STATE OF ENGLAND IN 1685 .

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•was still a secret carefully kept by the dalesmen, some ofwhom had probably in their youth escaped from the pursuitof justice by that road.* The seats of the gentry and thelarger farm-houses were fortified. Oxen were penned at nightbeneath the overhanging battlements of the residence, whichwas known by the name of the Peel. The inmates slept witharms at their sides. Huge stones and boiling water were inreadiness to crush and scald the plunderer who might ventureto assail the little garrison. No traveller ventured into thatcountry without making his will. The Judges on circuit, withthe whole body of barristers, attorneys, clerks, and servingmen, rode on horseback from Newcastle to Carlisle, armedand escorted by a strong guard under the command of theSheriffs. It was necessary to carry provisions; for thecountry was a wilderness which afforded no supplies. Thespot where the cavalcade halted to dine, under an immenseoak, is not yet forgotten. The irregular vigour with whichcriminal justice was administered shocked observers whoselife had been passed in more tranquil districts. Juries, ani-mated by hatred and by a sense of common danger, convictedhousebreakers and cattle stealers with the promptitude ofa court martial in a mutiny; and the convicts were hurriedby scores to the gallows.** Within the memory of some whomthis generation has seen, the sportsman who wandered inpursuit of game to the sources of the Tyne found the heathsround lteeldar Castle peopled by a race scarcely less savagethan the Indians of California, and heard with surprise thehalf naked women chaunting a wild measure, while the menwith brandished dirks danced a war dance.***

Slowly and with difficulty peace was established on the

* Gray’s Journal of a Tour in the Lakes, Oct. 3.1169.

** North’s Life of Guildford. Hutchinson’s History of Cumberland,parish of Brampton.

*** See Sir Walter Scott’s Journal, Oct. 7. 1821, in his Life by Mr.Lockhart.

CHAP.

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