Teachers of writing and arithmetic also wandered from village to village, being remunerated by a whittle gate. The churches and chapels have mostly a little school-house adjoining. In some places the school-house was a sort of antichapel to the place of worship, being under the same roof, an arrangement which was abandoned as irreverent. It continues however to this day in Borrowdale and some other chapelries. Superstitious fears were sometimes entertained lest a boy should _learn too far_. It was usual to consider all schoolmasters as _wise men_ or conjurors. Wise men were such as had spent their lives in the pursuit of science, and had _learned too much_. For conjuration was supposed to be a science which as naturally followed other parts of learning as compound addition followed simple addition. The wise man possessed wonderful power. He could recover stolen goods, either by fetching back the articles, showing the thief in a black mirror, or making him walk round the cross on a market day, with the stolen goods on his shoulders. The last, however, he could not do, if the culprit wore a piece of _green sod_ upon his head. When any person applied to the wise man for information, it was necessary for him to reach home before midnight, as a storm was the certain consequence of the application, and the applicant ran great risk of being tormented by the devil all the way home. The wise men were supposed to have made a compact with the devil, that he was to serve them for a certain number of years, and then have them, body and soul, after death. They were compelled to give the devil some living animal whenever he called upon them, as a pledge that they intended to give themselves at last. Instances are recorded of boys, in the master's absence, having got to his books, and raised the devil. The difficulty was to lay him again. He must be kept employed, or have one of the boys for the trouble given to him. The broken flag through which he rose is no doubt shown to this day. Such superstitions are not so completely exploded in the country, but that many equally improbable tales are told and believed. The old register-book of the parish of Penrith, which appears to have been commenced about the year 1599, contains some entries of an earlier date, which have been either copied from a former register, or inserted from memory. The following entries occur:-- "Liber Registerii de Penrith scriptus in anno dni 1599 anno regni regine Elizabethe 41. Proper nots worth keeping as followethe. Floden feild was in anno dni 15.... Comotion in these north parts 1536. St. George day dyd fall on good friday. Queene Elizabethe begene her rainge 1558. Plague was in Penrith and Kendal 1554. Sollome Mose was in the yere....