reduced to great extremity. Here, in 1568, Mary Queen of Scots was placed in confinement; and here, in 1596, the "bould Buccleuch” performed the notable exploit of carrying off the celebrated reiver, Kinmont Willie. Standing out for Charles I., against the Parliament, it was besieged by General Leslie, and after suffering almost incredible hardships, was obliged to surrender in June, 1645. In 1745, it was again invested by the young Chevalier, Prince Charles Stuart, and disgracefully surrendered at the first summons.

The situation of the city is extremely fine, standing on a gently rising ground, in the midst of extensive and fertile meadows, terminated by distant mountains, and watered by the Eden, the Caldew, and the Peteril. The two former of these rivers flow on different sides of the city, and form the ground-plot on which it is built into a kind of peninsula, while their banks and contiguous meadows afford a variety of pleasant walks to the inhabitants. In high floods, in the winter season, the low lands are sometimes inundated, and the city at those times appears like an island rising from the midst of a large lake.

Carlisle is 301 miles to the north-north-west of London, 96 south of Edinburgh, and 63 west from Newcastle by railway. The ancient city is included between Botchergate and Rickergate, and the river Caldew, which bounds it on the west, but within these limits is not included the larger part of the buildings and streets which form the city in a more popular acceptation of the term.

By the Parliamentary Boundary Act a large district has been added, viz., the townships of Botchergate and Rickergate, and part of the township of Caldewgate. The population, in 1763, was 4158; in 1801, 9521; in 1831, 12,015; in 1841, 23,012; in 1851, 26,310.

The three principal streets of the city, which are wide and handsome, diverge from the market-place, and are called English Street, Scotch Street, and Castle Street. At the upper end of English Street, on opposite sides of the street, stand two elegant court-houses in the Gothic style. Over both the Eden and the Calder are stone bridges; that over the Eden, consisting of five elliptical arches, is connected with the city by an arched causeway nearly a quarter of a mile in length, and was executed at an expense exceeding £70,000. The county gaol and house of correction were completed in 1827, at an expense of £40,000. At the north end of the market-place stands the town-hall, where the mayor's court and city sessions are held; a more modern erection at the east end of the court contains the council-chamber and other

also approaching the place are excellent, and the number of houses is rapidly increasing. The above engraving represents the residence of the celebrated Dean Milner, so well known for his "Life of Christ."

The great object of curiosity in Carlisle is the CATHEDRAL, the records respecting the building of which are very scanty, and the dates. respecting the various portions of it which remain must be decided more from their style and detail than authentic documents. The see was erected April 11, 1133; Carlisle is not, therefore, one of the ancient sees of England. When entire, the building must have been

noble and magnificent; but the Puritans of Cromwell's time destroyed the greatest part of the nave in order to erect guard-houses and batteries with the materials. Though this church has been despoiled of its fair proportions, it is still an imposing and interesting object on every approach to Carlisle, especially from the north-east, where it is seen crowning the whole city, rising far above the highest building that surrounds it, backed by a graceful line of hilly country; while the foreground of the picture consists of rich meadow and river scenery, rendered still more picturesque by two handsome stone bridges of many arches.

Those who remember the cathedral previous to the restorations commenced in 1853 and terminated in 1856, will admit the extent and the ability which presided over those important works. These included the general repair of the building externally and internally, renewing decayed portions, supplying those missing, &c. The flat roofs of the naves and transepts were removed, and high pitched oak roofs (as represented in our engraving), covered with lead, substituted; the new

end gables finished with crosses, and filled in with tracery windows. A geometrical design occupies the place of the modern tracery observed in the great north window, and a moulded and carved doorway has been inserted in the south front of the transept. The western portion of the cathedral seen from Paternoster Row, formerly to the eye a mere shapeless mass, has now assumed a very different aspect. The greatest change, however, has taken place in the east end of the choir. Here the stone-work of the great windows, and nearly the whole of the ornamental details which were entirely decayed, have been removed, and a finishing stroke was the introduction of the statues in the

buttress niches. The figure in the small niche is the Virgin and Child the others, which are six feet nine inches high, are St. James, St. John: St. Peter, and St. Paul.

The interior restorations and improvements have been very considerable. The walls were cleansed of their thick coats of whitewash, the floors taken up and concreted to prevent the damp rising, and the choir floor relaid with white flags in diamonds. The modern plaster ceiling was removed from the choir, and the old oak ceiling restored; this is semicircular in form, and divided into square panels with carved bosses, and shields at the intersections of the ribs. The whole is richly decorated; the prevailing colours being blue and gold. The total cost of the improvements has been nearly £15,000.*

The stalls for the Dean and Chapter in the choir are exceedingly rich and well executed: a multitude of foliated canopies and sculptured pendants, together with a grove of crocheted pinnacles rising above all, create a very attractive effect. But the chief glory of the choir is the great east window, which nearly occupies the whole east end. Upon the whole, this window is deemed by many to be the very finest in England. It is beautifully proportioned, divided by upright mullions into nine lights, and the upper part filled with tracery of the very best design and execution. Too much cannot be said in commendation of this magnificent window. The admirer of this period, of the pointed style in particular, will dwell upon it with delight. The Bishop's Throne, although it cannot vie with those of Exeter and Durham, is yet not without some merit. In the chapel of St. Catharine there is nothing worthy of remark. It was founded by John de Capella, a citizen of Carlisle, who endowed it with houses in that city, and lands, and rent-charges. The exact date of the foundation is not known. The chapter-house and cloisters stood in the south side of the Cathedral, but were taken down for their materials during the Civil Wars. Part of the dormitory is still remaining, and the refectory, which is now used as a chapter-house, is a building of good proportions, and, from the style of its architecture, seems to have been erected about the time of Richard II.

An article appeared in the Carlisle Journal in 1856, complaining that the alteration is still grievously incomplete. The chaste splendour of the resuscitated choir makes more plainly obvious its fatal want of symmetry, and its connection with the hidden, mutilated nave. Noble as are the proportions of the organ (by Willis, of London), its position offends every eye that has swept the noble vista of Canterbury Cathedral, where only a low screen breaks the line of view from east to west. Yet little would be gained by opening the transept arches and rooting out the ugly sheep-pens that make up the parish church, if there were no hope that the original eight arches would some day arise upon the now desolate space in front of the tower.