According to antiquaries the castle occupies the centre of what had been a Roman station; for Brough was the ancient Verteræ, where coins of the emperors have been dug up, and the highway along which the legions marched to and from Carlisle, or the Picts’ Wall, is still traceable, known in the neighbourhood as the Maiden Way.
It was a lovely evening. The sun went down in splendour behind the Cumbrian hills, and when the radiance faded from the topmost summits, and gave place to dusky twilight, I went back to mine inn.
CHAPTER XIX.
Return into Yorkshire—The Old Pedlar—Oh! for the Olden Time—“The Bible, indeed!”—An Emissary—Wild Boar Fell—Shunnor Fell—Mallerstang—The Eden—A Mountain Walk—Tan Hill—Brown Landscape—A School wanted—Swaledale—From Ling to Grass—A Talk with Lead Miners—Stonesdale—Work for a Missionary—Thwaite—A Jolly Landlord—A Ruined Town—The School at Muker—A Nickname—Buttertubs Pass—View into Wensleydale—Lord Wharncliffe’s Lodge—Simonstone—Hardraw Scar—Geological Phenomenon—A Frozen Cone—Hawes.
My next morning’s route took me back into Yorkshire by a way which, leaving the road to Kirkby Stephen on the right, approaches Nine Standards, High Seat, and the other great summits which guard the head of Swaledale. The sight of these hills, and the gradual succession of cultivation and woods by untilled slopes patched with gorse and bracken, impart an interest to the walk. A modern battlemented edifice—Hougill Castle—appears on the left, the residence of a retired physician, and beyond it the wild region of Stainmoor Forest; and here even upon its outskirts we can see how appropriate is the name Stonymoor.
When near the hills I overtook an old pedlar, and slackened my pace to have a talk with him. At times I had fancied my knapsack, of less than ten pounds’ weight, a little too heavy; but he, though aged sixty, carried a pack of forty pounds, and when in his prime could have borne twice as much. He took matters easily now; walked slowly and rested often. From talking about schools, he began to contrast the present time with the past. Things were not half so good now as in the olden time, when monasteries all over the land took proper care alike of religion and the poor. Where was there anything like religion now-a-days, except among the Roman Catholics? Without them England would be in a miserable plight; but he took comfort, believing from certain signs that the old days would return—that England would once more acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope.
“Never,” I replied; “that’s not possible in a country where the Bible circulates freely; and where all who will may read it.”
“The Bible!” he answered sneeringly—“the Bible! What’s the Bible? It’s a very dangerous and improper book for the people to read. What should they know about it? The Church is the best judge. The Bible, indeed!”