W.HARVEY, J. GILBERT, D. H. M'KEWAN, D. COX, JUN., W. C. SMITH, PREFACE. THE object of the following work is to narrate the romantic history, and cull the poetry, of a district which is among the most celebrated, and which all travellers allow to be the most beautiful in Great Britain; to describe every scene that has claims upon the admiration or attention of the visitor, either for its own loveliness or for the reminiscences attached to it. The district, it is true, is not particularly rich in historical incidents;-it has been the scene of no great events; it is a remote corner, lying out of the way of public turmoil, but what it wants in history it more than makes up in poetry; and if its ancient glories are almost a blank, it has modern ones, which make it classic ground. The author has not endeavoured to supersede the ordinary guide-books; he hopes, however, that it will be found an adjunct, not altogether useless, to the one which has been published under the direct superin tendence of the great poet, who has resided for the whole of his lengthened life among the scenery of the Lakes, or any other which the Tourist may prefer. As in "The Thames and its Tributaries" the Author has undertaken to dwell upon romantic and remarkable events, "in the very spots where they occurred, to jog his reader's memory, and to act the part of a gossiping, not a prosy fellow-traveller," making it apparent that, wherever he went, "he could not but remember," and that he never passed unheeding over any ground" that had been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue," or had charms for the lover of nature. The Author cannot conclude, without expressing his obligations to the Artists who have contributed to make this volume so attractive by its pictorial embellishments. |