Tales and Legends of the English LakesArmistead, Wilson
General
Tales and Legends of the English Lakes
Armistead, Wilson
Folklore -- England -- Lake District; Legends -- England -- Lake District; Tales -- England -- Lake District
All the largest stones, and slabs, some of which were horizontal, others
vertical, and the rest inclined at various angles, and the whole of them
giving evidence that the place had formerly been a quarry, were covered
with inscriptions of a like purport. The following are a few of the
most striking. One immense surface of rock bore the following names,
which are transcribed in the original order:--"SUN. BULWER. DRYDEN.
DAVY. BURNS. SCOTT. BURDETT. GARRICK. KEMBLE. GRAY. KEAN. MILTON. HENRY
BROUGHAM. JAMES WATT. PROFESSOR WILSON. DR. JENNER." To which were added
the words in characters equally conspicuous, "THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS."
"MAGNA CHARTA." This slab was a testimony, apparently, of the engraver's
admiration of great intellect. One close alongside side of it was of a
different style, and bore the date "1836," followed by the words,
"WILLIAM IV. PRESIDENT JACKSON. LOUIS PHILIPPE. BRITANNIA RULES THE
WAVES." Next to that again was a still larger surface of rock on which
was indented, "NATIONAL DEBT, £800,000,000. O SAVE MY COUNTRY, HEAVEN!
GEORGE III. AND WILLIAM PITT." "MONEY IS THE SINEW OF WAR." "FIELD
MARSHAL WELLINGTON. HEROIC ADMIRAL NELSON. CAPTAIN COOK. ADMIRAL
RODNEY." One stone, at least eight feet square, bore but one word in
letters a yard long, and that was significant enough--viz. "STEAM."
On inquiring of the boatman who it was that had expended so much labour,
he pointed out another stone, on which were the words, "John Longmire,
Engraver," and informed us that it was a person of that name, who had
spent about six years of his prime in this work--labouring here alone,
and in all weathers--and both by night and by day. He took great
pleasure in the task; and was, as the boatman took pains to impress upon
us, rather "dull" at the time. This phrase, as he afterwards explained,
implies, in this part of the country, that he was deranged; and I
thought, when looking with renewed interest upon these mementos of his
ingenuity and perseverance, misapplied though they were, that it was a
happy circumstance that an afflicted creature could have found solace
under calamity, in a manner so harmless. There was a method in the
work, and a sense, too, in the poor man's ideas, which showed that his
sympathies were in favour of the moral and intellectual advancement of
mankind; and that, amid the last feeble glimmerings of his own reason,
he could do honour to those whose intellect had benefited and adorned
our age. I could learn no further particulars of him; our friend, the
boatman, not being able to say whether he were dead or alive, or whether
his "dullness" had ever manifested itself in a more disorderly manner
than in these inscriptions.
EDGAR, THE LORD OF ENNERDALE.
A TRADITION OF WOTOBANK, NEAR EGREMONT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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