MORPETH,-NORTHUMBERLAND. Morpeth is a well-built town, pleasantly situated on the north side of the river Wansbeck, at the distance of nearly fifteen miles north from Newcastle, in a warm and sheltered vale, surrounded with a rich, cultivated country. The name is, perhaps, derived from More-path, or the road through the moor; and if so, its corruption by the course of time is comparatively inconsiderable. Under the Saxons and Danes this town arrived at no great importance; but after the Norman Conquest it was erected into an honour and styled the Barony of Morpeth or Merlay, from its possessors the Lords Merlay. The borough of Morpeth first sent members to parliament in the reign of Queen Mary, since which time it has continued to send two representatives to the Lower House. By the recent act for amending the representative system, the borough is now, however, restricted to the return of only one member. In Leland's Itinerary, it is spoken of as being "a far fayrer towne then Alnwicke;" but the improvements which have been wrought by time in the latter place have brought them nearer to an equality. Morpeth retains its ancient consequence; and exhibits in its southern suburbs many handsome houses of modern erection. The view of Morpeth, illustrating this description, exhibits the bustle and activity which prevail at the weekly market, held on Wednesday. The market place is conveniently situated near the centre of the town; but so numerous are the droves of cattle exposed for sale, that more space than it affords would be desirable. The cross is a commodious structure; and was built in 1699, at the joint expense of the Hon. Philip Howard, and Sir Henry Belasyse, Knt. The clock-house, a square tower, near to the market place, contains a clock, and a good peal of bells. The utility of this erection arises from the parochial church being situated at some distance from Morpeth, in the township of High Church. On the west side of the market place stands the town-hall, built in 1714, by the Earl of Carlisle, whose eldest son takes the title of Viscount Morpeth. The lower part of the edifice is occasionally converted into a theatre, and the upper story has been appropriated to the courts of sessions, and to other public uses. This structure has a rusticated piazza, and is decorated with turrets and a pediment. Between the town-hall and the bridge stands the county gaol, a decent and substantial building. The Grammar-school, an ancient building, coeval with many other similar institutions, was founded in the reign of Edward the Sixth; by whom it was endowed with the lands belonging to two dissolved chantries in Morpeth, and one at Nether Witton. Morpeth has been the birth-place or residence of many eminent individuals, amongst whom is Robert Morrison, the celebrated Chinese linguist and missionary. THE MILL ON THE STOCKGILL,-WESTMORLAND. This view has been selected on account of its wild, romantic, and melo-dramatic character; and not with reference to any historical incident, or traditional legend connected with it. To the tourist, this Mill, with its accompaniments, presents a beautiful and highly interesting scene; and the visitor to Stockgill Force would deprive himself of a gratification, if he were not to include it among the noticeable objects in the neighbourhood of that cascade. Unobtrusive, however, as the Mill on the Stockgill is, the most interesting associations are connected with it. The Mill itself is the offspring of mechanical art, and an accessory of commerce; but the situation which it occupies is in the midst of those solitary retreats where the eagle builds her eyrie, and in which other sounds than those of the torrent and of the echoing hills are seldom heard. UPPER FALL, RYDAL WATER,-WESTMORLAND. Of the Lower Fall at Rydal, a beautiful representation, accompanied by a description, has already been given. The Upper Fall being more extensive, its beauties are of a very different character; and whilst the former is surveyed with an unmingled feeling of delight; the latter inspires sensations of astonishment bordering on fear. The cascade exhibited in the engraving, is in a glen, at a short distance from Rydal Hall, whence a convenient path conducts the spectator at once to the most picturesque point of view from which the Fall can be seen. On arriving at a turn in this road, the eye is arrested by a considerable stream of water, descending in one unbroken sheet from a rock of great height into a basin below; and the ear is at the same time stunned with the roar of the torrent, which produces a concussion that appears to shake the very mountain itself. The grandeur of the spectacle is considerably increased by the foaming and struggling of the waters over a rocky bed previously to their reaching the basin. The beautiful and well-known description of a waterfall, by Thomson, applies with singular fidelity to this cascade:— "Smooth to the shelving brink, a copious flood Rolls fair and placid; where, collected all, In one impetuous torrent, down the steep It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round. At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad; Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft |