Lt. Col. William Mudge (1762–1820) was among the first great surveyors of the region.
His findings, including his extensive observations from Black Combe, were published
in 1811 in An Account of the Trigonometrical Survey, Carried on by Order of the Master-General
of His Majesty’s Ordnance. Wordsworth’s fascination with Mudge’s surveys is evident in two sonnets of 1811,
“Written with a Slate Pencil on a Stone, on the Side of the Mountain of Black Comb”
and “View from the Top of Black Comb.”

Lines 327-48 from Book II of Wordsworth’s The Excursion (1814).

William Green, The Tourist’s New Guide. Green, a surveyor, artist, and engraver, was a friend of Wordsworth known for his
many prints of the Lake District. His extensively illustrated two-volume guidebook,
which first appeared in 1819, was a natural extension of the artwork he had done in
the Lakes over the previous decade.

In “Section Third” of the Guide, Wordsworth elaborates at some length on his reasons
for opposing the spread of larch plantations in Cumbria.