beyond Lancaster; the stern
crags of Warton and Arnside Fells, on the right; farther
eastward, the well-known form of Ingleborough, whose broad
head, not apparently of very great elevation, is still visible
from every considerable hill in Lancashire, Westmoreland, and
Cumberland, and seems to lift itself in serene and unchanging
majesty over the neighbouring hills; the broken and picturesque
shores of the Kent, beautifully wooded, and forming a vista to
the eye;--the fells of Cartmel, rising in the mid-distance,
their sides hung with forests, and several ornamental parks
lying round their base; and above, and far beyond them, the
noble chain of the Westmoreland and Cumberland mountains, whose
lofty summits, clothed with light, formed a sublime barrier
stretching along the northern horizon. Such are the principal
features of a prospect which is not the less beautiful because
it rises from the level expanse of the sands, and which was to
me the more interesting from the novelty of my own situation.

"The Ulverstone coach, several gigs, and some persons on
horseback, had followed us at a little distance, keeping the
track left by the wheels of the vehicle which conveyed the
guide. When Wilkinson left us, we rode on two or three miles
before we came to the channel of the Kent, and there we found a
guide on horseback, who had just forded the river from the
opposite side. The guide stationed here has long gone by the
name of the Carter, and it is difficult to say whether the
office has been so called from the family in which it has been
vested, or the family have assumed their official title as a
cognomen; but it is certain that for many ages the duties of
guide over the Lancaster Sands have been performed by a family
named Carter, and have descended from father to son. The
present possessor of the office is named James Carter, and has
lately succeeded his father. He told me that some persons said
the office of guide had been in his family five hundred years,
but he did not know how anybody could tell that; and all he
could say was, that they had held it 'for many grandfathers
back, longer than anyone knew.' The salary was only L10 a-year
till his father's time, when it was raised to L20; yet I should
suppose that the office is a rather produ