THE AQUEDUCT BRIDGE.

NEAR the bridge just described is an avenue of trees called the Ladies' Walk, conducting the pedestrian by the side of the silver waters of the river, and through the meadows to the Aqueduct, distant rather more than a mile to the N.E. of the town. This magnificent undertaking conveys the Lancaster Canal over the Lune, and consists of five semicircular arches, each with a 70 feet span, springing from rusticated piers upon piles driven 30 feet deep. The height from the surface of the river to that of the canal is 51 feet. The total height from the foundation of the piers to the top of the battlement is nearly 90 feet. The length of the Aqueduct is 664 feet. A high and expensive embankment fills up the rest of the valley of the Lune crossed by the canal. The builder of the Lancaster Aqueduct was John Rennie, esq., the eminent engineer. Fifty thousand pounds were expended in its erection.

On the side of the Aqueduct nearest the town is a Latin inscription as follows:-" Quæ deerant adeunt : sociantur dissita: merces flumina conveniunt arte datura novas. * A.D. MDCCXCVII. Ing. I. RENNIE extrux. A. STEVENS P. et F."

We have already described the view of the Vale of Lune from the Aqueduct on one side, and of the town, the

*Things that were wanting are brought together; things remote are connected; rivers themselves meet by the assistance of art, to afford new objects of commerce.

river, and bridge on the other, as scenery of a rare and beautiful character, which will amply repay a visit.

The road to Halton passes over the canal at the north end of the Aqueduct. The turnpike road to Hornby, Caton, &c. passes under the canal at the south end of the embankment. The viaduct here is 20 feet wide, and the height from the road to the surface of the canal is 30 feet.

The Lancaster Canal was constructed by authority of an act of Parliament obtained in 1792. It extends northwards to Kendal and southwards to Clayton le Woods, and is in all 78 miles long. It was opened to Preston in 1799. The northern terminus was at first near Burtonin-Kendal at Tewitfield, between which place and Preston the canal was constructed upon one surface level. It was afterwards continued onwards to Kendal, by means of eight locks. The width of the canal is about 42 feet, its depth about 6 feet. Coal and limestone are among the more bulky and important articles of traffic. Swift packetboats used to ply along the entire line between Kendal and Preston, and numbers of travellers availed themselves

of this cheap and easy mode of conveyance. On the opening of the Lancaster and Preston railway a severe competition for the traffic between the two towns took place between the Railway and Canal companies. Recently an act of Parliament has been obtained, permitting the transfer of the Railway to the Canal company, who guarantee the shareholders of the former four and a half per cent., with an increase contingent upon the opening of a line of railway from Lancaster northwards to Scotland.

LANCASTER RAILWAY STATION.

THIS is a neat and elegant stone structure in the GrecianIonic style, on the Greaves, about a quarter of a mile from the Town Hall. The Lancaster and Preston junction railway was opened June 25, 1840, an uninterrupted communication with the metropolis by railway being thereby established. The railway is about 21 miles in length. Mr. Locke, who constructed the Paris and Rouen and several English railways, was the engineer of this line.

THE FREE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL.

THIS school stands below the Castle terrace, on the west side of the Church yard. It was rebuilt by subscription in 1683. The head master (the Rev. J. Beethom, M.A.) receives a salary from the Corporation. The school is mentioned as belonging to the Corporation so early as the year 1495. At this school two eminent scientific men of the present day received their education: viz., the Rev. W. Whewell, B.D. F.R.S. Master of Trinity College, Cambridge; and Professor Owen, F.R.S. Curator of the Royal College of Surgeons, known throughout Europe for his acquirements as a comparative anatomist.

THE SCIENTIFIC, LITERARY, AND NATURAL HISTORY

SOCIETY.

THIS Society possesses a small but good collection of objects in natural history, &c. The Museum is in St. Leonard gate. The meetings of the Society are held