A Run To The Lakes : Keswick.

A RUN TO THE LAKES : KESWICK .

LONDON , SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 24 , 1864 .

( Concluded from page 188 . ) The picturesque little town of Keswick has been justly considered at once the centre and the metropolis of the English Lakes . From this point the surrounding regions are most conveniently studied . Skiddaw lies in close proximity ; Scawfell and

Helvellyn within easy access . Romantic valleys and mountain passes , secluded vales and deep glens , abound everywhere in the neighbourhood . A richly diversified landscape of mingled woodland and pasture is seen all around the slopes of the neighbouring hills . In the valley below lies

Derwentwater , the Queen of the English Lakes : its silver water studied with green islands ; and its verdant banks adorned with the luxuriant foliage . It is not without reason that the poet pronounced the vale of Keswick the Elysium of the North . * Of its early history we have almost nothing to

relate . Very little can be gathered from the public records . At the period of the Roman invasion , it was probably a rude collection of British burghs as it might , with equal probability , have been the seat of some early lacustrine dwellings . The progress of civilisation , the mixture of races , and the gradual extension of intercourse , have done much to obliterate its aboriginal character . But a large

admixture of Celtic blood is still descernible throughout the district ; and it is singularly remarkable , but it is clearly established that in Bassenthwaite and Borrowdale there are numbers of pastoral farms which are owed by the farmers themselves who can trace their lineage and their

title back to the Norman Conquest . The prevalence of the ancient British language in its topographical nomenclature clearly supports the English chroniclers in their statement , that it was a place of refuge for the unsubdued Britons retiring before the Saxon and Danish invaders ; and there

it is supposed , they continued . The Noi-rnan Conquest exercised very little influence on the character of the people . The contest of the great barons with the Crown , the wars of the roses , the civil wars , the restoration , the revolution ; all these convulsions produced scarcely a ripple on the

surface of the lakes . It is not until we come to the year 1715 when James , the third Earl of Derwentwater , was attainted for rebellion and beheaded on Tower-hill that Ave find a noticeable incident in the local history ; and with this incident the history culminates . The Derwentwater estates were

forfeited to the Crown , and applied to the support of Greenwich Hospital , from which they were purchased during the period of Sir James Graham ' s

administration at the Admiralty , by the Marshalls , of Leeds , the eminent manufacturers , about five years ago . Tlie fate of the gallant and chivalrous Derwentwater is a theme whicli poets may seldom meet with . Yet none of the lakers , as far as we remember , have sung his requiem or mourned his

untimely end . Camden found Keswick inhabited by miners . Leland before him described it as " A little poor ¦ market town called Keswike , a mile from St . Herbert ' s Isle that Bede speaketh of . " The saint referred to is one immortal in story for the

circumstance of having constantly prayed that he might not survive his patron , St . Cutkbert . His prayers , we are told , were literally answered ; for both these holy men died on the same day ! The few records we possess of population seem to fluctuate considerably ; agues and fevers of a character now happily extinct , arising from its proximity to the

swamps and midramed marsh lands , periodically carried off a large number of the inhabitants . The registers of Crosthwaite Church show that the number of interments for the year 1623 amounted to 258 , probably a tenth part of the whole propulation of the parish at that period . Hutchison ,

the antiquary , writing in 1790 , describes the town as it then existed in anything but flattering terms . Most of the houses , he said , were low , and meanly built . The best part of the town was obstructed by gloomy and ugly shambles ; and there was little appearance of trade or manufactures ,

excepting some coarse woollen goods and some linen . A cotton-mill had been lately erected on the river Greta . The town , he adds , has a considerable weekly market , in which is exposed to sale a variety of fresh-water fish- —salmon , pike , eel , and . trout ; and also the finest mutton in the island of Great . Britain . *

The parish of Crosthwaite , f which comprehends the township of Keswick , possesses a fine old church , beautifully situate in the centre of the vale of Keswick , about half a mile from the town . There is no record to show the date of its erection . The building consists of a nave , north and

south aisles , chancel , tower , and porch . Externally the walls are rough cast , with the exception of the tower ; andits interior has been handsomel y restored by Mr . Gilbert Scott , at the expense of £ 4 , 500 , nearly all contributed by a private gentleman in the neighbourhood , Mr . James Stanger ,

of Lairthwaite . In the chancel we saw an antique monument of the Ratcliffe family of Derwentwater , with an inscription in bronze admirably