Birth and Parentage. 35 



The house at Holme Eden forms a striking 

 feature in the landscape as the traveller 

 descends the hill from Carlisle to Warwick 

 Bridge." 



The situation to which young Peter Dixon 

 suceeeded in 1 807 was a trying one for a boy 

 in his nineteenth year. A friend who knew 

 him well wrote of him in the following 

 words : — 



11 Many a one in his situation, and at his 

 age, would have failed and made a mess of it. 

 But Peter stuck manfully to his work. It 

 was a striking instance of early aptitude for 

 business in one so young, to have the sole 

 management of so extensive a concern, with 

 numerous workpeople under him ; and doubt- 

 less, being thrown mainly on his own re- 

 sources, he there acquired those habits of 

 energy, decision, self-reliance, and sound 

 judgment which so distinguished him, and 

 contributed to his success in after life. 



"He worked hard, and threw his whole 

 soul into his work. He was a grand example 

 to the young men of his day. He was an 

 early riser — the secret of success in life — and 

 every morning, through winter and summer, 



