Loiterings among the lakes of Cumberland and Westmorland, by the author of 'Wanderings in the Isle of Wight'. - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1849 Excerpt: ...Gosforth, taking care to inspect Wotobank and the ruins of Calder Abbey. Of the abbey the remains are nothing more than a square tower of the church, with the pointed arches and fine clustered columns which support it, all overrun with luxuriant ivy and embowered with sycamores. What the monks who once lived there would say to their monastery, could they see it now, I cannot tell." But the years have rolPd on, And the ivy is growing, And the monks are all gone, And the abbey is going." "The monks will never see their monastery again, that is certain. What kind of monks were they 1" "They were Cistercian monks from the abbey of Furness, and the monastery was founded by Ranulph de Meschiens in the year 1134. But I must tell you of the hill called Wotobank, of which the following anecdote is related. "' A lord of Beckermet, with his lady and servants, was one day hunting wolves. During the chase, the lady was discovered to be missing. After a long and painful search, her body was found on this hill or bank, slain by a wolf, which was discovered in the very act of tearing it to pieces. In the first transports of his grief, the husband exclaimed, ' Woe to this bank!' 'Woe to thee, bank! the attendants echo'd round, And pitying shepherds caught the grief-fraught sound. Thus, to this hour, through every changing age, Through every year's still ever-varying stage, The name remains, and Wotobank is seen From every mountain bleak and valley green,--Dim Skiddaw views it from its monstrous height, And eagles mark it in their dizzy flight.'" "That is a very strange tale! Do you know whether they killed the wolf that killed the lady 1" "That I cannot say. In most of the wild traditions that are handed down to us, there ar...