,^scent 0f ^atililetiaclt* 263 



very home of superstition and romance. This Souther 

 or Soutra Fell, is the mountain on which gtjosts appeared 

 in myriads, at intervals during ten years of the last 

 century; presenting the same appearances to twenty- 

 six chosen witnesses and to all the cottages within view of 

 the mountain ; and for a space of two hours and a-half at 

 one time — the spectral show being closed by darkness ! 

 The mountain — be it remembered — is full of precipices, 

 which defy all marching of bodies of men ; and the north 

 and west sides present a sheer perpendicular of 900 feet. 

 On midsummer eve, 1735, a farm-servant of Mr. Lancaster's, 

 half-a-mile from the mountain, saw the eastern side of its 

 summit covered with troops, which pursued their onward 

 march for an hour. They came, in distinct bodies, from an 

 eminence, on the north end, and disappeared in a niche at 

 the summit When the poor fellow told his tale, he was 

 insulted on all hands ; as original observers usually are when 

 they see anything wonderful. Two years after — also on a 

 midsummer eve, — Mr. Lancaster saw some men there, 

 apparently following their horses, as if they had returned 

 from hunting. He thought nothing of this; but he hap- 

 pened to look up again ten minutes after, and saw the figures, 

 now mounted, and followed by an interminable array of 

 troops, five abreast, marching from the eminence and over 

 the cleft as before. All the family saw this, and the man- 

 oeuvres of the force, as each company was kept in order by 

 a mounted officer, who galloped this way and that. As the 

 shades of twilight came on, the discipline appeared to relax 

 and the troops intermingled, and rode at unequal paces, till 

 all was lost in darkness. Now, of course, all the Lancasters 

 were insulted, as their servant had been : but their justifi- 

 cation was not long delayed. On the midsummer eve of 

 the fearful 1745, twenty-six persons, expressly summoned 



