"
Some old earthen camp or barrow, some clump of trees, at least some
starved fragment of ancient hedge, is usually taken advantage of
in the execution of these forlorn dwellings; but in the present
case such a kind of shelter had been disregarded. Higher Crowstairs,
as the house was called, stood quite detached and undefended. The
only reason for its precise situation seemed to be the crossing
of two foot-paths at right angles hard by, which may have crossed
there and thus for a good five hundred years. The house was thus
exposed to the elements on all sides. But, though the wind up here
blew unmistakably when it did blow, and the rain hit hard whenever
it fell, the various weathers of the winter season were not quite
so formidable on the coomb as they were imagined to be by dwellers
on low ground. The raw rimes were not so pernicious as in the hollows,
and the frosts were scarcely so severe. When the shepherd and his
family who tenanted the house were pitied for their sufferings
from the exposure, they said that upon the whole they were less
inconvenienced by "wuzzes and flames" (hoarses and phlegms) than
when they had lived by the stream of a snug neighbouring valley.
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