Souter Fell, or Soutra Fell as it is sometimes called, is a considerable
mountain situated to the eastward of Skiddaw and Blencathara. The west
and north sides are barricaded with steep rocks, apparently 900 yards in
height, and everywhere difficult of access.
A very remarkable phenomenon has exhibited itself on this mountain,
which, though difficult to account for satisfactorily, is too well
authenticated by numerous spectators to be discredited. We allude to the
appearance of troops of visionary horsemen, crossing the mountains,
advancing, retreating, and performing different military evolutions--an
optical delusion which has been observed in this vicinity, to the great
astonishment of the rustics of the vale.
"As when a shepherd of the Hebrid isles
Placed far amid the melancholy main
(Whether it be lone fancy him beguiles,
Or that aërial beings sometimes deign
To stand, embodied, to our senses plain),
Sees on the naked hill or valley low,
The whilst in ocean Phoebus dips his wain,
A vast assembly moving to and fro;
Then all at once in air dissolves the wondrous show."