way along the lanes, one stumbles unexpectedly on churches that were built before the Conquest.

"My first walk through the city terminated at the Cathedral, so famous for its architectural magnificence and grandeur. It is a noble pile-one of the sublimest things wrought by human hands which the island contains. As it rose, grey and tall, before me in the thickening twilight, I was conscious of a more awe-struck feeling than any mere work of art had ever awakened in me before. It was too late to gain admission into the edifice. Next morning I attended service in the cathedral; and being, I found, half an hour too early, spent the interval in pacing the aisles and nave, and studying the stories recorded on the old painted glass. As I stood at the western door, and saw the noble stone roof stretching away more than thirty yards overhead, in a long vista of 500 feet, to the great eastern window, I again experienced the feeling of the previous evening. Never before had I seen so noble a cover. The giant columns, the coloured light that streamed through more than a hundred huge windows, and but faintly lighted up the vast area after all; the deep aisles, with their streets of tombs; the great tower, under which a ship of the line might hoist top and top-gallant mast, and find ample room overhead for the display of her vaneall comprised to render the interior of York Minster one of the most impressive objects I had ever seen." *

LESSON XXIX.
The West Riding.

YORKSHIRE is divided into three great divisions, called the North Riding, the East Riding, and the West Riding. This word Riding is a corruption of the Saxon term * Hugh Miller--“First Impressions of England and its People."

"trithing" or "thriding," and is from the same root as the word "three." The county is said to have been divided into three divisions by the Saxons.

Now a glance at the map will show that almost all the great and important towns in Yorkshire are in the West. Riding. We need simply ask you to look at Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, and Sheffield, though there are many other large towns in that division. How comes it that these towns are so situated? There are two great reasons, which you can easily understand. There is, first, the abundant supply of water power, to be obtained from the various feeders of the Ouse; and there is, second and chiefly, the fact that the great Yorkshire coalfield lies in the West Riding. This coalfield runs into Derby and Staffordshire-in fact, occupies a large portion of the plain which we have already described.

Yorkshire has always been the chief centre of the woollen and linen trade in England. From a very early period in our history, this manufacture has occupied a foremost place in this district. But, in addition to the manufacture of woollen and linen goods, Yorkshire is celebrated for its cutlery. The town of Sheffield stands second to none in England for goods of this description.

You will easily understand how, while the towns in the North and East Ridings have been more or less stationary, those in the West Riding should have grown at a very rapid rate. Lord Macaulay, speaking of this district in 1685, says: "Leeds was already the chief seat of the woollen manufactures of Yorkshire; but the elderly inhabitants could still remember the time when the first brick house, then and long after called the Red House, was built. They boasted loudly of their increasing wealth and of the immense sales of cloth which took place in the open air on the bridge. Hundreds, nay thousands of

pounds, had been paid down in the course of one busy market day. But it seems certain that the whole population of the borough, an extensive district which contains many hamlets, did not exceed 7000 souls. In 1841 there were more than 150,000.*

"About a day's journey south of Leeds, on the verge of a wild moorland tract, lay an ancient manor, now rich with cultivation, then barren and uninclosed. Iron abounded there; and, from a very early period, the rude whittles fabricated there had been sold all over the kingdom. But for many centuries the manufacture made little progress. The more delicate kinds of cutlery were either made in the capital, or brought from the Continent. It was not till the reign of George II. that the English surgeons ceased to import from France those fine blades which are required for operations on the human frame. Most of the forges on this ancient manor were collected in a market town (Sheffield) which had sprung up near the castle of the proprietor, and which, in the reign of James I., was a singularly miserable place, containing about 2000 inhabitants, of whom a third were half-starved and halfnaked beggars. This is that Sheffield which now contains 120,000 souls, and which sends forth its admirable knives, razors, and lancets to the farthest ends of the world."

LESSON XXX.

Silk Manufacture-Derby.

IN a wide and fertile vale, on the banks of the Derwent, a tributary of the Trent, stands the town of Derby, very pleasant in situation, and surrounded with rich and beautiful scenery. It was here that the first mill for spinning or throwing" silk, as it is called, was erected in England. Silk is said to have been first worn in England in the * The present population of Leeds is about 260,000.

reign of Edward I. The manufacture of it seems to have been introduced into the country in the fourteenth century; but its progress was slow. When the Netherlands was overrun by the Spaniards under the Duke of Parma in 1585, a number of the Protestant inhabitants fled to England, carrying with them a knowledge of many kinds of manufacture, and there laid the foundation of many branches of industry that have helped to make England the first kingdom in the world.

James I. tried to introduce the rearing of the silk-worm into England, and also into the newly-established English colonies in America. But all attempts to rear the silkworm in England have failed, owing to the coldness of the climate.

In 1685 Louis XIV., King of France, revoked the famous Edict of Nantes, which gave protection to his Protestant subjects. By this act Louis drove out of his kingdom thousands of his best and most industrious subjects, 50,000 of whom, it is supposed, came to England. Such of these refugees as had been engaged in the silk manufacture, settled in Spitalfields in London, which, since that date, has been noted for its silk manufacture.

But all this time the "throwing" of silk was unknown in England. The knowledge of the process was known in Europe to the Italians alone; but, in 1717, Mr. John Lombe, who had obtained a knowledge of the process followed in the silk-mills of Italy, agreed with the corporation of Derby to rent an island on the Derwent, 500 feet long and 52 feet wide. Here he erected an immense silk-mill, the whole machinery of which, and it was very extensive, was moved by one water-wheel. Many "throwing" mills have since been erected in Derby, and this branch of industry may be regarded as the chief industry of the town.

F

In recent years Derby has become the centre of the Midland Railway system, and by the main and branch lines of that system has been placed in easy communication with all parts of the kingdom. The extensive works of the Midland Railway Company have tended to increase the importance of Derby.

Among all the counties in England, Derbyshire stands. unrivalled for its mineral springs. The most celebrated warm springs are those of Buxton and Matlock. Buxton lies in a deep valley or basin, surrounded by bleak hills, and extensive tracts of moorland. It would be entirely surrounded by hills but for the narrow ravine down which the river Wye flows on its way to join the Derwent. The mineral springs at Buxton appear to have been known to the Romans, and since the sixteenth century the town has been a favourite watering-place. Matlock is situated on the left bank of the Derwent, in a deep and narrow valley, and has grown up within the last century and a half.

The county of Nottingham, adjoining Derbyshire, on the east, is drained by the Trent, which forms the boundary between Nottingham and Lincoln, as it flows northward to join the Humber. Nottingham, the county town, has important cotton and lace manufactures. In this county was Sherwood Forest, famous in connection with the exploits of the bold outlaw Robin Hood.

LESSON XXXI.

The Potteries.

IN many of the county towns of England you will see shops having this sign over the door-"Staffordshire Glass and China Warehouse." This sign tells its own story. Staffordshire is famous for its potteries. The district lying round the town of Burslem is known as