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who, arriving here so early as the year 995, with the remains of Saint Cuthbert, were directed, by miraculous interposition, to make this place the mausoleum of their patron. Having determined on a permanent settlement, the monks raised habitations round the tabernacle in which they had enclosed the saintly relics; and thus laid the foundation of the Saxon Dun-holme, corrupted by the course of time into Durham. William the Conqueror desolated the town and neighbourhood; when a dreadful famine ensued. About 1424, the plague raged violently, and carried off several thousands of the inhabitants.

The cathedral, originally founded A. D. 1093, occupies the highest ground in the city, and, when viewed from the opposite bank of the Wear, bursts upon the eye with imposing grandeur. This edifice was completed towards the close of the thirteenth century. The character of the architecture, though chiefly Anglo-Norman, partakes in a considerable degree of the English or pointed style. At the time of the dissolution, this priory was rated at about £1600 per annum. In 1541, Henry VIII. granted a foundation charter to this church, altering its dedication from St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, to that of Christ and St. Mary. The see of Durham is the richest in the kingdom; and the bishop is invested with higher prerogatives than any of his episcopal brethren. He is perpetual justice of the peace in his own territories, and lord-lieutenant of the county; and to what court of justice soever he comes, within the limits of his diocese, he there sits as chief.

The castle, now the residence of the bishop during his visits to Durham, was first erected, it would appear, by William the Conqueror. At the present time, though accommodated in a great measure to the taste and manners of our own age, this structure discovers many traces of military harshness and feudal barbarity, mixed up with the elegancies and conveniencies of modern improvement. It stands on the north side of an open area, called Palace Green, whence a number of beautiful public walks, kept in repair by the minster funds, lead along the windings of the river.

Durham contains six churches, exclusive of the cathedral. It has a commodious infirmary, and a small square market-place, with a guildhall on the west side, and, in the centre, a fountain, surmounted by a statue of Neptune seated on a dolphin. The trade of this city has declined of late years. There are manufactories for stuff and carpets, and for spinning and combing wool; a brass foundry, two iron foundries, and a hat factory. It has a market on Saturday for corn and provisions, and five annual fairs, for horned cattle, sheep, and horses; that on the three last days of March being accounted the principal. The government of the city is vested in a mayor, recorder, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common council men. Durham gives the title of baron to the Lambton family.

In the illustrative engraving, the first object that excites attention is the salmon leap of the river Wear. Framwell-gate bridge assumes a bold and striking character; the elliptic arches of which, span a distance of ninety feet each. On the left hand is seen that venerable and colossal mass of feudal architecture, the castle. The lantern tower of the cathedral, and an oblique glance at the west front, with some few details of lesser note, complete the line of view. The setting sun sheds a warm glow over these splendid

erections of departed days; and the whole scene is calculated to carry back the mind to a remote period, when wine and wassail prevailed at the castle board, and the blended voices of the monks of Lindisfarne, were heard, "glad even, and glad morn," chanting the vesper hymn and matin song.

DUNGEON GILL,-WESTMORLAND.

The beautiful and romantic waterfall of Dungeon Gill is situated in the deep cleft of a hill, in the immediate neighbourhood of Langdale Pikes. The name is compounded of dungeon, signifying, in the language of the country, a deep chasm; and gill, a valley or dell.

"The quantity of water here," Mr. Baines remarks, "is not considerable, but the fall is exceedingly high and picturesque. It descends in a fine sheet of foam betwixt two walls of perpendicular rock, which I should judge to be more than a hundred feet high. Two enormous rocks, which have fallen into the top of the chasm, hang suspended in a way alarming to the spectator. Trees have taken root in the sides of the cleft, and hang out their branches to receive the perpetual rain of spray from the waterfall."

There is an air of venerable grandeur in the appearance of the rocks, forming a stupendous archway for the rush of waters, and the reflective mind will trace

"Upon their bleak and visionary sides,

The history of many a winter storm."

Amid this thought-inspiring solitude of nature, Wordsworth's shepherd boy, perhaps, enjoyed the first virgin passion of a soul

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It has been remarked, that the seclusions of nature, are more favourable to pure devotional feeling, than the crowded haunts of society; and few, we believe, will dispute the truth of the observation. The footsteps of Deity are far less discernible in the thickly inhabited city, where every thing that meets the eye is the result of human art and ingenuity, than in the wide theatre of nature, where "littleness is not," and even "the least of things seem infinite."

The engraving is illustrative of an interesting poem, by Wordsworth, founded on the fact of a lamb having fallen into the basin of the cataract, whence it was taken unhurt.

COLWITH FORCE,-WESTMORLAND.

At the distance of five miles, west from Ambleside, the tourist discovers a precipitous path leading to Colwith bridge; a rude structure of one arch, thrown across the river Colwith, which, taking its rise in the stupendous fells above, here discharges its waters

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