288 CASTLE CRAG. 



to open a mine, or to do whatever his free will 

 may prompt, though the land belonging to him 

 should not exceed an acre or two. 



AMICUS. How grand is that wooded hill, 

 rising in the gorge of the dale ! 



PISCATOR. It is a hill of no mean renown ; 

 you saw it before from the lake ; it is Castle- 

 crag, and was once a Eoman fortress or beacon 

 station. According to traditional rumour, the 

 baronial dwelling on Lord's Isle was in part 

 built of stones taken from its summit and 

 from the fortress standing on it ; and we are 

 told that from the isle they were again re- 

 moved, and have at last, if at last, found 

 a resting place in the Town-house of Keswick, 

 and this so late as the beginning of the last 

 century, the island house having been standing 

 and a dwelling in 1715, when, just before the 

 breaking out of the rebellion of that year, it 

 was visited by the unfortunate lord, the last 

 of his chivalrous race. Well does the poet 

 say, "there are sermons in stones." See, there 

 is a single stone, and that too of some repute, 

 as the ladder ascending it shows. It is the 

 famed "bowder stone,'" sometimes, but very 

 improperly, called a boulder ; but, in fact, 



