Chapter IX: Part 9

The heroic king Dunmail was the last of a succession of native
princes, who up to the tenth century ruled over those mountainous
provinces in the north-western region of England which were chiefly
peopled by the earliest masters of Britain, the Celtic tribes of
Cymri, or Picts. The territories of Dunmail, as king of Cumbria,
included the entire tract of country from the western limits of
the Lothians in Scotland to the borders of Lancashire, and from
Northumberland to the Irish Sea.

The several British kingdoms which were originally comprised within
this area maintained a long and resolute resistance against the
power of the first Saxon monarchs; and although in the course
of time most of them were brought under the supremacy of those
strangers, as tributary provinces, they still continued a sort of
independent existence, electing their own kings and obeying their
own laws.

On the establishment of the Heptarchy, several of these provinces
were included within the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; but although
they were claimed by the Northumbrian monarchs, there was even then
little admixture of their people with the fair-haired followers of
Hengist and Horsa, and each continued to be governed by its own
chieftain or king until the Norman conquest, and existed under what
was called the Danish law. So long as the native chieftains were
allowed to exercise a subordinate authority, the Northumbrian kings
had no occasion to interfere with the internal government of the
subject provinces. If the tribute was duly rendered, they remained
unmolested; if it was withheld, payment was enforced by arms; or,
in extreme cases, the refractory state (to use a modern phrase) was
"annexed," and the domestic government extinguished.

Of the petty rulers of these British kingdoms no notices have been
transmitted to us. These are confined to the kings of Strathclyde,
or, as they are designated by our earliest informers, of Alclyde;
the latter being the name of their capital, which stood on a rocky
eminence, adjacent to the modern town of Dumbarton; whilst the
former significantly describes the position of their territory
in the great strath or valley of the Clyde. This little district
(of Strathclyde), which must not be confounded with the larger
territory of Cumbria, that as yet had no existence under any
general government or common name, comprised the modern counties of
Lanark, Ayr, and Renfrew, on the south of the Clyde, and, probably,
Dumbartonshire on the north. In the series of Strathclydian kings,
tradition has placed the name of the celebrated King Arthur;
and the local nomenclature is said to afford many traces of his
fame, especially in the case of their citadel of Alclyde, or
Dumbarton, which is styled "Castrum Arthuri," in a record of the
reign of David the Second. Ryderic, the successor of Arthur, died
in 601, in the eighth year of the reign of Ethelfrith, king of
Northumberland; and from that time onward, during the remainder
of this and the succeeding reigns of Edwin and Oswald, we hear
nothing of the independent existence of this people, nor do we
even know the names of their chieftains; it is probable that they
had been reduced to subjection. But in the very year of Oswald's
disastrous death, A. D. 642, we find the Britons carrying on
important military operations on their own account, in which Owen
their king distinguished himself, by slaying on the battle-field
of Strath-carmaic, Donal Break, king of the Scots. During the
long reign of Oswi in Northumberland, we read of one king of
Strathclyde, Guinet, but the record is only of his death, A.
D. 657, not of any exploit which he performed. On the death of
Ecgfrith, A. D. 670, the Britons of Strathclyde appear to have
recovered their liberty; and thenceforward we have a tolerably
complete list of their kings during the two succeeding centuries.

Ethelfrith, who had effected the conquest of the central and
western portion of Northumbria, and may be regarded as the founder
of the Northumbrian kingdom, "conquered," as we read in Beda, "more
territories from the Britons than any other king or tribune;" but
although he was thus able to overrun a vast district of country,
his followers were not sufficiently numerous to colonise it. In
some places, indeed, "he expelled the inhabitants, and placed
Angles in their stead," but "in others," and doubtless to a
much greater extent, "he allowed the vanquished to retain their
lands, on payment of tribute." In the reign of Edwine, too, the
Anglo-Saxon population were under his immediate government; the
petty British States were still ruled by tributary princes. And no
doubt their political condition continued more or less the same
during the century and half which preceded the dissolution of the
Heptarchy, and after the reconstruction of its several parts under
one crown.

On Northumbria being overrun by the renowned Danish Viking
Healfdene, A. D. 875, fifty years after the Heptarchal kingdoms
had been dissolved, it is recorded that the indigenous inhabitants
of the part called Cymriland, the Cumbrians, or Britons, being
too weak to defend themselves from the hateful aggressions of
the Danes, and deprived of the protection of the Saxon kings of
Northumbria, who had themselves succumbed to the common enemy,
turned for aid to the only neighbours who seemed sufficiently
powerful to resist the invaders. They therefore implored the
aid of Grig or Gregory, king of Scotland, by whose assistance
in the following year the Scandinavian ravagers were expelled.
These Indigenoe, or British inhabitants, must have been the
people of Galloway, and of the district around Carlisle; for the
Strathclyde Britons were already under the authority of Gregory,
as the guardian of Eocha, a minor, who, as the son of Hu king
of Strathclyde, and nephew of the second Constantine, king of
Scotland, succeeded to the crowns of both these realms. Whether
the Britons subsequently quarrelled with their powerful ally, and
being defeated in battle, were obliged to cede to the victor their
rocky highlands and adjacent places; or they voluntarily submitted
themselves to Gregory, with their lands and possessions, thinking
it preferable to be subject to the Scots, who, although enemies,
were Christians, than to infidel pagans, there does not appear to
be any evidence to determine.

The vigour of Gregory king of Scotland having been found,
notwithstanding his prowess and the success of his arms, inadequate
to support an authority which had been usurped by him as regent
during the minority of Eocha, after holding the reins of government
in Scotland and Strathclyde during eleven years, was expelled,
together with Eocha, by Donal, son of the late King Constantine
II., A. D. 893.

To Donal, who was slain by the Danes, A. D. 904, succeeded his
cousin Constantine III., the son of Aodh, who had been slain by
Gregory. Another Donal, brother to Constantine III., had been
"elected" king of the Strathclyde Britons four years before the
elevation of that monarch to the throne of Scotland. During the
life of this Donal, the districts of Carlisle and Galloway were
not united to Strathclyde, but remained attached to Scotland; from
which, however, they were separated after his decease, and given to
his son and successor, Eugenius.

To the new kingdom, thus founded by Constantine in favour of his
nephew and presumptive heir, by the union of Carlisle and Galloway
with Strathclyde, was given the name of Cumbria, derived from the
common appellation of its inhabitants. Its extent is precisely
defined in a return made by the prior and convent of Carlisle
to a writ of Edward the First, requiring them, as well as other
religious houses, to furnish, from chronicles or other documents
in their possession, any information bearing upon the alleged
right of supremacy over Scotland vested in the English crown. The
return sets forth, "That district was called Cumbria, which is now
included in the bishoprics of Carlisle, Glasgow, and Whitherne,
together with the country lying between Carlisle and the river
Duddon:" in other words, the entire tract from the Clyde to the
confines of Lancashire. In the "Inquisitio Davidis," which does
indeed extend to all parts of Cumbria which remained in David's
possession, we are expressly told that "he had not then within
his dominion the whole Cumbrian region," the present county of
Cumberland, or, as it was then called, Earldom of Carlisle, having
been severed from it soon after the Norman Conquest. Although
Fordun is the only author who narrates the cession of Carlisle and
Galloway to Gregory, and the subsequent grant of these districts
to Eugenius, whereby they were united to Strathclyde, and the
whole merged into a single government, we have abundant evidence
of the existence of Cumbria and the intimate union of Constantine
and Eugenius at this period. In the year 938, these princes, in
conjunction with the Danes and Welsh, attempted to wrest the
sovereign power out of the vigorous hands of Athelstane. The
combined forces were signally defeated by the Anglo-Saxon monarch
at Brunanburgh (supposed by some to be Bromborough, near Chester);
Eugenius was slain, and Constantine escaped only by a precipitate
retreat.

It is at this period that Dunmail, the second and last _sole_
"king of rocky Cumberland," appears upon the historic stage. It
has been thought not improbable that he was the son of Eugenius or
Owen, the preceding king, and the same person who is described as
Dunwallon, "the son of Owen," and who died at Rome thirty years
after his memorable engagement with Edmund of England and Leoline
of South Wales, in the mountain pass which is distinguished by
his name. "In the annals of Ulster, indeed," say the supporters
of this supposition, "this Dunwallon is described as king of
Wales, but Caradoc calls him prince of Strathclyde, and his
patronymic designation seems to identify him with Dunmail, if, as
we assume, the latter was the son of the first king of Cumberland."
But by whatever means Dunmail obtained the crown; whether by
inheritance as the son of Eugenius, or by "election" as one of
the native Cumbrian princes, and according to the ancient custom
of the Britons; we soon find him supporting the Northumbrians in
hostilities against the Saxon monarch, Edmund the First. That
monarch, although victorious, was so weakened that he dared not
pursue Dunmail without the assistance of the Scots. And the
condition upon which Malcolm, king of Scotland, joined Edmund with
his forces, was, that if they were successful, Malcolm should
possess Cumbria by paying homage to Edmund and his successors. The
subjection of this wild race of mountaineers was then determined
upon as a necessary step towards the pacification of the kingdom;
and the last record which history affords us of the Cumbrian
Britons, is that of their defeat, A. D. 945, in the heart of their
native mountains, between Grasmere and Keswick, and their final
dispersion or emigration into Wales.

The place where Dunmail determined to hazard the battle which
proved fatal to him was the famous Pass which bears his name.
Edmund slew his vanquished enemy upon the spot which is still
commemorated by the rude pile of stones so well known as his
cairn; and, in conformity with the barbarous customs of that age,
put out the eyes of his two sons; after which, having completely
ravaged and laid waste the territories of Dunmail, he bestowed
them on his ally Malcolm; the latter undertaking to preserve in
peace the Northern parts of England, and to pay the required
fealty and homage to Edmund. Upon the same conditions they were
afterwards confirmed to him by one of Edmund's successors, Edgar;
which monarch also divided what at that time remained of the
ancient kingdom of Northumbria into Baronies, and constituted it an
Earldom. Thenceforward these north western regions were held as a
military benefice subject to the English sceptre by the heir to the
crown of Scotland, under the title of the Principality of Cymriland
or Cumbria. This Principality, which included Westmorland,
continued in possession of the heirs to the Scottish crown during
the reigns of Harold and Hardicanute, the last Danish Kings, and of
Edward the Confessor and Harold the Second, the last Saxon monarchs
of England.

The only circumstance which is recorded of it during the century
which followed the defeat of Dunmail, is its total devastation
by Ethelred, king of England, A. D. 1000, at which time it is
represented by Henry of Huntingdon as the principal rendezvous of
the marauding Danes.

In the year 1052, Macbeth held the Scottish throne, whilst Malcolm,
the son of his predecessor, the murdered Duncan, sat on that of
Cumbria. Siward, earl of Northumberland, was commissioned by
Edward the Confessor to invade Scotland, and avenge the "murder"
of Duncan. In this he succeeded, defeated and slew Macbeth, and
placed the king of Cumbria, or, as some historians assert, his son,
on the throne of Scotland. This Malcolm, surnamed Canmore, held at
the time of the Conquest, Cumbria and Lothian, in addition to the
ancient kingdom of Scotland.

In the year 1072, the Earldom of Carlisle, containing the present
County of Cumberland, with the Barony of Westmorland, was wrested
from Malcolm Canmore by William the Conqueror, who granted it
to his powerful noble, Ranulph de Meschin, one of that numerous
train of military adventurers, amongst whom he had distributed
all the fair territory of Britain, to hold, with a sort of royal
power, by the sword, as he himself held the kingdom by virtue of
the crown,--_tenere ita libere ad gladium, sicut ipse rex tenebat
Angliam per coronam_.

Thus the existing limits were established between England and
Scotland. The kingdom of Cumbria was reduced to the dimensions
indicated by the "Inquisitio Davidis," and was held as a
principality dependent on the crown of Scotland; until it at length
became formally attached to the Scottish dominions.

Meanwhile the Barony of Westmorland having been separated from the
Earldom of Carlisle, there remained the district comprised within
the present limits of the County of Cumberland, to which alone that
name was thenceforward applied.

The circular heap of stones which forms the pile called
Dunmail-Raise, and gives its name to the mountain Pass between the
vales of Grasmere and Wytheburn, is seen adjoining the highroad,
where it is crossed by the wall which there marks the boundaries
of Westmorland and Cumberland. The stones constituting this rude
monument are thrown loosely together on each side of an earthen
mound in a huge cairn or _raise_, the history of which is little
known, and concerning which antiquarians are by no means agreed.
It measures twenty-four yards in diameter, and rises gradually to
an elevation of six feet, being flat at the top, and the centre
indicated by a well defined space in rather larger stones.

Mr. Gilpin conjectures that the pile was probably intended to
mark a division not between the two Counties of Cumberland and
Westmorland, but rather between the two kingdoms of England and
Scotland, in elder times, when the Scottish border extended beyond
its present bounds. The generally received tradition, however,
concerning this cairn is, that it was raised to commemorate the
name and defeat of Dunmail, the last king of Cumbria, in the year
945, in his conflict with the Saxon Edmund, on the occasion above
related. "But," says Mr. Gilpin, "for whatever purpose this rude
pile was fabricated, it hath yet suffered little change in its
dimensions; and is one of those monuments of antiquity, which may
be characterized by the scriptural phrase of _remaining to this
very day_."

The legend of the Cumbrian hero and his host, awaiting the
completion of their rocky pile beneath the lonely mountain pass;
from which they are to issue in their appointed time to join "in
that great battle which will be fought before the end of the
world;" is but one of the beliefs which seem to have been left
behind them by our Scandinavian ancestors. It is in fact another
version of the story of Woden and his host, whose winter trance
is enacted by various popular heroes; and which has not only
been localised amongst ourselves, but has almost overspread all
christendom. The original nature of Woden or Odin was represented
as that of a storm god, who swept through the air in roaring winds,
either alone or with a great retinue consisting of souls of the
dead which have become winds. The whirlwind, which precedes the
tempest, and has ravaged the woods and fields, is pursued to its
death in the last storms of autumn. Sometimes the god is pictured
as a hunter, and the winds have taken the shapes of men, dogs,
etc., whilst the whirlwind figures as a boar. The achievement of
its death is soon followed by that of the hunter Woden himself; who
during the winter is dead, or asleep, or enchanted in the cloud
mountain. From this beautiful fiction of a twilight age, the winter
trance of Woden, has grown up the story of those caverned warriors,
which, under whatever name they are known, and wherever they
repose, are all representations of Odin and his host.

Arthur, the vanished king, our own Arthur, whose return is expected
by the Britons, according to mediæval Germany, is said to dwell
with his men at arms in a mountain; all well provided with food,
drink, horses, and clothes.

Charlemagne slumbers with his enchanted army in many places; in the
Desenberg near Warburg, in the Castle of Herstella on the Weser, in
the Karlsburg on the Spessart, the Frausberg and the Donnersberg on
the Pfalz, etc.

The Emperor Henry the Fowler is entranced in the Sudernerberg, near
Goslar.

The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa is in a cavern in the Kyffhaüser
mountain, in the old palatinate of the Saxon imperial house. There
with all his knights around him, he sits to this day, leaning his
head upon his arm, at a table through which his beard has grown,
or round which, according to other accounts, it has grown twice.
When it has thrice encircled the table he will wake up to battle.
The cavern glitters with gold and jewels, and is as bright as
the sunniest day. Thousands of horses stand at mangers filled
with thorn bushes instead of hay, and make a prodigious noise as
they stamp on the ground and rattle their chains. The old Kaiser
sometimes wakes up for a moment and speaks to his visitors. He once
asked a herdsman who had found his way into the Kyffhaüser, "Are
the ravens (Odin's birds) still flying about the mountain?" The man
replied that they were. "Then," said Barbarossa, "I must sleep a
hundred years longer."

The Eildon Hills, which witnessed of old the magical exploits of
Michael Scott, are three in number. These were originally one:
their present formation being the work of a demon, for whom the
wizard, in fulfilment of some infernal contract, was obliged to
find employment, and by whom the mighty task was achieved in a
single night. They are nearly of the same height, changing greatly
their appearance, and, as it were, their attitude, with the point
of view; at one time one of them only being visible, at another
time two, and again all three. They form a peculiar and romantic
feature in the scenery of the Tweed: and are still to the eye of
the imagination what they once were in the common belief,--wizard
hills, the subjects of wild traditions and unearthly adventures.
In them lay for centuries those "caverned warriors," which Thomas
the Rhymer showed at night to the daring horse jockey, who went by
appointment to the Lucken Hare to receive the price of the black
horse which he had sold to the venerable favourite of the Fairy
Queen. His money having been paid to him, in ancient coin; on the
invitation of his customer to view his residence, he followed his
guide in the deepest astonishment through long ranges of stalls,
in each of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior
lay equally still at the charger's feet. "All these men," said the
prophet in a whisper, "will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmuir."

The small mountain lake, called Grisedale Tarn, is situated at
a very considerable elevation above the surrounding vales, in a
depression formed at a point where the shoulders of Helvellyn,
Seat-Sandal, and Fairfield touch each other; and just below the
summit of the "hause" or pass through which winds the mountain
track that leads from Grasmere into Patterdale.

THE BRIDALS OF DACRE.

The Baron of Greystoke is laid in the quire.
Who is she that sits lone in her mourning attire?
Her maids all in silence stand weeping apart:
Or but whisper the woe that is big at her heart.

From her guardian the King the dread summons has come;
And Greystoke's sweet orphan must quit her lone home:
With the proudest of Barons to wait on her word--
His domain for her pleasaunce, her safeguard his sword.

But what is to her all their homage and state,
Since the youthful Lord Dacre may pass not their gate?
Even now he forgets her, she thinks in her gloom;
And the Cliffords to-morrow will bear her to Brough'm.

"With him, O with him," in her sorrow she cried,
"With the gallant Lord Dacre to run by my side
"In the fields, as of old, with his hand on my rein,
"I would give all the wealth the wide world can contain."--

Lord Dacre forget her? No! sooner the might
Of Helvellyn shall bend to the storm on its height;
He has vow'd--"Let them woo! but in spite of the King
"The wide north with her bridal at Dacre shall ring."

As the Cliffords rode hard on that morrow to claim
The fair ward of the King, by Lord Dacre's they came.
And they cast out their words in derision and scorn,
As they pass'd by his tower in the prime of the morn.

"Shall we greet the bright heiress of Greystock for thee?
"Or await thee at Brough'm her rich bridal to see?"
--"In our annals," he cried, "we've a story of old,
"A fit tale for a bridal, that _twice_ shall be told.

"In your Skipton's high hall, in your stateliest room
"Of Pendragon, and high through the arches of Brough'm,
"Have your bridals been sung, but not one to the lay
"That I'll ring through old Brough'm for the bride on that day.

"Your meats may be scant, and unbrimm'd the bright bowl;
"But the notes of that tale through your fortress shall roll!
"Here I pledge me, proud Cliffords! come friend, or come foe,
"With that tale of old times to her bridal I'll go!"--

Loud laugh'd they in scorn as hard onward they rode:
And the horsemen and horses all gallantly show'd.
With bright silver and gold, too, her harness did ring,
As they rode back to Brough'm with the Ward of the King.

And proud was the welcome, and courtly the grace,
And warm was the clasp of that stately embrace,
When the Lady of Brough'm took her home to her breast,
Like a lamb to the fold, a lone dove to its nest.

But in still hours of night, and mid pastimes by day,
To the wild woods of Greystoke her heart fled away,
To the fields where, as once with _his_ hand on her rein,
She would give all the world to ride child-like again.

It was night; when the moon through her circle had worn;
And back into darkness her crescent was borne;
Not in fancy nor dreams came a voice to her side--
"Sweet, awake thee, Lord Dacre is come for his bride."

Through the lattice he bore her, and fast did he fold
In his arms the sweet prize from the wind and the cold;
Sprang the wall to his steed, and o'er moorland and plain
Bore her off to his Tower by the Dacor again.

And the Cliffords that morn in their banquetting hall
Read the legend his dagger had traced on the wall--
"In the annals of Dacre the story is told
Of Matilda the Fair and Lord Ranulph the Bold!

"The bride-meats unbaked, and the bride-cup unbrew'd,
Not by bridesmaid for bride even a rose to be strew'd,
Was the way with our sire in that story of old
Of Matilda the Fair and Lord Ranulph the Bold!

"But they woke up to fury in Warwick that morn.
For a bride from their Fortress by night had been borne.
And your annals in Brough'm of its sluggards shall ring,
That have lost for the Cliffords the Ward of their King."

The beard of that Baron curled fiercely with ire,
And the blood through his veins raged--a torrent of fire,
As he glanced from the panel by turns to his sword;
And then strode from the hall without deigning a word.

They sought her through turret, by bush, and by stone;
But the bower had been broken, the Beauty was gone;
And the joy-bells of Dacre from Greystock to Brough'm
Pealed the news through the vales that the bride was brought home.

NOTES TO "THE BRIDALS OF DACRE."

Dacre Castle, one of the outermost of a chain of border fortresses
stretching down the valleys of the Eamont and the Eden in
Cumberland, is a plain quadrangular building, with battlemented
parapets, and four square turrets, one at each corner; it is now
converted into a farm house. The moat is filled up, although the
site is still to be traced, and the outworks are destroyed. There
are two entrances--one at the west tower, and another between
the towers in the east front. The walls are about seven feet in
thickness. There are two arched dungeons communicating by steps
with the ground floor; and access was obtained to the roof by means
of four circular staircases, one in each tower; some of which are
now closed up. The staircases, however, did not conduct to the top
of the towers; this was gained by means of stone steps from the
roof of the Castle.

Bede mentions a monastery, which being built near the river Dacor,
took its name from it, over which the religious man Suidbert
presided. It was probably destroyed by the Danes, and never
restored; and there are no vestiges of it remaining: the present
church is supposed to have been built from the ruins.

William of Malmesbury speaks of a Congress held at Dacre in the
year 934, when Constantine, king of Scotland, and his nephew
Eugenius, king of Cumberland, met king Athelstan, and did homage to
him at Dacre. This fact is singularly corroborated by there being
in the Castle a room called to this day the "room of the three
kings," while the historical fact itself is entirely forgotten
in the country. This proves the antiquity of the tradition,
which has survived the original building and attached itself to
the present, no part of which dates from an earlier period than
the fourteenth century. That Dacre was in those remote times a
place of some importance is evident from the meeting aforesaid.
The occasion appears to have been the defection of Guthred, with
Anlaff his brother, and Inguld king of York, when Athelstan levied
a great force, and entered Northumberland so unexpectedly, that
the malcontents had scarcely time to secure themselves by flight.
Guthred obtained protection under Constantine, king of Scotland,
to whom Athelstan sent messengers, demanding his surrender, or
upon refusal, he threatened to come in quest of him at the head of
his army. Constantine, although greatly piqued at this message,
yet afraid of the formidable arms of Athelstan, consented to meet
him at Dacre; to which place he came, attended by the then king of
Cumberland, where they did homage to Athelstan.

After the Conquest, if not before, Dacre was a mesne manor held of
the barons of Greystoke by military suit and service. The parish,
manor, rivulet, and castle, were all blended with the name of
the owners. Their arms, the pilgrim's scallop, may possibly have
been taken from their being engaged in Palestine; but as the name
of their place dates as far back as the time of Athelstan, the
Dacres no doubt took their name, like most of the families of the
district, from the place where they were settled, and with all
deference to the cross-legged knight[18] in the church, who may
or may not have battled at the siege of Acre, its present Norman
spelling is more likely to have arisen from the manner in which
it is entered in the Domesday Book than from any exploits of his
before that famous fortress. That they were men of high spirit and
enterprise, and favourites of the ladies, there exists convincing
evidence. Matilda, the great heiress of Gilsland,[19] was by
Randolph Dacre carried off from Warwick Castle, in the night-time,
while she was Edward the Third's Ward, and under the custody and
care of Thomas de Beauchamp, a stout Earl of Warwick; and Thomas
Lord Dacre dashingly followed the example of his ancestor, nearly
two centuries afterwards, by carrying off, also in the night time,
from Brougham Castle, Elizabeth of Greystoke, the heiress of his
superior lord, who was also the King's ward, and in custody of
Henry Lord Clifford, who, says Mr. Howard, probably intended to
marry her. Their vigour and ability displayed as wardens of the
Marches must also add favourably to our estimate of them as men.

Sandford in his MS. gives the following curious account, written
apparently immediately after the repair of the Castle by the Earl
of Sussex:--"And from Matterdale mountains comes Daker Bek; almost
at the foot thereof stands Dacker Castle alone, and no more house
about it, And I protest looks very sorrowfull, for the loss of its
founders, in that huge battle of Touton feild: and that totall
eclips of that great Lord Dacres, in that Grand Rebellion with
lords Northumberland, and Westmorland in Queen Elizabeth's time,
and in the north called _Dacre's Raide_.

"----but it seems an heroyick Chivaleir, steeles the heir of Lord
Moulton of Kirkoswald and Naward and Gilsland, forth of Warwick
Castle, the 5th year of King Edward the 3rd; and in the 9th year of
the same king had his pdon for marying her and Created Lord Dacres
and Moulton. In King Henry the eight's time the yong Lord Dacres
steels the female heir of the Lord Graistoke forth of Broham Castle
besides Peareth: where the Lord Clifford had gott her of the king
for his sons mariage: and thereupon was the statute made of felony
to marry an heir. And thus became the Lord Dacres decorate with all
the hono^{rs} and Lands of the Lord Graistok a very great Baron:
but the now Earle of Sussex Ancesto^{re} had married the female
heir of the Lord Dacres in King Edward the 4th time, before the
Lands of Graistock came to the Lord Dacre's house."

The Barony of Greystoke, which comprehends all that part of
Cumberland, on the south side of the Forest of Inglewood, between
the seignory of Penrith and the manor of Castlerigg near Keswick,
and contains an area comprehending the parishes of Greystoke,
Dacre, and part of Crosthwaite, and nearly twenty manors, was given
by Ranulph de Meschines, Earl of Cumberland, to one Lyulph, whose
posterity assumed the name of the place, and possessed it until
the reign of Henry the Seventh, when their heiress conveyed it in
marriage to Thomas Lord Dacre, of Gilsland, whose family ended in
two daughters, who married the two sons of the Duke of Norfolk.
Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, the Duke's eldest son, had, with
his wife, Lady Anne Dacre, the lands of Greystoke, which have since
continued in his illustrious family.

The original fortress of Greystock was built in the reign of Edward
III. by Lord William de Greystock, that nobleman having obtained
the king's license to castellate his manor-house of Greystock in
the year 1353. Being garrisoned for Charles I., it was destroyed by
a detachment of the Parliamentary army in June, 1648, except one
tower and part of another. The Castle was almost entirely rebuilt
about the middle of last century by the Hon. Charles Howard, and
additional extensions were subsequently made by his great-grandson,
the eleventh Duke of Norfolk, who bequeathed it to the present Mr.
Howard, by whom the work of renovation was continued and completed
in 1846. In the night of the 3rd and 4th of May, 1868, it was very
seriously damaged by fire.

Elizabeth Greystoke, Baroness Greystoke and Wemme, was a minor
at the time of her father's death. She was the only daughter of
Sir Robert Greystoke, knight, who died June 17th, 1483, in the
lifetime of his father, Ralph, seventeenth Baron Greystoke. By an
inquisition held after the death of that nobleman, it was found
that he died on Friday next after the Feast of Pentecost, in the
second year of King Henry VII., namely, June 1st, 1487. He was
succeeded by Elizabeth, his grand-daughter and heiress, who during
her minority was a ward of the crown, and had special livery of all
her lands in 1506. This lady married Thomas, ninth Baron Dacre of
Gillesland, and third Lord Dacre of the North; by which marriage
the Barony of Greystoke became united with that of Gillesland.

The nobleman in whose custody the King had placed his ward was
Henry the tenth Baron Clifford, better known as Lord Clifford
the Shepherd. He had married a cousin of Henry VII., and on the
accession of that monarch had been restored, by the reversal of
his father's attainder, to his honours and estates. Their sons had
been educated together, and brought up in habits of intimacy; and
the friendship thus formed in youth was continued after the one had
succeeded to the crown as Henry VIII., and the other had ceased
to be " Wild Henry Clifford," and had been advanced by his royal
kinsman and associate to the dignity of Earl of Cumberland.

Of the Lady Elizabeth it is stated that "lord Clifford gott her
of the king for his son's marriage;" or for himself, "who probably
intended to marry her." These suppositions lose something of their
importance when we learn that a considerable disparity in years
existed between Lord Clifford and the Lady, as well as between her
and his son; the former being nearly thirty years her senior, and
the latter almost a dozen years her junior; and during a great
portion of her minority, the first Lady Clifford, though probably
residing much apart from her husband, or unhappily with him, was
yet alive. He was, however, a nobleman nearly allied to the king,
of great power and influence in the north of England, and had been
neighbour to the old Lord Greystoke, her grandfather. Under the
circumstances, the selection made by the sovereign was a natural
one. Her youth, her rank, and her rich inheritance, were a prize
worthy of the aspiration of the noblest among her peers, whoever
may have been the suitor intended for her by the king; and they
were won by one who afterwards showed that he was as gallant in war
as he had proved himself to be daring and loyal in love.

Lord Dacre, after imitating the spirited bearing of his ancestor
in his love affair, exhibited it in an equal degree in a more
serious enterprise, when it was attended with equal success. He
had a principal command in the English army in the battle of
Flodden Field, which was gained on the 9th of September, 1514,
over the Scots, who had invaded the kingdom during the absence of
Henry VIII. at Tournay. He commanded the right wing of the army;
and wheeling about during the action, he fell upon the rear of
the enemy and put them to the sword without resistance, and thus
contributed greatly to the complete victory which followed.

The gratitude of his sovereign for his faithful services invested
him with the dignity of the most noble Order of the Garter, and
with the office of Lord Warden of the West Marches. He died
October 24th, 1525, and was buried with his wife, under the rich
altar-tomb, in the south aisle of the choir of Lanercost.

Brougham Castle in the thirteenth century, the time of John de
Veteripont, the most ancient owner that history points out, is
called in instruments wherein his name is mentioned, the _house of
Brougham_; from which it is inferred that license had not then been
procured to embattle it. It came to the Cliffords by the marriage
of his grand-daughter Isabella, the last of the Veteriponts,
with Roger, son and heir of Roger Clifford, of Clifford Castle,
Herts, whom the king had appointed guardian to her during her
minority.[20] This Roger de Clifford built the greater part of the
Castle, and had placed over its inner gateway the inscription--THIS
MADE ROGER; "which," says Bishop Nicholson, "some would have to
be understood not so much of _his_ raising the Castle, as of the
Castle raising _him_, in allusion to his advancement of fortune by
his marriage, this Castle being part of his wife's inheritance."
On the death of Roger, who was slain in the Isle of Anglesey, in a
skirmish with the Welsh, his widow, during her son's minority, sat
as sheriffess in the county of Westmorland, upon the bench with the
judges there, "concerning the legality of which," says the Countess
of Pembroke, "I obtained Lord Hailes his opinion."[21]

Her grandson Robert built the eastern parts of the Castle. During
the subsequent centuries it fell several times into decay, having
been destroyed by the Scots and by fire, and was as often restored.

King James was magnificently entertained at Brougham Castle, on
the sixth, seventh, and eighth days of August, 1617, on his return
from his last journey out of Scotland. After this visit it appears
to have been again injured by fire, and to have lain ruinous until
1651 and 1652, when it was repaired for the last time, by Anne,
Countess of Pembroke, who tells us, "After I had been there myself
to direct the building of it, did I cause my old decayed Castle
of Brougham to be repaired, and also the tower called the _Roman
Tower_, in the said old castle, and the court house, for keeping
my courts in, with some dozen or fourteen rooms to be built in it
upon the old foundation." The _tower of leagues_ and the _Pagan
tower_ are mentioned in her Memoirs; and also a state room called
_Greystocke Chamber_. But the room in which her father was born,
her "blessed mother" died, and King James lodged in 1617, she never
fails to mention, as being that in which she lay, in all her visits
to this place. After the death of the Countess, the Castle appears
to have been neglected, and has gradually gone to decay.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] Cross-legs have been proved of late not to indicate Crusaders always.

[19] Matilda de Multon, the daughter and heir of Thomas de Multon, of Gilsland, was only thirteen years of age at the time of her father's death, when she became the ward of King Edward II.; but in 1317 by the marriage which consummated this act of daring chivalry, the barony was transferred to the Dacre family.

[20] The King committed these ladies (Isabella and Idonea de Veteripont), being then young, to the guardianship of Roger de Clifford, of Clifford Castle, Herefordshire, and Roger de Leybourne. According to the custom of the times, and the real intent of the trust, as soon as the heiresses were of proper age, they were married to the sons of their guardians.--_Pennant._

[21] It has again and again been stated, that the Countess herself in the seventeenth century repeated this exhibition of her ancestress in the thirteenth: and not merely as an assertion of her right, but frequently and habitually. No evidence has been found, that she ever did so at all. She was, however, recognized as sheriff, and she exercised the authority of the office by deputy. Thus we have her recording that she appointed such a deputy sheriff in 1651. The office appears to have been regarded as attached to the estate of Brougham Castle, or the other lands which had originally belonged to the Veteriponts; it descended with those estates to the Earls of Thanet: but in 1850 a sheriff was appointed by the crown, under the authority of an Act passed in the previous session of Parliament, entitled "An Act to provide for the execution for one year of the Office of Sheriff in the County of Westmorland."

THRELKELD TARN:
OR, TRUTH FROM THE DEEPS.

By doubts and darkest thoughts oppress'd,
From cheerful hope out-driven,
A sceptic laid him down to rest
Mid regions earthquake-riven.

And scanning Nature's awful face,
And all the glorious sky,
He cried--"To perish, and no trace
Survive us when we die,--

"This, spite of hope, is man's forlorn
And unremitting lot;
No realm awaits the heart outworn;
Earth fades, and heaven is not.

"For Reason's ray, like yon bright sun,
Rebukes the feebler light
Of hope from star-eyed Fable won,
And old Tradition's night.

"We shall no more to life arise,
Nor reassume our breath,
Nor light revisit these dim eyes
Once closed in endless death.

"As soon shall stars at noontide beam
While burns the sun's bright ray,
As stand before high Truth the dream
That Thought survives the clay."--

He turned: beside him yawning wide
Lay Mountains hugely rent:
Whence far within their depths espied,
A little gleam was sent.

One star the blackened pool below
Reflected bright and clear,
While earth was revelling in the glow
And sunshine of the year.

Then starting, cried he--"Heaven! thou art
Above our powers to know.
Take thou this blindness from my heart,
And let me, trusting, go."

NOTES TO "THRELKELD TARN; OR TRUTH FROM THE DEEPS."

Threlkeld or Scales Tarn is a small lake lying deeply secluded in
a recess on the north eastern side of Saddleback, or Blencathra,
between that mountain and Scales Fell. From the peculiarity of its
situation it has excited considerable curiosity: but the supposed
difficulty of access to it, its insignificant size, and the
peculiar nature of its attractions, cause it to be seldom visited
except by those who take it on their way to the top of Linethwaite
Fell, the most elevated point of the Saddleback range.

Having gained, by a toilsome and rugged ascent from the south-east,
the margin of the cavity in which the Tarn is imbedded, let the
traveller be supposed to stand directly facing the middle of the
mountain, the form of which gives its name to Saddleback. From
the high land between its two most elevated points before him,
and jutting right out to the north-east, depends an enormous
perpendicular rock called Tarn Crag; at the base of which,
engulphed in an immense basin or cavity of steeps, above and on the
left lofty and precipitous, and gradually diminishing as they curve
on the right, lies Threlkeld Tarn, described as a beautiful piece
of circular transparent water, covering a space of from thirty to
thirty-five acres, and surrounded with a well defined shore. From
the summit, elevated upwards of two hundred yards above it, its
surface is black, though smooth as a mirror; and it lies so deeply
imbedded, that it is said, the reflection of the stars may be seen
therein at noonday. It is generally sunless; and when illuminated,
it is in the morning, and chiefly through an aperture to the east,
formed by the running waters in the direction of Penrith. "A wild
spot it is," says Southey, "as ever was chosen by a cheerful party
where to rest, and take their merry repast upon a summer's day.
The green mountain, the dark pool, the crag under which it lies,
and the little stream which steals from it, are the only objects;
the gentle voice of that stream the only sound, unless a kite
be wheeling above, or a sheep bleats on the fell side. A silent
solitary place; and such solitude heightens social enjoyment, as
much as it conduces to lonely meditation."

Southey adds, in a note--"Absurd accounts have been published both
of the place itself, and the difficulty of reaching it. The Tarn
has been said to be so deep that the reflection of the stars may be
seen in it at noonday--and that the sun never shines upon it. One
of these assertions is as fabulous as the other--and the Tarn, like
all Tarns, is shallow."

Its claim to this singularity need not be wholly rejected, however,
on the ground of shallowness, if, to be deeply imbedded, rather
than to be deep, be the essential condition. Several of the most
credible inhabitants thereabouts have affirmed that they frequently
see stars in it at mid-day; but it is also stated that in order to
discover that phenomenon, there must be a concurrence of several
circumstances, viz: the firmament must be perfectly clear, the air
and the water unagitated; and the spectator must be placed at a
certain height above the lake, and as much below the summit of the
partially surrounding ridge.

The impression produced upon travellers a century ago by the
features of Blencathra at a considerable elevation, will excite a
smile in tourists of the present day. The _Southern_ face of the
mountain is "furrowed with hideous chasms." One of these "though by
far the least formidable," is described as "unconceivably horrid:"
"its width is about two hundred yards, and its depth at least six
hundred." Between two of these horrible abysses, and separated from
the body of the mountain on all sides by deep ravines, a portion of
the hill somewhat pyramidal in shape stands out like an enormous
buttress. "I stood upon this," says the narrator, whose account is
quoted, "and had on each side a gulf about two hundred yards wide,
and at least eight hundred deep; their sides were rocky, bare, and
rough, scarcely the appearance of vegetation upon them: and their
bottoms were covered with pointed broken rocks." Again he "arrived
where the mountain has every appearance of being split; and at the
'bottom' he 'saw hills about forty yards high and a mile in length,
which seem to have been raised from the rubbish that had fallen
from the mountain.'" From the summit he "could not help observing
that the back of this mountain is as remarkably smooth, as the
front is horrid."

Over this front of Blencathra, the bold and rugged brow which it
presents when seen from the road to Matterdale, or from the Vale
of St. John's, the view of the country to the south and east is
most beautiful. The northern side is, as has been said, remarkably
smooth, and in striking contrast to that so ruggedly and grandly
broken down towards the south, where every thing around bears
evident marks of some great and terrible convulsion of nature.

Mr. Green with his companion, Mr. Otley, was among the early
adventurers who stood on the highest ridge of Blencathra.
This accurate observer, whose descriptions of this, and other
unfrequented and unalterable places, will never be old, describes
without exaggeration the difficulties of the ground about the upper
part of this mountain. Describing the neighbourhood of the Tarn,
he says, "From Linthwaite Pike on soft green turf, we descended
steeply, first southward, and then in an easterly direction to the
tarn,--a beautiful circular piece of transparent water, with a
well defined shore. Here we found ourselves engulphed in a basin
of steeps, having Tarn Crag on the north, the rocks falling from
Sharp Edge on the east, and on the west, the soft turf on which we
made our downward progress. These side grounds, in pleasant grassy
banks, verge to the stream issuing from the lake, whence there is
a charming opening to the town of Penrith; and Cross Fell seen in
the extreme distance. Wishing to vary our line in returning to the
place we had left, we crossed the stream, and commenced a steep
ascent at the foot of Sharp Edge. We had not gone far before we
were aware that our journey would be attended with perils; the
passage gradually grew narrower, and the declivity on each hand
awfully precipitous. From walking erect, we were reduced to the
necessity either of bestriding the ridge or of moving on one of its
sides, with our hands lying over the top, as a security against
tumbling into the tarn on the left, or into a frightful gully on
the right, both of immense depth. Sometimes we thought it prudent
to return; but that seemed unmanly, and we proceeded; thinking with
Shakespeare, that "dangers retreat when boldly they're confronted."
Mr. Otley was the leader, who, on gaining steady footing, looked
back on the writer, whom he perceived viewing at leisure from his
saddle the remainder of his upward course."

ROBIN THE DEVIL'S COURTESY.

While the vales of the North keep the Philipsons' fame,
Calgarth and Holm-Isle will exult at their name!
Ever true to the rights of the King, and his throne,--
Now hearken how Robin was true to his own!

"Ride, brother! ride stoutly, ride in from Carlisle!
For the Roundheads from Kendal beleaguer Holm-Isle.
On land and on mere I have fifty at bay;
And I speed on mine arrow this message away!"--

The arrow struck truly the henchman's far door;
And swift from the arrow that message he tore.
Then, booted and spurr'd, over mountain and plain
He rides as for life, and he rides not in vain.

He has reached the fair City, has sought through the crowd
The bold form of his master, and thus spoke aloud--
"The Roundheads beleaguer my lord in his Isle,
And he bids thee for life to ride in from Carlisle."--

He rode with his men, and he came to the Mere,
When a shout for the Philipsons burst on his ear;
And his errand sped well; for the Whigs to a man,
At the sight of his horsemen, all mounted and ran.

"Now listen, my Brother!--I stay'd by the Isle,
Whilst thou for the King wert array'd at Carlisle;
I have stood by thy treasure; I've guarded thy store;
I have kept our good name; and now this I'll do more!

"Yon braggart, that thief-like came on in the dark,
And thought to catch Robin--but miss'd his good mark!
I'll repay him his visit; and, by the great King!
I'll be straight with the varlet, and make his casque ring."--

With a half-score of horsemen, next Sunday at morn,
While the sound of the bells o'er the meadows was borne,
To the Kent he rode easily--on to the town--
And along the dull street--with clenched hand and dark frown.

"Is there none of this Boaster's fanatical crew
In all Kendal to give me the welcome that's due?
Not a blade of old Noll's, or in street or in porch?
By the Rood, then I'll look for such grace in the church!"

He spurr'd his wild horse through the open church door;
He spurr'd to the chancel, and scann'd it well o'er;
Then turned by the Altar, and glanced at each one
Of the Roundheads that leapt from their knees, and look'd on.

But their Leader, the trooper, his foe at the Mere,
His eye could not 'light on--"He cannot be here!"
So he rushed at the portal; but not ere arose
From the panic-loosed swordsmen harsh words and hard blows.

He dashed at the doorway, unstooping; a stroke
From the arch rent his helmet, his saddle-girths broke;
Half-stunn'd from the ground he strove up to his steed,
And ungirth'd has he mounted, and off with good speed.

With his men at his back, that stood keeping true ward
By each gate, when he entered alone the churchyard,
Soon left he the rebel rout straggling behind;
And was off to his Mere like a hawk on the wind.

And there with his half-score of horsemen once more
He cross'd to his calm little Isle, from the shore;
And then said bold Robin--"I've miss'd him, tis true;
But I paid back his visit--so much was his due!

"Had I caught but a glance of the low canting knave,
The next psalm that they sung had been over his grave!"--
And they guess'd through all Westmorland whose was the hand
That would dare such a deed with so feeble a band.

Saying--"Robin the Devil, who man never fear'd,
Would have dared to take Satan himself by the beard;
Then why not a troublesome Whig at his prayers!
--He'll not try to catch Robin again unawares."

NOTES TO "ROBIN THE DEVIL'S COURTESY."