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accounts of the matter, and so a hunt was made in the county 
newspapers of the day. 
The Carlisle Fournal of 27th July, 1805, reports as follows :— 
** About five weeks ago a Mr. Goff (sic) of Manchester, who had come to 
the neighbourhood of Keswick, Cumberland, in order to view and take a plan 
of the lakes, set out one morning from where he lodged at Wighburn (sic) with 
his rod and instruments, and was never heard of until Monday last, 22nd inst., 
when he was discovered upon the summit of a mountain Helvellyn, near a lake 
there, dead, and in the attitude of a person drawing, by a shepheard (sic) who 
had been attracted to the spot by the barking of a spaniel-bitch which had 
attended the deceased. The bitch had pupped in a furze bush near the body 
of her master, and, shocking to relate, had torn the cloaths (sic) from the body 
and eaten him to a perfect skeleton. It is supposed he had been taking a view 
of the lake when he was seized with a fit, and no assistance been at hand, had 
unfortunately perished. Another account say (sic) that the deceased has been 
missing since April last, and that no part of the head has yet been found.” 
This account is copied into the ewcastle Chronicle of August 
3rd, 1805, and is full of error. Gough did not start from Wyth- 
burn, but from Patterdale. His body was discovered Saturday 
2oth; the inquest was held on Monday the 22nd, as the enclosed 
document from the Coroner attests. I have to thank the Clerk of 
the Peace of Westmorland for this, 
““Robinson Cartmell for inquisitions, 1805, July 22nd. 
1805, July 22nd, West Ward, to an inquisition taken on view of the body of 
a person unknown at Patterdale. 
Distance 23 miles. PEE ee Be 
The Lancaster Gazette of July 27th, 1805, gives another 
version :— 
“©On Sunday last was found, at the foot of a precipice called Cat’s-tree, on 
the mountain Helvellyn, near Patterdale, Cumberland, the remains of a man 
named Charles Gough, of Manchester, he had spent two or three fishing 
seasons at Grasmere ; was at Patterdale the Ist of May last, on his way thither, 
and had not been seen since. He had with him a small spaniel bitch, which 
had staid near him and pupped, and, by her barking at some shepherds, led to 
the discovery. She had only one whelp with her. The man’s head was not 
found, and most of his flesh was gone, supposed to have been devoured by 
birds of prey. He had a watch and money in his pocket, and papers in his 
