We see all this, and we think of it without regret. Our reason approving, consents to it; yet our imagination answers, "The spirit of romance is departing from us, and we sigh for the olden time."
Imagination is a faculty in which we delight, and phrenologists say that men are happy only in the active exercise of their faculties. Therefore it is, that, leaving the practical speculations of the arts and sciences, we have chosen to select a field wherein imagination may fly her boldest flight, and we have allowed our fancy to rove amid scenes of fictitious bliss or woe, or amidst the real sorrows and joys of many an "owre true tale."
I only add that, should the pleasure of the tourist be enhanced by a perusal of any of the following tales connected with the Lake district, it will confer a still greater pleasure on the writer, even than that of culling them, from time to time, during his visits to those nooks hallowed by poetry, or consecrated by history, which a frequent residence in this locality has afforded him the opportunity of exploring. They are offered to the lover of nature, and to the admirer of the picturesque, with the hope that, whilst delighting in nature's sublimities, which are self-evident, proclaiming, at every step, their Divine original, he may not pass by unheeded some of the remarkable spots of history or romance without feeling interested in their associations.
[CONTENTS.]
| HELWISE; OR, THE ILL-FATED LOVERS: | PAGE [13] |
| A TALE OF MUNCASTER HALL, | |
| —— | |
| ST. HERBERT, | |
| THE HERMIT OF DERWENTWATER, | [22] |
| —— | |
| THE LOVERS' VOWS: | |
| A TALE OF FURNESS ABBEY, | [28] |
| —— | |
| THE STONE OF WALLOW CRAG; | |
| OR, THE POET OF KENTMERE, | [30] |
| —— | |
| THE SKULLS OF CALGARTH. | |
| A LEGEND OF WINDERMERE LAKE, | [43] |
| —— | |
| THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL. | |
| A TALE OF THE MUSGRAVES, | [45] |
| —— | |
| THE MAID OF HARDRA SCAR; | |
| MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, | [50] |
| —— | |
| THE TWO BROTHERS. | |
| A TALE OF ENNERDALE, | [52] |
| —— | |
| EMMA; OR, THE MURDERED MAID. | |
| A TRAGEDY OF THE LAKE DISTRICT, | [68] |
| —— | |
| ASSOCIATIONS OF CARLISLE: | |
| HISTORICAL, POETICAL, AND ROMANTIC, | [72] |
| —— | |
| THE DRUIDS' SACRIFICE. | |
| A LEGEND OF KESWICK, | [102] |
| —— | |
| THE HEIGHTS OF HELVELLYN; | |
| OR, THE UNFORTUNATE TOURIST, | [111] |
| —— | |
| THE REGATTA; | |
| OR, THE LOVERS OF DERWENTWATER, | [117] |
| —— | |