Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, fifth series, no. 117, vol. III, March 27, 1886

Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, fifth series, no. 117, vol. III, March 27, 1886

A few miles beyond the walls of merrie Carlisle, and only just across the Border on the Scottish side, is a lonely old-world little village, whither, in days not yet remote, frequent couples, in lifes bright golden time, hurriedly resorted; no less eager to cross the bridge spanning the river Sark, which here forms the boundary of the two kingdoms, than, with blind trust in the future, to undertake the all-untried responsibilities of forbidden wedlock. The village itself consists of a long straight street of cleanly whitewashed houses, beyond which stretches the solitary tract of Solway moss, scene of many a Border foray, and of one miserable rout in the days of the Scottish Jameses; while, towards England, the landscape is bounded by the skyey heads of the Cumberland mountains, clad in such hues of grayish green as nature uses to modify her distant tints. Curious to view a spot so far renowned, albeit without design of invoking aid from any chance survivor of the high-priests of Gretna Green, we alighted on the platform of its roadside station on the Glasgow and South-Western Railway one summer afternoon, and pursuing our way towards the village in company with a not uncommunicative policeman, quickly found many illusions dispelled, by no means least the widespread legend as to the officiating blacksmith. Our attention was ere long called to the figure of a middle-aged, by no means clerical-looking man, at the time engaged in filling his pipe by the wayside, with whom we entered into conversation. Nowise anxious to magnify his apostleship, our new friend somewhat deprecatingly acknowledged that the priestly mantle had descended upon his too unworthy shoulders, and that, indeed, but a few days prior to our visit, he had been called on to exercise the weighty functions of his office. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 68104
Author: Various
Release Date: May 17, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: William and Robert Chambers
Publication Date: 1853
Publisher Country: United Kingdom