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there the majority of the people spend their leisure hours in talking a 

 great deal about nothing, and that habits of reading and self-culture are the 

 exception rather than the rule. In all cases, as soon as the mass of the 

 people become sufficiently enlightened to see the absurdity and unsuitable- 

 ness of an old custom, they let it drop quietly out of sight; and until that 

 time arrives, no amount of persuasion, or even ridicule, will make them give 

 it up. With respect to some of the old world usages which in a somewhat 

 modified form are still observed in rural districts, such for instance as 

 eating, drinking, and smoking at funerals, there is very little doubt, but 

 that many of the more intelligent members of the community would be 

 glad to give them up, but for a dislike of being thought singular, or 

 stingy; and as soon as the majority has become enlightened enough to 

 see them in the same light, they will be discontinued. 



We will now proceed to notice a few of the customs formerly 

 prevalent in the Lake country; and as many of them may no doubt 

 appear incongruous, and ridiculous enough to us at the present time, the 

 few foregoing observations may serve to remind us that, whatever we may 

 think of them now, there was a time when they were in perfect keeping 

 with the old-fashioned, uncultivated ways of the dwellers among the 

 Cumbrian hills. 



The three great epochs of life — Birth, Marriage, and Death — have 

 in all ages been marked by particular customs and observances, varying 

 according to the different ideas and beliefs of the people among whom 

 they prevailed. 



Beginning with the Birth customs of the district, there was one in par- 

 ticular which belonged exclusively to the dales of Cumberland and Westmor- 

 land, viz. — the custom of making sweet-butter. As it is still occasionally 

 made, there are probably few persons who live in the district who have 

 not seen and tasted it ; but if there should be any such here, it may be 

 as well to explain, that it simply consists of soft sugar moistened with 

 rum, and then mixed with an equal weight of melted butter. This mixture 

 being well stirred together, is poured into a basin, and when cooled, is 

 fit for use. It is eaten with bread, the thin oat-meal cake once so 

 common in the district being accounted best for the purpose. 



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