of Harold, whose barony Halton was. East of the church is a large and steep mound supposed, by Dr. Whittaker, to occupy the fortress of the eastern keep of Earl Toste's castle. The mound has, however, much the appearance of one of those artefacta of Roman construction, of which the lofty knoll upon which Lancaster castle and church stand is supposed to be one. A fortress or small watch tower has most likely stood here, and the tradition is, that it was used to command a ford across the Lune which once existed at this point. Another opinion is, that the mound has at some former period been used as one of those beacon hills used for conveying signals to different parts of the country.

Pursuing his walk up the village the visitor, half-way up the hill, will come to a guide-post, and should take the Caton road. The first turning to the right along this road will bring him to a cotton-mill belonging to Mr. Swainson, just above which the waters of the river fall in a beautiful cascade of three or four feet. Fifty yards higher up the view down the richly-wooded banks of the river is of a higher order than anything as yet seen, and will strongly remind the tourist of some beauties of the Wharfe at Bolton Abbey. Further up the river we come to another mill of Mr. Swainson's, beyond which is another water-fall. The Lune here assumes a picturesque appearance as it rushes sparkling and foaming along its shallow rocky bed. The ground rises on each side very abruptly, and is clothed to the summit with brushwood and plantation. Pursuing our walk up the course of the stream we come to a plantation where an alley of firs furnish their "dim

B

religious light," and snatches of the river are seen to the right. At the end of this alley of firs is a brook, which the visitor should not attempt to cross if the weather be wet, as he will find the further walk by the river-side dirty and unpleasant. He should then bear away to the left, and by following the path will cross the brook two or three times higher up, till he comes out into the Caton road at Halton Green. In fine weather, however, the more adventurous pedestrian will do well to continue his walk by the banks of the river, where he will be abundantly repaid by the increasing picturesqueness of the valley. A short walk either way will bring the tourist to the Penny Bridge as it is called, at Caton, where the river forms the bend called the Crook of Lune. The view from this spot was declared by Queen Elizabeth, in one of her royal progresses, to be one of the finest in her dominions, and the poet Gray has adopted the declaration of royalty. "Here Ingleborough" (says the poet), "behind a variety of lesser mountains, makes the back-ground of the prospect. On each hand of the middle distance rise two sloping hills—the left clothed with thick wood, the right with variegated rock and herbage. Between them, in the richest of valleys, the Lune serpentizes many a mile, and comes forth ample and clear through a well-wooded and richly-pastured foreground. Every feature, which constitutes a perfect landscape of the extensive sort, is here not only boldly marked, but also in its best position."

The spot from which Gray saw the prospect above described is on the south bank of the river, and is called Since the above was in type the author has satisfied himself that the foregoing description was written by Mason, the friend of

Queen's Brow; the present road passes just above it. The ride up the vale of Lune lies through scenery so rich and fertile that many visitors to the lakes take Kirkby Lonsdale on their way to Kendal and exercise in so doing a sound discretion. Mrs. Ann Radcliffe, the popular romance writer, who visited this country in the autumn of 1794, travelled from Lancaster to Kendal by this route. She says of the view on the Caton road, three miles from Lancaster, "We here looked down over a wooded and finely-broken fore-ground upon the Lune and the vale of Lonsdale, undulating in richly-cultivated slopes, with Ingleborough, for the back-ground, bearing its bold promontory on high, the very crown and paragon of the landscape. To the west, the vale winds from sight among smoother hills; and the gracefully-falling line of a mountain on the left forms, with the wooded heights on the right, a kind of frame for the distant picture." Mrs. Radcliffe describes the ride from Caton to Kirkby Lonsdale as superior in elegant beauty to any she had passed in her tour; and, since she wrote, the aspect of the country is much improved. The claim of Lunesdale to the title of the first of northern valleys is indeed generally conceded.

VIEW FROM HIGHFIELD.

Our third and last point of view, and in many respects the most striking of all, is from the high land, east of the town, leading to the Asylum. Just above the workhouse,

Gray, and editor and annotator of his correspondence. Both writers visited the spot, at different times, and it is highly probable that the foregoing embodies Mr. Gray's impressions of the scene.

at the top of the hill, a panoramic scene of great extent is spread open to the view, comprehending the town and castle, the silver waters of the Lune with its green islets at the foot of the hill; and beyond this the bay, the sea, and the distant mountains. Mrs. Radcliffe has described the "view from this hill as pre-eminent for grandeur, and comprehending an extent of sea and land, and a union of the sublime in both, which we have never seen equalled. In the green vale of the Lune below lies the town, spreading up the side of a hill over-topped by the the old towers of the castle and church. Beyond, over a ridge of gentle heights which bind the west side of the vale, the noble inlet of the sea, that flows upon the Ulverstone and Lancaster sands, is seen at the feet of an amphitheatre formed by nearly all the mountains of the Lakes; an exhibition of Alpine grandeur, both in form and colouring, which, with the extent of water below, composes a scene perhaps faintly rivalling that of the lake of Geneva. To the south and west, the Irish Channel finishes the view."-Tour to the Lakes.

HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

The an

A GUIDE to Lancaster would be incomplete which did not attempt, however imperfectly, to sketch the early history and subsequent rise and progress of the town. tiquarian zeal of the visitor cannot be properly kindled, or his interest in the venerable remains of " time honored Lancaster" be fully awakened, unless he is reminded of what important and stirring events the county town has

been the scene. The history of Lancaster is not only the political history of Lancashire, but bears a prominent figure in the annals of the English monarchy, from the period of the Norman Conquest to the wars of the Roses and the final annexation of the duchy to the English crown. The difficulty is, with such ample and inviting materials before us, to confine our historical retrospect within due limits. Successively a British city (Caer), a Roman station of the upper Empire, a Saxon town, the head of a Norman barony having powerful feudatories throughout the county, an earldom and duchy-whose dukedom ranks the first in the kingdom,-and, lastly, the capital and county town of one of the largest and most populous counties in the kingdom; Lancaster claims a prominent notice in any history of this realm, and particularly of the northern portions. Indeed we may say, that few places abound with reminiscences and remains more interesting to the lovers of history as well as to the antiquarian, than the "good old town," as it is fondly called by its inhabitants.

There seems little reason to doubt that when the invading Romans, under Julius Agricola, reached this part of the country in the autumn of 79, they found here a small town known as Caer Werid, and probably some rude defences. It must not be forgotten, however, that "it is called a town among the Britons when a woody height is fenced round with a trench and rampire; where to avoid excursions they retire and take refuge.*" The

* Cæsar's Com.