Bassenthwaite; but some of less size, as Buttermere, Crummockwater, Loweswater, Ennerdale, Wastwater, and Devock Lake, are scarcely less admired. The vales or passes amongst the hills likewise contain much beautiful scenery of a wild character, although perhaps only traversed by a brawling mountain rill.

The combination of alpine wildness and grandeur, with the soft scenery which reposes in clothed slope and mirror-like lake at the bottoms of the hills, is what gives the Cumberland scenery its principal charm. Ullswater, which extends into Westmoreland, is thought to possess the greatest beauty it is about nine miles in length, but nowhere more than one in breadth. Derwentwater, (often termed Keswick Lake, from its vicinity to the town of Keswick,) which measures three miles in length by one and a half in breadth, is only inferior to Ullswater. Mrs. Radcliffe, the eminent novelist, describes it as having peculiar charms, both from beauty and wild"The whole is seen at one glance, expanding within an amphitheatre of mountains, rocky but not vast, broken into many fantastic shapes. The precipices seldom overhang the water, but are ranged at some distance; and the shores swell with woody eminences, or sink into green pastoral margins. The bosom of the lake is spotted by several small but wellwooded islands."

ness.

Amongst the passes, that of Borrowdale is the most remarkable: it is a narrow chasm opening from the centre of the amphitheatre, which terminates the expanse of Derwentwater, and traversed by the vehement little stream of the same name. Near the entrance of the pass is a detached mountain called Castle-Crag, with a peaceful village reposing at its foot; and opposite to Castle-Crag is the Bowderstone, a huge mass of rock, which has apparently fallen from the neighboring cliffs, and round whose base the road is made to wind. It is computed that this enormous boulder is not less than 1,800 tons in weight.

The lake scenery of Cumberland has, by its beauty, attracted a great number of permanent residents, whose villas enter pleasingly into its landscapes, and amongst whom the present age has seen several eminent literary men-Southey, Wordsworth, &c. It also attracts an immense number of tourists from all parts of the kingdom.

The district usually called the Lakes, may be said also to comprehend a small northern, and nearly detached portion of Lancashire, where Windermere and Coniston-Water are sheets rivalling in extent and beauty those of Cumberland.

The termination of the great northern range in the north of Derbyshire, presents in that district, a collection of rugged hills and narrow valleys, amidst which some of the most romantic scenery in England is to be found. A particular portion of it, near the village of Castleton, is termed the Peak Scenery, from a particular eminence or peak which attracts more than usual attention.

The Peak is approached through a rude and savage pass, named Winyats, (gates of the winds,) flanked with precipices 1,000 feet high. It is a limestone mountain, and perforated, as mountains of that kind of rock often are, with an immense cave. On the top are perched the remains of a castle, once the residence of a family descended from William Peveril, a natural son of the Conqueror. In the precipice below, above 600 feet from the top, is the entrance of the cave, a flattish Gothic arch, 120 feet wide, and 46 in height. Within this arch the cavern recedes about 90 feet. Here a company of twine-makers pursue their humble trade. At Vol. II

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the extremity of the first cave, which alone enjoys any of the light of day; a low and narrow arch leads into a spacious opening, called "the BellHouse," whence a path leads to the "First Water." This is a lake 42 feet in breadth, passing below a massive arch of rocks, in some places not more than 20 inches above the surface of the water. Laying himself flat along the bottom of a small canoe, the visiter with his guide shoots through below the depending rocks into an opening 220 feet in length, 200 in breadth, and 121 in height. At the further extremity of this spacious cavern, the stream which flows along the bottom forms itself into what is called "the Second Water," near the end of which is a pile of rocks subjected to a perpetual copious dripping from the roof, and called "Roger Rain's House." Other passages and expansions succeed, till the cave ceases to be passable at the distance of 2,300 feet from the opening. On returning from his torch-lit adventure to the mouth of the cave, the visiter usually experiences a singular impression of novelty and delight from beholding again the surface of the daylight world.

The scenery adjacent to the neighboring town of Buxton is also much celebrated. One of the most noted objects is Elden's Hole, a perpendicular opening, down which a line has been dropped to the extent of 2,652 feet without finding the bottom. Poole's Hole is a cave remarkable for its magnificent stalactites. A succession of beautiful valleys, situated amidst rugged mountains, leads to the romantic one of Matlock, where the banks of the Derwent are bordered by extensive woods, interspersed with the boldest and most varied forms of rock. Of a wilder character is the celebrated Dovedale, where the River Dove traverses a pass of two miles in length, and of the most striking character. The sides of this short valley are chiefly composed of rocks of gray limestone, which, in their abrupt and towering ascent, assume innumerable fantastic forms-spires, pyramids, &c. and are clothed with yew-trees, the mountain-ash, and numerous mosses and lichens.

The ISLE OF WIGHT, situated off the coast of Hampshire, and measuring twenty-three miles by about thirteen, is celebrated both for its mild climate and its beautiful scenery. From the high, open downs formed by a range of chalk-hills in the centre, some delightful views, mingling the bold objects of the coast line with the sail-studded English Channel, are obtained. The south shore is the most noted for its romantic objects, the most remarkable of which is at Undercliff. Here a great chalk cliff has at one time been presented to the sea; but, afterwards undermined by the action of the waves, a large portion of it has fallen forward in vast fragments, leaving a new cliff at the distance of about half a mile from the shore. In the interval between the beach and the cliff, the fragments are scattered in confusion, many of them forming eminences of the most picturesque forms, while the intermediate spaces afford room for cottages and villas, and even at one place for a small rising town, nestling amidst the most beautiful shrubbery, natural and artificial. This district, when viewed from the sea, appears a series of gigantic steps, rising from the beach towards a great perpendicular wall. The cliff, in several places, opens in vast ravines, locally termed chines, which are usually clothed with a picturesque vegetation, and the most admired of which are those of Shanklin and Blackgang. NEWPORT, the capital, is situated in a beautiful valley in the interior, adjoining the picturesque old castle of Carisbrooke. At the western extremity of the island are the celebrated Needles, a cluster of chalk rocks rising like pillars above the waves. This is a favorite resort of the Queen.

Wales has already been described as a mountainous region, the chief peaks of which somewhat exceed 3,000 feet in height. It is visited by tourists from all parts, on account of the picturesque scenery with which it abounds, particularly in the northern district, or North Wales. Its hollows or vales contain none of those beautiful expanses of water which mix such softness with the grandeur of the Cambrian scenery, but are traversed by impetuous rivers and torrents, according with the precipitous and savage character of the landscape. The vales of North Wales are deeper and narrower than those of South Wales; these expand in many instances into broad plains, affording scope for the operations of the agriculturist, and for the building of towns and villages.

A range of hills, of which Snowdon is the highest, (3,570 feet,) traverses North Wales from south to north, terminating at Beaumaris Bay in the tremendous steep of Penmanmawr, whose hanging fragments threaten to bury him who travels by the difficult path which has been formed along its almost perpendicular sides. This hilly district comprehends a few turns, or mountain lakelets, full of delicious fish. The general bleakness is delightfully relieved by the intervening vales, the largest of which is that of Clywd, in Denbighshire, twenty miles long by about four or five in breadth, and presenting a brilliant picture of fertility. Among the lesser vales, the most famed for beauty is that of Llangollen, "where the Dee, winding through cultivated and pastoral scenes, presents at every step a varying landscape." Festiniog, in which a number of streams unite to form a river, amidst verdant and wooded scenes, is also celebrated by tourists.

Upon a hill north of Liskeard, the slopes of which are strewed with granite boulders, stands the curious pile called the Cheese-Wring, composed of five flat round pieces of the same rock, laid one above another, the largest towards the top, so that the whole forms a kind of inverted cone, to the height of fifteen feet. Dr. Macculloch, the eminent geologist, explains the formation of this strange object as solely owing to natural causes. Logging-stones, of which there are several in the same county, are in like manner explained. The largest is one situated upon a cliffy promontory near the Land's-End. It is a mass 17 feet in length, of irregular form, and believed to be about 90 tons in weight, resting by a slight protuberance upon the upper surface of the cliff, and so nicely poised, that a push from the hand, or even the force of the wind, causes it to vibrate. It appears that these logging-stones are simply prismatic masses of the rock, which have chanced to be left in their present situation after the adjoining masses of a similar character had been removed.

Perhaps the earliest objects of antiquity in England are the barrows or tumuli, with which the Britons, like so many other uncivilized nations, were accustomed to cover the remains of the dead. Several specimens of these still exist.

Druidical remains rank, perhaps, next in point of antiquity. The most simple of these are Cromlechs, of which an unusual number is found in the island of Anglesea, once the chief seat of the Druids, who were the priests of British heathenism. A cromlech consists of a large slab of stone, placed flatwise, or in a sloping position, upon two upright ones. It seems to have formed an altar for human sacrifices. Druidical circles are more complicated. They usually consist of circles of huge stones, placed on end, with, in some instances, connected lines or rows of similar stones, the whole forming objects at once rude and imposing. It is believed that they were the temples of the Druids. The most remarkable Druidical

circle is that of Abury, six miles from Marlborough, in Wiltshire. there is an outer circle, 1,400 feet in diameter, composed of stones generally about 16 feet in height, with a distance of 27 between every two. There are small concentric circles within the large one, and in the centre of all is a cromlech, or altar for human sacrifices, composed of one long flat stone, supported by two upright ones. Two straight avenues of approach, about a mile in length, were composed of similar blocks, and on the outside of the outermost circle there was a vallum or bank, the inner slope of which was, perhaps, a place for spectators. From the encroachments and carelessness of the neighboring inhabitants during a long course of ages, this curious relic of the British people is much dilapidated. Another Druidical circle of great note is that of Stonehenge, upon Salisbury Plain, a district also presenting many tumuli and other vestiges of the Britons. The Stonehenge temple, in its perfection, consisted of 140 stones, arranged in two concentric circles, the outermost 108 feet in diameter, with similar stones laid flatwise along the tops of the upright stones. The blocks which re

main are from eighteen to twenty feet high, and about seven feet broad. Within the inner circle are two oval ranges, supposed to have formed the admytum or cell, and which consists of stones about thirty feet in height. The remains of this stupendous temple, ruined and shattered as they are, still produce a sensation of awe upon the mind of the beholder.

ROMAN REMAINS are now rare and nearly obliterated. The roads formed by this people have in some instances been changed into our present comparatively broad and well-formed ways; in other cases, slight traces of their original pavement, which generally consisted of large stones forming a causeway, are to be found, Between Newcastle and Carlisle are the remains of the two walls built respectively by the Emperors Adrian and Severus, in 120 and 210, to keep out the northern barbarians: the first being a high mound of earth, and the second a rampart of stone, 683 miles long, running parallel to the first, on the outside. Remains of Ronan camps, bridges, villas, baths, &c., also exist in various parts of England. All the towns, the names of which terminate in chester or caster, are considered as having been originally Roman stations. Near St. Albans are the remains of the walls which once surrounded the Roman town of Verulamium, the site of the town itself having long been subjected to the plough.

Several of the small churches built soon after the introduction of Christianity still exist, and continue to be used as parish churches. The larger churches connected with monastic establishments, and the cathedrals, which were the seats of bishops, took their rise at a later period, chiefly during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This was a time when an enthusiasm existed for founding and endowing monasteries and churches. To it owe their origin many superb minsters, the solemn beauty of which continues to be a proud possession of the land. Westminster Abbey, York Minster, and the cathedrals of Winchester, Lincoln, Gloucester, Canterbury, Litchfield, and Salisbury, may be instanced as particularly august specimens. of the Gothic style in which all ecclesiastical structures were then built. There are also many ruinous remains of the great abbacies of the middle ages; those of Tintern, near Monmouth; Glastonbury, near Wells; and Bury St. Edmunds, are of famed beauty. A kindred class of antique structures exist in what are called crosses, which consist generally of an elegant tapering Gothic erection, with a small shrine below, and were in most instances erected to hallow the spot on which the remains of venerated persons rested on their way to the tomb.

Of the huge castles built by the Norman nobility and by the sovereigns during the first few centuries after the conquest, many specimens still exist, but few which are not in ruins. The Tower of London, built by the Conqueror himself, is an entire and most superb example of this class of structures. Conway and Caernarvon Castles, which, with many others, were raised to overawe the then independent principality of Wales, are also noble specimens. Others may be found in the north, as Lancaster, Carlisle, Newcastle, and Rugby castles. They usually consist of a great square tower, with ranges of lesser towers, and the whole surrounded by thick and lofty walls, beneath which there was generally a moat or wet ditch. Dover Castle, placed on the top of a lofty cliff overlooking the English Channel, and still kept in good order, is a peculiarly interesting specimen of the Norman fortress.

England abounds in mansions in various styles, the seats of her nobility and gentry. Some of these reach a high degree of splendor, both in architecture and internal furnishing, not to speak of the delightful sylvan domains by which they are generally surrounded.

A certain class of English mansions may be described as engrafted upon the fortresses of the middle ages, or upon the priories and abbeys disused at the Reformation. Warwick Castle, the seat of the Earl of Warwick, situated upon a rock forty feet above the river Avon, and Alnwick Castle, in Northumberland, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, are splendid examples of the first class of edifices. The area of the latter building “is divided into three courts, entered through gateways formed in lofty towers. The keep, or citadel, is of vast magnitude, and acquires some peculiar points of architectural beauty from 'fair semi-circular towers,' which protect and adorn it on every side." Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, the seat of the late Lord Byron and of his ancestors, may be instanced as a beautiful and impressive example of the domestic mansion founded upon the remains of a monastic building.

There is a class of old mansions which appear to be peculiar to England, and are usually called Halls. They date in many instances from the sixteenth century, and may be supposed to have been the favorite form of domestic architecture in the days of the first Tudors. Haddon Hall, near Derby, belonging to the Duke of Rutland, is an unusually handsome specimen of the class. They generally present a front, of irregular form, advancing into prominent bows with many windows, and constructed of brick upon a fantastically shaped framework of timber, the exterior of which is left exposed and painted. A variety of angular projections break the line of the roof, and give occasion to much carved wood-work. In the interior there is always a goodly hall of oak, with a diced floor, a huge set of oaken tables, and a spacious fire-place. Mr. Nash has published a beautiful work, containing views and descriptions of the most remarkable of these charming old mansions, so rich in old-world associations.

Another large class of English mansions are of a style which prevailed in the seventeenth century, and which comprehends many substantial as well as decorative features. Elegant fronts of polished stone, with traces of turreting, ornamented square windows, and tall angular chimney-stalks, strike an untechnical spectator as the principal features of this style, usually called Elizabethan. Holland House, Kensington, and Theobalds, the seat of the celebrated Secretary Cecil, present apt examples.

The houses built in the last century were chiefly in the Grecian style, more or less pure. Some of the productions of Mr. Adam present beauti