Who lodged, and boarded me at Penrith town,
And such good cheer, and bedding there I had,
That nothing, (but my weary self) was bad;
There a fresh man, (I know not for whose sake)
With me a journey would to Carlisle make:
But from that city, about two miles wide,
Good Sir John Dalston lodged me and my guide.
Of all the gentlemen in England's bounds
His house is nearest to the Scottish grounds,
And fame proclaims him, far and near, aloud,
He's free from being covetous, or proud;
His son, Sir George, most affable, and kind,
His father's image, both in form and mind,
On Saturday to Carlisle both did ride,
Where (by their loves and leaves) I did abide,
Where of good entertainment I found store,
From one that was the mayor the year before,

His name is Master Adam Robinson,

I the last English friendship with him won.

He (gratis) found a guide to bring me through,
From Carlisle to the city Edinburgh:

This was a help, that was a help alone,

Of all my helps inferior unto none.

Eight miles from Carlisle runs a little river,

Which England's bounds, from Scotland's grounds

doth sever.

Without horse, bridge, or boat, I o'er did get

On foot, I went, yet scarce my shoes did wet.

Over Esk I waded.

I being come to this long-looked-for land,

Did mark, remark, note, renote, viewed, and scanned; And I saw nothing that could change my will, But that I thought myself in England still. The kingdoms are so nearly joined and fixed, There scarcely went a pair of shears betwixt ; There I saw sky above, and earth below, And as in England, there the sun did show; The hills with sheep replete, with corn the dale, The afore And many a cottage yielded good Scottish ale;

named knights

had given mo- This county (Avondale) in former times,

noy to

guide,ofwhich

he left some Was the cursed climate of rebellious crimes:

part at every ale-house.

For Cumberland and it, both kingdoms borders,
Were ever ordered, by their own disorders,
Some sharking, shifting, cutting throats, and thieving,
Each taking pleasure in the other's grieving;
And many times he that had wealth to-night,
Was by the morrow morning beggared quite:
Too many years this pell-mell fury lasted,

That all these borders were quite spoiled and wasted,
Confusion, hurly-burly reigned and revelled,

The churches with the lowly ground were levelled;
All memorable monuments defaced,

All places of defence o'erthrown and razed.
That whoso then did in the borders dwell,
Lived little happier than those in hell.
But since the all-disposing God of heaven,
Hath these two kingdoms to one monarch given,

Blest peace, and plenty on them both have showered, Exile, and hanging hath the thieves devoured,

That now each subject may securely sleep,

His sheep and neat, the black the white doth keep, For now those crowns are both in one combined, Those former borders, that each one confine, Appears to me (as I do understand)

To be almost the centre of the land,

This was a blessed heaven expounded riddle,
To thrust great kingdoms skirts into the middle.
Long may the instrumental cause survive.
From him and his, succession still derive
True heirs unto his virtues, and his throne,
That these two kingdoms ever may be one;
This county of all Scotland is most poor,
By reason of the outrages before,
Yet mighty store of corn I saw there grow,
And as good grass as ever man did mow :
And as that day I twenty miles did pass,
I saw eleven hundred neat at grass,
By which may be conjectured at the least,
That there was sustenance for man and beast.
And in the kingdom I have truly scanned,
There's many worser parts, are better manned,
For in the time that thieving was in ure,
The gentles fled to places more secure.
And left the poorer sort, to abide the pain,
Whilst they could ne'er find time to turn again.

The shire of gentlemen is scarce and dainty,
Yet there's relief in great abundance plenty,
Twixt it and England, little odds I see,

They eat, and live, and strong and able be,
So much in verse, and now I'll change my style,
And seriously I'll write in prose awhile.

To the purpose then: my first night's lodging in Scotland was at a place called Moffat, which they say, is thirty miles from Carlisle, but I suppose them to be longer than forty of such miles as are betwixt London and Saint Albans, (but indeed the Scots do allow almost as large measure of their miles, as they do of their drink, for an English gallon either of ale or wine, is but their quart, and one Scottish mile (now and then, may well stand for a mile and a half or two English) but howsoever short or long, I found that day's journey the weariest that ever I footed ; and at night, being come to the town, I found good ordinary country entertainment: my fare and my lodging was sweet and good, and might have served a far better man than myself, although myself have had many times better: but this is to be noted, that though it rained not all the day, yet it was my fortune to be well wet twice, for I waded over a great river called Esk in the morning, somewhat more than four miles distance from Carlisle in England, and at night within two miles of my

lodging, I was fain to wade over the river of Annan in Scotland, from which river the county of Annandale, hath its name. And whilst I waded on foot, my man was mounted on horseback, like the George without the Dragon. But the next morning, I arose and left Moffat behind me, and that day I travelled twenty-one miles to a sorry village called Blythe, but I was blithe myself to come to any place of harbour or succour, for since I was born, I never was so weary, or so near being dead with extreme travel: I was foundered and refoundered of all four, and for my better comfort, I came so late, that I must lodge without doors all night, or else in a poor house where the good wife lay in child-bed, her husband being from home, her own servant maid being her nurse. A creature naturally compacted, and artificially adorned with an incomparable homeliness: but as things were I must either take or leave, and necessity made me enter, where we got eggs and ale by measure and by tail. At last to bed I went, my man lying on the floor by me, where in the night there were pigeons did very bountifully mute in his face the day being no sooner come, and having but fifteen miles to Edinburgh, mounted upon my ten toes, and began first to hobble, and after to amble, and so being warm, I fell to pace by degrees; all the way passing through a fertile country for corn and cattle and about two of the clock in the