the poet and his family, 
 which, whatever may be their artistic value, I 
 am sure will please you, as indicative of grate- 
 ful feeling. To prepare you for what you 
 will see, I may mention that they are the 
 windows of painted glass, of which I spoke 
 to you before, — one is to Wordsworth, one to 
 
218 MEMORIAL WINDOWS, 
 
 his sister Dorothy and his sister-in-law. Miss 
 Hutchinson, and one to his daughter, and 
 in fiituro, long may it be so, to Mrs. Words- 
 worth : Veritas, the family motto, over each. 
 How befitting it is that these the female 
 members of his family should be thus remem- 
 bered can be duly appreciated only by those 
 who are aware of what he owed to them, — the 
 beneficial influence they shed around his home, 
 the help, the comfort, the happiness he derived 
 from their ministering. They indeed were 
 everything to him. In his writings full justice 
 perhaps has been done to his charming sister ; 
 but less so to his hardly less deserving sister- 
 in-law, — a woman of most upright mind and 
 vigorous intellect. It was from her, I may tell 
 you, that he acquired his knowledge of the 
 noble character of the Pedlar *, the travelling 
 merchant of the olden time, the chief per- 
 sonage in the " Excursion." The character was a 
 real one. It had fallen to her lot to have been 
 
 * See note to the *' Excursion," with an extract from 
 Heron's " Journey in Scotland/' vol. i. p. 89, descrip- 
 tive of the estimation in which the business of the 
 pedlar was formerly held. 
 
THE POETS PEDLAR. 219 
 
 brought up in the family of such a one, who 
 after the earning of a little independence by 
 carrying a pack, sat down in Kendal, opening a 
 shop, and on his knee there she heard related 
 the incidents of his wanderings. To explain 
 how this happened to her, I should mention 
 that she was one of a large family of children 
 that became scattered owing to the early death 
 of their parents ; and so scattered was taken in 
 charge by a relation to whom the good pedlar 
 was married. I have called him noble ; he 
 truly belonged, as the poet has it, to "the 
 aristocracy of Nature," and on that sole account 
 was so courageously signalled out to be the 
 leading and chief person in the poem. 
 
 Amicus. These particulars are interesting; 
 they are new to me and I thank you for them. 
 
 PiscATOR. Now we have crossed the Eothay 
 and are near the Brathay, observe that 
 chateau-like house on the right, so like a Swiss 
 country seat. It is Croft Lodge ; a pleasant 
 dwelling, under the shelter of Loughrigg. 
 Wealth has created it ; the wealthy hitherto 
 have possessed it; wealth gained in trade or 
 business, and it has had many inconstant occu- 
 
220 CROFT LODGE, 
 
 piers, charmed with its beauties, and after a 
 while growing tired of them ; reminding me of 
 a saying " that many fall in love with the dis- 
 trict, but that few marry it." The present pro- 
 prietor, however, I trust, will prove himself an 
 exception. 
 
 Amicus. And why not the enduring tie, 
 where there is so much and varied beauty and 
 so many facilities of living ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Beauty that pleases the eye, and 
 even delights the mind, is not in itself all 
 sufficient, at least in scenery. Here tedium 
 is unavoidable after a while, unless a person 
 has, as the saying is, " resources in himself," — 
 unless he can find himself occupation, and that 
 in good part in-door occupation, such as science 
 or literature affords. Even the mere country 
 gentlemen may weary here, — the fishing is so 
 indifferent, the shooting worse, and the hunting 
 almost a farce, or a tremendous labour — the 
 one to those who look on, the other to those 
 who follow on foot in a country of stone walls, 
 mountains and precipices, in which a man must 
 make his own legs his hunter. 
 
 Amicus. There is reason in what you say. 
 
LANGDALE PIKES. 221 
 
 and I shall endeavour to remember it, and let 
 any Mend of mine, desirous of settling here, 
 have the benefit of your experience. The river 
 we are now come to I recognise again as the 
 Brathay. How charming it is in its long reach, 
 in its varied aspect of pool and rapid, with so 
 many accompaniments of beauty, and especially 
 the terminating mountains, rising like towers— 
 aericB arces — in the distance, — and, by the 
 bye, they are very like in form those summits 
 to which the term was first applied by Virgil. 
 
 PiscATOR. Yes, but on a grander scale than 
 the Corc3n:ean ; they are Langdale pikes at the 
 head of Langdale, rising above Dungeon Grhyll 
 Force and Stickle Tarn. The former of poetic 
 celebrity, and a good example of the attraction 
 that poetry can impart to a spot ; the other 
 as deserving, but less sung, less attractive : so 
 accidental even is local fame. Let me call 
 your attention to the chapel we are now 
 passing — Brathay Chapel, — somewhat foreign 
 in its aspect, but chiefly remarkable from the 
 circumstance of owing its existence to gratitude, 
 — for success in business on the part of its 
 erector, — a feeling shown further in that ad- 
 
222 B RATH AY HALL, 
 
 joining building which is a schoolroom; and 
 further still in a larger schoolroom higher up 
 the dale. My authority was the late Mr. 
 Wordsworth. Brathay Hall and estate became 
 by purchase the property of a London silk- 
 mercer. This gentleman in walking over the 
 grounds with the Poet gave him some parti- 
 culars of his life, and ended them with the 
 expression of the motive under the influence 
 of which he built and endowed the chapel and 
 school. 
 
 Amicus. A noble minded man ! 
 
 PiscATOK. And his family are worthy of him; 
 and sure I am that they with their good 
 pursuits do not find a tedium in the country ; 
 nor would they probably were they to spend 
 the whole of the year here instead of a part of 
 it. When riches gained in trade are thus 
 beneficially used, who can envy their possessor ! 
 What a dignity is thus given to trade. It is 
 pleasant to think that this is not a solitary 
 example of the kind in the Lake District. I 
 hope we shall visit Keswick together. There 
 some of the members of another family which 
 has acquired wealth in business have similarly 
 distinguished themselves. 
 
LOUGHBIGG TARN, 223 
 
 Amicus. Which of the two roads before us is 
 ours? Were we to leave the choice to our 
 ponies, there would be no question, for one is 
 almost formidable in its steepness. 
 
 PiscATOK. And that is our way, and when we 
 reach its summit I am sure you will not be 
 displeased. The other, crossing the Brathay, 
 at Skelwith Bridge, is the one we took before, 
 leading into Little Langdale. 
 
 Amicus. Here, indeed, we have pleasure 
 after short toil. What an exquisite spot of 
 beauty ! 
 
 PiscATOR. This is Loughrigg Tarn, " Diana's 
 looking glass," as our Poet has called it, the 
 most beautiful of our tarns ; indeed, almost 
 the only one that can truly be called beautiful, 
 wooded as its banks are in parts, cultivated 
 as they are in parts, and not without cottages ; 
 whilst the tarn of the district commonly is 
 situated on the wild, solitary, treeless fell, at 
 an elevation above enclosures, and culture, and 
 the dwellings of men. Here, at one time, a 
 little romance of life was formed: here the 
 friend of the Poet, the late Sir George Beau- 
 mont, once meditated having a home, and 
 would, it is understood, have accomplished it. 
 
224 SIR GEORGE BEAUMONT. 
 
 had not some difficulty arisen about the pur- 
 chase, which could not well be got over. Had 
 the idea been carried into execution, what a 
 paradise might have been formed here ; nature, 
 beautiful as it is already, made more so by art, 
 under the cautious guidance of the painter and 
 poet. You may remember in the epistle of the 
 latter to the former, an expression of regret at 
 the failure of the intention — following his 
 admirable description of the scene. 
 
 "I sighed and left the spot, 
 Unconscious of its own untoward lot, 
 And thought in silence with regret too keen. 
 Of unexperienced joys that might have been ; 
 Of neighbourhood and intermingled arts. 
 And golden summer days uniting cheerful hearts." 
 
 Amicus. It is a spot to linger at and desire, 
 and yet it is untenanted, except by the small 
 farmer and cotter, — which surprises me. 
 
 PiscATOE. What prevented Sir Greorge Beau- 
 mont from having a possession here no doubt 
 has prevented others, — the difficulty of effect- 
 ing a purchase. Where properties are very 
 small, as in the Lake District commonly, and 
 very much intermixed and often entailed, he 
 who requires more than one acre or two will 
 
GREAT LAN GD ALE, 225 
 
 rarely be able to effect his purpose. This 
 difficulty acts as a conservative principle ; and 
 reflecting on the natural beauty of spots like 
 this, and that wealth and taste are not neces- 
 sarily united, I am not sure that the country 
 would benefit much by its removal. 
 
 Amicus. Descending the hill, I infer we are 
 again in Langdale. I see a village, and beyond 
 it another. 
 
 PiscATOR. We are now entering that part of 
 the valley which bears the name of Great 
 Langdale; the lower portion belongs to Skel- 
 with. That village to which you point is 
 Elterwater, and that beyond is the village of 
 Great Langdale, marked by its church. What 
 think you is the solitary building from which 
 that column of smoke ascends? But why 
 should I ask; you can hardly conjecture. It 
 is a powder mill, — and not far off is a bobbin 
 mill ; and yonder is a slate quarry. The cop- 
 pices around supply wood to the two first, — 
 wood fit for making bobbins and charcoal ; .and 
 the native rock is of a quality yielding to the 
 skilled workman roofing slate. So these ma- 
 nufactures, if I may so call them, are not here 
 incongruous, — they are, as it were, natural, 
 Q 
 
226 STATE OF THE LAKE DISTRICT. 
 
 arising out of the peculiar fitness of the locality 
 for conducting them successfully. The slate 
 quarry, from the manner in which it has been 
 worked, its great extent, its excavations, and 
 picturesque aspect, is worthy of a visit from 
 those who have not seen the Welsh slate 
 quarries, even more vast. Whilst I think of it, 
 if ever you intend to build, and are not too 
 distant, let me recommend your getting slate 
 from hence, or from this district : it has justly 
 the preference for buildings in which regard is 
 had to what is pleasing, on account of its 
 lighter colour and more agreeable hue, and I 
 believe I may say greater strength. 
 
 Amicus. We have been some time silent, as if 
 by mutual consent. I have been intent on the 
 succession of pleasing objects and delectable 
 views at every turn of the road, all in cha- 
 racter ; the wild and cultivated so happily 
 intermixed ; the pleasant meadows below ; the 
 winding stream ; the pretty antique farm 
 houses, shaded with the fir and yew ; and most 
 conspicuous, the rugged steeps, — those moun- 
 tain fells narrowing the dale as we ascend, and 
 bringing it to an end. 
 
BLEA TARN AND THE RECLUSE. 227 
 
 PiscATOK. In a scene like this, conversation 
 is hardly necessary; and I have had nothing 
 special to point out till now. That pretty 
 waterfall, or rather succession of falls, marks the 
 direction of Stickle Tarn, up under the pikes ; 
 and a little to the left is Dungeon Grhyll Force. 
 We are fast approaching the last house in the 
 dale ; there we shall have to ascend and make a 
 detour by Blea Tarn, over Wrynose, and Cock- 
 ley-beck, on the Duddon, where our angling 
 may commence. We are getting into a cooler 
 air, and may hasten our pace. You will now 
 have a better view of Blea Tarn, and the wild 
 little mountain valley, with its single farm- 
 house, the imagined scene of the Eecluse of the 
 Poet, than when you passed it before lower 
 down. Do observe it well. 
 
 Amicijs. We get on rapidly, notwithstanding 
 the steepness of the way. That must be 
 Cockley-beck ; I cannot forget it. There is 
 the single arched primitive bridge over the 
 mountain stream, and there the solitary cottage 
 with its two or three companion sycamores 
 pleasantly shading it, though hardly yet in 
 leaf. What a wild ride we have had over these 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 CHARM OF MOUNTAIN AIR. 
 
 high green mountain fells ; and how agreeable, 
 and as I feel exhilarating, — but why, I hardly 
 know ; whether it be the effect of our breathing 
 a purer air, or a lighter one, or a cooler one ; 
 for I cannot but believe that the air is con- 
 cerned in the sensation. 
 
 PiscATOR. Probably so, and probably owing 
 to diminished pressure ; for chemical research 
 hitherto has not detected any material dif- 
 ference in the composition of the mountain 
 air and the air of the valleys. It is a de- 
 lightful sensation, and nowhere have I ex- 
 perienced it in a higher degree than in 
 mountain regions within the tropics; there, 
 even by the mere sensation, I always knew 
 when I had attained a certain height above the 
 level of the sea. Coolness of atmosphere might 
 have been there concerned more than here 
 in the pleasant feeling, passing, for instance, 
 from a temperature of 80°, or higher, to one 
 of 60°, or even lower. Now, we will dismount ; 
 our servant, after giving our horses a feed of 
 oatmeal and water will take them back. We 
 shall be able, I do not doubt, to get some one 
 here to carry our old-fashioned saddle-bags, 
 containing a change, to Seathwaite, where we 
 
" THE STEPPING-STONESr 229 
 
 shall find sleeping quarters, a place not without 
 its special interest ; and there we will meet ; the 
 river will be your sure guide. Fish the deeper 
 pools, disregarding the shallows and rapids; 
 as there is a wind, there is a prospect of 
 sport. When you come to the "Stepping- 
 stones," you are at Seathwaite : they are a good 
 mark. 
 
 Amicus. Well met. These, I presume, are 
 the "Stepping-stones." Here I have been 
 waiting for you, a spot well fitted for waiting, 
 independent of the interest connected with it, 
 from the sonnet dedicated to them, pointing 
 to the extreme feelings of the child and of 
 declining manhood. 
 
 PiscATOR. And where 
 
 " The struggling rill insensibly is grown 
 Into a brook of loud and stately march." 
 
 Is it not fine, bursting out of that immense 
 chasm, as if the mountain had been cleft to give 
 the stream passage ; and, as if in the convulsive 
 act, all that ruin of rocks, all those disjointed 
 fragments lying in confusion on the steep de- 
 
 Q3 
 
230 SEATHWAITE OF OLD. 
 
 , -% 
 
 clivities, had been produced. Now, for your 
 sport. What has been your success ? 
 
 Amicus. A few smelts, and a few brandlings, 
 and some small trout. I have measured a few 
 of the former; the largest of the smelts is about 
 seven inches in length, the smallest of the 
 brandlings not exceeding three and a half ; and 
 many I saw in the beautifully clear water higher 
 up the stream even smaller, seeming to denote 
 that there are, at the present time, fry in the 
 river of different ages. 
 
 PiscATOK. From the examination of those 
 I have taken, I have come to much the same 
 conclusion. I will show you the way to our 
 farmhouse inn, and pray be observant as you 
 go. We are told, and we have it on good 
 authority that, when the last clergyman but 
 one came to reside £tt Seathwaite, " the place 
 was as if it had never before been inhabited. 
 There were no roads, no woods, no meadows, 
 no neighbours." That clergyman was Eobert 
 Walker — the Wonderful Eobert Walker, the 
 epithet applied to him by his neighbours who 
 knew him best. You will see the change that 
 has occurred, and mainly owing to Eobert 
 Walker. 
 
" THE WONDERFUL ROB. WALKERS 231 
 
 Amicus. You excite my curiosity. Pray 
 gratify it with some account of a man of whom, 
 as of a phenomenon, I have already heard 
 vaguely. 
 
 PiscATOE. Wonderful has not been the only 
 term applied to him : it is the culminating one 
 of others — of humble, worthy, good, patriarchal; 
 and the more I reflect on the character, the 
 more sensible I am of the propriety of it. For- 
 tunately, though he lived in obscurity, he was 
 not without a biographer. Appended to the 
 sonnets on the Duddon, is a very instructive 
 account of him by the Poet, and also in the "Ex- 
 cursion ;" the Parish priest, so finely delineated 
 in the seventh book, is a painting of this very 
 man, somewhat idealized. You will find also 
 many and additional particulars of him in a 
 little book bearing the quaint title of " The Old 
 Church Clock." 
 
 Amicus. Tell me, if you please, what you 
 know of him. Besides your epithets, even 
 what I already see — these trim meadows, the 
 ladder-styles by w^hich we pass from one field to 
 another, even the fastenings of the gates, so 
 simple and ingenious, mark peculiarity, and 
 
 Q 4 
 
232 ROBERT WALKER'S EARLY LIFE, 
 
 make me the more desirous to be informed 
 about him. 
 
 PiscATOK. I have been unguarded, perhaps, 
 in exciting so much your curiosity, which, com- 
 monly, it is more easy to raise than to satisfy : 
 but, in this instance, the task I think will not 
 be very difficult. Let me consider; where 
 shall I begin? Each period of Eobert Wal- 
 ker's life was remarkable. He was, we are told, 
 a weakly child, one of twelve, the youngest ; 
 and that on account of his weakly state, his 
 father, a small statesman, gave him what 
 schooling he could, which, as he was born and 
 brought up in this very township, at Under- 
 crag, you may well imagine was scanty enough. 
 Before he reached manhood, when he was 
 about seventeen, he became a schoolmaster. 
 This was at Grosforth, near Egremont, in Cum- 
 berland, where he remained two or three years. 
 Thence he removed to Buttermere, where 
 he obtained a nomination, and entered deacon's 
 orders. There he acted both as minister and 
 schoolmaster; and in the latter capacity, to 
 enable him to live on his small salary, after 
 the manner of the country he went from house 
 to house, abiding a fortnight at a time at each. 
 
OCCUPATIONS AND HABITS. 233 
 
 We are informed by his great grandson, that 
 now, to add to his means, he began a system 
 of industry, the relation of which will surprise 
 you. I will read it to you, having brought the 
 little book containing it in my pocket : — "In 
 the mornings before school-time, and in the 
 evenings, he laboured in manual occupations: 
 during the day he taught the school. He 
 made his own sermons, and performed the whole 
 duty twice on Sundays. In summer, he rose 
 between three and four o'clock, and went to 
 the field with his scythe, his rake, and in 
 harvest time, with his sickle. He ploughed, 
 he planted, he went up the mountains after 
 the sheep, he sheared and salved them ; he dug 
 peat, all for hire. When engaged in these 
 employments, he would be at work long before 
 those who were regular labourers, and remain 
 after they had finished their day's work. Nor was 
 he only diligent in such labours, but he excelled. 
 In winter, he occupied himself in reading, 
 writing his sermons, or in those domestic em- 
 ployments which are now generally performed, 
 if not by machinery, by old and indigent fe- 
 males. He was an excellent spinner of linen 
 and woollen thread. All his own cloathes, and 
 
234 BOB, WALKER AT SEATHWAITE, 
 
 afterwards those of his family, were of his spin- 
 ning. He knit and mended his own stockings, 
 and made his own shoes [and tanned his own 
 leather]. In his walks, he never neglected 
 to gather the wool from the hedges and bring 
 it home. He was also the physician and 
 lawyer of the place ; he drew up all wills, con- 
 veyances, bonds, &c. ; wrote all letters, and 
 settled all accounts ; and frequently went to 
 market with sheep, wool, &c., for the farmers." 
 
 Amicus. Truly marvellous ! What next ? 
 
 PiscATOR. The next step in his career was 
 his removal to Torver, on the banks of Coniston 
 Water. There he took priest's orders, and 
 presently after a wife, a respectable maid- 
 servant, whose affections he had gained at But- 
 termere ; and who brought him a fortune of 
 40/., which he forthwith invested in the funds. 
 This, his marriage, was preparatory to another 
 change, to the curacy of Seathwaite, his per- 
 manent residence; and where, as curate, he 
 officiated for sixty-seven years, commencing on 
 a stipend of 5Z., gradually increased to 17/., 
 and from which no offer of emoluments could 
 tempt him to remove. He equally resisted 
 improving his income by accepting an addi- 
 
THE\ DUDDON. 235 
 
 tional and adjoining cure, that of Ulpha ; be- 
 lieving that he could not perform rightly the 
 duties of both, and thinking he might be 
 considered grasping and avaricious. And now, 
 having brought him to Siethwaite, there is the 
 house he occupied, on the other side of the 
 brook which we have to cross by that pretty 
 rustic bridge. We can resume the subject by 
 and by ; see, there is the farmhouse where we 
 have to seek a quarter ! 
 
 Amicus. Oh ! the advantage of a good appe- 
 tite. Most true is the adage that " it needs no 
 sauce." I have enjoyed this dale fare of eggs 
 and bacon, with our little dish of fish and these 
 excellent potatoes. Yet good as the fish were 
 I have eaten better. 
 
 PiscATOE. The Duddon, from the purity of 
 its waters and their force as a mountain stream, 
 sweeping bare the rocks over which it flows 
 and producing shifting beds of shingle, affords 
 little feed; and the fish being poorly fed are 
 deficient in firmness, especially high up, where 
 we have angled to-day. We shall find them 
 improve in quality as we get nearer the sea. 
 Now we are refreshed, we will, if you please, 
 pay a visit to the chapel and to the minister's 
 
236 OTHER MOTIVES OF 
 
 house hard by ; they are within a few minutes' 
 walk. 
 
 Amicus. The house is nowise remarkable^ a 
 neat substantial little cottage. 
 
 PiscATOK. The first time I was here, it was 
 occupied by Eobert Walker's successor, the Rev. 
 Mr. Tyson, since deceased, who had been seven 
 years Eobert Walker's curate and was then well 
 advanced in years, — a decent, respectable man 
 and respectably dressed in black, even to black 
 worsted stockings, but in no manner a re- 
 markable character. Would that I had seen 
 Robert Walker himself ! Here is a description 
 of him by one who did see him, and in his 
 ordinary homely dress. " I found him (says the 
 writer, and it was 1754), sitting at the head 
 of a long square table, such as is commonly 
 used in this country by the lower class of 
 people, dressed in a coarse blue frock, trimmed 
 with black horn buttons, a checked shirt, a 
 leathern strap about his neck for a stock, a 
 coarse apron and a pair of great wooden soled 
 shoes plated with iron to preserve them (what 
 we call clogs in these parts), with a child upon 
 his knee eating his breakfast." The writer 
 adds, — " His wife and the remainder of his 
 
ROBERT WALKER, 237 
 
 children were some of them employed in 
 waiting upon each other, the rest in teazing 
 wool, at which trade he is a great proficient; 
 and moreover, when it is made ready for sale, 
 will lay it by sixteen or thirty-two pounds' 
 weight upon his back, and on foot, seven or 
 eight miles, will carry it to the market even in 
 the depth of winter." Concluding with the 
 remark: "I was not much surprised at this, 
 as you may possibly be, having heard a great 
 deal of it related before. But I must confess 
 myself astonished with the alacrity and good 
 humour that appeared both in the clergyman 
 and his wife, and more so at the sense and in- 
 genuity of the clergyman himself." 
 
 Amicus. How primitive, and may I not say 
 apostolical ! I have witnessed in my wan- 
 derings nothing equal to this, not even amongst 
 the Grreek clergy, whose mode of life is com^- 
 monly simple enough and without ostentation 
 and the burden of riches. The chapel, I per- 
 ceive, is of the ordinary form of those of the 
 mstrict, and but little larger than that of 
 Wastwater. 
 
 PiscATOK. You see, from the alacrity of fetch- 
 ing the key and opening it, the people here have 
 
238 SEATHWAITE CHAPEL. 
 
 a pride in showing it. That pew, the clergy- 
 man's, is lined with cloth of Eobert Walker's 
 own spinning. When he came here, he found it 
 without pews ; so it remained for many years ; 
 then he used it as a school-room and his place 
 was by the communion table. He is described 
 as sitting there, wearing a cloak of his own 
 making. His great grandson relates that 
 " many a time when his family wanted cloth, 
 he used to take the wheel into the school and 
 spin there," and that "he had also a cradle 
 there of his own making." "Frequently (he 
 says) have the cradle and the wheel and the 
 teaching required the ingenuity of the clergy- 
 man at the same moment." After the chapel 
 was " pewed," the school teaching was given up 
 there, the free space was so curtailed ; and 
 about the same time the present little school- 
 room which we passed was built. We are assured 
 that he received no money for teaching, the 
 parents being too poor, and that he was re- 
 quited only by offices of love. They assisted 
 him to dig his potatoes and fuel, to cut his hay 
 and reap his corn. Now, let us go out into the 
 churchyard. Here is his grave. Kead the 
 inscription on the head-stone. 
 
ROBERT WALKERS LAST DAYS, 239 
 
 IN MEMOET 
 OK 
 
 THE REV. ROBERT WALKER, 
 
 WHO DIED ON THE 25tH OF JUNE. 1802, IN 
 
 THE 93rd year OF HIS AGE, AND 
 
 IN THE 67th tear OF HIS CURACY AT SEATHWAITE. 
 
 ALSO OF ANN HIS WIFE, WHO DIED ON THE 28TH OF 
 JANUARY, 1800, IN THE 9 3RD YEAR OF HER AGE." 
 
 After the death of his wife, we are informed 
 that he whose ^^ health and spirits and faculties 
 were unimpaired till then," then experienced 
 ^^such a shock that his constitution gradually 
 decayed." These are the words of his great- 
 grandson, who adds the following touching par- 
 ticulars. "His senses, except his eyes, still 
 preserved their powers. He never preached 
 with steadiness after his wife's death ; his voice 
 faltered ; he always looked at the seat she had 
 used. He could not pass the tomb without a 
 tear of sorrow. He became when alone sad and 
 melancholy; though still among his friends 
 kind and good-humoured. He went to bed 
 about twelve o'clock the night before he died. 
 As his custom was, he went tottering and 
 leaning on his daughter's arm to examine the 
 heavens and meditate a few minutes in the 
 
240 CHARACTER AND FURTHER 
 
 open air. ^ How clear the moon shines to- 
 night.' He said these words, sighed and lay 
 do\vn. At six the next morning he was found 
 a corpse." His great grandson, in his eulogy of 
 him, says in concluding : " He was a passionate 
 admirer of Nature ; she was his mother, and he 
 was a dutiful child. While engaged on the 
 mountains, it was his greatest pleasure to view 
 the rising sun ; and every tranquil evening, as 
 it slided behind the hills, he blessed its depar- 
 ture. He was skilled in fossils and plants ; he 
 was a constant observer of the stars and winds ; 
 the atmosphere was his delight; he made 
 many experiments on its nature and properties. 
 In summer he used to gather a multitude of 
 flies and insects, and by his entertaining descrip- 
 tions amuse and instruct his children." When 
 mentioning the epithets applied to him, humble 
 was one of them as well as wonderful, and it 
 was not the least remarkable of them. Here 
 is a mark of it. Though in priests' orders, and 
 though highly respected, he did not for several 
 years administer the Sacrament. A clergyman 
 from Broughton used to come three times a 
 year, we are told, for the purpose. 
 
 Amicus. Thank you for this account of a 
 
PARTICULARS OF ROBERT WALKER. 241 
 
 remarkable man ; a good and great man, and in 
 my mind more deserving of the title of great 
 than those who have earned it in command of 
 armies and in fields of blood — the heroes of the 
 vulgar. 
 
 PiscATOR. I in part agree Avith you, — be- 
 lieving that humility is one of the qualities of 
 the highly gifted. Perhaps you will somewhat 
 lower your opinion of Eobert Walker when I 
 tell you that he died worth 2000Z., and this 
 after bringing up decently and settling in life 
 a large family ; and he had twelve children. 
 
 Amicus. Not a jot, as I infer he effected it by 
 his economy and good management, and as you 
 say he was without greed and declined increase 
 of income likely to interfere with his duties. 
 It surprises me, however, that he could have 
 laid by so much. 
 
 PiscATOR. In his time there was no public 
 house here. From Mr. Tyson I learned that 
 his house afforded refreshment, and that he did 
 not object to payment in return, supplying 
 even malt liquor of his own brewing; never, 
 however, allowing any excess to be committed, 
 and never permitting spirits to be drunk under 
 his roof. This may have been gne of the many 
 
242 ROBERT WALKER'S EULOGY 
 
 small sources of his accumulated gains. And, 
 considering his general character, we may, I 
 think, give him credit for thus opening his 
 house with the good intent of preventing the 
 establishment of the ordinary public house, in 
 which drunkenness is too often encouraged 
 rather than checked. Now let us return to 
 our quarters. To-morrow, we should be astir 
 early, and make the best of our way down the 
 Duddon. The day's exercise should ensure us 
 sound sleep ; and, if we dream, may it be of 
 Eobert Walker, a " Gospel Teacher " 
 
 " Whose good works formed an endless retinue : 
 Such priest as Chaucer sang in fervent lays ; 
 Such as the heaven-taught skill of Herbert drew ; 
 And tender Goldsmith crowned with deathless 
 praise ! " 
 
 And surely most fortunate is he of all priests in 
 having such a poet as the Minstrel of the 
 Duddon to sing his praises. And this reminds 
 me of a remark of the sober-minded Mr. Tyson 
 (he was drying his onions at the time we en- 
 tered into conversation with him) who, on my 
 saying that Mr. Wordsworth had immortalised 
 in verse his predecessor, naively remarked " Yes, 
 indeed, sir, for a considerable time." 
 
7iV VERSE AND PROSE. 243 
 
 Amicus. G-ood morning ! I have been out 
 before you and have had a pleasant short stroll; 
 first, by the brookside, the tributary stream of 
 the Poet, — 
 
 " Hurrying with lordly Duddon to unite." 
 
 In it I took two or three brandlings ; and above 
 the rapids two or three brook trout, remarkable 
 for their blackness and slimy softness, — the 
 one, in their slow growth, supposing the brand- 
 lings to be twelve months old, denoting, I infer, 
 poor feed, the other, in their colour, indica- 
 ting scanty light, and so according in colour 
 with the dark hue of the stream, derived from 
 the colour of its rocky bed. A little later, in 
 returning, I revisited the chapel, and was more 
 observant of its site and accompaniments, of 
 the magnificent yew shading it, and of the 
 larches, now goodly trees, which might have 
 been planted by Kobert Walker ; and, within, I 
 consulted the register in which I found this, 
 which I have copied — 
 
 "Buried June 28th, the Eev. Eobert Walker. 
 He was curate of Seathwaite sixty-six years. 
 He was a man singular for his temperance, in- 
 dustry, and integrity." 
 
 B 2 
 
244 MANUFACTURING GRADATION 
 
 PiscATOK. A modest and characteristic notice, 
 and certainly without flattery. Had you fol- 
 lowed the stream up you would have come to a 
 tarn, — Seathwaite Tarn, which I hope some day 
 to fish with you. It abounds in small trout, I 
 am told, for I have not yet visited it. 
 
 Amicus. Close to the pretty pool, below the 
 wooden bridge, in which I took the brandlings, 
 is a ruined building. Is that the remains of a 
 cloth-mill, of which, I fancy, I have somewhere 
 read? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is, and marks the transition 
 grade from the spinning-wheel to the great 
 manufactory. It failed, I suppose, because it 
 could not stand competition with the gigantic 
 undertakings of the great capitalist. Pray 
 hasten your breakfast, for it is time we should 
 be starting. I will precede you. Again the 
 river will serve you as an unerring guide. I 
 have paid the reckoning; we will meet at 
 Ulpha Kirk. 
 
 Amicus. I am glad to find you here, — here, 
 at Ulpha, so unmistakeable by its pretty chapel, 
 conspicuously standing above the Duddon, a 
 
ULPHA KIRK. 245 
 
 good mark to the weary traveller coming in, 
 like me when day is closing in. 
 
 PiscATOK. And, I am glad to see you, for I 
 began to fear some accident might have befallen 
 you. The site of the kirk perhajDS suggested 
 to the Poet tfie leading idea in the sonnet 
 commencing, — 
 
 " The Kirk of Ulpha to the pilgrim's eye, 
 Is welcome as a star, that doth present 
 Its shining forehead through the peaceful rent 
 Of a black cloud diffused o'er half the sky : 
 Or as a fruitful palm-tree towering high 
 O'er the parched waste beside an Arab's tent." 
 
 Amicus. Ha ! how, that last line brings back 
 past times and scenes, and the comfort I have 
 had when journeying in the wilds of Ceylon at 
 the sight of the palm, the cocoa-nut palm, which 
 there is almost a domestic tree, marking always 
 human dwellings, for nowhere else, never in the 
 wild woods out of the protection of man, do you 
 meet with it. The natives view it in this light ; 
 they say, it never flourishes " except you walk 
 under it and talk under it," and there is reason 
 in the saying, for if not guarded, it is sure to be 
 thrown down in the wilder parts of the country 
 by the elephants, for the sake of its leaves, 
 
 B 3 
 
246 DELIGHTS OF THE DUDDOX, 
 
 PiscATOR. And in confirmation I may remark, 
 that in the West India Islands and tropical 
 America, where palms have no such natural 
 enemies, they grow wild and abound, constitut- 
 ing a chief charm of the woodlands, and a 
 marked peculiarity in their favour comparing 
 them with those of India *, where the wild 
 elephant is found. But what of your sport, 
 and why have you loitered so long ? 
 
 Amicus. Wandering by the pleasant Duddon 
 how could I but remember your carpe diem^ and 
 'd,didi festina lente ; and the day I have enjoyed, 
 and that leisurely, — sometimes fishing, where 
 the water was most inviting, and sometimes 
 resting, where the banks were most flowery and 
 tempting, where sweet sounds were mixed 
 with vernal odours, the music of the stream 
 and the song of birds. As to my angling suc- 
 cess, see my pannier. There are a good many 
 smolts in it and a few trout, the largest not 
 
 * I had written, " and of Africa ; " but I have learnt 
 from a missionary, well acquainted with the western 
 coast and its interior, that there elephants and palms 
 both abound, probably owing to the soil and climate 
 specially favouring the growth of palms, and in situa- 
 tions not easy of access. 
 
SOUNDS FROM FISH. 247 
 
 exceeding a quarter of a pound. Pray what 
 have you done ? 
 
 PiscATOK. My doings have been much the 
 same as yours, with the addition of a sea-trout, 
 which I did not expect to take at this season, 
 — one of about two pounds, — in good con- 
 dition and evidently a fresh run fish. 
 
 Amicus. In handling two or three of the 
 trout I took to day, the instant they were 
 drawn out of the water, I am confident they 
 emitted a sound, which has perplexed me, 
 knowing that they have no voice, no vocal 
 organ. 
 
 PiscATOR. I have often made the same re- 
 mark in handling freshly taken trouts. From 
 the observations I have made since my attention 
 has been directed to it, I am satisfied it is 
 owing to the escape of air from the air-bladder 
 compressed by the hand, and its passing 
 through the orifice opening into the gullet. If 
 you make the trial under water, you will wit- 
 ness its verification. The circumstance, I may 
 remind you, is in accordance with the idea en- 
 tertained by some physiologists, that the air- 
 bladder is the analogue of the lung. We are 
 losing time. See the table is spread in the 
 
 B 4 
 
248 THE COURSE OF THE DUDDOK. 
 
 clean little room within ; and I dare say, to day 
 as well as yesterday, our exercise with a pretty 
 long fast will have gotten us an appetite and 
 relish for our dinner ; so make your necessary 
 change as speedily as possible : the damsel 
 there will show you your room, which you will 
 find more comfortable than the ruder one at 
 Seathwaite. 
 
 Amicus. Good morning ! How fortunate we 
 are in our weather ; and in such weather with 
 the bursting spring, how beautiful is Donner- 
 dale, the Vale of the Duddon ! 
 
 PiscATOK. And how beautiful is the Duddon 
 itself ! now an ample stream, yet with the same 
 untamed mountain character, oftener dashing 
 amongst rocks than resting in deep pools. 
 From the fell, we shall have to follow it to-day 
 in our angling, into the lowland meadows, and 
 from thence to the still lower sands — that 
 plain of sand, where wandering, lingering, it 
 ends its course in the sea ; and let us join in 
 the Poet's wish, as expressed in the last of his 
 Duddon sonnets, and in the " After-thought,'' 
 
RIVER POETRY, 249 
 
 alluding to the river, its ending and ever 
 enduring, — 
 
 " And may thy Poet, cloud-born stream ! be free, 
 The sweets of earth contentedly resigned, 
 And each tumultuous working left behind 
 At seemly distance, to advance like thee, 
 Prepared in peace of heart, in calm of mind 
 And soul to mingle with eternity." 
 
 You remember the ^^ After-thought, " be- ^ 
 ginning — ^ 
 
 " I thought of thee, my partner and my guide," 
 
 and ending mysteriously, profoundly, and 
 cheeringly — 
 
 " Through love, through hope, and faith*s transcendant 
 power, 
 We feel that we are greater than we know." 
 
 Amicus. Charming poetry ! true philosophy ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Here again we part to meet at 
 Broughton. The road to the town, pray keep 
 in mind, is over the last bridge on the D addon, 
 the many arched one, and what a contrast with 
 that of the small single arch at Cockley-beck ! 
 
 Amicus. And what a contrast are the Duddon 
 Sands, its terminus, with the mountains that 
 gave the river birth ; and yet they, the sands 
 
250 MUTATIONS. 
 
 and the mountains, are they not the same 
 only changed in form ? 
 
 PiscATOK. And, as what remains of the 
 mountains, though called everlasting, may in 
 process of time become sand and find a resting 
 place in the ocean, so in further progress, the 
 loose sand may become fixed and acquire 
 solidity, be lifted up again and again in its 
 mountain altitude, be the birth-place of another 
 Duddon. 
 
COLLOQUY X. 
 
 The Greta. — Dericentwater. — The Derwent 
 
 Amicus. 
 HAVE found in your library 
 " Southey's Colloquies."* I opened 
 the book with hesitation, — a feeling 
 of short duration, the charm of the 
 writing increasing as I proceeded, and I may add 
 the weight of the matter, embodying evidently 
 the mature thoughts of a man of genius on 
 subjects always interesting — the progress and 
 prospects of society. 
 
 PiscATOR. The book is a favourite of mine 
 on many accounts. There is originality in the 
 design, — a conversation on the past and present, 
 and that carried on between a ghost and a living 
 man. The one of a no less distinguished person 
 
 * " Sir Thomas More, or Colloquies on the Progress 
 and Prospects of Society," 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1829. 
 
252 SOUTHETS COLLOQUIES, 
 
 than Sir Thomas More, the best of men, the 
 other, the author himself, under the assumed 
 name of Montesimos : then the scenery described 
 is the immediate neighbourhood of the Poet's 
 residence in which he so much delighted ; and 
 delightful in itself, he has preserved its charm, 
 in description, to say nothing of what is more 
 important — the philosophical views, so vigo- 
 rously expressed, which he takes of society in 
 its ever-changing state, during the memorable 
 historical period comprised between the Protes- 
 tant Eeformation, the great religious movement, 
 and the French Eevolution, the great political 
 movement. 
 
 Amicus. The mention made of the Grreta in 
 the course of the " Colloquies," excites in me a 
 desire to see it; and if the angling in it be in 
 any degree proportionate to the beauties attri- 
 buted to it, it must be a most delectable stream 
 and well worthy of being explored. What say 
 you of making our next excursion to it ? 
 
 PiscATOK. Good ! we cannot do better. And, 
 that you may see it thoroughly, we will trace it 
 from Thirlmere, its principal source, to the 
 Derwent, which it joins within a hundred yards 
 of the Lake Derwentwater, from which the river. 
 
ADVANCING SPRING. 253 
 
 the Derwent, issues. The time is favourable ; 
 owing to the dry weather we have lately had, we 
 shall have no great difficulty in following it in 
 its wildest and most romantic track, and where 
 pent up in the gorge of the valley, we may have 
 to ford it to make our way. The mail coach 
 will take us in good time to the vale of St. 
 John; we shall have the greater part of the 
 day before us ; and fishing as we go, we shall 
 have no difficulty in reaching Keswick before 
 nightfall. To morrow, if you please, we will 
 start after an early breakfast. 
 
 Amicus. Here we are on our fishing ground, 
 at ten o'clock, after a pleasant drive this fine 
 April morning. Much as I admired the Vale, 
 when I first saw it, now it appears to me even 
 more beautiful than at first. 
 
 PiscATOR. A true sign of real beauty is the 
 improving on acquaintance. I am always mis- 
 trustful of the first impression. Moreover, 
 since you were here, though so short a time ago, 
 spring has advanced ; the early trees, the birch 
 and the larch, have opened their delicate 
 foliage, and a warmer hue has become diffused 
 
254 THE VALE OF ST. JOHN', 
 
 where there is woodland, here not scant, from 
 the expanding buds of the common trees. Then, 
 too, the meadows had not the animation which 
 they at present possess in the young lambs, now 
 racing and sporting in all the glee of a happy 
 existence, — the very emblems of such an ex- 
 istence. 
 
 Amicus. Whilst we are putting together our 
 rods, tell me, if you please, the names of these 
 hills, the principal features of what I am ad- 
 miring. 
 
 PiscATOR. The blue mountain rising grandly 
 in the distance, immediately before us, is 
 Saddleback; that steep hill close by, rising 
 abruptly from the river, clad with larches, 
 is Naddle Fell ; the rocky height opposite is 
 Walter Crag or Fell, which in its castellated 
 form is best seen from a point lower down in 
 the valley. It is this crag, remember, of which 
 I made mention before, as the scene of romance, 
 figuring mysteriously in the " Bridal of Trier- 
 maine." The hill behind us covered with mixed 
 wood is Grreenhow. Now, let us part : you pro- 
 ceed, and I will follow. Wait for me where the 
 river changes its character, there where its rapids 
 commence. We shall need some refreshment, 
 
ST, JOHN'S BECK. 255 
 
 such as our sandwiches afford, before entering 
 on the difficult part of our way ; and you must 
 allow me then to be your guide. 
 
 Amicus. I am glad you have overtaken me. 
 It is now two o'clock, and our sandwiches will 
 not come amiss. Shall I confess that I have 
 been disappointed in the river, both as to fish- 
 ing and beauty. I have risen very few fish, and 
 taken only some small trout and two or three 
 smolts ; nor am I surprised, there are, since 
 leaving the upper portion of the beck, so few 
 pools of any promise, and hardly a rock to break 
 the even flow of the water over its gravelly and 
 artificially embanked bed. 
 
 PiscATOR. You passed too rapidly where you 
 should have lingered and fished diligently. I 
 speak of the upper portion of the beck, there 
 the very perfection of a trout stream, flowing 
 as it does amongst rocks and over rocks, deep 
 and shallow in succession, keeping its natural 
 course, having good bottom feed, and also 
 surface feed, from flies bred in the adjoining 
 wood, and not without good trout, of which in 
 my pannier you may see a half-a-dozen, one 
 
256 THE GOOD LORD CLIFFORD, 
 
 rather exceeding half-a-pound. Here, where 
 we are now, where the river begins its winding 
 course, we may consider the Greta commencing, 
 or a little farther down, where it is met by the 
 Glendermaken, a rivulet (now so small that 
 you will hardly notice it) rising out of two small 
 tarns, Bowscale and Threlkeld, the latter, like 
 the castellated form of rock we have left 
 behind us, a subject of fabulous narrative, 
 being described as almost inaccessible, though 
 not difficult of approach; as unfathomable, 
 though shallow ; as so deep in shade, from the 
 surrounding and overhanging mountains, that 
 the sun never shines on it and the reflection of 
 the stars may be seen in it at noonday, — a 
 marvel, I need hardly remark, not an exaggera- 
 tion simply, but altogether imaginary. An 
 interesting story, and a true one, however, you 
 may remember, is connected with the name, viz. 
 that of the Shepherd Lord, "the Good Lord 
 Clifford," who, in the troublesome times of the 
 Eoses, owed his life, after his father's death on 
 the bloody field of Ferrybridge, to seclusion in 
 these wilds, — a story charmingly given in verse 
 by Wordsworth and in prose by Southey ; — by 
 the latter, you may recollect, in the "Colloquies" 
 
" THE SHEPHERD LORDr 257 
 
 you were speaking of; by the former in the 
 poem entitled " Song at the Feast of Brougham 
 Castle," upon the restoration of Lord Clifford, 
 the shepherd, to the estates and honours of 
 his ancestors, concluding thus beautifully : 
 
 " Love had he found in huts where poor men lie ; 
 His daily teachers had been woods and rills, 
 The silence that is in the starry sky, 
 The sleep that is among the lonely hills. 
 
 " In him the savage virtue of the race, 
 Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts were dead : 
 Nor did he change ; but kept in lofty place, 
 The wisdom which adversity had bred. 
 
 *' Glad were the vales, and every cottage hearth ; 
 The Shepherd Lord was honoured more and more ; 
 And, ages after he was laid in earth, 
 ' The Good Lord Clifford ' was the name he bore." 
 
 Amicus. I remember the story and its happy 
 ending, and I thank you for repeating the 
 verses. \\Tiilst waiting for you, I inquired of 
 the ploughman, whom you see hard by, where 
 the Grreta begins and St. John's Beck ends. 
 Though living on the spot, he could give me no 
 precise information ; he seemed even ignorant 
 of the name of the Grreta. 
 
 PiscATOR. A proof of the little interest he 
 takes in it, and of the little curiosity of the 
 
258 THE GRETA, 
 
 people of the country in matters which do not 
 affect their interests. The same man, probably, 
 could tell you the names of all the hills in sight, 
 these localities really interesting him, in con- 
 nexion with the erratic habits of the sheep. 
 Apart from this consideration, his ignorance of 
 the Greta is not surprising, inasmuch, as St. 
 John's Beck, at its origin, is, when low, little infe- 
 rior in volume of water to the Grreta so that it 
 might be well called the Grreta through its 
 whole course, if its upper portion deserved the 
 name as much as the lower, which we are about 
 to see. 
 
 Amicus. You allude to the meaning of the 
 word Grreta, I infer — " the loud lamenter," 
 which, according to Southey, is the plain En- 
 glish of its Norse name, synonymous, I think his 
 friend Coleridge somewhere remarks, with the 
 Cocytus of the Grreeks. 
 
 PiscATOR, Exactly so; and when we have 
 explored it, I am sure you will agree with me 
 that it deserves so to be called. 
 
 Amicus. I am at a loss to understand its 
 course ; for if Keswick lies, as you say, to the 
 left, I see no opening in that direction by which 
 it can pass. 
 
 PiscATOR. Truly so ; the gorge it enters, and 
 
''THE LOUD LAMENTERr 259 
 
 by which it descends, is hidden ; the dividing 
 hills approach so near to each other, of which 
 you will presently have ocular proof. Now, let 
 us renew our angling, and proceed on our way. 
 
 Amicus. Here we are, safe after our fa- 
 tiguing scramble and struggle. The name 
 Grreta is certainly well deserved, for rarely have 
 I heard a more clamorous stream, and never 
 followed a more difficult one, yet I will 
 not call it infernal, as it rather leads to 
 a paradise. Shame, I say, to the landed 
 proprietors, who have not made a pathway, 
 so that its wild beauty may be enjoyed 
 without risk of life, and enjoyed also by 
 those not equal to the fording of rapids over 
 slippery rocks, and the climbing of heights, 
 almost precipices, where a single false step 
 might be one too many, and a last one. 
 
 PiscATOK. It is strange indeed, that such 
 a mountain stream, and so praised as it has 
 been by a distinguished author, should be so 
 neglected. As far as we are concerned, how- 
 ever, we need not, I think, lament the neglect. 
 For the difficulty of seeing it, the little risks 
 incurred, give a zest, and surely add to the 
 
 82 
 
260 RIVER SECLUSION, 
 
 interest. How charming in their perfect se- 
 clusion were certain spots, where nothing was 
 to be seen but sky, wood, and water ; and no 
 sounds were audible but the song of the thrush, 
 mingling with the ever resounding voice of 
 *^ the loud lamenter." Where wildest, I was 
 reminded of the Teme, as it descends with 
 the same character of a mountain torrent from 
 the upper vale of Leintwardine to the lower 
 one of Downton. The hills in both places 
 are as steep, and are similarly wooded ; but 
 how different the care bestowed ! there, by 
 a safe path, you can walk at ease, and view 
 at leisure all the tumult of the rushing waters, 
 and see as in a picture the fine effects produced. 
 Now tell me of your angling ; what has been 
 your success ? 
 
 Amicus. Nil ; and yet I tried several good 
 pools. Is not the Greta here too much of a 
 torrent to afford tolerable sport ? The rocks 
 are washed so clean that there can be little 
 bottom feed ; and unless there be fly on the 
 water, which there was not to-day, I should 
 hardly expect success, even were there fish to 
 allow of it. How have you fared ? 
 
 PiscATOK. Very little better ; I have taken 
 
NEAR APPROACH TO KESWICK, 261 
 
 only one ill-conditioned trout, and two or three 
 smolts. Let us now hasten to our inn. I see 
 the smoke of Keswick ascending, a proof that 
 we are near ; and lo ! that large building I it 
 is a bobbin mill ! and yonder another ! it is 
 a pencil manufactory. Now, our way is easy. 
 Even to the verge of the town, the Greta, you 
 see, retains its distinctive character ; so, a small 
 portion of it at least, wild perhaps enough 
 for most tastes, may be seen without fatigue, 
 risk, or trouble, and it was the portion, I appre- 
 hend, that was enjoyed by Southey, who un- 
 fortunately was not an angler. To-morrow we 
 will, if you like, take our ease on the lake, and 
 perhaps try the gentle Derwent. 
 
 Amicus. On. our way to the lake, pray tell 
 me what fish it contains, and what sport we are 
 likely to have. ' 
 
 PiscATOE. The first question is more easily 
 answered than the second. The blue haze of 
 the atmosphere giving so fine an effect to the 
 Alpine group of mountains seen over that 
 green surface of meadow, with the little or 
 no wind, augurs ill for angling sport of any 
 
 S 3 
 
262 FISH OF DERWENTWATER, 
 
 kind. As to your second inquiry, the fish of 
 Derwent water, — they are of several kinds, — 
 trout, pike, perch, eel, vendace, minnow, thorn- 
 back. Is not this an ample list ? I was about 
 to add, salmon and sea-trout; but I remembered 
 that these are now become so rare as not to de- 
 serve being mentioned, the capture of one or the 
 other having become the merest accident. The 
 same remark applies to the capture of the 
 vendace ; not because it is so rare, but because 
 it is contrary to the habits of this fish to take 
 the fly, or any of the baits commonly used here 
 in angling. I have heard of one instance only 
 of its having been taken with the artificial 
 fly, and that by an old fisherman of long ex- 
 perience, and likewise of one only of its having 
 been captured with the worm. The fish on 
 which the angler must chiefly depend for sport, 
 is the trout, and next to the trout, the pike 
 and perch. The trout is pretty abundant, 
 especially since more care has been taken of 
 the fishing, through the meritorious exertions of 
 an angling association, and since the use of the 
 base lath or otter has been prohibited. 
 
 Amicus. I am surprised to hear you say 
 that the vendace is found here, and moreover, 
 that it is not rare. I had always supposed 
 
THE VENDACE. 263 
 
 that it is confined to Lochmaben, in Dum- 
 friesshire, and the adjoining lakes. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is still the general belief, 
 indeed, it is only recently that it has been 
 ascertained, in a satisfactory manner, to have 
 a larger range of localities. In this lake, 
 within the last eight years, a good many have 
 been taken by the net, and many also in the 
 same way in Bassenthwaite Lake, that which 
 receives the Derwent, and is distant from this 
 only about three or four miles. That it is not 
 a scarce fish here, may, I think, be inferred 
 from the circumstance of two lately having 
 been killed by a stroke of an oar ; and that 
 the fish is a true vendace I am satisfied, having 
 compared a specimen from Lochmaben with 
 one from Derwent water, and also with one 
 from Bassenthwaite Lake, and found them si- 
 milar. The two first mentioned I can show you 
 at home ; I owe them to the kindness of 
 friends ; the last, you may see in the Museum 
 of Keswick, which is worthy of a visit on other 
 accounts. 
 
 Amicus. You have not mentioned the charr 
 amongst the fish of Derwentwater. Is it un- 
 known here ? 
 
 s 4 
 
264 WATER SUITABLE TO THE CHARE. 
 
 PiscATOE. It is ; and its absence is, I think, 
 a proof of the great delicacy of this fish ; for 
 more than one attempt has been made to in- 
 troduce it, but without success. The failure 
 is commonly attributed to deficiency of depth 
 of water, where deepest being only about 
 fourteen fathoms. But, as I know there are 
 charr in lakes in Connemara, even of less 
 depth, this explanation is hardly satisfactory. 
 I am more disposed to consider the quality 
 of the water as the cause. My conjecture is 
 that it is not sufficiently pure. It may have 
 some taint from the adjoining mines and me- 
 talliferous rocks; or it may be too much impreg- 
 nated with vegetable matter, either in solution 
 or suspension. One of the marvels of the lake, 
 its floating island, which occasionally appears 
 and disappears, composed chiefly of vegetable 
 matter, seems to favour this supposition; and 
 the colour of the water, I think you will agree 
 with me, is also in favour of it : pray observe 
 it in the Derwent as it flows out of the lake. 
 The proximity of the town, with a population 
 amounting to 2400, and its drainage, must 
 tend to render the water somewhat impure. 
 
 Amicus. Speaking of marvels, is not another 
 
FANCIED ''BOTTOM WIXD." 265 
 
 marvel of this lake its "bottom wind?" denoted, 
 it is said, by a ruffled surface, — a surface 
 raised in waves, when the atmosphere is still, 
 and supposed to be owing to the evolution of 
 air from beneath. May not such a disturbance, 
 and the air, whatever it is, that is disengaged, 
 have an injurious influence ? , 
 
 PiscATOR. It is not well to try to explain 
 what is obscure by that which is more obscure. 
 As to the reputed "bottom wind," I cannot 
 credit it: were air disengaged, it ought to 
 be seen rising in bubbles, not producing waves. 
 If the fact of there being waves on the lake, 
 in a calm state of atmosphere, be well authen- 
 ticated, rest assured we must seek some other 
 agent for its production than this imaginary 
 " bottom wind." Here we are at the lake ; and 
 the boat is ready to take us on it, and happily 
 close our discussion about these obscurities. 
 Step in ; we need not take our rods out of their 
 bags, for the glassy surface of the water — not a 
 ripple anywhere to be seen — gives assurance 
 that no angling skill at present can avail. 
 Boatman, take us, if you please, in the direction 
 best adapted for seeing the lake to advantage. 
 
 Amicus. Here one can well do without ang- 
 
266 MOUNTAINS SEEN FROM THE LAKE. 
 
 ling, at least on a first visit. Truly this is de- 
 lightful! What beauty is imparted by these 
 wooded islets ! How fine the effect of the 
 mountains — which you well called an Alpine 
 assemblaofe — seen in their various distances ! 
 Looking upwards, pray tell me the name of 
 that finely formed hill at the head of the lake, 
 standing out like a giant fortress. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is Castle Crag, at the en- 
 trance of Borrowdale, skirted by Catbell Hill, 
 with its precipitous flanks on the right, and by 
 Castle Hill, one even more bold, on the left ; 
 and bounding the view in that direction is the 
 loftiest of our mountains, Scawfell. 
 
 Amicus. And what are the names of these 
 pretty islands ? 
 
 PiscATOR. That we have just passed, so taste- 
 fully wooded, and with a dwelling on it as 
 tasteful, is Derwent Isle, formerly called Vicar's 
 Isle, having been a dependence of Fountain's 
 Abbey. That we are nearing is St. Herbert's 
 Isle, so called from a recluse of that name, who 
 had a hermitage on it and there lived and died, 
 and if tradition be true, died, according to a 
 long-entertained wish, at the same instant as his 
 beloved friend St, Cuthbert. Fix that verdant 
 
LAKE ISLETS, 267 
 
 isle in your memory ; we will read, when we re- 
 turn home, the Poet's lines addressed to this very 
 spot. I think they are amongst those called " In- 
 scriptions." That smaller islet — a tangled brake 
 as it were on the water, shaded with a few Scotch 
 firs, is Eamsholme ; and the larger one, close to 
 the shore, just come in sight on our turning the 
 promontory, is the Lord's Isle, which in the 
 olden time was the site of an earl's residence, 
 of that unfortunate family now extinct, which 
 derived its title from Derwentwater, — and now, 
 alas ! alas ! those tall trees and the rookery they 
 support are, I believe, the only remnants of its 
 former pride of place. Those I have named 
 are the four more conspicuous islets; besides 
 there are many smaller, or rather rocks which 
 are nameless. Now, boatman, let us to the 
 river, that we may try it, as fishing on the lake 
 in its present calm state is hopeless. 
 
 Amicus. Now we are nearing the river, how 
 shallow the water is becoming ; we are passing 
 over a shoal of gravel, well fitted, I should 
 suppose, for the spawning bed of the charr. 
 
 PiscATOK. Eight ; but that shoal, I am in- 
 formed, is of recent formation, and occasioned 
 by the Greta when in flood breaking over its 
 banks and pouring itself into the lake direct. 
 
268 JUNCTION OF DERIVE NT AND GRETA. 
 
 Amicus. How pleasant is this little inlet of 
 the lake, with its shaded banks hardly hiding 
 the green meadows ! Surely here is its outlet, 
 and this must be the river, though hardly dis- 
 tinguishable, its current is so dull, from the still 
 lake. 
 
 PiscATOK. It is the Derwent ; and a few yards 
 further, just where you see the first little rapid, 
 owing to a slight fall, is the entrance and junc- 
 tion of the Grreta. Boatman, we will now land. 
 We will prepare our rods, and try what our 
 skill can accomplish, as you assure us there are 
 trout and good ones to be taken, fortune and 
 weather favouring. Now we are ready; you 
 Amicus, proceed, and I will slowly follow. As 
 there is no wind, I need hardly say you must 
 confine your fishing to the streams. 
 
 Amicus. I meet you with my pannier empty, 
 having taken only one smolt. I fished too 
 within a mile of the adjoining lake, trying 
 every rapid offering a chance. Surely we have 
 been misinformed. 
 
 PiscATOK. 1 think not. The state of the at- 
 mosphere is unfavourable, and also the lowness 
 
THE RIVER DERWENT, 269 
 
 of the water. I saw no fly on the water ; and 
 a solitary swallow that I saw, the first of the 
 season, was flying high. My success has been 
 little better than yours; I have not risen a 
 single trout and have taken only four smelts. 
 What think you of the river ? 
 
 Amicus. Were there sport, I should approve 
 it, for it is a pleasant and easy river to fish, un- 
 encumbered with wood, wide enough for a good 
 cast ; wading unnecessary ; a fair succession of 
 pools and gentle rapids, admirably adapted, 
 I should think, for the grayling ; moreover, all 
 that meets the eye is of an agreeable and cheer- 
 ful kind, flowery meadows, a wide expanse of 
 sky, and noble hills near and distant. 
 
 PiscATOR. The meadows are indeed now 
 flowery; how abundant the anemone on this 
 side the river and the primrose on the other 
 side ! and here, at least, we have not, as in the 
 instance of the Grreta, to make a laborious way, 
 there being both a river foot-path and steps 
 where there are fences. Pray observe the 
 graceful lines of the lower hills, giving a finish 
 as it were to the landscape, owing undoubtedly 
 to a glacier-wearing and polishing action. We 
 have a good part of the afternoon before us, 
 
270 GRETA HALL, 
 
 and, as there is so little temptation to persist in 
 our angling, we had, I think, better change the 
 scene to the town, which is not without its 
 objects of interest. As we return we can visit 
 the spot in which are the mortal remains of 
 Southey, and where, in memory of him, his form 
 is preserved in monumental marble. See, yon- 
 der is Crosthwaite Church and churchyard, the 
 receptacle of both ; and further on, nearer the 
 Grreta, standing on that eminence above the 
 stream — the delight of the poet — is Greta 
 Hall, where he spent so many years and so 
 happily, as he assures us, of his useful and 
 laborious intellectual life, exemplifying a fa- 
 vourite saying of his, in lahore quies. 
 
 Amicus. Eespecting as I do the man, and 
 both for his genius and his worth, I shall have 
 pleasure in accompanying you. Would that I 
 could say with you that I had known the poet 
 and seen him, where he was seen to most ad- 
 vantage, in his own house and amongst his 
 beloved and inspiring books. 
 
 PiscATOR. That indeed was a privilege, like 
 admission to Eydal Mount, in the lifetime of 
 his great confrere. Each dwelling was cha- 
 racteristic ; the one, Eydal Mount, a paradise 
 
NOTABILIA OF KESWICK, 271 
 
 surrounded by all the charms of nature, not un- 
 aided by art; the other, Greta Hall, an ar- 
 moury of the mind — a library throughout, even 
 the passages, and so orderly and carefully 
 arranged, that even to the most careless ob- 
 server what was seen must have appeared a 
 labour of love. 
 
 Amicus. WTiat else is worthy of attention in 
 Keswick ? Judging from Southey's writings and 
 the memoir of his life, I should infer nothing. 
 
 PiscATOR. Though he has been dead only a very 
 few years, the inference, if applicable before, is 
 hardly so now. Philanthropy and intelligence 
 have of late been active here in spite of 
 apathy and ignorance. You saw last night 
 how the town was lighted with gas. We had 
 to step over to-day, in the principal street, 
 the cuttings for laying the pipes for bringing in 
 a supply of water. I before spoke of a museum 
 as being worthy of being seen ; and the more 
 creditable it is, as formed by an individual.* 
 Of more importance are the institutions con- 
 nected with education, as the library, the schools 
 and the Mechanics' Institute, which, on a former 
 
 * The late Mr. Crosthwaite, to whose family it still 
 belongs. 
 
272 PENCIL MANUFACTURERS. 
 
 occasion, I mentioned were mainly owing, as 
 well as the erection of the new church, St. 
 John's, to the liberality of one family.* Few 
 towns indeed of its size are better provided with 
 educational means, at least for the workincr 
 classes, or have been more fortunate in having 
 persons to direct and carry them into effect. 
 As we approached the town last evening, by 
 the Grreta, the air, you remember, was scented 
 with sandal wood, and I accounted for it by the 
 manufactory we passed, one of pencils. This is 
 a branch of art peculiar to Keswick, owing its 
 origin to the mine of plumbago, or pencil lead, 
 which for a long period had been opened in an 
 adjoining dale — Borrowdale ; an art so exten- 
 sively carried on at present, as to supply not only 
 the United Kingdom, but also a good portion of 
 the world with this useful article. If time per- 
 mitted, — I fear it will not, — we should go into 
 
 * That of the Marshalls. To members of that family 
 the town is indebted for St John's church and its 
 endowment, the vicarage house, the schoolroom, and 
 library adjoining. The first vicar of St. John's, the 
 late Rev. Frederick Myers, connected with that family 
 by marriage, will long be gratefully remembered in 
 Keswick, for his energy and ability as a minister, his 
 benevolence and amiability as a man. 
 
THE BENEFACTORS OF KESWICK. 273 
 
 the workshops and see the processes employed, 
 and the number of hands and the division of 
 labour engaged in the making of a thing so 
 simple as a pencil. Ah! here we are at the 
 churchyard. 
 
 Amicus. As you deprecated criticism on the 
 memorial to Wordsworth in Grrasmere Chiirch, 
 so I think it is best to refrain from it in the 
 instance of Southey's. The only wish I will 
 venture to express is, that it were better seen. 
 
 PiscATOK. The occupation of our churches by 
 pews, with a view to comfort, has a woeful 
 effect artistically considered. This church, now 
 of so spacious a size, has been enlarged since 
 the poet's time, and at the cost of another indi- 
 vidual — a benefactor of Keswick, to whom I 
 believe the town is indebted for that large 
 schoolroom hard by ; and not for that alone. 
 
 Amicus. Happy examples these of the volun- 
 tary system ! Would that Government would 
 exert itself a little more, not in the way of cen- 
 tralisation, to which it shows a bad tendency, 
 but in acts of local beneficence, and in memory 
 of the distinguished dead. What a gracious 
 
 T 
 
274 A VAIN WISH, AND PERHAPS HOPE! 
 
 deed it would have been, and how useful, had 
 Southey's library been purchased by the Go- 
 vernment and presented to the town. A few 
 thousands would have accomplished it : the 
 dispersion of his books would have been pre- 
 vented; the collection, next to his writings, 
 would have been his best monument, and his 
 children would have doubly profited by it. 
 
 PiscATOR. Perhaps the time may come when 
 such acts will be witnessed : happy times they 
 will be ; but, I fear they are far distant. Let 
 us drop so chimerical a subject. The hour is 
 near that the coach passes through by which we 
 are to return, so we must hasten to the inn to 
 be in readiness. There is another fishing ex- 
 cursion that I contemplate, and which I am 
 sure you will like, and which will require our 
 return here, when I trust we shall have more 
 leisure and be able to see more of the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood and of the things worthy 
 of being seen both in the town and country. 
 
COLLOQUY XL 
 Merry May, — Derwentwater, — Borrow dale. 
 
 PiSCATOE. 
 
 AM glad I have been able to 
 persuade you to protract your stay 
 here. Now we are entering the 
 merry month of May, we may hope 
 
 for milder days than those we have had since 
 our return from Keswick. And as the snow is 
 beginning to disappear on Fairfield, I think we 
 may venture to-morrow to proceed on the 
 excursion we have been contemplating. 
 
 Amicus. I am always happy to be under 
 your guidance. The weather we have had 
 lately is characteristic of our climate, and of 
 the season — a season where, according to the 
 direction of the wind, winter and spring seem 
 as it were struggling for the mastery. WTiat a 
 contrast between the meadows, every day 
 
276 SPRING PROGRESS. 
 
 brightening in verdure, and the higher hills 
 crested with snow; and how marvellous, that 
 with such bleak winds as have lately pre- 
 vailed, and a temperature, at night, at or near 
 the freezing point, and occasionally below it, the 
 buds should be bursting, the flowers expanding, 
 and vegetation generally making such progress ! 
 PiscATOK. Eemember that the sun is now 
 exerting a powerful influence, warming the earth 
 and the waters, and thus favourable to the 
 ascent of the sap, and the active processes of 
 change on which vegetable growth depends. 
 Eemember, moreover, that the determined time 
 is arrived, when, in the course of nature, a large 
 number of our plants awake as it were from 
 their winter sleep, and spring into active life : 
 each species observing its period with wonderful 
 regularity, denoting a vis insita in the individuals 
 almost as strongly marked as in the instance of 
 animals. It would be no great stretch of fancy 
 to associate the budding or flowering of the 
 one with the hatching and birth of the other. 
 We might couple the appearance of the snow- 
 drop and sweet-scented violet with the exclusion 
 from their ova of the young of our favourite 
 fish, the Salmonidse ; flowers next in succession 
 
VITAL FORCE. 277 
 
 with the appearance of the tadpole of the frog^ 
 and triton, and the birth of the lamb : we might 
 compare the progress of the expanding bud or 
 bulb with 'that of the ova, — those of birds 
 for example, each kind of which has its deve- 
 loping period ; thus the time of incubation of 
 the barn-door fowl is as near as possible three 
 weeks; of the common duck, a month; of the 
 goose, five weeks ; of the swan, six weeks. I 
 need not specify analog6us examples of the 
 opening of the leaves of several trees, or the 
 flowering of the bulbs of several plants. 
 
 Amicus. It is a good subject for reflection, 
 and surely for admiration, seeing how that 
 which appears to be the regulating influence is 
 co-ordinate in its various degrees, from just 
 above the freezing point of water to the highest 
 average heat of the tropics, with distinct species 
 of animals and vegetables, securing to the whole 
 of our globe at its surface animal and vegetable 
 life, and for most part with a profuse bounty. 
 
 PiscATOR. Yes, the external temperature is 
 so co-ordinate, as you remark, with the plants 
 and the families of the lower animals, mainly 
 the oviparous — not so much so with the vivi- 
 parous, and of these least of all with the highest 
 
 T 3 
 
278 MODIFYING TEMPERATURE. 
 
 class, man and the other mammalia; and, it 
 may be said, for the simple reason that these, 
 as regards the reproductive process, the em- 
 bryonic and foetal development, are in a great 
 measure independent of external temperature ; 
 the parents having within themselves the 
 power of preserving a constancy of temperature 
 by means of respiration — that degree of tem- 
 perature most suitable to a healthy and vigo- 
 rous existence : the Grreenland whale sporting 
 and breeding in the cold waters of the Arctic 
 Sea, as well as the Esquimaux wife and mother 
 breathing the air of an Arctic atmosphere, are 
 striking examples of such an independency. In 
 the instance of birds and the hatching of their 
 eggs, the temperature of which during the 
 brooding time is preserved pretty equably by 
 the transmitted warmth of the sitting mother, 
 the independency in question is displayed in 
 nearly an equal degree; but not so in the oviparous 
 animals, such as those of the reptile class, and 
 the class of fishes whose ova after* exclusion 
 are forsaken with few exceptions by the parents 
 and left to the mercy of the elements; and, 
 these indeed are merciful, and well supply the 
 absence of parental care ; showing again the 
 
ORDER ly NATURE, 279 
 
 order, harmony and beneficence of nature. But 
 in this our discussion we are forgetting our 
 fishing. If, as I propose, we are to set out to- 
 morrow, we must be stirring early to avail 
 ourselves of the mail, which now passes nearly 
 two hours sooner than it did last month, as if 
 in accordance with the influence we have been 
 speaking of. I will see that all things shall be 
 ready we need take with us. 
 
 PiscATOR. Here we are again at Keswick ; and 
 as there is wind and cloud, and we have the 
 day before us, we will try the lake. The old 
 fisherman says we may have a chance of killing 
 a trout or two, and that to a zealous angler is 
 sufficient encouragement. 
 
 Amicus. Fine as the mountain groups ap- 
 peared when we were last here, now after a 
 fresh fall of snow covering their summits, they 
 have even more of an Alpine character ; and 
 how beautiful are the scattered birch in their 
 young rich foliage, showing a hue of gold 
 blended with the tender green, as seen on 
 yonder hill side, where brightened by that 
 gleam of sunshine ! 
 
 T 4 
 
280 SPRING WOODLAND BEAUTY, 
 
 PiscATOR. And, how beautiful the complexion 
 of the woods on that other hill side, produced 
 by the admixture of an infinite variety of tints 
 of the opening leaves of the many different 
 kinds of trees that clothe the declivity. But to 
 our sport. That we may have success, we must 
 look mainly to our flies; we must content 
 ourselves with an occasional glance at the face of 
 nature — a modest glance, as at the face of 
 a young beauty, and I believe the more pure 
 will be the enjoyment. What engrosses too 
 much the sense ends often in satiety. 
 
 Amicus. The wind is cold; the clouds dark 
 and lowering ; I fear we shall have no sport. I 
 have had only one rise. 
 
 PiscATOR. We have not yet come to the best 
 ground, that off the outlet of the lake, on each 
 side of the gravelly shoal, where you see the 
 waves breaking, and between it and the reeds 
 to the right. 
 
 Amicus. Ah, you have a fish, and he fights 
 bravely. Where is the landing net ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Forgotten, the boatmen says, in 
 our haste. Never mind. My pannier is at 
 hand ; it will serve the purpose for want of 
 a better. Immerse it well. There is our fish 
 
THE SWAN'S NEST. 281 
 
 summarily secured, and safe in the basket by 
 one act. It is a beautiful fish, well fed, over a 
 pound, short and thick, silvery below, of a rich 
 olive brown above; a good specimen of the 
 Derwentwater trout, and I am sure it will cut 
 red and be well flavoured when dressed. 
 
 Amicus. What is that amongst the reeds ? 
 
 PiscATOR. That fine bird just gliding out, 
 like the guardian of the place, that male 
 swan, may enable you to conjecture. The 
 great heap you see of broken reeds rising 
 securely above the water, is a swan's nest ; and 
 the female, now we have a better view of it, 
 you may distinguish sitting on it. The pair 
 belong to a friend of mine, whose house is 
 yonder, a lover of all things graceful, and 
 who, with the hope of adding a new feature of 
 beauty to this charming lake, has introduced 
 these birds and others, but with less success 
 than he deserves, as hitherto he has failed 
 in naturalising them by breeding: no young 
 ones have yet been reared. The nest, I am 
 assured, is constructed entirely by the male, 
 who with his powerful bill breaks off portions 
 of the reeds as they grow in the water, selecting 
 those suitable for the purpose ; and, what in 
 
282 EXAMPLE OF INSTINCT, 
 
 relation to instinct is more remarkable, I have 
 heard, that a nest, when altogether finished, 
 had suddenly an addition made to it, followed by 
 a flood, by which addition it was saved from 
 being inundated by the consequent rise of the 
 water. Was not this like intuition ? 
 
 Amicus. A curious instance this of high 
 instinct, if it may not be referred to instinct 
 and experience combined. By experience, 
 I mean the recollection of injury from a former 
 flooding of the nest. 
 
 PiscATOR. Whichever way considered, the 
 incident is hardly less remarkable. I am dis- 
 posed to refer the effort, as well as the prescience 
 of its necessity, to pure instinct. Instinct, let 
 us keep in mind, has in its operations hardly 
 a limit ; as the sexual feeling impels the building 
 of the nest and the sitting on the eggs, so 
 some feeling produced by a state of atmosphere 
 preceding a heavy fall of rain, and consequent 
 flood, may impel to the heightening of the 
 nest. Is it more remarkable than the building 
 of the ark by Noah ? 
 
 The fish have altogether ceased to rise ; and 
 the best time of the day is past for fishing at 
 this season, — one o'clock ; — and of bad augury, 
 
DALTOS'S FRIEND. 283 
 
 as you remarked, the few swallows which 
 were skimming in their rapid flight the lake, 
 have taken their departure, — so, if agreeable to 
 you, we will follow their example, and land. 
 We have still time to explore Borrowdale, 
 and whilst the ponies we shall ride are getting 
 ready, for which we shall be indebted to a kind 
 friend of mine, the same whose taste I spoke 
 of, we will step into the town and pay our 
 respects to a venerable old man, who in a 
 humble way has laboured well in the cause of 
 science. 
 
 Amicus. I thank you for having given me an 
 opportunity of shaking hands with your vener- 
 able friend, Jonathan Otley, the companion of 
 Dalton in his mountain excursions, and the 
 author of the first, and you say the best, the 
 most exact guide-book of the district. He was 
 evidently pleased, and naturally, when we 
 spoke of his connexion with Dalton. "We 
 suited each other very well," was his remark. 
 His accuracy, for which you say he is dis- 
 tinguished in all things, was shown by his 
 correcting you, when you observed that he, and 
 the more celebrated philosopher, were of the 
 
284 JONATHAN OTLEY. 
 
 same age. "Nay, Mr. Dalton was three 
 months my senior, having been born in Sep- 
 tember, 1776, and I in the January following.'' 
 From his appearance, I should not have sup- 
 posed he was so old. Age has dealt kindly 
 with him ; and yet I fear he feels the pressure 
 of age, and finds the consolations of old age 
 but very inadequate. 
 
 PiscATOR. And so these consolations, even 
 of the best kind, necessarily must be, — old 
 age with failing faculties being the preparation 
 for death, in due course should be the weaning 
 from life. And contented ought we to be, 
 if we have the same consolations as this vene- 
 rable man can reckon upon, a well-sjDent life, 
 an intellect improved by self-education, and 
 the possession of bodily comforts, earned by 
 industry in an honest calling, and preserved 
 by frugality. He started as a basket-maker, 
 and became the assistant and companion of 
 men of science. In the excellent life of Dr. 
 Dalton, by Dr. Henry, one of the publications 
 of the Cavendish Society, you will see his 
 account of his mountain excursions with Dalton, 
 and a notice of the gas rising from the floating 
 island of which we were speaking, as an oc- 
 
VALE OF NEWLAXDS. 285 
 
 casional occurrence in Derwentwater.* Here 
 are our ponies ; let us mount and be off. 
 
 Amicus. As you have kindly done before, 
 pray, as we proceed, point out to me any object 
 specially worthy of notice, remembering that 
 I am a stranger here, and that all we see 
 I shall see for the first time. 
 
 PiscATOK. I shall keep in mind your 
 wishes; and, in return, tell me your impres- 
 sions. 
 
 Amicus. That I will do; and to begin, I 
 may remark, I little expected so soon to pass 
 into a country with so gentle and pleasing 
 an aspect as this which, with the turn of the 
 road, we are just skirting. 
 
 PiscATOK. It is the vale of Newlands, rich 
 and cultivated, more like a part of Kent than of 
 Cumberland. We shall presently quit it, and 
 be again in the midst of the genuine lake- 
 scenery. 
 
 Amicus. How just your late remark ! This 
 mountain turfy path we have been following 
 
 * He died some months after this our visit, viz., in 
 December, 1856. Such was the respect in which he was 
 held by his fellow- townsmen, that on the day of his 
 funeral the shops in Keswick were closed. 
 
286 LODORE. 
 
 for the last ten minutes, the lake below us, 
 a belt of woodland only intervening, the grand 
 mountain masses meeting the eye in every 
 direction, is indeed of the genuine lake district 
 scenery, and a fine example of it ! 
 
 PiscATOR. The woodland belt skirting the 
 lake, is a part of Derwent Park. See, close 
 to the shore, where towards the head of the 
 lake, those pretty diminutive islets, little more 
 than rocks, rise above the water, is a steam- 
 engine and other works, strangely contrasted 
 with the adjoining dark firs, the ornament of 
 that little promontory. There, there is a lead- 
 mine ; and the water from that mine, as it flows 
 into the lake, may be one of the causes of the 
 unfitness of the lake for charr, judging from 
 the destructive effects of water from a similar 
 mine, on a larger scale, on the charr at Ulswater. 
 l^ow we are at the head of the lake, where 
 the floating island is occasionally seen. Yonder 
 is Lodore, where, were not the streams so low, 
 I should have invited you to go to see its 
 water-fall, which, when in full volume after 
 heavy rains, is worthy of a passing glance. 
 Those bold rugged hills behind are well called 
 the Knots, and, assuredly, they are hard 
 
ENTRANCE OF BORROWDALE. 287 
 
 knots. Now we are in Borrowdale ; and now 
 in Grange, formerly the property of the monks 
 of Furness Abbey; and that capacious barn 
 is of the olden time, and in accordance with 
 the name of the hamlet. Observe the extended 
 bridge, and the vast and wide spread beds of 
 drift, denoting a rush of water when in flood, 
 which, without such indications, you could 
 hardly have imagined, judging from the present 
 diminutive size of the river, — now bearing- 
 the name not of the Derwent, but of Borrow- 
 dale Beck. 
 
 Amicus. How neat are these low white- 
 washed cottages or farm-houses, with the row 
 of yew-trees standing before them*, denoting, 
 may I not say, comfort, strength, and anti- 
 quity. 
 
 PiscATOR. The terms, I believe, are not 
 inappropriate, and they are applicable to all the 
 hamlets in this wild, grand, and sequestered 
 dale, as if under a special local influence. 
 These dalesmen, I may inform you, are most 
 independent, chiefly statesmen, not only having 
 landed property of their own, freehold, but 
 enjoying also manorial rights, each property 
 a little manor in itself, the possessor at liberty 
 
288 CASTLE CRAG. 
 
 to open a mine, or to do whatever his free will 
 may prompt, though the land belonging to him 
 should not exceed an acre or two. 
 
 Amicus. How grand is that wooded hill, 
 rising in the gorge of the dale ! 
 
 PiscATOE. It is a hill of no mean renown ; 
 you saw it before from the lake ; it is Castle- 
 crag, and was once a Eoman fortress or beacon 
 station. According to traditional rumour, the 
 baronial dwelling on Lord's Isle was in part 
 built of stones taken from its summit and 
 from the fortress standing on it ; and we are 
 told that from the isle they were again re- 
 moved, and have at last, — if at last, — found 
 a resting place in the Town-house of Keswick, 
 and this so late as the beginning of the last 
 century, — the island house having been standing 
 and a dwelling in 1715, when, just before the 
 breaking out of the rebellion of that year, it 
 was visited by the unfortunate lord, the last 
 of his chivalrous race. Well does the poet 
 say, "there are sermons in stones." See, there 
 is a single stone, and that too of some repute, 
 as the ladder ascending it shows. It is the 
 famed "bowder stone,'* sometimes, but very 
 improperly, called a boulder; but, in fact. 
 
A REMARKABLE SCENE, 289 
 
 not one of the mysteriously moved masses of 
 distant origin^ only a vast fragment of rock, 
 that has fallen from the cliff above, as its 
 quality and fractured surface clearly prove. 
 Let us rest here for a moment, and look around. 
 I am sure you will admire the grandeur, beauty, 
 and wildness, so singularly combined in this 
 assemblage of mountain, rock, and wood, — all 
 in a state of nature, and wanting only to be 
 perfect a full stream, which it sometimes has, 
 rushing in force through its rocky and winding 
 channel. 
 
 Amicus. It is, indeed, a remarkable scene, 
 and admirable of its kind ! Surely there must 
 be a special cause to which it is referrible. 
 
 PiscATOR. That cause, I believe, is to be 
 found in the nature of the rock. Here it is 
 of the eruptive kind, little differing from basalt; 
 and, in its outbreak, projected from beneath, 
 it is easy to account for the broken and irre- 
 gular ground in all its boldness; and in the 
 elements of which the rock is formed, yielding 
 by its disintegration and decomposition a fer- 
 tile soil, for the luxuriancy of the wild vege- 
 tation clothing the ruggedness and softening 
 it into beauty. 
 
 u 
 
290 SLATE QUARRY. 
 
 Amicus. Here is another change in the 
 character of the rock. Is that the entrance 
 of a quarry ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Yes ; and those men under yonder 
 shed are employed in cleaving the fragments of 
 rock into roofing slate. Observe the skill of 
 that workman ; how by a few taps well directed 
 to the edges with his thin knife-like hammer, 
 and then using it as a wedge, he separates the 
 laminae, and then, by two or three additional 
 blows, knocking off what is superfluous, he gives 
 them their proper form. Step into the quarry 5 
 the passage will admit our horses. Be care- 
 ful, however, when you reach its end, — the 
 end of the passage, — the main excavation being 
 there suddenly precipitous. 
 
 Amicus. What a grand dome, and how fine 
 the effect of the light penetrating from the 
 central opening above into the darkness ! 
 
 PiscATOR. Now let us remount and hasten on, 
 for we have still a good way to go, and a good 
 deal to see. 
 
 Amicus. Another hamlet, and pleasantly si- 
 tuated, and provided with a public house. 
 
 PiscATOR. This is Eosswhaite; and a good 
 station it is for the tourist who wishes to ex- 
 
ROSSWHAITE, 291 
 
 plore thoroughly the dale and the adjoining 
 mountains, or for the angler who can make 
 his sport subordinate to the enjoyment of 
 scenery ; for, as you may infer, the fishing here 
 is not of a very exciting kind ; yet, formerly we 
 are told, salmon ran up this stream, and it is 
 said that after a flood lake-trout may be taken 
 in it even now. That comparatively large 
 house, near the public house, was, I am in- 
 formed, built by a Miss Barker, though never 
 occupied by her, — a somewhat eccentric lady 
 to whom Southey addressed so many of the 
 letters which have found a place both in his 
 Memoirs and in the Selection (would that they 
 had been more choice!) recently published, 
 proving his regard and respect for her worth 
 and talents. Now we are advancing, let me 
 call your attention to that lateral valley on our 
 left, and the hamlet far up, sheltered and shut 
 in by those mountain heights. It is Stone- 
 whaite, where, it is said, and I believe truly, 
 the sun is never seen during the three winter 
 months. The bold hill immediately above it is 
 Eagle's Crag. 
 
 Amicus. The sombre hue of the houses 
 accords with its dreary name and position. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 SEATOLLER, 
 
 Before us is a more cheerful sight. Here, in- 
 deed, is a little paradise; it raises in my mind 
 the idea of " the happy valley," such as is de- 
 scribed in " Easselas." 
 
 PiscATOK. That is Seatoller, the property of 
 a worthy gentleman ; and that low white-washed 
 cottage so extended in length with its pretty 
 garden, is his residence. Everything here, you 
 may perceive, denotes care and taste, and ex- 
 ercised where care and taste are not. wasted, for 
 happily, whilst sheltered from the cold winds of 
 the north, this the very extremity of the dale is 
 well open to the south, and has a good share of 
 sunshine : were it not so, these meadows would 
 not be so green, the very perfection of mountain 
 pasture, or those young plantations so thriv- 
 ing and vigorous. Now we are about to leave 
 the dale for the fell, button up your coat, and 
 be prepared for a cold air and a keen blast. 
 We have a steep ascent to surmount, and a lofty 
 height to reach, but when we are there, you 
 will not, I think, regret the labour. 
 
 Amicus. So this is Honister Crag, and 
 those pieces of water beyond and far beneath, 
 are, I infer, Buttermere and Crummock Water. 
 You somewhat raised my expectations as to 
 
HONISTER CRAG, 293 
 
 what we were to see on quitting the dale, but 
 the grand view now opening out before us 
 greatly exceeds them. How like a mighty pro- 
 montory is this Honister Crag, and were the 
 atmosphere less clear, the lowland to which it 
 descends by a such a steep escarpment would 
 not ill represent the sea. Nor, in the opposite 
 direction, looking towards Helvellyn, is the pros- 
 pect, though totally different, less peculiar: I 
 could fancy myself in Norway and on its higher 
 fells, which surely cannot be wilder or more 
 rugged, or bearing probably a more wintry 
 aspect, every summit we see, and a good part 
 of the general surface, being covered with snow. 
 Pray what is that path-like line descending 
 from the crag, so like a slide, such as boys 
 make for their amusement down a steep rock or 
 bank? 
 
 PiscATOK. It is a sledge track, by which 
 slates are brought from the quarry above, nearly 
 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and it may 
 be over 1000 feet in direct descent to the 
 mountain road. The poor men who work here 
 have a hard and perilous labour ; they accom- 
 pany the sledge in its descent, and when emp- 
 tied of its load, they have to drag it back — 
 
 V 3 
 
294 SEATHWAITE, 
 
 reascending, where from the steepness you 
 would not suppose a man could stand ; and 
 here they live throughout the week, returning 
 to their families only to spend the Sunday. 
 
 Amicus. A hard life indeed, — proving how 
 man may become accustomed to any kind of 
 life : for, I cannot imagine any other more la- 
 borious or less attractive. 
 
 PiscATOR. It is not, I would hope, without 
 some compensating attractions, — those common 
 to the hardy mountaineer, — enjoyments to be 
 felt rather than described, and to which even 
 danger gives a zest. But we have not time to 
 moralise ; we must hasten our return, for the 
 sun is getting low, and I wish to take you into 
 Seathwaite, the Seathwaite of Borrowdale, a 
 recess of the dale well worthy of a visit. 
 
 Amicus. Our dismounting and leading our 
 horses down has warmed my chilled blood. 
 What a pretty torrent, or rather succession 
 of cascades, is this which we have skirted the 
 whole way of the steep descent ! 
 
 PiscATOE. Imagine what it is, as I have seen 
 it after heavy rain. Then it is more than pretty ; 
 and where it reaches the dale and dashes under 
 these widely spreading larches, — nobler trees 
 
« THE FOUR BROTHERSr 295 
 
 than we could expect to find here, — it makes a 
 scene that I have often wished to have trans- 
 ferred to canvas. Our way, now we are passed 
 Seatoller, is over that single-arched bridge to 
 the right ; the road you see passing under that 
 flourishing plantation will take us to Seathwaite. 
 
 Amicus. Here is a new aspect of scenery and 
 a milder air; I could now imagine myself in 
 one of the mountain valleys of Glreece. Those 
 old and large hollies, which are so abundantly 
 scattered over the hill-side on our right, are not 
 unlike the evergreen oak, the ilex, or the more 
 stately oak, the vallania ; and that spacious dry 
 bed of a torrent, which you say you never before 
 saw dry, is exactly like a fiumara of the same 
 region : and that clump of trees before us, which 
 you call " The Four Brothers," reminds me in 
 its funereal hue of a mass of C3rpress. The dark 
 hue of these trees surprises me, exceeding that 
 even of the cypress. Are they ordinary yews ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It was chiefly to show you these 
 yews that I wished you to come here ; not but 
 that Seathwaite has other circumstances im- 
 parting an interest to it. Let us dismount, and 
 fasten our horses to this old holly tree. Now 
 unfold your map ; you see that we are here in 
 u 4 
 
296 EXCESSIVE RAIN-FALL. 
 
 the very heart of the Lake District, in the most 
 central spot amongst the mountains, — these in 
 a manner radiating from hence, and the lakes 
 likewise similarly arranged, as if their basins 
 were rents diverging from this centre. That 
 fiumara-like bed, the bright sky, the mild dry 
 air, — mild at least in comparison with that of 
 the fell we have just left, do not suggest that 
 this mountain valley has a greater fall of rain, 
 than with one exception, any spot even in 
 Europe, where a rain-gauge has been kept.* 
 Yet such I believe is the fact; as many as 160 
 inches having been registered here in twelve 
 months.t A peculiarity this, undoubtedly owing 
 to the position; and what we witness now, 
 denoting extreme drought, is doubtless owing 
 in part to the same cause, — conducive to the 
 water running off rapidly, in conjunction with 
 
 * The exception alluded to is "the Stye" or Sprinkling 
 Fell, about a mile and half from Seathwaite, in a south- 
 westerly direction, and 580 feet above it : there it has 
 been inferred from limited observations that about one 
 third more rains falls than at Seathwaite. See PhiL 
 Trans, for 1851. 
 
 f In one month, the month of February, 1848, the 
 enormous quantity of thirty inches of rain was registered 
 herei 
 
POETRY OF YEWS. 297 
 
 the absence of rain for a longer time than is 
 usual. As to the yews, which I am pleased 
 to find excite your surprise, let me tell you 
 they have not been unsung. They have been 
 the subject of some fine lines by our great poet, 
 who, contrasting them with a yew, not far dis- 
 tant — 
 
 " The pride of Lorton vale, 
 Which to this day stands single in the midst 
 Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore : " 
 
 Says of these, 
 
 " But worthier still of note 
 Are those fraternal four of Borrowdale, 
 Joined in one solemn and capacious grove.'* 
 
 The meditative description of them which 
 follows is happily in accordance with the solem- 
 nity of their aspect, so distinct in character. 
 
 Amicus. Viewed at a little distance, such 
 indeed is their appearance; but now we are 
 under their wide-spreading branches, and see 
 nearer their colour, that which seemed black is 
 a fine dark green, conveying, with their delicate 
 foliage and richly coloured and massive trunks 
 and limbs, rather the idea of beauty and strength, 
 than of gloom and solemnity, of beauty and 
 
298 A NOBLE TREE, 
 
 strength combined, and I might add of comfort, 
 seeing how the ground beneath is free from 
 weeds, and knowing as we do, that, shaded so 
 densely, it is equally protected from night dews 
 and a scorching sun. I have measured the 
 largest of the four, a noble tree in its matu- 
 rity, without any marks of decay or approaching 
 old age. I had expected it would have mea- 
 sured more; four feet from the ground, it is 
 about twenty-five feet in girth. There is a 
 fifth yew, I see, a little detached, but so little 
 as almost to belong to the group. Is it men- 
 tioned by the poet ? 
 
 PiscATOR. No ; no more than those qualities of 
 the trees which you have adverted to; and 
 which, however true, would not ^^have accorded 
 with the train of thought which inspired the 
 verses. Eemember, that as in painting so in 
 poetry, little effect can be produced without 
 unity of design ; and that there is hardly a 
 subject not capable of producing different trains 
 of thought, Eemarkable as these trees we are 
 under are, what think you of another, even more 
 remarkable — an antediluvian ! A few years ago, 
 there was a tree of vast size, that was so re- 
 
PENCIL-LEAD MINE, 299 
 
 ported, situated, as I heard it described, a little 
 higher in the dale. My informant, who saw it 
 about forty years ago, said it was then prostrate, 
 and presented, with its dark cavernous trunk 
 and the trees that grew out of it, a most sin- 
 gular appearance, fully realising at least the 
 idea of great antiquity. Now let us away : time 
 will not allow of our paying a visit to the mine 
 from whence the pencil lead has been obtained ; 
 nor, indeed, is it worth a visit, being no longer 
 worked ; that rent in the side of the hill, about 
 half a mile distant, marks its site. Nor have 
 we time to go to yonder farmhouse, and ques- 
 tion the rain-gauge which is there kept.* We 
 must speed back, or night will overtake us ; and 
 I think I may promise that you will not be dis- 
 pleased in returning by the way we came ; for, 
 in so doing, you will see the dale in a different 
 aspect, with enough of grandeur, and perhaps 
 more of beauty, especially in its middle part, 
 
 * One of the many which were under care of the late 
 Mr. John Fletcher Miller, F.R.S., an accurate and 
 zealous observer, to whom we are indebted for much 
 valuable information respecting the meteorology of the 
 Lake District. 
 
300 MARKS OF GLACIER ACTION. 
 
 with its terrace-like transverse declivities gently 
 sloping, as we shall see them lighted up by the 
 setting sun, — graceful forms, owing, I believe, 
 to glacier action, of which there are other and 
 clear indications in Borrowdale. 
 
COLLOQUY XIL 
 Crummock Water, 
 
 PiSCATOR. 
 
 HOUGrH the wind is from the same 
 unkindly quarter, the north-east, 
 and we can hardly calculate on 
 good fishing, yet having come out 
 we had better not turn back ; and pretty sure 
 that this would be your feeling, I have ordered 
 the ponies : and see, they are brought to take 
 us to Crummock Water. 
 
 Amicus. I am willing and ready ; so let us be 
 off. It has been a rule with me on excursions 
 of this kind to disregard weather : and I do not 
 remember ever to have repented. 
 
 PiscATOR. He who waits for weather ought 
 to have time at command, which you and I 
 have never had. He who waits must necessarily 
 lose time, and probably often patience ; moreover, 
 
302 EXPOSURE TO WEATHER. 
 
 he must lose that variety of atmospheric phe- 
 nomena in which there is so much to excite 
 interest and break the dull uniformity of every- 
 day life. Only those who have lived in the 
 East, under a cloudless sky for months together, 
 can perhaps duly appreciate the feeling. Even 
 the getting wet occasionally from exposure to 
 rain, and having now and then to contend with 
 storms, is not without a certain kind of enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 Amicus. The putting on dry clothes after 
 having been drenched with rain, I allow to b^ 
 enjoyment; and comfortable shelter after ex- 
 posure to wind and cold. I remember once in 
 ascending Etna, when the wind was more 
 violent than was agreeable, and the temperature 
 in the higher regions lower than our Sicilian 
 guides had been accustomed to, on our arrival 
 at the Casa Inglese, which is situated just 
 below the steep ascent of the crater, a lad of 
 the party was so overcome by his sufferings 
 from cold, that he got off his mule cr3dng — a 
 note that was presently converted into laughter, 
 when under cover, aided by the exhilarating 
 effect of a glass of aqua ardente. Even walking 
 in rain I can allow to be pleasant, when it is 
 
PRECAUTIONS, 303 
 
 mild and gentle, bringing out the delicious 
 sweetness of this month of flowers, and accom- 
 panied as it sometimes is in favoured spots by 
 the music of our groves. But, surely you are not 
 an advocate for encountering weather, whether 
 pelting rain or driving storm, likely to be in- 
 jurious to health. 
 
 PiscATOR. In askings you seem to be for- 
 getting your own rule. In reply, I would 
 remark, an angler should be hardy. One of the 
 uses of angling, as I think I said in praising 
 the exercise, is, that it checks effeminacy. 
 At the same time I would not have health 
 neglected or seriously endangered; and with 
 proper precautions, we need entertain no fear 
 on this score. 
 
 Amicus. What are the proper precautions 
 you allude to. I should be glad to be informed 
 of them. 
 
 PiscATOR. They are but few ; such as continu- 
 ing exercise on getting wet, and putting on 
 dry clothes, and especially flannel next the 
 skin, immediately on cessation from exercise. 
 A warm bath is a luxury mostly out of reach on 
 such occasions, but a foot-bath is commonly 
 available, and it is not to be despised : if one is 
 cold, the warmth of the water is presently 
 
304 EFFECTS OF WIND AND SUN. 
 
 conveyed to the whole inner frame by the 
 blood circulating through the extremities. A 
 cup of warm tea, or a basin of warm broth, has 
 the like warming effect, coming in the stomach 
 almost in contact with the great arterial and 
 venous trunks. Hot tea is better even, as less 
 exciting than the aqua ardente you spoke of, or 
 any other spirituous dram, the effect of which 
 is only temporary, and is liable to be followed 
 by depression. Even if perspiring from exer- 
 cise, unavoidable in warm weather, the same 
 precaution of change of clothing is hardly less 
 necessary, or is less conducive to comfort than 
 it is to health. 
 
 Amicus. Now we have got on this subject, 
 tell me, if you can, the best way of resisting 
 what I have often found unpleasant — the getting 
 my face scorched, and lips cracked and ulcerated 
 from exposure on these excursions, — exposure to 
 sun and wind ; and the effect, if I am not mis- 
 taken, is as much from the latter as the former. 
 
 PiscATOR. You are probably right in ex- 
 pressing the opinion that the wind is concerned 
 as well as the sun: it may act by its drying 
 influence as much as the sun does by its 
 stimulating inflaming influence. The latter 
 
SAFEGUARDS, 305 
 
 may be prevented by painting the face black 
 with Indian ink; imitating what nature has 
 done in the instance of the Negro. But that, 
 you will say, is impracticable. The next best 
 safeguard is a wide-brimmed hat ; the hat 
 white, the under surface of the brim black or 
 green. I need not explain to you the rationale 
 of this. And as some protection from the 
 parching influence of the wind, I would recom- 
 mend the rubbing the face and lips before start- 
 ing, with a little sweet oil, or cold cream, or lip- 
 salve, containing oily or fatty matter, whether 
 bear's grease, or what commonly represents it, 
 hog's lard. The ancients understood the use of 
 oil as an external application better than we 
 moderns ; as also the benefit of girding up the 
 loins, when about to be exposed to the weather 
 in taking exercise. Let me advise you, in this 
 latter particular, to follow their example ; it 
 may save you from lumbago — not an enviable 
 malady. A bandage of a few yards, three or 
 four inches wide, of knit worsted — it being 
 elastic — answers the purpose well. I adopted 
 it first in the East, after seeing how our couriers, 
 who in Turkey have to make their long journeys 
 of despatch on horseback, gird themselves well 
 
306 ARMY CLOATHING, 
 
 up before getting into the wide saddle. I 
 would also advise, for exercise, cloathing as light 
 as possible ; that is, no more than is sufficient to 
 afford protection whether from sun or wind, and 
 altogether of woollen, and without lining. It is 
 of importance not to be unduly heated ; light 
 cloathing is advisable on that account ; and 
 if of woollen, it is a tolerable security against 
 being chilled : the lighter it is, the sooner it 
 dries, if exposed to rain. Eeason, it is to be 
 regretted, and science, have hitherto been little 
 consulted in regard to dress ; and least of all 
 where it is most important, as in the instance 
 of our troops, serving in all climates. Think 
 of a board of army-cloathing without a medical 
 officer on it ! But this is of a piece with the 
 ill-regulated diet of our soldiers ; as if diet and 
 cloathing had no connexion with health. 
 
 Amicus. Your mention of oil, reminds me of 
 the Psalmist, who evidently refers to such a 
 use of it as that you recommend, when he speaks 
 of its making the face of man to shine, asso- 
 ciating it (marking its importance) with wine 
 and bread, as the gift of the Almighty. Now 
 to another point : I remember your saying that 
 angling — wading in angling — is one of the best 
 
WADING, AND TREATMENT OF CORNS, 307 
 
 remedies for corns, which I have heard called 
 the opprobrium ckirurffice, and which in their 
 annoyance are certainly one of the petty "mise- 
 ries" of life. Now, though I have waded 
 bravely, as you know, in angling, I have not 
 been rewarded as to my corn, only so much so, 
 that it is less troublesome — abated but not 
 cured. 
 
 PiscATOR. If I spoke of wading as a cure, I 
 expressed myself too strongly : I know no cure 
 for corns ; but this I am sure of, that they may 
 be next to cured by wading, or, what is equi- 
 valent, bathing the feet night and morning in 
 tepid water ; so softening the hardened cuticle 
 of which they consist, and then removing it by 
 assiduous paring (I use a file), and the avoid- 
 ance of pressure by wearing well-made shoes 
 and stockings. 
 
 Amicus. Thanks. Now, pray tell me some- 
 thing of the way we shall go, and the distance. 
 
 PiscATOR. To Scalehill, the comfortable inn 
 close to Crummock Water, where we shall have 
 to leave our horses : the distance is about ten 
 miles. The country through which we are to 
 pass, being on the outskirts of the Lake District, 
 has a very mixed character, in part wild and 
 
 X 2 
 
308 BRAITHWAITE, 
 
 desolate, in part, and for most part, cultivated, 
 not unlike that bordering on Ennerdale in one 
 direction, and on Hawes Water in the opposite, 
 and like each of those rather arable than pastoral, 
 growing largely oats and barley, but little 
 wheat. This pretty suburb of Keswick, which 
 we are now passing through, is Portinscale. 
 
 Amicus. What is the name of this deep 
 hollow, shut in seemingly on all sides, which 
 we are now entering ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is Braithwaite ; a spot of bad 
 character for unwholesomeness, attributed, I 
 do not know how justly, to its confined air and 
 bad drainage. Groitre is said to be common 
 here ; and yet the water is reputed good. 
 
 Amicus. What is this moorland which we are 
 now ascending. Here certainly there is no 
 deficiency of ventilation. 
 
 PiscATOR. This is Windlatter. The guide 
 with whom I first crossed it, maintained that 
 its proper name is Windclatter ; it is so exposed 
 to the winds. And this reminds me of the 
 conversation we then had about storms, and the 
 incidents he related of their effects. Probably 
 you have never heard of what is called by the 
 shepherds " storm-stricken ; " individuals dying 
 
« STORM'STRICKENr 309 
 
 under exposure to a violent wind, accompanied 
 by rain, such as I hope you will never be 
 exposed to, even on my hardening system. I 
 will relate to you one instance, a well authen- 
 ticated one, which occurred only a few years 
 ago in the persons of two men and a boy be- 
 longing to Kentmere, who went thence to fish 
 in some of the mountain tarns. The time was 
 towards the fall, early in November. Not re- 
 turning, their friends became alarmed, and a 
 search was made for them, the people of the 
 country all round joining in it, according to 
 custom. When hope of finding them was 
 nearly given up, they were discovered all three 
 together under the shelter of a rock ; the bodies 
 of the men resting in a sitting posture, that of 
 the boy on the knee of one of the men, with a 
 bit of bread in his hand — all three wet and cold, 
 and stark dead, without any appearance of bodily 
 hurt. They were considered storm-stricken ; 
 overtaken, as it was known they had been, 
 by a violent gale accompanied by heavy rain. 
 
 Amicus. I can readily believe in the loss 
 of life under such circumstances, even though 
 the temperature of the air might have been 
 many degrees above the freezing point. A 
 
 X 3 
 
310 VALE OF LORTON: 
 
 strong wind, acting on a wet surface, has a 
 wonderful effect in reducing temperature ; and 
 the body has little power to resist it when 
 weakened by fatigue and long fasting, as was 
 probably the case in this instance. The me- 
 morable winter of 1854 in the Crimea, afforded 
 too many and disastrous proofs of the fatal 
 agency of these causes combined. Now we 
 have reached the highest part of the road, and 
 are leaving behind us the dreary moorland, 
 how pleasant, wide, and extended is the pros- 
 pect that is opening out before us. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is the vale of Lorton on 
 our right, and I fancy I see the spot where the 
 gigantic yew, " its pride," is situated. Where 
 the smoke ascends is Cockermouth; and beyond, 
 towards the horizon, is the Solway and the 
 Scottish coast. 
 
 Amicus. You have well called this a border 
 and transition land : on our left only hills are 
 to be seen, and we appear to be making the 
 circuit of their belt. 
 
 PiscATOR. True ; our way has described 
 nearly half a circle, an unavoidable detour to 
 escape these mountains. 
 
 Amicus. Is this Scalehill? If so, we are 
 sooner arrived than I expected. 
 
SCALE HILL, 311 
 
 PiscATOR. This is Scalehill, and is it 
 not charmingly situated? There is the river 
 below, flowing out of the lake here hid from 
 us ; and the many singing birds we hear making 
 music is a sure sign that there is no want 
 of wood and cover. A friend, who resides in 
 the neighbourhood, has placed his boat at our 
 disposal; we shall find it, I have no doubt, 
 ready in the boat-house close to the water. 
 
 Amicus. Now we are a little off the shore, 
 this lake reminds me of that of Ennerdale. 
 Wliat is its size ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Both in form and size it does 
 not differ much from the one you have named, 
 being about three miles in length, three-quarters 
 of a mile in width where broadest, and about 
 a quarter of a mile where narrowest. Its 
 depth is such that it rarely freezes; in its 
 deepest parts, it has been found to be twenty- 
 two fathoms: the last winter but one, the 
 greatest portion of it was covered with ice, 
 which I have been assured had not occurred 
 for forty years before. 
 
 Amicus. As there are gleams of sunshine 
 
 X 4 
 
312 C RUM MOCK WATER, 
 
 and occasionally a good ripple, I do not despair 
 of some success. What flies should I use ? 
 
 PiscATOR. At this season, the March Brown 
 answers well here, and flies of that kind, the 
 prevailing colour of which is brown. Ah ! there 
 was a rise, and the fish is hooked. Boatman, 
 be ready with the landing-net. It plays feebly. 
 See, now we have him, he is not worth keeping ; 
 for though exceeding half a pound, he is ill- 
 fed, flabby, and unfit for the table. I shall 
 return him to his element, to get into better 
 condition. This lake, like Wastwater, is not 
 an early one, and probably owing to the 
 same cause, the coldness of its water. You 
 have a fish, but it is a small one, yet of a 
 length — about nine inches — that according 
 to the rules established here, may be killed; 
 a licence, you will say and truly, showing that 
 the trout of this lake are not first-rate in size. 
 
 Amicus. I hope they make compensation 
 in quality. The fish I have just taken is in 
 good condition, though not equal in brightness 
 or thickness to the trout you captured in Der- 
 wentwater. 
 
 PiscATOE. When in best condition, they are 
 hardly equal to the Derwentwater trout, — the 
 
FISH OF THE LAKE, 513 
 
 feed here, I apprehend, being less abundant, 
 and inferior. The Crummock tront rarely 
 much exceeds half a pound, and seldom, or 
 ever, cuts red when dressed y when best, its 
 flesh, if I may so call the muscle of a fish, 
 is cream-coloured. 
 
 Amicus. WTiat other fish are found in this 
 lake? From its depth and the clearness of 
 its water, I infer there are charr. 
 
 PiscATOR. You are right; and besides 
 charr there are pike — confined to one part 
 where the water is shallow and reedy ; and also 
 perch and eels, and occasionally sea-trout. The 
 charr, excepting when young and small, is 
 rarely if ever taken with the fly, and not often 
 with the minnow. 
 
 Amicus. Have the young charr the markings 
 of the parr and young trout ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I cannot speak from my own 
 experience ; an acquaintance of mine who often 
 fishes here, and has frequently taken them, 
 has assured me that they are destitute of those 
 markings: but as those he took might have 
 lost the bars which characterise the early stage 
 of growth, I must consider the point unde- 
 termined. He called those he spoke of charr- 
 
314 SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS. 
 
 smelts, and described them as about six inches 
 long. 
 
 Amicus. The likeness of this lake to that of 
 Ennerdale increases as we advance. What 
 a grand mass of mountain is that on our 
 left ; and how fine are those mountains in the 
 distance, towering one over the other. 
 
 PiscATOK. The first you pointed to, the 
 nearest, that on the left, on the brow of which 
 snow is still resting, is Grrasmore; the more 
 distant are Eed Pike, High Stile, Grreat Grable, 
 the Haycocks, Grreen Grable, and Honister 
 Crag. 
 
 Amicus. Pray what is the name of that 
 dale, scooped as it were from the great moun- 
 tain mass of Grrasmore ; and so finely modelled 
 as if a work of exquisite art, if I may so speak, 
 a perfect mountain corry, as the Highlanders 
 would call it ? 
 
 PiscATOR. It is Eanadale; and, to anticipate 
 your questioning, those headlands which we 
 are nearing, and where the lake appears to ter- 
 minate, are Linn Crag and Hawes Point. 
 
 Amicus. The upper portion of the lake, 
 just opening, pleases me much. How pretty 
 are these wooded islets on our right ; and how 
 
USE OF A WOODEN LEG, 315 
 
 humanising, I may say, is that neat cottage 
 mansion on our left, with sheltering plan- 
 tations of young and flourishing trees just 
 bursting into leaf. 
 
 PiscATOR. Those are Scale and Holm islets. 
 That neat dwelling belongs to a worthy old 
 gentleman, the proprietor of half the lake and 
 of a good deal of the land that we see. I have 
 heard an anecdote of him which may amuse 
 you. Owing to some accident, he lost a leg, 
 the place of which is supplied by a wooden 
 one. At some merry meeting or carouse, where 
 the excitement exceeded the bounds of good 
 manners, and his ire was roused (it was before 
 he felt the infirmities of age), it is reported, and 
 well vouched for, that, having no cane or stick 
 or other implement at hand, in his impatience 
 to restore order by threatening the unruly with 
 chastisement, he unbuckled and brandished 
 his wooden leg, and with the best effect, both 
 in the way of awe and merriment, if the two 
 can be united. 
 
 Amicus. The first instance I ever heard of 
 a leg being converted into an arm, and so well 
 employed to preserve order. 
 
 PiscATOK. One story brings up another. 
 
316 A TEMPTATIOX, 
 
 Eelating this reminds me of an anecdote I heard 
 at the same time, the subject of which was 
 a young clergyman, a native of the country, 
 who then had recently taken orders. He was 
 remarkable for his bodily strength and agility, 
 and had been distinguished as a wrestler. His 
 love of the sport tempted him to witness a 
 wrestling match. It was a grand occasion of its 
 kind; two rival parties, whether counties or 
 parishes, I forget which, being opposed. When 
 the struggle for mastery was well advanced, the 
 odds were so decidedly against the side to which 
 he belonged, that fears began to spread of defeat : 
 then he was appealed to, earnestly entreated 
 to doff his black coat on the emergency, and 
 come to the rescue. " Nay ! nay ! (he said) he 
 could not do that." The contest continued, the 
 best man of his party was thrown. He could 
 stand it no longer, — so the story goes, — he 
 off with his black coat, entered the ring, and 
 threw his man ; and, as you may suppose, was 
 hailed with acclamation as victor by his people. 
 
 Amicus. I hope this was the greatest clerical 
 irregularity he ever committed. 
 
 PiscATOK. Here, where we are, near Scale 
 Island ; the fishing ground is good, and as a 
 
SCALE FORCE. 317 
 
 good breeze has sprung up, let us try our best 
 skill. 
 
 Amicus. Our skill has not been exerted with 
 much effect. We have taken altogether only- 
 eight fish, the largest, little exceeding half a 
 pound. Is it worth while to persist now the 
 wind is failing? 
 
 PiscATOK. I think not. We have had no 
 better sport than we expected on starting : but 
 we have seen the fish of this lake, and that is 
 something ; and, what is better, we have seen the 
 lake itself and enjoyed its scenery. We will 
 finish, if you please, by landing and going to 
 Scale Force, — a waterfall which is near ; it is 
 only about half a mile from the shore. It is one 
 of the celebrities of the place, and you may as 
 well see it, though, owing to the dryness of the 
 season, you will see it to disadvantage. 
 
COLLOQUY XIIL 
 Windermei^e, 
 
 Amicus. 
 EEJOICE that the unkindly, cold 
 and parching east and north-east 
 winds have given place to the mild 
 and genial south and south-west, 
 and the drought to a moist air and refreshing 
 showers. What a change has taken place in 
 the face of the country within the last two or 
 three days ! the outburst of foliage, the flower- 
 ing of shrubs, the growth of grass in the pas- 
 tures, altogether, is more like what is witnessed 
 in regions approaching the arctic in their cli- 
 mate than what is usual in our average tempe- 
 rate one. See, the oak is coming into leaf and 
 flower, and the other late trees, even the ash, the 
 latest of all, is bursting its black buds and open- 
 
A SPEING OUTBURST. 319 
 
 ing its delicate blossom. As I went to and 
 came from Eydal Mount this morning — that 
 delightful walk by the high road skirting Eydal 
 Park — it was interesting to observe the advance 
 of vegetation, and especially in the forest trees, 
 and the variations as to forwardness, not only 
 of different kinds, but also of individuals of the 
 same kind. All the sycamores were nearly in 
 full leaf, and in the bright light green of their 
 leaves resembling as nearly as possible the 
 Oriental plane; so were the beeches, and so 
 were the limes; some of the oaks were just 
 showing their tender delicate leaves, whilst 
 others had them tolerably unfolded. What I 
 witnessed recalled the remarks you made on the 
 vis insita, and of the influence of temperature, 
 in our conversation at Keswick. 
 
 PiscATOE. Is it not this exhibition of the active 
 powers of Nature which imparts such a charm 
 to spring — the cheerful and endearing season — - 
 as much so as the aspect of those failing powers 
 tinges with melancholy, even amidst its more 
 brilliant hues, the autumnal season? I hope 
 in your morning walk your attention was not 
 exclusively directed to what you have so well 
 described. I hope you looked upwards, and to 
 
320 CHARMING SCENERY. 
 
 Fairfield, from which the snow has now entirely 
 disappeared. 
 
 Amicus. That I did, and with admiration, — 
 high clouds breasting it like balloons, and itself 
 of that beautiful deep blue, blending and yet 
 contrasted with the green below in admirable 
 harmony. The colouring, as seen from your 
 garden, which I passed through on my return, 
 seemed to me perfect : in the foreground, the 
 rich bloom of the fruit trees, the apple, the 
 cherry, the pear ; Kydal Park and Forest with its 
 varied grounds forming the middle distance, 
 and Fairfield and Scandale Pike the remote. 
 In viewing this charming whole, I had very 
 much the feeling of Virgil's shepherd of non 
 invideo, miror magis! 
 
 PiscATOE. A just compliment. As to fruit 
 trees, I wish they were more cultivated in this 
 district; and both for use and ornament, for 
 what trees are more beautiful in flower ? But 
 enough of our scenery. Before you leave us, 
 we have agreed to have one more day's fishing. 
 I hear that charr are now being taken in Win- 
 dermere ; and, if you please, it shall be there, 
 and to-day, for the weather seems favourable ; 
 should we not have success, you will witness 
 
WATERHEAD.— WINDERMERE. 321 
 
 the mode of fishing, and have an opportunity of 
 seeing more of this, the largest, and on the 
 whole, I think, the most beautiful of our English 
 lakes. I have ordered a boat to be in readiness ; 
 and the fisherman to whom it belongs, and who 
 will acccompany us, is skilled in the kind of 
 angling to which you will be introduced, but 
 which, being little better than poaching, as I 
 think you will consider it, I am sure you will 
 never follow. We will drive down to Waterhead. 
 A pair of swallows that for several years have 
 built their nests and reared a family under the 
 eaves above the window of my dressing-room, 
 made their first appearance this morning (May 
 20), and have already commenced repairing 
 their home, broken into by the house-sparrows. 
 I hail their advent as a sign of settled mild 
 weather. How pleasant it was, as the harbinger 
 of so much that is agreeable, to hear again 
 their gentle twitter ! 
 
 Amicus. So, this is Waterhead. Why, here is 
 a little fleet of boats, and all, you say, for hire ; 
 and there is a steamboat, and you tell me there 
 is another, — indications these of a busy place, 
 and, I infer, exclusively for pleasure. 
 
 PiscATOR. Your inference is right. As beauty 
 
 T 
 
322 FISH OF WINDERMERE, 
 
 is the staple of the district, so pleasuring, to use 
 a colloquialism, may be said to be its business, 
 and especially here. 
 
 Amicus. All I see around me, the many 
 neat cottages and gardens, the many hand- 
 some villas and grounds, shew this : nor am I 
 surprised, looking at the general features of 
 the country, hereabout particularly, where, with 
 so much near beauty, there is combined so much 
 of grandeur as displayed in the distant and 
 girding mountains. 
 
 PiscATOE. As the fisherman says we may have 
 a chance of killing a trout with the rod, we will 
 commence our angling in our ordinary way. 
 Let me advise you to put on at least one green 
 drake, and let it be the tail fly. This is about 
 the time that the green drake comes on, and 
 no fly is more attractive to the trout or charr. 
 Boatman, take us off the mouth of the river ; 
 that is good ground for trout. The river I 
 speak of is the one formed by the junction of 
 the Brathay with the Eothay. 
 
 Amicus. By the way tell me something of 
 the fish of the lake, and the mode of fishing 
 which you spoke of as. poaching, and something 
 too, if you please, of the lake itself; that I may 
 be prepared. 
 
CHARR. 323 
 
 PiscATOR. Of the latter, a good part you will 
 see yourself to-day, and I am sure you will be 
 pleased with it : I wish I could give you the 
 same assurance respecting the fish, which are 
 more easily named and described than caught. 
 They are the trout and charr, the pike and 
 perch, and eel. A salmon has occasionally 
 been taken, but hitherto so rarely, that Win- 
 dermere cannot be considered a salmon lake. All 
 the fish of this lake are good of their kind ; 
 none better. The trout range in size from half 
 a pound and under to three and four pounds 
 and over, though fish so heavy as the latter are 
 not often taken. The charr are mostly of about 
 half a pound, and rather under than over this 
 weight. The fisherman we have with us says 
 the largest he has ever taken weighed nineteen 
 ounces. Two kinds are met with, which are 
 called the silver and red or gilt charr ; the latter 
 distinguished by its bright red metallic lustre 
 markings. It is said to spawn later than the 
 other, viz., in the beginning of February ; the 
 silver or light coloured charr spawning chiefly 
 in November. I apprehend they are merely 
 varieties, owing their differences chiefly to their 
 feed, and it may be to the quality of the water 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 ANGLING SEASON. 
 
 in which they are found ; the silver charr 
 frequenting parts of the lake of less depth than 
 the haunts of the red charr. The best season 
 for angling here, and both for trout and charr, 
 is from the last week of April to the first week 
 of June, or if cool, to the middle of this month. 
 The pike is taken throughout the spring and 
 summer. Perch fishing is best in the very 
 height of summer. The same baits serve for 
 the trout and charr, viz., the artificial fly and 
 minnow ; but the former is more successful 
 with the trout ; the latter with the minnow. 
 Ah ! a rise ! and another ; and this has taken 
 the fly. Be ready with the landing net. See, 
 a trout of at least a pound ; thick and well fed, 
 and how like that of Derwentwater ! 
 
 Amicus. I have risen two or three fish, but 
 in vain. 
 
 PiscATOR. We will change our ground. Take 
 us, boatman, nearer that point. If you have 
 no success there, we will try better and more 
 distant ground. 
 
 Amicus. What you call a point, I would 
 rather call a headland, it is so bold ; and how 
 finely wooded! Those dark Scotch firs here 
 have a grand effect. Were I to give way to 
 
DIMENSIONS OF LAKE, 325 
 
 feeling for mere enjoyment, I should be tempted 
 to follow the example of yonder lone angler, 
 who has cast anchor, and who is fishing listlessly, 
 I presume, for perch. 
 
 PiscATOR. Eegarding him, I may repeat the 
 words you said this morning, but in a different 
 sense, haud invideo, miror magis ! I should 
 be sorry for our angling to be a dreamy pursuit. 
 Eest assured, the more active it is, with exercise 
 for its object, and recreation, the better and 
 more healthful it is. The trouts are not in a 
 taking mood here. Let us away to the islands. 
 If anywhere, there we are most likely to do 
 better. We will trowl by the way with our 
 flies and with my artificial minnow. The dis- 
 tance we have to go is about four or five miles ; 
 nearly half the length of the lake, which is 
 reckoned ten, or by the boatmen, tempted 
 perhaps by their interests to make the most of 
 the distance, twelve. And I may add now, 
 in reply to your former inquiry, that where 
 widest it is about a mile, and where deepest 
 about forty fathoms. This depth, and the vast 
 body of water, commonly secures it from 
 freezing. During the many years I have known 
 the lake, I have only once seen it frozen entirely 
 
 Y 3 
 
326 WINDERMERE AND THE 
 
 over; and that was in the ruthless winter of 
 1854-55, which, in the annals of war, and the 
 sufferings and losses of our brave army, was as 
 memorable as that of 1812-13 (when it was 
 also frozen over) for the disastrous retreat of the 
 French under the first Napoleon. This brings 
 the East to my recollection, and especially the 
 Bosphorus, for the resemblance of Winder- 
 mere to the Bosphorus is remarkable. Both 
 have the appearance of noble rivers ; indeed the 
 latter is a salt-river flowing constantly from the 
 Black Sea into the Sea of Marmora ; both are 
 skirted by high grounds and ornamented with 
 villas, groves and gardens. I remember once, 
 on entering the Bosphorus from the Black Sea, 
 hearing a Turk from the highlands of AsiaMinor, 
 remark (it was his first visit) " he had never 
 before a just idea of Paradise." Might not an 
 observation somewhat of the same kind be ex- 
 pected to come from the denizen of one of our 
 great manufacturing towns on first coming in 
 sight of Windermere, ^\^lich of the two is most 
 beautiful, it may be difficult to determine. 
 Windermere has the advantage in its girding 
 mountains, ever varying in appearance with the 
 state of the atmosphere, and the degree and 
 
BOSPHORUS COMPARED. 327 
 
 direction of the sun's light, especially towards 
 its rising and setting. The Bosphorus has its 
 advantage in the C3rpress groves rising here and 
 there along its shores, in the stateliness of some 
 of its palaces, its picturesque minarets, and in 
 the purity and azure blue of its waters, and I 
 may add in the greater animation imparted to its 
 course, not only in the many graceful caiques 
 constantly plying in its channel, but also in the 
 innumerable sea-fowl, many of them as grace- 
 ful, there in restless movement, and from 
 being unmolested, showing a strange (to us 
 strange) fearlessness of man. Nor let me 
 forget another peculiarity and charm in this 
 month, of which Windermere is destitute, the 
 nightingales, which abound in its groves, and 
 early and late fill the air with melody. Perhaps 
 you may consider the wandering voice of the 
 cuckoo, the song of the thrush, and of the many 
 warblers which come to us so pleasantly over 
 the water from the nearest wood, a tolerable 
 substitute. Pray think so. Were we a fort- 
 night later, we might have a pleasure which I 
 never experienced on the Bosphorus, the breeze 
 scented delicately and deliciously by the lily of 
 the valley, a flower growing wild and abun- 
 
 Y 4 
 
328 WRAY CASTLE, 
 
 dantly on two or three of the islets we are ap- 
 proaching, and which from that circumstance 
 are named " Lily of the Valley Islands." 
 
 Amicus. How gracefully the ground on our, 
 right rises and falls ! all the minor hills below 
 the mountains have the same soft perfect lines 
 of beauty. 
 
 PiscATOR. That is in accordance with the 
 general character of the district, here remark- 
 ably well exemplified; and which, as I have 
 before said, I believe is referrible to glacier 
 action, the tendency of which is to remove by 
 its grinding operation all asperities. 
 
 Amicus. What a contrast between that 
 massive, dark, rectilinear castle and the 
 cheerful green bosom-like hill on which it 
 stands ! What is its history ? I hope there are 
 legends and tales of romance associated with it. 
 Has it a drawbridge and wet ditch, and other 
 appurtenances of a baronial stronghold ? 
 
 PiscATOR. Observe it carefully, and you will 
 no longer entertain such a hope. That is Wray 
 Castle, and is altogether a modern building, and 
 erected by its present proprietor and inhabitant, 
 who has too much knowledge of sanitary con- 
 ditions to surround himself with stagnant water. 
 
SINGULAR PHENOMENA. 329 
 
 making an enemy to health where there is no 
 fear of neighbouring hostility. As to the 
 structure itself we need not criticise it : it is 
 well placed, and at a distance may well pass for 
 what you supposed it to be, and have the 
 desired effect on the uninformed mind and the 
 careless eye. On the other side, a little lower 
 down, you may see the grand chimneys of 
 Calgarth, that which was once a hall now a 
 farm house, with which some traditions are 
 connected, and a story, too marvellous to be true, 
 of a skull which had no resting place out of 
 Calgarth, resuming its place as often as it was 
 removed. As well authenticated, I may mention, 
 that Windermere itself occasionally exhibits 
 singular phenomena ; one of them of a spectral 
 appearance. What think you of a white horse, 
 such as the spectre war-steed of the O'Donnough 
 at Killarney, being seen passing over the lake ; 
 and what of an iris on its surface rivalling a 
 rainbow? One has been vouched for by a 
 popular writer, who says he witnessed it himself; 
 the. other by a man of science, to whom we are 
 indebted for valuable information respecting the 
 meteorology of the district, especially for a 
 record of its rain. 
 
3S0 BELLEGRANGE, 
 
 Amicus. Of coarse the one is as much a 
 natural appearance as the other. The phantom 
 horse, I suppose, you will agree with me, may- 
 be referred to a flitting mist somewhat of 
 equine form, and the rainbow iridiscence to re- 
 flected broken light from a sooty film spread 
 over the surface. In this manner, the latter, if 
 I recollect rightly, was explained by the scientific 
 observer.* As we proceed along this shore, so 
 finely wooded on our right, with its succession 
 of rocky promontories, where already the broom 
 is in flower enlivening the dark heath, one may 
 well dispense with angling, — trowling, I would 
 say, at least, for the first voyage, is an appro- 
 priate manner of fishing, nowise diverting the 
 attention. What is that secluded embowered 
 house just coming into view? 
 
 PiscATOR. That is Bellegrange ; and probably 
 because it is so solitary and so embowered in 
 wood, it is often without a tenant ; and yet few 
 spots are more beautiful or have in immediate 
 proximity pleasanter walks or drives, or are 
 more favourably situated for enjoying the 
 
 ♦ Mr. J. F. Miller. See New Ed. Phil. Journal. 
 
BELLEISLAND, 831 
 
 beauties of the lake and its sports : proof, is it 
 not, that solitude and seclusion are not at- 
 tractive to social man? We are now near the 
 island and our fishing ground, and let us be 
 prepared. 
 
 Amicus. Eeally these wooded islands are 
 charming. Here Windermere, I think, rivals 
 Killarney ! \\Tiat an intricacy of channels 1 
 What an admixture of headlands and islands ! 
 Did you not assure me that there is a greater 
 extent of lake below, I should have supposed 
 that here is its termination, the view beyond is 
 so entirely intercepted. 
 
 PiscATOR. This is the island region of the lake, 
 — the islands its Cyclades, if I may so call them i 
 they and their grouping suggest the name ; they 
 are twelve or thirteen in number. All of them 
 are uninhabited, excepting the largest Belle- 
 island, on which a modern house has been built 
 after the manner of the Pantheon at Eome, on 
 the site of an ancient mansion that belonged to 
 the fighting race of the Philipsons, which in the 
 time of the Great Eebellion, when surrounded 
 by a Parliamentary force, stood a siege under the 
 most daring of the family, " Kobin the Devil," 
 
332 A DARING DEED, 
 
 that daring Cavalier whose iron head-piece is 
 now hanging in the parish church of Kendal.* 
 
 Amicus. This is an angler's paradise, if the 
 sport be any way in proportion to the surround- 
 ing beauty. There ! I rose a fish, and he is 
 hooked, and now he is landed ; a nice trout of 
 at least three-quarters of a pound, an auspicious 
 beginning. 
 
 PiscATOE. You were too sanguine. Not 
 another rise have we seen, either at the natural 
 or artificial fly. The boatman says the fish are 
 sulky, and he augurs a change of weather. See, 
 the Old Man of Coniston is almost hid in mist, 
 and clouds are collecting about all the higher 
 mountains, and how fine is the effect of the at- 
 
 * The siege was raised by his brother, with a force 
 from Carlisle ; we are told, that "the next day being 
 Sunday, he with three or four more rode to Kendal to 
 take revenge of some of the adverse party there, passed 
 the watch, and rode into the church, up one aisle and 
 down another." But not finding the person he was in 
 quest of, he '' was unhorsed by the guards on his return 
 and his girths broken, but his companions relieved him 
 by a desperate charge ; and clapping his saddle on with- 
 out any girth, he vaulted into the saddle, killed a sentinel, 
 and galloped away and returned to the island by two 
 o'clock. Upon the occasion of this, and other like 
 adventures, he obtained the appellation aforesaid of 
 Rohin the Devil.''' — Nicholson and Burn's Antiquities. 
 
LILY OF THE VALLEY ISLAND, 333 
 
 mospheric haze and low clouds in increasing their 
 apparent alitude ! This nearest islet is one of the 
 Lily of the Valley Islands. You must land on it, 
 for such a spot is not of every-day occurrence. 
 
 Amicus. I have enjoyed our little island 
 ramble. Never before have I seen the charm- 
 ing flower that gives a name to the islet grow- 
 ing wild, and never I think, before, have I ever 
 seen such a variety of native wood in so small 
 a space and such a variety and profusion of wild 
 flowers. Here is a handful that I have col- 
 lected, the primrose, the blue bell, the lesser 
 celandine, the wood anemone, the ranunculus, 
 and others with which I am not familiar. 
 
 PiscATOK. I regret that the pride of the 
 island, the lily of the valley, is not yet in 
 flower ; had it been, another sense would have 
 been gratified. A charm of this island and the 
 adjoining ones is that they are without en- 
 tangling brakes or marshy swamps, are dry, and 
 everywhere accessible, as if under a kindly in- 
 fluence checking the growth of all that is 
 noxious and offensive, affording shade and 
 shelter without closeness ; a spot, where a 
 Jaques might rest and meditate ; and where, at 
 
334 MODE OF LATH-FISHING. 
 
 the foot of yonder yew-tree, you might almost 
 expect to see a philosopher of his mood recum- 
 bent. Now to our boat again, and homeward : 
 and on our way we will trowl for charr, using 
 the lath, that you may witness the kind of fish- 
 ing that I promised you should see. Fisherman, 
 pray get your tackle ready. 
 
 Amicus. This lath-tackle is cumbrous and 
 troublesome. It may be killing, but the 
 managing of it cannot be agreeable. I see the 
 board, which you call the lath, is worked on the 
 principle of the boy's kite. What is the length 
 of the main line and what that of the droppers 
 to which the minnow-baited hooks are at- 
 tached ? 
 
 PiscATOE. The main is about sixty yards ; the 
 first dropper about twenty-four yards, with eight 
 yards of gut; the second about twenty-two, 
 and the third, the last, that nearest the board, 
 about twenty, each with the same length of gut 
 as the first. You see the boatman fastens the 
 end of the line to a pole which he fixes erect, 
 and now that he resumes his oars, and impels 
 the boat gently through the water, he fixes his 
 eyes on the line with the hope of seeing it 
 vibrate, the sign of a fish being hooked. 
 
ROMAN' REMAINS. 335 
 
 Amicus. My patience is exhausted. A good 
 half-hour has been spent in this lath-trowling 
 and fruitlessly. It is getting cold, and I am 
 getting chilled. Let us give it up and hasten 
 home. I shall be glad to take an oar. The 
 mountains that are yet visible are getting 
 darker and darker. We shall be fortunate if 
 we escape a wetting before we land. The 
 fisherman tells me that last spring, in this very 
 month, he took in one afternoon two dozen and 
 three charr, fishing where we are and in the 
 same manner. I can hardly credit it. 
 
 PiscATOR. I am not displeased that we have 
 had no success with the lath ; I should be bet- 
 ter pleased were it always the same. That it 
 occasionally is a murderous method cannot be 
 doubted ; indeed, apart from that it has nothing 
 to recommend it, and I am sure it will never be 
 liked by the genuine angler, who does not angle 
 for his bread, but for recreation and exercise. 
 We will land at the confluence of the two 
 rivers ; and in our walk home I shall be able to 
 point out the remains of a Roman encampment 
 preserved not in stone but in turf, which, how- 
 ever paradoxical it may appear, is often more 
 enduring. 
 
336 ROMAN ROAD. 
 
 Amicus. What a width of purple brightness 
 is given by that great copper-coloured beech 
 expanding its young leaves in the grounds of 
 Croft Lodge ! I never before felt disposed to 
 admire this variety of tree. Whilst at a certain 
 distance, I saw distinctly the outlines of the en- 
 campment, which you say was Eoman, now I 
 am near they have disappeared. It seems 
 strange, considering the nature of this country, 
 that the Eomans should have penetrated into 
 it. ^\Tiat could have attracted them ? 
 
 PiscATOK. That they were well acquainted 
 with the district is certain — there are so many 
 vestiges of them, in forts, encampments and 
 roads ; of the latter, the most remarkable 
 being along the summits of one of the higher 
 mountain ranges, still known by the name of 
 "High Street." What the attractions were 
 must be matter of conjecture : if mere love of 
 enterprise, extension of territory, and the lust 
 of conquest and possession, were not sufficient, 
 under the impulse of which they overran and 
 subdued so large a portion of the ancient world, 
 — rest assured, it was not the beauty of the 
 scenery, of mountain, lake and forest that drew 
 them here. The taste for these, the cultivated 
 taste, is modern. 
 
LOVE OF ENTERPRISE, 337 
 
 Amicus. True ! That same love of enterprise, 
 of contending with and overcoming difficulties, 
 that same love of distinction which impelled 
 the early navigators in their hazardous voyages, 
 the same that has gained us our Eastern em- 
 pire, and which is never or rarely absent 
 from the energetic man. Even in our sports, 
 our river and field-sports, do not we see the 
 same displayed, though in a less marked but 
 more harmless manner than in the field of 
 blood and strife — unless, indeed, the greater 
 exertions and triumphs, those of conquering 
 armies, lead, as was long the case amongst the 
 Komans, to a better government and an ad- 
 vancing civilisation ? We are losing sight of 
 the river and lake, both objectively and sub- 
 jectively, if I may use these far fetched meta- 
 physical terms, and too soon I shall have to 
 retrace my steps, rather, I should say, re- 
 turning as I purpose to do by the express train, 
 rush back to busy and hurried city life. Let 
 me here, for where I can do it more appro- 
 priately, thank you for the pleasure I have 
 had in your company in this your I^ake District 
 and in these our fishing excursions. 
 
COLLOQUY XIV. 
 Sunday and Sunday Musings, 
 
 Amicus. 
 THANK you for having persuaded 
 me to stay over the Sunday and 
 for having taken me to your new 
 church. I admire its interior, and 
 even more its situation, commanding from the 
 rising ground on which it stands and from its 
 position such charming views both towards 
 your mountains and lake. The memorial win- 
 dows too in which it is so rich, especially those 
 to the poet and his female relations, to which 
 you specially called my attention in the Words- 
 worth — chapel, if I may so call it — pleased 
 me much. They are a grateful and graceful 
 tribute, and addressed to the eye are the more 
 likely in their sentiment to reach the hearts 
 
SUNDAY FISHING, 
 
 and understanding of the uneducated, and ex- 
 cite a desire to know the poet and his writings. 
 
 As I stood admiring the prospect, looking to- 
 wards Windermere and feeling the mild breeze 
 from the lake, so auspicious to angling, I was 
 not without a longing to be afloat on its surface, 
 or by the river side rod in hand. 
 
 PiscATOR. I have often on a Sunday expe- 
 rienced the same temptation ; and when a 
 younger man and with somewhat more latitudi- 
 narianism, and amongst Eoman Catholics, I 
 have occasionally given way to it, where by so 
 doing no offence would be given, reconciling 
 myself to the yielding with the reflection that 
 such gentle exercise on solitary and secluded 
 waters was a better mode of spending time than 
 idling it in desultory talk or in thoughts as 
 desultory. And the old fisherman who was 
 usually my companion, himself a Eoman Catho- 
 lic, was even more strongly of my opinion, and 
 always concluded, when his opinion of Sunday 
 fishing was asked, with saying, " We might do 
 things very much worse." Let me add, that 
 when we did fish on a Sunday, it was only when 
 the weather was peculiarly tempting, and that 
 we engaged in it, as well as I remember more 
 z % 
 
340 SUNDAY'S REST. 
 
 sedately, and made it, even more than common, 
 " the contemplative man's recreation." 
 
 Amicus. I can easily imagine that in such 
 situations as those you allude to, amongst the 
 gentle murmurs of the ever-flowing water in its 
 course to the ocean, there to find its rest for a 
 time, analogous to our rest in the grave, as 
 the vapour which rises from the same ocean 
 may be held to be analogous to the resurgent 
 spirit; or on the secluded lake, — there may 
 be an almost involuntary disposition to serious 
 thought and religious musings, especially on 
 this day, whatever the form of creed, — 
 a recurring from the past and present to the 
 mysterious future, that mystery of mysteries, 
 beginning where life, mortal life, ends. But 
 even with this admission it is best, I think, to 
 shun the temptation, and make the Sabbath a 
 day of rest. 
 
 PiscATOR. Yes; but not after the Jewish 
 fashion ; remembering that " The Sabbath was 
 made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." 
 Let it be a day of rest from toil, and devoted to 
 man's higher wants, religious and intellectual, 
 including such pursuits, I would even say 
 
A ROMAN CATHOLIC CONGREGATION. 341 
 
 amusements, as tend to raise him in the scale of 
 being, and make him better and happier. 
 
 Amicus. On a second visit to Donegal, at- 
 tracted there again by the pleasure I had in my 
 first, that made in your company, spending 
 the Sunday at Grweedore, and abstaining from 
 angling, I went to the Catholic chapel, about 
 five miles from the hotel, situated in a wild 
 spot, a desert of sand and bog ; the sand hills 
 skirting the sea, the bog constituting the land. 
 There I witnessed an interesting scene ; some 
 hundreds of people collected from all the 
 country round, all neatly and cleanly dressed, 
 and orderly behaved ; some arriving on horse- 
 back, man and wife on the same horse, he in 
 the saddle or pad, she behind holding by him, 
 seated on the crupper, but more on foot, the 
 men commonly walking apart and so the wo- 
 men, and the latter, whetht^r married or single, 
 distinguishable, the former ^v^earing a cap, the 
 latter their heads naked, their hair neatly and 
 becomingly parted and plaited. The form of ser- 
 vice was that of the mass, high mass, and was per- 
 formed with all its due rites, and attended to on 
 the part of the people with all due reverence. 
 Indeed, the ceremony in its forms and effects 
 
342 INSTINCTIVE RELIGIOUS FEELING. 
 
 seemed to me a striking instance of the instinc- 
 tive religious feeling belonging to man ; the cere- 
 mony to the majority of the congregation, as re- 
 gards the words, being in a dead language, to 
 them an unknown tongue ; and yet the effect, 
 notwithstanding, as I believe, a decidedly reli- 
 gious one, and I would hope one beneficial to 
 their minds, the grand idea of a divine sacrifice 
 being known by all to be involved in it. 
 
 PiscATOE. Again I think you are right. I 
 am disposed to be very liberal in regard to all 
 religious ceremonies, and an optimist more or 
 less in respect of them. It has fallen to my lot 
 to witness the worship of pilgrims, prostrate on 
 the summit of Adam's Peak, one of the highest 
 mountains of Ceylon, before the supposed im- 
 pression of the foot of Buddou which has rendered 
 that mountain sacred ; to have been present in 
 the gallery of the Mosque of St. Sophia, in Con- 
 stantinople, during the worship in the bare area 
 below, when hundreds of voices were raised in 
 solemn prayer from the prostrate assembly ; and 
 also to have been present like you at a Eoman 
 Catholic mass, both in the humble chapel in the 
 wilds of Connemara or Donegal, and amidst the 
 gorgeous splendours of the Sistine, and of St, 
 
EVILS OF INTOLERANCE, 348 
 
 Peter's, and the quire of that other grand archi- 
 tectural creation, the Domkirche, the Cathedral 
 of Cologne. I will not compare the ceremonies, 
 nor need I pass any opinion respecting them ; 
 but this I will say, that I could not but see 
 belonging to each a devotional feeling in 
 common, separating as it were, stages of exist- 
 ence ; carrying the mind with its aspirations 
 from the present to the future, and breathing 
 the non omnis moriar ; in brief, affording in the 
 religious feeling expressed one of the strongest 
 marks of humanity, and of the difference 
 between man and the brute that perishes. 
 
 Amicus. How well for mankind had it been, 
 had such a liberality as yours been more 
 common, especially in past ages ; then history 
 would not have had such dark and terrible 
 pages detailing the persecutions of the strong 
 over the weak, on account of difference of re- 
 ligious persuasion. 
 
 PiscATOR. Truly so; nor so many glorious 
 pages recording heroic j&rmness, the enduring 
 strength of faith, the conquering and trium- 
 phant mind. 
 
 Amicus. The heroism of the martyr in the 
 history of our kind compensates, shall I say, for 
 
 Z 4 
 
344 INFLUENCES OF WAR, 
 
 the brutal cruelty of the bigot ; but that is too 
 strong an expression, and perhaps unjust, and 
 yet I hardly know a more appropriate. 
 
 PiscATOR. Let us hope that some of the 
 severest persecutors acted from a sense of duty, 
 and sternly under that belief overcame their 
 humane feelings. 
 
 Amicus. Are you not stretching your charity 
 too far, when you say some of the severest? 
 What think you of an Alva, or of a De Mont- 
 fort ? 
 
 PiscATOR. That they were cruel men, and 
 acted in accordance with their disposition. 
 But even in their case, we may make some 
 allowance for character formed as theirs wasf 
 mainly in the camp and field, in war, where life 
 is thought lightly of, where there is so little 
 regard for it and for human suffering ; and duty 
 and sacrifice are the leading ideas in the 
 genuine soldier and competent leader. But I 
 must admit, and I speak from some experience, 
 that one of the worst effects of war is the 
 manner in which it hardens the heart of man, 
 and overpowers the ordinary feelings gf hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Amicus. On the other hand, is not this sense 
 
WAR — HOW JUSTIFIABLE. 345 
 
 of duty, this readiness to sacrifice life at its 
 call, one of the redeeming circumstances of 
 war ? calling out the heroical spirit like that of 
 the mart3n:s, which makes light of all that 
 worldlings most value ; and acts as a check to 
 that softness and effeminacy which peace, 
 ease, wealth, and indulgence are so apt to 
 engender, and by engendering, conduce to the 
 decline and fall of nations. 
 
 PiscATOR. I would fain hope it may be so ; but 
 I am not sure that it is so. I doubt very much 
 that war improves the individual character, and 
 if not the individual, I do not see how it can 
 the national character. Its evils are tremendous. 
 When it is entitled to the quality for which 
 you give it credit, I apprehend it must be 
 experienced by those who engage in it on justi- 
 fiable grounds, and with unquestionable mo- 
 tives — pro arisetfocis — for what is most dear 
 and honoured, for religion and liberty, in which 
 great risks are run, great sacrifices are made ; 
 such wars as the ennobling struggles of the 
 Netherlanders against the Spaniards; of the 
 United States of America that earned them 
 their independence ; of our own country in the 
 instance of the " Great Kebellion," when the. 
 
346 DREAMS, 
 
 chain of absolute power that endangered our 
 liberties was broken for ever. 
 
 Amicus. Having nothing to offer in reply- 
 to your reflections but to express approval, 
 allow me to turn the conversation to another 
 subject. What we have been talking of, part 
 of it so shadowy, has called up the idea of 
 dreams in my mind, especially of one I had 
 last night ; and which, though yourself not a 
 dreamer, knowing that you take an interest 
 in them as mental phenomena, and as occa- 
 sionally helping to elucidate the obscure and 
 mysterious, I am tempted to relate, if I may 
 task your patience. 
 
 PiscATOR. You excite jny curiosity ; pray 
 proceed. 
 
 Amicus. I fancied I was at home ; that it 
 was night; that leaving my room with the 
 candle, the light was extinguished; and that 
 then walking upstairs in the dark to go to bed, 
 from above, I saw a light below, and supposing 
 it to proceed from a candle carried by a servant, 
 I called to have my candle relighted ; at that 
 instant, I awoke. Now, listen to what follows ; 
 it is the remarkable part. WTien awake, the 
 light continued before me ; I saw it not only 
 
SPECTRAL ILLUSIONS. 347 
 
 in the room, but also when directing my eyes 
 to the bed-cloathes, to the white sheet, which 
 almost enveloped my face, there it was ; but 
 closing my eyes again, all was darkness. My 
 belief then was, and still is, and I trust you 
 will agree with me, that the luminous appear- 
 ance on waking was merely a continuance of 
 the idea or impression in sleep. And this 
 granted, may we not reasonably infer that in 
 the same manner ideas, impressions of forms 
 and persons experienced in sleep, renewed 
 cerebral actions, on waking may be preserved 
 for a few seconds, and be considered as spectral 
 illusions, or by the vulgar as spectres or appa- 
 ritions. ^ 
 
 PiscATOR. I see no objection to your infer- 
 ence. Even when waking, the impression is 
 not lost the instant it is produced ; it has more 
 or less of duration; thus, on extinguishing a 
 candle, where there is no other, a light seems 
 to hover around it for a perceptible moment 
 of time, when we know no new rays of light 
 are emitted, and all that were produced have 
 passed away. Had the whole occurrence you 
 describe in its several parts taken place in 
 your bedroom, and had you, on suddenly waking. 
 
348 GHOSTLY APPARITIONS, 
 
 seen not only a light, but the bearer of the 
 light, nothing would have been wanting to 
 constitute a ghostly apparition, especially were 
 the bearer a deceased servant or friend. Though 
 you courteously give me credit for not being 
 a dreamer, I could relate instances of dreams 
 I have had, similar in their significance to those 
 of yours, and others somewhat different, which 
 I would designate as day-dreams, recurring 
 vivid ideas not produced at the instant, ob ex- 
 terno, and yet, not distinguishable from such* 
 First I will tell you how I saw the spectre — do 
 not laugh, — of a crucible ! It was when I was 
 at College, and engaged in chemical studies. 
 Eeading, reclining on my sofa, and it was 
 by day, I saw a platina crucible which I 
 valued falling from the adjoining table. I 
 sprung up to try to save it, but grasped only 
 air; no crucible was there, neither fallen, 
 falling, or on the table ; it was, as I before said, 
 a spectral crucible. Next, of a person ; this I 
 witnessed when still a young man ; and it was 
 in Kandy, in Ceylon, and in mid-day. Eeading 
 at a table before an open window looking into 
 a garden, I saw, on looking out, a gentleman, 
 an acquaintance, a man of singular appearance. 
 
BAY DREAMS. 349 
 
 and like no one else, whether in figure or dress, 
 pass before me. I fancied he had come to pay 
 me a visit, but he did not come in ; then, I 
 supposed he had mistaken the door, and had 
 gone to the next ; I sent my servant to see ; 
 no, he was not there, nor had he been ; there was 
 a sentry at the outer gate ; I sent to know if he 
 had gone out ; the reply was, he had not come in; 
 I sent then to his house to inquire where he 
 was, and the answer returned was, that he was 
 then in bed, his habit being to sit up during 
 the greater part of the night, and to be a-bed 
 during a good part of the day. Now, suppose 
 this gentleman had been found dead in his 
 bed, how impressive would have been the 
 coincidence ! what a capital ghost-story would 
 have been realised ! So singular were the 
 habits and appearance of this gentleman, so 
 lank and shadowy his form, so spiritual his 
 nature, that a friend of mine to whom I related 
 my experience, jocosely said, " I do not believe 
 in your philosophical explanation ; rest assured 
 that our acquaintance, at the time you saw him, 
 was abroad in the spirit, luxuriating in his 
 higher existence." 
 
 Amicus. What you state is interesting, es-. 
 
350 PHANTASMS, 
 
 pecially as solitary examples^ if they were so, 
 and not like these recorded of Nicolani, who, 
 you know, for a time, when troubled with 
 deranged digestive organs, saw phantasms 
 innumerable, simulacra of the living and dead, 
 often in rapid succession. Pray, at the time, 
 was your health anywise deranged ? 
 
 PiscATOR. I was in my usual state of health, 
 and at the time leading an active life, and free 
 from all cares, — excepting, on the latter occasion, 
 those connected with our position, for it was 
 during a rebellion, and it was very questionable 
 whether we had sufficient force to put it down, 
 or even to resist the enemy, had we been vigor- 
 ously attacked ; but I was young, as I have said, 
 at the time, and even insecurity and the hazard 
 of unequal war preyed then but little on my 
 mind. 
 
 Amicus. Of old, in the Homeric times, dreams 
 were held to be from the gods, and for 
 beneficent ends. I sometimes indulge in this 
 antique notion, or at least fancy that they 
 are not altogether useless and wasted ; and 
 I am disposed to think that those of our 
 fellow-mortals most familiar with grief and 
 bodily suffering will most readily adopt my 
 
USE OF DREAMS. 351 
 
 opinion. I knew a man who had an ill-tem- 
 pered wife of the Xantippe class; he never, 
 he assured me, dreamt of her, but occasionally 
 of a new attachment to a creature charming 
 in body and mind. And, since I have become 
 an angler, it has not been after enjoying the 
 sport that it has recurred to me in sleep, but, 
 on the contrary, when for an unusually long 
 time I have been so situated as to have been 
 deprived of it. 
 
 PisCATOK. I like your optimism ; and be- 
 lieving there is "good in ever3^hing," either 
 manifest or latent, I will not exclude dreams ; 
 they may be for higher ends than those you 
 allude to ; they may be useful as connecting 
 the material with the immaterial, the pal- 
 pable and sensuous with the purely ideal, 
 the present with the past, without regard to 
 common time ; and so to excite reflection on 
 the higher spiritual nature of man and spe- 
 culation on his destiny, associated with that 
 most comforting and to be cherished aspiration 
 of the non omnis moriar. And now, as the 
 night is well advanced, and you have to leave 
 early to-morrow morning, let us say good night. 
 I shall be up "to speed the parting guest," 
 
3^2 PROSPECTIVE PLEASURES, 
 
 though with reluctance, and pray remember 
 your promise, make a note of it, that we are 
 to meet again in autumn, and that in compen- 
 sation for the bad angling here in our Lake 
 District, I shall have the privilege of conducting 
 you to some of the best, such as the island of 
 Lewis affords. And there, in addition to the 
 pleasure of the very best of sport, you will have 
 an opportunity of seeing much that is inte- 
 resting and peculiar in that wild country in 
 its transition state, under the influence of a 
 beneficent and enlightened proprietor, from 
 waste into culture, from rudeness into civili- 
 sation. 
 
 Amicus. One attraction might suffice, — two 
 will be doubly binding. Good night. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by Spottiswoode and Co. 
 
 New-street- Square. 
 
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