immense mass of rock fell upon the very spot where, with a friend, I had lingered the day before. The concussion," says Mr. Green, speaking of the event, (for he also, in the practice of his art, on that day sat exposed for a still longer time to the same peril,) was heard, not without aların, by the neighbouring shepherds." But to return to Seathwaite Church-yard: it contains the following inscription. "A Cumberland man of the same rank would not have had such a notion of what was fit and right in his own house, or, if he had, one would have accused him of servility; but in the Highlander it only seemed like politeness (however erroneous and painful to us), naturally growing out of the dependence of the inferiors of the clan upon their laird: he did not, however, refuse to let his wife bring out the whisky bottle for his refreshment, at our request. "She keeps a dram," as “Also, of Anne, his wife, who died the 28th of Janu- the phrase is: indeed, I believe there is scarcely a ary, in the 93d year of her age." lonely house by the wayside, in Scotland, where travel "In memory of the Reverend Robert Walker, who died the 25th of June, 1802, in the 93d year of his age, and 67th of his curacy at Seathwaite. notice: "Buried, June 28th, the Rev. Robert Walker. He was curate of Seathwaite sixty-six years. He was a man singular for his temperance, industry, and integrity." This individual is the Pastor alluded to, in the eighteenth Sonnet, as a worthy compeer of the Country Parson of Chaucer, &c. In the Seventh Book of the Excursion, an abstract of his character is given, beginning "A Priest abides before whose life such doubts Fall to the ground; -" and some account of his life, for it is worthy of being recorded, will not be out of place here. [See Appendix IV., to which this memoir has been transferred, reference being made to the subject of it in several places in this volume. — H. R.] 66 Note 10, p. 304. Highland Hut." In the parish-register of Seathwaite Chapel, is this lers may not be accommodated with a dram. We asked for sugar, butter, barley-bread, and milk; and, with a smile and a stare more of kindness than wonder, she replied, Ye'll get that," bringing each article separately. We caroused over our cups of coffee, laughing like children at the strange atmosphere in which we were: the smoke came in gusts, and spread along the walls; and above our heads in the chimney (where the hens were roosting) like clouds in the sky. We laughed and laughed again, in spite of the smarting of our eyes, yet had a quieter pleasure in observing the beauty of the beams and rafters gleaming between the clouds of smoke: they had been crusted over, and varnished by many winters, till, where the firelight fell upon them, they had become as glossy as black rocks, on a sunny day, cased in ice. When we had eaten our supper we sat about half an hour, and I think I never felt so deeply the blessing of a hospitable wel come and a warm fire. The man of the house repeated from time to time that we should often tell of this night when we got to our homes, and interposed praises of his own lake, which he had more than once, when we were returning in the boat, ventured to say "bonnier than Loch Lomond." Our companion from the Trossachs, who, it appeared, was an Edinburgh drawing-master going, during the vacation, on a pedestrian tour to John o' Groat's house, was to sleep in the barn with my fellow-travellers, where the man said he had plenty of dry hay. I do not believe that the hay of the Highlanders is ever very dry, but this year it had a better chance than usual: wet or dry, however, the next morning they said they had slept comfortably. When I went to bed, the mistress, desiring me to "go ben," attended me with a candle, and assured me that the bed was dry, though not "sic as I had been used to." It was of chaff; there were two others in the room, a cupboard and two chests, upon one of which stood milk in wooden vessels, covered over. The walls of the whole house were of stone unplastered: it consisted of three apartments, the cowhouse at one end, the kitchen or house in the middle, and the spence at the other end; the rooms were divided, not up to the rigging, but only to the beginning of the roof, so that there was a free passag This sonnet describes the exterior of a Highland hut, as often seen under morning or evening sunshine. The reader may not be displeased with the following extract from the journal of a Lady, my fellow-traveller in Scotland, in the autumn of 1803, which accurately describes, under particular circumstances, the beautiful appearance of the interior of one these rude habitations. "On our return from the Trossachs the evening began to darken, and it rained so heavily that we were completely wet before we had come two miles, and it was dark when we landed with our boatman, at his but upon the banks of Loch Katrine. I was faint from cold: the good woman had provided, according to her promise, a better fire than we had found in the morning; and, indeed, when I sat down in the chimney-corner of her smoky biggin, I thought I had never felt more comfortable in my life: a pan of coffee was boiling for us, and having put our clothes in the way of drying, we all sat down thankful for a shelter. We could not prevail upon our boatman, the master of the nouse, to draw near the fire, though he was cold and wet, or to suffer his wife to get him dry clothes till was for light and smoke from one end of the house to the | to the Douglas mansion, we should have been disgusted other. I went to bed some time before the rest of the with the possessor's miserable conception of adorning family: the door was shut between us, and they had a such a venerable ruin; but it is so very near to the bright fire, which I could not see, but the light it sent house, that of necessity the pleasure-grounds must have up among the varnished rafters and beams, which extended beyond it, and perhaps the neatness of a crossed each other in almost as intricate and fantastic shaven lawn and the complete desolation natural to a manner as I have seen the under boughs of a large ruin might have made an unpleasing contrast; and beech tree withered by the depth of shade above, pro- besides being within the precincts of the pleasureduced the most beautiful effect that can be conceived. grounds, and so very near to the dwelling of a noble It was like what I should suppose an underground family, it had forfeited, in some degree, its independent cave or temple to be, with a dripping or moist roof, and majesty, and becomes a tributary to the mansion: its the moonlight entering in upon it by some means or solitude being interrupted, it has no longer the comother; and yet the colours were more like those of mand over the mind in sending it back into past times, melted gems. I lay looking up till the light of the or excluding the ordinary feelings which we bear fire faded away, and the man and his wife and child about us in daily life. We had then only to regret had crept into their bed at the other end of the room: that the castle and the house were so near to each I did not sleep much, but passed a comfortable night; other; and it was impossible not to regret it; for the for my bed, though hard, was warm and clean: the ruin presides in state over the river, far from city or unusualness of my situation prevented me from sleep- town, as if it might have a peculiar privilege to preserve ing. I could hear the waves beat against the shore of its memorials of past ages, and maintain its own characthe lake; a little rill close to the door made a much ter for centuries to come. We sat upon a bench under louder noise, and, when I sat up in my bed, I could see the high trees, and had beautiful views of the different the lake through an open window-place at the bed's reaches of the river, above and below. On the oppohead. Add to this, it rained all night. I was less site bank, which is finely wooded with elms and other occupied by remembrance of the Trossachs, beautiful trees, are the remains of a priory built upon a rock; and as they were, than the vision of the Highland hut, rock and ruin are so blended, that it is impossible to which I could not get out of my head; I thought of separate the one from the other. Nothing can be more the Fairy-land of Spenser, and what I had read in ro- beautiful than the little remnant of this holy place: mance at other times, and then what a feast it would elm trees (for we were near enough to distinguish be for a London Pantomime-maker, could he but trans them by their branches) grow out of the walls, and plant it to Drury Lane, with all its beautiful coovershadow a small, but very elegant window. It can lours!"-MS. scarcely be conceived what a grace the castle and priory impart to each other; and the river Clyde flows on smooth and unruffled below, seeming to my thoughts more in harmony with the sober and stately images of former times, than if it had roared over a rocky channel forcing its sound upon the ear. It blended gently with the warbling of the smaller birds, and the chattering of the larger ones, that had made their nests in the ruins. In this fortress the chief of the English nobility were confined after the battle of Bannockburn. If a man is to be a prisoner, he scarcely could have a more pleasant place to solace his captivity; but I thought that, for close confinement, I should prefer the banks of a lake, or the sea-side. The greatest charm of a brook or river is in the liberty to pursue it through its windings; you can then take it in whatever mood you like; silent or noisy, sportive or quiet. The beauties of a brook or river must be sought, and the pleasure is in going in search of them; those of a lake, or of the sea, come to you of themselves. These rude warriors cared little, perhaps, about either; and yet, if one may judge from the writings of Chaucer, and from the old romances, more interesting passions were connected with natural objects in the days of chivalry than now; though going in search of scenery, as it is called, had not then been thought of. I had previously heard no Note 11, p. 304. "Bothwell Castle." The following is from the same MS., and gives an account of the visit to Bothwell Castle here alluded to: "It was exceedingly delightful to enter thus unexpectedly upon such a beautiful region. The castle stands nobly, overlooking the Clyde. When we came up to it, I was hurt to see that flower-borders had taken place of the natural overgrowings of the ruin, the scattered stones and wild plants. It is a large and grand pile of red freestone, harmonizing perfectly with the rocks of the river, from which, no doubt, it has been hewn. When I was a little accustomed to the unnaturalness of a modern garden, I could not help admiring the excessive beauty and luxuriance of some of the plants, particularly the purple-flowered clematis, and a broad-leafed creeping plant without flowers, which scrambled up the castle wall, along with the ivy, and spread its vine-like branches so lavishly that it seemed to be in its natural situation, and one could not help thinking that, though not self-planted among the ruins of this country, it must somewhere have its native abode in such places. If Bothwell Castle had not been close “In the time of the first Robert de Clifford, in the year 1333 or 1334, Edward Baliol, king of Scotland, came into Westmoreland, and stayed some time with the said Robert at his castles of Appleby, Brougham, and Pendragon. And during that time they ran a stag by a single greyhound out of Whinfell Park to Redkirk, in Scotland, and back again to this place; where, being both spent, the stag leaped over the pales, but died on the other side; and the greyhound, attempting to leap, fell, and died on the contrary side. In memory of this fact the stag's horns were nailed upon a tree just by, and (the dog being named Hercules) this rhyme was made upon them: Hercules kill'd Hart a greese And Hart a greese kill'd Hercules.' The tree to this day bears the name of Hart's-horn Tree. The horns in process of time were almost grown over by the growth of the tree, and another pair was put up in their place."- -Nicholson and Burns's History of Westmoreland and Cumberland. The tree has now disappeared, but the author of these poems well remembers its imposing appearance as it stood, in a decayed state, by the side of the high road leading from Penrith to Appleby. This whole neighbourhood abounds in interesting traditions and vestiges of antiquity, viz., Julian's Bower; Brougham and Penrith Castles; Penrith Beacon, and the curious remains in Penrith church-yard; Arthur's Round Table; the excavation, called the Giant's Cave, on the banks of the Eamont; Long Meg and her Daughters, near Eden, &c. &c. Note 13, p. 308. The River Greta. "But if thou like Cocytus," &c. Many years ago, when the author was at Greta Bridge, in Yorkshire, the hostess of the inn, proud of her skill in etymology, said, that "the name of the river was taken from the bridge, the form of which, as every one must notice, exactly resembled a great A." But Dr. Whitaker has derived it from the word of common occurrence in the north of England, "to greet;" signifying to lament aloud, mostly with weeping: a conjecture rendered more probable from the stony and rocky channel of both the Cumberland and Yorkshire rivers. The Cumberland Greta, though it does nct, among the country people, take up that am till within three miles of its disappearance in ver Derwent, may be considered as having its source in the mountain cove of Wythburn, and flowing through Thirlmere, the beautiful features of which lake are known only to those who, travelling between Grasmere and Keswick, have quitted the man. road in the vale of Wythburn, and, crossing over to the opposite side of the lake, have proceeded with it on the right hand. The channel of the Greta, immediately above Keswick, has, for the purposes of building, been in a great measure cleared of the immense stones which, by their concussion in high floods, produced the loud and awful noises described in the sonnet. "The scenery upon this river," says Mr. Southey in his Colloquies, "where it passes under the woody side of Latrigg, is of the finest and most rememberable kind: "Were not, in sooth, their Requiems sacred tics." The author is aware that he is here treading upon tender ground; but to the intelligent reader he feels that no apology is due. The prayers of survivors, during passionate grief for the recent loss of relatives and friends, as the object of those prayers could no longer be the suffering body of the dying, would naturally be ejaculated for the souls of the departed; the barriers between the two worlds dissolving before the power of love and faith. The ministers of religion, from their habitual attendance upon sick-beds, would be daily witnesses of these benign results; and hence would be strongly tempted to aim at giving to them permanence, by embodying them in rites and ceremonies, recurring at stated periods. All this, as it was in course of nature, so was it blameless, and even praiseworthy; but no reflecting person can view without sorrow the abuses which rose out of thus formalizing sublime instincts, and disinterested movements of passion, and perverting them into means of gratifying the ambition and rapacity of the priesthood. But, while we deplore and are indignant at these abuses, it would be a great mistake if we imputed the origin of the offices to prospective selfishness on the part of the monks and clergy: they were at first sincere in their sympathy, and in their degree dupes rather of their own creed, than artful and designing men. Charity is, upon the whole, the safest guide that we can take in judging our fellow-men, whether of past ages, or of the present time. Note 15, p. 328. The Poem of the White Doe of Rylstone is founded on a local tradition, and on the Ballad in Percy's Collection, entitled, "The Rising of the North." "be tradition is as follows:- "About this time," not | then resumes its native character, lively, irregular, and long after the Dissolution, " a White Doe, say the aged impetuous. people of the neighbourhood, long continued to make "The cleft mentioned above is the tremendous Strid. a weekly pilgrimage from Rylstone over the fells of This chasın, being incapable of receiving the winter Bolton, and was constantly found in the Abbey Church-floods, has formed on either side, a broad strand of nayard during divine service; after the close of which she returned home as regularly as the rest of the congregation." -DR. WHITAKER'S History of the Deanery of Craven. Rylstone was the property and residence of the Nortons, distinguished in that ill-advised and unfortunate Insurrection; which led me to connect with this tradition the principal circumstances of their fate, as recorded in the Ballad. 66 Opposite to the East window of the Priory Church, the river washes the foot of a rock nearly perpendicular, and of the richest purple, where several of the mineral beds, which break out, instead of maintaining their usual inclination to the horizon, are twisted by some inconceivable process into undulating and spiral lines. To the South all is soft and delicious; the eye reposes upon a few rich pastures, a moderate reach of the river, sufficiently tranquil to form a mirror to the sun, and the bounding hills beyond, neither too near nor too lofty to exclude, even in winter, any portion of his rays. 44 But, after all, the glories of Bolton are on the North. Whatever the most fastidious taste could require to constitute a perfect landscape is not only found here, but in its proper place. In front, and immediately under the eye, is a smooth expanse of park-like enclosure, spotted with native elm, ash, &c. of the finest growth: on the right a skirting oak wood, with jutting points of gray rock; on the left a rising copse. Still forward, are seen the aged groves of Bolton Park, the growth of centuries; and farther yet, the barren and rocky distances of Simon-seat and Barden Fell contrasted with the warmth, fertility, and luxuriant foliage of the valley below. "About half a mile above Bolton the valley closes, and either side of the Wharf is overhung by solemn woods, from which huge perpendicular masses of gray rock jut out at intervals. "This sequestered scene was almost inaccessible till of late, that ridings have been cut on both sides of the River, and the most interesting points laid open by judicious thinnings in the woods. Here a tributary stream rushes from a waterfall, and bursts through a woody glen to mingle its waters with the Wharf: there the Wharf itself is nearly lost in a deep cleft in the rock, and next becomes a horned flood enclosing a woody island-sometimes it reposes for a moment, and ked gritstone full of rock-basins, or 'pots of the Linn,' which bear witness to the restless impetuosity of so many Northern torrents. But, if here Wharf is lost to the eye, it amply repays another sense by its deep and solemn roar, like the Voice of the angry Spirit of the Waters,' heard far above and beneath, amidst the silence of the surrounding woods. "The terminating object of the landscape is the remains of Barden Tower, interesting from their form and situation, and still more so from the recollections which they excite." Note 16, p. 331. "Who loved the Shepherd Lord to meet." At page 186 of this volume will be found a 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," to which is annexed an account of this personage, chiefly extracted from Burn's and Nicholson's History of Cumberland and Westmoreland. It gives me pleasure to add these further particulars concerning him, from Dr. Whitaker, who says, "he retired to the solitude of Barden, where he seems to have enlarged the tower out of a cominon keeper's lodge, and where he found a retreat equally favourable to taste, to instruction, and to devotion. The narrow limits of his residence show that he had learned to despise the pomp of greatness, and that a small train of servants could suffice him, who had lived to the age of thirty a servant himself. I think this nobleman resided here almost entirely when in Yorkshire, for all his charters which I have seen are dated at Barden. "His early habits, and the want of those artificial measures of time which even shepherds now possess, had given him a turn for observing the motions of the heavenly bodies; and, having purchased such an apparatus as could then be procured, he amused and informed himself by those pursuits, with the aid of the Canons of Bolton, some of whom are said to have been well versed in what was then known of the science. "I suspect this nobleman to have been sometimes occupied in a more visionary pursuit, and probably in the same company. "For, from the family evidences, I have met with two MSS. on the subject of Alchemy, which, from the character, spelling, &c., may almost certainly be referred to the reign of Henry the Seventh. If these were originally deposited with the MSS. of the Cliffords, it might have been for the use of this noblemau. If they were brought from Bolton at the Dissolution, they must have been the work of those Canons whom | John Nevil his son, and the Lord Percy, and many he almost exclusively conversed with. "In these peaceful employments Lord Clifford spent the whole reign of Henry the Seventh, and the first years of his son. But in the year 1513, when almost sixty years old, he was appointed to a principal command over the army which fought at Flodden, and showed that the military genius of the family had neither been chilled in him by age, nor extinguished by habits of peace. "He survived the battle of Flodden ten years, and died April 23d, 1523, aged about 70. I shall endeaJour to appropriate to him a tomb, vault, and chantry in the choir of the church of Bolton, as I should be sorry to believe that he was deposited, when dead, at a distance from the place which in his lifetime he loved so well. other nobles of England, returned home, and went to the abbey church, there joining in hearty prayer and thanksgiving to God and holy St. Cuthbert for the victory achieved that day." This battle was afterwards called the Battle of Neville's Cross, from the following circumstance: "On the west side of the city of Durham, where two roads pass each other, a most notable, famous, and goodly cross of stone-work was erected and set up to the honour of God for the victory there obtained in the field of battle, and known by the name of Nevil's Cross, and built at the sole cost of the Lord Ralph Nevil, one of the most excellent and chief persons in the said battle." The Relique of St. Cuthbert afterwards became of great importance in military events. For soon after this battle, says the same author, "The prior caused a goodly and sumptuous banner to be made," (which is then described at great length,)" and in the midst of the same banner-cloth was the said holy relique and corporax-cloth enclosed, &c. &c. and so sumptuously finished, and absolutely perfected, this banner was dedicated to holy St. Cuthbert, of intent and purpose that for the future it should be carried to any battle, as occasion should serve; and was never carried and showed at any battle but by the especial grace of God Almighty, and the mediation of holy St. struck-Cuthbert, it brought home victory; which banner-cloth, ufter the dissolution of the abbey, fell into the possession of Dean WHITTINGHAM, whose wife, called KA "By his last will he appointed his body to be interred at Shap, if he died in Westmoreland; or at Bolton, if he died in Yorkshire." With respect to the Canons of Bolton, Dr. Whitaker shows from MSS. that not only alchemy but astronomy was a favourite pursuit with them. Note 17, p. 336. THERINE, being a French woman, (as is most credibly reported by eye-witnesses,) did most injuriously burn the same in her fire, to the open contempt and disgrace of all ancient and goodly reliques."- Extracted from a book entitled, "Durham Cathedral, as it stood before the Dissolution of the Monastery." It appears, from the old metrical History, that the above-mentioned banner was carried by the Earl of Surrey to Flod den Field. Note 18, p. 351. "In that other day of Neville's Cross. "In the night before the battle of Durham was on and begun, the 17th day of October, anno, 1346, there did appear to John Fosser, then Prior of the abbey of Durham, a Vision, commanding him to take the holy Corporax-cloth, wherewith St. Cuthbert did cover the chalice when he used to say mass, and to put the same holy relique like to a banner-cloth upon the point of a spear, and the next morning to go and repair to a place on the west side of the city of Durham, called the Red Hills, where the Maid's Bower wont to be, and there to remain and abide till the end of the battle. To which vision, the Prior obeying, and taking the same for a revelation of God's grace and mercy by the mediation of holy St. Cuthbert, did accordingly the next morning, with the monks of the said abbey, repair to the said Red Hills, and there most devoutly humbling and prostrating themselves in prayer for the victory in the said battle: (a great multitude of the Scots running and pressing by them, with intention to have spoiled them, yet had no power to commit any violence under such holy persons, so occupied in prayer, being protected and defended by the mighty Providence of Almighty God, and by the mediation of Holy St. Cuth-ended, shall first desecrate the Altars and the Tembert, and the presence of the holy relique.) And, after ples? I, answered the Chief Priest; for who more fit many conflicts and warlike exploits there had and done than myself, through the wisdom which the true God between the Englishmen and the King of Scots and hath given me, to destroy, for the good example of his company, the said battle ended, and the victory others, what in foolishness I worshipped? Immediatewas obtained, to the great overthrow and confusion of ly, casting away vain superstition, he besought the the Scots, their enemies: And then the said Prior King to grant him, what the laws did not allow to a and monks accompanied with Ralph Lord Nevil, and | Priest, arms and a courser (equum emissarium); which The Con "Man's life is like a Sparrow." See the original of this speech in Bede. version of Edwin, as related by him, is highly interest ing-and the breaking up of this Council accompanied with an event so striking and characteristic, that I am tempted to give it at length in a translation. "Who, exclaimed the King, when the Council was |