or the sake of my
friends, was deposited in the cell or iron closet under the west window,
which still exists, with the iron doors that guarded the property. This,
of course, was before the time of bills and notes. The two sons of this
person had no doubt been led by the knowledge of their father to take
more delight in scholarship, and had been accustomed, in their own
minds, to take a wider view of social interests, than was usual among
their associates. The premature death of this gallant young man was much
lamented, and as an attendant upon the funeral, I myself witnessed the
ceremony, and the effect of it as described in the poems, 'Tradition
tells that in Eliza's golden days,' 'A knight came on a war-horse,' 'The
house is gone.' The pillars of the gateway in front of the mansion
remained when we first took up our abode at Grasmere. Two or three
cottages still remain which are called Nott Houses, from the name of the
gentleman (I have called him a knight) concerning whom these traditions
survive. He was the ancestor of the _Knott_ family, formerly
considerable proprietors in the district. What follows in the discourse
of the 'Wanderer,' upon the changes he had witnessed in rural life by
the introduction of machinery, is truly described from what I myself saw
during my boyhood and early youth, and from what was often told me by
persons of this humble calling. Happily, most happily, for these
mountains, the mischief was diverted from the banks of their beautiful
streams, and transferred to open and flat counties abounding in coal,
where the agency of steam was found much more effectual for carrying on
those demoralising works. Had it not been for this invention, long
before the present time, every torrent and river in this district would
have had its factory, large and populous in proportion to the power of
the water that could there be commanded. Parliament has interfered to
prevent the night-work which was carried on in these mills as actively
as during the daytime, and by necessity, still more perniciously; a sad
disgrace to the proprietors and to the nation which could so long
tolerate such unnatural proceedings.

Reviewing, at this late period, 1843, what I put into the mouths of my
interlocutors a few years after the commencement of the century, I
grieve that so little progress has been made in diminishing the evils
deplored, or promoting the benefits of education which the 'Wanderer'
anticipates. The results o