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[Peel-]castle on the isle of Foudry, which lies off its southern
extremity. The town is built on the slope, and at the foot of the
castle-hill, more than twice the bigness of Aukland, with many
new buildings of neat white stone, but a little disorderly in
their position, and 'ad libitum', like Kendal; many also extend
below on the quays, by the river side, where a number of ships
were moored, some of them three-masted vessels, decked out with
their colours in honour of the fair. Here is a good bridge of
four arches over the Lune, that runs, when the tide is out, in
two steams, divided by a bed of gravel, which is not covered but
in spring tides; below the town it widens to near the breadth of
the Thames at London, and meets the sea at five or six miles
distance to south-west.
Oct. 11. I crossed the river and walked over a peninsula three
miles, to the village of Poulton, which stands on the beach. An
old fisherman mending his nets (while I enquired about the danger
of passing those sands) told me, in his dialect, a moving story,
how a brother of the trade, a Cockler, as he styled him, driving
a little cart with two daughters (women grown) in it, and his
wife on horseback following, set out one day to cross the seven
mile sands, as they had frequently been used to do; (for nobody
in the village knew them better than the old man did) when they
were about half-way over, a thick fog rose, and as they advanced
they found the water much deeper than they expected; the old man
was puzzled; he stopped, and said he would go a little way to
find some mark he was acquainted with; they staid a while for
him, but in vain; they called aloud, but no reply; at last the
young woman pressed the mother to think where they were, and go
on; she would not leave the place; she wandered about forlorn and
amazed; she would not quit her horse and get into the cart with
them; they determined after much time wasted, to turn back, and
give themselves up to the guidance of their horses. The old woman
was soon washed off, and perished; the poor girls clung close to
their cart, and
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