LAYS AND LEGENDS OF THE ENGLISH LAKE COUNTRY. LAYS AND LEGENDS OF THE ENGLISH LAKE COUNTRY. _WITH COPIOUS NOTES._ BY JOHN PAGEN WHITE, F.R.C.S. "In early date, When I was beardless, young, and blate, E'en then a wish, I mind its power, A wish that to my latest hour Shall strongly heave my breast; That I for poor auld _Cumbria's_ sake, Some usefu' plan or beuk could make, Or sing a sang at least." LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH. CARLISLE: G. & T. COWARD. MDCCCLXXIII. INTRODUCTION. In submitting this Book to the Public, I have thought it best to give it precisely as it was left in manuscript by my late Brother. His sudden death in 1868 prevented the final revision which he still contemplated. The Notes may by some be thought unnecessarily long, and in many instances they undoubtedly are very discursive. Much labour, however, was expended in their composition, in the hope, not merely of giving a new interest to localities and incidents already familiar to the resident, but also of affording the numerous visitors to the charming region which forms the theme of the Volume, an amount of information supplementary to the mere outline which, only, it is the province of a Guide Book, however excellent, to supply. The Work occupied for years the leisure hours of a busy professional life; and the feelings with which the Author entered upon and continued it, are best expressed in those lines of Burns chosen by himself for the motto. B. J. _July 1st, 1873._ PREFACE. The English Lake District may be said, in general terms, to extend from Cross-Fell and the Solway Firth, on the east and north, to the waters of Morecambe and the Irish Sea; or, more accurately, to be comprised within an irregular circle, varying from forty to fifty miles in diameter, of which the centre is the mountain Helvellyn, and within which are included a great portion of Cumberland and Westmorland and the northern extremity of Lancashire.