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diff --git a/35933-8.txt b/35933-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2fc300 --- /dev/null +++ b/35933-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12217 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Month in Yorkshire, by Walter White + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Month in Yorkshire + +Author: Walter White + +Release Date: April 22, 2011 [EBook #35933] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MONTH IN YORKSHIRE *** + + + + +Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + +TRANSCRIBERS' NOTE + +Italic text in the original is marked with _underscores_ + +Bold text is marked with =equals= + +Text in an alternate blackletter Gothic font is marked with #hashes# + + + + +A MONTH IN YORKSHIRE. + + + + +[Illustration: YORKSHIRE.] + + + + +A +MONTH IN YORKSHIRE. + +BY +WALTER WHITE, + + AUTHOR OF "A LONDONER'S WALK TO THE LAND'S END," "ALL ROUND THE + WREKIN," AND OTHER BOOKS OF TRAVEL. + + "Know most of the rooms of thy native country, before thou + goest over the threshold thereof; especially, seeing England + presents thee with so many observables."--FULLER. + +FOURTH EDITION. + +LONDON: +CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. +1861. +[_The right of Translation is reserved._] + + + + +By the same Author. + + + A LONDONER'S WALK TO THE LAND'S END; AND A TRIP TO THE SCILLY + ISLES. _Second Edition._ + + ON FOOT THROUGH TYROL. + + A JULY HOLIDAY IN SAXONY, BOHEMIA AND SILESIA. + + NORTHUMBERLAND AND THE BORDER. _Second Edition._ + + ALL ROUND THE WREKIN. _Second Edition._ + + + + +FOREWORD TO THE FOURTH EDITION. + + +The first two editions of this work had not long been published when I +was pelted with animadversions for the "scandalous misrepresentation" +conveyed in my report of a conversation held with a villager at +Burnsall; which conversation may be read in the twenty-second chapter. +My reply was, that I had set down less than was spoken--that I had +brought no accusation, not having even mentioned the "innocent-looking +country town" as situate in any one of the three Ridings--that what I +had seen, however, in some of the large towns, led me to infer that the +imputation (if such it were) would hardly fail to apply; and, moreover, +if the Yorkshire conscience felt uneasy, was I to be held responsible? + +My explanation that the town in question was not in Yorkshire, was +treated as of none effect, and my censors rejoined in legal phrase, that +I had no case. So I went about for awhile under a kind of suspicion, or +as an unintentional martyr, until one day there met me two gentlemen +from Leeds, one of whom declared that he and others, jealous of their +county's reputation, and doubting not to convict me of error, had made +diligent inquiry and found to their discomfiture, that the assemblages +implied in the villager's remark, did actually take place within +Yorkshire itself. The discovery is not one to be proud of; but, having +been made, let the county strive to free itself from at least that +reproach. + +Another censurable matter was my word of warning against certain inns +which had given me demonstration that their entertainment, regulated by +a sliding scale, went up on the arrival of a stranger. Yorkshire wrote +a flat denial of the implication to my publishers, and inclosed a copy +of what he called "his tariff," by way of proof, which would have been +an effectual justification had my grievance been an invention; but, as +it happened, the tariff presented testimony in my favour, by the +difference between its prices and those which I had been required to +pay. + +I only notice this incident because of the general question, in which +all who travel are more or less interested. Why should an Englishman, +accustomed to equitable dealings while staying at home, be required to +submit so frequently to the reverse when journeying in his own country? +Shopkeepers are ready to sell socks, or saddles, or soap without an +increase of price on the plea that they may never see you again, and +without expecting you to fee their servants for placing the article +before you; and why should innkeepers claim a privilege to do otherwise? +The numerous complaints which every season's experience calls forth from +tourists, imply a want of harmony between "travelling facilities" and +the practice of licensed victuallers; and if English folk are to be +persuaded to travel in their own country, the sooner the required +harmony is established, the better. It would be very easy to exhibit a +table of charges and fees by which a tourist might ascertain cost +beforehand, and choose accordingly. Holland is a notoriously dear and +highly-taxed country, yet fivepence a day is all the charge that Dutch +innkeepers make for "attendance." + +In one instance the discussion took a humorous turn:--the name of a +certain jovial host, with whom I had a talk in Swaledale, appeared +subscribed to a letter in the _Richmond Chronicle_, and as it furnishes +us with a fresh specimen of local dialect, I take leave to quote a few +passages therefrom. After expostulating with the editor for "prentan" a +letter which somebody had written in his "neame," the writer says, "but +between ye an' me, I believe this chap's been readin' a buke put out by +yan White, 'at was trailin' about t' Deales iv hay-time, an' afoare he +set off to gang by t' butter-tubs to t' Hawes, he ast me what +publick-house he was to gang te, an' I tell't him t' White Hart; an' +becoz he mebby fand t' shot rayther bigger than a lik'd, he's gi'en t' +landlord a wipe iv his buke aboot t' length of his bill, an' me aboot t' +girth o' me body--pity but he'd summat better to rite aboot; but nivver +heed, it nobbut shows 'at my meat agrees wi' me, an' 'at t' yal 'at I +brew 's naythur sour ner wake, an' 'at I drink my shar' on't mysel: but +if I leet on him, or can mak' oot t' chap 'at sent ye t' letter, I'll +gi' 'em an on-be-thinkin." + +Sheffield, too, has not yet ceased to reprove me for having published +the obvious fact, that the town is frightfully smoky, and unclean in +appearance and in its talk. If I were to make any alteration in this +particular, it would be to give emphasis, not to lighten the +description. A town which permits its trade to be coerced by ignorance, +and where the ultimate argument of the working-classes is gunpowder or a +knock on the head, should show that the best means have been taken to +purify morals as well as the atmosphere and streets, before it claims to +be "nothing like so bad as is represented." But, the proverb which +declares that "people who eat garlic are always sure it doesn't smell," +will perhaps never cease to be true. + +Of the £14,000,000 worth of woollen and worsted goods exported in 1859, +Yorkshire supplied the largest portion; and still maintains its +reputation for "crafty wit and shrinking cloth," as shewn by the +increase in the manufacture of shoddy. One of the manufacturers at +Batley has made known in a printed pamphlet, that 50,000,000 pounds of +rags are at the present time annually converted into various kinds of +so-called woollen goods. We walk on shoddy as it covers our floors; and +we wear shoddy in our stockings and under-garments, as well as in capes +and overcoats. Turning to mineral products, we find that in 1859, +Yorkshire raised 1,695,842 tons of ironstone, and 8,247,000 tons of +coal, worth in round numbers £3,573,000. And with all this there is an +increase in the means and results of education, and an abatement of +pauperism: in 1820, the poor's-rate in Hull was seven shillings and +eightpence in the pound, in 1860, not more than eightpence. + +And to mention facts of another kind:--by the digging of a drain on +Marston Moor, a heap of twenty-five or thirty skeletons was discovered, +around which the clay retained the form of the bodies, like a mould; a +bullet fell from one of the skulls, and in some the teeth were perfectly +sound, 213 years after the battle. At Malton, during a recent excavation +of the main street, one hundred yards of the Roman highway leading from +Derby to York were laid bare, three feet below the present surface. +Scarborough is building new batteries on her castled cliff, and +replacing old guns by new ones; and Hull is about to add to its +resources by the construction of a new dock. The much-needed harbour of +refuge is, however, not yet begun, as wrecks along the coast after +easterly storms lamentably testify. + +This _Month in Yorkshire_ was the second of my books of home-travel; and +it was while rambling along the cliffs and over the hills of the famous +county, that I conceived it possible to interest others as well as +myself in the Past and the Present, in the delightful natural aspects +and the wonderful industry of our native country to a yet wider extent; +and therein I have not been disappointed. To the objection that my works +are useless as guide-books, I answer, that no intelligent reader will +find it difficult to follow my route: distances are mentioned with +sufficient accuracy, the length of my longest day's walk is recorded, +whereby any one, who knows his own strength, may easily plan each day's +journey in anticipation. By aid of the map which accompanies the present +volume either planning or reference will now be facilitated. + +Next to ourselves, there is perhaps nothing so interesting to us as our +own country, which may be taken as a good reason why a book about +England finds favour with readers. For my part let me repeat a passage +from the foreword to the second edition:--"I know that I have an earnest +love for my subject; feeling proud of the name of Englishman, and the +freedom of thought, speech, and action therein involved; loving our +fields and lanes, our hills and moorlands, and the shores of our sea, +and delighting much to wander among them. Happy shall I be if I can +inspire the reader with the like emotions." + +W. W + +_London, March, 1861._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE. + + A SHORT CHAPTER TO BEGIN WITH 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Estuary of the Humber--Sunk Island--Land _versus_ Water--Dutch + Phenomena--Cleathorpes--Grimsby--Paul--River Freaks--Mud-- + Stukeley and Drayton--Fluvial Parliament--Hull--The Thieves' + Litany--Docks and Drainage--More Dutch Phenomena--The High Church + --Thousands of Piles--The Citadel--The Cemetery--A Countryman's + Voyage to China--An Aid to Macadam 5 + + + CHAPTER III. + + A Railway Trip--More Land Reclamation--Hedon--Historical + Recollections--Burstwick--The Earls of Albemarle--Keyingham--The + Duke of York--Winestead--Andrew Marvell's Birthplace--A Glimpse + of the Patriot--Patrington--A Church to be proud of--The Hildyard + Arms--Feminine Paper-hangers--Walk to Spurn--Talk with a Painter + --Welwick--Yellow Ochre and Cleanliness--Skeffling--Humber Bank-- + Miles of Mud--Kilnsea--Burstall Garth--The Greedy Sea--The + Sandbank--A Lost Town, Ravenser Odd--A Reminiscence from + Shakspeare--The Spurn Lighthouse--Withernsea--Owthorne--Sister + Churches--The Ghastly Churchyard--A Retort for a Fool--A Word for + Philologists 14 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Northern Manners--Cottingham--The Romance of Baynard Castle-- + Beverley--Yorkshire Dialect--The Farmers' Breakfast--Glimpses of + the Town--Antiquities and Constables--The Minster--Yellow Ochre-- + The Percy Shrine--The Murdered Earl--The Costly Funeral--The + Sisters' Tomb--Rhyming Legend--The Fridstool--The Belfry 27 + + + CHAPTER V. + + A Scotchman's Observations--The Prospect--The Anatomy of Beverley + --Historical Associations--The Brigantes--The Druids--Austin's + Stone--The Saxons--Coifi and Paulinus--Down with Paganism--A Great + Baptism--St. John of Beverley--Athelstan and Brunanburgh--The + Sanctuary--The Conqueror--Archbishop Thurstan's Privileges--The + Sacrilegious Mayor--Battle of the Standard--St. John's Miracles-- + Brigand Burgesses--Annual Football--Surrounding Sites--Watton and + Meaux--Etymologies--King Athelstan's Charter 33 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + The Great Drain--The Carrs--Submerged Forest--River Hull--Tickton + --Routh--Tippling Rustics--A Cooler for Combatants--The Blind + Fiddler--The Improvised Song--The Donkey Races--Specimens of + Yorkshiremen--Good Wages--A Peep at Cottage Life--Ways and Means-- + A Paragraph for Bachelors--Hornsea Mere--The Abbots' Duel--Hornsea + Church--The Marine Hotel 40 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Coast Scenery--A waning Mere, and wasting Cliffs--The Rain and the + Sea--Encroachment prevented--Economy of the Hotel--A Start on the + Sands--Pleasure of Walking--Cure for a bad Conscience--Phenomena + of the Shore--Curious Forms in the Cliffs--Fossil Remains--Strange + Boulders--A Villager's Etymology--Reminiscences of "Bonypart" and + Paul Jones--The last House--Chalk and Clay--Bridlington--One of + the Gipseys--Paul Jones again--The Sea-Fight--A Reminiscence of + Montgomery 48 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + What the Boarding-House thought--Landslips--Yarborough House--The + Dane's Dike--Higher Cliffs--The South Landing--The Flamborough + Fleet--Ida, the Flamebearer--A Storm--A talk in a Limekiln-- + Flamborough Fishermen--Coffee before Rum--No Drunkards--A + Landlord's Experiences--Old-fashioned Honesty 56 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Men's and Women's Wages--The Signal Tower--The passing Fleet--The + Lighthouse--The Inland View--Cliff Scenery--Outstretching Reefs-- + Selwick's Bay--Down to the Beach--Aspect of the Cliffs--The Matron + --Lessons in Pools--Caverns--The King and Queen--Arched + Promontories--The North Landing--The Herring-Fishers--Pleasure + Parties--Robin Lyth's Hole--Kirk Hole--View across little Denmark + --Speeton--End of the Chalk--Walk to Filey 60 + + + CHAPTER X. + + Old and New Filey--The Ravine--Filey Brig--Breaking Waves--Rugged + Cliffs--Prochronic Gravel--Gristhorp Bay--Insulated Column--Lofty + Cliffs--Fossil Plants--Red Cliff--Cayton Bay--Up to the Road--Bare + Prospect--Cromwell Hotel and Oliver's Mount--Scarborough--The + Esplanade--Watering-Place Phenomena--The Cliff Bridge--The Museum + --The Spa--The Old Town--The Harbour--The Castle Rock--The Ancient + Keep--The Prospect--Reminiscences: of Harold Hardrada; of + Pembroke's Siege; of the Papists' Surprise; of George Fox; of + Robin Hood--The One Artilleryman--Scarborough Newspapers-- + Cloughton--The Village Inn, and its Guests--Tudds and Pooads 66 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + From Cloughton to Haiburn Wyke--The embowered Path--Approach to + the Sea--Rock, Water, and Foliage--Heavy Walking--Staintondale + Cliffs--The Undercliff--The Peak--Raven Hall--Robin Hood's Bay--A + Trespass--Alum Works--Waterfalls--Bay Town--Manners and Customs of + the Natives--Coal Trade--The Churchyard--Epitaphs--Black-a-moor-- + Hawsker--Vale of Pickering--Robin Hood and Little John's Archery-- + Whitby Abbey--Beautiful Ruin--St. Hilda, Wilfrid, and Coedmon-- + Legends--A Fallen Tower--St. Mary's Church--Whitby--The Vale of + Esk--Specimens of Popular Hymns 78 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + Whitby's Attractions--The Pier--The River-Mouth--The Museum-- + Saurians and Ammonites--An enthusiastic Botanist--Jet in the + Cliffs, and in the Workshop--Jet Carvers and Polishers--Jet + Ornaments--The Quakers' Meeting--A Mechanics' Institute--Memorable + Names--A Mooky Miner--Trip to Grosmont--The Basaltic Dike-- + Quarries and Ironstone--Thrifty Cottagers--Abbeys and Hovels--A + Stingy Landlord--Egton Bridge--Eskdale Woods--The Beggar's Bridge 89 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + To Upgang--Enter Cleveland--East Row--The first Alum-Maker-- + Sandsend--Alum-Works--The huge Gap--Hewing the Alum Shale-- + Limestone Nodules: Mulgrave Cement--Swarms of Fossils--Burning the + Shale--Volcanic Phenomena--From Fire to Water--The Cisterns-- + Soaking and Pumping--The evaporating Pans--The Crystallizing + Process--The Roching Casks--Brilliant Crystals--A Chemical Triumph + --Rough Epsoms 97 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + Mulgrave Park--Giant Wade--Ubba's Landing-place--The Boggle- + boggarts--The Fairy's Chase--Superstitions--The Knight of the Evil + Lake--Lythe--St. Oswald's Church--Goldsborough--Kettleness--Rugged + Cliffs and Beach--Runswick Bay--Hob-Hole--Cure for Whooping-cough + --Jet Diggers--Runswick--Hinderwell--Horticultural Ravine-- + Staithes--A curious Fishing-town--The Black Minstrels--A close- + neaved Crowd--The Cod and Lobster--Houses washed away--Queer + back Premises--The Termagants' Duel--Fisherman's Talk--Cobles and + Yawls--Dutch and French Poachers--Tap-room Talk--Reminiscences + of Captain Cook 104 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Last Day by the Sea--Boulby--Magnificent Cliffs--Lofthouse and + Zachary Moore--The Snake-killer--The Wyvern--Eh! Packman-- + Skinningrave--Smugglers and Privateers--The Bruce's Privileges-- + What the old Chronicler says--Story about a Sea-Man--The Groaning + Creek--Huntcliff Nab--Rosebury Topping--Saltburn--Cormorant + Shooters--Cunning Seals--Miles of Sands--Marske--A memorable Grave + --Redcar--The Estuary of Tees--Asylum Harbour--Recreations for + Visitors--William Hutton's Description--Farewell to the Sea 115 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + Leave Redcar--A Cricket-Match--Coatham--Kirkleatham--The Old + Hospital--The Library--Sir William Turner's Tomb--Cook, Omai, and + Banks--The Hero of Dettingen--Yearby Bank--Upleatham--Guisborough + --Past and Present--Tomb of Robert Bruce--Priory Ruins-- + Hemingford, Pursglove, and Sir Thomas Chaloner--Pretty Scenery-- + The Spa--More Money, Less Morals--What George Fox's Proselytes did + --John Wesley's Preaching--Hutton Lowcross--Rustics of Taste-- + Rosebury Topping--Lazy Enjoyment--The Prospect: from Black-a-moor + to Northumberland--Cook's Monument--Canny Yatton--The Quakers' + School--A Legend--Skelton--Sterne and Eugenius--Visitors from + Middlesbro'--A Fatal Town--Newton--Digger's Talk--Marton, Cook's + Birthplace--Stockton--Darlington 123 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + Locomotive, Number One--Barnard Castle--Buying a Calf on Sunday-- + Baliol's Tower--From Canute to the Duke of Cleveland--Historic + Scenery--A surprised Northumbrian--The bearded Hermit--Beauty of + Teesdale--Egliston Abbey--The Artist and his Wife--Dotheboys Hall + --Rokeby--Greta Bridge--Mortham Tower--Brignall Banks--A + Pilgrimage to Wycliffe--Fate of the Inns--The Felon Sow--A Journey + by Omnibus--Lartington--Cotherstone--Scandinavian Traces-- + Romaldkirk--Middleton-in-Teesdale--Wild Scenery--High Force Inn-- + The voice of the Fall 136 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + Early Morn--High Force--Rock and Water--A Talk with the Waitress-- + Hills and Cottages--Cronkley Scar--The Weel--Caldron Snout-- + Soothing Sound--Scrap from an Album--View into Birkdale--A Quest + for Dinner--A Westmoreland Farm--Household Matters--High Cope Nick + --Mickle Fell--The Boys' Talk--The Hill-top--Glorious Prospect--A + Descent--Solitude and Silence--A Moss--Stainmore--Brough--The + Castle Ruin--Reminiscences 146 + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + Return into Yorkshire--The Old Pedlar--Oh! for the Olden Time-- + "The Bible, indeed!"--An Emissary--Wild Boar Fell--Shunnor Fell-- + Mallerstang--The Eden--A Mountain Walk--Tan Hill--Brown Landscape + --A School wanted--Swaledale--From Ling to Grass--A Talk with Lead + Miners--Stonesdale--Work for a Missionary--Thwaite--A Jolly + Landlord--A Ruined Town--The School at Muker--A Nickname-- + Buttertubs Pass--View into Wensleydale--Lord Wharncliffe's Lodge-- + Simonstone--Hardraw Scar--Geological Phenomenon--A Frozen Cone-- + Hawes 157 + + + CHAPTER XX. + + Bainbridge--"If you had wanted a wife"--A Ramble--Millgill Force-- + Whitfell Force--A Lovely Dell--The Roman Camp--The Forest Horn, + and the old Hornblower--Haymaking--A Cockney Raker--Wensleydale + Scythemen--A Friend indeed--Addleborough--Curlews and Grouse--The + First Teapot--Nasty Greens--The Prospect--Askrigg--Bolton Castle-- + Penhill--Middleham--Miles Coverdale's Birthplace--Jervaux Abbey-- + Moses's Principia--Nappa Hall--The Metcalfes--The Knight and the + King--The Springs--Spoliation of the Druids--The great Cromlech-- + Legend--An ancient Village--Simmer Water--An advice for Anglers-- + More Legends--Counterside--Money-Grubbers--Widdale--Newby Head 165 + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + About Gimmer Hogs--Gearstones--Source of the Ribble--Weathercote + Cave--An Underground Waterfall--A Gem of a Cave--Jingle Pot--The + Silly Ducks--Hurtle Pool--The Boggart--A Reminiscence of the + Doctor--Chapel-le-Dale--Remarkable Scenery--Ingleborough--Ingleton + --Craven--Young Daniel Dove, and Long Miles--Clapham--Ingleborough + Cave--Stalactite and Stalagmite--Marvellous Spectacle--Pillar Hall + --Weird Music--Treacherous Pools--The Abyss--How Stalactite forms + --The Jockey Cap--Cross Arches--The Long Gallery--The Giant's Hall + --Mysterious Waterfall--A Trouty Beck--The Bar-Parlour--A Bradford + Spinner 177 + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + By Rail to Skipton--A Stony Town--Church and Castle--The Cliffords + --Wharfedale--Bolton Abbey--Picturesque Ruins--A Foot-Bath--Scraps + from Wordsworth--Bolton Park--The Strid--Barden Tower--The Wharfe + --The Shepherd Lord--Reading to Grandfather--A Cup of Tea-- + Cheerful Hospitality--Trout Fishing--Gale Beck--Symon Seat--A Real + Entertainer--Burnsall--A Drink of Porter--Immoralities-- + Threshfield--Kilnsey--The Crag--Kettlewell--A Primitive Village-- + Great Whernside--Starbottom--Buckden--Last View of Wharfedale-- + Cray--Bishopdale--A Pleasant Lane--Bolton Castle--Penhill-- + Aysgarth--Dead Pastimes--Decrease of Quakers--Failure of a Mission + --Why and Wherefore--Aysgarth Force--Drunken Barnaby--Inroad of + Fashion 191 + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + A Walk--Carperby--Despotic Hay-time--Bolton Castle--The Village-- + Queen Mary's Prison--Redmire--Scarthe Nick--Pleasing Landscape-- + Halfpenny House--Hart-Leap Well--View into Swaledale--Richmond-- + The Castle--Historic Names--The Keep--St. Martin's Cell--Easby + Abbey--Beautiful Ruins--King Arthur and Sleeping Warriors--Ripon-- + View from the Minster Tower--Archbishop Wilfrid--The Crypt--The + Nightly Horn--To Studley--Surprising Trick--Robin Hood's Well-- + Fountains Abbey--Pop goes the Weasel--The Ruins--Robin Hood and + the Curtall Friar--To Thirsk--The Ancient Elm--Epitaphs 206 + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + Sutton: a pretty Village--The Hambleton Hills--Gormire Lake-- + Zigzags--A Table-Land--Boy and Bull Pup--Skawton--Ryedale-- + Rievaulx Abbey--Walter L'Espec--A Charming Ruin--The Terrace--The + Pavilion--Helmsley--T' Boos--Kirkby Moorside--Helmsley Castle--A + River swallowed--Howardian Hills--Oswaldkirk--Gilling--Fairfax + Hall--Coxwold--Sterne's Residence--York--The Minster Tower--Yorke, + Yorke, for my monie--The Four Bars--The City Walls--The Ouse + Legend--Yorkshire Philosophical Society--Ruins and Antiquities-- + St. Mary's Lodge 217 + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + By Rail to Leeds--Kirkstall Abbey--Valley of the Aire--Flight to + Settle--Giggleswick--Drunken Barnaby again--Nymph and Satyr--The + astonished Bagman--What do they Addle?--View from Castleber-- + George Fox's Vision on Pendle Hill--Walk to Maum--Companions-- + Horse versus Scenery--Talk by the Way--Little Wit, muckle Work-- + Malham Tarn--Ale for Recompense--Malham--Hospitality--Gordale Scar + --Scenery versus Horse--Trap for Trout--A Brookside Musing--Malham + Grove--Source of the Aire--To Keighley 226 + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + Keighley--Men in Pinafores--Walk to Haworth--Charlotte Brontė's + Birthplace--The Church--The Pew--The Tombstone--The Marriage + Register--Shipley--Saltaire--A Model Town--Household Arrangements + --I isn't the Gaffer--A Model Factory--Acres of Floors--Miles of + Shafting--Weaving Shed--Thirty Thousand Yards a Day--Cunning + machinery--First Fleeces--Shipley Feast--Scraps of Dialect--To + Bradford--Rival Towns--Yorkshire Sleuth-hounds--Die like a + Britoner 235 + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + Bradford's Fame--Visit to Warehouses--A Smoky Prospect--Ways and + Means of Trade--What John Bull likes--What Brother Jonathan likes + --Vulcan's Head-quarters--Cleckheaton--Heckmondwike--Busy Traffic + --Mirfield--Robin Hood's Grave--Batley the Shoddyopolis--All the + World's Tatters--Aspects of Batley--A Boy capt--The Devil's Den-- + Grinding Rags--Mixing and Oiling--Shoddy and Shoddy--Tricks with + Rags--The Scribbling Machine--Short Flocks, Long Threads--Spinners + and Weavers--Dyeing, Dressing, and Pressing--A Moral in Shoddy--A + surprise of Real Cloth--Iron, Lead, and Coal--To Wakefield--A + Disappointment--The Old Chapel--The Battle-field--To Barnsley-- + Bairnsla Dialect--Sheffield 245 + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Clouds of Blacks--What Sheffield was and is--A detestable Town-- + Razors and Knives--Perfect Work, Imperfect Workmen--Foul Talk--How + Files are made--Good Iron, Good Steel--Breaking-up and Melting-- + Making the Crucibles--Casting--Ingots--File Forgers--Machinery + Baffled--Cutting the Teeth--Hardening--Cleaning and Testing-- + Elliott's Statue--A Ramble to the Corn-Law Rhymer's Haunt--Rivelin + --Bilberry gatherers--Ribbledin--The Port's Words--A Desecration-- + To Manchester--A few Words on the Exhibition 256 + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + A SHORT CHAPTER TO END WITH 266 + + + + +A MONTH IN YORKSHIRE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A SHORT CHAPTER TO BEGIN WITH. + + +I had cheerful recollections of Yorkshire. My first lessons in +self-reliance and long walks were learned in that county. I could not +forget how, fresh from the south, I had been as much astonished at the +tall, stalwart forms of the men, their strange rustic dialect and rough +manners, as by their hearty hospitality. Nor could I fail to remember +the contrast between the bleak outside of certain farm-houses and the +rude homely comfort inside, where a ruddy turf fire glowed on the +hearth, and mutton hams, and oaten bread, and store of victual burdened +the racks of the kitchen ceiling. Nor the generous entertainment of more +than one old hostess in little roadside public-houses, who, when I +arrived at nightfall, weary with travel, would have me sit at the end of +the high-backed settle nearest the fire, or in the 'neukin' under the +great chimney, and bustle about with motherly kindness to get tea ready; +who, before I had eaten the first pile of cakes, would bring a second, +with earnest assurance that a "growing lad" could never eat too much; +who talked so sympathisingly during the evening--I being at times the +only guest--wondering much that I should be so far away from home: had I +no friends? where was I going? and the like; who charged me only +eighteenpence for tea, bed, and breakfast, and once slily thrust into my +pocket, at parting, a couple of cakes, which I did not discover till +half way across a snow-drifted moor, where no house was in sight for +many miles. All this, and much more which one does not willingly +forget, haunted my memory. + +The wild scenery of the fells, the tame agricultural region, and the +smoky wapentakes, where commerce erects more steeples than religion, +were traversed during my rambles. While wandering in the neighbourhood +of Keighley, I had seen Charlotte Brontė's birthplace, long before any +one dreamed that she would one day flash as a meteor upon the gaze of +the "reading public." Rosebury Topping had become familiar to me in the +landscapes of Cleveland, and now a desire possessed me to get on the top +of that magnificent cone. In the villages round about its base I had +shared the pepper-cake of Christmas-tide; and falling in with the +ancient custom prevalent along the eastern coast from Humber to Tyne, +had eaten fried peas on Carlin Sunday--Mid-Lent of the calendar--ere the +discovery of that mineral wealth, now known to exist in such astonishing +abundance, that whether the British coal-fields will last long enough or +not to smelt all the ironstone of Cleveland, is no longer a question +with a chief of geologists. I had mused in the ruin where Richard the +Second was cruelly murdered, at Pontefract; had looked with proper +surprise at the Dropping Well, at Knaresborough, and into St. Robert's +Cave, the depository of Eugene Aram's terrible secret; had walked into +Wakefield, having scarcely outlived the fond belief that there the Vicar +once dwelt with his family; and when the guard pointed out the summits +as the coach rolled past on the way from Skipton to Kirkby Lonsdale, had +no misgivings as to the truth of the saying: + + "Penigent, Whernside, and Ingleborough, + Are the three highest hills all England thorough." + +Unawares, in some instances, I had walked across battlefields, memorable +alike in the history of the county, and of the kingdom; where marauding +Scots, dissolute Hainaulters, Plantagenets and Tudors, Cavalier and +Roundhead had rushed to the onslaught. Marston Moor awoke the proudest +emotions, notwithstanding my schoolboy recollections of what David Hume +had written thereupon; while Towton was something to wonder at, as +imagination flew back to the time when + + "Palm Sunday chimes were chiming + All gladsome thro' the air, + And village churls and maidens + Knelt in the church at pray'r; + When the Red Rose and the White Rose + In furious battle reel'd; + And yeomen fought like barons, + And barons died ere yield. + When mingling with the snow-storm, + The storm of arrows flew; + And York against proud Lancaster + His ranks of spearmen threw. + When thunder-like the uproar + Outshook from either side, + As hand to hand they battled + From morn to eventide. + When the river ran all gory, + And in hillocks lay the dead, + And seven and thirty thousand + Fell for the White and Red. + + * * * * * + + When o'er the Bar of Micklegate + They changed each ghastly head, + Set Lancaster upon the spikes + Where York had bleached and bled. + + * * * * * + + There still wild roses growing-- + Frail tokens of the fray-- + And the hedgerow green bear witness + Of Towton field that day." + +Did the decrepit old shambles, roofed with paving-flags, still encumber +the spacious market-place at Thirsk? Did the sexton at Ripon Minster +still deliver his anatomical lecture in the grim bone-house, and did the +morality of that sedate town still accord with the venerable adage, "as +true steel as Ripon rowels?" Was York still famous for muffins, or +Northallerton for quoits, cricket, and spell-and-nurr? and was its beer +as good as when Bacchus held a court somewhere within sight of the three +Ridings, and asked one of his attendants where that new drink, "strong +and mellow," was to be found? and + + "The boon good fellow answered, 'I can tell + North-Allerton, in Yorkshire, doth excel + All England, nay, all Europe, for strong ale; + If thither we adjourn we shall not fail + To taste such humming stuff, as I dare say + Your Highness never tasted to this day.'" + +Hence, when the summer sun revived my migratory instinct, I inclined to +ramble once more in Yorkshire. There would be no lack of the freshness +of new scenes, for my former wanderings had not led me to the coast, nor +to the finest of the old abbeys--those ruins of wondrous beauty, nor to +the remote dales where crowding hills abound with the picturesque. Here +was novelty enough, to say nothing of the people and their ways, and the +manifold appliances and results of industry which so eminently +distinguish the county, and the grand historical associations of the +metropolitan city, once the "other Rome," of which the old rhymester +says-- + + "Let London still the just precedence claim, + York ever shall be proud to be the next in fame." + +I was curious, moreover, to observe whether the peculiar dialect or the +old habits were dying out quite so rapidly as some social and political +economists would have us believe. + +Quaint old Fuller, among the many nuggets imbedded in his pages, has one +which implies that Yorkshire being the biggest is therefore the best +county in England. You may take six from the other thirty-nine counties, +and put them together, and not make a territory so large as Yorkshire. +The population of the county numbers nearly two millions. When within it +you find the distances great from one extremity to the other, and become +aware of the importance involved in mere dimensions. In no county have +Briton, Roman, and Dane left more evident traces, or history more +interesting waymarks. Speed says of it: "She is much bound to the +singular love and motherly care of Nature, in placing her under so +temperate a clime, that in every measure she is indifferently fruitful. +If one part of her be stone, and a sandy barren ground, another is +fertile and richly adorned with corn-fields. If you here find it naked +and destitute of woods, you shall see it there shadowed with forests +full of trees, that have very thick bodies, sending forth many fruitful +and profitable branches. If one place of it be moorish, miry, and +unpleasant, another makes a free tender of delight, and presents itself +to the eye full of beauty and contentive variety." + +Considering, furthermore, that for two years in succession I had seen the +peasantry in parts of the north and south of Europe, and had come to the +conclusion (under correction, for my travel is brief) that the English +labourer, with his weekly wages, his cottage and garden, is better off +than the peasant proprietor of Germany and Tyrol,--considering this, I +wished to prove my conclusion, and therefore started hopefully for +Yorkshire. + +And again, does not Emerson say, "a wise traveller will naturally choose +to visit the best of actual nations." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Estuary of the Humber--Sunk Island--Land _versus_ Water--Dutch + Phenomena--Cleathorpes--Grimsby--Paul--River Freaks--Mud-- + Stukeley and Drayton--Fluvial Parliament--Hull--The Thieves' + Litany--Docks and Drainage--More Dutch Phenomena--The High + Church--Thousands of Piles--The Citadel--The Cemetery--A + Countryman's Voyage to China--An Aid to Macadam. + + +As the _Vivid_ steamed past the Spurn lighthouse, I looked curiously at +the low sandy spit on which the tall red tower stands, scarcely as it +seems above the level of the water, thinking that my first walk would +perhaps lead thither. At sight of the Pharos, and of the broad estuary +alive with vessels standing in, the Yorkshiremen on board felt their +patriotism revive, and one might have fancied there was a richer twang +in their speech than had been perceptible in the latitude of London. A +few who rubbed their hands and tried to look hearty, vowed that their +future travels should not be on the sea. The _Vivid_ is not a very +sprightly boat, but enjoys or not, as the case may be, a reputation for +safety, and for sleeping-cabins narrower and more stifling than any I +ever crept into. But one must not expect too much when the charge for a +voyage of twenty-six hours is only six and sixpence in the chief cabin. + +Not without reason does old Camden remark of the Humber, "it is a common +rendezvous for the greatest part of the rivers hereabouts," for it is a +noble estuary, notwithstanding that water and shore are alike muddy. It +is nearly forty miles long, with a width of more than two miles down to +about three leagues from the lighthouse, where it widens to six or seven +miles, offering a capacious entrance to the sea. The water has somewhat +of an unctuous appearance, as if overcharged with contributions of the +very fattest alluvium from all parts of Yorkshire. The results may be +seen on the right, as we ascend. There spreads the broad level of Sunk +Island, a noteworthy example of dry land produced by the co-operation of +natural causes and human industry. The date of its first appearance +above the water is not accurately known; but in the reign of Charles II. +it was described as three thousand five hundred acres of "drowned +ground," of which seven acres were enclosed by embankments; and was let +at five pounds a year. A hundred years later fifteen hundred acres were +under cultivation, producing a yearly rental of seven hundred pounds to +the lessee; but he, it is said, made but little profit, because of the +waste and loss occasioned by failure of the banks and irruptions of the +tides. In 1802 the island reverted to the Crown, and was re-let on +condition that all the salt marsh--nearly three thousand acres--which +was "ripe for embankment," should be taken in, and that a church and +proper houses should be built, to replace the little chapel and five +cottages which ministered as little to the edification as to the comfort +of the occupants. In 1833 the lease once more fell in, and the Woods and +Forests, wisely ignoring the middlemen, let the lands directly to the +'Sunk farmers,' as they are called in the neighbourhood, and took upon +themselves the construction and maintenance of the banks. A good road +was made, and bridges were built to connect the Island with the main, +and as the accumulations of alluvium still went on, another 'intake' +became possible in 1851, and now there are nearly 7000 acres, comprising +twenty-three farms, besides a few small holdings, worth more than +12,000_l._ of annual rent. It forms a parish of itself, and not a +neglected one; for moral reclamation is cared for as well as +territorial. The clergyman has a sufficient stipend; the parishioners +supplemented the grants made by Government and the Council of Education, +and have now a good schoolhouse and a competent schoolmaster. + +The Island will continue to increase in extent and value as long as the +same causes continue to operate; and who shall set limits to them? +Already the area is greater than that described in the last report of +the Woods and Forests, which comprehends only the portion protected by +banks. The land when reclaimed is singularly fertile, and free from +stones, and proves its quality in the course of three or four years, by +producing spontaneously a rich crop of white clover. Another fact, +interesting to naturalists, was mentioned by Mr. Oldham in a report read +before the British Association, at their meeting in Hull. "When the +land, or rather mud-bank, has nearly reached the usual surface +elevation, the first vegetable life it exhibits is that of samphire, +then of a very thin wiry grass, and after this some other varieties of +marine grass; and when the surface is thus covered with vegetation, the +land may at once be embanked; but if it is enclosed from the tide before +it obtains a green carpet, it may be for twenty years of but little +value to agriculture, for scarcely anything will grow upon it." + +This is not the only place on the eastern coast where we may see +artificial land, and banks, dikes, and other defences against the water +such as are commonly supposed to be peculiar to the Netherlands. + +The windows of Cleathorpes twinkling afar in the morning sun, reveal the +situation of a watering-place on the opposite shore much frequented by +Lincolnshire folk. Beyond rises the tall and graceful tower of Grimsby +Docks, serving at once as signal tower and reservoir of the water-power +by which the cranes and other apparatus are worked, and ships laden and +unladen with marvellous celerity. These docks cover a hundred acres of +what a few years ago was a great mud-flat, and are a favourable specimen +of what can be accomplished by the overhasty enterprise of the present +day. Grimsby on her side of the river now rivals Hull on the other, with +the advantage of being nearer the sea, whereby some miles of navigation +are avoided. + +Turning to the right again we pass Foul Holme Sand, a long narrow spit, +covered at half-tide, which some day may become reclaimable. A little +farther and there is the church of Paghill or Paul, standing on a low +hill so completely isolated from the broken village to which it belongs, +that the distich runs: + + "High Paul, and Low Paul, Paul, and Paul Holme, + There was never a fair maid married in Paul town." + +The vessel urges her way onwards across swirls and eddies innumerable +which betray the presence of shoals and the vigorous strife of opposing +currents. The spring tides rise twenty-two feet, and rush in with a +stream at five miles an hour, noisy and at times dangerous, churning the +mud and shifting it from one place to another, to the provocation of +pilots. It is mostly above Hull that the changes take place, and there +they are so sudden and rapid that a pilot may find the channel by which +he had descended shifted to another part of the river on his return a +few days afterwards. There also islands appear and disappear in a manner +truly surprising, and in the alternate loss or gain of the shores may be +witnessed the most capricious of phenomena. Let one example suffice: a +field of fourteen acres, above Ferriby, was reduced to less than four +acres in twenty years, although the farmer during that time had +constructed seven new banks for the defence of his land. + +Some notion of the enormous quantity of mud which enters the great river +may be formed from the fact that fifty thousand tons of mud have been +dredged in one year from the docks and basins at Hull. The steam-dredge +employed in the work lifts fifty tons of mud in an hour, pours it into +lighters, which when laden drop down with the tide, and discharge their +slimy burden in certain parts of the stream, where, as is said, it +cannot accumulate. + +Stukely, who crossed the estuary during one of his itineraries, remarks: +"Well may the Humber take its name from the noise it makes. My landlord, +who is a sailor, says in a high wind 'tis incredibly great and terrible, +like the crash and dashing together of ships." The learned antiquary +alludes probably to the bore, or ager as it is called, which rushes up +the stream with so loud a _hum_ that the popular mind seeks no other +derivation for Humber. Professor Phillips, in his admirable book on +Yorkshire, cites the Gaelic word _Comar_, a confluence of two or more +waters, as the origin; and Dr. Latham suggests that Humber may be the +modified form of Aber or Inver. Drayton, in _Polyolbion_, chants of a +tragical derivation; and as I take it for granted, amicable reader, that +you do not wish to travel in a hurry, we will pause for a few minutes to +listen to the debate of the rivers, wherein "thus mighty Humber speaks:" + + "My brave West Riding brooks, your king you need not scorn, + Proud Naiades neither ye, North Riders that are born, + My yellow-sanded Your, and thou my sister Swale + That dancing come to Ouse, thro' many a dainty dale, + Do greatly me enrich, clear Derwent driving down + From Cleveland; and thou Hull, that highly dost renown, + Th' East Riding by thy rise, do homage to your king, + And let the sea-nymphs thus of mighty Humber sing; + That full an hundred floods my wat'ry court maintain + Which either of themselves, or in their greater's train + Their tribute pay to me; and for my princely name, + From Humber king of Hunns, as anciently it came, + So still I stick to him: for from that Eastern king + Once in me drown'd, as I my pedigree do bring: + So his great name receives no prejudice thereby; + For as he was a king, so know ye all that I + Am king of all the floods, that North of Trent do flow; + Then let the idle world no more such cost bestow, + Nor of the muddy Nile so great a wonder make, + Though with her bellowing fall, she violently take + The neighbouring people deaf; nor Ganges so much praise, + That where he narrowest is, eight miles in broadness lays + His bosom; nor so much hereafter shall be spoke + Of that (but lately found) Guianian Oronoque, + Whose cataract a noise so horrible doth keep + That it even Neptune frights: what flood comes to the deep, + Than Humber that is heard more horribly to roar? + For when my Higre comes, I make my either shore + Even tremble with the sound, that I afar do send." + +The view of Hull seen from the water is much more smoky than +picturesque. Coming nearer we see the _Cornwallis_ anchored off the +citadel, looking as trim and earnest as one fancies an English +seventy-four ought to look, and quite in keeping with the embrasured +walls through which guns are peeping on shore. The quay and +landing-places exhibit multifarious signs of life, especially if your +arrival occur when the great railway steam-ferry-boat is about to start. +There is, however, something about Hull which inspires a feeling of +melancholy. This was my third visit, and still the first impression +prevailed. It may be the dead level, or the sleepy architecture, or the +sombre colour, or a combination of the three, that touches the dismal +key. "Memorable for mud and train oil" was what Etty always said of the +town in which he served an apprenticeship of seven weary years; yet in +his time there remained certain picturesque features which have since +disappeared with the large fleet of Greenland whale-ships whereof the +town was once so proud:--now migrated to Peterhead. However, we must not +forget that Hull is the third port in the kingdom; that nearly a hundred +steamers arrive and depart at regular intervals from over sea, or +coastwise, or from up the rivers; that of the 4000 tons of German yeast +now annually imported, worth nearly £200,000, it receives more than +two-thirds; that it was one of the first places to demonstrate the +propulsion of vessels by the power of steam. Nor will we forget that we +are in one of the towns formerly held in wholesome dread by evil-doers +when recommendation to mercy was seldom heard of, as is testified by the +thieves' litany of the olden time, thus irreverently phrased: + + "From Hull, Hell, and Halifax, + Good Lord deliver us." + +Halifax, however, stood pre-eminent for sharp practice; a thief in that +parish had no chance of stealing twice, for if he stole to the value of +thirteenpence halfpenny, he was forthwith beheaded. + +Andrew Marvell need not have been so severe upon the Dutch, considering +how much there was in his native county similar in character and aspect +to that which he satirised. You soon discover that this character still +prevails. Is not the southern landing place of the steam-ferry named New +Holland? and here in Hull, whichever way you look, you see masts, and +are stopped by water or a bridge half open, or just going to open, +whichever way you walk. It is somewhat puzzling at first; but a few +minutes' survey from the top of the High Church affords an explanation. + +Following the line once occupied by the old fortifications--the walls by +which Parliament baffled the king--the docks form a continuous +water-communication from the river Hull on one side to the Humber on the +other, so that a considerable portion of the town has become an island, +and the sight of masts and pennons in all directions, some slowly +moving, is accounted for. At the opening of the Junction Dock in 1829, +whereby the desired connection was established, the celebration included +circumnavigation of the insular portion by a gaily decorated steamer. + +The amphibious Dutch-looking physiognomy thus produced is further +assisted by the presence of numerous windmills in the outskirts, and the +levelness of the surrounding country. A hundred years ago, and the view +across what is now cultivated fields would have comprehended as much +water as land, if not more. Should a certain popular authoress ever +publish her autobiography, she will, perhaps, tell us how Mr. Stickney, +her father, used when a boy to skate three or four miles to school over +unreclaimed flats within sight of this church tower of Hull, now rich +in grass and grain. Only by a system of drainage and embankment on a +great scale, and a careful maintenance, has the reclamation of this and +other parts of Holderness been accomplished. Taylor, the water-poet, who +was here in 1632, records, + + "It yearly costs five hundred pounds besides + To fence the towne from Hull and Humber's tydes, + For stakes, for bavins, timber, stones, and piles, + All which are brought by water many miles; + For workmen's labour, and a world of things, + Which on the towne excessive charges brings." + +British liberty owes something to this superabundance of water. Hull was +the first town in the kingdom to shut its gates against the king and +declare for the people, and was in consequence besieged by Charles. In +this strait, Sir John Hotham, the governor, caused the dikes to be cut +and sluices drawn, and laid the whole neighbourhood under water, and +kept the besiegers completely at bay. The Royalists, to retaliate, dug +trenches to divert the stream of fresh water that supplied the town,--a +means of annoyance to which Hull, from its situation, was always liable. +In the good old times, when the neighbouring villagers had any cause of +quarrel with the townsfolk, they used to throw carrion and other +abominations into the channel, or let in the salt-water, nor would they +desist until warned by a certain Pope in an admonitory letter. + +The church itself, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a handsome specimen +of florid Gothic, dating from the reign of Edward II. You will perhaps +wish that the effect of the light tall columns, rising to the blue +panelled roof, were not weakened by the somewhat cold and bare aspect of +the interior. If you are curious about bells, there are inscriptions to +be deciphered on some of those that hang in the tower; and in the belfry +you may see mysterious tables hanging on the wall of 'grandsire bobs,' +and 'grandsire tripples;' things in which the ringers take pride, but as +unintelligible to the uninitiated as Babylonish writing. There, too, +hangs the ringers' code of laws, and a queer code it is! One of the +articles runs:--"Every Person who shall Ring any Bell with his Hat or +Spurs on, shall Forfeit and Pay Sixpence, for the Use of the Ringers." +And the same fine is levied from "any Person who shall have Read Any of +these Orders with his Hat upon his Head;" from which, and the +characteristic touches in the other "orders," you will very likely come +to some strange conclusions respecting the fraternity of ringers. + +The market-place is in the main street, where a gilt equestrian statue +of William III. looks down on stalls of fruit, fish, and seaweed, and +the moving crowd of townsfolk and sailors. By the side of the Humber +dock rises the Wilberforce monument, a tall column, bearing on its +capital a statue of the renowned advocate of the negroes. And when you +have looked at these and at the hospital, and walked through the +garrison, you will have visited nearly all that is monumental in Hull. + +At low water, the little river Hull is a perfect representation of a +very muddy ditch. While crossing the ferry to the citadel, the old +boatman told me he could remember when every high tide flowed up into +the streets of the town, but the new works for the docks now keep the +water out. Hundreds of piles were driven into the sandy bank to +establish a firm foundation for the massive walls, quays, and abutments. +At the time when timber rose to an enormous price in consequence of +Napoleon's continental blockade, the piles of the coffer-dam which had +been buried seven years, were pulled up and sold for more than their +original cost. Government gave the site of some old military works and +10,000_l._ towards the formation of the first dock, on condition that it +should be made deep enough to receive ships of fifty guns. + +In records of the reign of Henry VIII. there appears--"Item: the Kinges +Ma'tes house to be made to serve as a Sitidell and a speciall kepe of +the hole town." The present citadel has an antiquated look, and quiet +withal, for the whole garrison, at the time I walked through it, +numbered only twenty-five artillerymen. Judging from my own experience, +one part of the sergeant's duty is to shout at inquisitive strangers who +get up on the battery to look through an embrasure, and the more +vehemently as they feign not to hear till their curiosity is satisfied. +There is room in the magazines for twenty thousand stand of arms, and +ordnance stores for a dozen ships of the line. A ditch fed from the Hull +completely separates the fortifications from the neighbouring +ship-yards. + +Half a day's exploration led me to the conclusion that the most +cheerful quarter of Hull is the cemetery. I was sitting there on a +grassy bank enjoying the breeze, when a countryman came up who perhaps +felt lonely, for he sat down by my side, and in less than a minute +became autobiographical. He was a village carpenter, "came forty mile +out of Lincolnshire" for the benefit of his health; had been waiting +three days for his brother's ship, in which he meant to take a voyage to +China, and feeling dull walked every day to the cemetery; for, he said, +"It's the pleasantest place I can find about the town." I suggested +reading as a relief; but he "couldn't make much out o'readin'--'ud +rather work the jack-plane all day than read." The long voyage to China +appeared to offer so good an opportunity for improving himself in this +particular that I urged him to take a few books on board, and gave an +assurance that one hour's study every day would enable him to read with +pleasure by the time he returned. + +"Oh, but we be on'y three days a-going," he answered. + +I had played the part of an adviser to no purpose, for it appeared, on +further questioning, that his brother's ship was a small sloop trading +to some port beyond the North Sea about three days distant; he did not +know where it was, but was sure his brother called it China. I mentioned +the names of all the ports I could think of to discover the real one if +possible, but in vain; nor have I yet found one that has the sound of +China. + +One thing I saw on my way back to the town, which London--so apt to be +self-conceited--might adopt with signal advantage. It was a huge iron +roller drawn by horses up and down a newly macadamised road. Under the +treatment of the ponderous cylinder, the broken stone, combined with a +sprinkling of asphalte, is reduced to a firm and level surface, over +which vehicles travel without any of that distressing labour and loss of +time and temper so often witnessed in the metropolis, where a thousand +pair of wheels produce less solidity in a week than the roller would in +a day; especially on the spongy roads presided over by St. Pancras. + +Late in the evening, while walking about the streets, even in the +principal thoroughfares, I saw evidences enough of--to use a mild +adjective--an unpolished population. The northern characteristics were +strongly marked. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + A Railway Trip--More Land Reclamation--Hedon--Historical + Recollections--Burstwick--The Earls of Albemarle--Keyingham-- + The Duke of York--Winestead--Andrew Marvell's Birthplace--A + Glimpse of the Patriot--Patrington--A Church to be proud of-- + The Hildyard Arms--Feminine Paper-hangers--Walk to Spurn--Talk + with a Painter--Welwick--Yellow Ochre and Cleanliness-- + Skeffling--Humber Bank--Miles of Mud--Kilnsea--Burstall Garth-- + The Greedy Sea--The Sandbank--A Lost Town, Ravenser Odd--A + Reminiscence from Shakspeare--The Spurn Lighthouse--Withernsea + --Owthorne--Sister Churches--The Ghastly Churchyard--A Retort + for a Fool--A Word for Philologists. + + +By the first train on the morrow I started for Patrington. The windmills +on the outskirts of the town were soon left behind, and away we went +between the thick hedgerows and across the teeming fields, which, +intersected by broad deep drains, and grazed by sleek cattle, exhibit at +once to your eye the peculiarities of Holderness. All along between the +railway and the river there are thousands of acres, formerly called the +'out-marshes,' which have been reclaimed, and now yield wonderful crops +of oats. After the principal bank has been constructed, the tide is let +in under proper control to a depth of from three to five feet, and is +left undisturbed until all the mud held in suspension is deposited. The +impoverished flood is then discharged through the sluices, and in due +time, after the first has stiffened, a fresh flow is admitted. By this +process of 'warping,' as it is called, three or four feet of mud will be +thrown down in three years, covering the original coarse, sour surface +with one abounding in the elements of fertility. Far inland, even up the +Trent, and around the head of the Humber within reach of the tide, the +farmers have recourse to warping, and not unfrequently prefer a fresh +layer of mud to all other fertilisers. + +About every two miles we stop at a station, and at each there is +something to be noted and remembered. Hedon, a dull decayed town, now +two miles from the river, once the commercial rival of Hull, has +something still to be proud of in its noble church, "the pride of +Holderness." Here, too, within a fence, stands the ancient cross, which, +after several removals, as the sea devoured its original site--a royal +adventurer's landing-place--found here a permanent station. At +Burstwick, two miles farther, lay the estates, the _caput baronię_, of +the renowned Earls of Albemarle. A few minutes more and another stop +reminds us of Keyingham bridge, where a party of the men of Holderness +opposed the passage of Edward IV. with his three hundred Flemings, some +carrying strange fire-weapons, until he replied to their resolute +question that he had only come to claim his dukedom of York. A "dukedom +large enough" for a wise man. And, as tradition tells, Keyingham church +was the scene of a miracle in 1392, when all the doors were split by a +lightning-stroke, and the tomb of Master Philip Ingleberd, formerly +rector, sweated a sweetly-scented oil, perhaps out of gratitude to the +patron saint for the escape of thirteen men who fell all at once with +the ladder while seeking to put out the fire in the steeple, and came to +no harm. Then Winestead, which was, if the parish-register may be +believed, the birthplace of Andrew Marvell--not Hull, as is commonly +reported of the incorruptible Yorkshire man. His father was rector here, +but removed to Hull during the poet's infancy, which may account for the +error. The font in which he was christened having fallen into neglect, +was used as a horse-trough, until some good antiquary removed it into +the grounds of Mr. Owst, at Keyingham, where it remains safe among other +relics. Andrew represented Hull in parliament for twenty years, and was +the last member who, according to old usage, received payment for his +services. One's thought kindles in thinking of him here at this quiet +village, as a friend of Milton, like him using his gifts manfully and +successfully in defence of the Englishman's birthright. What a happy +little glimpse we get of him in the lines-- + + "Climb at court for me that will-- + Tottering favour's pinnacle; + All I seek is to lie still, + Settled in some secret nest, + In calm leisure let me rest, + And far off the public stage, + Pass away my silent age. + Thus, when without noise, unknown, + I have lived out all my span, + I shall die without a groan, + An old honest countryman." + +Then Patrington--erst Patrick's town--one of those simple-looking places +which contrast agreeably with towns sophisticated by the clamour and +bustle of trade; and although a few gas-lamps tell of innovation, a +market not more than once a fortnight upholds the authority of ancient +usage. You see nearly the whole of the town at once; a long, wide, quiet +street, terminated by a graceful spire, so graceful, indeed, that it +will allure you at once to the church from which it springs; and what a +feast for the eye awaits you! Truly the "pride of Holderness" is not +monopolised by Hedon. The style is that which prevailed in the reign of +Edward II., and is harmonious throughout, from weathercock to door-sill. +You will walk round it again and again, admiring the beauty of its +design and proportion, pausing oft to contemplate the curious carvings, +and the octagonal spire springing lightly from flying buttresses to a +height of one hundred and ninety feet. The gargoyles exhibit strange +conceits; chiselled to represent a fiddler--a bagpiper--a man holding a +pig--a fiend griping a terrified sinner--a lion thrusting his tongue +out--and others equally incongruous. How I wished the architect would +come to life for an hour to tell me what he meant by them, and by +certain full-length figures carved on the buttresses, which accord so +little with our modern sense of decency, much less with the character of +a religious house! Inside you find a corresponding lightness and +gracefulness, and similarly relieved by a sprinkling of monsters. The +east or 'Ladye aisle' contains three chantry chapels; the 'Easter +sepulchre' is a rare specimen of the sculptor's art, and the font hewn +from a single block of granite displays touches of a master hand. St. +Patrick's church at Patrington is an edifice to linger in; an example of +beauty in architecture in itself worth a journey to Yorkshire. + +There are relics, too, of an earlier age: embankments discovered some +feet below the present surface, fragments of buildings, an altar, and +other objects of especial interest to the antiquary, for they mark +Patrington as the site of a Roman station. An important station, if the +supposition be correct that this was the Prętorium of Antoninus--the +place where some of the legions disembarked to subjugate the Brigantes. + +To eat breakfast under the sign of the _Hildyard Arms_--a name, by the +way, which preserves in a modified form the old Saxon _Hildegarde_--seemed +like connecting one's-self with remote antiquity. The ancestors of the +Hildyards were here before the Conquest. One of the family, Sir +Christopher, is commemorated by a handsome monument in Winestead church. +The landlord, willing to entertain in more ways than one, talked of the +improvements that had taken place within his remembrance. The railway was +not one of them, for it took away trade from the town, and deadened the +market. Visitors were but few, and most of those who came wondered at +seeing so beautiful a church in such an out-of-the-way place. He could +show me a garden near the churchyard which was said to be the spot where +the building-stone was landed from boats; but the water had sunk away +hundreds of years ago. Patrington haven--a creek running up from the +Humber--had retreated from the town, and since the reclamation of Sunk +Island, required frequent dredging to clear it of mud. The farmers in the +neighbourhood were very well content with the harvests now yielded by the +land. In 1854 some of them reaped "most wonderful crops." + +I had seen a woman painting her door-posts, and asked him whether that +was recognised as women's work in Patrington. "Sure," he answered, "all +over the country too. Women do the whitewashing, and painting, ay, and +the paper-hanging. Look at this room, now! My daughter put that up." + +I did look, and saw that the pattern on the walls sloped two or three +inches from the perpendicular, whereby opposite sides of the room +appeared to be leaning in contrary directions. However, I said nothing +to disparage the damsel's merits. + +From Patrington to Spurn the distance is thirteen miles. Hoping to walk +thither and back in the day, I snapped the thread of the landlord's +talk, and set out for the lighthouse. Presently I overtook a man, and we +had not walked half a mile together before I knew that he was a +master-painter in a small way at Patrington, now going to paper a room +at Skeffling, a village five miles off. To hear that he would get only +sixpence a piece for the hanging surprised me, for I thought that +nowhere out of London would any one be silly enough to hang paper for a +halfpenny a yard. + +"You see," he rejoined, "there's three in the trade at Patrington, and +then 'tis only the bettermost rooms that we gets to do. The women does +all the rest, and the painting besides. That's where it is. But 'taint +such a very bad job as I be going to. They finds their own paste, and +there's nine pieces to hang: that'll give me four and sixpence; and +then I shall get my dinner, and my tea too, if I don't finish too soon. +So it'll be a pretty fair day's work." And yet the chances were that he +would have to wait six months for payment. + +We passed through Welwick--place of wells--a small, clean village, with a +small, squat church, with carvings sadly mutilated on the outside, and +inside, a handsome tomb. At Plowland, near this, lived the Wrights, +confederates in the Gunpowder Plot. Nearly all the cottages are models of +cleanliness; the door-sill and step washed with yellow ochre, and here +and there you see through the open door that the walls of the room inside +are papered, and the little pictures and simple ornaments all in keeping. +You will take pleasure in these indications, and perhaps believe them to +be the result of an affection for cleanliness. The walls of some of the +houses and farm-yards are built of pebbles--'sea-cobbles,' as they are +called--placed zigzag-wise, with a novel and pretty effect: and the +examples multiply as we get nearer the sea, where they may be seen in the +walls of the churches. + +At Skeffling the painter turned into a farm-house which looked +comfortably hospitable enough to put him at ease regarding his dinner, +and as if it had little need to take six months' credit for four and +sixpence, while I turned from the high-road into a track leading past +the church--which, by the way, has architectural features worthy +examination--to the coarse and swarthy flats where the distant view is +hidden by a great embankment that runs along their margin for miles. +Once on the top of this 'Humber-bank,' I met a lusty breeze sweeping in +from the sea, and had before me a singular prospect--the bank itself +stretching far as the eye can see in a straight line to the east and +west, covered with coarse grass and patches of gray, thistle-like, +sea-holly--_Eryngo maritima_. Its outer sloop is loose sand falling away +to the damp line left by the tide, beyond which all is mud--a great +brown expanse outspread for miles. The tide being at its lowest, only +the tops of the masts of small vessels are to be seen, moving, as it +seems, mysteriously: the river itself is hardly discernible. In places +the mud lies smooth and slimy; in others thickly rippled, or tossed into +billows, as if the water had stamped thereon an impression of all its +moods. Fishermen wade across it in huge boots from their boats to the +firm beach, and dig down through it two or three feet to find stiff +holding-ground for their anchors. + +Yonder rises the lighthouse, surprisingly far, as it seems, to seaward, +at times half hidden by a thin, creeping haze. And from Spurn to Sunk +Island this whole northern shore is of the same brown, monotonous +aspect: a desert, where the only living things are a few sea-birds, +wheeling and darting rapidly, their white wings flashing by contrast +with the sad-coloured shore. + +I walked along the top of the bank to Kilnsea, deceived continually in +my estimate of distance by the long dead level. Here and there a drain +pierces the bank, and reappears on the outer side as a raised sewer, +with its outlet beyond high-water mark; and these constructions, as well +as the waifs and strays--old baskets and dead seagulls--cheat the eye +strangely as to their magnitude when first seen. At times, after a +lashing storm has swept off a few acres of the mud, the soil beneath is +found to be a mixture of peat and gravel, in which animal and vegetable +remains and curious antiquities are imbedded. Now and then the relics +are washed out, and show by their character that they once belonged to +Burstall Priory, a religious house, despoiled by the sea before King +Harry began his Reformation. Burstall Garth, one of the pastures +traversed by the bank, preserves its name: the building itself has +utterly disappeared. + +Suddenly a gap occurs in the bank, showing where the unruly tide has +broken through. For some reason the mischief was not repaired, but a new +bank was constructed of chalk and big pebbles, about a stone's throw to +the rear. A green, slimy pool still lies in a hollow between the two. + +The entertainment at the _Crown and Anchor_ at Kilnsea by no means +equals the expectations of a stranger who reads the host's aristocratic +name--_Metforth Tennison_--over the door. I found the bread poor; the +cheese poorer; the beer poorest; yet was content therewith, knowing that +vicissitude is good for a man. The place itself has a special interest, +telling, so to speak, its own history--a history of desolation. The +wife, pointing to the road passing between the house and the beach, told +me she remembered Kilnsea church standing at the seaward end of the +village, with as broad a road between it and the edge of the cliff. But +year by year, as from time immemorial the sea advanced, the road, +fields, pastures, and cottages were undermined and melted away. Still +the church stood, and though it trembled as the roaring waves smote the +cliff beneath, and the wind howled around its unsheltered walls, service +was held within it up to 1823. In that year it began to yield, the walls +cracked, the floor sank, the windows broke; sea-birds flew in and out, +shrieking in the storm, until, in 1826, one-half of the edifice tumbled +into the sea, and the other half followed in 1831. The chief portion of +the village stands on and near the cliff, but as the waste appears to be +greater there than elsewhere, houses are abandoned year by year. In +1847, the _Blue Bell Inn_ was five hundred and thirty-four yards from +the shore; of this quantity forty-three yards were lost in the next six +years. Kilnsea exists, therefore, only as a diminished and diminishing +parish, and in the few scattered cottages near the bank of the Humber. +The old font was carried away from the church to Skeffling, where it is +preserved in the garden of the parsonage. + +Her reminiscences ended, the good woman talked of the rough walking that +lay before me. It was a wild place out there, not often visited by +strangers; but sometimes "wagon loads o' coontra foak cam' to see t' +loights." At one time, as I have heard, a stage-coach used to do the +journey for the gratification of the curious. + +A short distance beyond the _Crown and Anchor_ stands a small lone +cottage built of sea-cobbles, with a sandy garden and potato-plot in +front, and a sandy field, in which a thin, stunted crop of rye was +making believe to grow. Once past this cottage, and all is a wild waste +of sand, covered here and there with reedy grass, among which you now +and then see a dusty pink convolvulus, struggling, as it were, to keep +alive a speck of beauty amid the barrenness. Here, as old chronicles +tell, the king once had 'coningers,' or rabbit-warrens, and rabbits +still burrow in the hillocks. Presently, there is the wide open sea on +your left, and you can mark the waves rushing up on either side, hissing +and thundering against the low bank that keeps them apart. + +"A broad long sand in the shape of a spoon," is the description given of +Spurn in a petition presented to parliament nearly two hundred years +ago; and, if we suppose the spoon turned upside down, it still answers. +It narrows and sinks as it projects from the main shore for about two +miles, and this part being the weakest and most easily shifted by the +rapid currents, is strengthened every few yards by rows of stakes +driven deeply in, and hurdle work. You see the effect in the smooth +drifts accumulated in the space between the barriers, which only require +to be planted with grass to become fixed. As it is, the walking is +laborious: you sink ankle-deep and slide back at every step, unless you +accept the alternative of walking within the wash of the advancing wave. +For a long while the lighthouse appears to be as far off as ever. + +A little farther, and we are on a rugged embankment of chalk: the ground +is low on each side, and a large pond rests in the hollow between us and +the sea on the left, marking the spot where, a few years ago, the sea +broke through and made a clean sweep all across the bank. Every tide +washed it wider and deeper, until at last the fishing-vessels used it as +a short cut in entering or departing from the river. The effect of the +breach would, in time, had a low-water channel been established, have +seriously endangered the shore of the estuary, besides threatening +destruction to the site of the lighthouse. As speedily, therefore, as +wind and weather would permit, piles and stakes were driven in, and the +gap was filled up with big lumps of chalk brought from the quarry at +Barton, forming an embankment sloped on both sides, to render the shock +of the waves as harmless as possible. The trucks, rails, and sleepers +with which the work had been accomplished were still lying on the sand, +awaiting removal. Henceforth measures of precaution will be taken in +time, for a conservator of the river has been appointed. + +The depth of the bay formed by the spoon appears to increase more and +more each time you look back. How vast is the curve between this bank of +chalk and the point where we struck the shore from Skeffling! The +far-spreading sands--or rather mud--are known as the Trinity Dry Sands. +At this moment they are disappearing beneath the rising tide, and you +can easily see what thousands of acres might be reclaimed were a barrier +erected to keep out the water. "Government have been talkin' o' doing it +for years," said a fisherman to whom I talked at Kilnsea, "but 'taint +begun yet." + +Desolate as is now the scene, it was once enlivened by the dwellings of +men and the stir of commerce. Off the spot where we stand, there lay, +five hundred years ago, a low islet, accessible by a flat ridge of sand +and yellow pebbles, known as Ravenser Odd, or Ravensrode, as some write +it. "Situate at the entry to the sea," it was a port regarded with envy +and fear by the merchants of Grimsby and Hull, for its pilots were +skilful, and its traders enterprising. For a time it flourished; but +while the rival Roses wasted the realm, the sea crept nearer, and at +length, after an existence of a century and a half, distinctly traceable +in ancient records and old books, a high tide, enraged by a storm, ended +the history of Ravenser Odd with a fearful catastrophe. A gravelly bank, +running outwards, still discoverable by excavation, is believed to be +the foundation of the low, flat ridge of sand and yellow pebbles along +which the folk of the little town passed daily to and fro; among them at +times strange seamen and merchants from far-away lands, and cowled monks +and friars pacing meekly on errands of the Church. + +And yonder, near the bottom of the curve, stood the town variously +described as Ravenser, Ravenspurne, and Ravenspurg--a town that sent +members to parliament in the reigns of the first two Edwards, and was +considered of sufficient importance to be invited to take part in the +great councils held in London, when the "kinge's majestie" desired to +know the naval forces of the kingdom. Now, twice a day, the tide rolls +in triumphantly over its site. + + "The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself, + And with uplifted arms is safe arriv'd + At Ravenspurg," + +writes Shakspeare, perpetuating alike the name of the place and the +memory of the Duke of Lancaster's adventure,--an adventure brought +before us in an invective by the fiery Hotspur, which I may, perhaps, be +pardoned for introducing here: + + "My father, my uncle, and myself, + Did give him that same royalty he wears: + And,--when he was not six and twenty strong, + Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, + A poor unminded outlaw, sneaking home,-- + My father gave him welcome to the shore: + And,--when he heard him swear a vow to God, + He came but to be Duke of Lancaster, + To sue his livery, and beg his peace; + With tears of innocency and terms of zeal,-- + My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd, + Swore him assistance, and performed it too. + Now, when the lords and barons of the realm + Perceived Northumberland did lean to him, + The more and less came in with cap and knee; + Met him in boroughs, cities, villages; + Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes, + Laid gifts before him, proffered him their oaths, + Gave him their heirs; as pages follow'd him, + Even at the heels, in golden multitudes. + He presently,--as greatness knows itself,-- + Steps me a little higher than his vow + Made to my father, while his blood was poor, + Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg." + +The cross set up to commemorate the landing was shifted from place to +place when endangered by the sea, and lastly to Hedon, where it still +remains, as already mentioned. It was at the same port that Edward IV. +landed, with an excuse plausible as that of the duke whose exploit he +imitated. + +Though it be "naked" still, and toilsome to walk on, the shore is by no +means barren of interest. By-and-by we come to firm ground, mostly +covered with thickly-matted grass; a great irregular, oval mound, which +represents the bowl of the spoon reversed. Near its centre is a fenced +garden and a row of cottages--the residence of the life-boat crew. A +little farther, on the summit of the ridge, stands the lighthouse, built +by Smeaton, in 1776, and at the water's edge, on the inner side, the +lower light. The principal tower is ninety feet in height, and from the +gallery at the top you get an excellent bird's-eye view over sea and +land. Most remarkable is the tongue of sand along which we have walked, +now visible in its whole extent and outline. It is lowest where the +breach was made, and now that the tide has risen higher, the chalk +embankment seems scarcely above the level of the water. Beyond that it +broadens away to the shore of the estuary on one side, and the coast of +Holderness on the other--low, sweeping lines which your eye follows for +miles. By the waste of that coast the Spurn is maintained, and the +Trinity Sands are daily enlarged, and the meadows fattened along Ouse +and Trent. First the lighter particles of the falling cliffs drift round +by the set of the current, and gradually the heavier portions and +pebbles follow, and the supply being inexhaustible, a phenomenon is +produced similar to that of the Chesil Bank, on the coast of +Dorsetshire, except that here the pebbles are for the most part masked +by sand. + +I looked northwards for Flamborough Head, but Dimlington Hill, which +lies between, though not half the height, hides it completely. Beyond +Dimlington lies Withernsea, a small watering-place, the terminus of the +Hull and Holderness Railway, to which the natives of the melancholy town +betake themselves for health and recreation, tempted by a quadrille band +and cheap season-tickets. Adjoining Withernsea is all that remains of +Owthorne, a village which has shared the doom of Kilnsea. The churches +at the two places were known as 'sister churches;' that at Withernsea +yet stands in ruins; but Owthorne church was swept into the sea within +the memory of persons now living. The story runs that two sisters living +there, each on her manor, in the good old times, began to build a church +for the glory of God and the good of their own souls, and the work went +on prosperously until a quarrel arose between them on the question of +spire or tower. Neither would yield. At length a holy monk suggested +that each sister should build a church on her own manor; the suggestion +was approved, and for long years the Sister Churches resounded with the +voice of prayer and praise, and offered a fair day-mark to the mariner. + +But, as of old, the devouring sea rushed higher and higher upon the +land, and the cliff, sapped and undermined, fell, and with it the church +of Owthorne. In 1786, the edge of the burial-ground first began to fail; +the church itself was not touched till thirty years later. It was a +mournful sight to see the riven churchyard, and skeletons and broken +coffins sticking out from the new cliff, and bones, skulls, and +fragments of long-buried wood strewn on the beach. One of the coffins +washed out from a vault under the east end of the church contained an +embalmed corpse, the back of the scalp still bearing the gray hairs of +one who had been the village pastor. The eyes of the villagers were +shocked by these ghastly relics of mortality tossed rudely forth to the +light of day; and aged folk who tottered down to see the havoc, wept as +by some remembered token they recognised a relative or friend of bygone +years, whom they had followed to the grave--the resting place of the +dead, as they trusted, till the end of time. In some places bodies still +clad in naval attire, with bright-coloured silk kerchiefs round the +neck, were unearthed, as if the sea were eager to reclaim the +shipwrecked sailors whom it had in former time flung dead upon the +shore. + +But, to return to the lighthouse. According to Smeaton's survey this +extremity of the spoon comprehends ninety-eight acres. It slopes gently +to the sea, and is somewhat altered in outline by every gale. At the +time of my visit, rows of piles were being driven in, and barriers of +chalk erected, to secure the ground on the outer side between the tower +and the sea; and a new row of cottages for the life-boat crew, built +nearer to the side where most wrecks occur than the old row, was nearly +finished. Beyond, towards the point, stands a public-house, in what +seems a dangerous situation, close to the water. There was once a garden +between it and the sea; now the spray dashes into the rear of the house; +for the wall and one-half of the hindermost room have disappeared along +with the garden, and the hostess contents herself with the rooms in +front, fondly hoping they will last her time. She has but few guests +now, and talks with regret of the change since the digging of ballast +was forbidden on the Spurn. Then trade was good, for the diggers were +numerous and thirsty. That ballast-digging should ever have been +permitted in so unstable a spot argues a great want of forethought +somewhere. + +The paved enclosure around the tower is kept scrupulously clean, for the +rain which falls thereon and flows into the cistern beneath is the only +drinkable water to be had. "It never fails," said the keeper, "but in +some seasons acquires a stale flavour." He was formerly at Flamborough, +and although appointment to the Spurn was promotion, he did not like it +so well. It was so lonesome; the rough, trackless way between, made the +nearest village seem far off; now and then a boat came across with +visitors from Cleathorpes, a seven miles' trip; there had been one that +morning, but not often enough to break the monotony. And he could not +get much diversion in reading, for the Trinity Board, he knew not why, +had ceased to circulate the lighthouse library. + +The lesser tower stands at the foot of the inner slope, where its base +is covered by every tide. Its height is fifty feet, and the entrance, +approached by a long wooden bridge, is far above reach of the water. +This is the third tower erected on the same spot; the two which preceded +it suffered so much damage from the sea that they had to be rebuilt. + +About the time that ambitious Bolingbroke landed, a good hermit, moved +with pity by the number of wrecks, and the dangers that beset the mouth +of the estuary, set up a light somewhere near Ravenser. But finding +himself too poor to maintain it, he addressed a petition to the "wyse +Commons of Parliament," for succour, and not in vain. The mayor of Hull, +with other citizens, were empowered "to make a toure to be up on +daylight and a redy bekyn wheryn shall be light gevyng by nyght to alle +the vesselx that comyn into the seid ryver of Humbre." + +In the seventeenth century, Mr. Justinian Angell, of London, obtained a +license to build a lighthouse on the Spurn. It was an octagonal tower of +brick, displaying an open coal fire on the top, which in stormy weather +was frequently blown quite out, when most wanted. Wrecks were +continually taking place; and it is only since Smeaton completed his +tower, and the floating-light was established in the offing, and the +channel was properly buoyed, that vessels can approach the Humber with +safety by night as well as by day. + +It was full tide when I returned along the chalky embankment, and the +light spray from the breakers sprinkled my cheek, giving me a playful +intimation of what might be expected in a storm. + +I was passing a tilery near Welwick, when a beery fellow, who sat in the +little office with a jug before him and a pipe in his mouth, threw up +the window and asked, in a gruff, insolent tone, "A say, guvner, did ye +meet Father Mathew?" + +"Yes." + +"What did he say to ye?" + +"He told me I should see a fool at the tileworks." + +Down went the window with a hearty slam, and before I was fifty yards +away, the same voice rushed into the road and challenged me to go back +and fight. And when the owner of the voice saw that the stranger took no +heed thereof, he cried, till hidden by a bend in the road, "Yer nothin' +but t' scram o' t' yerth!--yer nothin' but t' scram o' t' yerth!" + +Thinking _scram_ might be the Yorkshire for _scum_, I made a note of it +for the benefit of philologists, and kept on to Patrington, where I +arrived in time for the last train to Hull, quite content with +six-and-twenty miles for my first day's walk. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Northern Manners--Cottingham--The Romance of Baynard Castle-- + Beverley--Yorkshire Dialect--The Farmers' Breakfast--Glimpses + of the Town--Antiquities and Constables--The Minster--Yellow + Ochre--The Percy Shrine--The Murdered Earl--The Costly Funeral + --The Sister's Tomb--Rhyming Legend--The Fridstool--The Belfry. + + +Journeying from Hull to Beverley by 'market-train' on the morrow, I had +ample proof, in the noisy talk of the crowded passengers, that Yorkshire +dialect and its peculiar idioms are not "rapidly disappearing before the +facilities for travel afforded by railways." Nor could I fail to notice +what has before struck me, that taken class for class, the people north +of Coventry exhibit a rudeness, not to say coarseness of manners, which +is rarely seen south of that ancient city. In Staffordshire, within +twenty miles of Birmingham, there are districts where baptism, marriage, +and other moral and religious observances considered as essentials of +Christianity, are as completely disregarded as among the heathen. In +some parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire similar characteristics prevail; +but rude manners do not necessarily imply loose morality. Generally +speaking the rudeness is a safety-valve that lets off the faults or +seeming faults of character; and I for one prefer rudeness to that +over-refinement prevalent in Middlesex, where you may not call things by +their right names, and where, as a consequence, the sense of what is +fraudulent, and criminal, and wicked, has become weakened, because of +the very mild and innocent words in which 'good society' requires that +dishonesty and sin should be spoken of. + +If we alight at Cottingham and take a walk in the neighbourhood we may +discover the scene of a romantic incident. There stood Baynard Castle, a +grand old feudal structure, the residence of Lord Wake. When Henry VIII. +lay at Hull, he sent a messenger to announce a royal visit to the +castle, anticipating, no doubt, a loyal reception; but the lord instead +of pride felt only alarm, for his wife, whom he loved truly, was very +beautiful, and he feared for the consequences should the amorous monarch +set eyes on her beauty. He resolved on a stratagem: gave instructions to +his confidential steward; departed at dead of night with his wife; and +before morning nothing of the castle remained but a heap of smoking +ruins. The king, on hearing of the fire, little suspecting the cause, +generously sent a gift of two thousand pounds, with friendly words, to +mitigate the loss; but the wary lord having evaded the visit, refused +also to receive the money. And now, after lapse of centuries, there is +nothing left but traces of a moat and rampart, to show the wayfarer +where such an ardent sacrifice was made to true affection. + +Even among the farmers, at whose table I took breakfast at the +_Holderness Hotel_, at Beverley, there was evidence that broad Yorkshire +is not bad Dutch, as the proverb says: + + "Gooid brade, botter, and cheese, + Is gooid Yorkshire, and gooid Friese." + +The farmers talked about horses, and, to my surprise, they ate but +daintily of the good things, the beef, ham, mutton, brawn, and other +substantial fare that literally burdened the table. Not one played the +part of a good trencherman, but trifled as if the victim of dinners +fashionably late; and still more to my surprise, when the conversation +took a turn, they all spoke disdainfully of walking. That sort of +exercise was not at all to their liking. "I ha'n't walked four mile I +don't know when," said one; and his fellows avowed themselves similarly +lazy. My intention to walk along the coast to the mouth of the Tees +appeared to them a weakminded project. + +Beverley has a staid, respectable aspect, as if aware of its claims to +consideration. Many of the houses have an old-world look, and among them +a searching eye will discover unmistakable bits of antiquity. A small +columnar building in the market-place is called the market-cross; beyond +it stands a rare old specimen of architecture, St. Mary's church, the +scene of the accident recorded by the ancient rhymer:-- + + "At Beverley a sudden chaunce did falle, + The parish chirche stepille it fell + At evynsonge tyme, the chaunce was thralle, + Ffourscore folke ther was slayn thay telle." + +Beyond the church, one of the old town gates, a heavy stone arch, +bestrides the street. At the other end of the town, screened by an +ancient brick wall, you may see the house of the Black Friars--more +venerable than picturesque--besides little glimpses of the middle ages +on your straggling saunter thither. Among these are not a few of that +sort of endowments which give occasion for abuses, and perpetuate +helplessness. And of noticeable peculiarities you will perhaps think +that one might be beneficially imitated in other towns. A CONSTABLE +LIVES HERE is a notification which you may read on sundry little boards, +topped by a royal crown, nailed here and there over the doors. + +But the minster is the great attraction, rich in historical associations +and architectural beauty. The edifice, as it now appears, has all been +built since the destruction by fire, in 1138, of an older church that +stood on the same spot. The style is diverse, a not uncommon +characteristic of ancient churches: Early English at the east end, +Decorated in the nave, and Perpendicular in the west front and some +minor portions. This western front is considered the master-work, for +not one of its features is out of harmony with the others--a specimen of +the Perpendicular, so Rickman signifies, not less admirable than the +west front of York Minster of the Decorated. The effect, indeed, is +singularly striking as you approach it from a quiet back street. I found +a seat in a favourable point of view, and sat till my eye was satisfied +with the sight of graceful forms, multiplied carvings, the tracery and +ornament from base to roof, and upwards, where the towers, two hundred +feet in height, rise grandly against the bright blue sky. + +However much you may admire yellow ochre on door-steps, door-posts, and +in the passages and on the stairs of dwelling-houses, you will think it +out of place when used to hide the natural colour of the masonry in a +noble church. For me, the effect of the interior was marred by the +yellow mask of the great pillars. The eye expects repose and harmony, +and finds itself cheated. Apart from this, the lofty proportions, the +perspective of the aisles, the soaring arches, the streaming lights and +tinted shadows, fail not in their power to charm. Your architect is a +mighty magician. All the windows, as is believed, were once filled with +stained glass, for the large east window was glazed in 1733 with the +numerous fragments that remained after the destroyers of ecclesiastical +art had perpetrated their mischief. The colours show the true old tone; +and the effect, after all, is not unpleasing. + +The Percy shrine on the north side of the choir is one of the monuments +to which, after viewing the carved stalls and the altar screen, the +sexton will call your special attention. It is a canopied tomb of +exquisite workmanship, enriched with various carvings, figures of +knights and angels, crockets and finials; marking the resting-place, as +is supposed, of the Lady Idonea Clifford, wife of the second Lord Percy +of Alnwick. The Percys played a conspicuous part in Yorkshire history. +Another of the family, grandson of Hotspur, reposes, as is said, under a +tomb in the north transept. He was not a warrior, but a prebend of +Beverley. Then, at the east end, the Percy chapel, which has lost its +beauty through mutilation, commemorates Henry, the fourth Earl of +Northumberland, who was massacred at his seat, Maiden Bower, near +Topcliffe, in 1489. Authorized by Henry VII. to answer the appeal of the +leading men of his neighbourhood against a tax which levied one-tenth of +their property, by a declaration that not one penny would be abated, he +delivered his message in terms so haughty and imperious, that the chiefs +losing patience, brought up their retainers, sacked the house and +murdered the earl. The corpse was buried here in the minster; and the +funeral, which cost a sum equivalent to 10,000_l._ present value, is +described as of surpassing magnificence. Among the numerous items set +down in the bill of charges is twopence a piece for fourteen thousand +"pore folk" at the burial. + +In the south aisle of the nave stands another canopied tomb, an altar +tomb of elegant form, covered by a slab of Purbeck marble, which appears +never to have had a word of inscription to tell in whose memory it was +erected. Neither trace nor record: nothing but tradition, and Venerable +Bede. St. John of Beverley had only to send a cruse of water into which +he had dipped his finger to a sick person to effect a cure. He once +restored the wife of Earl Puch, who lived at Bishop Burton, a few miles +distant. The lady drank a draught of holy water, and recovered forthwith +from a grievous sickness. She had two daughters who, overawed by the +miracle, entered the nunnery at Beverley, where they won a reputation +for holiness and good works. It was they who gave the two pastures on +which freemen of the town still graze their cattle. The rest of their +story is told in the ballad: it was Christmas-eve, says the rhymer, the +customary service had been performed in the chapel; the abbess and her +nuns slowly retired to pursue their devotions apart in their cells, all +save two, who lingered and went forth hand in hand after the others. +Whither went they? On the morrow they were missing; and + + "The snow did melt, the Winter fled + Before the gladsome Spring, + And flowers did bud, the cuckoo piped, + And merry birds did sing: + + "And Spring danced by, and crowned with boughs + Came lusty Summer on: + And the bells ring out, for 'tis the eve, + The eve of blessed St. John. + + "But where bide they, the sisters twain? + Have the holy sisters fled? + And the abbess and all her nuns bewail'd + The sisters twain for dead. + + "Then walk they forth in the eventide, + In the cool and dusky hour; + And the abbess goes up the stair of stone + High on the belfry tower, + + "Now Christ thee save! thou sweet ladye, + For on the roof-tree there, + Like as in blessed trance y-rapt, + She sees the sisters fair. + + "Whence come ye, daughters? long astray: + 'Tis but an hour, they tell, + Since we did chant the vesper hymn, + And list the vesper bell. + + "Nay, daughters, nay! 'tis months agone: + Sweet mother, an hour we ween; + But we have been in heaven each one, + And holy angels seen." + +A miracle! cries the rhymer; and he goes on to tell how that the nuns +repair to the chapel and chant a hymn of praise, after which the two +sisters, kneeling, entreat the abbess for her blessing, and no sooner +has she pronounced _Vade in pace_, than drooping like two fair lilies, +two pale corpses sink to the floor. Then the bells break into a chime +wondrously sweet, rung by no earthly hand; and when the sisters are +laid in the tomb, they suffer no decay. Years passed away, and still no +change touched those lovely forms and angelic features: + + "And pilgrims came from all the land, + And eke from oversea, + To pray at the shrine of the sisters twain, + And St. John of Beverley." + +Another noteworthy object is King Athelstan's _Fridstool_, or chair of +peace; the centre of a sanctuary which extended a mile from the minster +in all directions. Any fugitive who could once sit therein was safe, +whatever his crime. When Richard II. encamped at Beverley, on his way to +Scotland, his half-brother, Sir John Holland, having aided in the +atrocious murder of Lord Ralph Stafford, fled to the _Fridstool_, nor +would he leave it until assured of the king's pardon. "The Countess of +Warwick is now out of Beverley sanctuary," says Sir John Paston, writing +to his brother in June, 1473--the days of Edward IV. The chair, hewn +from a single block of stone, is very primitive in form and appearance; +and as devoid of beauty as some of the seats in the Soulages collection. +Athelstan was a great benefactor to the church. You may see his effigy, +and that of St. John, at the entrance to the choir and over a door in +the south transept, where he is represented as handing a charter to the +holy man, of which one of the privileges is recorded in old English +characters: + + #Als Fre make I The + As hert may thynke or Egh may see.# + +Such a generous giver deserved to be held in honour, especially if the +eye were to see from the height of the tower, to the top of which I now +mounted by the narrow winding-stair. While stopping to take breath in +the belfry, you will perhaps be amused by a table of ringer's laws, and +a record of marvellous peals, the same in purport as those exhibited at +Hull. You can take your time in the ascent, for sextons eschew climbing, +at least in all the churches I visited in Yorkshire. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + A Scotchman's Observations--The Prospect--The Anatomy of + Beverley--Historical Associations--The Brigantes--The Druids-- + Austin's Stone--The Saxons--Coifi and Paulinus--Down with + Paganism--A Great Baptism--St. John of Beverley--Athelstan and + Brunanburgh--The Sanctuary--The Conqueror--Archbishop + Thurstan's Privileges--The Sacrilegious Mayor--Battle of the + Standard--St. John's Miracles--Brigand Burgesses--Annual + Football--Surrounding Sites--Watton and Meaux--Etymologies-- + King Athelstan's Charter. + + +"On my first coming to England I landed at Hull, whose scenery +enraptured me. The extended flatness of surface--the tall trees loaded +with foliage--the large fat cattle wading to the knees in rich +pasture--all had the appearance of fairy-land fertility. I hastened to +the top of the first steeple--thence to the summit of Beverley Minster, +and wondered over the plain of verdure and rank luxury, without a heathy +hill or barren rock, which lay before me. When, after being duly sated +into dulness by the constant sight of this miserably flat country, I saw +my old bare mountains again, my ravished mind struggled as if it would +break through the prison of the body, and soar with the eagle to the +summit of the Grampians. The Pentland, Lomond, and Ochil hills seemed to +have grown to an amazing size in my absence, and I remarked several +peculiarities about them which I had never observed before." + +This passage occurs in the writings of the late James Gilchrist, an +author to whom I am indebted for some part of my mental culture. I quote +it as an example of the different mood of mind in which the view from +the top of the tower may be regarded. To one fresh from a town it is +delightful. As you step on the leads and gaze around on what was once +called "the Lowths," you are surprised by the apparently boundless +expanse--a great champaign of verdure, far as eye can reach, except +where, in the north-west, the wolds begin to upheave their purple +undulations. The distance is forest-like: nearer the woods stand out as +groves, belts, and clumps, with park-like openings between, and +everywhere fields and hedgerows innumerable. How your eye feasts on the +uninterrupted greenness, and follows the gleaming lines of road running +off in all directions, and comes back at last to survey the town at the +foot of the tower! + +Few towns will bear inspection from above so well as Beverley. It is +well built, and is as clean in the rear of the houses as in the streets. +Looking from such a height, the yards and gardens appear diminished, and +the trim flower-beds, and leafy arbours, and pebbled paths, and angular +plots, and a prevailing neatness reveal much in favour of the domestic +virtues of the inhabitants. And the effect is heightened by the green +spaces among the bright red roofs, and woods which straggle in patches +into the town, whereby it retains somewhat of the sylvan aspect for +which it was in former times especially remarkable. + +Apart from its natural features, the region is rich in associations. The +history of Beverley, an epitome of that of the whole county, tempts one +to linger, if but for half an hour. It will not be time thrown away, for +a glimpse of the past may beneficially influence our further wanderings. + +Here the territory of the Brigantes, which even the Romans did not +conquer till more than a hundred years after their landing in Kent, +stretched across the island from sea to sea. Here, deep in the great +forest, the Druids had one of their sacred groves, a temple of living +oaks, for their mysterious worship and ruthless sacrifices. Hundreds of +tumuli scattered over the country, entombing kysts, coffins, fragments +of skeletons, and rude pottery, and not less the names of streets and +places, supply interesting testimony of their existence. Drewton, a +neighbouring village, marks, as is said, the site of Druid's-town, where +a stone about twelve feet in height yet standing was so much venerated +by the natives, that Augustine stood upon it to preach, and erected a +cross thereupon that the worshipper might learn to associate it with a +purer faith. It is still known as Austin's Stone. + +The Saxon followed, and finding the territory hollow between the cliffs +of the coast and the wolds, named it Höll-deira-ness, whence the present +Holderness. It was in the forest of Deira that the conference was held +in presence of Edwin and Ethelburga, between the missionary Paulinus and +Coifi, the high-priest of Odin, on the contending claims of Christianity +and Paganism. The right prevailed; and Coifi, convinced by the arguments +he had heard, seized a spear, and hurrying on horseback to the temple at +Godmanham, cursed his deity, and hurled the spear at the image with such +fury that it remained quivering in the wall of the sacred edifice. The +multitude looked on in amazement, waiting for some sign of high +displeasure at so outrageous a desecration. But no sign was given, and +veering suddenly from dread to derision, they tore down the temple, and +destroyed the sacred emblems. Edwin's timorous convictions were +strengthened by the result, and so great was the throng of converts to +the new faith, that, as is recorded, Paulinus baptized more than ten +thousand in one day in the Swale. According to tradition, the present +church at Godmanham, nine miles distant, a very ancient edifice, was +built from the ruins of the Pagan temple. + +St. John of Beverley was born at Harpham, a village near +Driffield--Deirafeld--in 640. Diligent in his calling, and eminently +learned and conscientious, he became Archbishop of York. In 700 he +founded here an establishment of monks, canons, and nuns, and rebuilt or +beautified the church, which had been erected in the second century; and +when, after thirty-three years of godly rule over his diocese, he laid +aside the burden of authority, it was to the peaceful cloisters of +Beverley that he retired. "He was educated," says Fuller, "under +Theodorus the Grecian, and Archbishop of Canterbury, yet was he not so +famous for his teacher as for his scholar, Venerable Bede, who wrote +this John's life, which he hath so spiced with miracles, that it is of +the hottest for a discreet man to digest into his belief." He died in +721, and was buried in his favourite church, with a reputation for +sanctity which eventually secured him a place in the calendar. + +Was it not to St. John of Beverley that Athelstan owed the victory at +Brunanburgh, which made him sole monarch of Northumbria? The fame of the +"great battle" remains, while all knowledge of the site of Brunanburgh +has utterly perished, unless, as is argued in the Proceedings of the +Literary and Historical Society of Liverpool, it was fought near +Burnley, in Lancashire. It was celebrated alike in Anglo-Saxon song and +history. Greater carnage of people slain by the edge of the sword, says +the ancient chronicle, had never been seen in this island, since Angles +and Saxons, mighty war-smiths, crossed the broad seas to Britain. +Athelstan, in fulfilment of his vow, laid up his sword at the shrine of +St. John, and added largely to the revenues and privileges of the +church. A stone cross, erected on each of the four roads, a mile from +the minster, marked the limits of the sanctuary which he conferred. One +of these yet remains, but in a sadly mutilated condition. + +When the Conqueror came and laid the country waste from Humber to Tees, +trampling it into a "horrible wilderness," he spared Beverley and the +surrounding lands, yielding, as was believed, to the miraculous +influence of the patron saint. One of his soldiers, who entered the town +with hostile intent, became suddenly paralysed, and smitten with +incurable disease; and a captain falling, by accident, as it seemed, +from his horse, his head was turned completely round by the shock. These +were warnings not to be disregarded; and Beverley remained a scene of +fertile beauty amid the desolation. + +One of John's successors, Archbishop Thurstan, took pleasure also in +fondling Beverley. He cut the canal, a mile in length, from the river +Hull to the town: he gave to the inhabitants a charter of incorporation +conferring similar privileges to those enjoyed by the citizens of York, +whereby they were free from all fines and dues in England and Normandy; +had the right to pontage--that is, a toll on all the barges and boats +that passed under a bridge, as well as on the vehicles over it; and to +worry debtors as rigorously as they chose, without fear of retaliation. +In these anti-church-rate days it is surprising enough to read of the +power exercised by an archbishop in the twelfth century. Thurstan had +rule over the baronies of Beverley and five other places, with power to +try and execute criminals, and punish thieves without appeal. In all the +baronies the prisons were his; to him belonged the gibbet, pillory, and +cucking-stool in the towns; the assize of bread and beer; waifs and +wrecks of the sea; the right to 'prises' in the river Hull, diligently +enforced by his watchful coroners; besides park and free warren, and all +his land released from suit and service. + +That taking of prises, by the way, was a standing cause of quarrel +between the burghers of Hull and Beverley. The right to seize two casks +of wine from every vessel of more than twenty tons burthen that entered +the river, one before, the other behind the mast, was a grievance too +much akin to robbery to be borne with patience. The merchants, wise in +their generation, tried to save their casks by discharging the cargoes +into smaller vessels before entering the port; but the coroners detected +the evasion, and took their prises all the same. Hence bitter quarrels; +in which the Beverley ships, dropping down the stream to pursue their +voyage, were many times barred out of the Humber by the men of Hull. +Once, when the archbishop appeared at the port to defend his right, the +mayor, losing temper, snatched the crosier from the dignitary's hand, +and, using it as a weapon, actually spilt blood with the sacred +instrument. + +Never was the saint's influence more triumphantly felt than when +Thurstan's fiery eloquence roused the citizens of York to march against +David of Scotland. The Scottish king, to support Maud's claim against +Stephen, ravaged Northumbria with such ferocious devastation, that it +seemed but a repetition of the Norman havoc, and provoked the Saxon part +of the population to join in repelling the invader. After threatening +York, David moved northwards, followed by the Yorkshire army, which had +rendezvoused at the castle of Thirsk. To inspire their patriotism, a +great pole, topped by a crucifix, and hung with the standards of St. +John of Beverley, St. Peter of York, and St. Wilfred of Ripon, was +mounted on wheels, and placed where every eye could behold it. The +Scottish army was overtaken three miles beyond Northallerton, on the +22nd of August, 1138. The king, seeing the threefold standard from afar, +inquires of a deserter what it means; whereupon he replies, in the words +of the ballad: + + "A mast of a ship it is so high, + All bedeck'd with gold so gay; + And on its top is a Holy Cross, + That shines as bright as day. + + "Around it hang the holy banners + Of many a blessed saint: + St Peter, and John of Beverley, + And St. Wilfrid there they paint." + +The king begins to have misgivings, and rejoins: + + "Oh! had I but yon Holy Rood + That there so bright doth show, + I would not care for yon English host, + Nor the worst that they could do." + +But in vain: the Yorkshire blood was up, no quarter was given, and ten +thousand Scotchmen bit the dust. So complete was the victory, that the +oppressed Saxons boasted of it as an indemnity for their former +sufferings; and the Battle of the Standard remains memorable among the +greatest battles of Yorkshire, and the Standard Hill among her +historical places. + +Was it not the same St. John who afterwards appeared in full pontificals +to Stephen, and warned him to stay his purpose of building a castle at +Beverley? and was it not again his banner, saved from the fire when the +town and minster were burnt in 1186, which rendered Edward I. victorious +in his invasion of Scotland? Did not his tomb sweat blood on that famous +day of Agincourt, and the rumour thereof bring Henry V. and his lovely +Kate hither on a pilgrimage? + +Then the chronicler tells us that one while the provost and burgesses, +resolving to enlarge and beautify the minster, brought together the best +workmen from all parts of England; and later, that the corporation +repaired the edifice with stones taken from the neighbouring abbey of +Watton. And so bitter became the quarrels between Hull and Beverley, +that some of the chief men encouraged the insurrectionary movements +known as the _Rising of the North_ and the _Pilgrimage of Grace_, with +no other purpose than to damage their rivals. The burgesses of Beverley, +not having the fear of the marshal before their eyes, were accused of +unfair trading: of keeping two yard measures and two bushels: unlawfully +long and big to buy with--unlawfully short and small to sell with. And +when in process of time the trade of the town decayed, evil-minded +persons looked on the change as a judgment. At present there is little +of manufacture within it besides that of the implements which have made +the name of Crosskill familiar to farmers. + +Some old customs lingered here obstinately. The cucking-stool was not +abolished until 1750, which some think was a hundred years too soon. +Ducking-stool-lane preserves its memory. And down to 1825, an annual +match at football was played on the Sunday before the races, to which +there gathered all the rabble of the town and adjacent villages, who for +some years successfully resisted the putting down of what had become a +nuisance. Instead of abolishing the game, it would have been better to +change the day, and hold weekly football matches on the race-course. + +From the tower-top the eye takes in the site of Leckonfield, where the +Percys had a castle; of Watton Abbey, where an English Abelard and +Heloise mourned and suffered; of the scanty remains of Meaux Abbey, +founded about 1140, by William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle. Concerning +this nobleman, we read that he had vowed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, +but grew so fat as to be detained at home against his will. Feeling +remorse, he consulted his confessor, who advised him to establish a +convent of Cistercians. A monk from Fountains, eminent alike for piety +and skill in architecture, was invited to choose a site. He selected a +park-like tract commanding a view of the Humber. The earl, loving the +place, bade him reconsider his choice; but the monk, striking his staff +into the ground, replied, "This place shall in future be called the door +of life, the vineyard of heaven, and shall for ever be consecrated to +religion and the service of God." The abbey was built and tenanted by +cowls from Fountains, and flourished until floods and high tides wasted +the lands, and the Reformation destroyed the house. + +But though one man may write a poem while "waiting on the bridge at +Coventry," another may hardly, without presumption, write a long chapter +on the top of a tower. Let me end, therefore, while descending, with a +scrap of etymology. Beaver lake, that is, the lake of floating islands, +sacred to the Druids, is said by one learned scribe to be the origin of +the name Beverley. Another finds it in the beavers that colonized the +river Hull, with lea for a suffix, and point to an ancient seal, which +represents St. John seated, resting his feet on a beaver. Did not the +wise men of Camelford set up the figure of a camel on the top of their +steeple, as a weathercock, because their river winds very much, and +camel is the aboriginal British word for crooked? Other scholars trace +Beverley through Bevorlac, back to _Pedwarllech_--the four stones. + +And here, by way of finish, are a few lines from Athelstan's charter: + + "Yat witen all yat ever been + Yat yis charter heren and seen + Yat I ye King Athelstan + Has yaten and given to St. John + Of Beverlike yat sai you + Tol and theam yat wit ye now + Sok and sake over al yat land + Yat is given into his hand." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + The Great Drain--The Carrs--Submerged Forest--River Hull-- + Tickton--Routh--Tippling Rustics--A Cooler for Combatants--The + Blind Fiddler--The Improvised Song--The Donkey Races--Specimens + of Yorkshiremen--Good Wages--A Peep at Cottage Life--Ways and + Means--A Paragraph for Bachelors--Hornsea Mere--The Abbots' + Duel--Hornsea Church--The Marine Hotel. + + +About a mile from the town on the road to Hornsea, you cross one of the +great Holderness drains, broad and deep enough for a canal, which, +traversing the levels, falls into the sea at Barmston. It crosses the +hollow lands known as 'the Carrs,' once an insalubrious region of swamp +and water covering the remains of an ancient forest. So deep was the +water, that boats went from Beverley to Frothingham, and some of the +farmers found more profit in navigating to and fro with smuggled +merchandise concealed under loads of hay and barley than in cultivating +their farms. For years a large swannery existed among the islands, and +the "king's swanner" used to come down and hold his periodical courts. +The number of submerged trees was almost incredible: pines sixty feet in +length, intermingled with yew, alder, and other kinds, some standing as +they grew, but the most leaning in all directions, or lying flat. Six +hundred trees were taken from one field, and the labourers made good +wages in digging them out at twopence a piece. Some of the wood was so +sound that a speculator cut it up into walking sticks. Generally, the +upper layer consists of about two feet of peat, and beneath this the +trees were found densely packed to a depth of twenty feet, and below +these traces were met with in places of a former surface: the bottom of +the hollow formed by the slope from the coast on one side, from the +wolds on the other, to which Holderness owes its name. The completion of +the drainage works in 1835 produced a surprising change in the +landscape; green fields succeeded to stagnant water; and the islands are +now only discoverable by the 'holm' which terminates the name of some of +the farms. + +A little farther, and there is the river Hull, flowing clean and +cheerful to the muddy Humber. Then comes Tickton, where, looking back +from the swell in the road, you see a good sylvan picture--the towers of +the minster rising grand and massy from what appears to be a great wood, +backed by the dark undulations of the wolds. + +In the public-house at Routh, where I stayed to dine on +bread-and-cheese, the only fare procurable, I found a dozen rustics +anticipating their tippling hours with noisy revelry. The one next whom +I sat became immediately communicative and confidential, and, telling me +they had had to turn out a quarrelsome companion, asked what was the +best cure "for a lad as couldn't get a sup o' ale without wanting to +fight." I replied, that a pail of cold water poured down the back was a +certain remedy; which so tickled his fancy that he rose and made it +known to the others, with uproarious applause. For his own part he burst +every minute into a wild laugh, repeating, with a chuckle, "A bucket o' +water!" + +There was one, however, of thoughtful and somewhat melancholy +countenance, who only smiled quietly, and sat looking apparently on the +floor. "What's the matter, Massey?" cried my neighbour. + +"Nought. He's a fool that's no melancholy yance a day," came the reply, +in the words of a Yorkshire proverb. + +"That's you, Tom! Play us a tune, and I'll dance." + +"Some folk never get the cradle straws off their breech," came the ready +retort with another proverb. + +"Just like 'n," said the other to me. "He's the wittiest man you ever +see: always ready to answer, be 't squire or t' parson, as soon as look +at 'n. He gave a taste to Sir Clifford hisself not long ago. He can make +songs and sing 'em just whenever he likes. I shouldn't wunner if he's +making one now. He's blind, ye see, and that makes 'n witty. We calls 'n +Massey, but his name's Mercer--Tom Mercer. Sing us a song, Tom!" + +True enough. Nature having denied sight to him of the melancholy visage, +made it up with a rough and ready wit, and ability to improvise a song +apt to the occasion. He took his fiddle from the bag and attempted to +replace a broken string; but the knot having slipped two or three times, +three or four of his companions offered their aid. The operation was, +however, too delicate for clumsy fingers swollen with beer and rum, and +as they all failed, I stepped forward, took the fiddle in hand, and soon +gave it back to the minstrel, who, after a few preliminary flourishes, +interrupted by cries of "Now for 't!" struck up a song. With a voice not +unmusical, rhythm good, and rhyme passable, he rattled out a lively +ditty on the incidents of the hour, introducing all his acquaintances by +name, and with stinging comments on their peculiarities and weaknesses. +The effect was heightened by his own grave demeanour, and the fixed grim +smile on his face, while the others were kicking up their heels, and +rolling off their seats with frantic laughter. + +"Didn't I tell ye so!" broke in my neighbour, as he winced a little +under a shaft unusually keen from the singer's quiver. + +I was quite ready to praise the song, which, indeed, was remarkable. The +cleverest 'Ethiopian minstrel' could not chant his ditty more fluently +than that blind fiddler caught up all the telling points of the hour. He +touched upon the one who had been turned out, and on my hydropathic +prescription, and sundry circumstances which could only be understood by +one on the spot. Without pause or hesitation, he produced a dozen +stanzas, of which the last two may serve as a specimen: + + "Rebecca sits a shellin' peas, ye all may hear 'em pop: + She knows who's comin' with a cart: he won't forget to stop: + And Frank, and Jem, and lazy Mat, got past the time to think, + With ginger-beer and rum have gone and muddled all their drink. + With a fol lol, riddle, liddle, lol, lol, lol! + + "Here's a genelman fro' Lunnon; 'tis well that he cam' doun; + If he'd no coom ye rantin' lads would happen had no tune: + Ye fumbled at the fiddle-strings; he screwed 'em tight and strong; + Success to Lunnon then I say, and so here ends my song. + With a fol lol, riddle, liddle, lol, lol, lol!" + +Lusty acclamations and a drink from every man's jug rewarded the +fiddler, and a vigorous cry was set up for "The Donkey Races," another +of his songs, which, as lazy Mat told me, "had been printed and sold by +hundreds." The blind man, nothing loth, rattled off a lively prelude, +and sang his song with telling effect. The race was supposed to be run +by donkeys from all the towns and villages of the neighbourhood: from +Patrington, Hedon, Hull, Driffield, Beverley, and others, each possessed +of a certain local peculiarity, the mention of which threw the company +into ecstacies of merriment. And when the "donkey from York" was +introduced along with his "sire Gravelcart" and his "dam Work," two of +the guests flumped from their chairs to laugh more at ease on the floor. +The fiddler seemed to enjoy the effect of his music; but his grim smile +took no relief; the twinkle of the eye was wanting. He was now sure of +his game, for the afternoon at least. + +While looking round on the party, I had little difficulty in discerning +among them the three principal varieties of Yorkshiremen. There was the +tall, broad-shouldered rustic, whose stalwart limbs, light gray or blue +eyes, yellowish hair, and open features indicate the Saxon; there was +the Scandinavian, less tall and big, with eyes, hair, and complexion +dark, and an intention in the expression not perceptible in the Saxon +face; and last, the Celt, short, swarthy, and Irish looking. The first +two appeared to me most numerous in the East and North Ridings, the last +in the West. + +On the question of wages they were all content. Here and there a man got +eighteen shillings a week; but the general rate was fifteen shillings, +or "nine shill'n's a week and our meat" (diet), as one expressed it. +Whatever folk might do in the south, Yorkshire lads didn't mean to work +for nothing, or to put up with scanty food. "We get beef and mutton to +eat," said lazy Mat, "and plenty of it." + +The road continues between fat fields and pastures, skirts a park +bordered by noble trees, or tall plantations, in which the breeze +lingers to play with the branches: here and there a few cottages, or a +hamlet, clean in-doors, and pretty out of doors, with gay little +flower-gardens. Frequent thunder-showers fell, and I was glad to shelter +from the heaviest under a roof. Always the same cleanliness and signs of +thrift, and manifest pleasure in a brief talk with the stranger. And +always the same report about wages, and plenty of work for men and boys; +but a slowness to believe that sending a boy to school would be better +than keeping him at work for five shillings a week. I got but few +examples of reading, and those far from promising, and could not help +remembering how different my experiences had been the year before in +Bohemia. + +One of the cottages in which I took shelter stands lonely in a little +wood. The tenant, a young labourer, who had just come home from work, +"not a bit sorry," as he said, "that 'twas Saturday afternoon," entered +willingly into conversation, and made no secret of his circumstances. +His testimony was also favourable as regards wages. He earned fifteen +shillings a week, and didn't see any reason to complain of hard times, +for he paid but three pounds a year for his cottage, which sum he +recovered from his garden in vegetables and flowers, besides sundry +little advantages which at times fall to the lot of rustics. He eat +meat--beef or mutton--"pretty well every day," and was fully persuaded +that without enough of good food a man could not do a fair day's work. + +While we talked his wife was putting the finishing touch to the day's +cleaning by washing the brick floor, and without making herself unclean +or untidy, as many do. Her husband had shown himself no bad judge of +rustic beauty when he chose her as his helpmate, and her good looks were +repeated in their little daughter, who ran playfully about the room. I +suggested that the evening, when one wished to sit quiet and +comfortable, was hardly the time to wet the floor. "I'd rather see it +wet than mucky" (_mooky_, as he pronounced it), was the answer; and +neither husband nor wife was ready to believe that the ill-health too +plainly observable among many cottagers' children arises from avoidable +damp. To wash the floor in the morning, when no one had occasion to sit +in the room, would be against all rule. + +"Stay a bit longer," said the young man, as I rose when the shower +ceased; "I like to hear ye talk." + +And I liked to hear him talk, especially as he began to praise his wife. +It was such a pleasure to come home when there was such a lass as that +to make a man comfortable. Nobody could beat her at making a shirt or +making bread, or cooking; and he opened the oven to show me how much +room there was for the loaves. Scarcely a cottage but has a grate with +iron oven attached, and in some places the overpowering heat reminded me +of my friend's house in Ulrichsthal. Then we had a little discourse +about books. He liked reading, and had a Bible for Sundays, and a few +odd volumes which he read in the evenings, but not without difficulty; +it was so hard to keep awake after a day out of doors. + +Meanwhile I made enticing signs to the merry little lassie, and at last +she sat without fear on my knee, and listened with a happy smile and +wondering eyes to my chant of the pastoral legend of _Little Bopeep_. +Such good friends did we become, that when at length I said "good-bye," +and shook hands, there was a general expression of regret, and a hope +that I would call again. I certainly will the next time I visit +Holderness. + +Often since has this incident recurred to my mind, and most often when +the discussion was going on in the newspapers concerning the impropriety +of marriage on three hundred a year. I wished that the writers, +especially he who sneered at domestic life, could go down into +Yorkshire, and see how much happiness may be had for less than fifty +pounds a year. As if any selfish bachelor enjoyments, any of the talk of +the clubs, were worth the prattle of infancy, the happy voices of +childhood, the pleasures and duties that come with offspring! Sandeau +deserved to be made _Académicien_, if only for having said that "un +berceau est plus éloquent qu'une chaire, et rien n'enseigne mieux ą +l'homme les cōtés sérieux de sa destinée." + +A mile or two farther and water gleams through the trees on the right. +It is Hornsea Mere, nearly two miles in length, and soon, when the road +skirts the margin, you see reedy shallows, the resort of wild-fowl, and +swans floating around the wooded islands; and at the upper end the belts +and masses of trees under which the visitors to Hornsea find pleasant +walks while sauntering out to the sylvan scenery of Wassand and +Sigglesthorne. The lake, said a passing villager, averages ten feet in +depth, with perhaps as much more of mud, and swarms with fish, chiefly +pike and perch. He added something about the great people of the +neighbourhood, who would not let a poor fellow fish in the mere, and +ordered the keeper to duck even little boys poaching with stick and +string. And he recited with a gruff chuckle a rhyming epitaph which one +of his neighbours had composed to the memory of a clergyman who had made +himself particularly obnoxious. It did not flatter the deceased. + +In Henry the Third's reign, as may be read in the _Liber Melsę_, or +Chronicle of the Abbey of Meaux, the Abbot of St. Mary's at York +quarrelled with him of Meaux, about the right to fish in the mere, and +not being able to decide the quarrel by argument, the pious churchmen +had recourse to arms. Each party hired combatants, who met on the +appointed day, and after a horse had been swum across the mere, and +stakes had been planted to mark the Abbot of St. Mary's claim, they +fought from morning until nightfall, and Meaux lost the battle, and with +it his ancient right of fishery. + +In Elizabeth's reign, the Countess of Warwick granted to Marmaduke +Constable the right to fish and fowl for "the some of fyftye and five +pounds of lawful English money." This Marmaduke, who thus testified his +love of fin and feather, was an ancestor of Sir Clifford Constable, the +present "Lord Paramount," upon whom the blind fiddler exercised his wit. + +Hornsea church stands on an eminence at the eastern end between the mere +and the village. Its low square tower once bore a tall spire, on which, +as is said, the builder had cut an inscription:-- + + Hornsea steeple, when I built thee, + Thou was 10 miles off Burlington, + Ten miles off Beverley, and 10 miles off sea; + +but it fell during a gale in 1773. The edifice is a specimen of +fifteenth-century architecture, with portions of an earlier date. The +crypt under the chancel was at one time a receptacle for smuggled goods, +and the clerk was down there doing unlawful work when the tempest smote +the spire, and frightened him well-nigh to death. The memory of the last +rector is preserved by an altar tomb of alabaster, and of William Day, +gentleman, who "dyed" in 1616, by a curious epitaph: + + If that man's life be likened to a day, + One here interr'd in youth did lose a day + By death, and yet no loss to him at all, + For he a threefold day gain'd by his fall; + One day of rest in bliss celestial, + Two days on earth by gifts terrestryall-- + Three pounds at Christmas, three at Easter Day, + Given to the poure until the world's last day. + This was no cause to heaven; but, consequent, + Who thither will, must tread the steps he went. + For why? Faith, Hope, and Christian Charity, + Perfect the house framed for eternity. + +Hornsea village is a homely-looking place, with two or three inns, a +post-office, and little shops and houses furbished up till they look +expectant of customers and lodgers. Many a pair of eyes took an +observation of me as I passed along the street, and away up the hill, +seeking for quarters with an open prospect. Half a mile farther, the +ground always rising, and you come to the edge of a clay cliff, and a +row of modern houses, and the _Marine Hotel_ in full view of the sea. + +Even at the first glance you note the waste of the land. As at Kilnsea, +so here. A few miles to the south, between us and Owthorne, stands the +village of Aldborough, far to the rear of the site once occupied by its +church. The sea washed it away. That church was built by Ulf, a mighty +thane, in the reign of Canute. A stone, a relic of the former edifice, +bearing an inscription in Anglo-Saxon, which he caused to be cut, is +preserved in the wall of the present church. This stone, and Ulf's horn, +still to be seen in York Minster, are among the most venerable +antiquities of the county. + +Hornsea is a favourite resort of many Yorkshire folk who love quiet; +hence a casual traveller is liable to be disappointed of a lodging on +the shore. There was, however, a room to spare at the hotel--a top room, +from which, later in the evening, I saw miles of ripples twinkling with +moonlight, and heard their murmur on the sand through the open window +till I fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Coast Scenery--A waning Mere, and wasting Cliffs--The Rain and + the Sea--Encroachment prevented--Economy of the Hotel--A Start + on the Sands--Pleasure of Walking--Cure for a bad Conscience-- + Phenomena of the Shore--Curious Forms in the Cliffs--Fossil + Remains--Strange Boulders--A Villager's Etymology-- + Reminiscences of "Bonypart" and Paul Jones--The last House-- + Chalk and Clay--Bridlington--One of the Gipseys--Paul Jones + again--The Sea-Fight--A Reminiscence of Montgomery. + + +I was out early the next morning for a stroll. The upper margin of the +beach, covered only by the highest tides, is loose, heavy sand, strewn +with hardened lumps of clay, fatiguing to walk upon; but grows firmer as +you approach the water. The wheels of the bathing-machines have broad +wooden tires to prevent their sinking. The cliffs are, as we saw near +the Spurn, nothing but clay, very irregular in profile and elevation, +resembling, for the most part, a great brown bank, varying in height +from ten feet to forty. The hotel stands on a rise, which overtops the +land on each side and juts out farther, commanding a view for miles, +bounded on the north by that far-stretching promontory, Flamborough +Head; and to the south by the pale line, where land and water meet the +sky. The morning sun touching the many jutting points, while the +intervals lay in thin, hazy shadow, imparted something picturesque to +the scene, which vanished as the hours drew on, and the stronger light +revealed the monotonous colour and unclothed surface of the cliffs. +Towards evening the picturesque reappears with the lights falling in the +opposite direction. + +A short distance south of the hotel, a stream runs from the mere to the +sea. The land is low here, so low that unusually high tides have forced +their way up the channel of the stream to the lake, and flooded the +grounds on both sides; and the effect will be, as Professor Phillips +says, the entire drainage of the mere, and production of phenomena +similar to those which may be seen on the other parts of the coast of +Holderness: a depression in the cliffs exposing a section of deposits +such as are only formed under a large surface of standing water. The +result is a mere question of time; and if it be true that Hornsea church +once stood ten miles from the sea, within the historical period, the +scant half-mile, which is now all that separates it from the hungry +waves, has no very lengthened term of existence before it. More than a +mile in breadth along the whole coast from Bridlington to Spurn has been +devoured since the Battle of the Standard was fought. + +An old man of eighty who lives in the village says there are no such +high tides now as when he was a boy; and if he be not a romancer, the +low ground from the sea to the mere must, at least once, have presented +the appearance of a great lake. But the wasting process is carried on by +other means than the sea. I saw threads of water running down the +cliffs, produced by yesterday's rain, and not without astonishment at +the great quantities of mud they deposit at the base, forming in places +a narrow viscous stream, creeping in a raised channel across the sand, +or confused pasty heaps dotted with pools of liquid ochre. Mr. Coniton, +the proprietor of the hotel, told me that he believed the rain had more +influence than the sea in causing the waste of land, and he showed me +the means he employed to protect his territory from one and the other. +To prevent the loss by rain, which he estimates, where no precautions +are taken, at a foot a year, he at first sloped his cliff at such an +angle that the water runs easily down and with scarcely appreciable +mischief. Then, to protect the base, he has driven rows of piles through +the sand into the clay beneath, and these, checking the natural drift of +the sand to the southward, preserve the under stratum. Where no such +barrier exists, the waves in a winter storm sweep all the sand clean +off, and lay bare the clay, and tumbling upon it with mighty shocks, +sometimes wear it down a foot in the course of a tide. By this lowering +of the base, the saturated soil above, deprived of support, topples +over, leaving a huge gap, which only facilitates further encroachments; +and in the course of a few tides the fallen mass is drifted away to +enlarge the shoals in the estuary of the Humber. + +Mr. Coniton entered into possession fifteen years ago, and in all that +time, so effectual are the safeguards, has lost none of his land. The +edge, he says, has not receded, and, to show what might be, he points to +his neighbour's field, which has shrunk away some yards to the rear. + +The space between the hotel and the edge of the cliff is laid out as a +lawn, which, sheltered by a bank on the north, forms an agreeable +outlook and lounging-place, while gravelled paths lead to an easy +descent to the sands at each extremity of the premises. The house is +well arranged; there is no noise, no slackness in the service; and +families may live as privately as in a private residence. The charge for +adults is four shillings a day; for young children, half a guinea a +week, without stint as to the number of meals: to which must be added +the cost of rooms and attendance. The charges to casual guests are as +reasonable as could be desired, contrasting favourably in this +particular with my experiences at Hull and in certain of the inland +towns and villages. Ninepence a day for service and boots is charged in +the bill; hence you can depart without being troubled to "remember" +anybody. An omnibus arrives every day from Beverley during the +season--May to November. The distance is thirteen miles. + +The falling tide had left a breadth of comparatively firm sand by the +time I was ready to start, and along that I took my way to Bridlington: +another stage of thirteen miles. The morning was bounteous in elements +of enjoyment: a bright sun, great white clouds sailing high across the +blue, a south-westerly breeze, which made the sea playful and murmurous: +all gratifying to the desire of a wayfarer's heart. I could not help +pitying those farmers at Beverley, who saw no pleasure in walking. No +pleasure in the surest promotion of health and exercise! No pleasure in +the steady progressive motion which satisfies our love of change without +hindering observation! No pleasure in walking, that strengthens the +limbs and invigorates the lungs! No pleasure in arming the sling against +the giant! No pleasure in the occasion of cheerful thoughts and manifold +suggestions which bring contentment to the heart! Walking is an exercise +which in our days might replace, more commonly than it does, the rude +out-door recreations of former times; and if but a few of the many +hundreds who put on their Sunday clothes to lounge the hours away at the +corner of a street, would but take a ten miles' walk out to the country +lanes or breezy moorlands, they would find benefit alike to their +manhood and morals. If I remember rightly, it is one of the old Greeks +who says that walking will almost cure a bad conscience; and, for my +part, I am never so ready to obey the precept of neighbourly love as +when my sentiments are harmonized by walks of seven or eight leagues a +day. + +The sands are of varying consistency. In some places you leave deep +footprints; and nowhere is the firmness equal to that we shall find +farther north, except on the wet border from which the wave has just +retired. Mile after mile it stretches before you, a broad slope of sand, +sparely roughened here and there by pebble drifts. At times you see +numerous rounded lumps lying about of many sizes, which at a distance +resemble sleeping turtles, and on a nearer view prove to be nothing but +masses of hardened clay, water-worn, and as full of pebbles as a canon's +pudding is of plums. These are portions of the bottoms of lakes overrun +by the sea; stubborn vestiges, which yield but slowly. At times the +shortest route takes you through watery flats, or broad shallow streams, +where little rivers are well-nigh swallowed by the sand as they run +across to the sea. A little farther and you come to a low bank, +everywhere cut up by glistening ripple-marks, or to a bare patch of +clay, which feels like india-rubber under your foot. + +And the cliffs taken thus furlong by furlong offer a greater variety +than appears at first sight. Here, the clay is cracked in such a way as +to resemble nothing so much as a pile of huge brown loaves; now it falls +away into a broken hollow patched with rough grass; now it juts again so +full of perpendicular cracks that you liken it to a mass of starch; now +it is grooved by a deep gully; now a buttress terminates in a crumbling +pyramid--umber mottled with yellow; now it is a rude stair, six great +steps only to the summit; now a point, of which you would say the +extremity has been shaped by turf-cutters; now a wall of pebbles, +hundreds of thousands of all sizes, the largest equal in bigness to a +child's head; now a shattered ruin fallen in a confused heap. Such are +some of the appearances left by the waves in their never-ending +aggressions. + +In one hollow the disposition of the clay was so singular, and +apparently artificial, and unlike anything which I had ever seen, that I +could only imagine it to be a recess in which a party of Assyrian +brickmakers had been at work and left great piles of their bricks in +different degrees of finish. It was easier to imagine that than to +believe such effects could be produced by the dash of the sea. + +The greatest elevation occurs about Atwick and Skirlington, places +interesting to the palęontologist, on account of fossils--an elephant's +tusk, and the head and horns of the great Irish elk--found in the +cliffs. Farther on the cliff sinks to a mere bank, six feet in height, +but, whether high or low, you need not fear a surprise by the rising +tide, for you can scramble up anywhere out of reach of the water. +Looking inland from these points you see always the same character of +scenery, and where a path zigzags up you will notice large trays used +for carrying up the heaps of pebbles there accumulated, for the +construction of drains, fences, and walls. Among remarkable curiosities +are two large boulders--one of a slaty rock, the other of granite half +embedded in the sand. From what part of the country were they drifted to +their present position? + +Here and there I fell in with a villager taking a quiet walk on the +beach, and leading two or three little children. One of them told me +that the Stricklands, a well-known family in Holderness, derived their +name from Strikeland; that is, they were the first to _strike_ the +_land_ when they came over. Collectors of folk-lore will perhaps make a +note of this rustic etymology. He remembered hearing his father talk of +the alarm that prevailed all along the coast when there was talk of +"Bonypart's" invasion; and how that Paul Jones never sailed past without +firing a ball at Rolleston Hall, that stood on a slope in sight of the +sea, where dwelt Mr. Brough, who, as Marshal to the Court of Admiralty, +had to direct the proceedings on the trial of Admiral Byng. + +Here and there are parties of country lads bathing; or trying which can +take the longest jump on the smooth sand; or squatting in soft places +idly watching the waves, and exasperating their dogs into a fight. + +After passing Skipsea, and the northern end of the Barmston drain, the +lone house in the distance catches your eye; the last house of Auburn, a +village devoured by the sea. The distance is deceptive along the level +shore; but when at length you come to the spot, you see a poor +weather-beaten cottage on the top of the cliff, and so close to the edge +that the eastern wall forms but one perpendicular line with the cliff +itself. You can hardly help fancying that it will fall at any moment, +even while you are looking; but so it has stood for many years; a fact +the more remarkable, as in this place the cliff projects as if in +defiance of the ruthless waters. Look at the old maps, and you will +read: "Here Auburn washed away by the sea;" and the lone house remains a +melancholy yet suggestive monument of geological change. + +Now Bridlington comes in sight, and immediately beyond you see a change +in the aspect of the cliffs. The chalk formation which stretches across +England from Hampshire to Yorkshire, makes its appearance here as a thin +white band under the clay, becoming thicker and thicker, till at length +the whole cliff is chalk from base to summit, and the great promontory, +of snowy whiteness, gleams afar in the sunlight along the shores and +across the sea. The chalk opposes a barrier, which, though far less +stubborn than the volcanic rocks of Cornwall, is yet more enduring than +the clay: hence the land rushes proudly out on the domain of ocean. +Nearness, however, while it shows you the mouths of caverns and gullies, +like dark shades in the chalk, markedly shortens the headland to the +eye. + +The last mile of cliff, as you approach Bridlington is diversified by a +pale chalky stratum, about four feet thick along the top. It dips down +in places basin-like, and contrasts strangely with the clay. + +Bridlington Quay, as the seaward part of the town is named, though +situated at the very rear of the Head, is, as I saw on turning the last +point, not safe from the sap and shock of the breakers. The cliff, +sunken in places, exhibits the effect of landslips in rough slopes and +ugly heaps. Two legs of the seat fixed at the corner overhang the edge +and rest upon nothing, and you see that the remainder are doomed to +follow, notwithstanding the numerous piles driven in for protection. + +The two arms of the pier enclose a small harbour, one of the few places +of refuge for vessels caught by easterly gales on the Yorkshire coast--a +coast deficient in good and easily-accessible harbours. A chalybeate +spring bursts from the cliff on the northern side; and near the middle +of the port an artesian well throws up a constant stream, varying with +the rise and fall of the tide. The noisy brook which you cross, on +entering the principal street, has its sources in those remarkable +springs which, known as 'the Gipseys,' gush out from the foot of the +wolds. + +Bridlington attracts numbers of that class of visitors for whom Hornsea +is too quiet and Scarborough too gay. In fine weather, steamers arrive +with pleasure parties from Hull and Whitby, Flamborough Head being the +great attraction. The boatmen ask fifteen shillings a day for a boat to +sail round the Head, and give you opportunity to peer into caverns, or +to shoot seafowl should your desire be for "sport." And besides their +pay, the tough old fellows like to have a voice in provisioning the +boat, resolute to demonstrate how much your pleasure depends on "laying +in plenty of bottled porter." + +The church, situate in the town about half a mile from the Quay, was at +one time as large and handsome as the minster of Beverley; but of late +years the visitor has only been able to see the remains of beauty +through grievous dilapidations, in which the hand of man was more +implicated than the weather. Paul Jones is still held responsible for +some of the mischief. Now, however, the work of restoration is +commenced, and ere long the admirable details and proportions of the +edifice will reappear. + +Here it was that, attended by a convoy of seven Dutch vessels of war, +commanded by Van Tromp, Queen Henrietta Maria landed in 1643; and there +are people yet living who remember the terror inspired by the +redoubtable privateer aforementioned, while the North-American colonies +were battling for their liberties. On the 20th of September, 1779, a +messenger came in hot haste from Scarborough to Bridlington with news +that an enemy had been espied off the coast, and in the evening of the +same day the Yankee squadron was in sight from Flamborough Head. +Preparations were at once made to send the women and children into the +interior; money and valuables were hastily packed, and some of the +inhabitants, panic-stricken, actually fled. The drum beat to arms; the +Northumberland militia, then quartered in the neighbourhood, were called +out; and all the coasting-vessels bore up for Bridlington Bay, and +crowded for protection into the little harbour. Scarcely a town or +village on the Yorkshire coast but has its story of alarms and unwelcome +visitations from the American privateers. + +On the 24th the timid population witnessed a sea-fight from the cliffs. +Jones, with the _Bonhomme Richard_, and the _Pallas_ and _Alliance_ +frigates, intercepted the _Serapis_, of forty-four, and _Countess of +Scarbro'_, of twenty-two guns, convoying a fleet of merchant-vessels, +and at once commenced action. The two largest ships grappled, and fired +into each other for two hours, the two frigates meanwhile sailing round, +and doing their best to cripple the Englishman. The American at length +struck; but only as a feint, for when the crew of the _Serapis_ boarded, +they fell into an ambush prepared for them, and suffered so much loss, +that the _Serapis_ hauled down her colours, and the _Countess of +Scarbro'_ was taken by the _Pallas_. The victory, however, was dearly +won: the _Bonhomme Richard_ lost three hundred men in killed and +wounded, and was so grievously cut up in her hull, that the next day she +went to the bottom. Captain Pearson, of the _Serapis_, in his despatch +to the Admiralty announcing the capture of his ship, had good reason to +write, "I flatter myself with the hopes that their lordships will be +convinced that she has not been given away." + +The scene of three of Montgomery's sonnets is laid at Bridlington. Turn +to the volume and read them, before you go farther. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + What the Boarding-House thought--Landslips--Yarborough House-- + The Dane's Dike--Higher Cliffs--The South Landing--The + Flamborough Fleet--Ida, the Flamebearer--A Storm--A talk in a + Limekiln--Flamborough Fishermen--Coffee before Rum--No + Drunkards--A Landlord's Experiences--Old-fashioned Honesty. + + +The party--four gentlemen and one lady--at the boarding-house where I +tarried to dine, agreed unanimously that to pass a whole Sunday morning +in walking, was especially blameworthy. Besides being wrong in itself, +it was "setting such a bad example;" nor would they hear reason on the +question. With them, indeed, it was no question: they quoted the fourth +commandment, and that settled it. Any departure from that was decidedly +wrong, if not sinful. And then, perhaps out of a benevolent desire for +my spiritual welfare, they urged me to stay till the morrow, when I +might join them in a boat-trip to the Head and help to fire guns at the +seafowl. It surprised me somewhat to hear them discuss their project +with as much animation as if they had not just administered a homily to +me, or the day had not been Sunday. The possibilities of weather, the +merits of cold pies, sandwiches, and lively bottled drinks, powder and +shot moreover, and tidal contingencies, were talked about in a way that +led me to infer there was nothing at all wrong in consuming the holy day +with anticipations of pleasure to come in the days reckoned unholy. Then +one of the party set off to walk to a village three miles distant; and +presently, when I started for Flamborough, the other three accompanied +me as far as the path along the cliff was easy to the foot. So I could +only infer again that there is nothing wrong in short walks on a Sunday. +It is simply the distance that constitutes the difference between good +and evil. Some folk appear to believe that if they only sit under a +pulpit in the morning, they have earned a dispensation for the rest of +the day. + +The cliffs now are sixty feet in height, broken by frequent slips in the +upper stratum of clay, and numerous cracks running along the path marks +the limits of future falls. One of the slips appeared to be but a few +hours old, and the lumps, of all dimensions, with patches of grass and +weeds sticking out here and there, lying in a great confused slope, +suggested the idea of an avalanche of clay. Ere long you come to +Yarborough House, a stately mansion standing embowered by trees about a +furlong from the shore. Holding that an Englishman has an inherent right +of way along the edge of his own country, I gave no heed to the usual +wooden warning to trespassers, erected where the path strikes inland at +the skirt of the grounds, and kept along the pathless margin of the +cliff. Nothing appeared to be disturbed by my presence except a few +rabbits, that darted as if in terror to their burrows. Once past the +grounds you come into large fields, where the grain grows so close to +the brink of the precipice, that you wonder alike at the thrift of the +Yorkshire farmers, and the skill with which they drive their ploughs in +critical situations. + +As you proceed, the cliffs rise higher, interrupted in places by narrow +gullies, one of which is so deep and the farther bank so high as to +appear truly formidable, and shut out all prospect to the east. After a +difficult scramble down, and a more difficult scramble up, you find +yourself on the top of a ridge, which, stretching all across the base of +the headland from sea to sea, along the margin of a natural ravine, +remains a monument, miles in length, of the days + + "When Denmark's Raven soar'd on high, + Triumphant through Northumbrian sky." + +It is the "Dane's Dike," a barrier raised by our piratical Scandinavian +forefathers to protect their settlements on the great promontory. With +such a fence, they had always a refuge to fall back upon where they +could hold their own, and command the landing-places till more ships and +marauders arrived with succours. As the eye follows the straight line of +the huge grass-grown embankment, you will feel something like admiration +of the resolute industry by which it was raised, and perhaps think of +the fierce battles which its now lonely slopes must have once witnessed. + +Still the cliffs ascend. Farther on I came to a broader and deeper +ravine, at the mouth of which a few boats lay moored; and others hauled +up on the beach, and coming nearer, I saw boat after boat lodged here +and there on the slopes, even to the level ground above, where, judging +from the number, the fleet found its rendezvous. It was curious to see +so many keels out of their element, most of them gay with stripes of +blue and red, and bearing the names of the wives and daughters of +_Flambro'_. The little bay, however, known as the South Landing, is one +of the two ports of Flamborough: the other, as we shall see after +passing the lighthouse, is similar in formation--a mere gap in the +cliffs. They might be called providential landing-places, for without +them the fishermen of Flamborough would have no access to the sea, +except by ladders down the precipice. As it is, the declivity is very +steep; and it is only by hauling them up to every available spot, that +room is found for the numerous boats. + +Here it was that Ida, the Flamebearer, is supposed to have landed, when +he achieved the conquest of Northumbria; and here the galleys of the +Sea-Kings found a precarious shelter while the daring Northmen leapt on +shore to overrun the land in later centuries, when tradition alone +preserved the remembrance of the former invaders and their warlike +deeds. + +I was prowling hither and thither in the ravine, entertained with the +Present while imagining the Past, when the clouds, grown every minute +blacker since noon, let fall their burden with something like tropical +vehemence. For some time there was no perceptible pause in the lightning +or thunder, and against the accompanying rain an umbrella was but as +gauze. I rushed into the arch of a neighbouring limekiln, and once in, +was kept there two hours by the roaring storm. Presently two fishermen, +speeding up from the landing, made for the same shelter, and of course, +under the circumstances, we fraternised at once, and talked the time +away. + +Clean and well clad, they were favourable--and as I afterwards saw--not +exceptional specimens of their class. In their opinion the Flamborough +fishermen bear as good a character as any in Yorkshire--perhaps better. +About seven years ago they all resolved to work but six days a week, and +on no account to go to sea on Sundays. They held to their resolve, and, +to the surprise of most, found themselves the better. They earn quite as +much as before, if not more, and go to work with better spirit. During +the herring season it is a common practice with them to put into +Scarborough on Saturday evening, and journey home by rail for the +Sunday, taking advantage of the very low fares at which return tickets +are issued to fishermen. And as for diet, they take a good store of +bread and meat, pies even, in their boats, seeing no reason why they +should not live as well as their neighbours. A glass of rum was +acceptable, especially in cold and blowing weather: but so far as they +knew, there were very few fishermen who would not "choose hot coffee +before rum any day." + +There was none of that drinking among fishermen now as there used to be +formerly. You could find some in Flamborough "as liked their glass," but +none to be called drunkards. There is a national school in the village; +but not so well attended as it might be, and perhaps would be if they +had a better schoolmaster. The people generally had pretty good health, +which is possibly the occasion why the last two doctors, finding time +hang heavy on their hands, drank themselves to death. There is, or +rather was in July, 1857, an opening for a doctor in Flamborough. + +The rain still fell heavily when we left our shelter, and it kept on +till past midnight. Luckily the village was not a mile distant, and +there I took a comfortable chair by the kitchen fire of _The Ship_. The +landlord corroborated all that the fishermen had told me, with the +reservation that he found it difficult to clear his room of tipplers on +Saturday night, although none could be set down as drunkards. At times +he put on his clock ten minutes, to ensure a clearance before the Sunday +morning, resolutely refusing to refill the glasses after twelve. The +guests would go away growling out a vow never to return to such an +inhospitable house; but not one kept the vow more than a fortnight. +When, nineteen years ago, he determined not to open his house on Sunday +to any but strangers who might chance to arrive from a distance, the +village thought itself scandalized, and the other public-houses +predicted his ruin. They were, however, mistaken. _The Ship_ still +flourishes; and the host and his family "find themselves none the worse +for going to a place of worship, and keeping the house quiet one day in +seven." + +"Sometimes," he ended, "we don't think to fasten the front door when we +go to bed; but it's all the same; nobody comes to disturb us." Which may +be taken as an indication that honesty has not yet abandoned +Flamborough. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Men's and Women's Wages--The Signal Tower--The passing Fleet-- + The Lighthouse--The Inland View--Cliff scenery--Outstretching + Reefs--Selwick's Bay--Down to the Beach--Aspect of the Cliffs-- + The Matron--Lessons in Pools--Caverns--The King and Queen-- + Arched Promontories--The North Landing--The Herring-Fishers-- + Pleasure Parties--Robin Lyth's Hole--Kirk Hole--View across + little Denmark--Speeton--End of the Chalk--Walk to Filey. + + +A fresh, bright morning succeeded the stormy night, and it was but a few +hours old when, after a look at the old Danish tower at the west of the +village, I walked across the fields to the lighthouse. A woman trudging +in the same direction with a hoe on her shoulder said, after I had asked +her a few questions, she wished she were a man, for then she would get +nine shillings a week and her meat, instead of one shilling a day and +feeding herself, as at present. However, 'twas better than nothing. +Presently her daughter came up, a buxom maiden, wearing her bonnet in a +way which saved her the affliction of shrugs and the trouble of tying. +It was front behind: a fashion which leaves no part of the head exposed, +shelters the poll, and looks picturesque withal. It prevails, as I +afterwards noticed, among the rustic lasses everywhere. + +As I passed the old stone tower near the coast-guard station, the +signal-man was busy raising and lowering his flag, for a numerous fleet +of coasting-vessels was running by to the southward, each telling its +name as it came within signal distance. The man sends a daily list of +the names to London for publication, whereby coal-merchants and others +hear of cargoes on the way, and calculate the time of their arrival. It +is a peculiarity of Flamborough Head, an enlivening one, that ships can +keep so close in that the men on their decks are distinctly seen, and +their voices heard by one standing on the cliff. + +The lighthouse, a circular white tower, eighty-two feet in height, +stands on the verge of the cliff, displaying inside and out all that +admirable order and cleanliness characteristic of British lighthouses. +There is no difficulty in obtaining admittance; you sign your name in a +book, and are forthwith conducted up to the lantern by the chief or one +of his aids. The light is revolving, alternately white and red, and can +be seen at a distance of thirty miles. But here, elevated two hundred +and fifty feet above the sea, you feel most interested in the prospect. +No "shadowy pomp of woods" arrests the eye looking landwards, but a +region bleak and bare in aspect rolling away to the distant wolds, the +line of uplands which, sweeping round, approaches the coast about +Scarborough. The village with its windmill, and the few farms that are +in sight, look naked and comfortless: not an inviting territory for an +invader given to the picturesque. But seawards, and along the rugged +front of the cliffs, grandeur and variety exert their charm. Here the +up-piled chalk flings out a bold perpendicular buttress, solid from base +to summit; there the jutting mass is isolated by yawning cracks and +chasms, and underneath, as we shall presently see, is fretted into +fantastic shapes, pierced through and through, or worn into caverns by +the headlong billows. In places a broken slope of rocky hummocks and +patches of grass, weeds, and gravel descends, more or less abruptly, to +the beach, opening a view of the long weed-blackened reefs that, +stretching out from the Head, afford a measure of the amazing +encroachments of the sea. Northwards, the bluff crowned by Scarborough +Castle, backed by higher elevations, closes the view; to the south you +have the low, fading coast of Holderness; and all the while brigs, +ships, and schooners are sailing past, more than a hundred in sight, +some of them so near that you fancy they will hardly escape the lurking +points of the dark reef. One small vessel, the keeper told me, had +touched the day before, and lay fast and helpless till, the weather +being calm, she floated off by the succeeding tide. You can look down +into Selwicks Bay, and see men and boys quarrying chalk, and donkeys +laden with heavy panniers of the lumps, toiling painfully up the steep +winding road which forms the only approach. The farther horn of the +little bay is arched and tunnelled, and, taken with the waterfall +plunging down in its rear and the imposing features of the points +beyond, invites to further exploration. + +The residents at the lighthouse enjoy an abundant supply of water from a +spring within their enclosure: their garden produces cabbages and +potatoes; the neighbours are friendly, and visitors numerous. Hence life +is more cheerful to them than to the amphibious hermits who dwell at the +Spurn. + +While looking for a practicable descending-place, I noticed many tufts +of thrift as thick with flowers as in an antiquated garden where the old +favourites are still cherished. + + "Even here hath Nature lavished hues, and scent, + And melody; born handmaids of the ocean: + The frowning crags, with moss and rock-flowers blent, + Dazzle the eyes with sunlight, while the motion + Of waves, the breezes fragrant from the sea, + And cry of birds, combine one glorious symphony!" + +The time--dead low water--being favourable for a stroll on the beach, I +scrambled down a rough slope to the south of the lighthouse, and across +the rougher beach to the rocks beyond the outmost point, where, turning +round, I could view the cliffs in either direction. And a striking scene +it is! A wild beach, as rugged with water-worn lumps of chalk as any +lover of chaos could desire. Here the cliff jutting proudly, the white +patches gleaming brightly where masses of chalk have recently fallen, +and the harder portions presenting a smooth, marble-like appearance; +there receding into the shade, and terminating in darksome hollows, the +mouths of gullies and caverns; and everywhere broken up with buttresses, +piers, and columnar projections, the bases of which are garnished with a +belt of shelly incrustation, and a broad brown fringe of weed. Above, +the white surface is varied by streaks and stains of yellow and green; +and seafowl innumerable crowd on all the ledges, or wheel and dart in +restless flight, as if proud to show their white wings to the sun. + +The reef stretches out a quarter of a mile, as one may guess, worn here +and there with channels narrow and deep, along which the water rolls +with intermittent rush and roar, reminding the loiterer here in the +slumberous July weather of tremendous energies lulled to repose. I +walked round the Matron--an isolated pyramid of chalk--and patted her on +the back; and strode from one little pool to another, taking an +unscientific lesson in natural history while watching the animal and +vegetable occupants, and those that seemed to be as much one as the +other. + +I picked up a fine specimen of the hermit crab, and proved the strength +of local attachment: it would not be coaxed from its hermitage--the +shell of a whelk. I saw a limpet give its shell half a rotation, then +grow tall for an instant, and then shut itself snugly down upon the +rock. At times, while I stood quite still, 'ninnycocks,' that is, young +lobsters, would venture out from their crevices, and have a frolic in +their weedy basin; but they would tolerate no intruder, and darted into +undiscoverable retreats on my slightest movement. And the animated +flowers that displayed their orange and crimson petals at the bottom of +the basin were equally mistrustful, and shut themselves up if I did but +put my hand in the water, even after they had looked on without winking +at the gambols of the ninnycocks. + +There are times when ignorance has a charm, and this was one of them. +How much happier to sit and watch a crowd of weeds, a very forest in +miniature, tenanted by creeping things innumerable, and to have your +faculty of wonder excited as well as admiration while observing them in +full liberty, than to come prepared to call one an ascidian, another an +entomostracan, and so on, and to assign to each its place in the +phycological handbook, or the zoological catalogue! + +In some of the smallest and deepest caverns which curve as they enter +the cliff, you get effects of cross lights from their inner extremity, +and see the glistening of the walls, which, worn smooth by the water, +appear to be varnished. In all the floor rises more or less rapidly; and +in one, a hundred paces deep, the rush and roar of the surge outside +comes only as a gentle murmur, and a slow drip-drip from the crevices +has an impressive sound there in the gloom where the entrance cannot be +seen. + +I took advantage of the opportunity, and explored most of the openings, +catching sight now and then of belemnites and other curious fossils in +the chalk, wading at times knee-deep in weed, and scrambled round the +bays on each side of the point, and failed not to salute the venerable +King and Queen. + +Having rambled about till the rising tide began to cut off the way round +the promontories, and the crabbers came in from their raid on the reefs, +I climbed the rough slope, and paced away for the North Landing. Beyond +Selwicks Bay the cliff is more broken and cut up into romantic coves and +bays, with confused landslips here and there, and in places the green +turf rushing half way down masks the chalk; and everywhere are thousands +of birds, with their ceaseless cry and clang. Isolated masses are +numerous; and from one point I could count eight headlands, each pierced +by an arch. And here the water, no longer stained with clay, shows green +and bright along the base of the cliff, beautifully pellucid where it +rolls over a bottom of chalk, contrasting strangely with darksome gulfs +and broad beds of weed. And mingling with the cry of birds, there comes +from time to time to your ear the noisy report of the guns, or the chant +of the fishermen, as rocked on the swell, they sit watching their nets. + +The North Landing is a gap similar to the South, but broader, and with +an outlet wide enough to be described as a bay. Here I saw some sixty or +eighty boats perched from top to bottom of the steep slope; and groups +of fishermen with their families, men, women, and children, all busy +with preparations for the herring fishery. While some sorted the nets, +others lifted in big stones for ballast, or set up the masts, and others +pushed their boats down to meet the tide, and all in high good humour; +while all about there prevailed a strong fishy smell. And besides the +fishermen, there were parties of young men with their guns embarking for +a sporting cruise; some armed only with parasols and accompanied by +ladies, setting off for a sail round the Head; for this is the chief +port of Flamborough, and the _North Star_, a public-house at the top of +the hill, is convenient for victual. + +The advance of the tide prevented my seeing Robin Lyth's Hole, a cavern +on the eastern side of the Landing; named, as some say, after a certain +smuggler who kept his unlawful merchandise therein; or to commemorate +the name of a man who was caught in the cavern by the tide, and saved +his life by clinging to the topmost ledge till the water fell. Another +cavern is known as the Dovecote; another as Kirk Hole, and of this the +tradition runs that it extends far underground to the village +churchyard. + +I climbed up the western side of the gap, and continued my way along the +cliffs, which maintain their elevation. Soon I came to the northern end +of the Dike, a height of three hundred feet, and from the top beheld the +whole territory of Little Denmark, and the sea all the way round to the +lighthouse, and the southern end of the Dike. According to Professor +Phillips, this remarkable bank was probably already in existence when +the Danes landed: "perhaps earlier than the Anglian invasion," he says; +"perhaps it is a British work, like many other of the entrenchments on +these anciently peopled hills." + +A mile farther, and the cliff rises to a height of more than four +hundred feet. In some places the bank which encloses the fields is broad +enough for a footpath; but you must beware of the landslips. The fences, +which are troublesome to climb, project beyond the edge of the cliff to +keep the cows, as an old farmer said, "from persevering after the grass +and tumbling over." Then at Speeton the chalk turns inland away from the +coast, and the cliff makes a deep hollow curve, chiefly gravel and dark +blue clay, abounding in fossils. To avoid the curve, I zigzagged down to +the beach; but was presently stopped by a point against which the waves +were dashing breast high. I scrambled over it, and was struck by its +curious appearance. It seemed to be a high clay buttress, which had +fallen perhaps within a few weeks, and was broken up into masses of +somewhat regular form, resembling big loaves, and the long grass that +had once waved on the surface now looked like dishevelled thatch. It was +an interesting example of the way in which the sea commences its +ravages. + +Farther on the cliffs diminish in height, and are furrowed by numerous +streamlets, and the rugged, stony beach changes to smooth, yielding +sand. Filey comes in sight, and Filey Brig, a long black bar stretching +into the sea from the extreme point of the great bay, half concealed at +times by a quivering ridge of foam. Then we pass from the East to the +North Riding, and ere long we look up at Filey--a _Royal Hotel_, a +crescent, and rows of handsome houses, coldish of aspect, a terrace +protected by a paved slope, and gravelled paths and a stair for easy +access to the beach. The terrace commands a view over the bay, and of +the cliffs all the way to Flamborough. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Old and New Filey--The Ravine--Filey Brig--Breaking Waves-- + Ragged Cliffs--Prochronic Gravel--Gristhorp Bay--Insulated + Column--Lofty Cliffs--Fossil Plants--Red Cliff--Cayton Bay--Up + to the Road--Bare Prospect--Cromwell Hotel and Oliver's Mount-- + Scarborough--The Esplanade--Watering-Place Phenomena--The Cliff + Bridge--The Museum--The Spa--The Old Town--The Harbour--The + Castle Rock--The Ancient Keep--The Prospect--Reminiscences: of + Harold Hardrada; of Pembroke's Siege; of the Papists' Surprise; + of George Fox; of Robin Hood--The One Artilleryman--Scarborough + Newspapers--Cloughton--The Village Inn, and its Guests--Tudds + and Pooads. + + +Here at Filey you begin to see a special characteristic of these +sea-side resorts;--the contrast between the new and old--the nineteenth +century looking proudly across a narrow debatable ground at the +sixteenth and seventeenth, putting even still earlier periods out of +countenance. Were it not for its churches, the olden time would on +occasions be made to feel ashamed of itself. + +A breezy commanding outlook in front; a large handsome church, with low +square tower, in the rear; a few shops trying to reconcile themselves to +the new order of things while supplying the wants of fifteen hundred +inhabitants; more than a few true to the old order, and here and there +behind the dim panes, eggs of sea-birds, and shells, and marine stores, +in the literal sense; and two or three quiet-looking, respectable inns, +open to visitors whom the style of the _Royal Hotel_ intimidates; the +new town on the south, and a wooded ravine on the north; and such is old +Filey. + +Into this ravine I descended from the church. Heavy rain had fallen +nearly all night, and the paths were so sticky and slippery, that I +wondered so pretty a spot, so capable with bushes and trees and a little +brook of contributing to recreation, should not be better kept. There is +no lack of material for solid paths in the neighbourhood; but judging +from appearances the ravine gets none of it. The path follows the course +of the brook, and brings you out upon a beach where fishing-boats, and +nets, and lobster-pots, and heaps of ballast, and a smoky fire, and +fishy refuse and a smell of tar, and sturdy men and women, make up +divers pictures for the eye, and odours for the nostrils. + +As, on approaching Flamborough, we saw the chalk begin to appear at the +base of the cliff, so here we see a stratum of sandstone slanting up +beneath the clay, rising higher towards the northern horn of the bay, +and thence stretching out for three furlongs into the sea, forming the +remarkable reef known as Filey Brig. Camden describes it as "a thin slip +of land, such as the old English called File; from which the little +village Filey takes its name." We may suppose that the cliff once +projected as far, sheltering an indentation so deep that Ptolemy might +well call it the _well-havened bay_; though on this particular there are +different opinions among the learned. Even now, stripped of its cap of +clay, the reef forms a natural breakwater, of which the effect is best +seen in the quiet of the small vessels at anchor behind it. + +I was fortunate in the time, for a strong north wind was blowing, and +the great waves, checked in their career, dashed headlong against the +stony barrier, and broke into little mountains of foam, bursting up here +and there in tall white intermittent jets as from a geyser; here one +solid surge tumbling over another, mingling with rush and roar in a wide +drift of spume; there flinging up gauzy whiffs of spray as if mermaids +in frolic were tossing their veils. So mighty were the shocks at times +as to inspire a feeling of insecurity in one who stood watching the +magnificent spectacle. + +You can walk out to the end of the reef, and get good views of +Scarborough, about six miles distant in one direction, and away to +Flamborough on the other. The floor is generally level, interrupted in +places by great steps, channels, and boles; and by huge blocks of many +tons' weight scattered about, testifying mutely to the tremendous power +of the sea. + +It is a wild scene, and wilder beyond the point, where the whole beach +is strewn with broken lumps, and ledge succeeds to ledge, now high, now +low, compelling you to many an up-and-down, stooping under a rude +cornice, or scrambling over a slippery ridge. In places the cliff +overhangs threateningly, or, receding, forms an alcove where you may sit +and feast your eye with the wondrous commotion, and your ear with the +thundering chorus of many waters. + +The upper stratum of clay is worn by the twofold action of rain and +spray into singularly fantastic forms, and where it has been deeply +excavated, there, kept in by the rim of stone, lies a salt-water pool so +bright and pellucid that the temptation to bathe therein is +irresistible. I thought to get round to Gristhorp Bay, but came +presently to a recess where the breakers rushing half way up the cliff +barred all further progress. To lean against the rocky wall and feel it +throb with the shock within the shower of spray, produced an almost +painful emotion; and it seemed to me that the more tumultuous the sea +the better did it harmonize with a promontory so rugged and grim. + +I retraced my steps to a stair that zigzags up the cliff on the inner +side of the point. Near this certain visitors have cut their initials in +the hard rock floor, of such dimensions that you can only imagine a day +must have been spent in the task with mallet and chisel. Vain records! +The sea will wash them out some day. When on the summit I was struck +more than before by the contrast between the rage and uproar on the +outside of the ridge, and the comparative calm inside; nor was it easy +to leave a view to which, apart from all the features of the shore, the +restless sea added touches of the sublime, wherein wrought fascination. +And all the while men, looking like pigmies in the distance, were +groping for crabs along each side of the far-stretching reef. + +A little way north of the point a rustic pavilion standing in a naked +garden indicates where the visitor will find a jutting buttress whence +to contemplate the scene below. More exposed on this side, the cliff is +more cut up and broken in outline, jutting and receding in rugged +ledges, and in every hollow rests one of those limpid pools, so calm and +clear that you can see the creeping things moving between the patches of +weed at the bottom. And the beach is thickly strewn with boulders of a +size which perhaps represents the gravel of the "prochronic" era. + +The elevation increases as we advance, and by-and-by looking round on +Filey, we see how it lies at the mouth of a broad vale which it requires +no great effort of imagination to believe may have been an estuary at +some very remote period, near to the time + + "When the Indian Ocean did the wanton play + Mingling its billows with the Balticke sea, + And the whole earth was water." + +And far as you can see inland the prospect is bare, even to the distant +hills and wolds which loom large and mountainous through the hazy +atmosphere. + +Now the cliff shows bands of colour--brown, gray, and ochre, and the +lower half capped by a green slope forms a thick projecting plinth to +the perpendicular wall above. Scarborough begins to be visible in +detail, and soon we descend into Gristhorp Bay, where rough walking +awaits us. At its northern extremity stands an insulated columnar mass, +somewhat resembling the Cheesewring, on a rude pedestal shaped by the +waves from the rocky layers. Situate about fifty yards from the point, +it marks the wear of the cliff from which it has been detached, while +the confused waste of rocks left bare by the ebb suggests ages of +destruction prior to the appearance of the stubborn column. + +The cliffs are of imposing height, nearly three hundred feet: a +formidable bulwark. It is heavy walking along their base, but as +compensation there are strata within reach in which you may find +exhaustless deposits of fossil plants, giant ferns, and others. And so +the beach continues round Red Cliff into Cayton Bay, where another chaos +of boulders will try your feet and ability to pick your way. To vary the +route, I turned up at Cayton Mill, past the large reservoir from which +Scarborough is supplied with water, along the edge of the undercliff to +the high road, leaving Carnelian Bay unvisited. At the hill-top you come +suddenly upon a wide and striking prospect--a great sweep of hilly +country on one hand, on the other the irregular margin of the cliffs all +the way to the town, and a blue promontory far beyond the castle bluff, +which marks our course for the morrow. + +The road is good and the crops look hopeful; but the hedgerows are +scanty and stunted, and not improved by the presence of a few miserable +oaks; nor do the plantations which shelter the farm-houses and stingy +orchards appear able to rejoice though summer be come. In some places, +for want of better, the banks are topped by a hedge of furze. On the +left of the road, long offshoots from the bleak uplands of the interior +terminate with an abrupt slope, presenting the appearance of artificial +mounds. Another rise, and there is Scarborough in full view, crowding +close to the shore of its bay, terminated by the castle rock, the most +striking feature. Bright, showy houses scattered on the south and west +indicate the approaches to the fashionable quarter, and of those +farthest from the sea you will not fail to notice the _Cromwell +Hotel_--a new building in Swiss-like style of architecture, at the foot +of Oliver's Mount. The Mount--so named from a tradition that the +Protector planted his cannon there when besieging the castle--is another +of those truncated offshoots, six hundred feet in height, and the +summit, which is easily accessible and much visited, commands an +interesting prospect. You see the tree-tops in the deep valley which +divides the New Town from the Old, and rearwards, broken ground +sprinkled with wood, imparting some touches of beauty to the western +outskirts. + +Then, turning to the right, you come upon a stately esplanade, and not +without a feeling of surprise after a few days' walking by yourself. For +here all is life, gaiety, and fashion. Long rows of handsome houses, of +clean, light-coloured sandstone, with glittering windows and ornamental +balconies, all looking out on the broad, heaving sea. In front, from end +to end, stretches a well-kept road, where seats, fixed at frequent +intervals, afford a pleasurable resting-place; and from this a great +slope descends to the beach, all embowered with trees and shrubs, +through which here and there you get a glimpse of a gravelled path or +the domed roof of a summer-house. And there, two hundred feet below, is +the Spa--a castellated building protected by a sea-wall, within which a +broad road slopes gently to the sands. You see visitors descending +through the grove for their morning draught of the mineral water, or +assisting the effect by a 'constitutional' on the promenade beneath; +while hundreds besides stroll on the sands, where troops of children +under the charge of nursemaids dig holes with little wooden spades. And +here on the esplanade elegant pony barouches, driven by natty little +postilions, are starting every few minutes from the aristocratic looking +hotel to air gay parties of squires and dames around the neighbourhood. +And turning again to the beach, there you see rows of bathing-machines +gay with green and red stripes, standing near the opening of the valley, +and now and then one starts at a slow pace laden with bathers to meet +the rising tide. And beyond these the piers stretch out, and the harbour +is crowded with masts, and two steamers rock at their moorings, waiting +for 'excursionists:' the whole backed by the houses of the Old Town +rising picturesquely one above the other, and crowning the castle +heights. + +Nearly an hour passed before I left that agreeable resting-place, whence +you get the best view of Scarborough and its environment. Of all the +strollers I saw none go beyond what appeared to be a conventional limit; +Nature without art was perhaps too fatiguing for them. In the whole of +my walk along the coast, I met but two, and they were young men, who had +ventured a few miles from head-quarters for a real walk on the cliffs. + +A bridge, four hundred feet long and seventy-five high, offers a level +crossing for foot passengers from the esplanade to the opposite side of +the deep valley above mentioned, on payment of a toll. It is at once +ornamental and convenient, saving the toil of a steep ascent and +descent, and combining the advantage of an observatory. From the centre +you get a complete view of the bay, one which the eye rests on with +pleasure, though you will hardly agree with a medical author, that it is +a "Bay of Naples." In the other direction, you look up the wooded +valley, and down upon the Museum, a Doric rotunda, built by the members +of the Scarborough Philosophical Society, for the preservation of +geological specimens. The contents are admirably classified, rocks and +fossils in their natural order; amid them rests the skeleton of an +ancient British chief; and near the entrance you may see the clumsy oak +coffin in which it was found, about twenty-five years ago, in a barrow +at Gristhorp. + +Descend into the valley, and you will find pleasure in the sight of the +bridge, and miles of water seen through the light and graceful arches. +Then take a walk along the sands, and look up at the leafy slope, +crowned by the esplanade, and you will commend the enterprise which +converted an ugly clay cliff into a hanging wood. And enterprise is not +to stop here: Sir Joseph Paxton, as I heard, has been consulted about +the capabilities of the cliff to the south. Some residents, however, +think that Scarborough is already overdone. + +In a small court within the Spa you may see the health-giving waters +flowing from two mouths, known from their position as North Well and +South Well. The stream is constant, and, after all the wants of the +establishment are supplied, runs across the sand to the sea. The water +has a flavour of rusty iron and salt, differing in the two wells, +although they are but a few feet apart; and the drinkers find it +beneficial in cases of chronic debility and indigestion with their +remorseless allies. + +The contrast is more marked between New and Old than at Filey. There is, +however, a good, respectable look about the streets of the Old Town, and +signs of solid business, notwithstanding the collections of +knick-knackery and inharmonious plate-glass. From the broad main street +you descend by a narrow crooked street--from old through oldest to the +harbour, where old anchors, old boats, old beams and buttresses dispute +possession with the builders of new boats, who make the place noisy with +their hammering. Here as a Yorkshireman would say, were assembled all +the 'ragabash' of Scarborough, to judge by what they said and did. Boys +and men were fishing from the pier-head under the lighthouse, watched by +grizzly old mariners, who appeared to have nothing better to do than to +sit in the sun; children paddled in the foamy shallows of the heavy +breakers; carts rumbled slowly to and from the coal brigs, followed by +stout fellows carrying baskets of fish; a sight which might have shamed +the dissolute throng into something like industry. + +Enclosed by the three piers which form the harbour stands a detached +pile of masonry, seemingly an ancient breakwater--all weather-beaten, +weedy, and grass-grown, with joints widely gaping, looking as if it had +stood there ever since Leland's day--a remarkable object amid the stir +of trade and modern constructions, but quite in harmony with the old +pantile-roofed houses that shut in the port. Among these you note +touches of the picturesque; and your eye singles out the gables as +reminiscences of the style which, more than any other, satisfies its +desire. + +But let us go and look down on the scene from the castle rock. The +ascent is steep, yet rich in recompense. St. Mary's church, near the +summit, and the fragments of old walls standing amidst the graves, +remind us of its former dimensions, and of the demolitions it suffered +during the siege. And there rises in massive strength, to a height of +ninety feet, a remnant of the castle keep--an imposing ruin full before +us, as we cross the drawbridge, pass under the barbican, and along the +covered way, to the inner court. But the court is a large, rough +pasture, fenced on the north and east, where the cliff is bare and +perpendicular, and towards the town shut in by a range of old wall, +pierced by a few embrasures, some low buildings, and the remains of an +ancient chapel. There is no picturesque assemblage of ruins; but little +indeed besides the shattered keep, and that appears to best effect from +without. Near the chapel, Our Lady's Well, a spring famous from time +immemorial, bubbles silently up in a darksome vault. + +Northwards the view extends along the rugged coast to the Peak, a lofty +point that looks down on Robin Hood's Bay, and to hazy elevations beyond +Whitby. To get a sight of the town you must return to the barbican, +where you can step up on the wall and securely enjoy a bird's-eye view: +from the row of cannon which crown the precipice sheer down to the port +and away to the Spa, all lies outspread before the curious eye. + +A great height, as we have already proved, appears to be favourable to +musing, especially when the sun shines bright. And here there is much to +muse about. Harold Hardrada, when on his way to defeat and death at +Stamford Brig, landed here, and climbing the "Scarburg" with his wild +sea-rovers, lit a huge bonfire, and tossed the blazing logs over the +cliff down upon the town beneath. The burg, or fortress, was replaced in +the reign of Stephen by a castle, which, renewed by Henry II., became +one of the most important strongholds of the kingdom. Piers Gavestone +defended it vigorously against the Earl of Pembroke, but was starved +into a surrender, with what result we all know. The Roman Catholics +attempted it during their Pilgrimage of Grace, but were beaten off. In +1554, however, when Queen Mary was trying to accomplish the Pilgrims' +work, a son of Lord Stafford and thirty confederates, all disguised as +rustics, sauntered unsuspected into the outer court, where on a sudden +they surprised the sentries, and immediately admitting a reserve party +carrying concealed arms, they made themselves masters of the place. The +success of this surprise is said to have given rise to the adage +"Scarborough warning; a word and a blow, and the blow first." But after +three days the Earl of Westmoreland regained possession, and Mr. +Stafford underwent the same sharp discipline as befel Edward the +Second's favourite. At length came the struggle between Prerogative and +People, and in the triumph of the right the castle was well-nigh +demolished; and since then, time and tempest have done the rest. + +Among the unfortunates who suffered imprisonment here, George Fox, the +aboriginal Quaker, has left us a most pathetic account of his +sufferings. Brought hither from Lancaster Castle, he was put into a +chamber which he likened to purgatory for smoke, into which the rain +beat, and after he had "laid out about fifty shillings" to make it +habitable, "they removed me," he writes in his _Journal_, "into a worse +room, where I had neither chimney nor fireplace. This being to the +sea-side and lying much open, the wind drove in the rain forcibly, so +that the water came over my bed and ran about the room, that I was fain +to skim it up with a platter. And when my clothes were wet, I had no +fire to dry them; so that my body was benumbed with cold, and my fingers +swelled, that one was grown as big as two." For more than a year did the +resolute Peacemaker endure pain and privation, and vindicate his +principles on this tall cliff; and when three years later, in 1669, he +again went preaching in Yorkshire, he revisited Scarborough, and "the +governor hearing I was come," he writes, "sent to invite me to his +house, saying, 'surely I would not be so unkind as not to come and see +him and his wife.' So after the meeting I went up to visit him, and he +received me very courteously and lovingly." + +Five hundred years earlier, and, as the ballad tells, the merry outlaw, +Robin Hood, who + + "The Yorkshire woods frequented much," + +being a-weary of forest glades and fallow deer, exclaimed, + + "The fishermen brave more money have + Than any merchants two or three; + Therefore I will to Scarborough go, + That I a fisherman brave may be." + +But though the "widow woman" in whose house "he took up his inn," lent +him a stout boat and willing crew, he caught no fish, and the master +laughed at him for a lubber. However, two or three days later, he +espied a ship of war sailing proudly towards them, and then it was the +master's turn to lament, for the French robbers spared no man. To him +then Robin: + + "'Master, tye me to the mast,' saith he, + 'That at my mark I may stand fair, + And give me my bent bow in my hand, + And never a Frenchman will I spare.' + + "He drew his arrow to the very head, + And drew it with all might and maine, + And straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, + To the Frenchman's heart the arrow's gane. + + * * * * * + + "Then streight they boarded the French ship + They lyeing all dead in their sight; + They found within that ship of warre + Twelve thousand pound of mony bright." + +The castle is national property, and as the bluff affords a good site +for offence and defence, a magazine and barracks for a company of men +have been built. For all garrison, at the time of my visit, there was +but one invalid artilleryman, who employs his leisure in constructing +models of the ruins for sale along with bottles of ginger beer. He will +talk to you about the nice water of Our Lady's Well; the cavern in the +cliff, where the officers once dined; of the cannon balls that Cromwell +sent across from Oliver's Mount; about the last whale caught on the +shore, and about the West Indies, where he lost his health; but he +remembers little or nothing of Piers Gavestone or George Fox, and is not +quite sure if he ever heard that Robin Hood went a-privateering. His +duties, he told me, were not heavy; he did not even lock the gate at +night, because folk came very early in the morning to fetch their cows +from the pasture. + +Since then, that is, in the autumn of 1857, the rains occasioned a +landslip, which nearly obliterated the cavern; a whale thirty feet long +was caught floundering in the shallows; and on Seamer Moor, about three +miles distant, ancient gold and silver rings and ornaments, beads and +broken pottery, and implements of bronze and iron and a skeleton, were +found on excavating a chalky knoll. + +Of course, a town of thirteen thousand inhabitants must have its +newspapers. The _Scarborough Gazette_ is a curiosity for its long list +of visitors, filling sometimes two pages. A cheap paper--the title of +which I have lost--was a curiosity to me in another way, for I could not +have believed that Yorkshire folk would read anything so stupid as the +wordy columns therein passed off for politics. + +The shadows were lengthening towards the east when, after satisfying +myself with another look at the coast to the north, I took the road for +Cloughton, leaving the town by the north esplanade, where +Blenheim-terrace shows the sober style of the first improvements. Many +visitors, however, prefer the view from those plain bay-windows to that +seen from the stately houses to the south. + +Cloughton is a small quiet village, with a _Red Lion_ to match, where +you may get good rustic fare--cakes, bacon, and eggs--and a simple +chamber. The landlord, a patriarch of eighty-five, still hale, and +active, who sat warming his knees at the turf fire, opened his budget of +reminiscences concerning Scarborough. The change from what it was to +what it is, was wonderful. He went there at election times. Had once +been to vote at York, years ago, "when there was a hard fight betuxt a +Milton and a Lascelles." Had never been to London, but his niece went up +to the Great Exhibition. While we talked, in came a shabby-looking +fellow with a six days' beard, for a pint of beer. He had been +trout-fishing all day on the moors--one of his means of living. He +stayed but a few minutes, and as he went out the patriarch said, "He's a +roughish one to look at, but he can make powetry." It was too late to +call him back, or I might perhaps have got a specimen. + +Then came in the rustics in twos and threes for their evening pint and +pipe, most of them preferring hard porter to the ale, which was really +good. Not one had a complaint to make of hard times: wages were one and +sixpence a day, and meat, and good meat, too--beef and mutton and +pies--as much as they could eat. They didn't want to emigrate; Yorkshire +was quite good enough for them. While talking to them and listening to +their conversation among themselves, my old conviction strengthened that +the rural folk are not the fools they are commonly taken to be. Choose +such words as they are familiar with--such as John Bunyan uses--and you +can make them understand any ordinary subject and take pleasure in it. +And how happy they are when you can suggest an illustration from +something common to their daily life! I would have undertaken to give an +hour's lecture on terrestrial magnetism even, to that company; and not +one should have wished it shorter. And once having broken through their +crust of awkwardness, you find them possessed of a good fund of common +sense, quick to discern between the plausible and what they feel to be +true. Flattering speeches made at hay-homes and harvest-homes are taken +for what they are worth; and the sunburnt throng are everywhere ready to +applaud the sentiment conveyed in a reaper's reply to a complimentary +toast: + + "Big bees fly high; + Little bees make the honey: + Poor men do the work; + Rich men get the money." + +One of the party, lively enough to have lived when the island was "merry +England," hearing that I intended to walk through Bay Town on the +morrow, said, laughingly, "You'll find nought but _Tudds_ and _Pooads_ +down there;" meaning that Todd and Poad were the prevalent names. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + From Cloughton to Haiburn Wyke--The embowered Path--Approach to + the Sea--Rock, Water, and Foliage--Heavy Walking--Staintondale + Cliffs--The Undercliff--The Peak--Raven Hall--Robin Hood's Bay + --A Trespass--Alum Works--Waterfalls--Bay Town--Manners and + Customs of the Natives--Coal Trade--The Churchyard--Epitaphs-- + Black-a-moor--Hawsker--Vale of Pickering--Robin Hood and Little + John's Archery--Whitby Abbey--Beautiful Ruin--St. Hilda, + Wilfrid, and Coedmon--Legends--A Fallen Tower--St. Mary's + Church--Whitby--The Vale of Esk--Specimens of Popular Hymns. + + +The next morning looked unpromising; the heavy rain which began to fall +the evening before had continued all night, and when I started, trees +and hedges were still dripping and the grass drooping, overburdened with +watery beads. Bye-paths are not enticing under such circumstances: +however, the range of cliffs between Haiburn Wyke and Robin Hood's Bay +is so continuously grand and lofty that I made up my mind to walk along +their summit whether or not. + +About half an hour from Cloughton brought me to a 'crammle gate,' as the +natives call it; that is, a rustic gate with zigzaggy rails, from which +a private road curves down through a grove to a farm-house on the right. +Here, finding no outlet, I had to inquire, and was told to cross the +garden. All praise to the good-nature which trusts a stranger to lift +the "clinking latch" and walk unwatched through a garden so pretty, +teeming with fruit, flowers, and vegetables; where a path overarched by +busy climbers leads you into pleasing ins and outs, and along blooming +borders to the edge of a wooded glen, and that is Haiburn Wyke. The +path, not trimly kept as in the garden, invites you onwards beneath a +thick shade of oak, ash, and hazel; between clumps of honeysuckle and +wild roses, and broken slopes hung with ferns and ivy, and a very forest +of grasses; while, to heighten the charm, a little brook descends +prattling confidingly to the many stones that lie in its crooked +channel. The path winds, now steep, now gradual, and at the bends a seat +offers a resting-place if you incline to pause and meditate. + +There was another charm: at first a fitful murmur which swelled into a +roar as I sauntered down and came nearer to the sea. The trees grow so +thickly that I could see but a few yards around, and there seemed +something almost awful in the sound of the thundering surge, all the +heavier in the damp air, as it plunged on the rugged beach: so near, and +yet unseen. But after another bend or two it grows lighter overhead, +crags peep through the foliage on both sides, and then emerging on a +level partly filled by a summer-house, you see the narrow cove, the +jutting cliffs that shelter it, and every minute the tumultuous sea +flinging all round the stony curve a belt of quivering foam. + +I could not advance far, for the tide had but just begun to fall; +however, striding out as far as possible, I turned to look at the glen. +It is a charming scene: the leafy hollow, the cliffs rounding away from +the mantling green to present a bare front to the sea, yet patched and +streaked with gray and yellow and white and brown, as if to make up for +loss of verdure. There the brook, tumbling over stony ledges, shoots +into a cascade between huge masses of rock, and hurries still with +lively noise across the beach, talking as freely to boulders of five +tons' weight as to stones of a pound; heedless, apparently, that its +voice will soon be drowned for ever in the mighty voice of the sea. It +is a charming scene, truly, even under a gloomy sky: you will see none +fairer on all the coast. On a sunshiny day it should attract many +visitors from Scarborough, when those able to walk might explore +Cloughton Wyke--less beautiful than this--on the way. + +To get up the steep clay road all miry with the rain on the northern +side of the glen, was no easy task; but the great ball of clay which +clung to each of my feet was soon licked off by the wet grass in the +fields above. I took the edge of the cliffs, and found the ascent to the +Staintondale summit not less toilsome. There was no path, and wading +through the rank grass and weeds, or through heavy wheat and drenched +barley on ground always up-hill, wetted me through up to the hips in a +few minutes, and gave me a taste of work. For the time I did not much +admire the Yorkshire thriftiness which had ploughed and sown so close +to the bank leaving no single inch of space. However, I came at times to +a bare field or a pasture, and the freshening breeze blew me almost dry +before climbing over awkward fences for another bath of weeds and grain. +And besides, a few faint watery gleams of sunshine began to slant down +upon the sea, and the increasing height of the cliffs opened wide views +over land and water--from misty hills looming mountainous on one side, +to the distant smoke of a coasting steamer on the other. And again there +are two or three miles of undercliff, a great slope covered with a dense +bush threaded here and there by narrow paths, and forming in places an +impenetrable tangle. To stand on the highest point, five hundred and +eighty-five feet above the sea, and look down on the precipitous crags, +the ridges and hollows and rounded buttresses decked with the mazy bush +where birds without number haunt, is a sight that repays the labour. At +the corner of one of the fields the bushes lean inwards so much from the +wind, that the farmer has taken advantage of the overshoot to construct +a bower wherein to sit and enjoy the prospect. + +These tall cliffs are the sudden termination of a range of hills +stretching from the interior to the coast. Taken with the undercliff, +they present many combinations which would delight the eye and employ +the pencil of an artist. And to the geologist they are of abounding +interest, exhibiting shale, shelly limestone, sandstones of various +qualities in which belemnites and ferns, and other animal and vegetable +fossils, are embedded in surprising quantities. You can descend here and +there by a zigzag path, and look up at the towering crags, or search the +fallen masses, or push into the thicket; that is, in dry weather. After +about two miles the bush thins off, and gives place to gorse, and reedy +ponds in the hollows, and short turf on which cattle and sheep are +grazing. + +The range continues for perhaps five miles and ends in a great +perpendicular bluff--a resort of sea-birds. Here on getting over the +fence I noticed that the pasture had a well-kept, finished appearance; +and presently, passing the corner of a wall, I found myself on a lawn, +and in front of Raven Hall--a squire's residence. An embrasured wall +built to represent bastions and turrets runs along the edge of the +cliff, and looking over, you see beneath the grand sweep of Robin Hood's +Bay backed by a vast hollow slope--a natural amphitheatre a league in +compass, containing fields and meadows, shaly screes and patches of +heath, cottages, and the Peak alum-works. We are on the Peak, and can +survey the whole scene, away to Bay Town, a patch of red capped by +pale-blue smoke just within the northern horn of the bay. + +A lady and gentleman were trying in defiance of the wind to haul up a +flag on the tall staff erected at the point, to whom I apologised for my +unintentional trespass. They needed no apology, and only wondered that +any one should travel along the cliffs on such a morning. "Did you do it +for pleasure?" asked the lady, with a merry twinkle in her eye, as she +saw how bedraggled I looked below the knees. + +The gentleman left the flapping banner, and showed me from the rear of +the premises the readiest way down to the beach--a very long irregular +descent, the latter portion across the alum shale, and down the abrupt +slope of Cinder Hill, where the buildings are blackened by smoke. At +first the beach is nothing but a layer of small fragments of shale, of a +dark slate-colour, refuse from the works; and where the cliffs reappear +there you see shale in its natural condition, and feel it beneath your +feet while treading on the yielding sand. Numerous cascades leap down +from these cliffs; at the time I passed swollen by the rain, and well +set off by the dark precipice. One of them was a remarkably good +representation of the _Staubbach_ on a small scale. + +About half way I met a gig conveying visitors to the Hall at a walking +pace, for the wheels sank deep. It was for them that the flag was to be +raised, as a signal of welcome; and looking back I saw it flying +proudly, on what, seen from below, appeared a castle on the cliff. At +this moment the sun shone out, and lit up the Peak in all its +magnificent proportions; and the effects of my trudge through drip and +mire soon disappeared. Another mile and the rocks are thickly strewn +with periwinkles, and great plashy beds of seaweed must be crossed, and +then we see that the outermost houses rest on a solid weather-stained +wall of boulders, through which descends a rugged incline of big +stones--the foot of the main street of Bay Town. + +There is no lack of quarters, for within a few yards you may count seven +public-houses. It is a strange place, with alleys which are stairs for +side streets, and these leading into queer places, back yards and +pigstyes, and little gardens thriving with pot-herbs. Everything is on +a slope, overtopped by the green hill behind. Half way up the street, in +what looks like a market-place, lie a number of boats, as if for +ornament. You can hardly imagine them to have been hauled up from the +beach. Some of the shops are curiosities in their appearance and display +of wares; yet there are traders in Bay Town who could buy up two or +three of your fashionable shopkeepers in the watering-places. + +"Yer master wants ye," said a messenger to a young fellow who sat +smoking his pipe in the _King's Head_, while Martha, the hostess, fried +a chop for my dinner. + +"Tell him I isn't here: I isn't a coomin'," was the answer, with a touch +of Yorkshire, which I heard frequently afterwards. + +From the talk that went on I gathered that Bay Town likes to amuse +itself as well as other places. All through the past winter a ball or +dance had been held nearly every evening, in the large rooms which, it +appears, are found somewhere belonging to the very unpretending +public-houses. On the other hand, church and chapel are well attended, +and the singing is hearty. Weddings and funerals are made the occasion +of festivals, and great is the number of guests. Martha assured me that +two hundred persons were invited when her father was buried; and even +for a child, the number asked will be forty or fifty; and all get +something to eat and drink. It was commonly said in the neighbourhood +that the head of a Bay Town funeral procession would be at the church +before the tail had left the house. The church is on the hill-top, +nearly a mile away. A clannish feeling prevails. Any lad or lass who +should chose to wed with an outsider, would be disgraced. Ourselves to +ourselves, is the rule. On their way home from church, the young couple +are beset by invitations to drink at door after door, as they pass, and +jugs of strong liquor are bravely drained, and all the eighteen hundred +inhabitants share in the gladness. Hence the perpetuation of Todds and +Poads. However, as regards names, the most numerous which I saw were +Granger and Bedlington, or Bettleton, as the natives call it. + +The trade in fish has given place to trade in coal; and Bay Town owns +about eighty coal brigs and schooners, which sail to Edinburgh, to +London, to ports in France, and one, which belongs to a man who a few +years ago was a labourer, crosses the ocean to America. There are no +such miserable paupers as swarm in the large towns. Except the collier +crews, the folk seldom leave the parish; and their farthest travel is to +Hartlepool in the steamer which calls in the bay on her way from +Scarborough. + +I chose to finish the walk to Whitby by the road; and in a few minutes, +so steep is the hill, was above Bay Town, and looking on the view +bounded by the massy Peak. Near where the lane enters the high road +stands the church, a modern edifice, thickly surrounded with tombstones. +Black with gilt letters, appears to be the favourite style; and among +them are white stones, bearing outspread gilt wings and stars, and an +ornamental border. The clannish feeling loves to keep alive the memory +of the departed; and one might judge that it has the gift of "powetry," +and delights in epitaphs. Let us read a few: we shall find "drowned at +sea," and "mariner," a frequent word in the inscriptions: + + Partner dear my life is past, + My love for you was to the last; + Therefore for me no sorrow take, + But love my children for my sake. + +An old man of eighty-two is made to say: + + From raging storms at sea + The Lord he did me save, + And here my tottering limbs is brought + To moulder in the grave. + +Lancelot Moorsom, aged seventy-four, varies the matter thus: + + Tho' boreas blast and neptune waves + Hath toss'd me too and fro', + By God's decree you plainly see, + I'm harbour'd here below, + But here I do at anchor ride + With many of our fleet, + And once again I must set sail, + My Saviour Christ to meet. + +Of a good old wife, we read something for which the sex would be the +better were it true of all: + + She was not puff'd in mind, + She had no scornful eye, + Nor did she exercise herself + In things that were too high. + +Childhood claims a tender sentiment; and parents mourn thus for their +little ones: + + One hand they gave to Jesus, one to Death, + And looking upward to their Father's throne, + Their gentle spirits vanish'd with their breath, + And fled to Eden's ever blooming zone. + +The road runs along the high ground near enough to the sea for you to +hear its roar, and note the outline of the cliffs, while inland the +country rolls away hilly to the dreary region described by old writers +as "Black-a-moor." Another half-hour, and having passed through Hawsker, +you see a strange-looking building a long way off. It is the Abbey of +Whitby. And now a view opens into the Vale of Pickering; and there, in +the fields on the left, are the stones which mark where the arrows fell, +when Robin Hood and Little John, who had been treated to a dinner at the +Abbey, went up on the roof to gratify the monks with a specimen of their +skill, and proved the goodness of their bows, and their right to rank as +foremost of English archers. As your eye measures the distance, more +than a mile, your admiration of the merry outlaws will brighten up, +unless like the incredulous antiquary, you consider such stories as only +fit to be left "among the lyes of the land." + +Seen from the road, over the wall-top, the abbey reveals but few of the +beautiful features which charm your eye on a nearer view. To gain +admission you have to pass through an old mansion belonging to the +Cholmley family, in which, by the way, there are rooms, and passages, +and a stair, weapons, furniture, and tapestry that remind you of the +olden time; and in the rear a delightful garden, with a prospect along +the vale of Esk. From the garden you enter a meadow, and may wander at +will about the ruin. + +I saw it to perfection, for the sky had cleared, and the evening sun +touched the crumbling walls and massy columns and rows of graceful +arches with wondrous beauty, relieved by the lengthening shadows. The +effect of the triple rows of windows is singularly pleasing, and there +are carvings and mouldings still remaining that will bear the closest +inspection, although it was a mason of the thirteenth century who cut +them. Three distinct styles are obvious, and you will notice that the +whitest stone, which is the oldest, is the least decayed. An aisle +still offers you the shelter of its groined roof, the transept still +shows the corbels and niches, and carved roses that fed the eyes of +Robin Hood's entertainers, and on the sedilia where they sat you may now +repose. Every moment you discover some new beauty, something to increase +your admiration, and wonder that so much should be left of a building +which has not a tree to shelter it from the storms of the sea. + +For twelve hundred years the ground has been consecrated. Here the +blessed St. Hilda founded a monastery, and dedicated it to St. Peter, in +658. Here it was that the famous debate was held concerning the proper +time of Easter between the Christians who were converted by Culdee +missionaries from Ireland before St. Augustine's visit, and those of the +later time. It was St. John and the practice of the Eastern Church +against St. Peter and the Western; and through the eloquent arguments of +Wilfrid of Ripon, the latter prevailed. + +Here Coedmon, one of the menial monks, was miraculously inspired to +write the poem which immortalises his name; and here St. John of +Beverley was educated. Then came the Danish pirates under Ubba, and +destroyed the monastery, and the place lay waste till one of William the +Conqueror's warriors, grieved to the heart on beholding the desolation, +exchanged his coat of steel for a Benedictine's gown, and rebuilt the +sacred house. + +Few who come hither will need to be reminded of that inspiriting voyage +along the coast, when + + "The Abbess of St. Hilda placed + With five fair nuns the galley graced," + +nor of the sisters' evening talk, while + + "--Whitby's nuns exulting told, + How to their house three barons bold + Must menial service do; + While horns blow out a note of shame, + And monks cry 'Fye upon your name! + In wrath, for loss of sylvan game, + St. Hilda's priest ye slew.'-- + This on Ascension day, each year, + While labouring on our harbour-pier, + Must Herbert, Bruce, and Percy hear.-- + They told how in their convent cell + A Saxon princess once did dwell, + The lovely Edelfled; + And how of thousand snakes, each one + Was changed into a coil of stone + When holy Hilda pray'd; + Themselves, within their holy bound, + Their stony folds had often found. + They told how seafowls' pinions fail, + As over Whitby's towers they sail, + And sinking down, with flutterings faint, + They do their homage to the saint." + +The stately tower, the glory of the ruin, fell in 1830, at the close of +a reign, during which things good and beautiful were unhappily but too +much neglected. A rugged heap, with lumps of stone peeping out from +tufts of coarse grass, marks the spot where the fall took place; the +last, it is to be hoped, that will be permitted in so striking a +memorial of the architecture of the past. Standing in private grounds +and surrounded by a light iron fence, it is now safe from the intrusion +of cattle and from wanton spoilers. + +A few yards beyond the abbey, you cross St. Mary's churchyard to the top +of a long flight of steps, where a remarkable scene opens suddenly +beneath. Whitby, lying on each side of the Esk, the river winding from a +wooded vale, expanding to receive the numerous vessels of the inner +harbour, and flowing away between the houses and the two piers to the +sea. The declivity is so abrupt, that the houses appear strangely +huddled together, tier above tier, in irregular masses, as if resting +one on the other, and what with the colour and variety of forms, the +shipping, the great depth of the valley, the great bluffs with which it +terminates, and line upon line of breakers beginning to foam at two +furlongs from the shore, make up a scene surpassingly picturesque; one +that you will be in no hurry to lose sight of. If the Whitby +church-goers find it toilsome to ascend nearly two hundred steps every +Sunday, they have a goodly prospect for recompense, besides the service. + +One wall of the church is said to be older than any portion of the +abbey; but the edifice has undergone so many alterations, that +meritorious architecture is not now to be looked for. A more breezy +churchyard it would not be easy to find. Opposite, on the farther cliff, +is a cluster of new stone houses, including a spacious hotel, built to +attract visitors; an enterprise promoted by King George Hudson in his +palmy days. + +I lingered, contemplating the view, till it was time to look for an +inn; I chose the _Talbot_, and had no reason to repent my choice. On the +way thither, I bought two religious ballads at a little shop, the +mistress of which told me she sold "hundreds of 'em," and that they were +printed at Otley. As specimens of a class of compositions which are +relished and sung as hymns by a numerous section of the community, they +are eminently suggestive. Do they supply a real want? Are they harmless? +Are they edifying? Can they who find satisfaction therein be led up to +something better? To close this chapter, here follows a quotation from +_The Railway to Heaven_: + + "O! what a deal we hear and read + About Railways and railway speed, + Of lines which are, or may be made; + And selling shares is quite a trade. + + * * * * * + + Allow me, as an old Divine, + To point you to another line, + Which does from earth to heaven extend, + Where real pleasures never end. + + * * * * * + + Of truth divine the rails are made, + And on the Rock of Ages laid; + The rails are fix'd in chairs of love, + Firm as the throne of God above. + + * * * * * + + One grand first-class is used for all, + For Jew and Gentile, great and small, + There's room for all the world inside, + And kings with beggars here do ride. + + * * * * * + + About a hundred years or so + Wesley and others said they'd go: + A carriage mercy did provide, + That Wesley and his friends might ride. + + 'Tis nine-and-thirty years, they say, + Whoever lives to see next May, + Another coach was added then + Unto this all important train. + + * * * * * + + Jesus is the first engineer, + He does the gospel engine steer; + We've guards who ride, while others stand + Close by the way with flag in hand. + + CHORUS. + + "My son, says God, give me thy heart; + Make haste, or else the train will start." + +The other, entitled _Daniel the Prophet_, begins with: + + "Where are now the Hebrew children? + Where are now the Hebrew children? + Where are now the Hebrew children? + Saved into the promised land;" + +and after enumerating the prophet, the fiery furnace, the lion, +tribulation, Stephen, and the Great Apostle, in similar strain, ends: + + "Where is now the patriarch Wesley? + Where is now the patriarch Wesley? + Where is now the patriarch Wesley? + Saved into the promised land." + + CHORUS. + + "When we meet we'll sing hallelujah, + When we meet we'll shout hosannah, + When we meet we'll sing for ever, + Saved into the promised land." + +Though good taste and conventionality may be offended at such hymns as +these, it seems to me that if those who sing them had words preached to +them which they could understand and hearken to gladly, they would be +found not unprepared to lay hold of real truth in the end. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Whitby's Attractions--The Pier--The River-Mouth--The Museum-- + Saurians and Ammonites--An enthusiastic Botanist--Jet in the + Cliffs, and in the Workshop--Jet Carvers and Polishers--Jet + Ornaments--The Quakers' Meeting--A Mechanics' Institute-- + Memorable Names--A Mooky Miner--Trip to Grosmont--The Basaltic + Dike--Quarries and Ironstone--Thrifty Cottagers--Abbeys and + Hovels--A Stingy Landlord--Egton Bridge--Eskdale Woods--The + Beggar's Bridge. + + +Whitby, and not Scarborough, would be my choice had I to sojourn for a +few weeks on the Yorkshire coast. What it lacks of the style and show +which characterize its aristocratic neighbour, is more than made up by +its situation on a river and the beauty of its neighbourhood; and I +regretted not having time to stay more than one day in a place that +offers so many attractions. Woods and waterfalls beautify and enliven +the landscape; shady dells and rocky glens lie within an easy walk, and +the trip by rail to Pickering abounds with "contentive variety." And for +contrast there is always the wild Black-a-moor a few miles inland; and +beyond that again the pleasant hills and vales of Cleveland. + +And few towns can boast so agreeable a promenade as that from the +bridge, along the spacious quay, and out to the pier-head, a distance of +nearly half a mile. Thence can be seen all the life and movement on the +river, all the picturesque features of the heights on each side crowded +with houses, and to seaward the foaming crests of waves chasing one +another towards the land. You can see how, after rolling and plunging on +the rocky bar, they rush up the stream with a mighty swell even to the +bridge. In blowing weather their violence is such that vessels cannot +lie safely in the lower harbour, and must shift to the upper moorings +above the bridge. On the pier-head stands a lighthouse, built in the +form of a fluted Doric column, crowned by a gallery and lantern; and +here, leaning on the encircling parapet, you can admire the solid +masonry, or watch the furious breakers, while inhaling the medicinal +breath of the sea. The pier on the opposite side is more exposed, +serving the purpose of a breakwater; and at times clouds of spray leap +high from its outer wall, and glisten for an instant with rainbow hues +in the sunshine. + +It surprises a stranger on first arrival to hear what seems to him the +south bank of the river spoken of as the east bank, and the north bank +as the west; and it is only by taking into account the trend of the +coast, and the direction of the river's course, that the cardinal points +are discovered to be really in their true position, and you cease to +look for sunrise in the west. + +One of the buildings at the rear of the quay contains the Baths, and on +the upper floor the Museum, and a good Subscription Library. The Museum, +which belongs to the Literary and Philosophical Society, dates from +1823, a time when Whitby, with the sea on one side and wild tracts of +moorlands on the other, was in a manner shut out from the rest of the +world, and compelled to rely on its own resources. Not till 1759 was any +proper road made to connect it with neighbouring towns. Warm hospitality +was thereby nourished, and, as regards science, the result is highly +meritorious. To say nothing of the collections which represent +antiquity, ethnology, natural history, and mineralogy, the fossil +specimens are especially worth attention. Side by side with a section of +the strata of the coast from Bridlington to Redcar is a collection of +the fossils therein contained; among which those of the immediate +neighbourhood, such as may be called Whitby fossils, occupy the chief +place, all classed and labelled in a way that shows how much may be done +with small means when the curator is in earnest. There are saurians in +good preservation, one of which was presented to the Museum for 150_l._, +by the nobleman on whose estate it was found embedded in lias. The +number of ammonites of all sizes is surprising. These are the headless +snakes of St. Hilda's nuns, and the "strange frolicks of Nature," of +philosophers in later days, who held that she formed them "for diversion +after a toilsome application to serious business." Perhaps it is to some +superstitious notion connected with the snake-stones that the town owes +the three ammonites in its coat of arms. In all, the fossil specimens in +the Museum now amount to nearly nine thousand. + +I had the advantage of explanations from Mr. Simpson, the curator, +during my visit, and afterwards of accompanying him and some of his +friends on a walk. One of the party, a botanist, was the first to +discover the _Epilobium alpinum_ (alpine willow herb) in England, while +walking one day on the hills near Whitby. No sooner did he set eyes on +it, than, as his companions said, they thought he had taken leave of his +senses, for he leaped, shouted, danced, sang, and threw his hat up in +the air, and made other enthusiastic demonstrations around the plant, +which, up to that time, was believed not to exist south of the Tweed. I +asked him if he would have exchanged his emotions for California. + +"No," he answered, "that I wouldn't! At all events, not for the first +three minutes." + +Besides its traffic in ship-building, alum, and stone, Whitby has a +trade in works of art which makes at least its name known to fashionable +society; and for this, as for its fossils, it depends on the +neighbouring cliffs. For many miles along the shore, and at places +inland, jet is found embedded with other formations. Drayton makes +mention of it: + + "The rocks by Moulgrave too, my glories forth to set, + Out of their crany'd cleves can give you perfect jet." + +And the shaping of this remarkable substance into articles for ornament +and use gives employment to five hundred men, women, and children in +Whitby. I was favoured with a sight of Mr. Greenbury's manufactory, and +saw the processes from beginning to end. There is nothing mysterious +about them. The pattern of the desired object, a scroll, leaf, flower, +or whatever else, is scratched with a steel point on a piece of jet sawn +to the required dimensions; the workman then with a knife cuts away the +waste portions, brings out the rude form, and by using various knives +and chisels, according to the delicacy of the design, he in no long time +has the article ready for the polisher. The work looks very easy, as you +watch the men cutting, apparently with less concern than some folk +bestow on the whittling of a stick, and making the chips fly in little +heaps. The nature of the jet favours rapidity of hand. It has somewhat +the appearance of compressed pitch, and when under the knife sends off a +shower of chips and splinters as hard pitch does. Some specimens have +been found with fossils so embedded therein, as to confirm the opinion +of those who hold jet to be a species of petroleum, contrary to the +common belief that it is wood partly converted into coal. + +After the knives, the grindstones come into play, to work up and smooth +all the accessible surfaces; and next swift-whirling wheels encircled +with list, which give the polish. The deep incisions and hollows which +cannot be touched by the wheel are polished on narrow slips of list. +This is the work of boys: the slips of list are made fast by one end to +the bench, and taking hold of the other, and shifting or tightening as +the work may require, the boys rub the deep parts of the ornaments +backwards and forwards till the polish is complete. The finishing touch, +which imparts the brilliance, is given by a sprinkling of rouge, and a +light hand with the rubber. + +Armlets and bracelets composed of several pieces are cemented together, +forming a complete hoop, while in course of manufacture, to ensure +accuracy of workmanship, and are separated at last for the drilling of +the holes for the elastic cord whereby they are held together in the +finished state. The drilling of these holes through each separate piece +is a nice operation, for any departure from the true line would appear +as an imperfection in the ornament. + +What with the drilling lathes, the rapid grindstones and +polishing-wheels, and the busy artificers, from those who cut up the +jet, to the roughers-out, the carvers, the polishers in their order, to +the boys with their list rubbers, and the finishers, the factory +presented a busy scene. The boys earn from three-and-sixpence to five +shillings a week; the men from three to four times as much. I made an +inquiry as to their economical habits, and heard in reply that the +landlord of the _Jetmen's Arms_ could give the surest information. + +No means have yet been discovered of working up the chips and splinters +produced in cutting the jet, so as to form solid available blocks, as +can be done with black-lead for pencils; there is, therefore, a +considerable amount of waste. The value of jet varies with the quality; +from ten to eighteen shillings a pound. According to the report on +mineral products, by Mr. Robert Hunt, the value of the jet dug and +manufactured in England is twenty thousand pounds a year. Some of the +best shops in Whitby and Scarborough are those where jet is sold; and +not the least attractive of the displays in Regent-street, is that +labelled _Finest Whitby Jet_, and exhibited as vases, chains, rings, +seals, brooches, taper-stands, and obelisks. Here in Whitby you may buy +a small ammonite set in jet. + +Jet is not a new object of luxury. It was used for ornamental purposes +by the ancient Britons, and by their conquerors, as proved by articles +found in their tombs. A trade in jet is known to have existed in Whitby +in 1598. Camden, translating from an old _Treatise of Jewels_, has + + "Jeat-stone almost a gemm, the Lybians find, + But fruitful Britain sends a wondrous kind; + 'Tis black and shining, smooth, and ever light, + 'Twill draw up straws if rubb'd till hot and bright, + Oyl makes it cold, but water gives it heat." + +The amber mines of Prussia yield a species of jet which is burnt as a +coal. + +Whitby presents signs of a social phenomenon which is observable in +other places: the decline of Quakerism. I was invited to look at the +Mechanics' Institute, and found it located in the Quakers' Meeting +House. The town was one of George Fox's strongholds, and a considerable +number of Quakers, including some of the leading families, remained up +to the last generation. Death and secession have since then brought +about the result above-mentioned. Is it that Quakerism has accomplished +its work? or that it has been stifled by the assiduous painstaking to +make itself very comfortable? + +I went up once more to the Abbey, and to enjoy the view from the +churchyard steps. The trouble of the ascent is abundantly repaid by such +a prospect: one should never tire of it. On moonlight nights, and in a +certain state of the atmosphere, there is another attraction. It is a +sight of Saint Hilda. Incredulous as you may be, there are maidens in +Whitby who will tell you that the famous Abbess is still to be seen +hovering near the Abbey she loved so well. And when the moon is in the +right place, and a thin, pale mist floats slowly past, then, in one of +the windows, appears the image of the saintly lady. Scott and other +writers mention it; and Professor Rymer Jones tells me that he once saw +it, and with an illusion so complete, as might easily have deceived a +superstitious beholder. + +While looking down on the river you will hardly fail to remember that +Cook sailed from it, to begin his apprenticeship to a seafaring life; +and profiting in later years by his early experience, he chose +Whitby-built ships for his memorable voyage of discovery. And from the +Esk sailed the two Scoresbys, father and son--two of the latest names on +the list of Yorkshire Worthies. + +During the summer many an excursion train, or 'chape trip,' as the +natives say, brings thousands of the hardworking population of the West +Riding, to enjoy a brief holiday by the sea. There once arrived a party +of miners two of whom hastened down to the beach to bathe. As they +undressed one said to the other "Hey, Sam, hoo mooky thou is!" "Aw +miss'd t' chape trip last year," was the laconic and significant reply. + +Towards evening I took a trip by railway to Grosmont (six miles), or the +Tunnel Station as it is commonly called, for a glance at the pretty +scenery of the lower part of Eskdale. The river bordered by rocks and +wooded hills enlivens the route. From the Tunnel I walked about half a +mile down the line to a stone quarry, where a section of that remarkable +basaltic dike is exposed, which, crossing the country in a +north-westerly direction for about seventy miles, impresses the observer +with a sense of wonder at the tremendous force by which such a mass was +upheaved through the overlying strata. Here it has the form of a great +wedge, the apex uppermost; and the sandstone, which it so rudely +shouldered aside, is scorched and partially vitrified along the line of +contact. The labourers, who break up the hard black basalt for +macadamising purposes, call it 'chaney metal.' + +This is a pleasant spot to loiter in; but its sylvan character is marred +by the quarrying, and by the great excavations where busy miners dig the +ironstone which abounds in the district, after the rate, as is +estimated, of twenty-two thousand tons to the acre; no unimportant item +in the exports of Whitby, until blast furnaces shall be built to make +the iron on the spot. + +"The path 'll tak' ye up to a laan," said the quarryman, with a Dutch +pronunciation of lane; "and t' laan 'll bring ye doon to Egton, if ye +don't tak' t' wrang turning." So up through the wood I went, and came +presently to the lane, where seeing a lonely little cottage, and a woman +nursing a few flowers that grew near the door, I tarried for a short +talk. 'Twas but a poor little place, she said, and vera lonesome; and +she thought a few flowers made it look cheerful-like. The rent for the +house and garden was but a pound a year; but 'twas as much as she could +afford, for she had had ten children, and was thankful to say, brought +'em all up without parish help. 'Twas hard work at times; but folk +didn't know what they could do till they tried. It animated me to hear +such honest words. + +A little farther there stands a long low cottage with a garden in front, +an orchard at the side, and a row of beehives in a corner, presenting a +scene of rural abundance. I stopped to look at the crowding flowers, and +was drawn into another talk by the mistress, who came out on seeing a +stranger. I could not help expressing my surprise at the prosperous look +of the garden, and the shabby look of the house, which appeared the +worse from a narrow ditch running along the front. "'Tis a miserable +house," she answered, "damp and low; but what can we do? It's all very +well, sir, to talk about the beautiful abbeys as they used to build in +the old days, but they didn't build beautiful cottages. I always think +that they built the wall till they couldn't reach no higher standing on +the ground, and then they put the roof on. That's it, sir; anything was +good enough for country-folk in them days." Some modern writers contend +that the abbeys and cathedrals were but the highest expression of an +architecture beautiful and appropriate in all its degrees; but I doubt +the fact, and hold by the Yorkshirewoman's homely theory. + +I suggested that the landlord might be asked to build a new house. "Ah, +sir, you wouldn't say that if you knew him. Why, he won't so much as +give us a board to mend the door; he'll only tell us where to go and buy +one." I might have felt surprised that any landlord should be willing to +allow English men and women to dwell in such a hovel; but she told me +his name, and then there was no room for surprise. + +Ere long the view opens over the valley, and a charming valley it is; +hill after hill covered with wood to the summit. Then the lane descends +rapidly, and we come to the romantically situated hamlet of Egton +Bridge. This is a place which, above all others, attracts visitors and +picnic parties from Whitby, and the _Oak Tree_ is the very picture of a +rustic hostelry. Here you may fancy yourself in a deep wooded glen; and, +if limited for time, will have an embarrassing choice of walks. +Arncliffe woods offer cool green shades, and a fine prospect from the +ridge beyond, with the opportunity to visit an ancient British village. +But few can resist the charm of the Beggar's Bridge, a graceful +structure of a single arch, which spans the Esk in a sequestered spot +delightful to the eye and refreshing to the ear, with the gurgling of +water and rustling of leaves. There is a legend, too, for additional +charm: how that a young dalesman, on his way to say farewell to his +betrothed, was stopped here by the stream swollen with a sudden flood, +and, spite of his efforts to cross, was forced to retrace his steps and +sail beyond the sea to seek fortune in a distant land. He vowed, if his +hopes were gratified, to build a bridge on his return; and, to quote +Mrs. George Dawson's pretty version of the legend, + + "The rover came back from a far distant land, + And he claimed of the maiden her long-promised hand; + But he built, ere he won her, the bridge of his vow, + And the lovers of Egton pass over it now." + +A pleasant twilight walk among the trees, within hearing of the rippling +Esk, brought me back to the Tunnel in time for the last train to +Whitby. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + To Upgang--Enter Cleveland--East Row--The first Alum-Maker-- + Sandsend--Alum-Works--The huge Gap--Hewing the Alum Shale-- + Limestone Nodules: Mulgrave Cement--Swarms of Fossils--Burning + the Shale--Volcanic Phenomena--From Fire to Water--The Cisterns + --Soaking and Pumping--The evaporating Pans--The Crystallizing + Process--The Roching Casks--Brilliant Crystals--A Chemical + Triumph--Rough Epsoms. + + +It was yet early the next morning when I descended from the high road to +the shore at Upgang, about two miles from Whitby. Here we approach a +region of manufacturing industry. Wagons pass laden with Mulgrave +cement, with big, white lumps of alum, with sulphate of magnesia; the +kilns are not far off, and the alum-works at Sandsend are in sight, +backed by the wooded heights of Mulgrave Park, the seat of the Marquis +of Normanby. Another half-hour, and crossing a beck which descends from +those heights, we enter Cleveland, of which the North Riding is made to +say, + + "----If she were not here confined thus in me, + A shire even of herself might well be said to be." + +Hereabouts, in the olden time, stood a temple dedicated to Thor, and the +place was called Thordisa--a name for which the present East Row is a +poor exchange. The alteration, so it is said, was made by the workmen on +the commencement of the alum manufacture in 1620. The works, now grimy +with smoke, are built between the hill-foot and the sea, a short +distance beyond the beck. + +The story runs that the manufacture of alum was introduced into +Yorkshire early in the seventeenth century by Sir Thomas Chaloner, who +had travelled in Italy, and there seen the rock-beds from which the +Italians extracted alum. Riding one day in the neighbourhood of +Guisborough, he noticed that the foliage of the trees resembled in +colour that of the leaves in the alum districts abroad; and afterwards +he commenced an alum-work in the hills near that town, sanctioned by a +patent from Charles I. One account says that he smuggled over from the +Papal States, concealed in casks, workmen who were acquainted with the +manufacture, and was excommunicated by the Pope for this daring breach +of his own monopoly. The Sandsend works were established a few years +later. Subsequently certain courtiers prevailed on the king to break +faith with Sir Thomas, and to give one-half of the patent to a rival, +which so exasperated the knight that he became a Roundhead, and one of +the most relentless foes of the king. A great monopoly of the alum-works +was attempted towards the end of the last century by Sir George +Colebroke, who, being an East India director, got the name of Shah +Allum. His attempt failed. + +My request for permission to view the works was freely granted, and I +here repeat my acknowledgments for the favour. The foreman, I was told, +took but little pains with visitors who came, and said, "Dear me! How +very curious!" and yawned, and wanted to go away at the end of ten +minutes; but for any one in earnest to see the operations from beginning +to end, he would spare no trouble. Just the very man for me I thought; +so leaving my knapsack at the office, I followed the boy who was sent to +show me the way to the mine. Up the hill, and across fields for about +half a mile, brought us to the edge of a huge gap, which at first sight +might have been taken for a stone quarry partially changed into the +crater of a volcano. At one side clouds of white sulphureous smoke were +rising; within lay great heaps resembling brick rubbish; and heaps of +shale, and piles of stony balls, and stacks of brushwood; and while one +set of men were busily hacking and hewing the great inner walls, others +were loading and hauling off the tramway wagons, others pumping, or +going to and fro with wheelbarrows. + +There was no proper descent from the side to which we came, and to +scramble down three or four great steps, each of twenty feet, with +perpendicular fronts, was not easy. However, at last I was able to +present to the foreman the scrap of paper which I had brought from the +office, and to feel sure that such an honest countenance and bright eye +as his betokened a willing temper. Nor was I disappointed, for he at +once expressed himself ready to show and explain everything that I might +wish to see. + +"Let us begin at the beginning," I said; and he led me to the cliff, +where the diggers were at work. The formation reminded me of what I had +seen in the quarries at Portland: first a layer of earth, then a hard, +worthless kind of stone, named the 'cap' by the miners; next a deposit +of marlstone and 'doggerhead,' making altogether a thickness of about +fifty feet; and below this comes the great bed of upper lias, one +hundred and fifty feet thick; and this lias is the alum shale. Where +freshly exposed, its appearance may be likened to slate soaked in +grease: it has a greasy or soapy feel between the fingers, but as it +oxidises rapidly on exposure to the air, the general colour of the cliff +is brown. Here the shale is not worked below seventy-five feet; for +every fathom below that becomes more and more bituminous, and more +liable to vitrify when burnt, and will not yield alum. At some works, +however, the excavation is continued down to ninety feet. Embedded in +the shale, most abundant in the upper twenty-five feet, the workmen find +nodules of limestone, the piles of balls I had noticed from above, about +the size of a cricket-ball; and of these the well-known Mulgrave cement +is made. The Marquis, to whom all the land hereabouts belongs, requires +that his lessees shall sell to him all the limestone nodules they find. +The supply is not small, judging from the great heap which I saw thrown +aside in readiness for carting away. Alum shale prevails in the cliffs +for twenty-seven miles along the coast of Yorkshire, in which are found +one hundred and fifty kinds of ammonites. + +Besides balls of limestone, the shale abounds in fossils. It was in +this--the lias--that nearly all the specimens, including the gigantic +reptiles of the ancient world which we saw in the Museum at Whitby were +found. Every stroke of the pick brings them out; and as the shale is +soft and easily worked, they are separated without difficulty. You might +collect a cartload in half a day. For a few minutes I felt somewhat like +a schoolboy in an orchard, and filled my pockets eagerly with the best +that came in my way. But ammonites and mussels, when turned to stone, +are very heavy, and before the day was over I had to lighten my load: +some I placed where passers-by could see them; then I gave some away at +houses by the road, till not more than six remained for a corner of my +knapsack. And these were quite enough, considering that I had yet to +walk nearly three hundred miles. + +After the digging comes the burning. A layer of brushwood is made ready +on the ground, and upon this the shale is heaped to the height of forty +or fifty feet until a respectable little mountain is formed, comprising +three thousand tons, or more. The rear of the mass rests against the +precipice, and from narrow ledges and projections in this the men tilt +their barrow-loads as the elevation increases. The fire, meanwhile, +creeps about below, and soon the heap begins to smoke, sending out white +sulphureous fumes in clouds that give it the appearance of a volcano. + +Such a heap was smouldering and smoking at the mouth of the great +excavation, the sulphate of iron, giving off its acid to the clay, +converting it thereby into sulphate of alumina. All round the base, and +for a few feet upwards, the fire had done its work, and the mass was +cooling; but above the creeping glow was still active. The colour is +changed by the burning from brown to light reddish yellow, with a streak +of darker red running along all the edges of the fragments; and the +progress of combustion might be noted by the differences of colour: in +some places pale; then a mottled zone, blending upwards with the +sweating patches under the smoke. Commonly the heap burns for three +months; hence a good manager takes care so to time his fires that a +supply of _mine_--as the calcined shale is technically named--is always +in readiness. Fifty tons of this burnt shale are required to make one +ton of alum. + +We turned to the heap which I have mentioned as resembling a mound of +brick rubbish at a distance. One-third of it had been wheeled away to +the cisterns, exposing the interior, and I could see how the fire had +touched every part, and left its traces in the change of colour and the +narrow red border round each calcined chip. The pieces lie loosely +together, so that on digging away below, the upper part falls of itself. +The man who was filling the barrows had hacked out a cavernous hollow; +it seemed that a slip might be momentarily expected, for the top +overhung threateningly, and yet he continued to hack and dig with +apparent unconcern, and replied to the foreman's caution, "Oh! it won't +come down afore to-morrow. It'll give warning." + +Now for the watery ordeal. On the sloping ground between the cliffs and +the sea, shallow pits or cisterns are sunk, nearly fifty feet long and +twenty wide, and so placed, with a bottom sloping from a depth of one +foot at one end to two feet at the other, as to communicate easily with +one another by pipes and gutters. Whether alum-works shall pay or not, +is said to depend in no small degree on the proper arrangement of the +pits. Each pit will contain forty wagon-loads of the mine. As soon as it +is full, liquor is pumped into it from a deep cistern covered by a shed, +and this at the end of three days is drawn off by the tap at the lower +end, and when drained the pit is again pumped full and soaked for two +days. Yet once more is it pumped full, but with water--producing first, +second, and third run, and sometimes a fourth--but the last is the +weakest, and is kept to be pumped up as liquor on a fresh pit for first +run. It would be poor economy to evaporate so weak a solution. Each pit +employs five men. + +All this is carried on in the open air, with the sea lashing the shore +but a few yards off, and all around the signs of what to a stranger +appears but a rough and ready system. And in truth there must be +something wasteful in it, for all the alum is never abstracted. After +the third or fourth washing, the mine is shovelled from the pits and +flung away on the beach, where the sea soon levels it to a uniform +slope. In one of the so-called exhausted pits I saw many pieces touched, +as it were, by hoar frost, which was nothing but minute crystals of alum +formed on the surface, strongly acid to the taste. + +The rest of the process was to be seen down at the works, so thither we +went; not by the way I came, for the foreman, scrambling up the side of +the gap, conducted me along the ledge at the top of the burning heap. He +walked through the stifling fumes without annoyance, while on me they +produced a painful sense of choking, with an impulse to run. Before we +had passed, however, he pushed aside a few of the upper pieces, and +showed me the dull glow of the fire beneath. Then we had more ledges +along the face of the cliff, and now and then to creep and jump; and we +crossed an old digging, which looked ugly with its heaps of waste and +half-starved patches of grass. All the way extends a course of long +wooden gutters, in which the first-run liquor was flowing in a +continuous stream to undergo its final treatment--another trial by fire. + +Then into a low, darksome shed, where from one end to the other you see +nothing but leaden evaporating pans and cisterns, some steaming, and all +containing liquor in different states of preparation. That from which +the most water has been evaporated--the concentrated solution--has a +large cistern to itself, where its tendency to crystallize is assisted +by an admixture of liquor containing ammonia in solution, and +immediately the alum falls to the bottom in countless crystals. The +liquor above them, now become 'mother liquor,' or more familiarly +'mothers,' is drawn off, the crystals are washed clean in water, are +again dissolved, and once more boiled, mixed with gallons of mothers +remaining from former boilings. When of the required density, the liquor +is run off from the pan to the 'roching casks'--great butts rather, big +as a sugar hogshead, and taller; and in these is left to cool and +crystallize after its manner, from eight to ten days, according to the +season. The butts are constructed so as to take to pieces easily, and at +the right time the hoops are knocked off, the staves removed, and there +on the floor stands a great white cask of alum, solid all over, top, +bottom, and sides, except in its centre a quantity of liquor which has +not crystallized. This having been drawn off by a hole driven through, +the mass is then broken to pieces, and is fit for the market; and for +the use of dyers, leather-dressers, druggists, tallow-chandlers; for +bakers even, and other crafty traders. + +Looked at from the outside, there is no beauty in the cask of alum; but +as soon as the interior is exposed, then the numberless crystals +shooting from every part, glisten again as the light streams in upon +them; and you acknowledge that the cunning by which they have been +produced from the dull slaty shale is a happy triumph of chemical +art--one that will stand a comparison with a recent triumph, the +extraction of brilliantly white candles from the great brown peat-bogs +of Ireland, or from Rangoon tar. Perhaps some readers will remember the +beautiful specimen of alum crystals--an entire half-tun that stood in +the nave of the Great Exhibition. + +Alum is made near Glasgow from the shale of abandoned coal mines, soaked +in water without burning. After the works had been carried on for some +years, and the heap of refuse had spread over the neighbourhood to an +inconvenient extent, it was found that on burning this waste shale, it +would yield a second profitable supply of alum. Moreover, artificial +alum is manufactured in considerable quantities from a mixture of clay +and sulphuric acid. + +In going about the works it was impossible not to be struck by the +contrast between the sooty aspect of the roofs, beams, and gangways, and +the whiteness of the crystal fringes in the pans, and the snowy patches +here and there where the vapour had condensed. And in an outhouse +wagon-loads of 'rough Epsoms' lay in a great white heap on the black +floor. This rough Epsoms, or sulphate of magnesia, is the crystals +thrown down by the mother-liquor after a second boiling. + +In our goings to and fro, we talked of other things as well as alum; of +that other mineral wealth, the ironstone, to which Cleveland owes so +important a development of industry within the past fifteen years. The +existence of ironstone in the district had long been known; but not till +the foreman--jointly with his father--discovered a deposit near +Skinningrave, and drew attention to it, was any attempt made to work it. +Geologically the deposit is known as clayband ironstone; hence clay will +still make known the fame of this corner of Yorkshire, as when the old +couplet was current-- + + "Cleveland in the clay, + Carry in two shoon, bring one away." + +If I liked the foreman at first sight, much more did I like him upon +acquaintance. He won my esteem as much by his frank and manly bearing, +as by his patient attentions and intelligent explanations; and I shook +his hand at parting with a sincere hope of having another talk with him +some day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + Mulgrave Park--Giant Wade--Ubba's Landing-place--The Boggle- + boggarts--The Fairy's Chase--Superstitions--The Knight of the + Evil Lake--Lythe--St. Oswald's Church--Goldsborough--Kettleness + --Rugged Cliffs and Beach--Runswick Bay--Hob-Hole--Cure for + Whooping-cough--Jet Diggers--Runswick--Hinderwell-- + Horticultural Ravine--Staithes--A curious Fishing-town--The + Black Minstrels--A close-neaved Crowd--The Cod and Lobster-- + Houses washed away--Queer back Premises--The Termagants' Duel-- + Fisherman's Talk--Cobles and Yawls--Dutch and French Poachers-- + Tap-room Talk--Reminiscences of Captain Cook. + + +I shouldered my knapsack, and paced once more up the hill: a long and +toilsome hill it is; but you can beguile the way nevertheless. Behind +the hedge on the left stretches Mulgrave Park, hill and dale, and +running brooks, and woods wherein the walks and drives extend for twenty +miles. I had procured a ticket of admission at Whitby; but having spent +so much time over the alum, had none to spare for the park, with its +Gothic mansion, groves and gardens, and fragment of an old castle on an +eminence surrounded by woods; and the Hermitage, the favourite resort of +picnic parties. According to hoary legend, the original founder of the +castle was giant Wade, or Wada, a personage still talked of by the +country-folk, who give his name to the Roman Causeway which runs from +Dunsley to Malton, and point out certain large stones at two villages a +few miles apart as Wade's Graves. It was in Dunsley Bay, down there on +the right, that Ubba landed with his sea-rovers in 867, and the hill on +which he planted his standard is still called Ravenhill. + +And here were the haunts of the boggle-boggarts--a Yorkshire fairy +tribe. At Kettleness, whither we shall come by and by, they used to wash +their linen in a certain spring, named Claymore Well, and the noise of +their 'bittle' was heard more than two miles off. Jeanie, one of these +fairies, made her abode in the Mulgrave woods, and one day a young +farmer, curious to see a bogle, mounted his horse, rode up to her bower, +and called her by name. She obeyed the call, but in a towering rage at +the intrusion, and the adventurer, in terror, turned and fled, with the +nimble sprite close at his heels. At length, just as he was leaping a +brook, she aimed a stroke with her wand and cut his horse in two; but +the fugitive kept his seat, and fell with the foremost half on the +farther bank, and the weird creature, stopped by the running water, +witnessed his escape with an evil eye. + +We may remember, too, that Cleveland, remote from great thoroughfares, +was a nursery of superstitions long after the owlish notions died out +from other places. Had your grandmother been born here she would have +been able to tell you that to wear a ring cut from old, long-buried +coffin-lead, would cure the cramp; that the water from the leaden roof +of a church, sprinkled on the skin, was a specific for sundry +diseases--most efficacious if taken from over the chancel. Biscuits +baked on Good Friday would keep good all the year, and a person ill with +flux had only to swallow one grated in milk, or brandy-and-water, and +recovery was certain. Clothes hung out to dry on Good Friday would, when +taken down, be found spotted with blood. To fling the shirt or shift of +a sick person into a spring, was a sure way to foreknow the issue of the +malady: if it floated--life; if it sank--death. And when the patient was +convalescent, a small piece was torn from the garment and hung on the +bushes near the spring; and springs thus venerated were called +Rag-wells. + +The lands of Mulgrave were given by King John to Peter de Malolacu as a +reward for crime--helping in the cruel murder of Prince Arthur. By this +Knight of the Evil-lake--evil heart, rather--the castle was rebuilt; +and, pleased with the beauty of the sight, he named it Moult Grace; but +because that he was hard-hearted and an oppressor, the people changed +the _c_ into _v_; whence, says tradition, the origin of the present +name. + +On the crown of the hill we come to Lythe, which--to borrow a term from +Lord Carlisle--is a "well-conditioned" village, adorned with honeysuckle +and little flower-gardens. The elevation, five hundred feet, affords an +agreeable view of Whitby Abbey, and part of the intervening coast and +country. The church is dedicated to St. Oswald, the royal Northumbrian +martyr; and inside you may see a monument to Constantine John, Baron +Mulgrave, who as Captain Phipps sailed to Spitzbergen in 1773, on one of +those arctic explorations to which, from first to last, England owes no +small share of her naval renown. + +Here I struck into a lane for Goldsborough, the village which claims one +of Wade's graves; and along byeways down to the shore at Kettleness--a +grand cliff nearly four hundred feet high, so named from hollows or +'kettles' in the ground near it. + +Here, descending the steep road to the beach, you pass more alum-works, +backed by the precipitous crags. Everywhere you see signs of fallen +rocks and landslips. In a slip which happened in 1830, the labourers' +cottages were carried down and buried; but with sufficient warning to +enable the inmates to escape. Once the cliff took fire and burned for +two years. From this point the way along the shore is wilder and +rougher--more bestrewn with slabs and boulders than any we have yet +seen. Up and down, in and out; now close under the cliff; now taking to +the weedy rocks to avoid an overhanging mass that seems about to fall. +Here and there jet-diggers and quarrymen are busy high above your head, +and make the passage more difficult by their heaps of rubbish. Among the +boulders you will notice some perfectly globular in form, as if finished +in a lathe. One that I stooped to examine was a singular specimen of +Nature's handiwork. It proved to be a hemisphere only, smooth and highly +polished, so exact a round on one side, so true a flat on the other, +that no artificer could have produced better. In appearance it resembled +quartz. I longed to bring it away; but it was about the bigness of half +an ordinary Dutch cheese, and weighed some five or six pounds. All I +could do was to leave it in a safe spot for some after-coming geologist. + +Having passed the bluff, we see to the bottom of Runswick Bay, and the +village of Runswick clustered on the farther heights. A harbour of +refuge is much wanted on this shelterless coast, and some engineers show +this to be the best place for it; others contend for Redcar, at the +mouth of the Tees. Here, again, the cliff diminishes in elevation, and +the ground slopes upwards to higher land in the rear. About the middle +of the bay is Hob-Hole, a well-known cave, once more than a hundred feet +deep, but now shortened by two-thirds, and in imminent danger of +complete destruction by jet-diggers. Cattle used to come down from the +pastures and betake themselves to its cool recesses in hot summer days, +and if caught by the tide instinctively sought the inner end, which, as +the floor rose by a gentle acclivity, was above the reach of the water. +I could scarcely help fancying that the half-dozen cows standing up to +their knees in a salt-water pool were ruminating sadly over their lost +resort. + +What would the grandmothers say if they could return and see the +spoiling of Hob's dwelling-place: Hob, whose aid they used to invoke for +the cure of whooping-cough? Standing at the entrance of the cave with +the sick child in their arms, they addressed him thus: + + "Hob-hole Hob! + My bairn's gotten t'kin cough: + Tak 't off--tak 't off!" + +If Hob refused to be propitiated, they tried another way, and catching a +live hairy worm, hung it in a bag from the child's neck, and as the worm +died and wasted away so did the cough. If this failed, a roasted mouse, +or a piece of bread-and-butter administered by the hands of a virgin, +was infallible; and if the cough remained still obstinate, the child, as +a last resort, was passed nine times under the belly of a donkey. To +avoid risk of exposure, it was customary to lead the animal to the front +of the kitchen fire. + +I found a party of jet-diggers at work in the low cliff near the cave, +and stayed to watch their proceedings. Eleven weeks had they been +labouring, and found nothing. It was astonishing to see what prodigious +gaps they had made in that time, and the heap of refuse, which appeared +twice as big as all the gaps put together. I thought the barrow-man gave +himself too little trouble to wheel the waste out of the way; but he, +who knew best, answered, "Bowkers! why should I sweat for nothin'? The +sea'll tak 't all away the fust gale." + +Judging from what they told me, jet-digging is little, if any, less +precarious than gold-digging. Their actual experience was not uncommon; +and at other times they would get as much jet in a week as paid them +for six months' labour. Then, again, after removing tons of +superincumbent rock, the bed of jet would be of the hard stony-kind, +worth not more than half-a-crown a pound; or a party would toil +fruitlessly for weeks, losing heart and hope, and find themselves +outwitted at last by another crafty digger, who, scanning the cliff a +few yards off with a keen eye, would discover signs, and setting to +work, lay bare a stratum of jet in a few days. The best kind is +thoroughly bitumenized, of a perfect uniform black, and resembles +nothing so much as a tree stem flattened by intense pressure, while +subjected to great heat without charring. + +If Bay Town be remarkable, much more so is Runswick, for the houses may +be said to hang on the abrupt hill-side, as martens' nests on a wall, +among patches of ragwort, brambles, gorse, elders, and bits of brown +rock, overtopped by the summit of the cliff. Boats are hauled up on the +grass, near the rivulet that frolics down the steep; balks of pine and +ends of old ship timbers lie about; clothes hung out to dry flutter in +the breeze; and the little whitewashed gables, crowned by thatch or red +tiles, gleam in the sunshine. There is no street, nothing but footpaths, +and you continually find yourself in one of the little gardens, or at +the door of a cottage, while seeking the way through to the heights +above. Two public-houses offer very modest entertainment, and _The Ship_ +better beer than that at Kilnsea. About the end of the seventeenth +century the alum shale, on which the village is built, made a sudden +slip, and with it all the houses but one. Since then it has remained +stationary; but with a rock so liable to decomposition as alum shale, a +site that shall never be moved cannot be hoped for. + +The view from the brow in the reverse direction, after you have climbed +the rough slope of thorns and brambles above the village, is striking. +Kettleness rears its head proudly over the waters; and looking inland +from one swelling eminence to another, till stopped by a long bare hill, +which in outline resembles the Hog's-back, your eye completes the circle +and rests at last on the picturesque features of the bay beneath. There +is no finer cliff scenery on the Yorkshire coast than from Kettleness to +Huntcliff Nab. + +Then turning my face northwards, I explored the shortest way to +Staithes, now on the edge of the cliff, now cutting across the fields, +and leaving on the left the village of Hinderwell--once, as is said, St. +Hilda's well, from a spring in the churchyard which bore the pious +lady's name. About four miles of rough walking brought me to a bend in +the road above a deep ravine, which, patched or fringed with wood +towards its upper end, submits its steep flanks to cultivation on +approaching the sea. Garden plots, fenced and hedged, there chequer the +ground; and even from the hither side you can see how well kept they +are, and how productive. Facing the south, and sheltered from the bitter +north-easters, they yield crops of fruit and vegetables that would +excite admiration anywhere, and win praise for their cultivators. In +some of the plots you see men at work with upturned shirt-sleeves, and +you can fancy they do their work lovingly in the golden evening light. +The ravine makes sharp curves, each wider than the last, and the brook +spreads out, with a few feet of level margin in places at which boats +are made fast, and you wonder how they got there. Then the slope, with +its gardens, elders, and flowers, merges into a craggy cliff, near which +an old limekiln comes in with remarkably picturesque effect. + +A few yards farther and the road, descending rapidly, brings you in +sight of the sea, seemingly shut in between two high bluffs, and at your +feet, unseen till close upon it, lies the little fishing-town of +Staithes. And a strange town it is! The main street, narrow and +painfully ill-paved, bending down to the shore of a small bay; houses +showing their backs to the water on one side, on the other hanging +thickly on a declivity so steep that many of the roofs touch the ground +in the rear: frowsy old houses for the most part, with pantile roofs, or +mouldy thatch, from which here and there peep queer little windows. Some +of the thatched houses appear as if sunk into the ground, so low are +they, and squalid withal. Contrasted with these, the few modern houses +appear better than they are; and the draper, with his showy shop, +exhibits a model which others, whose gables are beginning to stand at +ease, perhaps will be ambitious to follow. Men wearing thick blue +Guernsey frocks and sou'-westers come slouching along, burdened with +nets or lobster-pots, or other fishing gear; women and girls, +short-skirted and some barefooted, go to and from the beck with 'skeels' +of water on their head, one or two carrying a large washing-tub full, +yet talking as they go as if the weight were nothing; and now and then a +few sturdy fellows stride past, yellow from head to foot with a thick +ochre-like dust. They come from the ironstone diggings beyond Penny +Nab--the southern bluff. Imagine, besides, that the whole place smells +of fish, and you will have a first impression of Staithes. + +The inns, I thought, looked unpromising; but the _Royal George_ is +better than it looks, and if guests are not comfortable the blame can +hardly lie with Mrs. Walton, the hostess--a portly, good-humoured dame, +who has seen the world, that is, as far as London, and laughs in a way +that compels all within hearing to laugh for company. Though the +tap-room and parlour be sunk some three feet below the roadway, making +you notice, whether or not, the stout ankles of the water-bearers, you +will find it very possible to take your ease in your inn. + +I was just sauntering out after tea when a couple of negro minstrels, +with banjo and tambourine, came down the street, and struck up one of +their liveliest songs. Instantly, and as if by magic, the narrow +thoroughfare was thronged by a screeching swarm of children, who came +running down all the steep alleys, and from nooks and doorways in the +queerest places, followed by their fathers and mothers. I stepped up the +slope and took a survey of the crowd as they stood grinning with delight +at the black melodists. Good-looking faces are rare among the women; but +their stature is remarkably erect--the effect probably of carrying +burdens on the head. How they chattered! + +"Eh! that caps me!" cried one. + +"That's brave music!" said another. + +And a third, when Tambourine began his contortions, shrieked, "Eh! +looky! looky! he's nobbut a porriwiggle;" which translated out of +Yorkshire into English, means, "nought but a tadpole." And to see how +the weather-beaten old fishermen chuckled and roared with laughter, +showing such big white teeth all the while, was not the least amusing +part of the exhibition. Such lusty enjoyment I thought betokened an open +hand; but when the hat went round the greater number proved themselves +as 'close-neaved,' to use one of their own words, as misers. + +Near the end of the street, and under the shadow of Penny Nab, there is +an opening whence you may survey the little bay, or rather cove, which +forms the port of Staithes, well protected by the bluff above-named, +and Colburn Nab on the north. Here the _Cod and Lobster_ public-house, +with a small quay in front, faces the sea, as if indifferent to +consequences, notwithstanding that the inmates are compelled from time +to time to decamp suddenly from threatened drowning. Even as I stood +there I was fain to button my overcoat against the spray which swept +across and sprinkled the windows, for there was a heavy 'lipper' on, and +huge breakers came tumbling in with thunderous roar. You see piles +driven here and there, and heaps of big stones laid for protection; and +not without need, you will think, while looking at the backs of the +houses huddling close around the margin of the tide. In the month of +February, twenty-seven years ago, thirteen houses were swept away at +once, and among them the one in which Cook was first apprenticed. +Judging from what Staithes is now, it must have been a remarkably +primitive and hard-featured place in his day. + +Then, crossing over, I threaded the narrow alleys and paths to look at +the backs of the houses from the hill-side. You never saw such queer ins +and outs, and holes and corners as there are here. Pigstyes, little back +yards, sheds, here and there patches of the hill rough with coarse grass +and weeds, and everywhere boat-hooks and oars leaning against the walls, +and heaps of floats, tarred bladders, lobster-pots and baskets, and nets +stretched to dry on the open ground above. If you wished to get from one +alley to another without descending the hill, it would not be difficult +to take a short cut across the pantiles. Indeed, that seems in some +places the only way to extrication from the labyrinth. + +I was on my way to look at the cove from the side of Colburn Nab, when a +woman, rushing from a house, renewed a screeching quarrel with her +opposite neighbour, which had been interrupted by the negro interlude. +The other rushed out to meet her, and there followed a clamour of +tongues such as I never before heard--each termagant resolute to +outscold the other. They stamped, shook their fists and beat the air +furiously, made mouths at one another, yelled bitter taunts, and at last +came to blows. The struggle was but short, and then the weaker, not +having been able to conquer by strength of arm, screamed hoarsely, +"Never mind, Bet--never mind, you faggot! I can show a cleaner shimmy +than you can." And, turning up her skirt, she showed half a yard of +linen, the cleanness of which ought to have made her ashamed of her +tongue. A loud laugh followed this sally, and the men, having maintained +their principle that "it's always best to let t' women foight it out," +straggled away to their lounging-places. + +The beck falls from the ravine into the cove at the foot of the Nab, +having a level wedge of land between it and the cliff. This was more +than half covered by fishing-boats and the carts of dealers, who buy the +fish here and sell it in the interior, or convey it to the Tunnel +Station for despatch by railway. Two smoke houses for the drying of +herrings are built against the cliff, and in one of these a man was +preparing for the annual task, and shovelling his coarse-grained salt +into tubs. "The coarser the better," he said, "because it keeps the fish +from layin' too close together." A fisherman, who seemed well pleased to +have some one to talk to, assured me that I was a month too soon: the +middle of August was the time to see the place as busy as sand-martens. +And with an overpowering smell of fish, he might have added. Six score +boats of one kind or another sailed from the cove, and they took a good +few of fish. Some boats could carry twenty last, and at times a last of +herrings would fetch ten or eleven pounds. In October, '56, the boats +were running down to Scarbro', when they came all at once into a shoal, +and was seven hours a sailin' through 'em. One boat got twelve lasts in +no time, came in on Sunday, cleared 'em out, sailed again, and got back +with twelve more lasts on Wednesday. That was good addlings (_i. e._ +earnings). He knowed the crew of one boat who got sixty pound a man that +season. + +Some liked cobles, and some liked yawls. A coble wanted six men and two +boys to work her: a yawl would carry fifty tons, and some were always +out a fishin'. Now and then they went out to the Silver Pit, an +oyster-bed about twenty-five miles from the coast. He thought the French +and Dutch were poachers in the herring season, especially the French. +They'd run their nets right across the English nets, and pretend they +didn't know or didn't understand; and though the screw steamer from +Dunkirk kept cruising about to warn 'em not to come over the line, the +English fishermen thought 'twas only to spy out where the most fish was, +and then let the foreign boats know by signal. Yorkshire can't a-bear +such botherments, and retaliates between whiles by sinking the buoy +barrels. + +This is an old grievance. In former times, no Dutchmen were permitted to +fish without a license from Scarborough Castle, yet they evaded the +regulation continually; "for," to quote the old chronicler, "the English +always granted leave for fishing, reserving the honour to themselves, +but out of a lazy temper resigning the gain to others." + +He remembered the gale that swallowed the thirteen houses. 'Twas a +northerly gale, and that was the only quarter that Staithes had to +trouble about. Whenever the wind blew hard from the north, the _Cod and +Lobster_ had to get ready to run. But the easterly gales, which made +everything outside run for shelter, never touched the place, and you +might row round the port in a skiff when collier ships were carrying +away their topmasts in the offing, or drifting helplessly ashore. He saw +the thirteen houses washed away, and at the same time a coble carried +right over the bridge and left high and dry on the other side. + +The mouth of the beck would make a good harbour for cobles were it not +for the bar, a great heap of gravel 'fore-anenst' us, which, by the +combined action of the stream and tide, was kept circling from side to +side, and stopping the entrance. It would be all right if somebody would +build a jetty. + +Of the two hundred and fifty species of fish known to inhabit the rivers +and shores of Britain, one hundred and forty have been found in and +around Yorkshire. + +Returned to my quarters, I preferred a seat in the tap-room to the +solitude of the parlour. The hour to "steck up" shops had struck, and a +few of the "bettermy" traders had come in for their evening pipe and +glass of ale. The landlord, who is a jet-digger, confirmed all that the +three men had told me at Runswick: jet-digging was quite a lottery, and +not unattended with danger. In some instances a man would let himself +half way down the cliff by a rope to begin his work. And the doctor--a +talkative gentleman--corroborated the old fisherman's statements. In an +easterly gale the little port was "as smooth as grease," and, if it were +only larger, would be the best harbour on the eastern coast. He, too, +remembered the washing away of the thirteen houses, and the +consternation thereby created. Would the sea be satisfied with that one +mouthful? was a terrible question in the minds of all. + +I had heard that among the few things saved from the house in which Cook +was apprenticed, was the till from which he stole the shilling; but +although I met with persons who thought the relic was still preserved +somewhere in the town, not one could say that he had ever seen it. As +regards the story of the theft, the popular version is that Cook, after +taking the coin, ran away from Staithes. But, according to another +version, there was no stealing in the case. Tempted by the sight of a +bright new South-Sea Company's shilling in the till, he took it out, and +substituted for it one from his own pocket; and his master, who combined +the trades of haberdasher and grocer, was satisfied with the boy's +explanation when the piece was missed. Cook, however, fascinated by the +sight of the sea and of ships, took a dislike to the counter, and, +before he was fourteen, obtained his discharge, and was learning the +rudiments of navigation on board the _Freelove_, a collier ship, owned +by two worthy Quakers of Whitby. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Last Day by the Sea--Boulby--Magnificent Cliffs--Lofthouse and + Zachary Moore--The Snake-killer--The Wyvern--Eh! Packman-- + Skinningrave--Smugglers and Privateers--The Bruce's Privileges + --What the old Chronicler says--Story about a Sea-Man--The + Groaning Creek--Huntcliff Nab--Rosebury Topping--Saltburn-- + Cormorant Shooters--Cunning Seals--Miles of Sands--Marske--A + memorable Grave--Redcar--The Estuary of Tees--Asylum Harbour-- + Recreations for Visitors--William Hutton's Description-- + Farewell to the Sea. + + +It is the morning of our last day by the sea; and a glorious morning it +is, with a bright sun, a blue sky, and a cool, brisk breeze, that +freshens still as the hours glide on to noon. It is one of those days +when merely to breathe, to feel that you are alive, is enjoyment enough; +when movement and change of scene exert a charm that grows into +exhilaration, and weariness, the envious thief, lags behind, and tries +in vain to overtake the willing foot and cheerful heart. In such +circumstances it seems to me that from all around the horizon the +glowing sunlight streams into one's very being laden with the +delight-fullest influences of all the landscapes. + +Though the hill be steep and high by which we leave Staithes, there are +gaily painted boats lying on the grass at the top. You might almost +believe them to be placed there as indications that the town, now hidden +from sight, really exists below. Northwards, the cliffs have a promising +look, for they rise to a higher elevation (six hundred and sixty feet) +than any we have yet trodden on this side of Flamborough. Again we pass +wagon-loads of alum and sulphate, and come to the Boulby alum-works, +beyond which a wild heathery tract stretches sharply upwards from the +edge of the cliff, and shuts out the inland prospect. Up here the breeze +is half a gale, and the sea view is magnificent. More than a hundred +vessels of different sizes are in sight, the greater number bowling +along to the southward, with every stitch of canvas spread, and so near +the shore that you can see plainly the man at the wheel, and the +movements of the crew on deck. + +By the roadside runs a stream of alum liquor along the wooden trough, +and on rounding the bluff, we discover more alum-works on a broad +undercliff, with troughs, diggings, and refuse heaps, extending farther +than you can see. You may continue along the broken ground below, or +mount to the summit by a rude stair chopped in the face of the cliff. +The higher the better, I thought, and scrambled up. It is a strange +scene that you look down upon: a few lonely cottages, patches of garden, +and a chaos of heaps, some grass-grown, with numerous paths winding +among them. And now the view opens towards the west, great slopes of +fields heaving up as waves one beyond the other, till they blend with +the pale blue hill-range in the distance; and glimpses of Hartlepool and +Tynemouth can be seen in the north. + +The Earl of Zetland is the great proprietor hereabouts: the alum-works +are his, and to him belongs the estate at Lofthouse--a village about two +miles inland--once owned by the famous Zachary Moore, whose lavish +hospitality, and eminent qualities of mind and heart, made him the theme +for tongue and pen when Pitt was minister: + + "What sober heads hast thou made ache! + How many hast thou kept from nodding! + How many wise ones for thy sake + Have flown to thee and left off plodding!" + +and who, having spent a great fortune, discovered the reverse side of +his friends' characters, accepted an ensign's commission, and died at +Gibraltar in the prime of his manhood. + +And it was near Lofthouse that Sir John Conyers won his name of +Snake-killer. A sword and coffin, dug up on the site of an old +Benedictine priory, were supposed to have once belonged to the brave +knight who "slew that monstrous and poysonous vermine or wyverne, an +aske or werme which overthrew and devoured many people in fight; for +that the scent of that poison was so strong that no person might abyde +it." A gray stone, standing in a field, still marks the haunt of the +worm and place of battle. + +Tradition tells, moreover, of a valiant youth, who killed a serpent and +rescued an earl's daughter from the reptile's cave, and married her; in +token whereof Scaw Wood still bears his name. + +As I went on, past Street Houses, diverging hither and thither, a woman +cried, from a small farm-house, "Eh! packman, d'ye carry beuks?" She +wanted a new spelder-beuk[A] for one of her children. We had a brief +talk together. She had never been out of Yorkshire, except once across +the Tees to Stockton, twenty-two miles distant. That was her longest +journey, and the largest town she had ever seen. 'Twas a gay sight; but +she thought the ladies in the streets wore too many danglements. She +couldn't a-bear such things as them, for she was one of the +audfarrand[B] sort, and liked lasty[C] clothes. + +[A] Spelling Book. + +[B] Old-fashioned. + +[C] Lasting. + +While talking, she continued her preparations for dinner, and set one of +her children to polish the "reckon-crooks." The "reckon" is the crane in +the kitchen fireplace, to which pots and kettles are suspended by the +"crooks." In old times, when a pot was lifted off, the maid was careful +to stop the swinging of the crook, because, whenever the reckon-crooks +swung the blessed Virgin used to weep. + +Skinningrave--a few houses at the mouth of a narrow valley, a brook +running briskly to the sea, a coast-guard station on the green shoulder +of the southern cliff--makes up a pleasing scene as you descend to the +beach. The village gossips can still talk on occasion about the golden +age of smugglers, and a certain parish-clerk of the neighbourhood, who +used to make the church steeple a hiding-place for his contraband goods. +Smuggling hardly pays now on this coast. They can repeat, too, what they +heard in their childhood concerning Paul Jones; how that, as at Whitby, +the folk kept their money and valuables packed up, ready to start for +the interior, watching day and night in great alarm, until at length the +privateers did land, and fell to plundering from house to house. But +when the fugitives returned they found nothing disturbed except the +pantries and larders. + +This was one of the places where the Bruce, proudest of the lords of +Cleveland, had "free fisheries, plantage, floatage, lagan, jetsom, +derelict, and other maritime franchises." And an industrious explorer, +who drew up a report on the district for Sir Thomas Chaloner, in that +quaint old style which smacks of true British liberty, gives us a +glimpse of Skinningrave morals in his day. The people, he says, with all +their fish, were not rich; "for the moste parte, what they have they +drinke; and howsoever they reckon with God, yt is a familiar maner to +them to make even with the worlde at night, that pennilesse and +carelesse they maye go lightly to their labour on the morrow morninge." +And, relating a strange story, he tells us that about the year 1535, +certain fishers of the place captured a sea-man, and kept him "many +weekes in an olde house, giving him rawe fish to eate, for all other +fare he refused. Instead of voyce he skreaked, and showed himself +courteous to such as flocked farre and neare to visit him; faire maydes +were wellcomest guests to his harbour, whome he woulde beholde with a +very earnest countenaynce, as if his phlegmaticke breaste had been +touched with a sparke of love. One day when the good demeanour of this +newe gueste had made his hosts secure of his abode with them, he privily +stole out of doores, and ere he could be overtaken recovered the sea, +whereinto he plunged himself; yet as one that woulde not unmannerly +depart without taking of his leave, from the mydle upwardes he raysed +his shoulders often above the waves, and makinge signes of +acknowledgeing his good entertainment to such as beheld him on the +shore, as they interpreted yt. After a pretty while he dived downe, and +appeared no more." + +Give me leave, reader, to quote one more passage, in which our narrator +notices the phenomenon now known as the calling of the sea. "The little +stream here," he says, "serveth as a trunke or conduite to convey the +rumor of the sea into the neighbouring fieldes; for when all wyndes are +whiste, and the sea restes unmoved as a standing poole, sometimes there +is such a horrible groaninge heard from that creake at the least six +myles in the mayne lande, that the fishermen dare not put forth, thoughe +thyrste of gaine drive them on, houlding an opinion that the sea, as a +greedy beaste raginge for hunger, desyers to be satisfyed with men's +carcases." + +I crossed the beach where noisy rustics were loading carts from the +thick beds of tangle, to the opposite cliff, and found a path to the top +in a romantic hollow behind the point. Again the height increases, and +presently you get a peep at Handale, traceable by its woods; and +Freeburgh Hill, which was long taken for a tumulus, appears beyond. +After much learned assertion in favour of its artificial formation, the +question was settled by opening a sandstone quarry on its side. Still +higher, and we are on Huntcliff Nab, a precipice of three hundred and +sixty feet, backed by broad fields and pastures. Farther, we come to +broken ground, and then to a sudden descent by a zigzag path at the +Saltburn coast-guard station; and here the noble range of cliffs sinks +down to one of the pleasantest valleys of Cleveland--an outlet for +little rivers. Pausing here on the brow we see the end of our coast +travel, Redcar, and the mouth of the Tees five miles distant, and all +between the finest sandy beach washed by the North Sea: level and smooth +as a floor. The cliff behind is a mere bank, as along the shore of +Holderness, and there is a greater breadth of plain country under our +eye than we have seen for some days past. + +Among the hills, picturesquely upheaved in the rear of the plain, I +recognized the pointed summit of Rosebury Topping; and with almost as +much pleasure as if it had been the face of a friend, so many +recollections did the sight of the cone awaken of youthful days, and of +circumstances that seemed to have left no impression. And therewith came +back for a while the gladsome bounding emotions that consort with +youth's inexperience. + +Some time elapsed before I could make up my mind to quit the turfy seat +on the edge of the cliff, and betake myself to the nether ground. The +path zigzags steeply, and would be dangerous in places were it not +protected by a handrope and posts. At the public-house below the +requisites of a simple dinner can be had, and excellent beer. While I +ate, two men were busy casting bullets, and turning them out to cool in +the middle of the floor. They were going to shoot cormorants along +Huntcliff Nab, where the birds lodge in the clefts and afford good +practice for a rifle. + +Concerning the Nab, our ancient friend describes it as "full of craggs +and steepe rocks, wherein meawes, pidgeons, and sea-fowle breade +plentifully; and here the sea castinge up peble-stones maketh the coaste +troublesome to passe." And seals resorted to the rocks about its base, +cunning animals, which set a sentry to watch for the approach of men, +and dived immediately that the alarm was given. But "the poore women +that gather cockles and mussels on the sandes, by often use are in +better credyte with them. Therefore, whosoe intends to kill any of them +must craftely put on the habyte of a woman, to gayne grounde within the +reache of his peece." + +The sands at the mouth of the valley are furrowed and channeled by the +streams that here find their outlet; and you will get many a splash in +striding across. The view of the valley backed by hills and woods is a +temptation, for yonder lie fair prospects, and the obscure ruins of +Kilton Castle; but the sea is on the other side, and the sands stretch +away invitingly before us. Their breadth, seen near low water, as when I +saw them, may be guessed at more than half a mile, and from Saltburn to +Redcar, and for four or five miles up the estuary of the Tees they +continue, a gentle slope dry and firm, noisy to a horse's foot, yet +something elastic under the tread of a pedestrian. At one time the +Redcar races were always held on the broad sands, and every day the +visitors to the little town resort to the smooth expanse for their +exercise, whether on foot or on wheels. For my part, I ceased to regret +leaving the crest of the cliffs, and found a novel sense of enjoyment in +walking along the wide-spread shore, where the surface is smooth and +unbroken except here and there a solitary pebble, or a shallow pool, or +a patch left rough by the ripples. And all the while a thin film, paler +than the rest, as if the surface were in motion, is drifting rapidly +with the wind, and producing before your eyes, on the margin of the low +cliff, some of the phenomena of blown sands. + +Smugglers liked this bit of the coast, because of the easy access to the +interior; and many a hard fight has here been had between them and the +officers of the law in former times, and not without loss of life. The +lowlands, too, were liable to inundation. Marske, of which the church +has been our landmark nearly all the way from Saltburn, was once a +marsh. If we mount the bank here we shall see the marine hotel, and the +village, and the mansion of Mr. Pease, who is the railway king of these +parts. And there is Marske Hall, dating from the time of Charles the +First, which, associated with the names of Fauconberg and Dundas, has +become historical. In the churchyard you may see the graves of +shipwrecked seamen, and others indicated by a series of family names +that will detain you awhile. Here in April, 1779--that fatal year--was +buried James Cook, the day-labourer, and father of the illustrious +navigator. And truly there seems something appropriate in laying him to +rest within hearing of that element on which his son achieved lasting +renown for himself and his country. Providence was kind to the old man, +and took him away six weeks after that terrible massacre at Owhyhee, +thereby saving his last days from hopeless sorrow. + +Numerous are the parties walking, riding, and driving on the sands +within a mile of Redcar; but so far as a wayfarer may judge, liveliness +is not one of their characteristics. Now, the confused line of houses +resolves itself into definite form; and, turning the point, you find the +inner margin of the sand loose and heavy, a short stair to facilitate +access to the terrace above, all wearing a rough makeshift appearance: +the effect, probably, of the drift. There is no harbour; the boats lie +far off in the shallow water, where embarkation is by no means +convenient. Once arrived at the place, it appeared to me singularly +unattractive. + +Wide as the estuary looks, its entrance is narrowed by a tongue of sand, +Seaton-Snook, similar to the Spurn, but seven miles long, and under +water, which stretches out from the Durham side; and on the hither side, +off the point where we are standing, you can see the long ridges of lias +which are there thrust out, as if to suggest the use that might be made +of them. Twenty years ago Mr. Richmond drew up a report on what he names +an "Asylum Harbour" at Redcar, showing that at that time forty thousand +vessels passed in a year, and that of the wrecks, from 1821 to 1833, +four hundred and sixty-two would not have happened had the harbour then +existed. "To examine and trace," he remarks, "during a low spring-ebb, +the massive foundations, which seem laid by the cunning hand of Nature +to invite that of man to finish what has been so excellently begun, is a +most interesting labour. In their present position they form the basis +on which it is projected to raise those mounds of stone by whose means, +as breakwaters, a safe and extensive harbour will be created, with +sufficient space and depth of water for a fleet of line-of-battle ships +to be moored with perfect security within their limits, and still leave +ample room for merchant vessels." There is no lack of stone in the +neighbourhood; and seeing what has been accomplished at Portland and +Holyhead, there should be no lack of money for such a purpose. + +Cockles and shrimps abound along the shore: hence visitors may find a +little gentle excitement in watching the capture of these multitudinous +creatures, or grow enthusiastic over the return of the salmon-fishers +with their glistening prey. And in fine weather there are frequent +opportunities for steam-boat trips along the coast. But the charm of the +place consists in the broad, flat shore, and, looking back along the way +you came, you will find an apt expression in the lines: + + "Next fishy Redcar view Marske's sunny lands, + And sands, beyond Pactolus' golden sands; + Till shelvy Saltburn, clothed with seaweed green, + And giant Huntcliff close the pleasing scene." + +William Hutton, at the age of eighty-five, journeyed hither for a summer +holiday, and wrote a narrative of his adventures, from which we may get +an idea of the place as he saw it. "The two streets of Coatham and +Redcar," he says, "are covered with mountains of drift sand, blown by +the north-west winds from the shore, which almost forbid the foot; no +carriage above a wheelbarrow ought to venture. It is a labour to walk. +If a man wants a perspiring dose, he may procure one by travelling +through these two streets, and save his half-crown from the doctor. He +may sport white stockings every day in the year, for they are without +dirt; nor will the pavement offend his corns. The sand-beds are in some +places as high as the eaves of the houses. Some of the inhabitants are +obliged every morning to clear their doorway, which becomes a pit, +unpleasant to the housekeeper and dangerous to the traveller." + +I saw no sand-beds up to the eaves, but there were indications enough +that the sand-drift must be a great annoyance. The town is comprised +chiefly in one long, wide street, which looks raw and bleak, even in the +summer. There are a few good shops at the end farthest from the sea; and +if you ask the bookseller to show you the weekly list of visitors, it +will perhaps surprise you to see the number so great. The church was +built in 1829; before that date church-goers had to walk three miles to +Marske. + +And now my travel from Humber to Tees is accomplished, and I must say +farewell to the wide rolling main with its infinite horizon--to the +ships coming up from the unseen distance, and sailing away to the unseen +beyond--to the great headlands, haunted by swift-winged birds, which, +when winds are still, behold a double firmament, stars overhead and +stars beneath; and so, not without reluctance, I turn my back on what +the rare old Greek calls + + "The countless laughter of the salt-sea waves." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Leave Redcar--A Cricket-Match--Coatham--Kirkleatham--The Old + Hospital--The Library--Sir William Turner's Tomb--Cook, Omai, + and Banks--The Hero of Dettingen--Yearby Bank--Upleatham-- + Guisborough--Past and Present--Tomb of Robert Bruce--Priory + Ruins--Hemingford, Pursglove, and Sir Thomas Chaloner--Pretty + Scenery--The Spa--More Money, Less Morals--What George Fox's + Proselytes did--John Wesley's Preaching--Hutton Lowcross-- + Rustics of Taste--Rosebury Topping--Lazy Enjoyment--The + Prospect: from Black-a-moor to Northumberland--Cook's Monument + --Canny Yatton--The Quakers' School--A Legend--Skelton--Sterne + and Eugenius--Visitors from Middlesbro'--A Fatal Town--Newton-- + Digger's Talk--Marton, Cook's Birthplace--Stockton--Darlington. + + +However, we will be of good cheer, for Nature forsakes not the trustful +heart. Hill and dale, breezy moorland, craggy mountains, and lovely +valleys stretch away before us well-nigh to the western tides; and there +we shall find perennial woods, where rustling leaves, and rushing +waterfalls will compensate us for the loss of the voice of the sea. + +I started for Guisborough, taking a short cut across the fields to +Kirkleatham. In the first field, on the edge of the town, I saw what +accounted to me for the lifelessness of Redcar--a cricket-match. As well +might one hope to be merry at a funeral as at a game of cricket, +improved into its present condition; when the ball is no longer bowled, +but pelted, and the pelter's movements resemble those of a jack-pudding; +when gauntlets must be worn on the hands and greaves on the shins; and +other inventions are brought into use to deprive pastime of anything +like enjoyment. That twenty-two men should ever consent to come together +for such a mockery of pleasure, is to me a mystery. Wouldn't Dr. +Livingstone's Makalolo laugh at them! The only saving point attending it +is, that it involves some amount of exercise in the open air. No wonder +that the French duchess, who was invited to see a game, sent one of her +suite, after sitting two hours, to enquire, "vhen the creekay vas going +to begin." The Guisborough band was doing its best to enliven the +field; but I saw no exhilaration. Read Miss Mitford's description of a +cricket-match on the village green; watch a schoolboys' game, consider +the mirth and merriment that they get out of it, and sympathise with +modern cricket if you can. + +The fields are pleasant and rural; haymakers are at work; we cross a +tramway, one of those laid to facilitate the transport of Cleveland +ironstone; we get glimpses of Coatham, and come nearer to the woods, and +at length emerge into the road at Kirkleatham. Here let us turn aside to +look at the curious old hospital, built in 1676 by Sir William Turner, +citizen and woollen-draper of London, and lord mayor, moreover, three +years after the Great Fire. There it stands, a centre and two wings, +including a chapel, a library and museum, and a comfortable lodging for +ten old men, as many old women, and the same number of boys and girls. +The endowment provides for a good education for the children, and a +benefaction on their apprenticeship; and the services of a chaplain. +Among the curiosities shown to visitors are a waxen effigy of Sir +William, wearing the wig and band that he himself once wore; the +likeness of his son and heir in the stained glass of one of the windows; +St. George and the Dragon, singularly well cut out of one piece of +boxwood; the fragment of the tree from Newby Park, presented by Lord +Falconberg, on which appears, carved:-- + + This Tre long time witnese beare + Of toww lovrs that did walk heare. + +It was no random hand that selected the library; some of the books are +rare. One who loves old authors, will scan the shelves with pleasure. "I +could easily have forgotten my dinner in this enchanting room," says +William Hutton. Interesting in another way is the ledger of the worthy +citizen and woollen-draper here preserved: it shows how well he kept his +accounts, and that he was not vain-glorious. On one of the pages, where +the sum of his wealth appears as 50,000_l._, he has written, "Blessed be +the Almighty God, who has blest me with this estate." + +The church, not far from the hospital, is worth a visit. Conspicuous in +the chancel are the monuments of the Turners, adorned with sculptures +and long inscriptions. Of Sir William, we read that he lies buried +"amongst the poor of his hospital--the witnesses of his piety, +liberality, and humility." There is the mausoleum erected by Cholmley +Turner, in 1740, to the memory of his son, who died at Lyon, of which +Schumacher was the sculptor, and near it the tomb of Sir Charles Turner, +the last of the family. Cook, accompanied by Omai and Sir Joseph Banks, +paid him a visit in 1775. Some of the church plate was presented by Sir +William; but that used for the communion was thrown up by the sea about +a century ago, within the privilege of the lord of the manor. + +This quiet little village of Kirkleatham was the birthplace of Tom +Browne the famous dragoon, who at the battle of Dettingen cut his way +single-handed into the enemy's line, recovered the standard of the troop +to which he belonged, and fought his way back in triumph; by which +exploit he made his name ring from one end of England to the other, and +won a place for his likeness on many a sign-board. You may see his +portrait here if you will, and his straight basket-hilted sword. + +After a glance at the hall, a handsome building, we return to the road, +and ascend Yearby bank--a bank which out of Yorkshire would be called a +hill. Look back when near the top, and you will have a pleasing +prospect: Kirkleatham nestled among the trees, the green fields +refreshing to the eye; Eston Nab and the brown estuary beyond. Here we +are on the verge of the Earl of Zetland's richly wooded estate-- + + "Behold Upleatham, slop'd with graceful ease, + Hanging enraptur'd o'er the winding Tees"-- + +and the breeze makes merry among the branches that overhang us on both +sides till a grand fragment of a ruin appears in sight--the tall east +window of a once magnificent Priory--rising stately in decay from amidst +the verdure of a fertile valley, and we enter the small market-town of +Guisborough. + +Having refreshed myself at _The Buck_, I took an evening stroll, not a +little surprised at the changes which the place had undergone since I +once saw it. Then it had the homely aspect of a village, and scarce a +sound would you hear after nine at night in its long wide street: now at +both ends new houses intrude on the fields and hedgerows, the side lanes +have grown into streets lit by gas and watched by policemen. Tippling +iron-diggers disturb the night with noisy shouts when sober folk are +a-bed, and the old honest look has disappeared for ever. In the olden +time it was said, "The inhabitants of this place are observed by +travellers to be very civil and well bred, cleanly in dressing their +diet, and very decent in their houses." The old hall is gone, but the +gardens remain: you see the ample walnut-trees and the primeval yew +behind the wall on your way to the churchyard. Seven centuries have +rolled away since that Norman gateway was built, and it looks strong +enough to stand another seven. Under the shadow of those trees was a +burial-place of the monks: now the shadow falls on mutilated statues and +other sculptured relics, and on the tomb of Robert Brus, one of the +claimants of the Scottish throne and founder of the abbey, who was +buried here in 1294. Even in decay it is an admirable specimen of +ancient art. + +From the meadow adjoining the churchyard you get a good view of the +great east window, or rather of the empty arch which the window once +filled; and looking at its noble dimensions, supported by buttresses, +flanked by the windows of the aisles, and still adorned with crumbling +finials, you will easily believe what is recorded of Guisborough +Priory--that it was the richest in Yorkshire. It was dedicated to St. +Augustine, and when the sacred edifice stood erect in beauty, the tall +spire pointing far upwards, seen miles around, many a weary pilgrim must +have invoked a blessing on its munificent founder--a Bruce of whom the +Church might well be proud. + +Hemingford, whose chronicle of events during the reigns of the first +three Edwards contains many curious matters of ecclesiastical history, +was a canon of Guisborough; and among the priors we find Bishop +Pursglove, him of whom our ancient gossip Izaak makes loving mention. +Another name associated with the place is Sir Thomas Chaloner, eminent +alike in exercises of the sword, and pen, and statesmanship. It was here +in the neighbourhood that he discovered alum, as already mentioned, led +thereto by observing that the leaves of the trees about the village were +not so dark a green as elsewhere, while the whitish clay soil never +froze, and "in a pretty clear night shined and sparkled like glass upon +the road-side." + +Skeletons and stone coffins have been dug up from time to time, and +reburied in the churchyard. On one occasion the diggers came upon a +deposit of silver plate; and from these and other signs the presence of +a numerous population on the spot in former days has been inferred. Our +quaint friend, who has been more than once quoted, says: "Cleveland hath +been wonderfully inhabited more than yt is nowe ... nowe all their +lodgings are gone; and the country, as a widow, remayneth mournful." And +among the local traditions, there is the not uncommon one, which hints +obscurely at a subterranean passage, leading from the Priory to some +place adjacent, within which lay a chest of gold guarded by a raven. + +Situate near the foot of a finely-wooded range of hills, the ruin shows +effectively with the green heights for a background. More delightful +than now must the prospect have been in the early days, and even within +the present century, when no great excavations of ironstone left yellow +blots in the masses of foliage. + +The sun went down while I sauntered about, and when I took my last look +at the great east window the ruddy blaze streamed through its lofty +space, and as each side grew dark with creeping glooms, filled it with +quivering beams whereunto all the glory of glass would be but a mockery. + +Guisborough may claim to rank among watering-places, for it has a spa, +with appliances for drinking and bathing, down in a romantic nook of Spa +Wood, watered by Alumwork beck. The walk thither, and onwards through +Waterfall wood to Skelton, is one of the prettiest in the neighbourhood. +And on the hill-slopes, Bellman bank--formerly Bellemonde--still claims +notice for pleasing scenery. The medicinal properties of the spring were +discovered in 1822. The water, which is clear and sparkling, tastes and +smells slightly of sulphur and weak alkaline constituents, and is +considered beneficial in diseases of the skin and indigestion. And in +common with other small towns in Yorkshire, Guisborough has a free +grammar-school, which, at least, keeps alive the memory of its founder. + +Mine host of _The Buck_ said, as we talked together later in the evening +about the changes that had taken place, that although more money came +into the town than in years gone by, he did not think that better habits +or better morals came in along with it. A similar remark would be made +wherever numbers of rude labourers earn high wages. Even in the good old +times there was something to complain of. George Fox tells us, +concerning his proselytes in Cleveland, that they fell away from their +first principles and took to ranting; and at the time of his later +visits "they smoked tobacco and drank ale in their meetings, and were +grown light and loose." And John Wesley, on his first visit to +Guisborough, in 1761, found what was little better than practical +heathenism. He preached from a table standing in the market-place, where +"there was," as he writes, "so vehement a stench of stinking fish as was +ready to suffocate me." The people "roared;" but as the zealous apostle +of Methodism went on in his sermon they gradually became overawed, and +listened in silence. Did their forefathers ever roar when Paulinus +preached to them from a mossy rock, or under the shadow of a spreading +oak? Wesley, however, made an impression, and followed it up by visits +in four subsequent years. + +At any rate, there was no noise to disturb the Sunday quiet when I went +forth on the morrow. While passing along the street I noticed many +cottagers reading at their doors, and exposing a pair of clean white +shirt-sleeves to the morning sun. Turning presently into a road on the +left, which rises gently, you get an embowered view of the town, +terminated by the soaring arch. Then we come to Hutton Lowcross, a +pleasant hamlet, which suggests a thought of the days of old, for it +once had an hospital and a Cistercian nunnery. Hutton joined to the name +of a village is a characteristic of Cleveland. In one instance--a few +miles from this--it helps out an unflattering couplet: + + "Hutton Rudby, Entrepen, + Far more rogues than honest men." + +We cross the railway near a station, which, as a cottager told me is +"Mr. Pease's station; built for hisself, and not for everybody;" and +take a bridle road leading to the hill. I fell in with a couple of +rustics, who were able to enjoy the scenery amid which they had lived +for years. They lay under a tree, at a spot open to the prospect down +the valley; and as I commended their choice, one replied "I do like to +come and set here of a Sunday better than anything else. 'Tis so nice to +hear the leaves a-rustlin' like they do now." But the view there was +nothing to what I should see from the hill-top: there couldn't be a +prettier sight in England than that. + +I felt willing to believe them; and a few minutes later strode from the +steep, narrow lane, where ferns, foxgloves, wild roses, and elders +overhang the way, to the open expanse of Guisborough moors. Here a track +runs along the undulating slope to the foot of the hills, which roll +away on the left to the wild region of Black-a-moor, with many a +pleasant vale and secluded village between, while on the right spreads +the cultivated plain, of which, ere long, we shall get a wider view; for +now Rosebury Topping comes clear in sight, from gorse-patched base to +rocky apex, and your eye begins to select a place for ascent. It is +approachable on all sides; no swamp betrays the foot, but the steepness +in some places compels you to use hands as well as feet. The morning was +already hot, and I was fain to sit down in the belt of bracken above the +gorse and breathe awhile, glad to have climbed beyond reach of the +flies. From the fern you mount across clean, soft turf to the bare wall +of rock which encircles the northern half of the summit, where the +breeze of the plain is a brisk wind, cooling and invigorating as it +sweeps across. I threw off my knapsack, and choosing a good +resting-place, lay down in idle enjoyment of being able to see far +enough. + +Who that has travelled knows not what an enjoyment it is to recline at +length on a hill-top, the head reposing on a cushion of moss, and to +have nothing to do but let the eye rove at will over the wide-spread +landscape below? Sheltered by the rock, you breathe the coolness of +upper air without its rapid chill, and indulge for a while in lazy +contemplation. It is the very luxury of out-door existence. Perhaps you +are somewhat overcome by the labour of the ascent, and unconsciousness +steals gently on you; and a snatch of slumber in such a spot, while the +winds whisper of gladness in your ear, and a faint hush floats to and +fro among the blades of grass, is a pleasure which can be imagined only +by one who beholds at his awaking the blue sky and the broad earth of +the great Giver. + +At length curiosity prevails. Here we are a thousand and twenty-two feet +above the sea--an elevation that sounds small after Switzerland and +Tyrol; but a very little experience of travelling convinces one that the +highest hills are not those which always command the most pleasing +views. Standing on the top of the crag you may scan the whole ring of +the horizon, from the sea on the east to the high summits of the west; +from the bleak ridges of Black-a-moor to the headlands of +Northumberland, seen dimly through the smoky atmosphere of the Durham +coal-fields. + +Considering, reader, that I may please myself at times, as well as you, +I borrow again from our honest friend, whose admiration of the +picturesque appears to have equalled his ability to note the useful. +"There is," he says, "a most goodly prospecte from the toppe of thys +hyll, though paynefully gayned by reason of the steepnesse of yt.... +There you may see a vewe the like whereof I never saw, or thinke that +any traveller hath seen any comparable unto yt, albeit I have shewed yt +to divers that have paste through a greate part of the worlde, both by +sea and land. The vales, rivers, great and small, swelinge hylls and +mountaynes, pastures, meadows, woodes, cornefields, parte of the +Bishopricke of Durham, with the newe porte of Tease lately found to be +safe, and the sea replenyshed with shippes, and a most pleasant flatt +coaste subjecte to noe inundation or hazarde make that countrye happy if +the people had the grace to make use of theire owne happinesse, which +may be amended if it please God to send them trafique and good example +of thrifte." All this is still true; but Tees has now other ports, and +Middlesborough, which has grown rapidly as an American town, and the +iron furnaces, spread a smoky veil here and there across the landscape, +which, when our narrator looked down upon it, lay everywhere clear and +bright in the sunshine. + +The name of the hill is said to be derived from _Ross_, a heath or moor; +_Burg_, a fortress; and _Toppen_, Danish for apex. If you incline to go +back to very early days--as the Germans do--try to repeople the rows of +basin-like pits which, traceable around the slope of the hill, are, so +the students of antiquity tell us, the remains of ancient British +dwellings. Were they inhabited when the Brigantes first mustered to +repel the Romans? Rebuild the hermitage which, constructed once by a +solitary here in the rock, was afterwards known as the smith's forge or +cobbler's shop; and restore the crevice which, far-famed as Wilfrid's +needle, tempted many a pilgrim to the expiatory task of creeping through +the needle's eye. No traces of them are now left, for the remains which +Time respected were destroyed some years ago by quarrymen, and with them +the perfect point of the cone. + +Rosebury Topping was once talked of as the best site for a monument to +the memory of Cook, where it would be seen from his birthplace and for +miles around. But another spot was chosen, and looking to the south-east +you see the tall, plain column on Easby heights, about three miles +distant. It was erected in 1827, at the cost of Mr. Robert Campion, of +Whitby. At the foot of the hill, in the same direction, partly concealed +by trees, and watered by the river Leven, lies the village of Great +Ayton--canny Yatton--where Cook went to school after finishing his +course of Mary Walker's lessons. In the churchyard is a stone, which +records the death of Cook's mother, and of some of his brothers and +sisters, supposed to have been wrought by his father, who was a working +mason. It is said, however, that the old man was unable to read until +the age of seventy-five, when he learned in order that he might have the +pleasure of reading the narrative of his son's voyages of discovery. Of +other noteworthy objects in the village are a monument to Commodore +Wilson in the church; a Chapel-well of the olden time; and an +agricultural school, with seventy-five acres of good land attached, +belonging to the Quakers. Farming work and in-doors work are there +taught to boys and girls in a thoroughly practical way, carrying out the +intentions of the chief promoter, who gave the land and 5000_l._ to +establish the institution. + +A few yards below the rocks a spring trickles slowly into a hollow under +a stone, but the quantity of water is too small to keep itself free from +the weeds and scum which render it unfit for drinking. It can hardly be +the fatal spring of the tradition, wherein is preserved the memory of a +Northumbrian queen and Prince Oswy, her son. Soothsayers had foretold +the boy's death by drowning on a certain day: the mother, to keep him +from harm, brought him to this lofty hill-side early on the threatened +day, where, at all events, he would be in no danger from water. Fondly +she talked with him for a while and watched his play: but drowsiness +stole over her and she fell asleep. By-and-by she woke, and looked +hastily round for her darling. He was nowhere to be seen. She flew +hither and thither, searching wildly, and at last found him lying dead, +with his face in the spring. + +Looking to the north-east we see Skelton, backed by the Upleatham woods. +Though but a speck in the landscape, it has contributed more to history +than places which boast acres of houses. "From this little nook of +Cleveland," says the local historian, "sprang mighty monarchs, queens, +high-chancellors, archbishops, earls, barons, ambassadors, and knights, +and, above all, one brilliant and immortal name--Robert Bruce." We hear +of a Robert de Brus, second of the name, trying to dissuade David of +Scotland from awaiting the attack of the English army near +Northallerton: but the king chose to fight, and lost, as we have already +read, the Battle of the Standard. And the sixth baron, Peter de Brus, +was one of the resolute band who made his mark at Runnymede, and helped +to wrest the right of Liberty from a royal craven. + +Then taking a stride to later years, we find the author of _Crazy +Tales_, John Hall Stephenson, the occupant of Skelton Castle, an esquire +hospitable and eccentric, the Eugenius of Sterne, who was his willing +guest: + + "In this retreat, whilom so sweet, + Once Tristram and his cousin dwelt." + +There it was that Sterne bribed a boy to tie the weathercock with its +point to the west, hoping thereby to lure the host from his chamber; for +Eugenius would never leave his bed while the wind blew from the east, +even though good company longed for his presence. + +In one of his poems the "crazy" author describes the hill country such +as we see it stretching away beyond Cook's monument: + + "Where the beholder stands confounded + At such a scene of mountains bleak; + Where nothing goes + Except some solitary pewit, + And carrion crows, + That seem sincerely to rue it: + Where nothing grows, + So keen it blows, + Save here and there a graceless fir, + From Scotland with its kindred fled, + That moves its arms and makes a stir, + And tosses its fantastic head." + +On Eston Nab, that bold hill between us and the Tees, is an ancient +camp, and graves supposed to be two thousand years old. Kildale, in the +opposite direction, had once a diabolical notoriety; for there the devil +played many a prank, and drank the church-well dry, so that the priest +could get no holy water. Ingleby Manor, an antique Tudor house, belonged +to the Foulis family, who gave a noteworthy captain to the army of the +Parliament. And other historic names--the D'Arcys, Eures, Percys, and +Baliols--all had estates overlooked by Rosebury. Wilton Castle, not far +from the foot of Eston Nab, was built by Sir John Lowther, about fifty +years ago, on the site of a fortress once held by the Bulmers. + +Now to return for a moment to the hill itself: the topmost rocks are of +the same formation as those we saw stretching into the sea at Redcar, +uptilted more than a thousand feet in a distance of ten miles. And lower +down, as if to exemplify the geology of the North Riding in one spot, a +thick stratum of alum-rock is found, with ironstone, limestone, jet and +coal, and numerous fossil shells. And it illustrates meteorological +phenomena, for, from time immemorial, weatherwise folk have said, + + "When Rosebury Topping wears a cap, + Let Cleveland then beware a clap." + +More than an hour slipped away while I lounged and loitered, making the +round of the summit again and again, till it seemed that the landscape +had become familiar to me. Then the solitude was broken by the arrival +of strangers, who came scrambling up the hill, encouraging one another, +with cheerful voices. They gained the rocks at last, panting; two +families from Middlesborough, husbands, wives, boys and girls, and a +baby, with plenty to eat and drink in their baskets, come from the murky +town to pass the Sunday on the breezy hill-top. How they enjoyed the +pure air and the wide prospect; and how they wondered to find room for a +camp-meeting on a summit which, from their homes, looked as if it were +only a blunt point! They told me that a trip to Rosebury Topping was an +especial recreation for the people of Middlesborough--a town which, by +the way, is built on a swampy site, where the only redeeming feature is +ready access to a navigable river. I remember what it was before the +houses were built. A drearier spot could not be imagined: one of those +places which, as _Punch_ says, "you want never to hear of, and hope +never to see." + +"'Tis frightful to see how fast the graves do grow up in the new +cemetery," said one of the women, whose glad surprise at the contrast +between her home and her holiday could hardly express itself in words. +"It can't be a healthy place to bring up a family in. That's where we +live, is it--down there, under all that smoke? Ah! if we could only come +up here every day!" + +Middlesborough, as we can see from far off, is now a large town, +numbering nearly 8000 inhabitants in 1851, and owes its sudden growth to +coal and iron. There the smelting furnaces, roaring night and day, +convert hundreds of tons of the Cleveland hills every week into tons of +marketable iron. The quantity produced in 1856 in the Cleveland district +was 180,000 tons. And there is the terminus of the "Quakers' Railway;" a +dock, of nine acres, where vessels can load at all times of the tide; an +ingenious system of drops for the coal; branch railways running in all +directions; and a great level of fifteen acres, on which three thousand +wagons can stand at once. + +I stayed two hours on the hill-top, then taking a direct line down the +steepest side, now sliding, now rolling, very few minutes brought me to +the village of Newton at the foot. With so sudden a change, the heat +below seemed at first overpowering. In the public-house, which scrupled +not to open its door to a traveller, I found half a dozen miners, who +had walked over from a neighbouring village to drink their pint without +molestation. Each recommended a different route whereby the ten miles to +Stockton might be shortened. One insisted on a cut across the fields to +Nunth_ar_p. + +My ear caught at the sharp twang of the _ar_--a Yorkshire man would have +said Nunthurp--and turning to the speaker I said, "Surely that's +Berkshire?" + +"Ees, 'tis. I comes not fur from Read'n'." + +True enough. Tempted by high wages in the north, he had wandered from +the neighbourhood of _Our Village_ up to the iron-diggings of Cleveland. +I took it for granted that, as he earned more than twice as much as he +did at home, he saved in proportion. But no; he didn't know how 'twas; +the money went somehow. Any way he didn't save a fardin' more than he +did in Berkshire. I ventured to reply that there was little good in +earning more if one did not save more, when a tall brawny fellow broke +in with, "Look here, lad. I'd ruther 'arn fifty shillin's a week and +fling 'em right off into that pond there, than 'arn fifteen to keep." + +Just the retort that was to be expected under the circumstances. It +embodies a touch of proud sentiment in which we can all participate. + +I found the short cut to Nunthorp, struck there the high road, and came +in another hour to Marton--the birthplace of Cook. It is a small +village with a modernised church, and a few noble limes overshadowing +the graves. The house where the circumnavigator was born was little +better than a clay hovel of two rooms. It has long since disappeared; +but the field on which it stood is still called "Cook's Garth." The +parish register contains an entry under the date November 3rd, 1728: +"James, ye son of James Cook, day-labourer, baptized." The name of Mary +Walker, aged 89, appears on one of the stones in the churchyard; she it +was who taught the day-labourer's son to read while he was in her +service, and who has been mistakenly described as Dame Walker the +schoolmistress. + +I caught the evening train at Stockton, which travelling up the Durham +side of the Tees--past Yarm, where Havelock's mother was born--past the +"hell kettles" and Dinsdale Spa, where drinking the water turns all the +silver yellow in your pockets--and so to Darlington, where I stayed for +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Locomotive, Number One--Barnard Castle--Buying a Calf on + Sunday--Baliol's Tower--From Canute to the Duke of Cleveland-- + Historic Scenery--A surprised Northumbrian--The bearded Hermit + --Beauty of Teesdale--Egliston Abbey--The Artist and his Wife-- + Dotheboys Hall--Rokeby--Greta Bridge--Mortham Tower--Brignall + Banks--A Pilgrimage to Wycliffe--Fate of the Inns--The Felon + Sow--A Journey by Omnibus--Lartington--Cotherstone-- + Scandinavian Traces--Romaldkirk--Middleton-in-Teesdale--Wild + Scenery--High Force Inn--The voice of the Fall. + + +Facing the entrance to the railway station, elevated on a pedestal of +masonry, stands the first locomotive--_Number One_. With such machines +as that did the Quakers begin in 1823 to transport coal from the mines +near Darlington to Middlesborough along their newly-opened railway. +Compared with the snorting giants of the Great Western, its form and +dimensions are small and simple. No glittering brass or polished steel +bedeck its strength; it is nothing but a black boiler, mounted on +wheels, with three or four slender working-rods standing up near one +end, and the chimney with its saw-toothed top at the other. Yet, common +as it looks, it is one of George Stephenson's early triumphs: one of the +steps by which he, and others after him, established more and more the +supremacy of mind over mere brute matter. It was a happy thought to +preserve _Number One_ on the spot where enlightened enterprise first +developed its capabilities. + +Tees is one of those streams--the "silly few"--which owe a divided +allegiance, watering two counties at once. Rising high amidst the +wildest hills of the north-west, it takes a course of eighty-three miles +to the sea through many scenes of romantic beauty. Yesterday we looked +down from Rosebury on the last two or three leagues of its outfall; +to-day if all go well we shall see the summit from which it springs. It +is a glorious morning; the earliest train arrives, interrupts our +examination of the old locomotive, and away we go to breakfast at +Barnard Castle, on the Durham side of the river. + +There is so much of beautiful and interesting in the neighbourhood, +scenes made classic by the pen of Scott, that I chose to pass the day in +rambling, and journey farther in the evening. The town itself, +old-fashioned in aspect, quiet enough for grass to grow here and there +in the streets, was one of the ancient border-towns, and paid the +penalty of its position. It has a curious market-cross, and touches of +antiquity in the byeways; and owing to something in its former habits or +history, is a butt for popular wit. "Barney-Cassel, the last place that +God made," is one way of mentioning the town by folk in other parts of +the county; if you meet with a fellow more uncouth than usual, he is +"Barney-Cassel bred;" any one who shoots with the long bow is silenced +with "That wunna do, that's Barney-Cassel;" and as Barney-Cassel farmers +may be recognised by the holes in their sacks, so may the women by holes +in their stockings. + +One Sunday morning, a farmer, while on his way to chapel, noticed a fine +calf in his neighbour's field, and when seated in his pew, was overheard +to ask the owner of the animal, "Tommy, supposin' it was Monday, what +wad ye tak' for yer calf?" To which Tommy replied in an equally audible +whisper, "Why, supposin' it was Monday, aw'd tak' two pun' fifteen." +"Supposin' it was Monday aw'll gie two pun' ten." "Supposin' it was +Monday, then ye shall hev't." And the next day the calf was delivered to +the scrupulous purchaser. + +The pride of the town is the castle--ruined remains of the stronghold +erected by Bernard Baliol to protect the lands bestowed on him by +William the Red. Seen from the bridge, the rocky height, broken and +craggy, and hung with wood, crowned by Baliol's Tower, is remarkably +picturesque. The Tees sweeps round the base, as if impatient to hide +itself once more under green woods, to receive once more such +intermingled shadows of rock and leafage as fell on it through Marwood +Chase, and where Balder rushes in about a league above. A mile of +sunlight, and then the brawling stream will play with the big stones and +crowd its bed all through the woods of Rokeby. + +Let us mount the hill and ascend the tower. The bearded hermit who +inhabits therein points the way to the stone stair constructed within +the massive wall, and presently we come to the top, where, although +there is no parapet, the great thickness admits of your walking round in +safety. The view is a feast for the eye--thick woods marking the course +of the river, the trees thinning off as they meet the uplands, where +fields and hedgerows diversify the landscape away to the hills; while in +the distance the sight of dark, solemn moorlands serves but to heighten +the nearer beauty. We can see lands once held by King Canute, now the +property of the Duke of Cleveland: we passed his estate, the park and +castle of Raby, about six miles distant on our way hither; and whichever +way we look there is something for memory to linger on: + + "Staindrop, who, from her sylvan bowers, + Salutes proud Raby's battled towers; + The rural brook of Egliston, + And Balder, named from Odin's son; + And Greta, to whose banks ere long + We lead the lovers of the song; + And silver Lune, from Stanmore wild, + And fairy Thorsgill's murmuring child, + And last and least, but loveliest still, + Romantic Deepdale's slender rill." + +Barnard Castle was lost to the Baliol family by the defeat of John +Baliol's pretensions to the crown of Scotland. Later it was granted, +with the adjoining estates, to the Earls of Warwick, and on the marriage +of Anne Neville with royal Gloucester, the Duke chose it as his +favourite residence. You may still see his cognizance of the boar here +and there on the walls, and on some of the oldest houses in the town. +The Earl of Westmoreland had it next, but lost it by taking part in _The +Rising of the North_. The couplet:-- + + "Coward, a coward, of Barney Castel, + Dare not come out to fight a battel," + +is said to have its origin in the refusal of the knight who held the +castle, to quit the shelter of its walls and try the effect of a combat +with the rebels. And so the game went on, the Crown resuming possession +at pleasure, until the whole property fell by purchase, in 1629, to an +ancestor of the present owner--the Duke of Cleveland. + +"Whoy! 'tis but a little town to ha' such a muckle castle," exclaimed +one of three men who had just arrived with a numerous party by excursion +train from Newcastle, and ventured to the top of the tower. "Eh! the +castle wur bigger nor the town." + +Whatever may have been, the thick-voiced Northumbrian was wrong in his +first conclusion, for the town has more than four thousand inhabitants. +But, looking down, we can see that the castle with its outworks and +inner buildings must have been a fortress of no ordinary dimensions. +Nearly seven acres are comprehended within its area, now chiefly laid +out in gardens, where, sheltered by the old gray stones, the trees bear +generous fruit. If you can persuade the hermit to ascend, he will point +out Brackenbury's Tower, a dilapidated relic, with dungeons in its base, +now used as stables; and near it a cow-stall, which occupies the site of +the chapel. Examine the place when you descend, and you will discover, +amid much disfigurement, traces of graceful architecture. + +The hermit himself--a man of middle age--is a subject for curiosity. So +far as I could make him out, he appeared to be half misanthropist, half +misogynist. He quarrelled with the world about eighteen years ago, and, +without asking leave, took possession of a vault and a wall-cavity at +the foot of the great round tower, and has lived there ever since, +supporting himself by the donations of visitors, and the sale of rustic +furniture which he makes with his own hands. His room in the wall is +fitted with specimens of his skill, and it serves as a trap, for you +have to pass through it to ascend the tower. He showed me his workshop, +and pointed out a spot under the trees at the hill-foot where flows the +clear cold spring from which he draws water. The Duke, he said, +sometimes came to look at the ruin, and gave him a hint to quit; but he +did not mean to leave until absolutely compelled. I heard later in the +day that he had been crossed in love; and that, notwithstanding his love +of solitude, he would go out at times and find a friend, and make a +night of it. But this may be scandal. + +I went down and took a drink at the spring which, embowered by trees and +bushes, sparkles forth from the rocky brink of the river; and rambled +away to Rokeby. There are paths on both sides of the stream, along the +edge of the meadows, and under the trees past the mill, past cottages +and gardens, leading farther and farther into scenes of increasing +beauty. Then we come to the Abbey Bridge, whence you get a pleasing +view of a long straight reach of the river, terminated by a glimpse of +Rokeby Hall, a charming avenue, so to speak, of tall woods, which, with +ferns, shrubs, and mazy plants, crowd the rocky slopes to the very edge +of the water. From ledge to ledge rushes the stream, making falls +innumerable, decked with living fringes of foam, and as the noisy +current hurries onward it engirdles the boulders with foamy rings, or +hangs upon them a long white train that flutters and glistens as +sunbeams drop down through the wind-shaken leaves. Strong contrasts of +colour enrich the effect: + + "Here Tees, full many a fathom low, + Wears with his rage no common foe; + For pebbly bank, nor sand-bed here, + Nor clay-mound, checks his fierce career, + Condemn'd to mine a channell'd way, + O'er solid sheets of marble gray." + +On the Yorkshire side, a few yards above the bridge, the remains of +Egliston or Athelstan Abbey crown a pleasant knoll surrounded by wood. +They are of small extent, and, on the whole, deficient in the +picturesque; but as an artist said who sketched while his wife sat +sewing by his side, "There are a few little bits worth carrying away." +The east window, in which the plain mullions still remain, is of unusual +width, the chancel exhibits carvings of different styles; two or three +slabs lying on the grass preserve the memory of an abbot, and of a +Rokeby, who figures in the still legible inscription as #Bastard;# and +the outbuildings are now occupied as a farm. Some years hence, when the +ivy, which has begun to embrace the eastern window, shall have spread +its evergreen mantle wider and higher, the ruins will be endowed with a +charm wherein their present scanty nakedness may be concealed. Yet apart +from this the place has natural attractions, a village green, noble +trees, Thorsgill within sight; and just beyond the green a mill of +cheerful clatter. + +The artist and his wife were enjoying a happy holiday. They had come +down into Yorkshire with a fortnight's excursion ticket, and a scheme +for visiting as many of the abbeys and as much picturesque scenery as +possible within the allotted time. Sometimes they walked eight or ten +miles, or travelled a stage in a country car, content to rough it, so +that their wishes should be gratified. They had walked across from +Stainmoor the day before, and told me that in passing through Bowes +they had seen the original of Dotheboys Hall, now doorless, windowless, +and dilapidated. Nicholas Nickleby's exposure was too much for it, and +it ceased to be a den of hopeless childhood--a place to which heartless +fathers and mothers condemned their children because it was cheap. + +What a contrast! Wackford Squeers and the Thracian cohort. Bowes, under +the name of Lavatrę, was once a station on the great Roman road from +Lincoln to Carlisle. Ere long it will be a station on the railway that +is to connect Stockton with Liverpool. + +Now, returning to the bridge, we plunge into the woods, and follow the +river's course by devious paths. Gladsome voices and merry laughter +resound, for a numerous detachment of the excursionists from Newcastle +are on their way to view the grounds of Rokeby. Delightful are the +snatches of river scenery that we get here and there, where the jutting +rock affords an outlook, and the more so as we enjoy them under a cool +green shade. Leaving the Northumbrians at the lodge to accomplish their +wishes, I kept on to Greta Bridge, and lost myself in the romantic glen +through which the river flows. It will surprise you by its manifold +combinations of rock, wood, and water, fascinating the eye at every step +amid a solitude profound. This was the route taken by Bertram and +Wilfrid when the ruthless soldier went to take possession of Mortham. +You cannot fail to recognize how truly Scott describes the scenery; the +"beetling brow" is there, and the "ivied banners" still hang from the +crags as when the minstrel saw them. We can follow the two to that + + "----grassy slope which sees + The Greta flow to meet the Tees:" + +and farther, where + + "South of the gate, an arrow flight, + Two mighty elms their limbs unite, + As if a canopy to spread + O'er the lone dwelling of the dead; + For their huge boughs in arches bent + Above a massive monument, + Carved o'er in ancient Gothic wise, + With many a scutcheon and device." + +You will long to lengthen your hours into days for wanderings in this +lovely neighbourhood. You will be unwilling to turn from the view at +Mortham Tower--one of the old border peels, or fortresses on a small +scale--or that which charms you from the Dairy Bridge. Then if the risk +of losing your way does not deter, you may ramble to "Brignall Banks" +and Scargill, having the river for companion most part of the way. And +should you be minded to pursue the road through Richmondshire to +Richmond, the village and ruins of Ravensworth will remind you of + + "The Baron of Ravensworth prances in pride, + And he views his domains upon Arkindale side. + The mere for his net and the land for his game, + The chase for the wild, and the park for the tame; + Yet the fish of the lake, and the door of the vale, + Are less free to Lord Dacre than Allen-a-Dale!" + +Or, if inspired by a deeper sentiment, you prefer a pilgrimage to a spot +of hallowed memory to every Englishman, choose the river-side path to +Wycliffe, and see how ever new beauties enchant the way, and say on +arrival if ever you saw a prettier village church or a more charming +environment. Shut in by woods and hills here, as some writers show, is +the birthplace of John Wycliffe, to whom freedom of conscience is +perhaps more indebted than to Luther. One may believe that Nature +herself desires to preserve from desecration the cradle of him who +opened men's hearts and eyes to see and understand the truth in its +purity; cleansed from the adulterations of priestcraft; stripped of all +the blinding cheats of papistry; who died faithful to the truth for +which he had dared to live; who bequeathed that truth to us, and with +God's blessing we will keep it alive and unblemished, using it manfully +as a testimony against all lies and shams whatsoever and wheresoever +they may be found. + +The church was restored, as one may judge, in a loving spirit in 1850. +It contains a few interesting antiquities, and is fraught with memories +of the Wycliffes. One of the brasses records the death of the last of +the family. Sir Antonio a-More's portrait of the great Reformer still +hangs in the rectory, where it has been treasured for many generations. + +You may return from this pilgrimage by the way you went, or walk on +through Ovington to Winston, and there take the train to Barnard Castle. +I preferred the banks of Tees, for their attractions are not soon +exhausted. One of the houses at Greta, which was a famous hostelry in +the days of stage-coaches, is now a not happy-looking farm-house. It has +seen sore changes. Once noise and activity, and unscrupulous profits, +when the compact vehicles with the four panting horses rattled up to the +door at all hours of the day or night, conveying passengers from London +to Edinburgh. Now, a silence seldom disturbed save by the river's voice, +and time for reflection, and leisure to look across to its neighbour, +wherein the wayfarer or angler may still find rest and entertainment. +From Greta Bridge to Boroughbridge was considered the best bit of road +in all the county. Now it is encroached on by grass, and the inns which +are not shut up look altogether dejected, especially that one where the +dining-room has been converted into a stable. + +If you have read the ballad of _The Felon Sow_, we will remember it +while repassing the park: + + "She was mare than other three, + The grisliest beast that e'er might be, + Her head was great and gray: + She was bred in Rokeby wood, + There were few that thither goed, + That came on live away. + + "Her walk was endlong Greta side, + There was no bren that durst her bide, + That was froe heaven to hell; + Nor ever man that had that might, + That ever durst come in her sight, + Her force it was so fell. + + * * * * * + + "If ye will any more of this, + In the Fryers of Richmond 'tis + In parchment good and fine; + And how Fryar Middleton that was so kend, + At Greta Bridge conjured a feind + In likeness of a swine." + +I got back to Barnard Castle in time for the omnibus, which starts at +half-past five for Middleton-in-Teesdale, nine miles distant on the road +to the hills. I was the only passenger, and taking my seat by the side +of the driver, found him very willing to talk. The road ascends +immediately after crossing the bridge to a finely-wooded district, hill +and dale, rich in oak, ash, and beech. Deepdale beck yawns on the left, +and every mile opens fresh enjoyment to the eye, and revives +associations. Lartington is a pretty village, which hears night and morn +and all day long the tremulous voice of innumerable leaves. "Them's all +Roman Catholics there," said the driver, as we left it behind; and +by-and-by, when we came to Cotherstone--Cuthbert's Town--"Here 'tis +nothin' but cheese and Quakers." There is, however, something else, for +here it was + + "----the Northmen came, + Fix'd on each vale a Runic name, + Rear'd high their altar's rugged stone, + And gave their gods the land they won. + Then, Balder, one bleak garth was thine, + And one sweet brooklet's silver line, + And Woden's Croft did title gain + From the stern Father of the Slain; + But to the Monarch of the Mace, + That held in fight the foremost place, + To Odin's son, and Sifia's spouse, + Near Stratforth high they paid their vows, + Remembered Thor's victorious fame, + And gave the dell the Thunderer's name." + +A delightful day might be spent hereabouts in exploring the glen of the +Balder, and the romantic scenery where it flows into Tees; the Hagg +crowned by fragments of a stronghold of the Fitzhughs; and the grand +rock on the river's brink known as Pendragon Castle. The whole region +for miles around was once thickly covered by forest. + +The pace is sober, for some of the hills are steep. We come to +Romaldkirk, and the folk, as everywhere else along the road, step from +their houses to inquire for parcels or replies to messages, and the +driver has a civil word for all, and discharges his commissions +promptly. He is an important man in the dale, the roving link between +the villagers and the town--"Barn'd Cas'l'," as they say, slurring it +into two syllables. It does one good to see with how much good-nature +the service can be performed. + +Hill after hill succeeds, the woods are left behind, the country opens +bare and wild, rolling away to the dark fells that look stern in the +distance. Big stones bestrew the slopes; here and there a cottage seems +little better than a pile of such stones covered with slabs of slate or +coarse thatch. "Poorish wheat hereabouts," says the driver, as he points +to the pale green fields. The farms vary in size from seventy to one +hundred and fifty acres; and he thinks it better to grow grass than +grain. Then we come in sight of Middleton, and presently he pulls up, +while a boy and girl get inside, and he tells me they are his children, +who have come out half a mile to meet him. + +Middleton, with its eighteen hundred inhabitants, has the appearance of +a little metropolis. There are inns and shops which betoken an active +trade, maintained probably by the lead mines in the neighbourhood. I +did not tarry, for we had spent two hours on the journey, and I wished +to sleep at the _High Force Inn_, nearly five miles farther. We are +still on the Durham side of the Tees, with the river now in sight, +winding along its shallow, stony bed. The road is an almost continuous +ascent, whereby the landscape appears to widen, and every minute the +shadows grow broader and darker across the vale. At last the sun drops +behind the hill-top, and the lights playing on the summits of the fells +deepen into purple, umber, and black, darkest where the slopes and +ridges intersect. Cliffs topped with wood break through the acclivities +on the left, and here and there plantations of spruce and larch impart a +sense of shelter. Every step makes us feel that we are approaching a +region where Nature partakes more of the stern than the gentle. + +There is room for improvement. I interrupted three boys in their pastime +of pelting swallows, to examine them in reading; but they only went +"whiles to skule," and only one could read, and that very badly, in the +"Testyment." + +I left Winch Bridge and the cascade which it bestrides about three miles +from Middleton, unvisited, for I was tired with much rambling. The clean +white front of _High Force Inn_ gleaming at last through the twilight +was a welcome sight; and not less so the excellent tea, which was +quickly set before me. Cleanliness prevails, and unaffected civility; +and the larder, though in a lone spot a thousand feet above the sea, +contributes without stint to the hungry appetite. + +It happened that I was the only guest: hence nothing disturbed the +tranquil hour. Ere long I was looking from my chamber window on the dim +outlines of the hills, and the thick wood below that intercepts the view +of the valley beneath. Then I became aware of a solemn roar--the voice +of High Force in its ceaseless plunge. Fitfully it came at times, now +fuller, now weaker, as the night breeze rose and fell, and the tree-tops +whispered in harmony therewith. + +I listened awhile, sensible of a charm in the sound of falling water; +then pushing the sash to its full height, the sound still reached me on +the pillow. Strange fancies came with it: now the river seemed to utter +sonorous words; anon the hills talked dreamily one with another, and the +distant sea sent up a reply; and then all became vague--and I slept the +sleep of the weary. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + Early Morn--High Force--Rock and Water--A Talk with the + Waitress--Hills and Cottages--Cronkley Scar--The Weel--Caldron + Snout--Soothing Sound--Scrap from an Album--View into + Birkdale--A Quest for Dinner--A Westmoreland Farm--Household + Matters--High Cope Nick--Mickle Fell--The Boys' Talk--The + Hill-top--Glorious Prospect--A Descent--Solitude and Silence--A + Moss--Stainmore--Brough--The Castle Ruin--Reminiscences. + + +The next day dawned, and a happy awaking was mine, greeted by the same +rushing voice, no longer solemn and mysterious, but chanting, as one +might imagine, a morning song of praise. I looked out, and saw with +pleasurable surprise the fall full in view from the window: a long white +sheet of foam, glistening in the early sunbeams. + +All the slope between the inn and the fall is covered by a thick +plantation of firs, ash, hazel, and a teeming undergrowth, and through +this by paths winding hither and thither you have to descend. Now the +path skirts precipitous rocks, hung with ivy, now drops gently among +ferns to an embowered seat, until at a sudden turn the noise of the fall +bursts grandly upon you. A little farther, and the trees no longer +screening, you see the deep stony chasm, and the peat-stained water +making three perpendicular leaps down a precipice seventy feet in +height. It is a striking scene, what with the grim crags, the wild +slopes, and the huge masses lying at the bottom and in the bed of the +stream; and the impressive volume of sound. + +We can scramble down to the very foot of the limestone bluff that +projects in the middle, leaving a channel on each side, down one of +which a mere thread of water trickles; but in time of flood both are +filled, and then the fall is seen and heard in perfection. Now we can +examine the smooth water-worn cliff, and see where something like +crystallization has been produced by a highly-heated intrusive rock. +And here and there your eye will rest with pleasure on patches of moss +and fern growing luxuriantly in dripping nooks and crannies. + +You see how the water, rebounding from its second plunge, shoots in a +broken mass of foam into the brown pool below, and therein swirls and +swashes for a while, and then escapes by an outlet that you might leap +across, talking to thousands of stones as it spreads itself out in the +shallow bed. Standing with your back to the fall, and looking down the +stream, the view, shut in by the trees on one side, by a rough grassy +acclivity on the other, is one that lures you to explore it, striding +along the rugged margin, or from one lump of rock to another. + +Then returning to the diverging point in the path, we mount to the top +of the fall. Here the scene is, if possible, wilder than below. The +rock, as far as you can see, is split into a thousand crevices, and +through these the river rushes to its leap. Such a river-bed you never +saw before. The solid uprising portions are of all dimensions, and you +step from one to the other without first feeling if they are steady. +Here and there you climb, and coming to the top of the bluff you can +look over and watch the water in its headlong plunge. The brown tinge +contrasts beautifully with the white foam; and lying stretched on the +sun-warmed rock, your eye becomes fascinated by the swift motion and the +dancing spray. Then sit awhile on the topmost point and look up stream, +and enjoy the sight of the rapids, and the multitudinous cascades. +Though the rocks now lift their heads above water you will notice that +all are smoothly worn by the floods of ages. The view is bounded there +by a mighty high-backed fell; and in the other direction brown moorlands +meet the horizon, all looking glad in the glorious sunshine. + +I loitered away two hours around the fall in unbroken solitude, and +returned to the inn to breakfast before all the dew was dry. The house +was built about twenty-five years ago, said the waitress, when the road +was made to connect the lead mines of Alston Moor, in Cumberland, with +the highways of Durham. There was not much traffic in the winter, for +then nobody travelled but those who were compelled--farmers, +cattle-dealers, and miners; but in summer the place was kept alive by +numerous visitors to the fall. Most were contented with a sight of High +Force; but others went farther, and looked at Caldron Snout and High +Cope Nick. Sometimes a school came up for a day's holiday; they had +entertained one the day before--two wagon-loads of Roman Catholic +children. True enough, our omnibus had met them returning. + +The house looks across the valley to Holwick Fell, and were it not for +the trees in front, would have but a bare and, at times, desolate +prospect. The whole premises are as clean as whitewash can make them; +even the stone fences are whitewashed. The Duke of Cleveland is +proprietor: he ought to be proud of his tenants. + +How glad the morning seemed when I stepped forth again into the sunshine +to travel a few miles farther up the Tees. The road still ascends and +curves into the bleak and lonely fells, which stretch across the west of +Durham and into Cumberland. In winter they are howling wastes, and in +snow-storms appalling, as I remember from painful experience. But in +summer there is a monotonous grandeur about them comparable only with +that of the ocean. + +Just beyond the sixteenth milestone from Alston I got over the fence, +and followed a path edging away on the left towards the river. It +crosses pastures, little meadows, coarse swampy patches sprinkled with +flowers; disappears in places; but while you can see the river or a +cottage you need not go astray. There is something about the cottages +peculiar to a hill-country: the ground-floor is used as a barn and +stable, and the dwelling-rooms are above, approached by a stone stair on +the outside. With their walls freshly whitewashed, they appear as bright +specks widely scattered in the wilderness; and though no tree adorns or +shelters them, they betoken the presence of humanity, and there is +comfort in that. And withal they enjoy the purest breezes, the most +sparkling water, flowery meadows, and hills purple with heather when +summer is over. If you go to the door the inmates will invite you to +sit, and listen eagerly to the news you bring. Meanwhile you may note +the evidences of homely comfort and apparent contentment. A girl who was +pulling dock-leaves--"dockans," as she called them--told me they were to +be boiled for the pig. + +Ere long Cronkley Scar comes in sight--a tremendous sombre precipice of +the rock known to geologists as greenstone, in which, if learned in such +matters, you may peruse many examples of metamorphic phenomena. And +hereabouts, as botanists tell us, there are rare and interesting plants +to be discovered. The Scar is on the Yorkshire side; but the stream is +here so shallow and full of stones, that to wade across would only be an +agreeable footbath. + +Now the stream makes a bend between two hills, and looking up the vale +we see the lower slopes of Mickle Fell--the highest mountain in +Yorkshire. We shall perhaps climb to its summit ere the day be many +hours older. + +From the last dwelling--a farm-house--I mounted the hill, and followed a +course by compass to hit the river above the bend. Soon all signs of +habitation were left behind, and the trackless moorland lay before me, +overspread with a dense growth of ling, wearisome to walk through. And +how silent! A faint sound of rushing water comes borne on the breeze, +and that is all. + +Then we come to the declivity, and the view opens to the north-west, +swell beyond swell, each wilder in aspect, as it seems, than the other. +And there beneath us glisten the shining curves of the Tees. The compass +has not misled us, and we descend to the Weel, as this part of the river +is called, where for about a mile its channel deepens, and the current +is so tranquil that you might fancy it a lengthened pool. We go no +higher, but after gazing towards the fells in which the river draws its +source, we turn and follow the Weel to a rift in the hill-side. The +current quickens, the faint sound grows louder, and presently coming to +the brink of a rocky chasm we behold the cataract of Caldron Snout. The +Tees here makes a plunge of two hundred feet, dashing from rock to rock, +twisting, whirling, eddying, and roaring in its dark and tortuous +channel. The foam appears the whiter, and the grass all the greener, by +contrast with the blackness of the riven crags, and although no single +plunge equals that at High Force, you will perhaps be more impressed +here. You are here shut out from the world amid scenes of savage beauty, +and the sense of isolation begets a profounder admiration of the natural +scene, and enjoyment of the manifold watery leaps, as you pause at each +while scrambling down the hill-side. + +About half-way down the fall is crossed by a bridge--a rough beam only, +with a rude hand-rail--from which you can see the fall in either +direction and note the stony bends of the river below till they +disappear behind the hill. From near its source to Caldron the Tees +divides Durham from Westmoreland, and in all its further downward course +from Yorkshire. + +Let me sit for an hour by the side of a fall, and watch the swift play +of the water, and hear its ceaseless splash and roar, and whatever +cobwebs may have gathered in my mind, from whatever cause, are all swept +clean away. Serenity comes into my heart, and the calm sunshine pervades +my existence for months--nay, years afterwards. And what a joy it is to +recall--especially in a London November--or rather to renew, the happy +mood inspired by the waterfall among the mountains! + +I have at times fancied that the effect of the noise is somewhat similar +to that described of narcotics by those who indulge therein. The mind +forgets the body, and thinks whatsoever it listeth. Whether or not, my +most various and vivid day-dreams have been dreamt by the side of a +waterfall. + +It seems, moreover, at such times, as if memory liked to ransack her old +stores. And now I suddenly recollected Hawkeye's description of the +tumbling water at Glenn's Falls, as narrated in _The Last of the +Mohicans_, which I had read when a boy. Turn to the page, reader, and +you will admire its faithfulness. Anon came a rhyme which a traveller +who went to see the falls of the Clyde sixty years ago, tells us he +copied from the album at Lanark: + + "What fools are mankind, + and how strangely inclin'd, + to come from all places + with horses and chaises, + by day and by dark, + to the Falls of Lanark. + + "For good people after all, + what is a waterfall? + It comes roaring and grumbling, + and leaping and tumbling, + and hopping and skipping, + and foaming and dripping, + and struggling and toiling, + and bubbling and boiling, + and beating and jumping, + and bellowing and thumping-- + I have much more to say upon + both Linn and Bonniton; + but the trunks are tied on, + and I must be gone." + +Southey, who read everything, perhaps saw this before he wrote his _Fall +of Lodore_. + +And we, too, must be gone; and now that we have seen + + "Where Tees in tumult leaves his source + Thund'ring o'er Caldron and High Force," + +we will gather ourselves up and travel on. + +But whither? I desired a public-house; but no house of any sort was to +be seen--nothing but the scrubby hill-side, and mossy-headed rocks +peeping out with a frown at the mortal who had intruded into their +dominion. The end of a a meadow, however, comes over the slope on the +other side of the bridge; perhaps from the top of the slope something +may be discerned. Yes, there was a cottage. I hastened thither, but it +proved to be an old tenement now used as a byre. I looked farther, and, +about a mile distant, saw two farm-houses. The view had opened into +Birkdale, and there, on the left, rose the huge, long-backed form of +Mickle Fell, whose topmost height was my next aim, and I could test the +hospitality of the houses on the way thither. + +We are now in a corner of Westmoreland which, traversed by Birkdale, +presents diversified alpine features. The valley is green; the meadows +are flowery and dotted with cattle; the hills, stern and high, are +browsed by sheep; and Maize Beck, a talkative mountain stream, flows +with many a stony bend along the bottom--the dividing line between +Westmoreland and Yorkshire. There are no trees; and for miles wide the +only building is here and there a solitary byre. + +My inquiry for dinner at the first of the two houses was answered by an +invitation to sit down, and ready service of bread, butter, milk, and +cheese. I made a capital repast, and drank as much genuine milk at one +sitting as would charge a Londoner's supply for two months. The father +was out sheep-shearing, leaving the mother with a baby and four big +children at home. But only the eldest boy looked healthy; the others had +the sodden, unwashed appearance supposed to be peculiar to dwellers in +the alleys of large towns. No wonder, I thought, for the kitchen, the +one living room, was as hot and stifling as a Bohemian cottage. The +atmosphere was close and disagreeably odorous; a great turf fire burned +in the grate, and yet the outer door was kept as carefully shut as if +July breezes were hurtful. I tried to make the good woman aware of the +ill consequences of bad air; but old habits are not to be changed in an +hour. She didn't think that overmuch wind could do anybody good, and it +was best for babies to keep them warm. They managed to do without the +doctor: only fetched him when they must. There was none nearer than +Middleton. Six weeks previously, when baby was born, they had to send +for him in a hurry; but Tees was in flood, and Caldron Snout so full +that the water ran over the bridge; her boy, however, got across, and +rode away the nine miles at full speed on his urgent errand. + +What with chairs and tables, racks and shelves, the dresser, the clock, +the settee under the window, three dogs, a cat, and a pigeon--to say +nothing of the family--the room was almost as crowded as the steerage of +a ship. The pigeon--the only one in the dale--had come from parts +unknown a few weeks before of its own accord, and was now a household +pet, cooing about the floor, and on civil terms with the cat. But the +children feared it would die in winter, as they had no peas in those +parts, nothing but grass. Sixty acres of "mowing grass" and a run for +sheep comprise the farm. + +While the Ordnance Survey was in Westmoreland, two sappers lodged in the +house for months; and the eldest son, an intelligent lad, had much to +tell concerning their operations. What pains they took; how many times +they toiled to the top of Mickle Fell only to find that up there it was +too windy for their observations, and so forth. Sometimes a stranger +came and wanted a guide to High Cope Nick, and then he went with his +father. Two photographers had come the preceding autumn, and took views +of the Nick on pieces of paper with a box that had a round glass in it; +but the views wasn't very good ones. + +High Cope Nick, as its name indicates, is a deep notch or chasm in the +hills overlooking the low country of Westmoreland about four miles from +this Birkdale farm. "It's nigh hand as brant[D] as a wall," said the +boy; "you can hardly stand on't." It is one of the scenes which I +reserve for a future holiday. + +[D] Steep. + +The woman could not hear of taking more than sixpence for my dinner, and +thought herself overpaid with that. The two boys were going up the fell +to look after sheep, so we started together, crossed the beck on +stepping-stones, followed by two dogs, and soon began the long ascent. +There is no path: you stride through the heather, through the tough +bent, across miry patches, and stony slopes, past swallow-holes wherein +streams of water disappear in heavy rains; and find at times by the side +of the beck a few yards of smooth sweet turf. The beck is noisy in its +freakish channel, yet pauses here and there and fills a sober pool, +wherein you may see fish, and perchance a drowned sheep. I saw four on +the way upwards, and the sight of the swollen carcases made me defer +drinking till nearer the source. I could hardly believe the lads' word +that fifteen hundred sheep were feeding on the hill, so few did they +appear scattered over the vast surface. + +"How many sheep do you consider fair stock to the acre?" asked Sir John +Sinclair during one of his visits to the hills. + +"Eh! mun, ye begin at wrang end," was the answer. "Ye should ax how +many acres till a sheep." Of such land as this the North Riding contains +four hundred thousand acres. + +Besides the sheep, added the youth, "there's thirty breeding galloways +on the hill. There's nothing pays better than breeding galloways. You +can sell the young ones a year or year and a half old for eight pounds +apiece, and there's no much fash wi' 'em." + +When the time came to part, I sat down and tried to give the boys a peep +at their home through my telescope. But in vain; they could distinguish +nothing, see nothing but a haze of green or brown. On the other hand, +they could discern a sheep or some moving object at a great distance +which I could not discover at all with the glass. They turned aside to +their flock, and I onwards up the hill. The beck had diminished to a +rill, and presently I came to its source--a delicious spring bubbling +from a rock, and took a quickening draught. + +At length the acclivity becomes gentle, the horizon spreads wider and +wider, and we reach the cairn erected by the sappers on the summit of +Mickle Fell, 2580 feet above the sea--the highest, as before remarked, +of the Yorkshire mountains. Glorious is the prospect! Hill and dale in +seemingly endless succession--there rolling away to the blue horizon, +here bounded by a height that hides all beyond. In the west appears the +great gathering of mountains which keep watch over the Lake country, +there Skiddaw, there Helvellyn, yonder Langdale Pikes, and the Old Man +of Coniston; summit after summit, their outlines crossing and recrossing +in picturesque confusion. Conspicuous in the north Cross Fell--in which +spring the head-waters of Tees--heaves his brown back in majestic +sullenness some three hundred feet higher than the shaggy brow we stand +on. Hence you can trace the vale of Tees for miles. Then gazing +easterly, we catch far, far away the Cleveland hills, and, following +round the circle, the blue range of the Hambletons, then Penyghent, +Whernside, and Ingleborough, with many others, bring us round once more +to the west. Again and again will your eye travel round the glorious +panorama. + +Mickle Fell is one of the great summits in the range described by +geologists as the Pennine chain--the backbone of England. Its outline is +characteristic of that of the county; bold and abrupt to the west; +sloping gradually down to the east. Hence the walk up from High Force or +Birkdale calls for no arduous climbing, it is only tedious. From the +western extremity you look down into the vale of the Eden, where the +green meadows, the broad fields of grain, dotted with trees and bordered +with hedgerows, appear the more beautiful from contrast with the brown +tints of the surrounding hills. + +Now for the descent. I scanned the great slope on the south for a +practicable route, and fixed beforehand on the objects by which to +direct my steps when down in the hollows--where scant outlook is to be +had. Lowest of all lies what appears to be a light green meadow; beyond +it rises a Mickle Fell on a small scale: I will make my way to the top +of that, and there take a new departure. All between is a wild expanse +of rock and heather. A sober run soon brought me to the edge of a beck, +and keeping along its margin, now on one side, now on the other, +choosing the firmest ground, I made good progress; and with better +speed, notwithstanding the windings, than through the tough close +heather. Every furlong the beck grows wider and fuller, and here and +there the banks curve to the form of an oval basin smooth with short +grass; favourite haunts for the sheep. The silly creatures take to +flight nimbly as goats at the appearance of an intruder, and I lie down +to enjoy the solitude. The silence is oppressive--almost awful. Shut in +already by the huge hill-sides, I am still more hidden in this hollow. +The beck babbles; the fugitive sheep all unseen bleat timidly; a curlew +comes with its melancholy cry wheeling round and round above my head; +but the overwhelming silence loses nothing of its force. At times a +faint hollow roar, as if an echo from the distant ocean, seems to fill +all the air for an instant, and die mysteriously away. It is a time to +commune with one's own heart and be still: to feel how poor are +artificial pleasures compared to those which are common to all--the +simplest, which can be had for nothing--namely, sunshine, air, and +running water, and the fair broad earth to walk upon. + +Onwards. The beck widens, and rushes into a broad stony belt to join a +stream hurrying down the vale from the west. I crossed, and came +presently to the supposed bright green meadow. It was a swamp--a great +sponge. To go round it would be tedious: I kept straight on, and by +striding from one rushy hummock to another, though not without +difficulty in the middle, where the sponge was all but liquid, and the +rushes wide apart, I got across. Then the smaller hill began: it was +steep, and without a break in the heather, compelling a toilsome climb. +However, it induces wholesome exercise. From the top I saw Stainmoor, +and as I had anticipated, the road which runs across it from Barnard +Castle into Westmoreland. I came down upon it about four miles from +Brough. + +It is a wild region. A line of tall posts is set up along the way, as in +an alpine pass, suggestive of winter snows deep and dangerous. By-and-by +we come to a declivity, and there far below we see the vale of Eden, and +descend towards it, the views continually changing with the windings of +the road. Then a hamlet, with children playing on the green, and geese +grazing among the clumps of gorse, and trees, and cultivation; and all +the while the hills appear to grow more and more mountainous as we +descend. Then Brough comes in sight--the little hard-featured +Westmoreland town--whitewashed walls, blue slate roofs, the church a +good way off on an eminence, and beyond that, on a grassy bluff, the +ruins of a castle partly screened by trees. + +I wanted rest and refreshment, and found both at the _Castle Inn_. An +hour later I strolled out to the ruin. The mount on which it stands +rises steeply from the Helbeck, a small tributary of the Eden, and +terminates precipitously towards the west. The keep still rears itself +proudly aloft, commanding the shattered towers, the ancient gateway, the +dismantled walls and broken stair, and the country for miles around. +Fallen masses lie partly buried in the earth, and here and there above +the rough stonework overhangs as if ready to follow. While sauntering +now within, now without, you can look across the cultivated landscape, +or to the town, and the great slope of Helbeck Fell behind it; and you +will perhaps deem it a favourable spot to muse away the hour of sunset, +when the old pile is touched with golden light. Thick as the walls are, +Time and dilapidations have made them look picturesque. One of the +spoilers was William the Lion of Scotland, who finding here a Norman +fortress in 1174, took it, along with other Westmoreland strongholds; +and was taken himself in the course of the same year at Alnwick. The Rey +Cross on Stainmoor--still a monumental site--marked the southern limit +of the Scottish principality of Cumberland; hence, the hungry reivers +north of Tweed had always an excuse for crossing over to beat the bounds +after their manner. Twice afterwards was Brough Castle repaired, and +burnt to a shell. The second restoration was carried out in 1659 by the +Lady Anne Clifford, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, who recorded the fact +on a stone over the entrance, enumerating all her titles, among which +were "High Sheriffess by inheritance of the county of Westmoreland, and +Lady of the Honour of Skipton," and ending with a text of +Scripture--Isaiah lviii, 12. After the last fire, whosoever would +pillaged the castle; the stone bearing the Countess's inscription was +taken down, and used in the repair of Brough mill, and the ruins became +a quarry, out of which were built sheds and cottages. The large masses +of masonry, which now lie embedded in the earth, fell in 1792. + +According to antiquaries the castle occupies the centre of what had been +a Roman station; for Brough was the ancient Verterę, where coins of the +emperors have been dug up, and the highway along which the legions +marched to and from Carlisle, or the Picts' Wall, is still traceable, +known in the neighbourhood as the Maiden Way. + +It was a lovely evening. The sun went down in splendour behind the +Cumbrian hills, and when the radiance faded from the topmost summits, +and gave place to dusky twilight, I went back to mine inn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + Return into Yorkshire--The Old Pedlar--Oh! for the Olden Time-- + "The Bible, indeed!"--An Emissary--Wild Boar Fell--Shunnor Fell + --Mallerstang--The Eden--A Mountain Walk--Tan Hill--Brown + Landscape--A School wanted--Swaledale--From Ling to Grass--A + Talk with Lead Miners--Stonesdale--Work for a Missionary-- + Thwaite--A Jolly Landlord--A Ruined Town--The School at Muker-- + A Nickname--Buttertubs Pass--View into Wensleydale--Lord + Wharncliffe's Lodge--Simonstone--Hardraw Scar--Geological + Phenomenon--A Frozen Cone--Hawes. + + +My next morning's route took me back into Yorkshire by a way which, +leaving the road to Kirkby Stephen on the right, approaches Nine +Standards, High Seat, and the other great summits which guard the head +of Swaledale. The sight of these hills, and the gradual succession of +cultivation and woods by untilled slopes patched with gorse and bracken, +impart an interest to the walk. A modern battlemented edifice--Hougill +Castle--appears on the left, the residence of a retired physician, and +beyond it the wild region of Stainmoor Forest; and here even upon its +outskirts we can see how appropriate is the name Stonymoor. + +When near the hills I overtook an old pedlar, and slackened my pace to +have a talk with him. At times I had fancied my knapsack, of less than +ten pounds' weight, a little too heavy; but he, though aged sixty, +carried a pack of forty pounds, and when in his prime could have borne +twice as much. He took matters easily now; walked slowly and rested +often. From talking about schools, he began to contrast the present time +with the past. Things were not half so good now as in the olden time, +when monasteries all over the land took proper care alike of religion +and the poor. Where was there anything like religion now-a-days, except +among the Roman Catholics? Without them England would be in a miserable +plight; but he took comfort, believing from certain signs that the old +days would return--that England would once more acknowledge the +supremacy of the Pope. + +"Never," I replied; "that's not possible in a country where the Bible +circulates freely; and where all who will may read it." + +"The Bible!" he answered sneeringly--"the Bible! What's the Bible? It's +a very dangerous and improper book for the people to read. What should +they know about it? The Church is the best judge. The Bible, indeed!" + +Such talk surprised me. I had heard that the Papists employ emissaries +of all degrees in the endeavour to propagate their doctrines; but never +met with one before who spoke out his notions so unreservedly; and I +could have imagined myself thrown back some five hundred years, and the +old fellow to be the spokesman in the Somersetshire ballad: + + "Chill tell thee what good vellowe, + Before the vriers went hence, + A bushell of the best wheate + Was zold for vourteen pence, + And vorty egges a penny, + That were both good and newe: + And this che zay my zelf have zeene, + And yet ich am no Jewe. + + * * * * * + + "Ich care not for the bible booke, + 'Tis too big to be true. + Our blessed Ladyes psalter + Zhall for my money goe; + Zuch pretty prayers, as therein bee, + The bible cannot zhowe." + +I began to defend the rights of conscience, when, as we came to the foot +of the first great hill, the old packman advised me to reconsider my +errors, bade me good day, and turned into a cottage; perhaps to sell +calico; perhaps to sow tares for the keeper of the keys at Rome. + +I made a cut-off, and came upon the road half way up the hill, leaving +sultriness for a breezy elevation. Soon wide prospects opened all around +me: vast green undulations, dotted with sheep and geese, swelling up +into the distant hills and moorlands. That great group of heights on the +right--Wild Boar Fell and Shunnor Fell--wherein Nature displays but few +of her smiles, is the parent of not a few of Yorkshire's dales, becks, +and waterfalls. In those untrodden solitudes rise Swale and Ure; there +lurks the spring from which Eden bursts to flow through gloomy +Mallerstang, and transfer its allegiance, as we have seen, to other +counties, and the fairest of Cumbrian vales. Our topographical bard, +makes the forest of the darksome glen thus address the infant stream: + + "O, my bright lovely brook whose name doth bear the sound + Of God's first garden-plot, th' imparadised ground, + Wherein he placed man, from whence by sin he fell: + O, little blessed brook, how doth my bosom swell + With love I bear to thee, the day cannot suffice + For Mallerstang to gaze upon thy beauteous eyes." + +Talk of royal tapestries, what carpet can compare with the springy turf +that borders the road whereon you walk with lightsome step, happier than +a king, and having countless jewels to admire in the golden buds of the +gorse? It is a delightful mountain walk, now rising, now falling, but +always increasing the elevation; so cool and breezy in comparison with +the sultry temperature of the road we left below. And the grouping of +the summits around the broad expanse changes slowly as you advance, and +between the shades of yellow and green, brown and purple, the darker +shadows denote the courses of the dales. Wayfarers are few; perhaps a +boy trudges past pulling a donkey, which drags a sledge laden with turf +or hay; or a pedlar with crockery; but for miles your only living +companions are sheep and geese. + +With increasing height we have less of grass and more of ling, and at +ten miles from Brough we come to the public-house on Tan Hill, situate +in the midst of a desolate brown upland, in which appear the upreared +timbers of coalpits, some abandoned, others in work. The house shows +signs of isolation in a want of cleanliness and order; but you can get +oaten bread, cheese, and passable beer, and have a talk with the pitmen, +and the rustics who come in for a drink ere starting homewards with +cartloads of coal. Seeing the numerous family round the hostess, I +inquired about their school; on which one of the black fellows--a rough +diamond--took up the question. There had been a dame school in one of +the adjacent cottages, but the old 'oman gave it up, and now the bairns +was runnin' wild. 'Twasn't right of Mr. ----, the proprietor of the +mines, to take away 5000_l._ a year, and not give back some on't for a +school. It made a man's heart sore to see bairns wantin' schoolin' and +no yabble to get it. 'Twasn't right, that 't wasn't. + +Apparently an honest miner lived beneath that coaly incrustation, +possessed of good sense and sensibility. I quite agreed with him, and +recommended him to talk about a school whenever he could get a listener. + +About a mile from the public-house the road leaves the brown region, and +descends rapidly to the Swale, crossing where the stream swells in rainy +weather to a noisy cataract, and Swaledale stretches away before us, a +grand mountain valley, yet somewhat severe in aspect. Gentle, as its +name imports, appears misapplied to a rushing stream; but a long course +lies before it: past Grinton, past picturesque Richmond, ancient ruins, +towers of barons, and cloisters of monks, and to the broad Vale of York, +where, calmed by old experience, it flows at Myton gently into the Ure. +And not only gentle but sacred, for Swale has been called the Jordan of +Yorkshire, because of the multitudinous baptism of the earliest converts +therein by Paulinus; "above ten thousand men, besides women and +children, in one day," according to the chronicler, who, perhaps to +disarm incredulity, explains that the apostle having baptized ten, sent +them into the stream to baptize a hundred, and so multiplied his +assistants as the rite proceeded, while he prayed on the shore. + +By-and-by we meet signs of inhabitants--a house or two; a few fields of +mowing grass; the heaps of refuse at lead-mines, and our walk derives a +pleasurable interest from the hourly change, the bleak, barren, and +lonely, for the sheltered, the cultivated, and inhabited. More and more +are the hill-sides wavy with grass as we descend, field after field shut +in by stone fences, and the dalesmen are beginning to mow. The time of +the hay harvest has come for the mountains: a month later than in the +south. How beautifully the bright green contrasts with the dark purple +distances, and softens the features of the dale! And as I looked from +side to side, or around to the rear, as the fallen road made the hills +seem higher, and saw how much Swaledale has in common with a valley of +the Alps, I felt that here the desire for mountain scenery might be +satisfied; and I found myself watching for the first field of grain with +as much interest as I had watched for vines in the Val Mont Joie. + +I overtook a party of lead-miners, boys and men, going home from work. +The boys could read; but there was only one of them who really liked +reading. "He's a good quiet boy," said the father; "likes to set down +wi' his book o' evenin's; t'others says they is tired. He can draw a +bit, too; and I'd like well to send'n to a good skule; but I only gets +two pounds a month, and that's poor addlings." And one of the young men +wished that digging for lead didn't make him so tired, for readin' made +him fall asleep, and yet he wanted to get on with his books. "It don't +seem right," he added, "that a lad should want a bit o' larnin' and not +get it." I said a few words about the value of habit, the steady growth +of knowledge from only half an hour's application continued day after +day at the same hour, and the many ways of learning offered to us apart +from books. The whole party listened with interest, and expressed their +thanks when we parted at the hamlet of Stonesdale. The lad thought he'd +try. He'd emigrate, only his wage was too low for saving. + +If I had the missionary spirit, I would not go to Patagonia or Feejee; +but to the out-of-the-way places in my own country, and labour +trustfully there to remove some of the evils of ignorance. Any man who +should set himself to such a work, thinking not more highly of himself +than he ought to think, would be welcomed in every cottage, and become +assured after a while, that many an eye would watch gladly for his +coming. One of my first tasks should be to go about and pull up that old +pedlar's mischievous tares, and plant instead thereof a practical +knowledge of common things. + +With unlimited supplies of stone to draw on, the houses of Stonesdale +are as rough and solid as if built by Druids. Every door has a porch for +protection against storms, and round each window a stripe of whitewash +betrays the rudimentary ornamental art of the inmates. A little farther, +and coming to the village of Thwaite, I called at the _Joiners' Arms_ +for a glass of ale. The landlord, mistaking my voice for that of one of +his friends, came hastily into the kitchen with a jovial greeting, and +apparently my being a stranger made no difference, for he sat down and +began a hearty talk about business; about his boyhood, when he used to +run after the hounds; about his children, and the school down at Muker. +I laughed when he mentioned running after the hounds, for, as I saw him, +he was, as Southey has it, "broad in the rear and abdominous in the +van." His agility had been a fact, nevertheless. I praised the beer. +That did not surprise him; he brewed it himself, out of malt and hops, +too; not out of doctor's stuff. I asked a question about Hawes, to which +I was going over the Pass. "Oh!" said he, "it's terribly fallen off for +drink. I used to keep the inn there. A man could get a living in that +day by selling drink; but now the Methodists and teetotallers have got +in among 'em, and the place is quite ruined." Manifestly my heavy friend +looked at the question from the licensed victualler's point of view. +Concerning the school down at Muker, however he was not uncharitable. +'Twas a good school--a church school. There was a chapel of ease there +to Grinton. Mr. Lowther did the preaching and looked after the school, +and the people liked his teaching and liked his preaching. He brought +the children on well, gals as well as the boys; that he did. + +If, reader, you should go to Thwaite, and wish to have a chat with a +jolly landlord, enquire for Matty John Ned, the name by which he is +known in all the country round; remembering what happened in my +experience. For when, late in the evening, I intimated to mine host of +the _White Hart_ at Hawes that Mr. Edward Alderson had recommended me to +his house, he replied, doubtfully, "Alderson--Alderson at Thwaite do you +say?" + +"Yes, Alderson at Thwaite: a big man." + +"O-o-o-o-h! You mean Matty John Ned." + +Below Thwaite the dale expands; trees appear; you see Muker about three +miles distant, the chief village of Upper Swaledale: still nothing but +grass in the fields; and the same all the way to Reeth, ten miles from +Muker. There you would begin to see grain. Not far from Thwaite I turned +up a very steep, stony road on the right, which leads over the +Buttertubs Pass into Wensleydale, and soon could look down on the +village, and miles of Swaledale, and the hills beyond. Among those hills +are glens and ravines, and many a spot that it would be a pleasure to +explore, to say nothing of the lead mines, and the 'gliffs' of primitive +manners; and any one who could be content with homely head-quarters at +Muker or Thwaite might enjoy a roaming holiday for a week or two. And +for lovers of the angle there are trout in the brooks. + +The ascent is long as well as steep, and rough withal; but the views +repay you every time you pause with more and more of the features of a +mountain pass. There are about it touches of savage grandeur, and the +effect of these was heightened at the time I crossed by a deep dark +cloud-shadow which overspread a league of the hills, and left the lower +range of the dale in full sunshine. For a while the road skirts the edge +of a deep glen on the left; it becomes deeper and deeper; there are +little fields, and haymakers at work at the bottom; then the slopes +change; the heather creeps down; the beck frets and foams, sending its +noise upward to your ear; screes and scars intermingle their rugged +forms and variations of colour; a waterfall rushes down the crags; and +when these have passed before your eyes you find yourself on a desolate +summit. + +More desolate than any of the heights I had yet passed over. A broad +table-land of turf bogs, coffee-coloured pools, stacks of turf, patches +of rushes, and great boulders peeping everywhere out from among the +hardy heather. The dark cloud still hung aloft, and the wind blew chill, +making me quicken my pace, and feel the more pleasure when, after about +half an hour, the view opened into Wensleydale. A valley appears on the +right, with colts and cattle grazing on the bright green slopes; the +road descends; stone abounds; fences, large gate-posts, all are made of +stone; the road gets rougher; and by-and-by we come to Shaw, a little +village under Stag Fell, by the side of a wooded glen, from which there +rises the music of a mountain brook. On the left you see Lord +Wharncliffe's lodge, to which he resorts with his friends on the 12th of +August, for the hills around are inhabited by grouse. Yonder the walls +and windows of Hawes reflect the setting sun, and we see more of +Wensleydale, where trees are numerous in the landscape. + +Then another little village, Simonstone, where, passing through the +public-house by the bridge, we find a path that leads us into a rocky +chasm, about ninety feet deep and twice as much in width, the limestone +cliffs hung with trees and bushes, here and there a bare crag jutting +out, or lying shattered beneath; while, cutting the grassy floor in two, +a lively beck ripples its way along. A bend conceals its source; but we +saunter on, and there at the end of the ravine, where the cliffs advance +and meet, we see the beck making one leap from top to bottom--and that +is Hardraw Scar. The rock overhangs above, hence the water shoots clear +of the cliff, and preserves an irregular columnar form, widening at the +base with bubbles and spray. You can go behind it, and look through the +falling current against the light, and note how it becomes fuller and +fuller of lines of beads as it descends, until they all commingle in the +flurry below. Dr. Tyndall might make an observatory of this cool nook, +the next time he investigates the cause of the noise in falling water, +with the advantage of looking forth on the romantic and pleasing scene +beyond. The geologist finds in the ravine a suggestive illustration on a +small scale of what Niagara with thunderous plunge has been +accomplishing through countless ages--namely, wearing away the solid +rock, inch by inch, foot by foot, until in the one instance a river +chasm is formed miles in length, and here, in the other, a pretty glen a +little more than a furlong deep. + +At the time I saw it, the quantity of water was probably not more than +would fill a twelve-inch tube; but after heavy rains the upper stream +forms a broad horseshoe fall as it rushes over the curving cliff. In the +severe frost of 1740, when the Londoners were holding a fair on the +Thames, Hardraw Scar was frozen, and, fed continually from the source +above, it became at last a cone of ice, ninety feet in height, and as +much in circumference at the base: a phenomenon that was long remembered +by the gossips of the neighbourhood. + +Hawes cheats the eye, and seems near, when by the road it is far off. On +the way thither from Simonstone we cross the Ure, the river of +Wensleydale, a broad and shallow, yet lively stream, infusing a charm +into the landscape, which I saw at the right moment, when the evening +shadows were creeping from the meadows up the hill-sides, and the water +flashed with gold and crimson ripples. I lingered on the bridge till the +last gleam vanished. + +So grim and savage are the fells at the head of Wensleydale, that the +country folk in times past regarded them with superstitious dread, and +called the little brooks which there foster the infancy of Ure, +'hell-becks'--a name of dread. But both river and dale change their +character as they descend, the one flowing through scenes of exquisite +beauty ere, united with the Swale, it forms the Ouse; and the dale +broadens into the richest and most beautiful of all the North Riding. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + Bainbridge--"If you had wanted a wife"--A Ramble--Millgill + Force--Whitfell Force--A Lovely Dell--The Roman Camp--The + Forest Horn, and the old Hornblower--Haymaking--A Cockney Raker + --Wensleydale Scythemen--A Friend indeed--Addleborough--Curlews + and Grouse--The First Teapot--Nasty Greens--The Prospect-- + Askrigg--Bolton Castle--Penhill--Middleham--Miles Coverdale's + Birthplace--Jervaux Abbey--Moses's Principia--Nappa Hall--The + Metcalfes--The Knight and the King--The Springs--Spoliation of + the Druids--The great Cromlech--Legend--An ancient Village-- + Simmer Water--An advice for Anglers--More Legends--Counterside + --Money-Grubbers--Widdale--Newby Head. + + +Four miles from Hawes down the dale is the pleasant village of +Bainbridge, where the rustic houses, with flower-plots in front and +roses climbing on the walls, and yellow stonecrop patching the roofs and +fences, look out upon a few noble sycamores, and a green--a real village +green. The hills on each side are lofty and picturesque; at one end, on +a flat eminence, remains the site of a Roman camp; the Bain, a small +stream coming from a lake some three miles distant, runs through the +place in a bed of solid stone, to enter Ure a little below, and all +around encroaching here and there up the hill-sides spread meadows of +luxuriant grass. The simple rural beauty will gladden your eye, and--as +with every stranger who comes to Bainbridge--win your admiration. + +Wensleydale enjoys a reputation for cheese and fat pastures and wealth +above the neighbouring dales, and appears to be fully aware of its +superiority. The folk, moreover, consider themselves refined, advanced +in civilization in comparison with the dwellers on the other side of +Buttertubs: those whom we talked with yesterday. "Mr. White, if you had +wanted a wife, do you think you could choose one out of Swaledale?" was +the question put to me by a strapping village lass before I had been +three hours in Bainbridge. + +Fortune favoured me. I found here some worthy Quaker friends of mine, +who had journeyed from Oxfordshire to spend the holidays under the +paternal rooftree. It was almost as if I had arrived at home myself; and +although I had breakfasted at Hawes, they took it for granted that I +would eat a lunch to keep up my strength till dinner-time. They settled +a plan which would keep me till the morrow exploring the +neighbourhood--a detention by no means to be repined at--and introduced +me to a studious young dalesman, the village author, who knew every nook +of the hills, every torrent and noteworthy site, and all the legends +therewith associated for miles round, and who was to be my guide and +companion. + +Away we rambled across the Ure to a small wooded hollow at the foot of +Whitfell, in the hills which shut out Swaledale. It conceals a Hardraw +Scar in miniature, shooting from an overhanging ledge of dark shale, in +which are numerous fossil shells. From this we followed the hill upwards +to Millgill Force, a higher fall, on another beck, overshadowed by firs +and the mountain elm, and which Nature keeps as a shrine approachable +only by the active foot and willing heart. Now you must struggle through +the tall grass and tangle on the precipitous sides high among the trees; +now stride and scramble over the rocky masses in the bed of the stream. +To sit and watch the fall deep under the canopy of leaves, catching +glimpses of sunshine and of blue sky above, and to enjoy the delicious +coolness, was the luxury of enjoyment. I could have sat for hours. +Wordsworth came here during one of his excursions in Yorkshire; and if +you wish to know what Millgill Force is, as painted by the pen, even the +minute touches, read his description. + +But there is yet another--Whitfell Force--higher up, rarely visited, for +the hill is steep and the way toilsome. My guide, however, was not less +willing to lead than I to follow, and soon we were scrambling through +the deepest ravine of all, where the sides, for the most part, afford no +footing, not even for a goat, but rise in perpendicular walls, or lean +over at the top. Here again the lavish foliage is backed by the dark +stiff spines of firs, and every inch of ground, every cranny, all but +the impenetrable face of the rock, is hidden by rank grasses, trailing +weeds, climbers, periwinkle, woodbine, and ferns, among which the +hart's-tongue throws out its large drooping clusters of graceful fronds. +For greater part of the way we had to keep the bed of the stream; now +squeezing ourselves between mighty lumps of limestone that nearly barred +the passage, so that the stream itself could not get through without a +struggle; now climbing painfully over where the crevices were too +narrow; now zigzagging from side to side wherever the big stones +afforded foothold, not without slips and splashes that multiplied our +excitement; now pausing on a broad slab to admire the narrowing chasm +and all its exquisite greenery. My companion pointed out a crystal pool +in which he sometimes bathed--a bath that Naiads themselves might envy. +In this way we came at length to a semicircular opening, and saw the +fall tumbling from crag to crag for sixty feet, and dispersing itself +into a confused shower before it fell into the channel beneath. We both +sat for a while without speaking, listening to the cool splash and busy +gurgle as the water began its race down the hill; and, for my part, I +felt that fatigue and labour were well repaid by the sight of so lovely +a dell. + +Then by other paths we returned to the village, and mounted to the +flat-topped grassy mound, which Professor Phillips says, is an ancient +gravel heap deposited by the action of water. The Romans, taking +advantage of the site, levelled it, and established thereon a small +camp. A statue and inscription and some other relics have been found, +showing that in this remote spot, miles distant from their main highway, +the conquerors had a military station, finding it no doubt troublesome +to keep the dalesmen of their day in order. + +Then we looked at a very, very old millstone, which now stands on its +edge at the corner of a cottage doing motionless duty as one end of a +kennel. The dog creeps in through the hole in the middle. There it +stands, an unsatisfactory antique, for no one knows anything about it. +Of two others, however, which we next saw, something is known--the old +horn and the old hornblower. Bainbridge was chief place of the forest of +Wensleydale--of which the Duke of Leeds is now Her Majesty's Ranger, and +at the same time hereditary Constable and Lord of Middleham Castle--and +from time immemorial the "forest horn" has been blown on the green, +every night at ten o'clock, from the end of September to Shrovetide, and +it is blown still; for are not ancient customs all but immortal in our +country? The stiff-jointed graybeard hearing that a curious stranger +wished to look at the instrument, brought it forth. It is literally a +horn--a large ox-horn, lengthened by a hoop of now rusty tin, to make +up for the pieces which some time or other had been broken from its +mouth. He himself had put on the tin years ago. Of course I was invited +to blow a blast, and of course failed. My companion, however, could make +it speak lustily; but the old man did best, and blew a long-sustained +note, which proved him to be as good an economist of breath as a +pearl-diver. For years had he thus blown, and his father before him. I +could not help thinking of the olden time ere roads were made, and of +belated travellers saved from perishing in the snow by that nightly +signal. + +Now it was tea-time, and we had tea served after the Wensleydale +manner--plain cakes and currant cakes, cakes hot and cold, and butter +and cheese at discretion, with liberty to call for anything else that +you like; and the more you eat and drink, the more will you rise in the +esteem of your hospitable entertainers. And after that I went down to +the hay-field, for it was a large field, and the farmer longed to get +the hay all housed before sunset. They don't carry hay in the dales, +they 'lead' it; and the two boys from Oxfordshire were not a little +proud in having the 'leading' assigned to them, seeing that they had +nothing to do but ride the horse that drew the hay-sledge to and fro +between the barn and the 'wind-rows.' Another difference is, that forks +are not used except to pitch the hay from the sledge to the barn, all +the rest--turning the swath, making into cocks--is done with the rake +and by hand. So I took a rake, and beginning at one side of the field at +the same time with an old hand, worked away so stoutly, that he had much +ado to keep ahead of me. And so it went on, all hands working as if +there were no such thing as weariness, load after load slipping away to +the barn; and I unconsciously growing meritorious. "You're the first +cockney I ever saw," said the stalwart farmer, "that knew how to handle +a rake." Had I stayed with him a week, he would have discovered other of +my capabilities equally praiseworthy. We should have accomplished the +task and cleared the field; but a black cloud rose in the west, and soon +sent down a heavy shower, and compelled us to huddle up the remaining +rows into cocks, and leave them till morning. + +Must I confess it? Haymaking with the blithesome lasses in Ulrichsthal +is a much more sprightly pastime than haymaking with the Quakers in +Wensleydale. + +The hay harvest is an exciting time in the dales, for grass is the only +crop, and the cattle have to be fed all through the long months of +winter, and sometimes far into the backward spring. Hence every thing +depends on the hay being carried and housed in good condition; and many +an anxious look is cast at passing clouds and distant hill-tops to learn +the signs of the weather. The dalesmen are expert in the use of the +scythe; and numbers of them, after their own haymaking is over, migrate +into Holderness and other grain-growing districts, and mow down the +crops, even the wheat-fields, with remarkable celerity. + +Many a hand had I to shake the next morning, when the moment came to say +farewell. The student would not let me depart alone; he would go with me +a few miles, and show me remarkable things by the way; and what was +more, he would carry my knapsack. "You will have quite enough of it," he +said, "before your travel is over." So I had to let him. We soon +diverged from the road and began the ascent of Addleborough +(_Edel-burg_,) that noble hill which rises on the south-east of +Bainbridge, rearing its rocky crest to a height of more than fifteen +hundred feet. We took the shortest way, climbing the tall fences, +struggling through heather, striding across bogs, and disturbing the +birds. The curlews began their circling flights above our heads, and the +grouse took wing with sudden flutter, eight or ten brace starting from a +little patch that, to my inexperience, seemed too small to hide a couple +of chickens. + +My companion talked as only a dalesman can talk--as one whose whole +heart is in his subject. None but a dalesman, he said, could read +Wordsworth aright, or really love him. He could talk of the history of +the dale, and of the ways of the people. His great-grandmother was the +first in Bainbridge who ever had a teapot. When tea first began to be +heard of in those parts, a bagman called on an old farmer, and +fascinated him so by praising the virtues of the new leaf from China, +that with his wife's approval he ordered a 'stean' to begin with. The +trader ventured to suggest that a stone of tea would be a costly +experiment, and sent them only a pound. Some months afterwards he called +again for "money and orders," and asked how the worthy couple liked the +tea. "Them was the nastiest greens we ever tasted," was the answer. "The +parcel cam' one morning afore dinner, so the missus tied 'em up in a +cloth and put 'em into t' pot along wi' t' bacon. But we couldn't abear +'em when they was done; and as for t' broth, we couldn't sup a drop on +'t." + +Having climbed the last steep slope, we sat down in a recess of the +rocky frontlet which the hill bears proudly on its brow, and there, +sheltered from the furious wind, surveyed the scene below. We could see +across the opposite fells, in places, to the summits on the farther side +of Swaledale, and down Wensleydale for miles, and away to the blue range +of the Hambleton hills that look into the Vale of York. Bainbridge +appears as quiet as if it were taking holiday; yonder, Askrigg twinkles +under a thin white veil of smoke; and farther, Bolton Castle--once the +prison of the unhappy Queen of Scots--shows its four square towers above +a rising wood: all basking in the glorious sunshine. Yet shadows are not +wanting. Many a dark shade marks where a glen breaks the hill-sides: +some resemble crooked furrows, trimmed here and there with a dull green +fringe, the tree-tops peeping out, and by these signs the beck we +explored yesterday may be discerned on the opposite fell. Wherever that +little patch of wood appears, there we may be sure a waterfall, though +all unseen, is joining in the great universal chorus. Ure winds down the +dale in many a shining curve, of which but one is visible between bright +green meadow slopes, and belts, and clumps of wood, that broaden with +the distance; and all the landscape is studded with the little white +squares--the homes of the dalesmen. + +Four miles below the stream rushes over great steps of limestone which +traverse its bed at Aysgarth Force, and flows onwards past Penhill, the +mountain of Wensleydale, overtopping Addleborough by three hundred feet; +past Witton Fell and its spring, still known as Diana's Bath; past +Leyburn, and its high natural terrace--the Shawl, where the 'Queen's gap' +reminds the visitor once more of Mary riding through surrounded by a +watchful escort; past Middleham, where the lordly castle of the +King-maker now stands in hopeless ruin, recalling the names of Anne of +Warwick, Isabella of Clarence, Edward IV., and his escape from the +haughty baron's snare; of Richard of Gloucester, and others who figure in +our national history; past Coverdale, the birthplace of that Miles +Coverdale whose translation of the Bible will keep his memory green +through many a generation, and the site of Coverham Abbey, of which but +a few arches now remain. It was built in 1214 for the Premonstratensians, +or White Canons, who never wore linen. Where the Cover falls into the +Ure, spreads the meadow Ulshaw, the place from which Oswin dismissed his +army in 651. Tradition preserves the memory of Hugh de Moreville's seat, +though not of the exact site, and thus associates the neighbourhood with +one of the slayers of Becket. And at East Witton, beyond Coverham, are +the ruins of the Cistercian Abbey of Jervaux--Jarvis Abbey, as the +country folk call it--a relic dating from 1156. Plunderers and the +weather had their own way with it until 1805, when the Earl of Aylesbury, +to whom the estate belongs, inspired by his steward's discovery of a +tesselated pavement, stayed the progress of dilapidation, and had the +concealing heaps of grass-grown rubbish dug away. Old Jenkins, who died +in 1670, remembered Jervaux as it stood in its prime: he had shared the +dole given by the monks to poor wayfarers. He remembered, too, the +mustering of the dalesmen under the banner of the good Lord Scroop of +Bolton for the battle of Flodden, when + + "With him did wend all Wensleydale + From Morton unto Morsdale moor; + All they that dwell by the banks of Swale + With him were bent in harness stour." + +At Spennithorne, a village over against Coverham, were born John +Hutchinson, the opponent of Newton, and Hatfield the crazy, who fired at +George III. The philosopher--who was a yeoman's son--made some stir in +his day by publishing _Moses's Principia_, in opposition to Sir Isaac's, +and by his collection of fossils, out of which he contrived arguments +against geologists. This collection was bequeathed to Dr. Woodward, and +eventually became part of the museum in the University of Cambridge. + +Looking across the dale, somewhat to the right of Bainbridge, we see +Nappa Hall, long the seat of the Metcalfes. In Queen Mary's time, Sir +Christopher Metcalfe was sheriff, and he met the judges at York at the +head of three hundred horsemen, all dressed alike, and all of his own +name and family. The name is still a common one in the North Riding, as +you will soon discover on the front of public-houses, over the door at +toll-bars, and on the sides of carts and wagons. The present Lord +Metcalfe had a Guisborough man for his father. A Metcalfe, born at +Coverhead, is said to have made Napoleon's coffin at St. Helena. One of +the fighting men who distinguished themselves at Agincourt was a +Metcalfe. The Queen of Scots' bedstead is still preserved at Nappa. +Raleigh once visited the Hall, and brought with him--so the story +goes--the first crayfish ever seen in the dale. Another visitor was that +cruel pedant, Royal Jamie, who scrupled not to cut off Raleigh's head--a +far better one than his own--and concerning him we are told that he rode +across the Ure on the back of one of the serving-men. Perhaps the poor +serving-man felt proud all his life after. + +If to dream about the Past by the side of a spring be one of your +pleasures, you may enjoy it here in Wensleydale with many a change of +scene. Besides Diana's Bath, already mentioned, St. Simon's Spring still +bubbles up at Coverham, St. Alkelda's at Middleham, and the Fairies' +Well at Hornby. To this last an old iron cup was chained, which a late +local antiquary fondly thought might be one of those which King Edwin +ordered to be fastened to running springs throughout his territories. + +Celt and Northman have left their traces. The grandmothers of the +children who now play in the village could remember the Beltane +bonfires, and the wild dances around them. The Danes peopled the gloomy +savage parts of the glen with their imaginary black alfs. An old couplet +runs: + + "Druid, Roman, Scandinavia + Stone Raise, on Addleboro'." + +So we sat and talked, and afterwards scrambled up the rocks to the +summit. Here is, or rather was, a Druid circle of flat stones: but my +companion screamed with vexation on discovering that three or four of +the largest stones had been taken away, and were nowhere to be seen. The +removal must have been recent, for the places where they lay were +sharply defined in the grass, and the maze of roots which had been +covered for ages was still dense and blanched. And so an ancient +monument must be destroyed either out of wanton mischief, or to be +broken up for the repair of a fence! Whoever were the perpetrators, I +say, + + "Oh, be their tombs as lead to lead!" + +We walked across the top to Stain-Ray, or Stone Raise, a great cromlech +or cairn 360 feet in circumference. You would perhaps regard it as +nothing more than a huge irregular mound of lumps of gritstone bleached +by the weather, with ferns and moss growing in the interstices, but +within there are to be seen the remains of three cysts, of which only +one retains a definite form. It is said that a skeleton was discovered +therein. Tradition tells of a giant who once travelling with a chest of +gold on his back from Skipton Castle to Pendragon, felt weary while +crossing Addleborough, and let his burden slip, but recovering himself, +he cried, + + "Spite of either God or man, + To Pendragon castle thou shalt gang." + +when it fell from his shoulders, sank into the earth, and the stones +rose over it. There the chest remained, and still remains, only to be +recovered by the fortunate mortal to whom the fairy may appear in the +form of a hen or an ape. He has then but to stretch forth his arm, seize +the chest, and drag it out, in silence if he can, at all events without +swearing, or he will fail, as did that unfortunate wight, who, uttering +an oath in the moment of success, lost his hold of the treasure, and saw +the fairy no more as long as he lived. + +We descended into the hollow between Addleborough and Stake Fell, +crossing on the way the natural terrace that runs along the southern and +western sides of the hill, to look at a cluster of heaps of stone, and +low, irregular walls or fences, the plan of which appears to show a +series of enclosures opening one into the other. My friend had long made +up his mind that these were the remains of an ancient British village. +For my part, I could not believe that a village old as the Roman +conquest would leave vestiges of such magnitude after the lapse of +nearly two thousand years; whereupon, arguments, and learned ones, were +adduced, until I half admitted the origin assigned. But a few days later +I saw an enclosure in Wharfedale identical in form with any one of +these, used as a sheepfold, and all my doubts came back with renewed +force. In the ordnance maps, the description is "ancient enclosures;" +and, to give an off-hand opinion, it appears to me probable that this +outlying hollow may have been chosen as a safe place for the flocks in +the troublous days of old. + +Stake Fell is 1843 feet in height, rising proudly on our left. Beneath +us, in the valley Ray or Roedale, a branch of Wensleydale, spreads +Simmer Water, a lake of one hundred and five acres. Shut in by hills, +and sprinkled with wood around its margin, it beautifies and enlivens +the landscape. It abounds in trout, moreover, and bream and grayling, +and any one who chooses may fish therein, as well as in the Ure, all the +way down to Bainbridge, and farther. The river trout are considered far +superior to those of the lake. We made haste down, after a pause to +observe the view, for dinner awaited us in a pleasant villa overlooking +the bright rippling expanse. + +When we started anew, some two hours later, our hospitable entertainer +would accompany us. We walked round the foot of the lake, and saw on the +margin, near the break where the Bain flows out, two big stones which +have lain in their present position ever since the devil and a giant +pelted one another from hill to hill across the water. To corroborate +the legend, there yet remain on the stones the marks--and prodigious +ones they are--of the Evil One's hands. To me the marks appeared more +like the claws of an enormous bird, compared with which Dr. Mantell's +_Dinornis_ would be but a chicken. + +Long, long ago, while the Apostles still walked the earth, a poor old +man wandered into Raydale, where a large city then stood, and besought +alms from house to house. Every door was shut against him, save one, an +humble cot without the city wall, where the inmates bade him welcome, +and set oaten bread and milk cheese before him, and prepared him a +pallet whereon to sleep. On the morrow the old man pronounced a blessing +on the house and departed; but as he went forth, he turned, and looking +on the city, thus spake: + + "Semer Water rise, Semer Water sink, + And swallow all the town + Save this little house + Where they gave me meat and drink." + +Whereupon followed the roar of an earthquake, and the rush of water; the +city sank down and a broad lake rolled over its site; but the charitable +couple who lodged the stranger were preserved, and soon by some +miraculous means they found themselves rich, and a blessing rested on +them and their posterity. + +Besides the satanic missiles, there are stones somewhere on the brink of +the lake known as the 'Mermaid Stones,' but not one of us knew where to +look for them, so we set our faces towards Counterside, the hill on the +northern side of the vale and trudged patiently up the steep ascent in +the hot afternoon sun, repaid by the widening prospect. We could see +where waterfalls were rushing in the little glens at the head of the +dale, and the shadow of hills in the lake, and the remotest village, +Stalling Busk, said to be a place of unusual thrift. Even in that remote +nook, you would find the dalesmen's maxim kept from rusting, as well in +the villages lower down and nearer the world: it is--"I don't want to +chate, or to be chated; but if it must be one or t'other, why, then, I +wouldn't be chated." It is no scandal to say that money-grubbing in the +dale is proverbial. "Look at that man," said my Quaker friend at +Bainbridge, pointing out what looked like a labourer driving a cart; +"that man is worth thousands." I did not hear, however, that he made an +offensive use of his talent, as certain money-grubbers do in the +neighbourhood of large towns. "He's got nought," exclaimed a coarse, +rich man near Hull, slapping his pocket, of a poor man who differed from +him in opinion: "he's got nought--what should he know about it?" + +We went down on the other slope of Counterside with Hawes in sight, and +Cam Fell, a long ridgy summit more than 1900 feet high. I preferred to +double it rather than go over it, and having shifted the knapsack to my +own shoulders, shook hands with my excellent friends, and choosing short +cuts so as to avoid the town, came in about an hour to the steep lonely +road which turns up into Widdale, beyond the farther end of Hawes. + +We shall return to Wensleydale a few days hence; meanwhile, good-natured +reader, Widdale stretches before us, the road rising with little +interruption for miles. Two hours of brisk walking will carry us through +it between great wild hill slopes, which are channeled here and there by +the dry, stony bed of a torrent. The evening closes in heavy and +lowering, and Cam Fell and Widdale Fell uprear their huge forms on the +right and left in sullen gloom, and appear the more mountainous. Ere +long thick mists overspread their summits, and send ragged wreaths down +the hollows, and much of the landscape becomes dim, and we close our day +with a view of Nature in one of her mysterious moods. We ascend into the +bleak region, pass the bare little hamlet of Redshaw, catch a dull +glimpse of Ingleborough, with its broad flat summit, and then at six +miles from Hawes, come to the lonesome public-house at Newby Head. + +Of such wild land as that we have traversed. Arthur Young once bought a +large tract, having in view a grand scheme of reclamation, but was +diverted therefrom by his appointment as Secretary to the Board of +Agriculture. "What a change," he says, "in the destination of a man's +life! Instead of entering the solitary lord of four thousand acres, in +the keen atmosphere of lofty rocks and mountain torrents, with a little +creation rising gradually around me, making the desert smile with +cultivation, and grouse give way to industrious population, active and +energetic, though remote and tranquil; and every instant of my +existence, making two blades of grass to grow where not one was found +before--behold me at a desk, in the smoke, the fog, the din of +Whitehall!" + +The public-house is a resort for cattle-dealers from Scotland, and +head-quarters for shepherds and labourers. The fare is better than the +lodging. Three kinds of cakes, eggs, and small pies of preserved +bilberries, were set before me at tea; but the bed, though the sheets +were clean, had a musty smell of damp straw. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + About Gimmer Hogs--Gearstones--Source of the Ribble-- + Weathercote Cave--An Underground Waterfall--A Gem of a Cave-- + Jingle Pot--The Silly Ducks--Hurtle Pool--The Boggart--A + Reminiscence of the Doctor--Chapel-le-Dale--Remarkable Scenery + --Ingleborough--Ingleton--Craven--Young Daniel Dove, and Long + Miles--Clapham--Ingleborough Cave--Stalactite and Stalagmite-- + Marvellous Spectacle--Pillar Hall--Weird Music--Treacherous + Pools--The Abyss--How Stalactite forms--The Jockey Cap--Cross + Arches--The Long Gallery--The Giant's Hall--Mysterious + Waterfall--A Trouty Beck--The Bar-Parlour--A Bradford Spinner. + + +On the way hither, I had noticed what was to me a novel mode of +bill-sticking; that is, on the sharp spines of tall thistles by the +wayside. The bills advertised _Gimmer Hogs_ for sale, a species of +animal that I had never before heard of, and I puzzled myself not a +little in guessing what they could be. For although _Gimmer_ is good +honest Danish, signifying a ewe that has not yet lambed, the connexion +between sheep and swine is not obvious to the uninitiated. However, it +happened that I sat down to breakfast with a Scottish grazier who had +arrived soon after daybreak, and he told me that sheep not more than one +year old are called Gimmer Hogs; but why the word hogs should be used to +describe ewes he could not tell. + +The morning was dull and drizzly, and by the time I had crossed to +Ingleton Fell, from the North to the West Riding, a swift, horizontal +rain came on, laborious to walk against, and drove me for shelter into +the _Gearstones Inn_. Of the two or three houses hereabouts, one is a +school; and in this wild spot a Wednesday market is held. Ingleborough +is in sight; the hills around form pleasing groups, and had we time to +explore them, we should find many a rocky glen, and curious cave, +Catknot Hole, Alum Pot, Long Churn, and Dicken Pot; and many a sounding +ghyll, as the folk here call it--that is, a waterfall. Not far from the +inn is Gale beck, the source of the Ribble; and as we proceed down the +now continuous descent, so do the features of the landscape grow more +romantic. + +For more than an hour did the rain-storm sweep across the hills, holding +me prisoner. At length faint gleams of sunshine broke through; I started +afresh, and three miles farther was treading on classic +ground--Chapel-le-Dale. Turn in at the second gate on the right beyond +the public-house, and you will soon have speech with Mr. Metcalfe, who +keeps the key of Weathercote cave. Standing on a sheltered valley slope, +with a flower-garden in front and trees around, his house presents a +favourable specimen of a yeoman's residence. No lack of comfort here, I +thought, on seeing the plenteous store of oaten bread on the racks in +the kitchen. Nor is there any lack of attention to the visitor's wishes +on the part of Mr. Metcalfe. He unlocks a door, and leads the way down a +steep, rude flight of steps into a rocky chasm, from which ascends the +noise of falling water. A singularly striking scene awaits you. The +rocks are thickly covered in places with ferns and mosses, and are +broken up by crevices into a diversity of forms, rugged as chaos. A few +feet down, and you see a beautiful crystalline spring in a cleft on the +right, and the water turning the moss to stone as it trickles down. A +few feet lower and you pass under a natural bridge formed by huge fallen +blocks. The stair gets rougher, twisting among the big, damp lumps of +limestone, when suddenly your guide points to the fall at the farther +extremity of the chasm. The rocks are black, the place is gloomy, +imparting thereby a surprising effect to the white rushing column of +water. A beck running down the hill finds its way into a crevice in the +cliffs, from which it leaps in one great fall of more than eighty feet, +roaring loudly. Look up! the chasm is so narrow that the trees and +bushes overhang and meet overhead; and what with the subdued light, and +mixture of crags and verdure, and the impressive aspect of the place +altogether, you will be lost in admiration. + +To descend lower seems scarcely possible, but you do get down, +scrambling over the big stones to the very bottom, into the swirling +shower of spray. Here a deep recess, or chamber at one side, about eight +feet in height, affords good standing ground, whence you may see that +the water is swallowed up at once, and disappears in the heap of pebbles +on which it falls. Conversation is difficult, for the roar is +overpowering. After I had stood some minutes in contemplation, Mr. +Metcalfe told me that it was possible to get behind the fall and look +through it, taking care to run quickly across the strong blast that +meets you on starting from the recess. I buttoned my overcoat to my +chin, and rushed into the cavity, and looked upwards. I was in a pit 120 +feet deep, covered by a tumultuous curtain of water, but had to make a +speedy retreat, so furiously was I enveloped by blinding spray. To make +observations from that spot one should wear a suit of waterproof. + +Through the absence of sunshine I lost the sight of the rainbow which is +seen for about two hours in the middle of the day from the front of the +fall. It is a horizontal bow with the convex side towards the water, +shifting its position higher or lower as you mount or descend. + +Although it might now be properly described as a pit, the chasm gives +you the impression of a cave of which the roof has fallen in. If this be +so, the fall was once entirely underground, roaring day and night in +grim darkness. It may still be regarded as an underground fall, for the +throat from which it leaps is more than thirty feet below the surface. +In the cleft above this throat a thick heavy slab is fixed in a singular +position, just caught, as it seems, by two of its corners, so that you +fancy it ready to tumble at any moment with the current that shoots so +swiftly beneath it. As you pause often on returning to look back at the +roaring stream, and up to the impending crags, you will heartily confirm +Professor Sedgwick--who by the way is a Yorkshireman--in his opinion, +that if Weathercote Cave be small, it is a very gem. Nor will you grudge +the shilling fee for admission. + +The extreme length of the pit is about 180 feet. In rainy weather it +becomes a sink-hole into which the streams pour from all the slopes +around, at times filling it to the brim and running over. Mr. Metcalfe +shewed me the stem of a tree entangled in the crevices near the top, +which had been floated there by the floods of the previous winter. While +coming slowly up, I could not fail to notice the change of temperature, +from the chill damp that made me shiver, to a pleasant warmth, and then +to the heavy heat of a dull day in July. + +A little way below the house, going down the narrow dale, you come to +another mossy crevice in the rocks among the trees to which the country +folk have given the name of Gingle, or Jingle Pot, because of a certain +jingling sound produced by stones when thrown therein. To my ear there +was no ring in the sound. It is quite dry, with a bottom sloping steeply +and making a sudden turn to a depth of eighty feet. Mr. Metcalfe had let +himself down into the Pot by a rope, two days before my arrival, to look +for a young cow that had fallen in while on the gad, and disappeared in +the lowest hole. He saw the animal dead, and so tightly wedged in under +the rock, that there he left it. This was his second descent. The first +was made in winter some years ago to rescue his ducks, which, perhaps +deceived by the dark crevice, that looked like a deep narrow pond when +all the ground was white with snow, took all together a sudden flight to +settle on it, and of course went to the bottom. Mr. Metcalfe was driving +them home at the time; he looked over the edge of the Pot, and invited +the silly birds to fly out. But no, they would not be persuaded to use +their wings, and remained crowded together on the highest part of the +slope, stretching their necks upwards. So there was nothing for it but +to fetch them out. Their owner let himself down; yet after all his +trouble the ungrateful creatures refused as long as possible to be put +into the bag. + +Farther down again, and you come to Hurtle Pot, a gloomy cavity overhung +by trees, and mantled with ivy, ferns, and coarse weeds. At the bottom +rests a darksome pool, said to be twenty-seven feet deep, which contains +small trout, and swallows up rocks and stones, or whatever may be thrown +into it, without any perceptible diminution of the depth. You can get +down to the edge of the water by an inconvenient path, and feel the +gloom, and find excuses for the rustics who believe in the existence of +the Hurtle Pot Boggart. In olden time his deeds were terrible; but of +late years he only frightens people with noises. Both this and Jingle +Pot are choked with water from subterranean channels in flood time, and +then there is heard here such an intermittent throbbing, gurgling noise, +accompanied by what seem dismal gaspings, that a timorous listener might +easily believe the Boggart was drowning his victims. One evening a +loving couple, walking behind the trees above the Pot, heard most +unearthly noises arise from the murky chasm; never had the like been +heard before. Surely, thought the turtle-doves, the Boggart is coming +forth with some new trick, and they fled in terror. A friend of Mr. +Metcalfe's was playing his flute down on the edge of the pool. + +Again farther, and there is the little chapel from which the dale takes +its name. As I have said, we are here on classic ground. That is the +edifice, and this is the place described by Southey. Here dwelt that +worthy yeoman, Daniel Dove's father, and his fathers before him, handing +down their six-and-twenty acres, and better yet, an honest name, from +one to the other through many generations--yea, from time immemorial. +One of those good old families which had ancestors before the Conquest. +Give me leave, good-natured reader, to complete my sketch by the +description as it appears, with masterly touches, in _The Doctor_. + +"The little church called Chapel-le-Dale, stands about a bowshot from +the family house. There they had all been carried to the font; there +they had each led his bride to the altar; and thither they had, each in +his turn, been borne upon the shoulders of their friends and neighbours. +Earth to earth they had been consigned there for so many generations, +that half of the soil of the churchyard consisted of their remains. A +hermit who might wish his grave to be as quiet as his cell, could +imagine no fitter resting-place. On three sides there was an irregular +low stone wall, rather to mark the limits of the sacred ground, than to +enclose it; on the fourth it was bounded by the brook, whose waters +proceed by a subterraneous channel from Weathercote Cave. Two or three +alders and rowan-trees hung over the brook, and shed their leaves and +seeds into the stream. Some bushy hazels grew at intervals along the +lines of the wall; and a few ash-trees as the winds had sown them. To +the east and west some fields adjoined it, in that state of half +cultivation which gives a human character to solitude: to the south, on +the other side the brook, the common with its limestone rocks peering +everywhere above ground, extended to the foot of Ingleborough. A craggy +hill, feathered with birch, sheltered it from the north. + +"The turf was as soft and fine as that of the adjoining hills; it was +seldom broken, so scanty was the population to which it was +appropriated; scarcely a thistle or a nettle deformed it, and the few +tombstones which had been placed there, were now themselves half buried. +The sheep came over the wall when they listed, and sometimes took +shelter in the porch from the storm. Their voices and the cry of the +kite wheeling above, were the only sounds which were heard there, except +when the single bell which hung in its niche over the entrance tinkled +for service on the Sabbath day, or with a slower tongue gave notice that +one of the children of the soil was returning to the earth from which he +sprung." + +Is not that charming?--a word-picture, worthy of a master's pen. One +error, however, has slipped in. There is no porch, nor any sign that one +has ever been. The chapel will hold eighty persons, and is, as Mr. +Metcalfe, informed me, "never too small." + +A week or more might be spent in explorations in this neighbourhood. +Five miles down towards Kirkby Lonsdale, there is Thornton Force. Near +it is Yordas Cave--once the haunt of a giant; Gatekirk Cave is distant +about half an hour's walk; Douk Hole is in the neighbourhood of +Ingleton; and in all the region, and over the Westmoreland border, there +is a highly picturesque succession of caves, ravines, glens, and +torrents dashing through rocky chasms, and of all the magnificent +phenomena only to be seen amid the limestone. Many a tourist hurries +past on his way to the Lakes all unmindful of scenery which, in its +kind, surpasses any that he will see between Windermere and +Bassenthwaite. + +I went up to the public-house and dined with the haymakers, and enjoyed +the sight of sunburnt rustics eating smoking mutton-pie without stint, +as much as I did my own repast. The host's daughter brought me a book, +which had only recently been provided to receive the names of visitors. +Among them was the autograph of a Russian gentleman who had called +within the week, and who, as I heard, did nothing but grumble at English +customs, yet could not help praising the scenery. He was on foot, and +with knapsack on shoulder. I crossed his track, and heard of him sundry +times afterwards, and hoped to meet him, that I might ask leave to +enlighten him on a few points concerning which he appeared to be +distressingly ignorant. + +I had planned to ascend and cross Ingleborough, and drop down upon +Clapham from its southern side; but when a hill is half buried in mist, +and furious scuds fly across its brow, it is best to be content with the +valley. So I took up my route on the main road, and continued down the +dale, where the limestone crags breaking out on each side form a series +of irregular terraces, intermingled green and gray, pleasing to the eye. +In the bottom, on the right, the subterranean river bursts forth which +Goldsmith mentions in his _Natural History_. + +The height of Ingleborough is 2361 feet. Its name is supposed to be +derived from _Ingle-burg_--a word which embodies the idea of fire and +fortress. It is a table-mountain, with a top so flat and spacious that +an encampment of more than fifteen acres, of which the traces are still +visible, was established thereon, probably by the Brigantes, if not by +an earlier race. It is a landmark for vessels on the coast of +Lancashire. St. George's Channel is visible from the summit; and one who +has looked on the eastern sea from Flamborough Head may find it +convenient to remember that Yorkshire, on its westernmost extremity, is +but ten miles from the western sea. + +In a short hour from Weathercote you come to the end of the fells, an +abrupt descent, all rough with crags and boulders, where the view opens +at once over the district of Craven, and the little town of Ingleton is +seen comfortably nestled under the hill. Craven lies outspread in +beauty--woods, hills, fields, and pastures charming the eye of one who +comes from the untilled moors, and suggestive of delightful rambles in +store. The Ribble flows through it, watering many a romantic cliff and +wooded slope. And for the geologist, Craven possesses especial interest, +for it is intersected by what he calls a 'fault,' on the southern side +of which the limestone strata are thrown down a thousand feet. + +I left Ingleton on the right, and turned off at the cross-roads for +Clapham, distant four miles. Here, as in other parts of my travel, the +miles seemed long--quite as long as they were found to be years ago. We +are told that when young Daniel Dove walked dutifully every day to +school, "the distance was in those days called two miles; but miles of +such long measure that they were for him a good hour's walk at a +cheerful pace." On the way from Mickle Fell to Brough I met with a more +unkindly experience; and that was an hour's walking for a single mile. + +The road undulating along the hill-side commands pleasing views, and for +one on foot is to be preferred to the new road, which winds among the +fields below. And with a brightening evening we come to Clapham--a +cheerful, pretty village, adorned with flowers, and climbers, and +smooth grass plots, embowered by trees, and watered by a merry brook, +lying open to the sun on the roots of Ingleborough. Looking about for an +inn, I saw the _Bull and Cave_, and secured quarters there by leaving my +knapsack, and set out to seek for the guide, whom I found chatting with +a group of loungers on the bridge. Bull and Cave seemed to me such an +odd coupling, that I fancied cave must be a Yorkshire way of spelling +calf; but it really means that which it purports, and the two words are +yoked together in order that visitors, who are numerous, may be easily +attracted. + +Here in Clapdale--a dale which penetrates the slopes of Ingleborough--is +the famous Ingleborough Cave, the deepest and most remarkable of all the +caves hitherto discovered in the honeycombed flanks of that remarkable +hill. Intending to see this, I left unvisited the other caves which have +been mentioned as lying to the right and left of the road as you come +down from _Gearstones_. + +The fee for a single person to see the cave is half-a-crown; for a party +of eight or ten a shilling each. The guide, who is an old soldier, and a +good specimen of the class, civil and intelligent, called at his house +as we passed to get candles, and presently we were clear of the village, +and walking up-hill along a narrow lane. Below us on the right lay +cultivated grounds and well-kept plantations, through which, as the old +man told me, visitors were once allowed to walk on their way to the +cave--a pleasing and much less toilsome way than the lane; but the +remains of picnics left on the grass, broken bottles, orange-peels, +greasy paper and wisps of hay, became such a serious abuse of the +privilege, that Mr. Farrer, the proprietor, withdrew his permission. +"It's a wonder to me," said the guide, "that people shouldn't know how +to behave themselves." + +In about half an hour we came to a hollow between two grassy +acclivities, out of which runs a rapid beck, and here on the left, in a +limestone cliff prettily screened by trees, is the entrance to the cave, +a low, wide arch that narrows as it recedes into the gloom. We walked in +a few yards; the guide lit two candles, placed one in my hand and +unlocked the iron gate, which, very properly, keeps out the perpetrators +of wanton mischief. A few paces take us beyond the last gleam of +daylight, and we are in a narrow passage, of which the sides and roof +are covered with a brown incrustation resembling gigantic clusters of +petrified moss. Curious mushroom-like growths hang from the roof, and +throwing his light on these, the guide says we are passing through the +Inverted Forest. So it continues, the roof still low, for eighty yards, +comprising the Old Cave, which has been known for ages; and we come to a +narrow passage hewn through a thick screen of stalagmite. It was opened +twenty years ago by Mr. Farrer's gardener, who laboured at the barrier +until it was breached, and a new cavern of marvellous formation was +discovered beyond. An involuntary exclamation broke from me as I entered +and beheld what might have been taken for a glittering fairy palace. On +each side, sloping gently upwards till they met the roof, great bulging +masses of stalagmite of snowy whiteness lay outspread, mound after mound +glittering as with millions of diamonds. For the convenience of +explorers, the passage between them has been widened and levelled as far +as possible, wherein the beck that we saw outside finds a channel after +unusual rains. You walk along this passage now on sand, now on pebbles, +now bare rock. All the great white masses are damp; their surfaces are +rough with countless crystallized convolutions and minute ripples, +between which trickle here and there tiny threads of water. It is to the +moisture that the unsullied whiteness is due, and the glistening effect; +for wherever stalactite or stalagmite becomes dry, the colour changes to +brown, as we saw in the Old Cave. A strange illusion came over me as I +paced slowly past the undulating ranges, and for a moment they seemed to +represent the great rounded snow-fields that whiten the sides of the +Alps. + +The cavern widens: we are in the Pillar Hall; stalactites of all +dimensions hang from the roof, singly and in groups. Thousands are mere +nipples, or an inch or two in length; many are two or three feet; and +the whole place resounds with the drip and tinkle of water. Stalagmites +dot the floor, and while some have grown upwards the stalactites have +grown downwards, until the ends meet, and the ceaseless trickle of water +fashions an unbroken crystal pillar. Some stalactites assume a spiral +twist; and where a long thin fissure occurs in the roof they take the +form of draperies, curtains, and wings--wings shaped like those of +angels. The guide strikes one of the wings with a small mallet, and it +gives out a rich musical note; another has the deep sonorous boom of a +cathedral bell, another rings sharp and shrill, and a row of stalactitic +sheets answers when touched with a gamut of notes. Your imagination +grows restless while you listen to such strange music deep in the heart +of a mountain. + +And there are pools on the floor, and in raised basins at the +side--pools of water so limpid as to be treacherous, for in the +uncertain light all appears to be solid rock. I stepped knee deep into +one, mistaking it for an even floor. Well for me it was not the Abyss +which yawns at the end of Pillar Hall. The guide, to show the effect of +light reflected on the water, crawls up to the end of one of the basins +with the two candles in his hand, while you standing in the gloom at the +other end, observe the smooth brilliant surface, and the brightness that +flashes from every prominence of roof or wall. + +Although geologists explain the process of formation, there is yet much +food for wonder in remembering that all these various objects were +formed by running water. The water, finding its way through fissures in +the mighty bed of limestone overhead, hangs in drops, one drop pushes +another off, but not idly; for while the current of air blowing through +carries off their carbonic acid, they give up the salt of lime gathered +during percolation, and form small stony tubes. And these tubes, the +same cause continuing to operate, grow in course of ages to magnificent +stalactites; and where thin, broad streams have appeared, there the +draperies and wings and the great snow-fields have been fashioned. The +incrustation spreads even over some of the pools: the film of water +flowing in deposits its solid contents on the margin, and these, +crystallizing and accumulating, advance upon the surface, as ice forms +from the edge towards the centre of a pond, and in time bridge it over +with a translucent sheet. + +Among the stalagmites are a few of beehive shape; but there is one named +the Jockey Cap, an extraordinary specimen for bigness. Its base has a +circumference of ten feet, its height is two feet, all produced by a +succession of drops from one single point. Advantage has been taken of +this circumstance to measure the rate of its growth. Mr. Farrer +collected a pint of drops, and ascertained the fall to be one hundred +pints a day, each pint containing one grain of calcareous matter; and +from this daily supply of a hundred grains the Jockey Cap was built up +to its present dimensions in two hundred and fifty-nine years. In six +years, from 1845 to 1851, the diameter increased by two, and the height +by three inches. Probably owing to the morning's rain, the drops fell +rapidly while I stood looking at the cap--splash--splash--splash--into a +small saucer-like depression in the middle of the crown, from which with +ceaseless overflow the water bathes the entire mass. Around it is the +most drippy part of the cave. + +In places there are sudden breaks in the roof at right angles to the +passage--cracks produced by the cooling of this great limestone bubble +in the primeval days--which look as if Nature had begun to form a series +of cross aisles, and then held her hand. Some of these are nests of +stalactites; one exhibits architectural forms adorned with beads and +mouldings as if sculptured in purest marble. The farther you penetrate +the loftier do they become; impressing you with the idea that they are +but the ante-chambers of some majestic temple farther within. The Abyss +appears to be a similar arch reversed in the floor. + +Then we came to a bend where the roof rushing down appears to bar all +further advance, but the guide puts a thing into your hand which you +might take to be a scrubbing-brush, and telling you to stoop, creeps +into a low opening between the rising floor and descending roof, and you +discover that the scrubbing-brush is a paddle to enable you to walk on +three legs while crouching down. It keeps your right hand from the +slippery rock; and your left has always enough to do in holding the +candle. The creeping continues but for a few yards, and you emerge into +one of the cross vaults, and again sand and pebbles form the floor. Then +comes the Cellar Gallery, a long tunnel-like passage, the sides +perpendicular, the roof arched, which, like all the rest, has been +shaped by currents of water, aided in this case by the grinding action +of sand and pebbles. Continuing through thousands of years, the result +is as we behold it. The tunnel appears the more gloomy from the absence +of ornament: no stalactites, no wings, reflect the dim candle-flame; for +which reason, as well as to avoid the creeping, many visitors refuse to +advance beyond the entrance of the Long Gallery. But the tunnel leads +you into the Giant's Hall, where stalactites and draperies again meet +your eye, and where your light is all too feeble to illumine the lofty +roof. And here is the end, 2106 feet from the entrance--nearly half a +mile. From the time that the gardener broke through the barrier in the +Old Cave, two years were spent in gradual advances till the Giant's Hall +was reached. The adventurous explorers endeavoured to get farther, for +two small holes were discovered leading downwards from one side of the +Hall to a lower cave, through which arose the sound of falling water. +They braved the danger, and let themselves down to a level, where they +were stopped by a deep pool--the receiver of the fall. It must have +looked fearfully dismal. Yet might there not be caverns still more +wonderful beyond? Fixing a candle to his cap and with a rope round his +body, Mr. James Farrer swam across the murky lake, and found it closed +in by what appeared to be an impassable wall of limestone--the heart of +Ingleborough. It was a courageous adventure. + +I stretched out my candle and peered down the two holes. One is dry and +sandy, the other slimy with a constant drip. I heard the noise of the +fall, the voice of the water plunging for ever, night and day, in deep +darkness. It seemed awful. A current of air blows forth continually, +whereby the cave is ventilated throughout its entire length, and the +visitor, safe from stagnant damps and stifling vapours, breathes freely +in a pure atmosphere. + +I walked once more from end to end of the Hall; and we retraced our +steps. In the first cross aisle the guide made me aware of an echo which +came back to the ear as a hollow moan. We crept through into Pillar +Hall, and I could not help lingering once more to admire the brilliant +and delicate incrustations, and to scramble between or over the great +stalagmitic barriers to see what was in the rear. Here and there I saw a +mass resembling a font, filled with water of exquisite purity, or raised +oval or oblong basins representing alabaster baths, wherein none but +vestal virgins might enter. + +Except that the path has been levelled and widened, and openings +enlarged, and planks laid in one place to facilitate access to a change +of level, the cave remains as when first discovered. Mr. Farrer's +precautions against mischief have prevented that pillage of the interior +so much to be deplored in other caves of this region, where the +first-comers made prize of all the ornaments within reach, and left +little but bare walls for those who follow. Yet even here some of the +smaller stalactites, the size of a finger, have been missed after a +party has gone through; and once a man struck a group of stalactites and +broke more than a foot off the longest, in sheer wantonness, as it +seemed, for the fragment was too heavy to carry away. And there the +mutilation remains, a lasting reproach to a fool. + +My candle burnt out, and the other flickered near its end, but the old +man had two halves which he lit, and these more than sufficed for our +return. The red light of sunset was streaming into the entrance when we +came forth after a sojourn of nearly two hours in the bowels of the +mountain. The guide had been very indulgent with me; for most visitors +stay but an hour. Those who merely wish to walk through, content with a +hasty glance, will find little to impede their movements. There is +nothing, indeed, which need deter a woman, only she must leave her hoop +at home, wear thick boots, and make provision for looping-up her skirts. +Many an English maiden would then enjoy a visit to Ingleborough Cave. + +The beck flows out from under the cliff a few yards above the entrance +through a broad low vault. I crept in for some distance, and it seemed +to me that access to the cave might be gained by wading up the stream. +Then as we went down the hill, the old soldier thought that as there +were but two of us, we might venture to walk through the grounds, where +we saw the lake, the bridge, and the cascade, on our way to the village. + +Delicious trout from the neighbouring brook, and most excellent beer, +awaited me for supper, and made me well content with the _Bull and +Cave_. Afterwards I joined the party in the little bar-parlour, where +among a variety of topics, the mountain was talked about. The landlord, +a hale old fellow of sixty, said that he had never once been on the +summit, though he had lived all his life at the base. A rustic, though a +two years' resident in Clapham, had not been up, and for a reason: "You +see," he said, "if a man gets on a high place, he isn't satisfied then; +he wants to get higher. So I thinks best to content myself down here." + +Then spoke another of the party, a man well dressed, in praise of rural +quiet, and the enjoyment of fresh air, contrasting the tranquillity of +Clapham at that hour with the noise and confusion at Bradford, where the +streets would be thronged till after midnight. He was an 'operative' +from Bradford, come as was his wont, to spend Sunday in the country. He +grew eloquent on the subject of masters and men, averring that masters, +as a body, would never do anything for the benefit of workmen unless +compelled thereto by act of Parliament. Well might he say so. Would the +mills be ventilated; would dangerous machinery be boxed off; would +schools have been interposed between children and slavery, had +Parliament not interfered? The number of Yorkshire factory children at +school on the last day of October, 1857, was 18,000, from eight to +thirteen years of age. On this latter particular our spinner could not +say enough in praise of the House of Commons: there was a chance for the +bairns now that the law punished the masters who did not allow time for +school as well as for work. "It's one of the grandest things," he said, +"Parliament ever did for the factory hands." + +He had too much reason to speak as he did; but we must not suppose that +the great millowners are worse than other masters. Owing to the large +numbers they employ, the evils complained of appear in a violent and +concentrated form; but we have only to look at the way in which +apprentices and domestic servants are treated everywhere, especially in +large towns (with comparatively few exceptions,) to become aware that a +want of fair-play is by far too prevalent. No wonder that Dr. +Livingstone finds reason to say we are not model Christians. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + By Rail to Skipton--A Stony Town--Church and Castle--The + Cliffords--Wharfedale--Bolton Abbey--Picturesque Ruins--A + Foot-Bath--Scraps from Wordsworth--Bolton Park--The Strid-- + Barden Tower--The Wharfe--The Shepherd Lord--Reading to + Grandfather--A Cup of Tea--Cheerful Hospitality--Trout Fishing + --Gale Beck--Symon Seat--A Real Entertainer--Burnsall--A Drink + of Porter--Immoralities--Threshfield--Kilnsey--The Crag-- + Kettlewell--A Primitive Village--Great Whernside--Starbottom-- + Buckden--Last View of Wharfedale--Cray--Bishopdale--A Pleasant + Lane--Bolton Castle--Penhill--Aysgarth--Dead Pastimes--Decrease + of Quakers--Failure of a Mission--Why and Wherefore--Aysgarth + Force--Drunken Barnaby--Inroad of Fashion. + + +The railway station at Clapham, as well as others along the line, is +built in the old timbered style, and harmonizes well with the landscape. +A railway hotel stands close by, invitingly open to guests who dislike +the walk of a mile to the village; and the landlord, as I was told, +multiplies his profits by renting the Cave. + +A short flight by the first train took me to breakfast at Skipton, all +through the pretty country of Craven, of which the town is the capital. +The houses are built of stone taken from the neighbouring hills. The +bells were just beginning their chimes as I passed the church, and, +seeing the door open, I went in and looked at the stained glass and old +monuments, the shields and sculptures which commemorate the +Cliffords--Lords of the Honour of Skipton--the Lady Ellinor, of the +house of Brandon; the Earls of Cumberland, one of whom was Queen +Elizabeth's champion against the Spaniard, as well as in tilt and +tournament. + +The castle, which has played a conspicuous part in history, stands +beside the church, and there, over the gateway, you may still see the +shield bearing two griffins, and the motto #Desormais#. Within, you view +the massive, low, round towers from a pleasant garden, where but few +signs of antiquity are to be seen; for modern restorations have masked +the old grim features. Here dwelt the Cliffords, a proud and mighty +family, who made a noise in the world, in their day. Among them was Lord +John, or Black Clifford, who did butcher-work at the battle of +Wakefield, and was repaid the year after at Towton. In the first year of +Edward IV. the estates were forfeited because of high treason, and +Henry, the tenth Lord of the Honour of Skipton, to escape the ill +consequence of his father's disloyalty, was concealed for twenty-five +years among the shepherds of Cumberland. Another of the line was that +imperial-minded Countess, the Lady Anne Clifford, who, when she repaired +her castle of Skipton, made it known by an inscription in the same terms +as that set up on her castle at Brough, and with the same passage of +Scripture. Now it is a private residence; and the ancient tapestries and +pictures, and other curiosities which are still preserved, can only be +seen after due pains taken by the inquiring visitor. + +The life of the Shepherd Lord, as he was called, is a touching episode +in the history of the Cliffords; heightened by the marked contrast +between the father and son--the one warlike and revengeful, the other +gentle and forgiving. We shall come again on the traces of the pastoral +chief ere the day be over. + +There is a long stretch of the old castle wall on the left as you go up +the road towards Knaresborough. From the top of the hill, looking back +about a mile and a half distant, you get a pleasing view of Skipton, +lying in its cheerful green valley; and presently, in the other +direction, you see the hills of Wharfedale. Everywhere the grass is +waving, or, newly-mown, fills all the air with delightful odour. I +walked slowly, for the day was hot--one of the hottest of that fervid +July--and took till noon to accomplish the seven miles to Bolton Abbey. +The number of vehicles drawn up at the _Devonshire Arms_--a good inn +about two furlongs from the ruin--and the numerous visitors, betokened +something unusually attractive. + +Since Landseer painted his picture, Bolton Abbey has become a household +word. It seems familiar to us beforehand. We picture it to our minds; +and your imagination must be extravagant indeed if the picture be not +realized. It is a charming scene that opens as you turn out of the road +and descend the grassy slope: the abbey standing, proud and beautiful +in decay, in a green meadow, where stately trees adorn the gentle +undulations; the Wharfe rippling cheerfully past, coming forth from +wooded hills above, going away between wooded hills below, alike + + "With mazy error under pendent shades;" + +the bold perpendicular cliff opposite, all purple and gray, crowned and +flanked with hanging wood; the cascade rushing down in a narrow line of +foam; the big mossy stones that line the bank, and the stony islets in +the bed of the stream; and, looking up the dale, the great sweeps of +wood in Bolton Park, terminated by the wild heights of Symon Seat and +Barden Fell. All around you see encircling woods, and combinations of +rock, and wood, and water, that inspire delightful emotions. + +But you will turn again and again to the abbey to gaze on its tall +arches, the great empty window, the crumbling walls, over which hang +rich masses of ivy, and walking slowly round you will discover the +points whence the ruins appear most picturesque. And within, where +elder-trees grow, and the carved tombstones of the old abbots lie on the +turf, you may still see where the monks sat in the sanctuary, and where +they poured the holy water. And whether from within or without, you will +survey with reverent admiration. A part of the nave is used as a church +for the neighbourhood, and ere I left, the country folk came from all +the paths around, summoned by the pealing bell. I looked in and saw +richly stained windows and old tombs. + +On the rise above the abbey stands a castellated lodge, embodying the +ancient gate-house, an occasional resort of the late Duke of Devonshire, +to whom the estate belonged. Of all his possessions this perhaps offered +him most of beauty and tranquillity. + +You may ramble at will; cross the long row of stepping-stones to the +opposite bank, and scramble through the wood to the top of the cliff; or +roam over the meadows up and down the river, or lounge in idle enjoyment +on the seats fixed under some of the trees. After strolling hither and +thither, I concealed myself under the branches overhanging the stream, +and sat there as in a bower, with my feet in the shallow water, the +lively flashing current broad before me, and read, + + "From Bolton's old monastic tower + The bells ring loud with gladsome power; + The sun shines bright; the fields are gay + With people in their best array + Of stole and doublet, hood and scarf, + Along the banks of crystal Wharfe, + Through the Vale retired and lowly, + Trooping to that summons holy. + And, up among the moorlands, see + What sprinklings of blithe company!" + +And while I read, the bell was ringing, and the people were gathering +together, and anon the priest + + "all tranquilly + Recites the holy liturgy," + +but no White Doe of Rylstone came gliding down to pace timidly among the +tombs, and make her couch on a solitary grave. + +And reading there on the scene itself, I found a new charm in the +pages--a vivid life in the old events and old names: + + "Pass, pass who will, yon chantry door; + And through the chink in the fractured floor + Look down, and see a grisly sight; + A vault where the bodies are buried upright! + There, face by face, and hand by hand, + The Claphams and Mauleverers stand; + And, in his place, among son and sire, + Is John de Clapham, that fierce Esquire, + A valiant man, and a name of dread + In the ruthless wars of the White and Red; + Who dragged Earl Pembroke from Banbury church, + And smote off his head on the stones of the porch! + Look down among them, if you dare; + Oft does the White Doe loiter there." + +And here, as at Skipton, we are reminded of the Cliffords, and of the +Shepherd Lord, to whom appeared at times the gracious fairy, + + "And taught him signs, and showed him sights, + In Craven's dens, on Cumbrian heights; + When under a cloud of fear he lay, + A shepherd clad in homely gray." + +I left my mossy seat and returned to the bank, thoroughly cooled, on +coming to the end of the poem, and started for a travel up the dale. The +road skirts the edge of Bolton Park; but the pleasantest way is through +the park itself, for there you have grand wooded slopes on each side, +and there the river rushing along its limestone bed encounters the +far-famed Strid. A rustic, however, told me that no one was allowed to +cross the park on Sunday; but having come to see a sight, I did not like +to be disappointed, and thought it best to test the question myself. I +kept on, therefore, passing from the open grounds to delightful paths +under the woods, bending hither and thither, and with many a rise and +fall among rocks and trees. Presently, guided by the roar, I struck +through the wood for the stony margin of the river. Here all is rock: +great hummocks, ledges and tables of rock, wherein are deep basins, +gullies, bays, and shallow pools; and the water makes a loud noise as it +struggles past. Here and there a rugged cliff appears, its base buried +in underwood, its front hung with ivy; and there are marks on the trees, +and portentous signs on the drifted boulders, which reveal the swollen +height of floods. There are times when all these Yorkshire rivers become +impetuous torrents, roaring along in resistless might and majesty. + +A little farther and the rocks form a dam, leaving but a narrow opening +in the centre, across which a man may stride, for the passage of the +stream--and we behold the Strid. Piling itself up against the barrier, +the water rushes through, deep, swift and ungovernable, and boils and +eddies below with never-ceasing tumult. The rock on each side of the +sluice is worn smooth by the feet of many who have stridden across, +caring nothing for the tales that are told of terrible accidents from a +slip of the foot or from giddiness. Once a young lady, fascinated by the +rapid current, fell in and was drowned in sight of her friends. And + + "----mounting high + To days of dim antiquity; + When Lady Aaliza mourned + Her son, and felt in her despair + The pang of unavailing prayer; + Her son in Wharfe's abysses drowned, + The noble Boy of Egremound. + From which affliction--when the grace + Of God had in her heart found place-- + A pious structure, fair to see, + Rose up, the stately Priory!" + +For about a mile upwards the river-bed is still rocky, and you see many +a pretty effect of rushing water, and perhaps half a dozen strids, but +not one with only a single sluice, as the first. No one stopped or +turned me back; no peremptory shout threatened me from afar; and truly +the river is so shut in by woods, that intruders could only be seen by +an eye somewhere on its brink. Not a soul did I meet, except three +countrymen, who, when I came suddenly upon them on doubling a crag, +seemed ready to take to flight, for instead of coming the beaten way to +view the romantic, they had got over the fence, and scrambled down +through the wood. They soon perceived that I was very harmless. + +A little farther and we leave the rocks; the woods recede and give place +to broad grassy slopes; high up on the right stands the keeper's house; +higher on the left the old square block of Barden Tower peeps above the +trees; before us a bridge spans the river, and there we pass into the +road which leads through the village of Barden to Pateley Bridge and +Nidderdale. + +The Wharfe has its source in the bleak moorlands which we saw flanking +Cam Fell during our descent from Counterside a few days ago. Rocks and +cliffs of various formations beset all its upper course, imparting a +different character to the dale every few leagues--savage, romantic, +picturesque, and beautiful. No more beautiful scenery is to be found +along the river than for some miles above and below Bolton Abbey. Five +miles farther down, the stream flows past those two delightful inland +watering-places, Ilkley and Ben Rhydding, and onwards between thick +woods and broad meadows to Wetherby, below which it is again narrowed by +cliffs, until leaving Tadcaster, rich in memories of Rome, it enters the +Ouse between Selby and York. + +The sight of Barden Tower reminds us once more of the Shepherd Lord, for +there he oft did sojourn, enjoying rural scenes and philosophical +studies, even after his restoration to rank and estate in his +thirty-second year. + + "I wish I could have heard thy long-tried lore, + Thou virtuous Lord of Skipton! Thou couldst well + From sage Experience, that best teacher, tell + How far within the Shepherd's humble door + Lives the sure happiness, that on the floor + Of gay Baronial Halls disdains to dwell, + Though decked with many a feast, and many a spell + Of gorgeous rhyme, and echoing with the roar + Of Pleasure, clamorous round the full-crowned bowl! + Thou hadst (and who had doubted thee?) exprest + What empty baubles are the ermined stole, + Proud coronet, rich walls with tapestry drest, + And music lulling the sick frame to rest! + Bliss only haunts the pure contented soul!" + +But the blood of his ancestors flowed in his veins, and on the royal +summons to arm and array for Flodden, he, at the age of sixty, led his +retainers to the field: + + "From Penigent to Pendle Hill, + From Linton to Long Addingham, + And all that Craven coasts did till, + They with the lusty Clifford came." + +I crossed the bridge and went up the hill for a view of the ruin. At the +top, a broken slope, sprinkled with trees, serves as village green to +the few houses which constitute the place known as Barden Tower. Near +one of these houses I saw a pretty sight--a youth sitting on a bench +under a shady tree reading to his old grandfather from one of those +venerable folios written by divines whose head and heart were alike full +of their subject--the ways of God towards man, and man's duty. Wishing +to make an inquiry concerning the road, I apologized for my +interruption, when both graybeard and lad made room for me between them +on the bench, and proffered all they knew of information. But it soon +appeared that the particulars I wanted could only be furnished by +"uncle, who was up-stairs a-cleaning himself;" so to improve the time +until he was ready I passed round the end of the house to the Tower in +the rear. The old gateway remains, and some of the ancient timbers; but +the upper chambers are now used as lofts for firewood, and the +ground-floor is a cow-stall. The external walls are comparatively but +little decayed, and appear in places as strong as when they sheltered +the Cliffords. + +Uncle was there when I returned to the front. He knew the country well, +for in his vocation as a butcher he travelled it every week, and enabled +me to decide between Kettlewell and Pateley Bridge for my coming route. +And more, he said he would like to walk a mile or two with me; he would +put on his coat, and soon overtake me. I walked slowly on, and was out +of sight of the house, when he came running after me, and cried, "Hey! +come back. A cup o' tea 'll do neither of us any harm, so come back and +have a cup afore we start." + +I went back, for such hospitality as that was not to be slighted; and +while we sipped he talked about the pretty scenery, about the rooms +which he had to let, and the lodgers he had entertained. Sometimes there +came a young couple full of poetry and sentiment, too much so, indeed, +to be merry; sometimes a student, who liked to prowl about the ruin, +explore all its secrets, and wander out to where + + "High on a point of rugged ground, + Among the wastes of Rylstone Fell, + Above the loftiest ridge or mound + Where foresters or shepherds dwell, + An edifice of warlike frame + Stands single--Norton tower its name-- + It fronts all quarters, and looks round + O'er path and road, and plain and dell, + Dark moor, and gleam of pool and stream, + Upon a prospect without bound." + +And he talked, too, about the trout in the river, and the anglers who +came to catch them. But the fishing is not unrestricted; leave must be +obtained, and a fee paid. Anyone in search of trout or the picturesque, +who can content himself with rustic quarters, would find in Mr. +Williamson, of Barden Tower, a willing adviser. + +Presently we took the road, which, with the river on the right, runs +along the hill-side, sheltered by woods, high above the stream. A few +minutes brought us to a gate, where we got over, and went a little way +down the slope to look at Gale beck, a pretty cascade tumbling into a +little dell, delightfully cool, and green with trees, ferns, and mosses. +My companion showed that he used his eyes while driving about in his +cart, and picked out the choice bits of the scenery; and these he now +pointed out to me with all the pride of one who had a personal interest +in their reputation. Ere long we emerged from the trees, and could +overlook the pleasing features of the dale; fields and meadows on each +side of the stream, bounded by steep hills, and crags peeping out from +the great dark slopes of firs. The rocky summit of Symon Seat appeared +above a brow on the left bank, coming more and more into view as we +advanced, till the great hill itself was unveiled. From those rocks, on +a clear day, you can see Rosebury Topping, and the towers of York and +Ripon. + +For four miles did my entertainer accompany me, which, considering the +fierce heat of the evening, I could only regard as an honest +manifestation of friendliness--to me very gratifying. We parted in sight +of Burnsall, a village situate on the fork of the river, where the +Littondale branch joins that of Wharfedale proper. + +A man who sat reading at his door near the farther end of the village +looked up as I passed, and asked, "Will ye have a drink o' porter?" Hot +weather justified acceptance; he invited me to sit while he went to the +barrel, and when he came forth with the foaming jug, he, too, must have +a talk. But his talk was not what I expected--the simple words of a +simple-minded rustic; he craved to know something, and more than was +good, concerning a certain class of publications sold in +Holywell-street; things long ago condemned by the moral law, and now +very properly brought under the lash of the legal law by Lord Campbell. +Having no mission to be a scavenger, I advised him not to meddle with +pitch; but he already knew too much, and he mentioned things which help +to explain the great demand for the immoral books out of the metropolis. +One was, that in a small northern, innocent-looking country town, Adam +and Eve balls regularly take place, open to all comers who can pay for +admission. + +From Burnsall onwards we have again the grass country, the landscape +loses the softened character of that in our rear; we follow a bad +cross-road for some miles, passing wide apart a solitary farm or +cottage, and come into a high-road a little to the right of Threshfield. +Here and there a group of labourers are lounging on a grassy bank, +smoking, talking quietly, and enjoying the sunset coolness; and I had +more than one invitation to tarry and take a friendly pipe. + +Louder sounds the noise of the river as the evening lengthens; the dark +patches of firs on the hill-sides grow darker; the rocks and cliffs look +strange and uncertain; the road approaches a foaming rapid, where +another strid makes the water roar impatiently; and so I completed the +ten miles from Harden Tower, and came in deep twilight to the _Anglers' +Inn_ at Kilnsey as the good folk were preparing for bed. + +As its name denotes, the house is frequented by anglers, who, after +paying a fee of half-a-crown a day, find exercise for their skill in the +rippling shallows and silent pools of the river which flows past not +many yards from the road. I am told that the sport is but indifferent. + +A short distance beyond the inn there rises sheer from the road a grand +limestone cliff, before which you will be tempted to pause. A low grassy +slope, bordered by a narrow brook, forms a natural plinth; small trees +and ivy grow from the fissures high overhead, and large trees and bush +on the ledges; the colony of swallows that inhabit the holes flit +swiftly about the crest, and what with the contrast of verdure and +rock, and the magnitude of the cliff, your eye is alike impressed and +gratified. By taking a little trouble you may get to the top, and while +looking on the scene beneath, let your thoughts run back to the time +when Wharfedale was a loch, such as Loch Long or Loch Fyne, into which +the tides of the sea flowed twice a day, beating against the base of the +Kilnsey Crag, where now sheep graze, and men pass to and fro on business +or pleasure. + +To take my start the next morning from so lofty a headland: to feel new +life thrill through every limb from the early sun; to drink of the +spring which the cliff overshadows where it gushes forth among mossy +stones at the root of an ash; to inhale the glorious breeze that +tempered the heat, was a delightful beginning of a day's walk. Soon we +cross to the left bank of Wharfe, and follow the road between the river +and a cliffy range of rocks to Kettlewell, enjoying pleasing views all +the way. And the village itself seems a picture of an earlier age--a +street of little stone cottages, backed by gardens and orchards; here +and there a queer little shop; the shoemaker sitting with doors and +windows open looking out on his flowers every time he lifts his eyes; +the smith, who has opened all his shutters to admit the breeze, +hammering leisurely, as if half inclined for a holiday with such a +wealth of sunshine pouring down; and _Nancy Hardaker, Grocer and +Draper_, and dealer in everything besides, busying herself behind her +little panes with little preparations for customers. It is a simple +picture: one that makes you believe the honest outward aspect is only +the expression of honesty within. + +For one who had time to explore the neighbourhood, Kettlewell would be +good head-quarters. It has two inns, and a shabby tenement inscribed +_Temperance Hotel_. Hence you may penetrate to the wild fells at the +head of the dale; or climb to the top of Great Whernside; or ramble over +the shoulder of the great mountain into Coverdale, discovering many a +rocky nook, and many a little cascade and flashing rill. Great +Whernside, 2263 feet high, commands views into many dales, and affords +you a glimpse of far-off hills which we have already climbed. The Great +one has a brother named Little Whernside, because he is not so high by +nearly three hundred feet. The "limestone pass" between Great Whernside +and Buckden Pike is described as a grand bit of mountain scenery. + +From Kettlewell the road still ascends the dale, in sight of the river +which now narrows to the dimensions of a brook. Crags and cliffs still +break out of the hill-slopes, and more than any other that we have +visited, you see that Wharfedale is characterized by scars and cliffs. +The changing aspect of the scenery is manifest; the grass is less +luxuriant than lower down, and but few of the fields are mown. +Starbottom, a little place of rude stone houses, with porches that +resemble an outer stair, reminds us once more of a mountain village; but +it has trim flower-gardens, and fruit-trees, and a fringe of sycamores. + +I came to Buckden, the next village, just in time to dine with the +haymakers. Right good fare was provided--roast mutton, salad, and rice +pudding. Who would not be a hay-maker! Beyond the village the road turns +away from the river, and mounts a steep hill, where, from the top of the +bend, we get our last look down Wharfedale, upwards along +Langstrothdale, and across the elevated moorlands which enclose +Penyghent. Everywhere the gray masses of stone encroach on the waving +grass. Still the road mounts, and steeply; on the left, in a field, are +a few small enclosures, all standing, which, perhaps, represent the +British dwellings at the foot of Addleborough. Still up, through the +hamlet of Cray, with rills, rocks, and waterfalls on the right and left, +and then the crown of the pass, and a wide ridgy hollow, flanked by +cliffs, the outliers of Buckden Pike, which rears itself aloft on the +right. Then two or three miles of this breezy expanse, between Stake +Fell on one side and Wasset Fell on the other, and we come to the top of +Kidstone bank, and suddenly Bishopdale opens before us, a lovely sylvan +landscape melting away into Wensleydale. It will tempt you to lie down +for half an hour on the soft turf and enjoy the prospect at leisure. + +The descent is alike rough and steep, bringing you rapidly down to the +first farm. A cliff on the right gradually merges into the rounded swell +of a green hill; we come to a plantation where, in the open places by +the beck, grow wild strawberries; then to trees on one side--ash, holly, +beech, and larch, the stems embraced by ivy, and thorns and wild roses +between; then trees on both sides, and the narrow track is beautiful as +a Berkshire lane--and that is saying a great deal--and the brook which +accompanies it makes a cheerful sound as if gladdened by the quivering +sunbeams that fall upon it. Everywhere the haymakers are at work, and +with merry hearts, for the wind blows lustily and makes the whole dale +vocal. + +By-and-by the lane sends off branches, all alike pretty, one of which +brings us down into the lowest meadows, and on the descent we get +glimpses of Bolton Castle, and on the right appears Penhill, shouldering +forward like a great promontory. A relic of antiquity may yet be seen on +its slopes--obscure remains of a Preceptory of the Knights Templars. The +watcher on Penhill was one of those who helped to spread the alarm of +invasion in the days of Napoleon the Great, for he mistook a fire on the +eastern hills for the beacon on Rosebury Topping, and so set his own +a-blaze. We come to Thoralby, a village of comfortable signs within, and +pleasant prospects without; and now Wensleydale opens, and another +half-hour brings us to Aysgarth, a large village four miles below +Bainbridge. + +A tall maypole stands on the green, the only one I remember to have seen +in Yorkshire. It is a memorial of the sports and pastimes for which +Wensleydale was famous. The annual feasts and fairs would attract +visitors from twenty miles around. Here, at Aysgarth, not the least +popular part of the amusements were the races, run by men stark naked, +as people not more than forty years old can well remember. But times are +changed; and throughout the dale drunkenness and revelry are giving way +to teetotalism, lectures, tea-gatherings, and other moral recreations. +And the change is noticeable in another particular: the Quakers, who +were once numerous in the dale, have disappeared too. + +Some two or three years ago a notion prevailed in a certain quarter that +the time was ripe for making proselytes, and establishing a meeting once +more at Aysgarth. The old meeting-house, the school-room, and +dwelling-house, remained; why should they not be restored to their +original uses? Was it not "about Wensleydale" that George Fox saw "a +great people in white raiment by a river-side?" Did he not, while on his +journey up the dale, go into the "steeple-house" and "largely and freely +declare the word of life, and have not much persecution," and afterwards +was locked into a parlour as "a young man that was mad, and had run away +from his relations?" From certain indications it seemed that a +successful effort might be made; an earnest and active member of the +society volunteered to remove with his family from London into Yorkshire +to carry out the experiment; and soon the buildings were repaired, the +garden was cultivated anew, the doors of the meeting-house were opened; +the apostle went about and talked to the people, and gave away tracts +freely. The people listened to him, and read his tracts, and were well +content to have him among them; but the experiment failed--not one +became a Quaker. + +At the beginning of the present year (1858) an essay was advertised for, +on the causes of the decline of Quakerism, simultaneously with a great +increase in the population at large. It appears to me that the causes +are not far to seek. One of them I have already mentioned: others +consist in what Friends call a "guarded education," which seeks rather +to ignore vice than to implant abhorrence of it; in training children by +a false standard: "Do this; don't do that;" not because it is right or +wrong, but because such is or is not the practice of Friends, so that +when the children grow old enough to see what a very foolish Mrs. Grundy +they have had set before them as a model, they naturally suspect +imposition, become restive, and kick over the traces. Moreover, to set +up fidgetty crotchets as principles of truth, whereby the sense of the +ludicrous is excited in others, and not reverence, is not the way to +increase and multiply. Many Quakers now living will remember the earnest +controversy that once stirred them as to whether it might be proper to +use umbrellas, and to wear hats with a binding round the edge of the +brim; and the anxious breeches question, of which a ministress said in +her sermon, that it was "matter of concern to see so many of the young +men running down into longs, yet the Lord be thanked, there was a +precious remnant left in shorts." And again, silent worship tends to +diminish numbers, as also the exceeding weakness--with rare +exceptions--of the words that occasionally break the silence; and the +absence of an external motive to fix the attention encourages roving +thoughts. Hence Darlington railway-shares, and the shop-shelves, and +plans for arbours and garden-plots, employ the minds of many who might +have other thoughts did they hear--"Be not deceived, God is not mocked; +for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." + +There is my essay. It is a short one, freely given; for I must confess +to a certain liking for the Quakers, after all. Their charities are +noble and generous; their views on many points eminently liberal and +enlightened; and though themselves enslaved to crotchets, they have +shown bravely and practically that they abhor slavery; and their recent +mission to Finland demonstrates the bounty and tenderness with which +they seek to mitigate the evils of war. There is in Oxfordshire a little +Quaker burial-ground, on the brow of a hill looking far away into the +west country, where I have asked leave to have my grave dug, when the +time comes: that is, if the sedate folk will admit among them even a +dead Philistine. + + * * * * * + +I saw the Quaker above-mentioned standing at his door: we were total +strangers to each other, but my Bainbridge friend had told him there was +a chance of my visiting Aysgarth, and he held out his hand. Soon tea was +made ready, and after that he called his son, and led me across the +hill-slopes to get the best views, and by short cuts down to Aysgarth +Force, a mile below the village, where the Ure rushes down three great +breaks or steps in the limestone which stretch all across the river. The +water is shallow, and falling as a white curtain over the front of each +step, shoots swiftly over the broad level to the next plunge, and the +next, producing, even in dry weather, a very pleasing effect. But during +a flood the steps disappear, and the whole channel is filled by one +great rapid, almost terrific in its vehemence. The stony margin of the +stream is fretted and worn into many curious forms, and for a mile or +more above and below the bed is stone--nothing but stone--while on each +side the steep banks are patched and clothed with trees and bush. The +broken ground above the Force, interspersed with bush, is a favourite +resort of picnic parties, and had been thronged a few days before by a +multitude of festive teetotallers. + +The bridge which crosses the river between the Force and the village, +with its arch of seventy-one feet span springing from two natural piers +of limestone, is a remarkably fine object when viewed from below. Above, +the river flows noisily from ledge to ledge down a winding gorge. + +Drunken Barnaby, who, by the way, was a Yorkshireman, named Richard +Braithwaite, came to Wensleydale in one of his itineraries. "Thence," +says the merry fellow-- + + "Thence to Wenchly, valley-seated, + For antiquity repeated; + Sheep and sheep-herd, as one brother, + Kindly drink to one another; + Till pot-hardy, light as feather, + Sheep and sheep-herd sleep together. + + * * * * * + + "Thence to Ayscarthe from a mountaine, + Fruitfull valleys, pleasant fountaine, + Woolly flocks, cliffs steep and snewy, + Fields, fens, sedgy rushes, saw I; + Which high mount is called the Temple, + For all prospects an example." + +The church stands in a commanding position, whence there is a good +prospect down the dale. Besides the landscape, there are times when the +daring innovations made by fashion on the old habits may be observed. +Wait in the churchyard on Sunday when service ends, and you will see +many a gay skirt, hung with flounces and outspread by crinoline, come +flaunting forth from the church. And in this remote village, Miss +Metcalfe and Miss Thistlethwaite must do the bidding of coquettish +Parisian milliners, even as their sisters do in May Fair. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + A Walk--Carperby--Despotic Hay-time--Bolton Castle--The Village + --Queen Mary's Prison--Redmire--Scarthe Nick--Pleasing + Landscape--Halfpenny House--Hart-Leap Well--View into Swaledale + --Richmond--The Castle--Historic Names--The Keep--St. Martin's + Cell--Easby Abbey--Beautiful Ruins--King Arthur and Sleeping + Warriors--Ripon--View from the Minster Tower--Archbishop + Wilfrid--The Crypt--The Nightly Horn--To Studley--Surprising + Trick--Robin Hood's Well--Fountains Abbey--Pop goes the Weasel + --The Ruins--Robin Hood and the Curtall Friar--To Thirsk--The + Ancient Elm--Epitaphs. + + +My friend had for some time wished to look into Swaledale; he therefore +accompanied me the next morning, as far as the route served, through the +village of Carperby, where dwells a Quaker who has the best grazing farm +in the North Riding. We passed without calling, for he must be a +philosopher indeed, here in the dales, who can endure interruptions in +hay-time, when all who can work are busy in the fields. Ask no man to +lend you a horse or labourer in hay-time. Servants give themselves leave +in hay-time, and go toiling in the sunshine till all the crop is led, +earning as much out of doors in three or four weeks as in six months +in-doors. What is it to them that the mistress has to buckle-to, and be +her own servant for a while, and see to the washing, and make the bread? +as I saw in my friend's house, knowing that in case of failure the +nearest place where a joint of meat or a loaf of bread can be got is at +Hawes, eight miles distant. What is it to them? the hay must be made, +whether or not. + +A few light showers fell, refreshing the thirsty soil, and making the +trees and hedgerows rejoice in a livelier green. It was as if Summer +were overjoyed: + + "Even when she weeps, as oft she will, though surely not for grief, + Her tears are turned to diamond drops on every shining leaf." + +so our walk of four miles to Bolton Castle was the more agreeable. The +old square building, with its four square towers rising above a mass of +wood, looks well as you approach from the road; and when you come upon +the eminence on which it stands, and see the little village of Bolton, +little thatched cottages bordering the green, as old in appearance as +the castle, it is as if you looked on a scene from the feudal ages--the +rude dwellings of the serfs pitched for safety beneath the walls, as in +the days of Richard Lord Scrope, who built the castle four hundred years +ago. A considerable portion of the edifice is still habitable; some of +the rooms look really comfortable; others are let as workshops to a +tinker and glazier, and down in the vaults you see the apparatus for +casting sheet-lead. We saw the room in which the hapless Mary was +confined, and the window by which, as is said, she tried, but failed, to +escape. We went to the top, and looked over into the inner court; and +got a bird's-eye view of the village and of Bolton Park and Hall, amid +the wooded landscape; and then to the bottom, down damp stone stairs, to +what seemed the lowest vault, where, however, there was a lower +depth--the dungeon--into which we descended by a ladder. What a dismal +abode! of gloom too dense for one feeble candle to enliven. The man who +showed the way said there was a well in one corner; but I saw nothing +except that that spot looked blacker than the rest. To think that such a +prison should have been built in the "good old times!" + +On leaving the village, an old woman gave me a touch of the broadest +dialect I had yet heard: "Eh! is ye boun into Swawldawl?" she exclaimed, +in reply to my inquiry. We were going into Swaledale, and, taking a +byeway above the village of Redmire, soon came to a road leading up the +dale to Reeth, into which my friend turned, while I went on to the +northern slope of Wensleydale. You ascend by a steep, winding road to +Scarthe Nick, the pass on the summit, and there you have a glorious +prospect--many a league of hill and hollow, of moor and meadow. From +Bolton Castle and its little dependency, which lie well under the eye, +you can look down the dale and catch sight of the ruined towers of +Middleham; Aysgarth Force reveals itself by a momentary quivering flash; +and scattered around, seven churches and eight villages, more or less +environed by woods, complete the landscape. The scene, with its wealth +of quiet beauty, is one suggestive of peace and well-being, dear to the +Englishman's heart. To one coming suddenly upon it from the dreary +moorlands which lie between Wensleydale and Richmond, there would be +something of enchantment in the far-spreading view. + +I turned my back on it at last, and followed the road across the moors, +where the memory of what you have just left becomes fairer by contrast. +The route is solitary, and apparently but little frequented, for in ten +miles I met only a man and a boy; and the monotony is only relieved +after a while by a falling away of the brown slopes on the right, +opening a view of the Hambleton Hills. There is one public-house on the +way, the _Halfpenny House_, down in a hollow, by no means an agreeable +resting-place, especially for a hungry man with a liking for +cleanliness. Not far from it is Hart-Leap Well, sung by Wordsworth: + + "There's neither dog nor heifer, horse nor sheep, + Will wet his lips within that cup of stone; + And oftentimes when all are fast asleep, + This water doth send forth a dolorous groan." + +By-and-by, perhaps, ere you have done thinking of the poem, you come to +the brow of a long declivity, the end of the moors, and are rewarded by +a view which rivals that seen from Scarthe Nick. Swaledale opens before +you, overspread with waving fields of grain, with numerous farmsteads +scattered up and down, with a long range of cliff breaking the opposite +slope, and, about four miles distant, Richmond on its lofty seat, +crowned by the square castle-keep, tall and massive. I saw it lit by the +afternoon sun, and needed no better invitation for a half-hour's halt on +the heathery bank. + +You descend to the wheat-fields, and see no more of the town until close +upon it. Swale, as you will notice while crossing the bridge, still +shows the characteristics of a mountain stream, though broader and +deeper than at Thwaite, where we last parted company with it. Very steep +is the grass-grown street leading from the river up to the main part of +the town, where, having found a comfortable public-house, I went at once +to the castle. It occupies the summit of a bluff, which, rising bold and +high from the Swale, commands a noble prospect over what Whitaker calls +"the Piedmont of Richmondshire." On the side towards the river, the +walls are all broken and ruinous, with here and there a loophole or +window opening, through which you may look abroad on the landscape, and +ponder on the changes which have befallen since Alan the Red built a +fortress here on the lands given to him in reward for prowess by the +Conqueror. It was in 1071 that he began to fortify, and portions of his +masonry yet remain, fringed with ivy and tufts of grass, and here and +there the bugloss growing from the crevices. Perhaps while you saunter +to and fro in the castle-garth the keeper will appear and tell +you--though not without leave--his story of the ruins. If it will add to +your pleasure, he will show you the spot where George IV. sat when +Prince of Wales, and declared the prospect to be the finest he had ever +beheld. You will be told which is Robin Hood's Tower, which the Gold +Tower--so called because of a tradition that treasure was once +discovered therein--and which is Scolland's Hall, where knights, and +nobles, and high-born dames held their banquets. And here you will be +reminded of Fitzhughs and Marmions, Randolph de Glanville, and William +the Lion, of Nevilles and Scropes, and of the Lennox--a natural son of +Charles II.--to whom the dukedom of Richmond was given by the merry +monarch, and to whose descendants it still belongs. + +One side of the garth is enclosed by a new building to be used as +barracks or a military depōt, and near this, at the angle towards the +town, rises the keep. What a mighty tower it is! ninety-nine feet high, +the walls eleven feet thick, strengthened on all sides by straight +buttresses, an impressive memorial of the Normans. It was built by Earl +Conan, seventy-five years after Red Alan's bastions. The lowest chamber +is dark and vaulted, with the rings still remaining to which the lamps +were hung, and a floor of natural rock pierced by the old well. The +chief entrance is now on the first floor, to which you mount by an outer +stair, and the first things you see on entering are the arms and +accoutrements of the Yorkshire militia, all carefully arranged. The view +from the top delights your eye by its variety and extent--a great sweep +of green hills and woods, the winding dale, and beyond, the brown +heights that stretch away to the mountains. You see the town and all its +picturesque features: the towers of St. Mary's and of the old Gray +Friars' monastery, and Trinity Chapel at one side of the market-place, +now desecrated by an intrusion of petty merchandise. And, following the +course of the river downwards, you can see in the meadows among the +woods the ruins of the Abbey of St. Agatha, at Easby. A few miles +farther, and the stream flows past Catterick, the Cattaractonium of the +Romans; and Bolton-on-Swale, the burial-place of old Jenkins. + +On leaving the castle, make your way down to the path which runs round +the face of the precipice below the walls, yet high enough above the +river for pleasing views: a good place for an evening stroll. Then +descend to a lower level, and look back from the new bridge near the +railway station; you will be charmed with the singularly picturesque +view of the town, clustered all along the hill-top, and terminated by +the imposing mass of ruins and the lordly keep. And there is something +to be seen near at hand: the station, built in Gothic style, pleasantly +situate among trees; St. Martin's Cell, founded more than seven hundred +years ago, now sadly dilapidated, and used as a cow-stall. Beyond, on +the slope of the hill, stands the parish church, with a fine lofty +tower; and near it are the old grammar school, famous for good scholars; +and the Tate Testimonial, a handsome Gothic edifice, with cloisters, +where the boys play in rainy weather. It was in that churchyard that +Herbert Knowles wrote the poem + + "Methinks it is good to be here," + +which has long kept his name in memory. + +Turn into the path on the left near the bridge, follow it through the +wood which hangs on the slope above the river, then between the meadows +and gardens, and past the mill, and you come to Easby Abbey, a charming +ruin in a charming spot. You see a gentle eminence, rich in noble +trees--the "abbot's elm" among them--with a mansion on the summit, and +in the meadow at the foot the group of ruins, not so far from the river +but that you can hear it murmuring briskly along its stony channel. They +occupy a considerable space, and the longer you wander from kitchen to +refectory, from oratory to chapter-house, under broken arches, from one +weedy heap of masonry to another, the more will you become aware of +their picturesque beauties. The effect is heightened by magnificent +masses of ivy, and trees growing out from the gaping stones, and about +the grounds, screening and softening the ancient walls with quivering +verdure. Here, for centuries, was the burial-place of the Scropes, that +powerful family who became possessors of Easby not long after the death +of Roald, constable of Richmond, founder of the abbey in 1152. Hence the +historical associations impart a deeper interest to the loveliness of +nature and the beauty of architecture. + +The gate-house, also mantled with ivy, stands isolated in the meadow +beyond, and Easby church between it and the ruins. And a pretty little +church it is--a very jewel. Ivy creeps over it, and apparently through +it, for a thick stem grows out of the wall three feet from the ground. +Above the porch you may see three carved shields, time-worn memorials of +Conyers, Aske, and Scrope. + +To linger here while the sun went down, and the shadows darkened behind +the walls, and the glory streamed through the blank windows, was a rare +enjoyment. It was dusk when I returned to the town, and there I finished +with another stroll on the path under the castle, thinking of the +ancient legend, and wishing for a peep at the mysterious vault where +King Arthur's warriors lie asleep. Long, long ago, a man, while +wandering about the hill, was conducted into an underground vault by a +mysterious personage, and there he saw to his amazement a great +multitude lying in deep slumber. Ere he recovered, his guide placed in +his hands a horn and a sword; he drew the blade half out of the sheath, +when lo! every sleeper stirred as if about to awake, and the poor +mortal, terror-stricken, loosed his hold, the sword slid back, and the +opportunity of release was lost, to recur no more for many a long day. +The unlucky wight heard as he crept forth a bitter voice crying: + + "Potter, Potter Thompson! + If thou had either drawn + The sword or blown that horn, + Thou'd been the luckiest man + That ever was born." + +By nine o'clock the next morning I was in Ripon, having been obliged to +content myself with a glimpse of Northallerton from the railway; and to +forego a ramble to the Standard Hill. I was soon on the top of the +minster tower looking abroad on the course of the Ure, no longer a dale, +as where we last saw it, but a broad vale teeming with corn, and adorned +with woods, conspicuous among which are the broad forest-like masses of +Studley Royal--the site of Fountains Abbey. Norton Conyers, the seat of +the Nortons, whose names figure in Wordsworth's poem, lies a few miles +up the stream; and a few miles in the other direction are Boroughbridge +and Aldborough, once important British and Roman stations. There the +base Cartismandua, betrayer of Caractacus, held her court? there the +vast rude camp of the legions grew into a sumptuous city; and there was +fought one of the battles of the Roses, fatal to Lancaster; and there +for years was a stronghold of the boroughmongers. The horizon no longer +shows a ring of bleak moorlands, but green swells and wood all round to +the east, where the hills of Cleveland terminate the view. + +Then, while sauntering on the floor of the stately edifice we may +remember that in 661 the King of Northumbria gave a piece of land here +to one of his abbots for the foundation of a religious house: that +Wilfrid, the learned bishop, replaced the first modest structure by a +magnificent monastery, which the heathen Danes burnt and wasted in 860; +but Wilfrid, who was presently created Archbishop of York, soon rebuilt +his church, surpassing the former in magnificence, and by his learning +and resolute assertion of his rights won, for himself great honour, and +a festival day in the calendar. The anniversary of his return from Rome +whither he went to claim his privileges, is still celebrated in Ripon, +by a procession as little accordant with modern notions as that which +perpetuates Peeping Tom's infamous memory at Coventry. The present +edifice was built by Roger of Bishopbridge, Archbishop of York in the +twelfth century, and renowned for his munificence; but the variations of +style--two characters of Norman, and Perpendicular, and a medley in the +window, still show how much of the oldest edifice was incorporated with +the new, and the alterations at different times. + +The crypt is believed to be a portion of the church built by Wilfrid; to +reach it you must pass through narrow, darksome passages, and when +there, the guide will not fail to show you the hole known as Wilfrid's +needle--a needle of properties as marvellous as the garment offered to +the ladies of King Arthur's court--for no unchaste maiden can pass +through the eye. The bone-house and a vault, walled and paved with human +bones, still exists; and the guide, availing himself of a few +extraordinary specimens, still delivers his lecture surrounded by +ghastly accompaniments. + +Without seeing the minster, you would guess Ripon to be a cathedral +town; it has the quiet, respectable air which befits the superiorities +of the church. The market cross is a tall obelisk, and if you happen to +be near it at nine in the evening, you will, perhaps, think of the +sonorous custom at Bainbridge, for one of the constables blows three +blasts on the horn every night at the mayor's door, and three more by +the market cross. And so the days of Victoria witness a custom said to +have been begun in the days of Alfred. The horn is an important +instrument in Ripon; it was brought out and worn on feasts and +ceremonial days by the "wakeman," or a serjeant; certain of the mayors +have taken pride in beautifying it, and supplying a new belt, and the +town arms show a golden horn and black belt ornamented with silver. + +At Beverley there are few signs of visitors; here, many, attracted by +Fountains Abbey. Carriage after carriage laden with sight-seers rattled +past as I walked to Studley, a distance of nearly three miles. Even at +the toll-bar on the way you can buy guide-books, as well as ginger-beer. +Beyond the gate you may leave the road for a field-path, which crosses +the street of Studley, and brings you to a short cut through the park. +Soon we come to the magnificent beechen avenue, and standing at the +upper end we see a long green walk, with the minster in the distance, +and beyond that the dark wold. Then by another avenue on the left we +approach the lake and the lodge, where you enter your name in a book, +pay a shilling, and are handed over, with the party that happens to be +waiting, to the care of a guide. He leads you along broad gravelled +paths, between slopes of smooth green turf, flower-beds, shrubberies, +rock work, and plantations, to vistas terminated by statues, temples, +and lakes filled with coffee-coloured water. To me, the trees seemed +more beautiful than anything else; and fancy architecture looked poor by +the side of tall beeches, larches, and magnificent Norway pines. And I +could not help wishing that Earl de Grey, to whom the estate belongs, +would abolish the puerile theatrical trick called _The Surprise_. +Arrived on the brow of an eminence, which overlooks the valley of the +little river Skell, you are required to stand two or three yards in the +rear of a wooden screen. Then the guide, with a few words purporting, +"Now, you shall see what you shall see," throws open the doors of the +screen, and Fountains Abbey appears in the hollow below. As if the view +of such a ruin could be improved by artifice! + +Then a descent to Robin Hood's Well--a spring of delicious water, which +you will hardly pass without quaffing a draught to the memory of the +merry outlaw. And now we are near the ruin, and, favoured by the +elevation of the path, can overlook at once all the ground plan, the +abbot's quarters--under which the Skell flows through an arched +channel--the dormitory, the refectory, the lofty arches of the church, +and the noble tower rising to a height of one hundred and sixty-six +feet. + +We were admiring the great extent and picturesque effects of the ruins, +when a harsh whistle among the trees on the left struck up _Pop goes the +Weasel_; singularly discordant in such a place. I could not help saying +that the whistler deserved banishment, to the edge of the park at +least--when the guide answered, "Yes, but he blows the whistle with his +nose." If Earl de Grey would abolish that nosing of a vulgar melody, as +well as _The Surprise_, many a visitor would feel grateful. + +Presently we cross the bridge, and there are the yew-trees, one of which +sheltered the pious monks, who, scandalized by the lax discipline of the +brethren in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary's, at York, separated from +them, migrated hither in December, 1132, and lived for some months, +enduring great privations, with no other roof but the trees. Skelldale +was then a wild and desolate spot; but the Cistercians persevered; +Thurstan befriended them, and in course of years one of the grandest +monastic piles that England could boast arose in the meadow bordering +the narrow stream. Its roll of abbots numbers thirty-nine names, some of +high distinction, whose tombs may yet be seen. + +After taking you aside to look at Fountains Hall, a Tudor mansion, the +guide leads the way to the cloisters, and, unlocking a door, admits you +to the interior of the ruins. The view of the nave, with its Norman +pillars and arches extending for nearly two hundred feet, is remarkably +imposing; and as you pace slowly over the soft green carpet into the +transept, thence to the choir and Lady chapel, each more beautiful than +the last, you experience unwonted emotions of delight and surprise. +Once within the Lady chapel, you will hardly care to leave it for any +other portion of the ruins, until the door is unlocked for departure. + +The return route is on the opposite side of the valley to that by which +you approach. From a hollow in the cliff, a little way on, you may, on +turning to take a last look of the ruins, waken a clearly articulate +echo; but, alas! the lurking voice is made to utter overmuch nonsense. +What would the devout monks say could they hear it? However, if history +is to be depended on, even they were not perfect; for towards the close +of their career, they fell into evil ways, and became a reproach. As we +read: + + "In summer time, when leaves grow green, + And flowers are fresh and gay, + Robin Hood and his merry men + Were disposed to play." + +And when Robin, overjoyed at Little John's skill, exclaims that he would +ride a hundred miles to find one to match him, + + "That caused Will Scadlocke to laugh, + He laught full heartily: + There lives a curtall fryer in Fountaines Abbey + Will beate both him and thee." + +A right sturdy friar, who with his fifty dogs kept Robin and his fifty +men at bay, until Little John's shooting brought him to terms: + + "This curtall fryer had kept Fountaines dale + Seven long yeares and more, + There was neither knight, lord, nor earle + Could make him yeeld before." + +Of old Jenkins, it is recorded that he was once steward to Lord Conyers, +who used to send him at times with a message to the Abbot of Fountains +Abbey; and that the abbot always gave him, "besides wassel, a quarter of +a yard of roast beef for his dinner, and a great black jack of strong +beer." The Abbot of Fountains was one of three Yorkshire abbots beheaded +on Tower-hill for their share in the _Pilgrimage of Grace_. + +Judging from the one to whom we were allotted, the guides are civil, and +not uninformed as to the traditions and history of Studley Royal and its +neighbourhood. They are instructed not to lose sight of their party, and +to conduct them only by the prescribed paths. So there is no +opportunity for wandering at will, or a leisurely meditation among the +ruins. + +I walked back to the railway-station at Ripon, and journeyed thence to +Thirsk, where a pleasant stroll finished the evening. Of the castle of +the Mowbrays--the rendezvous of the English troops when marching to the +Battle of the Standard--the site alone remains on the south-west of the +town. The chantry, founded by one of the Mowbrays in Old Thirsk, has +also disappeared. And the great tree that stood on the green in the same +suburb has gone too. It was under the tree on Thirsk green, and not at +Topcliffe, as some say, that the fourth Earl Percy was massacred; +certain it is, that the elections of members to serve in Parliament were +held under the wide-spreading branches even from the earliest times. It +was burnt down in 1818 by a party of boys who lit a fire in the hollow +trunk. But the ugly old shambles had not disappeared from the +market-place: their destruction, however, so said the bookseller, was +imminent. + +The church, dating from the fifteenth century, has recently been +restored, and well repays an examination. Among the epitaphs on the +tombstones, I noticed a variation of the old familiar strain: + + Afflictions sore he long time bore, + Which wore his strength away, + That made him long for heavenly rest + Which never will decay. + +And another, a curiosity in its way: + + Corruption, Earth, and worms, + Shall but refine this flesh, + Till my triumphant spirit comes + To put it on A fresh. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Sutton: a pretty Village--The Hambleton Hills--Gormire Lake-- + Zigzags--A Table-Land--Boy and Bull Pup--Skawton--Ryedale-- + Rievaulx Abbey--Walter L'Espec--A Charming Ruin--The Terrace-- + The Pavilion--Helmsley--T' Boos--Kirkby Moorside--Helmsley + Castle--A River swallowed--Howardian Hills--Oswaldkirk--Gilling + --Fairfax Hall--Coxwold--Sterne's Residence--York--The Minster + Tower--Yorke, Yorke, for my monie--The Four Bars--The City + Walls--The Ouse Legend--Yorkshire Philosophical Society--Ruins + and Antiquities--St. Mary's Lodge. + + +The morning dawns with promise of a glorious day, and of glad enjoyment +for us in our coming walk. Our route will lead us through a rich and +fertile region to the Hambleton Hills--the range which within the past +two weeks has so often terminated our view with its long blue +elevations. We shall see another ruin--Rievaulx Abbey, and another old +castle at Helmsley--and if all go well, shall sleep at night within the +walls of York. + +A few miles on the way and we come to Sutton, a pretty village, where +nearly every house has its front garden bright with flowers, with tall +proud lilies here and there, and standard roses. And every lintel and +door-sill is decorated with yellow ochre, and a border of whitewash +enlivens even the humblest window. And the inside of the cottages is as +clean as the outside, and some have the front room papered. It is truly +an English village, for no other country can show the like. + +Now the hills stand up grandly before us, showing here and there a scar +above the thick woods that clothe their base. The road rises across the +broken ground: we come to a lane on the left, marked by a limekiln, and +following it upwards between ferny banks and tangled hedges, haunted by +the thrush, we arrive presently at Gormire Lake, a pretty sheet of +water, reposing in a hollow at the foot of Whitstoncliffe. It is best +seen from the bold green bank at the upper end, for there you face the +cliff and the hill which rises behind it, covered with copse and +bracken. The lake is considerably above the base of the hill, and +appears to have been formed by a landslip; it is tenanted by fish, and +has, as I heard subsequently at York, a subterranean outlet somewhere +among the fallen fragments at the foot of the cliff. + +Returned to the road, we have now to ascend sharp alpine zigzags, for +the western face of Hambleton is precipitous; and within a short +distance the road makes a rise of eight hundred feet. The increasing +ascent and change of direction opens a series of pleasing views, and as +you look now this way, now that, along the diversified flanks of the +hills, you will wish for more time to wander through such beautiful +scenery. All that comparatively level country below was once covered by +a sea, to which the hills we now stand on opposed a magnificent +shore-line of cliffs; some of their summits more than a thousand feet in +height. + +Great is the contrast when you arrive on the brow: greenness and +fertility suddenly give place to a bleak table-land, where the few +patches of cultivation appear but meagre amid acres of brown ling. We +have taken a great step upwards into a shrewish region. That white patch +seen afar is a hunting and training colony, and there go two grooms +riding, followed by a pack of hounds. What a chilly-looking place! A +back settlement in Michigan could hardly be more lonely. The boys may +well betake themselves for amusement to the education of dogs. Was it +here, I wonder, that the Yorkshire boy lived who had a bull pup, in the +training of which he took great delight? One day, seeing his father come +into the yard, the youngster said, "Father, you go down on your hands +and knees and blare like a bull, and see what our pup'll do." The parent +complied; but while he was doing his best to roar like a bull, the dog +flew at him and seized him by the lip. Now the man roared in earnest, +and tried to shake off his tormentor, while the boy, dancing in ecstacy, +cried, "Bear it, father! bear it! It'll be the makin' o' t' pup." + +By-and-by comes a descent, and the road drops suddenly into a deep glen, +crowded with luxuriant woods. Many a lovely view do we get here, as the +windings of the road bring us to wider openings and broader slopes of +foliage. We pass the hamlet of Skawton; a brook becomes our companion, +and woods still shut us in when we cross the Rye, a shallow, lively +stream, and get a view from the bridge up Ryedale. + +A short distance up the stream brings us to the little village of +Rivas--as the country folk call it--and to Rievaulx Abbey. The civil old +woman who shows the way into the ruin, will tell you that Lord Feversham +does not like to see visitors get over the fence; and then, stay as long +as you will, she leaves you undisturbed. What a pleasure awaits you!--a +charm which Bolton and Fountains failed alike to inspire: perhaps +because of the narrowness of the dale, and the feeling of deep seclusion +imparted by the high thickly wooded hills on each side, the freedom +allowed to vegetation in and around the place, and to your own +movements. The style is Early English, and while surveying the massive +clustered columns that once supported the tower, the double rows of +arches, and the graceful windows now draped with ivy of the nave, you +will restore the light and beautiful architecture in imagination, and +not without a wish that Time would retrace his flight just for one hour, +and show you the abbey in all its primitive beauty, when Ryedale was "a +place of vast solitude and horror," as the old chronicler says. + +Walter L'Espec, Lord of the Honour of Helmsley, a baron of high renown +in his day, grieving with his wife, the Lady Adeline, over the death of +their only son by a fall from a horse, built a priory at Kirkham, the +scene of the accident, and in 1131 founded here an abbey for Cistercian +monks. And here after some years, during which he distinguished himself +at the Battle of the Standard, he took the monastic vows, and gave +himself up to devout study and contemplation until his death in 1153. +And then he was buried in the glorious edifice which he had raised to +the service of God, little dreaming that in later days when, fortress +and church would be alike in ruins, other men would come with different +thoughts, though perhaps not purer aims, and muse within the walls where +he had often knelt in prayer, and admire his work, and respect his +memory. + +Much remains to delight the eye; flying buttresses, clerestory windows, +corbels, capitals, and mouldings, some half buried in the rank grass and +nettles. And how the clustering masses of ivy heighten the beauty! One +of the stems, that seems to lend strength to the great column against +which it leans, is more than three feet in circumference, and bears +aloft a glorious green drapery. An elder grows within the nave, +contributing its fair white blossoms to the fulness of beauty. The +refectory, too, is half buried with ivy, and there you walk on what was +once the floor of the crypt, and see the remains of the groins that +supported the floor above: and there at one side is the recess where one +of the monks used to read aloud some holy book while the others sat at +dinner. Adjoining the refectory is a paddock enclosed by ash-trees, +which appears to have been the cloister court. Now the leaves rustle +overhead, and birds chirrup in the branches, and swallows flit in and +out, and through the openings once filled by glass that rivalled the +rainbow in colour. + +For two hours did I wander and muse; now sitting in the most retired +nook, now retreating to a little distance to find out the best points of +view. And my first impression strengthened; and I still feel that of all +the abbeys Rievaulx is the one I should like to see again. But the day +wore on, and warned me, though reluctant, to depart. + +A small fee to the quiet old woman makes her thankful, and prompts her +to go and point out the path by which you mount zigzagging through the +thick wood to the great terrace near the summit of the hill. It will +surprise you to see a natural terrace smooth and green as a lawn, of +considerable width, and half a mile in length; that is, the visible +extent, for it stretches farther round the heights towards Helmsley. At +one end stands a pavilion, decorated in the interior with paintings, at +the other a domed temple, and from all the level between you get a +glorious prospect up Ryedale--up the dale by which we came from Thirsk, +and over leagues of finely-wooded hills, to a rim of swarthy moorland. +And beneath, as in a nest, the ancient ruin and the little village +repose in the sunshine, and the rapid river twinkles with frequent +curves through the meadows. + +The gardener who lives in the basement of the pavilion will show you the +paintings and a small pamphlet, in which the subjects are described; and +perhaps tell you that the family used to come over at times from +Duncombe Park and dine in the ornamented chamber. He will request you, +moreover, to be careful to shut the gate by which you leave the terrace +at a break in the shrubbery. + +The road is at the edge of the next field, and leads us in about an hour +to Helmsley, a quiet rural town very pleasantly situated beneath broad +slopes of wood. It has a good church, a few quaint old houses, some +still covered with thatch, a brook running along the street, a market +cross, and a relic of the castle built by De Roos, when Yorkshire still +wept the Conquest. + +It had surprised me while on the way from Thirsk to find more difficulty +in understanding the rustic dialect than in the remoter parts of the +north and west. The same peculiarities prevail here in the town; and the +landlord's daughter, who waited on me at the house where I dined, +professed a difficulty in understanding me. My question about the +omnibus for Gilling completely puzzled her for a few minutes, until +light dawned on her, and she exclaimed joyfully, "Oh! ye mean t' boos!" + +A few miles east of Helmsley is Kirkby Moorside, where the proud Duke of +Buckingham died, though not "in the worst inn's worst room;" and near it +is Kirkdale, with its antiquated church, and the famous cave in which +the discovery of the bones of wild animals some thirty years ago +established a new epoch for geologists. From Kirkby you can look across +to the hilly moors behind Whitby; and if you incline to explore farther, +Castle Howard will repay a visit, and you may go and look into the gorge +through which the Derwent flows, at Malton, keeping in mind what +geologists tell us, that if the gorge should happen to be closed by any +convulsion, the Vale of Pickering would again become a sea. + +Of Helmsley Castle the remains are but fragmentary; a portion of the +lofty keep stands on an eminence, around which you may still trace the +hollows once filled by the triple moat. The gateway is comparatively +sound, the barbican is sadly dilapidated; and within other parts of the +old walls which have been repaired, Lord Feversham's tenants assemble +once a year to pay their rents. The ruin is so pleasantly embowered by +trees and ivy, so agreeable for a lounge on a July day, that I regretted +being summoned away too soon by "t' boos" driver's horn. There was no +time for a look at Feversham House, about half a mile distant, nor for a +few miles' walk to Byland Abbey--another Cistercian edifice--founded in +1143 by Roger de Mowbray. I could only glance at the skirts of the park, +where preparations were making for a flower-show, and at the shield on +the front of the lodge, bearing the motto, _Deo, Regi, Patrię_. + +The Rye here is a smaller stream than at Rievaulx, owing to the loss of +water by the 'swallows' in Duncombe Park; half a mile lower down it +reappears in full current. But the driver is impatient; we shall be too +late for the train at Gilling, and the steep Howardian Hills are to be +crossed on the way. Fine views open over the woods; then we leave the +trees for a while; a vast prospect appears of the Vale of York, and at +Oswaldkirk--a picturesque village--the road falling rapidly brings us +once more into a wooded region, and in due time we come to Gilling, on +the branch railway to Malton. + +There was not time, or I would have run up the hill behind the station +to look at the noble avenue of beeches that forms a worthy approach to +Fairfax Hall--the home of a family venerated by all who love liberty. I +felt an emotion of regret when the station-clerk told me that the +present Fairfax is an aged man and childless; for ere long the name will +disappear, and the estate become a possession of the Cholmleys. + +The train arrives; five miles on it stops at Coxwold, where Sterne +passed seven years of his life; then two leagues more, and we have to +wait ninety minutes for a train down from the north, at Pilmoor +junction--a singularly unattractive spot. Luckily I had a book in my +knapsack, and so beguiled the time till the bell rang that summoned us +to York. + +In my wanderings I have sometimes had the curiosity to try a _Temperance +Hotel_, and always repented it, because experience showed that +temperance meant poor diet, stingy appliances, and slovenly +accommodations. So it was not without misgivings that I resolved to make +one more experiment, and see what temperance meant in the metropolis of +Yorkshire. The _Hotel_, which did not displease me, looks into +Micklegate, not far from the Bar on which the heads of dukes and nobles +were impaled, as mentioned in the _Lay of Towton Field_. + +Considering how many quartos have been filled with the history and +description of York, into how many little books the big books have been +condensed, every traveller is supposed to know as much as he desires +concerning the ancient city, ere he visits it. For one who has but a day +to spare, the best way of proceeding is of course to get on the top of +the minster tower, and stay there until his memory is refreshed by the +sight of what he sees below. At a height of two hundred feet above the +pavement you can overlook the great cluster of clean red roofs, and +single out the twenty-five churches that yet remain of the fifty once +visible from this same elevation. Clifford's Tower, a portion of the old +castle, stands now within the precincts of the gaol; the line of the +city walls can be seen, and the situation of the four Bars; there, by +the river, is the Guildhall where King Charles was purchased from the +Scots; there the small river Foss, that rises in the Howardian Hills, +and once filled the Roman ditches, joins the Ouse. Outside the walls, +Severus Hill marks the spot where the emperor, who died here in 210, was +burnt on his funeral pile with all the honours due to a wearer of the +purple; another hill shows where Scrope was beheaded. To the south lies +Bishopthorpe, the birthplace of Guy Fawkes, and residence of the +bishops. Eastward is Stamford Brig, where the hard Norwegian king, +flushed with victory, lost the battle and his life--where the spoil in +gold ornaments was so great, "that twelve young men could hardly carry +it upon their shoulders"--whence the victor Harold marched to lose in +turn life and crown at Hastings. On the west lies Marston Moor, and +farther to the south-west the field of Towton. And then, from wandering +afar over the broad vale, your eye returns to the minster itself, and +looks down on all its properties, and comfortable residences, snug +gardens, and plots of greenest turf, all covering ground on which the +Romans built their camp, and where they erected a temple for the worship +of heathen deities. + +As regards the interior, whatever may have been your emotions of +admiration or wonder in other cathedrals, they become fuller and deeper +in this of York. After two long visits, I still wished for more time to +pace again the lofty aisles, to hear the organ's rolling notes, while +marvelling at the glory of architecture. + +In Roger North's time, as he relates, the interior of the cathedral was +the favourite resort of fashionable strollers: in an earlier time, when +archery was practised keenly as rifle-shooting in our day, and the +prophecy as to the pre-eminence of York was not yet forgotten, a ballad +was written in praise of the city: thus + + "The Maior of Yorke, with his companie, + Were all in the fieldes, I warrant ye, + To see good rule kept orderly, + As if it had been at London. + + Which was a dutifull sight to see + The Maior and Aldermen there to bee + For the setting forth of Archerie, + As well as they doe at London. + + "Yorke, Yorke, for my monie, + Of all the citties that ever I see, + For mery pastime & companie, + Except the cittie of London." + +From the minster walk as far as may be along the city walls: you will +see the four Bars--Monk, Micklegate, Walmgate, and Bootham; the +first-named still retaining the barbican. In some of the narrow lanes +near the water-side you may discover old mansions, the residences of the +magnates of York two hundred years ago, now tenanted by numbers of +working-people, and grand staircases and panelled rooms, looking dingy +and squalid. Then go forth and take a turn under the trees of the New +Walk on the bank of the Ouse, and see a much-frequented resort of the +citizens, who certainly cannot boast that their environs are romantic. +You would hardly believe that the stream flowing so placidly by embosoms +the rapid rivers we crossed so often while in the mountains. If legends +deceive not, any one who came and threw five white pebbles into a +certain part of the Ouse as the hour of one struck on the first morning +of May, would then see everything he desired to see, past, present, and +to come, on the surface of the water. Once a knight returning from the +wars desired to see how it fared with his lady-love: he threw in the +pebbles, and beheld the home of the maiden, a mansion near Scarborough, +and a youth wearing a mask and cloak descending from her window, and the +hiding of the ladder by the serving-man. Maddened by jealousy, he +mounted and rode with speed; his horse dropped dead in sight of the +house; he saw the same youth ascending the ladder, rushed forward, and +stabbed him to the heart. It was his betrothed. She was not faithless; +still loved her knight, and had only been to a masquerade. For many a +day thereafter did the knight's anguish and remorse appear as the +punishment of unlawful curiosity in the minstrel's lay and gestour's +romance. + +Return, and take a walk in that pleasant ground, half park, half garden, +which we saw from the tower, and see how enviable a site has fallen to +the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for their museum. To have such a +scope of smooth green turf, flower-beds, shrubs, and trees in the heart +of a city, as the shelter of remarkable antiquities and scientific +collections, is a rare privilege. At one side stand the remains of St. +Leonard's Hospital--Norman and early English--sheltering, when I saw it, +something far, far more ancient than itself--a huge fossil saurian. The +ruins of St. Mary's Abbey appear on the other side; and between the two +the Doric edifice, containing the museum, library, and offices of the +Society. In another part of the grounds, the Hospitium of the monks, +which in a country village would pass for a medięval barn, now contains +the admirable collection of Roman and British antiquities for which York +is celebrated. Seeing the numerous tiles stamped with Latin words and +numerals, the tombs and altars, the household utensils, and personal +ornaments, your idea of the Roman occupation will, perhaps, become more +vivid than before; and again, while you examine the fragment of the wall +and tower, supposed to have been built by Hadrian, strong and solid even +after the lapse of nineteen centuries. And when you look once more at +the Abbey and the Hospital, you will regret the ravages of plunderers. +For years the ruins were worked as a quarry by all who wanted stone for +building purposes, and, as if to accelerate the waste, great heaps were +burnt in a limekiln erected on the spot; and it is said that stone +pillaged from St. Mary's at York was used for the repair of Beverley +minster. + +However, the spirit of preservation has prevented further dilapidation, +and old Time himself is constrained to do his wasting imperceptibly. St. +Mary's Lodge, adjoining the abbey, long neglected, and degraded into a +pothouse, was restored some years ago, and occupied as a residence by +Professor Phillips, whose connexion with the Society will not soon be +forgotten. A charming residence it is; and an evening and a morning +spent within it, enable me to affirm that its chambers, though clothed +in a modern dress, witness hospitality as generous as that of the monks +of the olden time. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + By Rail to Leeds--Kirkstall Abbey--Valley of the Aire--Flight + to Settle--Giggleswick--Drunken Barnaby again--Nymph and Satyr + --The astonished Bagman--What do they Addle?--View from + Castleber--George Fox's Vision on Pendle Hill--Walk to Maum-- + Companions--Horse versus Scenery--Talk by the Way--Little Wit, + muckle Work--Malham Tarn--Ale for Recompense--Malham-- + Hospitality--Gordale Scar--Scenery versus Horse--Trap for Trout + --A Brookside Musing--Malham Cove--Source of the Aire--To + Keighley. + + +On the second morning of my stay in York, after a farewell visit to the +minster, I travelled by rail to Leeds. I had little time, and, +remembering former days, less inclination to tarry in this great, +dismal, cloth-weaving town; so after a passing glance at the new +town-hall, and some other improvements, I walked through the long, +scraggy suburb such as only a busy manufacturing town can create, to +Kirkstall Abbey. This also was an abode of the Cistercians, founded in +1152 by Henry de Lacy; and they who can discourse learnedly on such +subjects pronounce it to be, as a ruin, more perfect than some which we +have already visited. But it stands only a few yards from a black, +much-frequented road, and within sight and hearing of a big forge, and +the Aire flows past, not pellucid, but stained with the refuse liquor of +dye-works. Still the site is not devoid of natural beauty; and an hour +may be agreeably passed in sauntering about the ruin. It must have been +a delightful haunt when Leeds was Loidis in Elmete. + +I had expected to see the valley of the Aire sprinkled with the villa +residences of the merchants of Leeds; but the busy traders prefer to +live in the town, and in all the nine miles on the way to Bradford, you +have only a succession of factories, dye-works, and excavations, +encroaching on and deforming the beauty of the valley, while the +vegetation betrays signs of the harmful effect of smoke. + +As the afternoon drew on, I bethought myself that it was the last day of +the week, and a desire came over me for one more quiet Sunday among the +hills. So I turned aside to Newlay station, and took flight by the first +train that came up for Settle, retracing part of my journey through +Craven of the week before. + +On the way from the station to the town, I made a détour to Giggleswick, +a village that claims notice for its grammar-school, a fine cliff--part +of the Craven fault--and a remarkable spring. Of his visit to this place +Drunken Barnaby chants: + + "Thence to Giggleswick most steril, + Hem'd with shelves and rocks of peril, + Near to th' way, as a traveller goes, + A fine fresh spring both ebbs and flows; + Neither know the learn'd that travel + What procures it, salt or gravel." + +Drayton helps us to a legend which accounts for the origin of the +spring. Suppose we pause for a few minutes to read it. Coming to this +place, he says: + + "At Giggleswick where I a fountain can you show, + That eight times in a day is said to ebb and flow, + Who sometime was a nymph, and in the mountains high + Of Craven, whose blue heads for caps put on the sky, + Amongst th' Oreads there, and sylvans made abode + (It was ere human foot upon those hills had trod), + Of all the mountain kind and since she was most fair, + It was a satyr's chance to see her silver hair + Flow loosely at her back, as up a cliff she clame, + Her beauties noting well, her features, and her frame, + And after her he goes; which when she did espy, + Before him like the wind the nimble nymph doth fly, + They hurry down the rocks, o'er hill and dale they drive, + To take her he doth strain, t' outstrip him she doth strive, + Like one his kind that knew, and greatly fear'd his rape, + And to the topick gods by praying to escape, + They turn'd her to a spring, which as she then did pant, + When wearied with her course, her breath grew wondrous scant: + Even as the fearful nymph, then thick and short did blow, + Now made by them a spring, so doth she ebb and flow." + +It was supper-time when I came to the _Lion_ at Settle. A commercial +traveller, who was in the town on his first visit, looked up from his +accounts while I sat at table to tell me of a strange word which he had +heard during the day, and with as much astonishment as if it had been +Esquimaux. Indeed, he had not recovered from his astonishment, and could +not help having a good laugh when he thought of the cause. Seeing a +factory on the outskirts of the town, he asked a girl, "What do they +make in that factory?" + +"What do they addle?" replied the girl, inquiringly. And ever since he +had been repeating to himself, "What do they addle?" and always with a +fresh burst of laughter. + +"Pretty outlandish talk that, isn't it?" he said, as he finished his +story. + +Settle is a quiet little town, built at the foot of Castleber, another +of the grand cliffs of Craven. To the inhabitants the huge rock is a +recreative resort: seats are placed at its base; a zigzag path leads to +the summit, whence the views over the valley of the Ribble are very +picturesque and pleasing. On the north-west the broad top of +Ingleborough is seen peeping over an intervening height; Penyghent +appears in the north; and southerly, Pendle Hill rises within the +borders of Lancashire. Very beautiful did the dewy landscape seem to me +the next morning as I sat on the cliff top while the sunlight increased +upon the green expanse. + +"As we travelled," says George Fox in his _Journal_, "we came near a +very great hill, called Pendle Hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go +up to the top of it; which I did with difficulty, it was so very steep +and high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon +Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places +he had a great people to be gathered. As I went down, I found a spring +of water in the side of the hill, with which I refreshed myself, having +eaten or drunk but little for several days before." The spring is still +there, and known in the neighbourhood as George Fox's Well. + +After breakfast I set out to walk to Malham, about seven miles distant, +and was mounting the hill at an easy pace behind the town, when two men +came up, and presently told me they also were going to Maum--as they +pronounced it. So we joined company, all alike strangers to the road, +and came soon to the bye-path of which the ostler at the _Lion_ had +advised me: "It would save a mile or more if I could only find the way." +A greater attraction for me was, that it led across the silent pastures +on the top of the hills. As I got over the stile, an old man who was +passing strongly urged us to keep the road; we should be sure to lose +ourselves, and happen never to get to Maum at all. To which I replied, +that if a Londoner and two Yorkshiremen could not find their way across +six miles of hill-country they deserved to lose it; and away we went +across the field. Ere long we were on breezy slopes, which, opening here +and there on the left, revealed curious rocky summits beyond, and as we +trod the springy turf, my companions told me they had come by rail from +Bentham, and were going to Malham for no other purpose than to see a +horse which one of them had sent there "to grass" a few weeks +previously. They were as much amused at my admiration of the scenery as +I was at their taking so long a journey to look at a quadruped. They +would not go out of their way to see Malham Cove, or Gordale Scar, not +they: a horse was worth more than all the scenery. And yet, judging by +their dress and general conversation, they were men in respectable +circumstances. Presently, as we passed a rocky cone springing all yellow +and gray from a bright green eminence, I stopped and tried to make them +understand why it was admirable, pointing out its form, the contrasts of +colour, and its relation to surrounding objects: "Well!" said one, "I +never thought of that. It do make a difference when you look at it in +that way." + +Neither of them had ever been to London, and what pleased them most was +to hear something about the great city. They were as full of wonder, and +as ready to express it, as children; and not one of us found the way +wearisome. We had taken a new departure when in sight of Stockdale, a +solitary farm-house down in a hollow, as instructed, and gained a +rougher elevation, when the track, which had become faint, disappeared +altogether, and at a spot where no landmark was in sight to guide us. +"The old man was right," said the Yorkshiremen; "we have lost the way;" +and they began a debate as to the course now to be followed. At length +one strode off in a direction that would have taken him in time to the +top of Penyghent. I looked at the sun, and declared for the east. But +no, the other remained resolute in his opinion, and would not be +persuaded. "Let him go," I said to his companion, who sided with me; +"little wit in the head makes muckle work for the heels;" and we took a +course to the east. + +After a while the other repented, and came panting after us; and before +we had gone half a mile we saw Malham Tarn, broad and blue, at a +distance on the left; then the track reappeared; then Malham came in +sight, lying far down in a pleasant valley; and then we came into a +rough, narrow road, descending steeply, and the Yorkshireman +acknowledged his error. + +"Eh! that's Maum Cove, is it?" he said, as a turn in the road showed us +the head of the valley; "that's what we've heard so much talk about. +Well, it's a grand scar." He seemed to repent of even this morsel of +admiration, and helped his neighbour with strong resolutions not to turn +aside and look up at the cliff from its base. + +We each had a glass of ale at the public-house in the village. Before I +was aware, one of my companions paid for the three, nor would he on any +terms be persuaded otherwise. + +"Hoot, lad," he rejoined, "say nought about it. I'd pay ten times as +much for the pleasure of your talk." And with that he silenced me. + +Although Gordale Scar is not more than a mile from Malham, they refused +to go and see it. However, when we came to the grazier's house, and they +heard that the Scar lay in the way to the pasture where the horse was +turned out, they thought they wouldn't mind taking a look just, as they +went. The good wife brought out bread, cheese, butter, and a jug of +beer, and would have me sit down and partake with the others; regarding +my plea that I was a stranger, and had just taken a drink, as worthless. +A few minutes sufficed, and then her son accompanied us, for without him +the horse would never be found. We followed a road running along the +base of the precipitous hills which cross the head of the valley, to a +rustic tenement, dignified with the name of Gordale House; and there +turned towards the cliffs by the side of a brook. At first there is +nothing to indicate your approach to anything extraordinary: you enter a +great chasm, where the crags rise high and singularly rugged, sprinkled +here and there with a small fir or graceful ash, where the bright green +turf, sloping up into all the ins and outs of the dark gray cliff, and +the little brook babbling out towards the sunshine, between great masses +of rock fallen from above, enliven the otherwise gloomy scene. You might +fancy yourself in a great roofless cave; but, ascending to the rear, you +find an outlet, a sudden bend in the chasm, narrower, and more rocky and +gloomy than the entrance. The cliffs rise higher and overhang fearfully +above, appearing to meet indeed at the upper end; and there, from that +grim crevice, rushes a waterfall. The water makes a bound, strikes the +top of a rock, and, rushing down on each side, forms an inverted /\ of +splash and foam. And now you feel that Gordale Scar deserves all the +admiration lavished upon it. + +"Well!" exclaimed one of the Yorkshiremen, "who'd ha' thought to see +anything like this? And we living all our life within twenty mile of it! +'Tis a wonderful place." + +"So, you do believe at last," I rejoined, "that scenery is worth looking +at, as well as a horse?" + +"That I do. I don't wonder now that you come all the way from London to +see our hills." + +We crossed the fall, climbed up the rock into another bend of the chasm, +where the water makes its first plunge, unseen from below, shut in by +crags that wear a sterner frown. You look up to the summit and see the +water tumbling through a ring of rock, so strangely has the disruptive +shock there broken the cliff. The effect both on ear and eye as the +torrent breaks into spray and dashes downwards in fantastic channels, is +surprisingly impressive. + +Only on one side is the pass accessible, and there so steep that your +hands must aid in the ascent. We scrambled to the top and found +ourselves on the margin of a table-land sloping gently upwards from the +edge of the precipice, so bestrewn with upheaved rocks and lumps of +stone, that but for the grass which grows rich and sweet between, +whereof the sheep bite gladly, the aspect would indeed be savage. Along +an irregular furrow, as it may be called, which deepens as it nears the +precipice, flows the beck--coming, as the boy told us, from Malham Tarn. +There was another small stream, he said, which disappeared in a +'swallow' on his father's pasture; and in that swallow he had many times +found large trout, struggling helplessly in their unexpected trap. And, +pointing to the highest shoulder of the cliff, he said that a fox, once +hard pressed by the hounds, had leaped over, followed by a dog, and both +were killed by the fall. + +After a few minutes of admiration, the Yorkshiremen and their guide +began to move off across the fell, in search of the horse. One of them +hoped we should meet again on the way back. The other said, "Not much +hope o' that; for he won't go away from this till he have learnt it all +by heart." Then we shook hands, and they promised to set up a pile of +stones at a certain gate on their return, as a signal to me that they +had passed through. + +True enough, I was in no haste to depart, and there was much to admire +as well as "to learn." The sight of the innumerable shelves, with their +fringe of grass, the diversity of jagged rocks thrusting their gray +heads up into the sunlight, of the rugged and broken slopes, set me +longing for a scramble. Hither and thither I went; now to a point where +I could see miles of the cliffs, and mark how, in many places, owing to +the splitting and shivering, the limestone wall resembles a row of organ +pipes. Now into a gap all barren and stony with immemorial screes; +where, however, you could hear the faint tinkle of hidden water, and +pulling away the stones, discover small ferns and pale blades of grass +along the course of the tiny current. Anon, returning to the Scar, I +climbed to the top of the crag that juts midway in the rear of the +chasm, surveying the scene below; then selecting a nook by the side of +the beck, a little above its leap through the ring, I lay down and +watched the water as it ran with innumerable sparkling cascades from the +rise of the fell. Here the solitude was complete, and the view limited +to a few yards of the hollow water-course patched with green and gray, +and the bright blue sky above. + +And while I lay, soothed by the murmur of the water, looking up at the +great white clouds floating slowly across the blue, certain thoughts +that had haunted me for some days shaped themselves in order in my +brain; and with your permission, gracious reader, I here produce them: + + A cloud of care had come across my mind; + Ill-balanced hung the world: here pleasure all; + There hopeless toil, and cruel pangs that fall + On Poverty, to which but death seemed kind. + And so, with heart perplexed, I left behind + The crowd of men, the town with smoky pall, + And sought the hills, and breathed the mountain wind. + Hath God forgotten then the mean and small? + I mused, and gazed o'er purple fells outroll'd; + When, lo! beneath an old thatched roof a gleam + That kindled soon with sunset's gorgeous gold: + Broad panes, nor fretted oriel brighter beam. + If glories thus on lattice rude unfold, + Of life unlit by Heaven we may not deem. + +The sun was beginning to drop towards the west before I left the +pleasant hollow; and then with reluctance, for my holiday was near its +close, and months would elapse before I should again hear the voice of a +mountain brook, and slake myself in sunshine. Having returned to the +village, I kept along the river bank to the head of the valley, where +copse and enormous boulders, scattered about the narrow grassy level and +in the bed of the stream, make a fine foreground to the magnificent +limestone cliff of Malham Cove. Rising sheer to a height of nearly three +hundred feet, the precipice curving inwards, buttressed on each side by +woody slopes, realizes Wordsworth's description--"semicirque profound;" +and while you look up at its pale marble-like surface, broken only by a +narrow shelf--a stripe of green--accessible to goats and adventurous +boys, you will be ready to say with the bard, + + "Oh, had this vast theatric structure wound + With finished sweep into a perfect round, + No mightier work had gained the plausive smile + Of all-beholding Phoebus!" + +At a distance you might well imagine it to be a towering ruin, from +which Time has not yet gnawed the traces of fallen chambers and +colonnades. And perhaps yet more will you desire to see the cataract +which once came rushing down in one tremendous plunge from the summit, +as is said, owing to some temporary stoppage of the underground +channels. What a glorious fall that must have been! more than twice the +height of Niagara. + +From a low flat arch at the base of the cliff, about twenty feet in +width, the river Aire rushes out, copiously fed by a subterranean +source. The water sparkles as it flows forth into the light of day, and +begins its course clear and bright as truth, yet fated to receive many a +defilement ere it pours into the Ouse. Could the Naiads forsee what is +to befall, how piteous would be their lamentations! The stream is at +once of considerable volume, inhabited by trout, and you may fish at the +very mouth of the arch. + +Here, too, I scrambled up and down, crossed and recrossed the stream, to +find all the points of view; then ascending to the hill-top I traced the +line of cliff from the Cove to Gordale. It is a continuation of that +great geological phenomenon already mentioned--the Craven fault--which, +extending yet farther, terminates near Threshfield, the village by which +we passed last Sunday on our way to Kettlewell. + +My return walk was quiet enough, and favourable to meditation. The +Yorkshiremen had set up the preconcerted signal by the gate. I hope the +horse did not drive the Scar quite out of their memory. Perhaps a +lasting impression was made; for "Gordale-chasm" is, as Wordsworth says, + + "----terrific as the lair + Where the young lions couch." + +I left Settle by the last evening train, journeying for the third time +over the same ground, and came to the _Devonshire Arms_ at Keighley just +before the doors were locked for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Keighley--Men in Pinafores--Walk to Haworth--Charlotte Brontė's + Birthplace--The Church--The Pew--The Tombstone--The Marriage + Register--Shipley--Saltaire--A Model Town--Household + Arrangements--I isn't the Gaffer--A Model Factory--Acres of + Floors--Miles of Shafting--Weaving Shed--Thirty Thousand Yards + a Day--Cunning Machinery--First Fleeces--Shipley Feast--Scraps + of Dialect--To Bradford--Rival Towns--Yorkshire Sleuth-hounds-- + Die like a Britoner. + + +Keighley is not pronounced Kayley, as you might suppose, but Keatley, or +Keithley, as some of the natives have it, flinging in a touch of the +guttural. Like Skipton, it is a stony town; and, as the tall chimneys +indicate, gets its living by converting wool into wearing apparel of +sundry kinds. You meet numbers of men clad in long blue pinafores, from +throat to instep; wool-sorters, who thus protect themselves from fluff. + +The factory people were going to work next morning--the youngsters +clattering over the pavement in their wooden clogs--as I left the town +by the Halifax road, for Haworth, a walk of four miles, and all the way +up-hill. The road runs along one side of a valley, which, when the +houses are left behind, looks pretty with numerous trees and fields of +grass and wheat, and a winding brook, and makes a pleasing foreground to +the view of the town. The road itself is neither town nor country; the +footpaths, as is not uncommon in Yorkshire, are paved nearly all the +way; and houses are frequent, tenanted by weavers, with here and there a +little shop displaying oaten bread. An hour of ascent and you come to a +cross-road, where, turning to the right for about a furlong, you see +Haworth, piled from base to summit of a steep hill, the highest point +crowned by the church. The road makes a long bend in approaching the +acclivity, which, if you choose, may be avoided by a cut-off; but coming +as a pilgrim you will perhaps at first desire to see all. You pass a +board which notifies _Haworth Town_, and then begins the ascent +painfully steep, bounded on one side by houses, on the other--where you +look into the valley--by little gardens and a line of ragged little +sheds and hutches. What a wearisome hill; you will half doubt whether +horses can draw a load up it. Presently we have houses on both sides, +and shops with plate-glass and mahogany mouldings, contrasting strongly +with the general rustic aspect, and the primitive shop of the _Clogger_. +Some of the windows denote an expectation of visitors; the apothecary +exhibits photographs of the church, the parsonage, and Mr. Brontė; and +no one seems surprised at your arrival. + +The _Black Bull_ stands invitingly on the hill-top. I was ready for +breakfast, and the hostess quite ready to serve; and while I ate she +talked of the family who made Haworth famous. She knew them all, brother +and sisters: Mr. Nicholls had preached the day before in the morning; +Mr. Brontė in the afternoon. It was mostly in the afternoon that the old +gentleman preached, and he delivered his sermon without a book. The +people felt sorry for his bereavements; and they all liked Mr. Nicholls. +She had had a good many visitors, but expected "a vast" before the +summer was over. + +From the inn to the churchyard is but a few paces. The church is ugly +enough to have had a Puritan for architect; and there, just beyond the +crowded graves, stands the parsonage, as unsmiling as the church. After +I had looked at it from a distance, and around on the landscape, which, +in summer dress, is not dreary, though bounded by dark moors, the sexton +came and admitted me to the church. He points to the low roof, and +quotes Milton, and leads you to the family pew, and shows you the corner +where _she_--that is, Charlotte--used to sit; and against the wall, but +a few feet from this corner, you see the long plain memorial stone, with +its melancholy list of names. As they descend, the inscriptions crowd +close together; and beneath the lowest, that which records the decease +of her who wrote _Jane Eyre_, there remains but a narrow blank for those +which are to follow.[E] + +[E] This stone, as stated in the newspapers, has since been replaced by +a larger one, with sculptured ornaments. + +Then the sexton, turning away to the vestry, showed me in the marriage +register the signatures of Charlotte Brontė, her husband, and father; +and next, his collection of photographs, with an intimation that they +were for sale. When he saw that I had not the slightest inclination to +become a purchaser, to have seen the place was quite enough; he said, +that if I had a card to send in the old gentleman would see me. It +seemed to me, I replied, that the greatest kindness a stranger could +show to the venerable pastor, would be, not to intrude upon him. + +On some of the pews I noticed small plates affixed, notifying that Mr. +Mudbeck of Windytop Farm, or some other parishioner of somewhere else, +"hath" three sittings, or four and a quarter, and so forth; and this +invasion by 'vested rights' of the house of prayer and thanksgiving, +appeared to me as the finishing touch of its unattractive features. + +The sexton invited me to ascend the tower, but discovered that the key +was missing; so, as I could not delay, I made a brief excursion on the +moor behind the house, where heather-bloom masked the sombre hue; and +then walked back to Keighley, and took the train for Shipley, the +nearest station to Saltaire. + +It was the day of Shipley feast, and the place was all in a hubbub, and +numbers of factory people, leaving for a while their habitual +manufacture of woollen goods out of a mixture of woollen and cotton, had +come together to enjoy themselves. But no one seemed happy except the +children; the men and women looked as if they did not know what to do +with themselves. I took the opportunity to scan faces, and could not +fail to be struck by the general ill-favoured expression. Whatever +approach towards good looks that there was, clearly lay with the men; +the women were positively ugly, and numbers of them remarkable for that +protruding lower jaw which so characterizes many of the Irish peasantry. + +Saltaire is about a mile from Shipley. It is a new settlement in an old +country; a most noteworthy example of what enterprise can and will +accomplish where trade confides in political and social security. Here, +in an agreeable district of the valley of the Aire--wooded hills on both +sides--a magnificent factory and dependent town have been built, and +with so much judgment as to mitigate or overcome the evils to which +towns and factories have so long been obnoxious. The factory is built of +stone in pure Italian style, and has a truly palatial appearance. What +would the Plantagenets say, could they come back to life, and see trade +inhabiting palaces far more stately than those of kings? The main +building, of six stories, is seventy-two feet in height, and five +hundred and fifty feet in length. In front, at some distance, standing +quite apart, rises the great chimney, to an elevation of two hundred and +fifty feet; a fine ornamental object, built to resemble a campanile. + +The site is well chosen on the right bank of the Aire, between the Leeds +and Liverpool canal, and the Leeds and Lancaster railway. Hence the +readiest means are available for the reception and despatch of +merchandise. A little apart, extending up the gentle slope, the young +town of Saltaire is built, and in such a way as to realize the +aspirations of a sanitary reformer. The houses are ranged in +parallelograms, of which I counted sixteen, the fronts looking into a +spacious street; the backs into a lane about seven feet in width, which +facilitates ventilation, admits the scavenger's cart, and serves as +drying-ground. Streets and lanes are completely paved, the footways are +excellent; there is a pillar post-office, and no lack of gas-lamps. The +number of shopkeepers is regulated by Messrs. Salt, the owners of the +property; and while one baker and grocer suffices to supply the wants of +the town others will not be allowed to come in. A congregational chapel +affords place for religious worship, and a concert-hall for musical +recreation, or lectures, The men who wish to tipple must go down to +Shipley, for Saltaire, as yet, has no public-house. If I mistake not, +the owners are unwilling that there shall be one. + +My request for leave to look in-doors was readily granted. The ordinary +class of houses have a kitchen with oven and boiler, a sink and copper; +a parlour, or 'house' in the vernacular, two bedrooms, and a small +back-yard, with out-offices. The floors, mantlepiece, and stairs, are of +stone. The rent is 3s. 1d. a week. Gas is laid on at an extra charge, +and the tenant finds burners. The supply of water is ample, but the +water is hard, and has a smack of peat-bog in its flavour. A woman whom +I saw washing, told me the water lost much of its hardness if left to +stand awhile. Each house has a back-door opening into the lane; and +every stercorarium voids into the ash-pit, which is cleared out once a +week at the landlord's cost. The pits are all accessible by a small +trap-door from the lane; hence there is no intrusion on the premises in +the work of cleansing. The drainage in other respects is well cared +for; and the whole place is so clean and substantial, with handsome +fronts to the principal rows, that you feel pleasure in observing it. + +The central and corner houses are a story higher than the rest, and what +with these and the handsome rows above referred to, there is +accommodation for all classes of the employed--spinners, overlookers, +and clerks. After building two or three of the parallelograms, it was +discovered that cellars were desirable, and since then every house has +its cellar, in which, as the woman said, "we can keep our meat and milk +sweet in hot weather." What a contrast, I thought, to the one closet in +a lodging in some large town, where the food is kept side by side with +soap and candles, the duster, and scrubbing-brush! And though the stone +floors look chilly, coal is only fivepence-halfpenny a hundred-weight. + +No one is allowed to live in the town who is not in some way employed by +the firm. Most of the tenants to whom I spoke, expressed themselves well +satisfied with their quarters, but two or three thought the houses dear; +they could get a place down at Shipley, or Shipla, as they pronounced +it, for two-and-sixpence a week. I put a question to the baker: "I isn't +the gaffer," he answered. + +"Never mind," I replied; "if you are not the master, we can talk all the +same." + +He thought we could; and he too was one of those who did not like the +new town. 'Twas too dear. He lived at Shipla, and paid but four pounds a +year for a house with a cellar under it, and a garden behind; and there +he kept a pig, which was not permitted at Saltaire. There was "a vast" +worked in the mill who did not live under Mr. Salt; they came from +Bradford, and a train, called the Saltaire train, "brought 'em in the +morning, and fetched 'em home at night." + +The railway runs between the town and the factory. You cross by a +handsome stone bridge, quite in keeping with the prevalent style of +architecture. The hands were returning from dinner as I approached after +my survey of the colony, and the prodigious clatter of clogs was +well-nigh deafening. My letter of introduction procured me the favour of +Mr. George Salt's guidance. First, he showed me a model of the premises, +by which I saw that a six-story wing, if such it may be called, +comprising the warehouses, projects at a right angle from the rear of +the main building, with the combing-shed on one side, the weaving-shed +on the other. In that combing-shed 3500 persons sat down in perfect +comfort to a house-warming dinner. The weaving-shed is twice as large. +Then there are the workshops of the smiths, machinists, and other +artisans; packing, washing, and drying-rooms, and a gasometer to +maintain five thousand lights; so that in all the buildings cover six +acres and a half. Include the whole of the floors, and the space is +twelve acres. Rails are laid from the line in front into the +ground-floor of the building; hence there is no porterage, no loading +and unloading except by machinery; and the canal at the back is equally +convenient for water-carriage. In front the ground is laid out as an +ornamental shrubbery, terminated at one corner by the graceful +campanile. + +Then I was conducted to the boilers, a row of ten, sunk underground in +the solid rock, below the level of the shrubbery. They devour one +hundred and twenty tons of coal in a week; but with economy, for the +tall chimney pours out no clouds of dense black smoke. The prevention is +accomplished by careful feeding, and leaving the furnace-door open half +an inch, to admit a full stream of air. I was amazed at the sight of +such a range of boilers, and yet they were not enough, and an excavation +was making to receive others. + +Then to the engine-room, where the sight of the tremendous machinery was +a fresh surprise. Here are erected two separate pairs of engines, +combining 1250-horse power, by Fairbairn, of Manchester. You see how +beauty of construction consorts with ponderous strength. Polished iron, +glittering brass, and shining mahogany, testify to the excellence of +Lancashire handicraft in 1853, the date of the engines. The mahogany is +used for casing; and here, as with the boilers, every precaution is used +to prevent the escape of heat. As you watch the great cogged fly-wheels +spinning round with resistless force, you will hardly be surprised to +hear that they impart motion to two miles of 'shafting,' which weighs in +all six hundred tons, and rotates from sixty to two hundred and fifty +times a minute. And this shafting, of which the diameter is from two to +fourteen inches, sets twelve hundred power-looms going, besides +fulfilling all its other multifarious duties. + +Then we went from one noisy floor to another among troops of spinners, +finding everywhere proofs of the same presiding judgment. All is +fire-proof; the beams and columns are of cast-iron; the floors rest on +arches of hollow bricks; and the ventilation, maintained by inlets a few +inches above the floor, and outlets near the ceiling, where hot-water +pipes keep up a temperature of sixty degrees, is perfect, without +draughts. The top room in the main building, running from end to end for +five hundred and fifty feet without a break, said to be the largest room +in Europe, is an impressive sight, filled with ranks of busy machines +and busy workers. + +In the weaving-shed, all the driving gear is placed beneath the floor, +so that you have a clear prospect over the whole area at once, +uninterrupted by the usual array of rapid wheels and flying straps. Vast +as is the appetite of those twelve hundred looms for warp and weft, it +is kept satisfied from the mill's own resources; and in one day they +deliver thirty thousand yards of alpaca, or other kinds of woollen +cloth. Multiply that quantity, reader, by the number of working days in +a year, and you will discover to what an amazing extent the markets of +the world are supplied by this one establishment of Titus Salt and Co. + +Some portions of the machinery do their work with marvellous precision +and dexterity, + + "----as if the iron thought!" + +and it seemed to me that I could never have tired of watching the +machine that took the wool, one fringe-like instalment after another, +from assiduous cylinders, and delivered it to another series of +movements which placed the fibres all in one direction, and produced the +rough outline of the future thread. Another ingenious device weaves two +pieces at once all in one width, and with four selvages, of which two +are, of course, in the middle of the web, and yet there is no difference +in appearance between those two inner ones and those on the outer edges. +The piece is afterwards divided along the narrow line left between them. +Even in the noisome washing-room there was something to admire. The +wool, after a course of pushing to and fro in a cistern of hot water by +two great rakes, is delivered to an endless web by a revolving cylinder. +This cylinder is armed with rows of long brass teeth, and as they would +be in the way of the web on their descent, they disappear within the +body of the cylinder at the critical moment, and come presently forth +again to continue their lift. + +In the warehouse, I was shown that the wool is sorted into eight +qualities, sometimes a ninth; and the care bestowed on this preliminary +operation may be judged of from the fact, that every sorting passes in +succession through two sets of hands. There, too, I learned that the +first fleece of Gimmer hogs is among the best of English wool; and, +indeed, it feels quite silky in comparison with other kinds. The quality +loses in goodness with every subsequent shearing. The clippings and +refuse are purchased by the shoddy makers, those ingenious converters of +old clothes into new. + +Where alpaca and other fine cloths are so largely manufactured, the +question as to a continuous supply of finest wool becomes of serious +importance. Mr. Salt has done what he can to provide for a supply by +introducing the alpaca sheep into Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. + +On my coming, I had thought the counting-house, and offices, and +visitors' room too luxurious for a mere place of business; but when I +returned thither to take leave, with the impression of the enormous +scale of the business, and the means by which it is accomplished fresh +on my mind, these appeared quite in harmony with all the rest. And when +I stood, taking a last look around, on the railway bridge, I felt that +he whose large foresight had planned so stately a home for industry, and +set it down here in a sylvan valley, deserved no mean place among the +Worthies of Yorkshire. + +I walked back to Shipley, and there spent some time sauntering to and +fro in the throng, which had greatly increased during the afternoon. +There was no increase of amusement, however, with increase of numbers; +and the chief diversion seemed to consist in watching the swings and +roundabouts, and eating gingerbread. Now and then little troops of +damsels elbowed their way through, bedizened in such finery as would +have thrown a negro into ecstacies. "That caps me!" cried a young man, +as one of the parties went past, outvying all the rest in staring +colours. + +"There's a vast of 'em coom t' feast, isn't there?" replied his +companion; "and there 'll be more, afore noight." + +"Look at Bobby," said an aunt of her little nephew, who had been +disappointed of a cake; "Look at Bobby! He's fit to cry." + +"What's ta do?" shouted a countryman, as he was pushed rudely aside; +"runnin' agean t' foaks! What d'ye come poakin yer noase thro' here +for?" + +"Ah'm puzzeld wi' t' craad" (crowd), answered the offender. + +After hearing many more fragments of West Riding dialect, I forced my +way to the railway-station, and went to Bradford. Few towns show more +striking evidences of change than this; and the bits of old Bradford, +little one-story tenements with stone roofs, left standing among tall +and handsome warehouses, strengthen the contrast. Bradford and Leeds, +only nine miles apart, have been looked upon as rivals; and it was said +that no sooner did one town erect a new building than the other built +one larger or handsomer; and now Bradford boasts its St. George's Hall, +and Leeds its Town Hall, crowned by a lofty tower. But what avails a +tower, even two hundred and forty feet high, when a letter was once +received, addressed, "_Leeds, near Bradford!_" + +Your Yorkshireman of the West Riding is, so Mrs. Gaskell says, "a +sleuth-hound" after money. As there is nothing like testimony, let me +end this chapter with a brace of anecdotes, and you, reader, may draw +your own inference. + +Not far from Bradford, an old couple lived on their farm. The good man +had been ill for some time, when the practitioner who attended him +advised that a physician should be summoned from Bradford for a +consultation. The doctor came, looked into the case, gave his opinion; +and descending from the sick-room to the kitchen, was there accosted by +the old woman, with, + +"Well, doctor, what's your charge?" + +"My fee is a guinea." + +"A guinea,--doctor! a guinea! And if ye come again will it be another +guinea?" + +"Yes; but I shall hardly have to come again. I have given my opinion, +and leave the patient in very good hands." + +"A guinea, doctor! Hech!" + +The old woman rose, went upstairs to her husband's bedside, and the +doctor, who waited below, heard her say, "He charges a guinea. And if he +comes again, it'll be another guinea. Now what do ye say?--If I were ye, +I'd say no, like a Britoner; and I'd die first!" + +Though very brief, the other illustration is not less demonstrative. A +friend of mine, whose brother had just been married, happening to +mention the incident to a friend of his, during a visit to the town, was +immediately met by the question:-- + +"Money?" + +"No." + +"Fool!" was Bradford's reply. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Bradford's Fame--Visit to Warehouses--A Smoky Prospect--Ways + and Means of Trade--What John Bull likes--What Brother Jonathan + likes--Vulcan's Head-quarters--Cleckheaton--Heckmondwike--Busy + Traffic--Mirfield--Robin Hood's Grave--Batley the Shoddyopolis + --All the World's Tatters--Aspects of Batley--A Boy capt--The + Devil's Den--Grinding Rags--Mixing and Oiling--Shoddy and + Shoddy--Tricks with Rags--The Scribbling Machine--Short Flocks, + Long Threads--Spinners and Weavers--Dyeing, Dressing, and + Pressing--A Moral in Shoddy--A Surprise of Real Cloth--Iron, + Lead, and Coal--To Wakefield--A Disappointment--The Old Chapel + --The Battle-field--To Barnsley--Bairnsla Dialect--Sheffield. + + +"What is Bradford famous for?" was the question put at a +school-examination somewhere within the West Riding. + +"For its shoddy," answered one of the boys. An answer that greatly +scandalized certain of the parents who had come from Bradford; and not +without reason, for although shoddy is manufactured within sight of the +smoke of the town, Bradford is really the great mart for stuffs and +worsted goods, as Leeds is for broadcloth. + +I had seen how stuffs were made, and wished now to see in what manner +they were sent into the market. A clerk who came to the inn during the +evening for a glass of ale and gossip, invited me to visit the warehouse +in which he was employed, on the following morning. I went, and as he +had not repented of his invitation, I saw all he had to show, and then, +at his suggestion, went to the 'crack' warehouse of Bradford, where +business is carried on with elegant and somewhat luxurious appliances. I +handed my card to a gentleman in the office, and was not surprised to +hear for answer that strangers could not be admitted for obvious +reasons, and was turning away, when he said, musingly, that my name +seemed familiar to him, and after a little reflection, he added: "Yes, +yes--now I have it. It was on the title-page of _A Londoner's Walk to +the Land's End_. How that book made me long for a trip to Cornwall! And +you are the Londoner! Well, of course you shall see the warehouse." + +So I was introduced into the lift, and away we were hoisted up to the +fifth or sixth story, when I was first led to the gazebo on the roof, +that I might enjoy the prospect of the town and neighbourhood. What a +prospect! a great mass of houses, and rounded heights beyond, dimly seen +through a rolling canopy of smoke. The sky of London is brilliant in +comparison. May it never be my doom to live in Bradford, or Leeds, or +Sheffield, or Manchester! + +We soon exchanged the dismal outlook for the topmost floor, where I saw +heaps of 'tabs,' stacks of boards, boxes, and paper for packing. The +tabs, which are the narrow strips that hang out from the ends of the +pieces while on show, are kept for a time as references. The number and +variety of the boards, on which the pieces are wound, are surprising: +some are thick, to add bulk and weight to the piece of stuff in which it +is to be enveloped; some thin, to save cost in transport; some broad, +some narrow, so that every market may have its whims and wants +gratified. The Germans who pay heavily for carriage, prefer thin boards: +Brother Jonathan as well as John Bull, likes the sight of a good +pennyworth, and gets a thick board. The preparation of these boards +alone must be no insignificant branch of trade in Bradford; and +remembering how many warehouses in other towns use up stacks of boards +every month, we see a large consumption of Norway timber at once +accounted for. + +I saw the press cutting the slips of white paper in which the pieces are +tied, and tickets and fancy bands and labels intended to tickle the eyes +of customers, without end. A peculiar kind of embossed paper, somewhat +resembling a rough towel, is provided to wrap up the American purchases; +and Brother Jonathan requires that his pieces should be folded in a +peculiar way, so that he may show the quality without loss of time when +selling to his own impatient countrymen. Nimble machines measure the +pieces at the rate of a thousand yards an hour, and others wind the +lengths promptly on the boards; and, judging from appearances, clerks, +salesmen, and porters work as if they too were actuated by the steam. +And then, while descending from floor to floor, to see the prodigious +piles of pieces on racks and shelves, or awaiting their turn in the +hydraulic press which packs them solid as a bastion, was a wonder. There +were moreen, bombazine, alpaca, camlet, orleans, berége, Australian +cord, cable cord, and many kinds as new to me as they would have been to +a fakir. One heavy black stuff was pointed out as manufactured purposely +for the vestments of Romish priests. And running through each room I saw +a small lift, in which account books, orders, patterns, and such like, +are passed up and down, and now and then a signal to a clerk to be +cautious of pushing sales. And, lastly, on the ground-floor I saw the +handsome dining-room, wherein many a customer had enjoyed the +hospitality of the firm, and drunk the generous sherry that inspired him +to buy up to a thousand when he purposed only five hundred. + +This brief sketch includes the two warehouses; one, however--the elegant +one--confines itself to the home trade. I made due acknowledgments for +the favour shown to me, and hastening to the railway-station, took the +train for Mirfield. The line passes the great Lowmoor iron-works, where +furnaces, little mountains of ore, coal, limestone, and iron, and cranes +and trucks, and overwhelming smoke, and a general blackness, suggest +ideas of Vulcan and his tremendous smithy. And besides there is a stir, +and a going to and fro, that betoken urgent work; and you will believe a +passenger's remark, that "Lowmoor could of itself keep a railway going." +We pass Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike, places that have something sylvan +in the sound of their names; but although the country if left to itself +would be pretty enough, it is sadly disfigured by smoke and the +remorseless inroads of trade. Yet who can travel here in the West Riding +and not be struck by the busy traffic, the sight of chimneys, quarries, +canals, and tramways, and trains heavy laden, coming and going +continually! And connected with this traffic there is one particular +especially worthy of imitation in other counties: it is, that nearly +every train throughout the day has third-class carriages. + +Mirfield is in the pleasant valley of the Calder. While waiting for a +train to Batley, I walked along the bank of the stream thinking of Robin +Hood, who lies buried at Kirklees, a few miles up the valley, where a +treacherous hand let out his life: + + "Lay me a green sod under my head, + And another at my feet; + And lay my bent bow by my side, + Which was my music sweet; + And make my grave of gravel and green, + Which is most right and meet. + + "Let me have length and breadth enough, + With a green sod under my head; + That they may say when I am dead, + Here lies bold Robin Hood." + +The object of my visit to Batley was to see the making of shoddy. To +leave Yorkshire ignorant of one of our latest national institutions +would be a reproach. We live in an age of shoddy, in more senses than +one. You may begin with the hovel, and trace shoddy all through society, +even up to the House of Peers. I had not long to wait: there was a +bird's-eye view of Dewsbury in passing, and a few minutes brought me to +Batley, the head-quarters of shoddy. On alighting at the station, the +sight of great pockets or bales piled up in stacks or laden on trucks, +every bale branded _Anvers_, and casks of oil from _Sevila_, gave me at +once a proof that I had come to the right place; for here were rags +shipped at Antwerp from all parts of northern Europe. Think of that. +Hither were brought tatters from pediculous Poland, from the gipsies of +Hungary, from the beggars and scarecrows of Germany, from the frowsy +peasants of Muscovy; to say nothing of snips and shreds from monks' +gowns and lawyers' robes, from postilions' jackets and soldiers' +uniforms, from maidens' bodices and noblemen's cloaks. A vast medley, +truly! and all to be manufactured into broadcloth in Yorkshire. No +wonder that the _Univers_ declares England is to perish by her commerce. + +The walk to the town gives you such a view as can only be seen in a +manufacturing district: hills, fields, meadows, and rough slopes, all +bestrewn with cottages, factories, warehouses, sheds, clouded here and +there by smoke; roads and paths wandering apparently anywhere; here and +there a quarry, and piles of squared stone; heaps of refuse; +wheat-fields among the houses; potato-plots in little levels, and +everything giving you the impression of waiting to be finished. Add to +all this, troops of men and women, boys and girls--the girls with a +kerchief pinned over the head, the corner hanging behind--going home to +dinner, and a mighty noise of clogs, and trucks laden with rags and +barrels of oil, and you will have an idea of Batley, as I saw it on my +arrival. + +Having found the factory of which I was in search, I had to wait a few +minutes for the appearance of the principal. A boy, who was amusing +himself in the office, remarked, when he heard that I had never yet seen +shoddy made: "Well, it'll cap ye when ye get among the machinery; that's +all!" He himself had been capt once in his life: it was in the previous +summer, when his uncle took him to Blackpool, and he first beheld the +sea. "That capt me, that did," he said, with the gravity of a +philosopher. + +Seeing that the principal hesitated, even after he had read my letter, I +began to imagine that shoddy-making involved important secrets. "Come to +see what you can pick up, eh?" he said. However, when he heard that I +was in no way connected with manufactures, and had come, not as a spy, +but simply out of honest curiosity, to see how old rags were ground into +new cloth, he smiled, and led me forthwith into the devil's den. There I +saw a cylinder revolving with a velocity too rapid for the eye to +follow, whizzing and roaring, as if in agony, and throwing off a cloud +of light woolly fibres, that floated in the air, and a stream of flocks +that fell in a heap at the end of the room. It took three minutes to +stop the monster; and when the motion ceased, I saw the cylinder was +full of blunt steel teeth, which, seizing whatever was presented to them +in the shape of rags, tore it thoroughly to pieces; in fact, ground it +up into flocks of short, frizzly-looking fibre, resembling negro-hair, +yet soft and free from knots. The cylinder is fed by a travelling web, +which brings a layer of rags continually up to the teeth. On this +occasion, the quality of the grist, as one might call it, was +respectable--nothing but fathoms of list which had never been defiled. +So rapidly did the greedy devil devour it, that the two attendant imps +were kept fully employed in feeding; and fast as the pack of rags +diminished, the heap of flocks increased. And so, amid noise and dust, +the work goes on day after day; and the man who superintends, aided by +his two boys, earns four pounds a week, grinding the rags as they come, +for thirty shillings a pack. + +The flocks are carried away to the mixing-house. As we turned aside, the +devil began to whirl once more; and before we had entered the other +door, I heard the ferocious howl in full vigour. The road between the +buildings was encumbered with oil-casks, pieces of cloth, lying in the +dust, as if of no value, and packs of rags. "It will all come right +by-and-by," said the chief, as I pointed to the littery heaps; and, +pausing by one of the packs which contained what he called 'mungo,' that +is, shreds of such cloth as clergymen's coats are made of, he made me +aware that there is shoddy and shoddy. That which makes the longest +fibre is, of course, the best; and some of the choice sorts are worked +up into marketable cloth, without a fresh dyeing. + +Great masses of the flocks, with passage-ways between, lay heaped on the +stone floor of the mixing-house. Here, according to the quality +required, the long fibre is mixed in certain proportions with the short; +and to facilitate the subsequent operations, the several heaps are +lightly sprinkled with oil. A dingy brown or black was the prevalent +colour; but some of the heaps were gray, and would be converted into +undyed cloth of the same colour. It seemed to me that the principal +ingredient therein was old worsted stockings; and yet, before many days, +those heaps would become gray cloth fit for the jackets and mantles of +winsome maidens. + +I asked my conductor if it were true, as I had heard, that shoddy-makers +purchased the waste, begrimed cotton wads with which stokers and +'engine-tenters' wipe the machinery, or the dirty refuse of +wool-sorters, or every kind of ragged rubbish. He did not think such +things were done in Batley; for his part, he used none but best rags, +and could keep two factories always going. He had heard of the man who +spread greasy cotton-waste over his field, and who, when the land had +absorbed all the grease, gathered up the cotton, and sold it to the +shoddy-makers; but he doubted the truth of the story. True or not, it +implies great toleration among a certain class of manufacturers. Rags, +not good enough for shoddy, are used as manure for the hops in Kent; so +we get shoddy in our beer as well as in our broadcloth. + +In the next process, the flocks are intimately mixed by passing over and +under a series of rollers, and come forth from the last looking +something like wool. Then the wool, as we may now call it, goes to the +'scribbling-machine,' which, after torturing it among a dozen rollers of +various dimensions, delivers it yard by yard in the form of a loose +thick cable, with a run of the fibres in one direction. The +carding-machine takes the cable lengths, subjects them to another course +of torture, confirms the direction of the fibres, and reduces the cable +into a chenille of about the thickness of a lady's finger. This chenille +is produced in lengths of about five feet, across the machine, parallel +with the rollers, and is immediately transferred to the piecing-machine, +by a highly ingenious process. Each length, as it is finished, drops +into a long, narrow, tin tray; the tray moves forward; the next behind +it receives a chenille; then the third; then the fourth; and so on, up +to ten. By this time, they have advanced over a table on which lies what +may be described as a wooden gridiron; there is a momentary pause, and +then the ten trays, turning all at once upside down, drop the chenilles +severally between the bars of the gridiron. At one side of the table is +a row of large spindles, or rollers, on which the chenilles--cardings, +is the factory word--are wound, and the dropping is so contrived that +the ends of those which fall overlap the ends of the lengths on the +spindles by about an inch. Now the gridiron begins to vibrate, and by +its movement beats the ends together; joins each chenille, in fact, to +the one before it; then the spindles whirl, and draw in the lengths, +leaving only enough for the overlap; and no sooner is this accomplished +than the ten trays drop another supply, which is treated in the same +expeditious manner, until the spindles are filled. No time is lost, for +the full ones are immediately replaced by empty ones. + +Now comes the spinners' turn. They take these full spindles, submit them +to the action of their machinery by dozens at a time, and spin the +large, loose chenilles into yarns of different degrees of strength and +fineness, or, perhaps one should say, coarseness, ready for the weavers. +And in this way those heaps of short, uncompliant negro-hair, in which +you could hardly find a fibre three inches long, are transformed into +long, continuous threads, able to bear the rapid jerks of the loom. I +could not sufficiently admire its ingenuity. Who would have imagined +that among the appliances of shoddy! Moreover, wages are good at Batley, +and the spinners can earn from forty to forty-five shillings a week. The +women who attend the looms earn nine or eighteen shillings a week, +according as they weave one or two pieces. + +Next comes the fulling process: the pieces are damped, and thumped for a +whole day by a dozen ponderous mallets; then the raising of the pile on +one or both sides of the cloth, either by rollers or by hand. In the +latter case, two men stretch a piece as high as they can reach on a +vertical frame, and scratch the surface downwards with small hand-cards, +the teeth of which are fine steel wire. Genuine broadcloth can only be +dressed by a teazel of Nature's own growing; but shoddy, far less +delicate, submits to the metal. So the men keep on, length after length, +till the piece is finished. Then the dyers have their turn, and if you +venture to walk through their sloppy, steamy department, you will see +men stirring the pieces about in vats, and some pieces hanging to +rollers which keep them for a while running through the liquor. From the +dye-house the pieces are carried to the tenter-ground and stretched in +one length on vertical posts; and after a sufficient course of sun and +air, they undergo the finishing process--clipping the surface and +hot-pressing. + +From what I saw in the tenter-ground, I discovered that pilot cloth is +shoddy; that glossy beavers and silky-looking mohairs are shoddy; that +the Petershams so largely exported to the United States are shoddy; that +the soft, delicate cloths in which ladies feel so comfortable, and look +so graceful, are shoddy; that the 'fabric' of Talmas, Raglans, and +paletots, and of other garments in which fine gentlemen go to the Derby, +or to the Royal Academy Exhibition, or to the evening services in +Westminster Abbey, are shoddy. And if Germany sends us abundance of +rags, we send to Germany enormous quantities of shoddy in return. The +best quality manufactured at Batley is worth ten shillings a yard; the +commonest not more than one shilling. + +Broadcloth at a shilling a yard almost staggers credibility. After that +we may truly say that shoddy is a great leveller. + +The workpeople are, with few exceptions, thrifty and persevering. Some +of the spinners take advantage of their good wages to build cottages and +become landlords. A walk through Batley shows you that thought has been +taken for their spiritual and moral culture; and in fine weather they +betake themselves for out-doors recreation to an ancient manor-house, +which I was told is situate beyond the hill that rears its pleasant +woods aloft in sight of the factories. + +The folk of the surrounding districts are accustomed to make merry over +the shoddy-makers, regarding them as Gibeonites, and many a story do +they tell concerning these clever conjurors, and their transformations +of old clothes into new. Once, they say, a portly Quaker walked into +Batley, just as the 'mill-hands' were going to dinner: he came from the +west, and was clad in that excellent broadcloth which is the pride of +Gloucestershire. "Hey!" cried the hands, as he passed among them--"hey! +look at that now! There's a bit of real cloth. Lookey, lookey! we never +saw the like afore:" and they surrounded the worthy stranger, and kept +him prisoner until they had all felt the texture of his coat, and +expressed their admiration. + + * * * * * + +Again, while waiting at Mirfield, was I struck by the frequency of +trains, and counted ten in an hour and a half. In 1856, a million and +quarter tons of iron ore were dug in the Cleveland and Whitby districts; +and the quantity of pig-iron made in Yorkshire was 275,600 tons, of +which the West Riding produced 96,000. In the same year 8986 tons of +lead, and 302 ounces of silver were made within the county; and +Yorkshire furnished 9,000,000 towards the sixty millions tons and a half +of coal dug in all the kingdom. + +I journeyed on to Wakefield; and, as it proved, to a disappointment. I +had hoped for a sight of Walton Hall, and of the well-known naturalist, +who there fulfils the rites of hospitality with a generous hand. Through +a friend of his, Mr. Waterton had assured me of a welcome; but on +arriving at Wakefield, I heard that he had started the day before for +the Continent. So, instead of a walk to the Hall, I resolved to go on to +Sheffield, by the last train. This left me time for a ramble. I went +down to the bridge, and revived my recollections of the little chapel +which for four hundred years has shown its rich and beautiful front to +all who there cross the Calder, and I rejoiced to see that it had been +restored and was protected by a railing. It was built--some say +renewed--by Edward the Fourth to the memory of those who fell in the +battle of Wakefield--a battle fatal to the House of York--and fatal to +the victors; for the cruelties there perpetrated by Black Clifford and +other knights, were repaid with tenfold vengeance at Towton. The place +where Richard, Duke of York, fell, may still be seen: and near it, a +little more than a mile from the town, the eminence on which stood +Sandal Castle, a fortress singularly picturesque, as shown in old +engravings. + +After a succession of stony towns and smoky towns, there was something +cheerful in the distant view of Wakefield with its clean red brick. It +has some handsome streets; and in the old thoroughfares you may see +relics of the medięval times in ancient timbered houses. Leland +describes it as "a very quick market town, and meatly large, the whole +profit of which standeth by coarse drapery." You will soon learn by a +walk through the streets that "very quick" still applies. + +Signs of manufactures are repeated as Wakefield, with its green +neighbourhood, is left behind, and at Barnsley the air is again darkened +by smoke. We had to change trains here, and thought ourselves lucky in +finding that the Sheffield train had for once condescended to lay aside +its surly impatience, and await the arrival from Wakefield. As we pushed +through the throng on the platform, I heard many a specimen of the +vernacular peculiar to Bairnsla, as the natives call it. How shall one +who has not spent years among them essay to reproduce the sounds? +Fortunately there is a _Bairnsla Foaks' Almanack_ in which the work is +done ready to our hand; and here is a passage quoted from _Tom +Treddlehoyle's Peep at T' Manchister Exhebishan_, giving us a notion of +the sort of dialect talked by the Queen's subjects in this part of +Yorkshire. + +Tom is looking about and "moralizin'," when "a strange bussal cum on all +ov a sudden daan below stairs, an foaks hurryin e wun dereckshan! 'Wot's +ta do?' thowt ah; an daan t' steps ah clattard, runnin full bump agean +t' foaks a t' bottom, an before thade time to grumal or get ther faces +saard, ah axt, 'Wot ther wor ta do?'--'Lord John Russel's cum in,' sed +thay. Hearin this, there diddant need anuther wurd, for after springin +up on ta me teppytoes ta get t' lattetude az ta whereabaats he wor, ah +duckt me head underneath foaks's airms, an away a slipt throo t' craad +az if ide been soapt all ovver, an gettin as near him az ah durst ta be +manardly, ah axt a gentleman at hed a glass button stuck before his ee, +in a whisperin soart of a tone, 'Which wor Lord John Russel?' an bein +pointed aght ta ma, ah lookt an lookt agean, but cuddant believe at it +wor him, he wor sich an a little bit ov an hofalas-lookin chap,--not +much unlike a horse-jocky at wun's seen at t' Donkister races, an wot +wor just getherin hiz crums up after a good sweatin daan for t' +Ledger,--an away ah went, az sharp az ah cud squeaze aght, thinkin to +mesen, 'Bless us, what an a ta-do there iz abaght nowt! a man's but a +man, an a lord's na more!' We that thowt, an hevin gottan nicely aght a +t' throng, we t' loss a nobbat wun button, an a few stitches stretcht a +bit e t' coit-back, ah thowt hauf-an-haar's quiat woddant be amiss." + +We went on a few miles to a little station called Wombwell, where we had +again to change trains. But the train from Doncaster had not arrived; so +while the passengers waited they dispersed themselves about the sides of +the railway, finding seats on the banks or fences, and sat talking in +groups, and wondering at the delay. The stars shone out, twinkling +brightly, before the train came up, more than an hour beyond its time, +and it was late when we reached Sheffield. I turned at a venture into +the first decent-looking public-house in _The Wicker_, and was rewarded +by finding good entertainment and thorough cleanliness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Clouds of Blacks--What Sheffield was and is--A detestable Town + --Razors and knives--Perfect Work, Imperfect Workmen--Foul Talk + --How Files are Made--Good Iron, Good Steel--Breaking-up and + Melting--Making the Crucibles--Casting--Ingots--File Forgers-- + Machinery Baffled--Cutting the Teeth--Hardening--Cleaning and + Testing--Elliott's Statue--A Ramble to the Corn-law Rhymer's + Haunt--Rivelin--Bilberry-gatherers--Ribbledin--The Poet's Words + --A Desecration--To Manchester--A few Words on the Exhibition. + + +When I woke in the morning and saw what a stratum of 'blacks' had come +in at the window during the night, I admired still more the persevering +virtue which maintains cleanliness under such very adverse +circumstances. We commonly think the London atmosphere bad; but it is +purity compared with Sheffield. The town, too, is full of strange, +uncouth noises, by night as well as by day, that send their echo far. I +had been woke more than once by ponderous thumps and sounding shocks, +which made me fancy the Cyclops themselves were taking a turn at the +hammers. Sheffield raised a regiment to march against the Sepoys; why +not raise a company to put down its own pestiferous blacks? + +Who would think that here grew the many-leagued oak forests in which +Gurth and Wamba roamed; that in a later day, when the Talbots were lords +of the domain, there were trees in the park under which a hundred horses +might find shelter? Here lived that famous Talbot, the terror of the +French; here George, the fourth Earl, built a mansion in which Wolsey +lodged while on his way to die at Leicester; here the Queen of Scots was +kept for a season in durance; here, as appears by a Court Roll, dated +1590, the Right Honorable George Earl of Shrewsbury assented to the +trade regulations of "the Fellowship and Company of Cutlers and Makers +of Knives," whose handicraft was even then an ancient one, for Chaucer +mentions the "Shefeld thwitel." Now, what with furnaces and forges, +rolling mills, and the many contrivances used by the men of iron and +steel, the landscape is spoiled of its loveliness, and Silence is driven +to remoter haunts. + +On the other hand, Sheffield is renowned for its knives and files all +over the world. It boasts a People's College and a Philosophical +Society. With it are associated the names of Chantrey, Montgomery, and +Ebenezer Elliott. When you see the place, you will not wonder that +Elliott's poetry is what it is; for how could a man be expected to write +amiable things in such a detestable town? + +Ever since my conversation with the _Mechaniker_, while on the way to +Prague, when he spoke so earnestly in praise of English files, my desire +to see how files were made became impatiently strong. Sheffield is +famous also for razors; so there was a sight of two interesting +manufactures to be hoped for when I set out after breakfast to test my +credentials. Fortune favoured me; and, in the works of Messrs. Rodgers, +I saw the men take flat bars of steel and shape them by the aid of fire +and hammer into razor-blades with remarkable expedition and accuracy. So +expert have they become by long practice, that with the hammer only they +form the blade and tang so nicely, as to leave but little for the +grinders to waste. I saw also the forging of knife-blades, the making of +the handles, the sawing of the buckhorn and ivory by circular saws, and +the heap of ivory-dust which is sold to knowing cooks, and by them +converted into gelatine. I saw how the knives are fitted together with +temporary rivets to ensure perfect action and finish, before the final +touches are given. And as we went from room to room, and I thought that +each man had been working for years at the same thing, repeating the +same movements over and over again, I could not help pitying them; for +it seemed to me that they were a sacrifice to the high reputation of +English cutlery. Something more than a People's College and Mechanics' +Institute would be needed to counteract the deadening effect of +unvarying mechanical occupation; and where there is no relish for +out-door recreation in the woods and on the hills, hurtful excitements +are the natural consequence. + +I had often heard that Sheffield is the most foul-mouthed town in the +kingdom, and my experience unfortunately adds confirmation. While in +the train coming from Barnsley, and in my walks about the town, I heard +more filthy and obscene talk than could be heard in Wapping in a year. +Not to trust to the impressions of the day, I inquired of a resident +banker, and he testified that the foul talk that assailed his ears, was +to him, a continual affliction. + +On the wall of the grinding-shop a tablet, set up at the cost of the +men, preserves the name of a grinder, who by excellence of workmanship +and long and faithful service, achieved merit for himself and the trade. +At their work the men sit astride on a low seat in rows of four, one +behind the other, leaning over their stones and wheels. For razors, the +grindstones are small, so as to produce the hollow surface which favours +fineness of edge. From the first a vivid stream of sparks flies off; but +the second is a leaden wheel; the third is leather touched with crocus, +to give the polish to the steel; and after that comes the whet. To carry +off the dust, each man has a fan-box in front of his wheel, through +which all the noxious floating particles are drawn by the rapid current +of air therein produced. To this fan the grinders of the present +generation owe more years of health and life than fell to the lot of +their fathers, who inhaled the dust, earned high wages, and died soon of +disease of the lungs. I was surprised by the men's dexterity; by a +series of quick movements, they finished every part of the blade on the +stone and wheels. + +From the razors I went to the files, at Moss and Gamble's manufactory, +in another part of the town. There is scarcely a street from which you +cannot see the hills crowned by wood which environ the town--that is, at +intervals only, through the thinnest streams of smoke. The town itself +is hilly, and the more you see of the neighbourhood, the more will you +agree with those who say, "What a beautiful place Sheffield would be, if +Sheffield were not there!" + +My first impression of the file-works, combined stacks of Swedish iron +in bars; ranges of steel bars of various shape, square, flat, +three-cornered, round, and half-round; heaps of broken steel, the fresh +edges glittering in the sun; heaps of broken crucibles, and the roar of +furnaces, noise of bellows, hammer-strokes innumerable, and dust and +smoke, and other things, that to a stranger had very much the appearance +of rubbish and confusion. + +However, there is no confusion; every man is diligent at his task; so if +you please, reader, we will try and get a notion of the way in which +those bars of Swedish iron are converted into excellent files. Swedish +iron is chosen because it is the best; no iron hitherto discovered +equals it for purity and strength, and of this the most esteemed is +known as 'Hoop L,' from its brand being an =L= within a hoop. "If you +want good steel to come out of the furnace," say the knowing ones, "you +must put good iron in;" and some of them hold that, "when the devil is +put into the crucible, nothing but the devil will come out:" hence we +may believe their moral code to be sufficient for its purpose. The bars, +at a guess, are about eight feet long, three inches broad, and one inch +thick. To begin the process, they are piled in a furnace between +alternate layers of charcoal, the surfaces kept carefully from contact, +and are there subjected to fire for eight or nine days. To enable the +workmen to watch the process, small trial pieces are so placed that they +can be drawn out for examination through a small hole in the front of +the furnace. In large furnaces, twelve tons of iron are converted at +once. The long-continued heat, which is kept below the melting-point, +drives off the impurities; the bars, from contact with the charcoal, +become carbonized and hardened; and when the fiery ordeal is over, they +appear thickly bossed with bubbles or blisters, in which condition they +are described as 'blistered steel.' + +Now come the operations which convert these blistered bars into the +finished bars of steel above-mentioned, smooth and uniform of surface, +and well-nigh hard as diamond. The blistered bars are taken from the +furnace and broken up into small pieces; the fresh edges show +innumerable crystals of different dimensions, according to the quality +of the iron, and have much the appearance of frosted silver. The pieces +are carefully assorted and weighed. The weighers judge of the quality at +a glance, and mix the sorts in due proportion in the scales in readiness +for the melters, who put each parcel into its proper crucible, and drop +the crucibles through holes in a floor into a glowing furnace, where +they are left for about half a day. + +The making of the crucibles is a much more important part of the +operation than would be imagined. They must be of uniform dimensions and +quality, or the steel is deteriorated, and they fail in the fire. They +are made on the premises, for every melting requires new crucibles. In +an underground chamber I saw men at work, treading a large flat heap of +fire-clay into proper consistency, weighing it into lumps of a given +weight; placing these lumps one after the other in a circular mould, and +driving in upon them, with a ponderous mallet, a circular block of the +same form and height as the mould, but smaller. As the block sinks under +the heavy blows, the clay is forced against the sides of the mould; and +when the block can descend no further, there appears all round it a +dense ring of clay, and the mould is full. Now, with a dexterous turn, +the block is drawn out; the crucible is separated from the mould, and +shows itself as a smooth vase, nearly two feet in height. The mouth is +carefully finished, and a lid of the same clay fitted, and the crucible +is ready for its further treatment. When placed in the furnace, the lids +are sealed on with soft clay. The man who treads the clay needs a good +stock of patience, for lumps, however small, are fatal to the crucibles. + +When the moment arrived, I was summoned to witness the casting. The men +had tied round their shins pieces of old sacking, as protection from the +heat; they opened the holes in the floor, knocked off the lid of the +crucible, and two of them, each with tongs, lifted the crucible from the +intensely heated furnace. How it quivered, and glowed, and threw off +sparks, and diffused around a scorching temperature! It amazed me that +the men could bear it. When two crucibles are lifted out, they are +emptied at the same time into the mould; not hap-hazard, but with care +that the streams shall unite, and not touch the sides of the mould as +they fall. Neglect of this precaution injures the quality. Another +precaution is to shut out cold draughts of air during the casting. To +judge by the ear, you would fancy the men were pouring out gallons of +cream. + +The contents of two crucibles form an ingot, short, thick, and heavy. I +saw a number of such ingots in the yard. The next process is to heat +them, and to pass them while hot between the rollers which convert them +into bars of any required form. I was content to forego a visit to the +rolling-mill--somewhere in the suburbs--being already familiar with the +operation of rolling iron. + +We have now the steel in a form ready for the file-makers. Two forgers, +one of whom wields a heavy two-handed hammer, cut the bars into +lengths, and after a few minutes of fire and anvil, the future file is +formed, one end at a time, from tang to point, and stamped. For the +half-round files, a suitable depression is made at one side of the +anvil. Then comes a softening process to prepare the files for the men +who grind or file them to a true form, and for toothing. To cut the +teeth, the man or boy lays the file on a proper bed, takes a short, hard +chisel between the thumb and finger of his left hand, holds it leaning +from him at the required angle, and strikes a blow with the hammer. The +blow produces a nick with a slight ridge by its side; against this ridge +the chisel is placed for the next stroke, and so on to the next, until, +by multiplied blows, the file is fully toothed. The process takes long +to describe, but is, in reality, expeditious, as testified by the rapid +clatter. Some of the largest files require two men--one to hold the +chisel, the other to strike. For the teeth of rasps, a pyramidal punch +is used. The different kinds of files are described as roughs, bastard +cut, second cut, smooth, and dead smooth; besides an extraordinary heavy +sort, known as rubbers. According to the cut, so is the weight of the +hammer employed. Many attempts have been made to cut files by machinery; +but they have all failed. There is something in the varying touch of +human fingers imparting a keenness to the bite of the file, which the +machine with its precise movements cannot produce--even as thistle +spines excel all metallic contrivances for the dressing of cloth. And +very fortunate it is that machinery can't do everything. + +After the toothing, follows the hardening. The hardener lays a few files +in a fire of cinders; blows the bellows till a cherry-red heat is +produced; then he thrusts the file into a stratum of charcoal, and from +that plunges it into a large bath of cold water, the cleaner and colder +the better. The plunge is not made anyhow, but in a given direction, and +with a varying movement from side to side, according to the shape of the +file. The metal, as it enters the water, and for some seconds +afterwards, frets and moans piteously; and I expected to see it fly to +pieces with the sudden shock. But good steel is true; the man draws the +file out, squints along its edge, and if he sees it too much warped, +gives it a strain upon a fulcrum, sprinkling it at the same time with +cold water. He then lays it aside, takes another from the fire, and +treats it in a similar way. + +The hardened files are next scrubbed with sand, are dried, the tangs are +dipped into molten lead to deprive them of their brittleness; the files +are rubbed over with oil, and scratched with a harder piece of metal to +test their quality--that is, an attempt is made to scratch them. If the +files be good, it ought to fail. They are then taken between the thumb +and finger, and rung to test their soundness; and if no treacherous +crack betray its presence, they are tied up in parcels for sale. + +I shall not soon forget the obliging kindness with which explanations +were given and all my questions answered by a member of the firm, who +conducted me over the works. When we came to the end, and I had +witnessed the care bestowed on the several operations, I no longer +wondered that a Bohemian _Mechaniker_ in the heart of the Continent, or +artisans in any part of the world, should find reason to glory in +English files. Some people are charitable enough to believe that English +files are no unapt examples of English character. + + * * * * * + +Sheffield is somewhat proud of Chantrey and Montgomery, and honours +Elliott by a statue, which, tall of stature and unfaithful in likeness, +sits on a pedestal in front of the post-office. I thought that to ramble +out to one of the Corn-Law Rhymer's haunts would be an agreeable way of +spending the afternoon and of viewing the scenery in the neighbourhood +of the town. I paced up the long ascent of Broome Hill--a not unpleasing +suburb--to the Glossop road, and when the town was fairly left behind, +was well repaid by the sight of wooded hills and romantic valleys. +Amidst scenery such as that you may wander on to Wentworth, to +Wharncliff, the lair of the Dragon of Wantley, to Stanedge and +Shirecliff, and all the sites of which Elliott has sung in pictured +phrase or words of fire. We look into the valley of the Rivelin, one of +the + + "Five rivers, like the fingers of a hand," + +that converge upon Sheffield; and were we to explore the tributary +brooks, we should discover grinding wheels kept going by the current in +romantic nooks and hollows. What a glorious sylvan country this must +have been + + "----in times of old, + When Locksley o'er the hills of Hallam chas'd + The wide-horn'd stag, or with his bowmen bold + Wag'd war on kinglings." + +Troops of women and girls were busy on the slopes gathering bilberries, +others were washing the stains from their hands and faces at a roadside +spring, others--who told me they had been out six miles--were returning +with full baskets to the town. How they chattered! About an hour's +walking brings you to a descent; on one side the ground falls away +precipitously from the road, on the other rises a rocky cliff, and at +the foot you come to a bridge bestriding a lively brook that comes out +of a wooded glen and runs swiftly down to the Rivelin. This is the "lone +streamlet" so much loved by the poet, to which he addresses one of his +poems: + + "Here, if a bard may christen thee, + I'll call thee Ribbledin." + +I turned from the road, and explored the little glen to its upper +extremity; scrambling now up one bank, now up the other, wading through +rank grass and ferns, striding from one big stone to another, as +compelled by the frequent windings, rejoiced to find that, except in one +particular, it still answered to the poet's description: + + "Wildest and lonest streamlet! + Gray oaks, all lichen'd o'er! + Rush-bristled isles, ye ivied trunks + That marry shore to shore! + + And thou, gnarl'd dwarf of centuries, + Whose snak'd roots twist above me! + Oh, for the tongue or pen of Burns, + To tell ye how I love ye!" + +The overhanging trees multiply, and the green shade deepens, as you +ascend. At last I came to the waterfall--the loneliest nook of all, in +which the Rhymer had mused and listened to the brook, as he says: + + "Here, where first murmuring from thine urn, + Thy voice deep joy expresses; + And down the rock, like music, flows + The wildness of thy tresses." + +It was just the place for a day-dream. I sat for nearly an hour, nothing +disturbing my enjoyment but now and then the intrusive thought that my +holiday was soon to end. However, there is good promise of summers yet +to come. I climbed the hill in the rear of the fall, where, knee-deep in +heath and fern, I looked down on the top of the oaken canopy and a +broad reach of the valley; and intended to return to the town by another +road. But the attractions of the glen drew me back; so I scrambled down +it by the way I came, and retraced my outward route. + +The one particular in which the glen differs from Elliott's description +is, that an opening has been made for, as it appeared to me, a quarry or +gravel-pit, from which a loose slope of refuse extends down to the +brook, and encroaches on its bed, creating a deformity that shocks the +feelings by what seems a desecration. I thought that Ribbledin, at +least, might have been saved from spade and mattock; and the more so as +Sheffield, poisoned by smoke, can ill afford to lose any place of +recreative resort in the neighbourhood. It may be that I felt vexed; for +after my return to London, I addressed a letter on the subject to the +editor of the _Sheffield Independent_, in the hope that by calling +public attention thereto, the hand of the spoiler might be stayed. + +As I walked down to the railway-station the next morning in time for the +first train, many of the chimneys had just began to vent their murky +clouds, and the smoke falling into the streets darkened the early +sunlight; and Labour, preparing to "bend o'er thousand anvils," went +with unsmiling face to his daily task. + +Away sped the train for Manchester; and just as the Art Treasures +Exhibition was opening for the day, I alighted at the door. + +Less than half an hour spent in the building sufficed to show that it +was a work of the north, not of the south. There was a manifest want of +attention to the fitness of things, naturally to be looked for in a +county where the bulk of the population have yet so much to learn; where +manufacturers, with a yearly income numbered by thousands, can find no +better evening resort than the public-house; where so much of the +thinking is done by machinery, and where steam-engines are built with an +excellence of workmanship and splendour of finish well-nigh incredible. + +For seven hours did I saunter up and down and linger here and there, as +my heart inclined--longest before the old engravings. And while my eye +roved from one beautiful object to another, I wondered more and more +that the _Times_ and some other newspapers had often expressed surprise +that so few comparatively of the working-classes visited the Manchester +Exhibition. Those best acquainted with the working-classes, as a mass, +know full well how little such an exhibition as that appeals to their +taste and feelings. To appreciate even slightly such paintings and +curiosities of art as were there displayed, requires an amount of +previous cultivation rare in any class, and especially so in the +working-classes. For the cream of Manchester society, the Exhibition was +a fashionable exchange, where they came to parade from three to five in +the afternoon--the ladies exhibiting a circumference of crinoline far +more ample than I have ever seen elsewhere; and of them and their +compeers it would be safe to argue that those attracted by real love of +art were but tens among the thousands who went for pastime and fashion. + +To me it seems, that of late, we have had rather too much talk about +art; by far too much flattery of the artist and artificer, whereby the +one with genius and the one with handicraft feel themselves alike +ill-used if they are not always before the eyes of the world held up to +admiration. And so, instead of a heart working inspired by love, we have +a hand working inspired by hopes of praise. The masons who carved those +quaint carvings at Patrington worked out the thought that was in them +lovingly, because they had the thought, and not the mere ambitious +shadow of a thought. And their work remains admirable for all time, for +their hearts were engaged therein as well as heads and hands. But now +education and division of labour are to do everything; that is, if +flattery fail not; and in wood-engraving we have come to the pass that +one man cuts the clouds, another the trees, another the buildings, and +another the animal figures; while on steel plates the clouds are +"executed" by machinery. For my part, I would be willing to barter a +good deal of modern art for the conscience and common honesty which it +has helped to obscure. + +We are too apt to forget certain conclusions which ought to be +remembered; and these are, according to Mr. Penrose, that "No +government, however imperial, can create true taste, or combine +excellence with precipitation; that money is lavished in vain where good +sense guides neither the design nor the execution; and that art with +freedom, of which she is one manifestation, will not condescend to visit +the land where she is not invited by the spontaneous instincts, and +sustained by the unfettered efforts of the people." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A SHORT CHAPTER TO END WITH. + + +Here, reader, we part company. The last day of July has come, and +whatever may be my inclinations or yours, I must return to London, and +report myself to-morrow morning at head-quarters. There will be time +while on the way for a few parting words. + +If the reading of my book stir you up to go and see Yorkshire with your +own eyes and on your own legs, you will, I hope, be able to choose a +centre of exploration. For the coast, Flamborough and Whitby would be +convenient; for Teesdale, Barnard Castle; for Craven, with its +mountains, caves, and scars, Settle; and for the dales, Kettlewell and +Aysgarth. Ripon is a good starting-point for Wensleydale; and York, +situate where the three Ridings meet, offers railway routes in all +directions. My own route, as you have seen, was somewhat erratic, more +so than you will perhaps approve; but it pleased me, and if a man cannot +please himself while enjoying a holiday, when shall he? + +A glance at the map will show you how large a portion of the county is +here unnoticed; a portion large enough for another volume. The omissions +are more obvious to you than to me, because I can fill them up mentally +by recollections of what I saw during my first sojourn in Yorkshire. A +month might be well spent in rambles and explorations in the north-west +alone, along the border of Westmoreland; Knaresborough and the valley of +the Nidd will generously repay a travel; Hallamshire, though soiled by +Sheffield smoke, is full of delightful scenery; and if it will gratify +you to see one of the prettiest country towns in England, go to +Doncaster. And should you desire further information, as doubtless you +will, read Professor Phillips's _Rivers, Mountains, and Sea Coast of +Yorkshire_--a book that takes you all through the length and breadth of +the county. It tells you where to look for rare plants, where for +fossils; reveals the geological history; glances lovingly at all the +antiquities; and imparts all the information you are likely to want +concerning the inhabitants, from the earliest times, the climate, and +even the terrestrial magnetism. I am under great obligations to it, not +only for its science and scholarship, but for the means it afforded me, +combined with previous knowledge, of choosing a route. + +As regards distances, my longest walk, as mentioned at the outset, was +twenty-six miles; the next longest, from Brough to Hawes, twenty-two; +and all the rest from fourteen to eighteen miles. Hence, in all the +rambles, there is no risk of over-fatigue. I would insert a table of +distances, were it not best that you should inquire for yourself when on +the spot, and have a motive for talking to the folk on the way. As for +the railways, buy your time-table in Yorkshire; it will enlighten you on +some of the local peculiarities, and prove far more useful than the +lumbering, much-perplexed _Bradshaw_. + +Of course the Ordnance maps are the best and most complete; but +considering that the sheets on the large scale, for Yorkshire alone, +would far outweigh your knapsack, they are out of the question for a +pedestrian. Failing these, you will find Walker's maps--one for each +Riding--sufficiently trustworthy, with the distances from town to town +laid down along the lines of road, and convenient for the pocket withal. + +Much has been said and written concerning the high cost of travelling in +England as compared with the Continent, but is it really so? Experience +has taught me that the reverse is the fact, and for an obvious +reason--the much shorter distance to be travelled to the scene of your +wanderings. In going to Switzerland, for example, there are seven +hundred and fifty miles to Basel, before you begin to walk, and the +outlay required for such a journey as that is not compensated by any +trifling subsequent advantage, if such there be. Some folk travel as if +they were always familiar with turtle and champagne at home, and +therefore should not complain if they are made to pay for the +distinction. But if you are content to go simply on your own merits, +wishing nothing better than to enjoy a holiday, it is perfectly +possible, while on foot, to travel for four-and-sixpence a day, +sometimes even less. And think not that because you choose the +public-house instead of the hotel you will suffer in regard to diet, or +find any lack of comfort and cleanliness. The advantage in all these +respects, as I know full well, is not unfrequently with the house of +least pretension. Moreover, you are not looked on as a mere biped, come +in to eat, drink, and sleep, by a waiter who claims his fee as a right; +but a show of kindly feeling awaits you, and the lassie who ministers to +your wants accepts your gift of a coin with demonstrations of +thankfulness. And, again, the public-house shows you far more variety of +unsophisticated life and character than you could ever hope to witness +in an hotel. Certain friends of mine, newly-wedded, passed a portion of +their honeymoon at the _Jolly Herring_ at Penmaenmawr, with much more +contentment to themselves than at the large hotels they afterwards +visited in the Principality, and at one-half the cost. + +The sum total of my walking amounts to three hundred and seventy-five +miles. If you go down to Yorkshire, trusting, as I hope, to your own +legs for most of your pleasure, you will perhaps outstrip me. At any +rate, you will discover that travelling in England is not less enjoyable +than on the Continent; maybe you will think it more so, especially if, +instead of merely visiting one place after another, you really do +travel. You require no ticket-of-leave in the shape of a passport from +cowardly emperor or priest-ridden king, and may journey at will from +county to county and parish to parish, finding something fresh and +characteristic in each, and all the while with the consciousness that it +is your own country: + + "Our Birth-land this! around her shores roll ocean's sounding waves; + Within her breast our fathers sleep in old heroic graves; + Our Heritage! with all her fame, her honour, heart, and pow'rs, + God's gift to us--we love her well--she shall be ever ours." + + + + +INDEX. + + +Addleborough, 169, 173 + +Aire, river, 226 + +---- source of, 233 + +Aldborough, 47 + +Alum, manufacture of, 98; + hewing, 99; + roasting, 100; + soaking, 101; + crystallizing, 102 + +Alum Shale Cliffs, 99 + +Arncliffe, 95 + +Askrigg, 170 + +Atwick, 52 + +Auburn, 52 + +Austin's Stone, 34 + +Aysgarth, 202 + +---- Force, 170, 204 + + +Bain, river, 165, 174 + +Bainbridge, 165, 170 + +Balder, river, 137, 144 + +Barden Fell, 193 + +---- Tower, 196 + +Barmston, 40, 52 + +Barnard Castle, 137 + +Barnsley, 254 + +Batley, 248 + +Bay Town, 81 + +Beverley, 28, 34, 39 + +Birkdale, 151 + +Bishopdale, 201 + +Bishopthorpe, 223 + +Black-a-moor, 84 + +Bolton Abbey, 192 + +---- Castle, 170, 202, 207 + +Boroughbridge, 143 + +Boulby, 115 + +Bowes, 141 + +Bradford, 243 + +Bridlington, 53 + +Brignall Banks, 142 + +Brough, 155 + +Brunanburgh, 35 + +Buckden, 201 + +---- Pike, 200 + +Burnsall, 198 + +Burstall Garth, 19 + +Burstwick, 15 + +Buttertubs Pass, 163 + +Byland Abbey, 221 + + +Calder, river, 247, 253 + +Caldron Snout, 149 + +Cam Fell, 175 + +Carnelian Bay, 69 + +Carperby, 206 + +Carrs, the, 40 + +Cayton Bay, 69 + +Chapel-le-dale, 178, 181 + +Clapdale, 184 + +Clapham, 183 + +Cleathorpes, 7, 25 + +Cleckheaton, 217 + +Cleveland, 89, 97, 119, 127, 212 + +Cloughton, 76 + +Coatham, 122, 124 + +Cotherstone, 144 + +Cottingham, 27 + +Counterside, 175 + +Coverdale, 170 + +Coverham Abbey, 171 + +Coxwold, 222 + +Craven, 183, 191, 227 + +Cray, 201 + +Cronkley Scar, 148 + +Cross Fell, 154 + + +Dane's Dike, 57, 64 + +Darlington, 135 + +Deira, 35 + +Derwent, river, 221 + +Dewsbury, 248 + +Dimlington, 23 + +Dinsdale Spa, 135 + +Drewton, 34 + +Driffield, 35 + +Dunsley, 104 + + +Easby heights, 131 + +---- Abbey, 210 + +East Row, 97 + +---- Witton, 171 + +Eden, river, 154, 159 + +Egliston Abbey, 140 + +Egton, 94 + +---- Bridge, 95 + +Esk, Vale of, 84, 86, 96 + +Eston Nab, 125, 132 + + +Filey, 65, 68 + +---- Brig, 65, 67 + +Flamborough, 59, 64 + +---- Head, 48, 54, 60 + +---- Lighthouse, 61 + +---- North Landing, 64 + +---- South Landing, 58 + +Fountains Abbey, 214 + +Freeburgh Hill, 118 + +Frothingham, 40 + + +Gatekirk Cave, 182 + +Gearstones, 177 + +George Fox's Well, 228 + +Giggleswick, 227 + +Gilling, 222 + +Godmanham, 35 + +Goldsborough, 106 + +Gordale Scar, 231 + +Gormire Lake, 217 + +Great Ayton, 131 + +Greta Bridge, 141 + +Grimsby, 7 + +Grinton, 160, 162 + +Gristhorp Bay, 69 + +Grosmont, 94 + +Guisborough, 125 + +---- Moors, 129 + +---- Priory, 126 + + +Haiburn Wyke, 78 + +Hambleton Hills, 154, 170, 208, 218 + +Handale, 118 + +Hardraw Scar, 163 + +Harpham, 35 + +Hart-Leap Well, 208 + +Hawes, 163, 164, 175 + +Haworth, 235 + +Hawsker, 84 + +Heckmondwike, 247 + +Hedon, 14 + +Helbeck, the, 155 + +Helmsley, 220 + +High Cope Nick, 152 + +High Force, 146 + +High Seat, 157 + +Hinderwell, 109 + +Holderness, 11, 14, 23, 34, 40 + +Holwick Fell, 148 + +Hornby, 172 + +Hornsea, 46 + +---- Mere, 45 + +Howardian Hills, 222 + +Hull, 9 + +---- river, 10, 12, 41 + +Humber, the, 5, 8, 18 + +Huntcliff Nab, 119 + +Hurtle Pot, 180 + +Hutton Lowcross, 128 + +---- Rudby, 128 + + +Ingleborough, 154, 175, 183, 228 + +---- Cave, 184 + +---- Giant's Hall, 188 + +Ingleton, 183 + +---- Fell, 177 + +Ironstone, 94, 103, 134, 253 + + +Jervaux Abbey, 171 + +Jet, 91 + manufacture of, 92 + ---- diggers, 107 + +Jingle Pot, 180 + + +Keighley, 235 + +Kettleness, 104, 106 + +Kettlewell, 200, 233 + +Keyingham, 15 + +Kildale, 132 + +Kilnsea, 19 + +Kilnsey, 199 + +Kilton, 120 + +Kirkby Moorside, 221 + +Kirkdale, 221 + +Kirkleatham, 124 + +Kirklees, 247 + +Kirkstall Abbey, 226 + + +Langstrothdale, 201 + +Lartington, 143 + +Leeds, 226, 243 + +Leyburn, 170 + +Lofthouse, 116 + +Lowmoor, 247 + +Lowths, the, 33 + +Lythe, 105 + + +Maiden Way, the, 156 + +Maize Beck, 151 + +Malham, 228 + +---- Cove, 233 + +---- Tarn, 231 + +Mallerstang, 159 + +Malton, 104, 221 + +Marske, 120 + +Marston Moor, 223 + +Marton, 134 + +Marwood Chase, 137 + +Meaux, 39 + +Mickle Fell, 149, 151, 153 + +Middleham, 170, 207 + +Middlesborough, 133 + +Middleton-in-Teesdale, 144 + +Millgill Force, 166 + +Mirfield, 247, 253 + +Mortham, 141 + +Muker, 162 + +Mulgrave, 97, 104 + +---- Cement, 99 + + +Nappa, 171 + +Newby Head, 176 + +Newlay, 227 + +Newton, 134 + +Nine Standards, 157 + +Northallerton, 211 + +Nunthorp, 134 + + +Oswaldkirk, 222 + +Ouse, river, 224 + +Ovington, 142 + +Owthorne, 24, 47 + + +Patrington, 16 + +Paul, 7 + +Peak, the, 81 + +Pendle Hill, 228 + +Pendragon Castle, 144 + +Penhill, 170, 202 + +Penyghent, 154, 201, 228 + +Pickering, vale of, 84, 221 + +Pilmoor, 222 + +Plowland, 18 + + +Raby, 138 + +Raven Hall, 80 + +Ravenhill, 104 + +Ravenser Odd, 22 + +Ravensworth, 142 + +Raydale, 173 + +Redcar, 121 + +Red Cliff, 69 + +Redmire, 207 + +Redshaw, 175 + +Reeth, 162 + +Rey Cross, the, 156 + +Ribble, river, 178, 183, 228 + +Ribbledin, the, 263 + +Richmond, 142, 208 + +Rievaulx Abbey, 219 + +Ripon, 211 + +Rivelin, the, 262 + +Robin Hood, 74, 84 + +---- Hood's Bay, 73, 78 + +Rokeby, 140 + +Rolleston Hall, 52 + +Romaldkirk, 144 + +Rosebury Topping, 119, 129 + +Routh, 41 + +Runswick, 106, 108 + +Rye, river, 219, 222 + +Ryedale, 220 + + +Sandsend, 97 + +---- Alum-works, 98 + +Saltaire, 237 + +Saltburn, 119 + +Scarborough, 61, 67 + Spa, 71 + Castle, 73 + +Scarthe Nick, 207 + +Seamer Moor, 75 + +Selwicks Bay, 61, 63 + +Settle, 227 + +Shaw, 163 + +Sheffield, 255 + +Shipley, 237, 242 + +Shirecliff, 262 + +Shunnor Fell, 158 + +Sigglesthorne, 45 + +Simmer Water, 174 + +Simonstone, 163 + +Skawton, 218 + +Skeffling, 18 + +Skelton, 127, 131 + +Skinningrave, 117 + +Skipsea, 52 + +Skipton, 191 + +Skirlington, 52 + +Speeton, 65 + +Spennithorne, 171 + +Spurn, the, 20, 23 + +---- Lighthouse, 5, 25 + +Stainmoor, 141, 155, 157 + +Staintondale Cliffs, 79 + +Staithes, 109 + +Stake Fell, 173, 201 + +Stalling Busk, 175 + +Stamford Brig, 223 + +Standard Hill, 38, 211 + +Stanedge, 262 + +Starbottom, 201 + +Stockdale, 229 + +Stockton, 135 + +Stonesdale, 161 + +Street Houses, 117 + +Strid, the, 195 + +Studley, 213 + +Sunk Island, 6, 17 + +Sutton, 217 + +Swale, river, 159, 160 + +Swaledale, 157, 160, 162, 208 + +Symon Seat, 193, 198 + + +Tan Hill, 159 + +Tees, river, 119, 121, 130, 136, 140, 145, 149 + +Thirsk, 216 + +Thoralby, 202 + +Thornton Force, 182 + +Thorsgill, 140 + +Threshfield, 199, 233 + +Thwaite, 161 + +Tickton, 41 + +Topcliffe, 30, 216 + +Towton, 223 + + +Ulshaw, 171 + +Upgang, 97 + +Upleatham, 125, 131 + +Ure, river, 159, 164, 170, 204, 211 + + +Wakefield, 253 + +Wassand, 45 + +Watton, 39 + +Weathercote Cave, 178 + +Welwick, 18 + +Wensleydale, 163, 167, 170, 201, 207 + +Wentworth, 262 + +Wharfe, river, 193, 196 + +Wharfedale, 192, 201 + +Wharncliff, 262 + +Whernside, Great and Little, 154, 200 + +Whitby, 73, 86 + +---- Abbey, 84 + +Whitfell, 166 + +Whitfell Force, 166 + +Widdale, 175 + +Wild Boar Fell, 158 + +Winch Bridge, 145 + +Winestead, 15 + +Winston, 142 + +Withernsea, 23 + +Witton Fell, 170 + +Wombwell, 255 + +Wycliffe, 142 + + +Yarborough House, 57 + +Yarm, 135 + +Yearby bank, 125 + +Yordas Cave, 182 + +York, 222 + +York, Vale of, 222 + + +THE END. + +FLETCHER, PRINTER, NORWICH. + + + + +TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES + + +Page xv: Bronte's standardised to Brontė's in chapter XXVI description + for consistency + +Page 3: bonehouse standardised to bone-house after "lecture in the grim" + for consistency + +Page 10: half-penny standardised to halfpenny after "to the value of + thirteenpence" for consistency + +Page 10: wind-mills standardised to windmills after "presence of + numerous" for consistency + +Pages 14, 268: unfrequently as in the original + +Page 16: weather-cock standardised to weathercock after "harmonious + throughout, from" for consistency + +Page 18: "Its outer sloop is loose sand" as in the original + +Page 19: re-appears standardised to reappears after "pierces the bank, + and" for consistency + +Page 22: skilful as in the original + +Page 24: grey standardised to gray after "still bearing the" for + consistency + +Page 25: . added after "that they had to be rebuilt" + +Page 28: Ffourscore as in the original + +Page 31, 166: Inconsistent hyphenation of roof-tree left as in the + original as part of a quotation + +Page 43: ecstasies standardised to ecstacies after "which threw the + company into" for consistency + +Page 44: "He eat meat" as in the original + +Page 48: re-appears standardised to reappears after "evening the + picturesque" for consistency + +Page 53: . added after "strangely with the clay" + +Page 66: seabirds standardised to sea-birds after "eggs of" for + consistency + +Page 68: harmonise changed to harmonize after "the better did it" for + consistency + +Page 72: weatherbeaten standardised to weather-beaten after "an ancient + breakwater--all" for consistency + +Page 74: befel as in the original + +Page 78: Byepaths changed to Bye-paths before "are not enticing" for + consistency + +Page 80: seabirds standardised to sea-birds after "a resort of" for + consistency + +Page 82: "should chose to wed" as in the original + +Page 88: enumerationg corrected to enumerating before "the prophet, the + fiery furnace" + +Page 89: wonld corrected to would after "Whitby, and not Scarborough," + +Page 89: characterise standardised to characterize after "and show + which" for consistency + +Page 92: . added after "could give the surest information" + +Page 111: course corrected to coarse before "grass and weeds," + +Page 123: water-falls standardised to waterfalls after "rustling leaves, + and rushing" for consistency + +Page 126: inconsistent hyphenation of road-side left as in the original + as part of a quotation + +Page 129: widespread standardised to wide-spread after "rove at will + over the" for consistency + +Page 131: , corrected to . after "Prince Oswy, her son" + +Page 141: out-look standardised to outlook after "rock affords an" for + consistency + +Page 142: reedom corrected to freedom after "John Wycliffe, to whom" + +Page 149: grasss corrected to grass after "The foam appears the whiter, + and the" + +Page 151: Duplicate a removed before "meadow, however, comes" + +Page 155: a corrected to an after "a good way off on" + +Page 166: inpenetrable corrected to impenetrable after "cranny, all but + the" + +Page 167: gray-beard standardised to graybeard after "The stiff-jointed" + for consistency + +Page 170: inconsistent non-hyphenation of abear left as in the original + as part of a quotation + +Page 172: , corrected to . after "was a Metcalfe" + +Page 177: betweeen corrected to between after "not yet lambed, the + connexion" + +Page 177: Galebeck standardised to Gale Beck after "Not far from the inn + is" + +Page 184: uphill standardised to up-hill after "village, and walking" + for consistency + +Page 188: were corrected to where after "let themselves down to a + level," + +Page 192: unusally corrected to unusually after "betokened something" + +Page 193: gatehouse standardised to gate-house after "embodying the + ancient" for consistency + +Page 197: inconsistent hyphenation of up-stairs left as in the original + as part of a quotation + +Page 199: plinthe corrected to plinth after "forms a natural" + +Page 213: minister corrected to minster after "Without seeing the" + +Page 215: over-much standardised to overmuch after "voice is made to + utter" + +Page 233: forsee as in the original + +Page 235: Bronte's standardised to Brontė's in heading for consistency + +Page 236: Bronte standardised to Brontė three times for consistency + +Page 248: boddices corrected to bodices after "from maidens'" + +Page 271: Shirecliffe standardised to Shirecliff + +Page 271: Shunner standardised to Shunnor + +General: Spelling of Cleathorpes as in the original + +General: The musician normally called Caedmon is rendered as Coedmon as + in the original + +General: Punctuation and formatting of the index has been standardised; + changes have not been individually noted + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Month in Yorkshire, by Walter White + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MONTH IN YORKSHIRE *** + +***** This file should be named 35933-8.txt or 35933-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/3/35933/ + +Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet Archive) 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