34 ^^M'allt from 333^itttJerntere^ 



— the pioneers felling the trees, and paving the way, and the 

 soldiers following with their armour and weapons gleaming 

 in the sun, while the trembling natives cowered in the forest 

 below, — listening now to the blows of workmen, and now 

 to the warlike music of the troops marching up from Kendal ! 

 After Romans and Saxons were gone, the valley was a great 

 park, and the inhabitants were virtually serfs, in danger of the 

 gallows, (which had a hill to itself, named after it to this day,) 

 at the will and pleasure of one great man. In the course of 

 time, — this is a great many centuries ago, — the valley was 

 disparked and divided among the inhabitants, only one very 

 large estate being left, — the new park containing 2,000 acres. 

 The vale looks, from the uplands, as if it had been scooped 

 out into fields, of all manners and shapes ; and the stream, 



— the heck abounding in trout, — winds along the bottom, 

 from the foot of High Street, to its fall into the lake near 

 Calgarth. 



Tradition tells of a giant, ' a man of amazing strength,' 

 who lived in Troutbeck Park, in the time of Henry IV. He 

 begged from house to house, till he came there, but, finding 

 an empty dwelling, he took possession. This house had 

 been forfeited to the Crown, and was of so little value that 

 he remained for a time undisturbed. At last a tenant 

 was found, and came to take possession ; but the giant, who 

 was * quite uncivilized, and knew no law but strength,' pre- 

 vented him. Upon this he was sent for to London, where 

 he so pleased the king by his feats of strength that he pro- 

 mised anything he might ask for. His petition was the house 

 in Troutbeck, the paddock behind it to get peat for fuel, and 

 liberty to cut wood in Troutbeck Park. It is said the king 

 asked him what he lived upon, and his reply was * Thick 

 pottage and milk, that a mouse might walk upon dryshod, for 

 breakfast ; and the sunny side of a wedder to his dinner, 



