lay stretched before us, over which we could travel without an effort, commanding a horizon of fifty or sixty miles in diameter, and so level that the most prominent objects could be traced as upon a map. Through the town and its rural suburbs, the Ouse extends in bold and bright meanders, till its peaceful waters are concealed from the eye by the verdure of its banks. In other directions there is a sufficiency of woods and streams, hamlets and spires, to give variety to the picture. After you have seen the Minster, you have seen all that is worthy of notice about York. The antiquary may find some fragments of Roman altars, with half obliterated inscriptions—some curious remains of the old wall, and its arches-some castles, fortresses, and abbeys in ruins-and the traveller who feels disposed to linger, may find employment for a day or two in examining the literary and charitable institutions of York, which sustain a high reputation, and are unusually numerous for a population not much exceeding 20,000. The remainder of our visit was occupied in a walk to St. Mary's Abbey, situate upon the immediate bank of the Ouse; a picturesque pile of prostrate walls, broken columns, and mouldering arches-to Clifford's Tower, the keep to the ancient castle, perched upon a woody and romantic eminence near the city-to the spacious prison in the vicinity-to the new and beautiful promenade, extending for a mile along the bank of the river, crossing the Fosse on a rustic bridge, and bordered by lofty forest trees-and lastly through the market, which was crowded with throngs of people from the surrounding country, who in a concert of a thousand voices, were jabbering the Yorkshire dialect in its broadest and most unsophisticated perfection. On the 3d we left in a post-chaise for Harrowgate, another watering. place, distant twenty-three miles from York. In this ride, we passed through a small district, forming a distinct jurisdiction denominated the Ainsty, which comprises upwards of thirty villages and hamlets. The government of the city of York, which by the bye is of no little consequence, the Lord Mayor being the Lieutenant of the King, and on public occasions appearing in a dress of scarlet ornamented with crimson scarfs and chains of gold, extends to the Ainsty, which is closely connected with it by the ties of interest and social intercourse. Five or six miles from York, we crossed Marston Moor which in the year 1644, was the scene of a great battle between the Parliament forces, under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Earl of Leven, and the Earl of Manchester; and the Royalists, headed by Prince Rupert. The two armies were nearly equal in point of numbers, consisting of about 25,000 each; and the conflict, which took place on the second of July, was long and bloody. It terminated, as is well known, in the defeat of the royal party, the triumph of Cromwell's influence, and the surrender of the king, who was sold to the revolutionary parliament by the Scots for 200,0001; a sum which exceeds the value of most monarchs. In the course of our tour, I forget where, we saw a pretty painting of Prince Rupert, bearing the royal standard upon this field, mounted on his charger, without his hat and with his bosom bare. It struck me as a bold, forcible and expressive picture. The battle exhibited many feats of gallantry on both sides. All the royalists fought without their bands and scarfs, by way of distinction; and their antagonists wore in their hats white handkerchiefs and slips of paper, as cockades. Sir Walter Scott thus describes the contest : "On Marston Heath, Met front to front the ranks of death; No traces of the battle can now be discovered. The moor has been reclaimed, and divided into small fields of tillage. In surveying at evening the peaceful landscape, waving with harvests, and reposing in rural quiet, it was difficult to realize, that it had ever exhibited the tumults of contending armies, and been the arena, on which ambition fought its way to a throne, and the fate of kings was decided. Just at dusk we reached Knaresborough, a large town upon the river Nid, by which it is nearly encircled. It has long been a place of some importance, and at present contains a population of four or five thousand. Here is one of the most extensive markets in Yorkshire. In the vicinity are the ruins of a castle, and some other antiquities; as also the dropping and petrifying well, which is said to be a great natural curiosity. Knaresborough furnishes a striking instance of what is termed a "rotten borough." It sends two members to Parliament, who are elected by one hundred persons, not freemen, but tenants and vassals, entirely under the control of one or two of the nobility. It is surely mere mockery to talk of a representative body, composed in such a way, chosen by a handful of the veriest machines, while hundreds of thousands of men of property have no voice in the election! At 8 o'clock in the evening, we arrived at Low Harrowgate, and to our great disappointment found the hotel so thronged with company, as to afford no accommodations, and to compel us to ride a mile or two farther in the dark, on a road of which the coachman was as ignorant as ourselves. On reaching the Higby hotel, in the upper town, it was ascertained before leaving the chaise, that others were apparently happy, if we were not. The windows of the hall were open, and several cotillion parties were seen threading the mazes of the dance, to the sound of merry music. It was with some difficulty, that we here obtained lodgings for the night, the house being filled from top to bottom. An invitation was at once extended to us, to join the dance; but the trouble of making a toilet at a late hour, induced us to forego the pleasures of a gala, and to prefer the quiet of our chambers after the fatigues of the day. In the morning we were ushered into a large drawing-room, where something like fifteen or twenty parties were taking breakfast at separate tables, in the manner of a commercial coffee-house. Little or no intercourse takes place between the different clans, and each attends to his own tea and toast. Such a custom is far less social, than the long table at Matlock, where chance often throws strangers together and sometimes leads to agreeable acquaintances. Besides, it is very awkward for one table to stare at another, and unavoidably to hear conversation directed to a particular circle, and not intended to be public. Breakfast being over, we walked a mile and a half, to Low Harrowgate, to visit the principal spring and take a view of the town. Neither of them afforded us a high degree of pleasure. The waters are very strongly impregnated with sulphur, having the nauseating smell and taste of a stale egg. They are no doubt efficacious in certain complaints; but it was a subject of congratulation with us, that we were afflicted with no maladies, which could be removed by such a remedy. Some of the invalids swallow it by the pint, deceiving themselves as far as possible by the bubbling and transparent chrystal of the fountain. It never becomes agreeable by habit, like the Congress waters, but is always reluctantly taken as a medicine. Convenient baths are fitted up in good style. There are several fountains, the prettiest of which, named Cheltenham, is situate near the bank of a rivulet, over which a rustic bridge is thrown, and a neat little cottage erected for the repose of the visitant. Near one of the springs, a singular kind of dial is placed upon a stone pillar. It has something like twenty faces, with a gnomon and horological lines on each, together with the names of some of the principal places upon the globe. Its object seems to be to ascertain the relative time in remote countries; but why or wherefore it is erected here, I was unable to learn, and am at a loss to conjecture. A watering-place, however propitious it may be to star-gazing, is of all things the unfittest for measuring time or studying astronomy. In point of situation and scenery, Harrowgate is even inferior to our own Saratoga. It has nothing to recommend it but retirement, its waters, and a tolerably pure air. The town, consisting chiefly of hotels, for the accommodation of visitants, the annual number of whom is 2000, is built upon a sandy pine plain, thrown into a common. It was rendered the more unpleasant on the day of our visit, by a high, bleak wind, which raised a tempest of dust. In one direction, there is a tolerable distant prospect, opening towards the north-east, and terminated by a range of mountains. York Minster was distinctly seen from the window of the hotel, rearing its dark pile and lofty turrets above the intervening moorland, like a ship at sea. At 5 o'clock dinner was served up in pretty good style, at a common table, in a large public hall. The company consisted of about a hundred persons of both sexes, with whom a proper degree of etiquette in dress and deportment was observed. There was some formality in taking seats. The waiter conducted us to the end of one of the tables, where we found our names written upon the bottom of the plates. They were taken from the Album, in which all entries are made as visitants arrive. This systematic arrangement is a happy mode of preventing the jostling and confusion, which usually occur in taking places at a public table. LETTER XVII. RIPON STUDLEY PARK--FOUNTAINS ABBEY-KENDAL. September, 1825. FROM Harrowgate we continued our ride to Ripon, situated between the Ure and the Skell, two branches of the Ouse. It is a place of great antiquity, and its historical associations are interesting. In barbarous ages, it was several times pillaged and burnt, but Phoenix like rose again from its ashes. The celebrated Robert Bruce with an army of Scots took possession of it in the year 1313, and levied a tax upon its inhabitants, who from an inability to pay the exaction were inhumanly put to the sword. Here too Edward IV. driven from London by a pestilence, once held his court. But its fame is much beyond its present appearance. The streets are narrow and dirty, and the buildings mean, except those fronting upon the market square, in which stands an obelisk 90 feet high, erected at the expense of William Aislabie, Esq., who represented the borough in parliament for the term of sixty years. There are several handsome public edifices, among which is St. Peter's church, a magnificent Gothic structure standing in a conspicuous situation, and showing to great advantage. There was an ancient custom in this town of blowing a horn at 9 o'clock in the evening, and remuneration was made for any robberies between that hour and sunrise the next morning. A tax was levied upon the citizens to meet the expenses. The usage of sounding the horn is still kept up, and this odd curfew was heard by us soon after our arrival. On the morning of the 5th we made an excursion to Studley Park, at present the seat of Mrs. Lawrence, and to Fountains Abbey, the great objects of attraction in the vicinity of Ripon. At the distance of a mile and a half, the path which all the way is perfectly straight and forms a beautiful vista, terminated at one end by the Gothic towers of St. Peter's, and at the other by an obelisk near the mansion, conducts the visitant into the Park, ornamented by stately trees, and watered by the little river Skell, which sparkles and babbles down in the most romantic manner imaginable. Herds of deer were reclining upon its banks, as if lulled into repose by its murmurs. At the end of another mile and a half, leading for the whole distance through groves and along winding paths, which the taste of Shenstone might have envied, we arrived at the lodge, procured a guide, and commenced a ramble of five hours. The pleasure grounds of Studley, |