MAY 119 



at least prevalent. I have not noticed it in Scotland, 

 but I came across it some years ago very near the 

 English border. I got into conversation with a hill 

 farmer on the lonely pass of Hardknot, midway 

 between Kendal and Kavenglass. It happened to be 

 a very early season, and I remarked on the abundance 

 of grass on the hills. 



' Ay,' replied the dalesman, ' there be plenty of grass, 

 seeing this be but yack-bob day.' 



I was puzzled, till I remembered it was May 29, and 

 ' yack-bob ' was Cumbrian for oak-apple. 



XLVII 



The employment which detained me in this remote 

 region for several days was a very interesting one. I 

 was charged with the superintendence of a Hardknot 

 gang of workmen excavating the fine Roman camp 

 camp at Hardknot, at the head of Esdale, in Cum- 

 berland. Esdale, or Eskdale, as it should be written, 

 extends from the ancient Roman seaport of Raven- 

 glass (now silted up) into the very heart of the lake 

 district, and is full of remains of Roman occupation. 

 At Ravenglass itself are the remains of a Roman villa, 

 of which the walls are still eight or ten feet high, with 

 the plaster quite fresh inside. There is also a fine camp, 

 which has suffered much from agriculture and railway 

 works. This gives the name to Muncaster, from Saxon 

 times the home of the Penningtons, and yielding in turn 

 the title by which the head of that family, English of 

 the English, was raised to the Irish peerage under one 



