Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/115

 C 103 ]

to emigrate from home; and knowing but few of those artificial wants which spring from luxury, he has no opportunity of lessening or alienating his property in idle expenditure; and transmits to his descendant, without diminution or increase, the demesne which had been left to himself by his own frugal and contented forefathers. Hence it happens, that more frequent instances occur in the deep vales of Cumberland, of property being enjoyed for a long series of generations by the same family, than in any other part of England. The pride of descent would be put to the blush, were it to be told that in a hallowed recess of this kind in the neighbourhood of Keswick-Lake, a man is now living, who enjoys exactly the same properly which his lineal ancestor possessed in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Their sheep, running wild upon the mountains, and never taken into the farm- yard, are exposed to perpetual accidents and loss, arising from the inclemency of the weather, and the horrors of snow-storms, which, in some in- stances, have amounted to twelve or fifteen hundred head in a year. This circumstance prevents them from getting rich; but on the other hand, as the flocks are kept without the least expence to the proprietor, their losses never induce poverty upon (hem; so that, happily oscillating between their

�� �