Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/93

 CARLISLE.

��OUR ride from Ambleside to Carlisle, by the way of Kendal, was amid those quiet rains with which the English skies so often refresh the traveller. But soon after our arrival, the sun broke forth, revealing a landscape of much beauty. This region, distinguished by border warfare, gives occasionally a sanguine tinge to the ancient chronicles. It seems also to have had its share in the more sacred festivities of the olden time, as we gather from one of the ballads preserved in Percy s Reliques :

&quot; In Carlisle dwelt King Arthur,

A prince of passing might, And there maintained his Table Round,

Begirt by many a knight, And there he kept his Christmas,

With mirth and great delight.&quot;

Our first walk was to the Castle. A most glorious sunset saw we from its heights. On its parapets, where the cannon are mounted, is a large, fine old dial, with the following forcible inscription in letters of gold :

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