58 NORTHERN DIALECT. 



AMICUS. " Sour-milk-gill," what a signi- 

 ficant name ! 



PISCATOR. Our Northern dialect is rich in 

 descriptive and distinctive names. Mere, tarn, 

 beck, gill, force, dubb, are words expressive 

 of different varieties of water. Almost, indeed 

 I may say every natural object here has a 

 name, and commonly an expressive, and often 

 a picturesque one. That bold headland is 

 Helm-crag ; that connecting ridge, Lancrigg ; 

 the opening gently descending dale, Easedale ; 

 the higher dale, Far-Easedale; that pretty knoll 

 far down in the dale, crowned with wood with 

 grassy slopes, is Butterlip-How ; then, not far 

 off, some of them in sight, are Silver-How, Fair- 

 field, the Pikes, Wry-nose, Hard-knott,the Great 

 Gable, and others, more than I can remember. 

 This richness of names marks well the old 

 country, and the breed of its people, names 

 to me more pleasing than those, rarely found 

 here, of castellated holds and baronial resi- 

 dences. 



AMICUS. I like your predilection. How 

 different the associations, and how well adapted 

 for the poetry of nature ! 



PISCATOR. And Nature's Poet has made 



