Ribblesdale. 223 



the quarries. Several of these are crowded with frag- 

 ments, and show the rough condition of what is not 

 uncommon as the material of mantel-pieces. For the 

 sake of ladies who may adventure hither, perhaps it is 

 right to say that the vertical stone barriers in question 

 were erected without reference to circular dresses and 

 exo-skeletons. 



Arrived at the hotel, and refreshed, we may go next 

 into the village, or ascend Pendle Hill, or make our way 

 to the banks of the river. The latter are delightful. Not 

 what the Ribble is at "Proud Preston," some twenty 

 miles lower down, a broad and majestic stream, do we 

 find it here, but rural, peaceful, and secluded, the water 

 shallow and clear, and inviting, not the oar, but the line 

 of the angler. The bordering meadows and quiet ap- 

 proaches remind us of Cheshire ; and no place is there 

 that can rise up more vividly before the mind than Rib- 

 blesdale, when, far away, we bethink ourselves 



" How on a summer morn the dewy lanes 

 In sunny England kissed us with the breath 

 Of their green mouths, and took us in cool arms." 



A little way down is a ferry, where, crossing the 

 stream, we place our feet upon the soil of Yorkshire. 

 From the opposite bank a pleasant walk of a mile and a 

 half brings us to the ruins of Salley or Sawley Abbey, 

 one of the earliest built in the north, having been 

 founded A.D. 1147, by the grandson of that famous De 

 Perci who came from Normandy with William the Con- 



