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Page 33:-
owners of which have, time out of mind, been called Kings of
Patterdale: this I believe has taken rise from their neither
ever having paid any rents, or dome any homage, fealty, or
service to the King, or any claiming under him: nor is it
improbable, (the family who possessed this estate being
always accounted the chief family in the Dale,) that their
superiority to their neighbours might contribute to this odd
distinction. Mr Mounsey has a few goats upon the
neighbouring mountains, extremely wild, and so difficult to
take, that having sold four to a butcher for two guineas,
the butcher paid no less than thirty shillings for catching
them, and the takers even had reason to complain of their
bargain. Indeed I might give a greater instance, if
possible, of their extreme wildness; for Mr Mounsey having,
a few years ago, made me a present of one, upon condition
that I should catch it, I set out with eleven more, provided
with guns, hounds, and other dogs, in quest of it. That day
we saw about twenty, but could not get near them on account
of the inaccessible precipices they run among: once indeed,
one of the dogs seized a goat by the shoulder, and we were
in hopes of taking him; but the goat with a sudden spring
threw himself, together with his assailant, from the top of
a place called Eusy-Force, (upwards of thirty yards high,)
and ran away unhurt, though the dog was killed upon the
spot. Next day, being so fatigued myself that I was unable
to attend, I sent ten men armed and provided as before, but
they only brought home a kid, which the dogs with much
difficulty took.
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lead mines
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Patterdale, though now the poorest place that I am
acquainted with, was once the seat of peace and plenty.
Almost every man had a small freehold, whose annual produce,
(though perhaps not equal to the daily expenditure of the
rich and gay,) not only maintained him and his family in a
comfortable manner, but even enabled many among them to
amass small sums of money. The scene is now changed; vice
and poverty sit pictured in almost every countenance, and
the rustic fireside is no longer the abode of peace and
contentment. The lamentable change took place about thirty
years ago: at that time some lead mines wre (sic) wrought in
this Dale, and of course a number of miners were brought
from different parts for that purpose. These fellows, who
are in general the most abandoned, wicked, and profligate
part of mankind, no sooner settled here, than they
immediately began to propagate their vices among the
innocent unsuspecting inhabitants. The farmer listened
greedily to stories of places he had never seen, and by that
means was brought to drink, and at length to game with these
miscreants: his daughters, allured by promises, were
seduced; even those who withstood promises, and were
actually married, were, upon the stopping of the mines,
deserted by their faithless husbands, and left to all the
horrors of poverty and shame. Thus we may see as it were in
epitome, the baleful effects of vice upon society at large.
From behind a little alehouse called Nell-House is a
tolerable landscape; the meanders of Coldrill-Beck variegate
and enliven the scene, and perhaps there can be no where
found fields better discriminated, either in the colour or
an elegant distribution of light and shade.
It is so much to be wished that the inquisitive traveller
had some place of tolerable accommodation at the head of the
Lake, so that he might employ two days in viewing its
beauties; but this is by no means the case, and he is
obliged to see so many things in so short a time, that the
fatigue sometimes almost counterbalances the pleasure. The
top of the Lake is universally allowed to be the finest part
of it, though Mr Gray's well-known timidity would not permit
him to visit it: the author of the antiquities of Furness
and Mr Cumberland have, however, given it their amplest
commendations: the latter of these gentlemen was not upon
the Lake, but was highly pleased with it in his ride through
Glencoyn woods; and particularly delighted with the dashing
of the water against the rocks upon a windy day: it is then
indeed an ocean in miniature.
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gazetteer links
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-- Greenside Lead Mine
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-- "Nell House" -- Nell House
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-- Patterdale Hall
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-- "Patterdale" -- Patterdale
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-- (Ullswater (CL13inc)2)
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