and
as evidence of the all-pervading and paternal care of that venerable
Establishment, of which it is, perhaps, the humblest daughter. The
edifice is scarcely larger than many of the single stones or fragments
of rock which are scattered near it.

[58] In some places scholars were formerly taught in the church, and at
others the school-house was a sort of anti-chapel to the place of
worship, being under the same roof; an arrangement which was abandoned
as irreverent. It continues, however, to this day in Borrowdale. In the
parish register of that chapelry is a notice, that a youth who had
quitted the valley, and died in one of the towns on the coast of
Cumberland, had requested that his body should be brought and interred
at the foot of the pillar by which he had been accustomed to sit while a
school-boy. One cannot but regret that parish registers so seldom
contain any thing but bare names; in a few of this country, especially
in that of Lowes-water, I have found interesting notices of unusual
natural occurrences--characters of the deceased, and particulars of
their lives. There is no good reason why such memorials should not be
frequent; these short and simple annals would in future ages become
precious.

We have thus far confined our observations, on this division of the
subject, to that part of these Dales which runs up far into the
mountains.

As we descend towards the open country, we meet with halls and mansions,
many of which have been places of defence against the incursions of the
Scottish borderers; and they not unfrequently retain their towers and
battlements. To these houses, parks are sometimes attached, and to their
successive proprietors we chiefly owe whatever ornament is still left to
the country of majestic timber. Through the open parts of the vales are
scattered, also, houses of a middle rank between the pastoral cottage
and the old hall residence of the knight or esquire. Such houses differ
much from the rugged cottages before described, and are generally graced
with a little court or garden in front, where may yet be seen specimens
of those fantastic and quaint figures which our ancestors were fond of
shaping out in yew-tree, holly, or box-wood. The passenger will
sometimes smile at such elaborate display of petty art, while the house
does not deign to look upon the natural beauty or the sublimity which
its situation almost unavoidably commands.

Thus has been given a faithful description, t