Crummock Water, the largest of this trio, is somewhat out of the beaten track, but there are boats upon it, and walls of mountain rise on either side. The tourist generally spends the time possible for the casual excursionist at Scale Force, on a feeder of the Cocker after it has cleared the lake. It is a sheer fall of over a hundred feet when there is plenty of water. A kindred cataract in the neighbourhood is Sour Milk Force, the second waterfall of that name mentioned in this chapter. The main river, having sped through the meres and the meadows that separate them, passes through the Vale of Lorton, and enters the Derwent near the castle ruins at Cockermouth. The town was so important, through its baronial fortress, of which the gateway remains, that the Roundhead troops gave it the fatal honour of a passing visit, and there an end of the castle, which they promptly dismantled. But Wordsworth was born here, and the garden-terrace of his home was by Derwent side. The railway frequently crosses the Derwent between Cockermouth and Workington, keeping it on the whole close company through a generally level and ordinary country. Workington is in these days a prosperous seaport; yet we must not forget that Mary Queen of Scots landed here on a May day in 1568, and Wordsworth tells us how-- "With step prelusive to a long array Of woes and degradations hand in hand-- Weeping captivity and shuddering fear Stilled by the ensanguined block of Fotheringay." /William Senior./ [Illustration: _Photo: W. J. Munro, Annan._ THE ANNAN NEAR ANNAN TOWN (_p. 318_).] RIVERS OF THE SOLWAY FIRTH. The Firth--A Swift Tide. The /Eden/: The Eamont--Eden Hall--Armathwaite--John Skelton--Wetheral and Corby Castle--The Caldew and the Petteril--Greystoke Castle--Carlisle, its Romance and History--_Serva Pactum_--"Kinmont Willie" and "bauld Buccleuch"--Executions of Jacobites--The Carlisle of To-day. The /Sark/: Gretna Green. The /Liddel/--Hermitage Water and Castle. The /Esk/: The Tarras--Gilnockie Tower--Carlenrig and Johnnie Armstrong--Young Lochinvar--Kirtle Water and its Tragic Story. The /Annan/: The Land of the Bruces--Thomas Carlyle. The /Nith/: Dumfries--Burns's Grave--Robert Bruce and the Red Cumyn--Drumlanrig and Caerlaverock Castles--The Cairn and its Associations--The New Abbey Pow and Sweetheart Abbey. The /Dee/: Douglas Tongueland--Threave Castle. The /Cree/: Newton Stewart--The "Cruives of Cree." The /Bladenoch/: The Wigtown Martyrs.