1846 - ‘the abiding place of poets’

In his guide Charles Mackay proclaimed: ‘The Lake District! the very name is suggestive of poetry and romance’.

However, remembering his visit to Furness Abbey, Charles Mackay is struck less by his actual experience of that ‘most interesting spot’ than by the one he missed. Only after his tour did he learn that the ‘presiding spirit’ of the region, Wordsworth, had also visited the same tourist attraction a few weeks before and had recorded his impressions in a sonnet.

If Charles Mackay had visited later, when ‘Wordsworth Country’ had become a recognised destination, he would have known of Wordsworth’s association with Furness Abbey.  

Charles Mackay, The Scenery and Poetry of the English Lakes, 1846.