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THE POETS AND POETRY OF CUMBERLAND, 

 INCLUDING THE CUMBRIAN BORDER. 



By the Rev. T. ELLWOOD, B.A. 



(Read at Ambleside.) 



To understand the style and spirit of Cumbrian Border Poetry, it 

 will be necessary to take a brief retrospect of Cumbrian history ; 

 and we find therefrom that the position of Cumberland has been 

 isolated and unsettled from the very first dawn of authentic 

 history. 



In the time of the Heptarchy, it was not a Saxon but a Celtic 

 kingdom, and included Westmorland and a portion of Lancashire, 

 and is said at one time to have extended as far as the Dee. At 

 one time the respective Celtic kingdoms of Cornwall, of Wales, 

 and of Cumberland, may have extended in an unbroken line 

 along the western portion of England. And though gradually 

 receding, yet for a long time Morecambe Bay formed the southern 

 limit of the kingdom of Cumberland, which would still therefore 

 include Westmorland and Furness ; and if you look at the map, it 

 would almost seem as if Nature had intended them to be one. 

 They are one in a great measure in the physical aspect of the 

 country, diversified as it is by mountains, lakes, and valleys ; 

 one in the cautious, sturdy, independent, and hospitable character 

 of their inhabitants ; and one in a great measure — at any rate, till 

 you get upon the Border line — in the well-known dialect which 

 characterises and identifies the race. 



This kingdom of Cumbria, then, which had been a Scottish 



