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upon a knoll at the south end of the town, it bears its turrets high above all the humble dwellings around, looking over their crouching heads' upon the beautiful fringed banks of the Cocquet, that, pursuing a winding course, almost insulates the town at high tides. Half a mile up this romantic river is found the Hermitage, to be visited in a boat, which is kept by a man who lives in and shews the castle. The introduction to this sequestered spot, over the still surface of a gently winding river hemmed in by banks, where rock and wood, meadow and glade, present themselves in most picturesque combination, is extremely happy, and well calculated to encourage those tender emotions which the perusal of Percy's beautiful poem, that we carried in our hands, had awakened. Slowly rowing up the stream, (for its beauties were not to be passed hastily by) we at length landed on the holy ground, under a perpendicular face of rock, approaching so closely to the stream as to admit only a narrow path between the two. This is darkened by thickly-planted trees, through whose shades we proceeded about one hundred yards, and found ourselves at the foot of a rude flight of stone steps, over which a huge ash threw its broad shade, adding solemnity to the features around. Ascending them, we were conducted to a series of

small apartments, the scene (as it is said) of the hermit's devotions; consisting of a vestibule, a chapel of fourteen feet long, chisselled in a good stile of the Gothic, its roof groined; and provided with an altar at the eastern end, near which lie two carved images of a man and woman, devoutly believed to be the effigies of Sir Bertram and his lady. Some obscure traditions exist, which Dr. Percy has made the foundation of his interesting tale, but they are of too vague a nature to be considered in the light of true history. Dr. Tanner says, that Bishop Fernham, about the year 1256, founded this hermitage, and placed in it two Benedictine monks from Durham. The other decorations are a shield over the northern door, sculptured with the figure of our Saviour upon the cross; the quinque stigmata; and an inscription in the Gothic character over the southern door. This portal connects the chapel with a long narrow excavation, called the sacristy or confessional. The hermit's residence was above these apartments, in a little stone edifice now dilapidated; and higher still lay his sequestered garden, running along a ledge of the rock, and reached by a series of steps hewn out of its face; embosomed in trees, and impervious to every human eye. It required no great effort of the imagination (influenced by all

the impressive accompaniments of the adjoining scenery) to picture the holy man in this his sacred retirement pacing the shaded walk, and breathing out his soul in such sentiments as these:

"Blest be the Hand Divine, that gently laid "My heart at rest, beneath this solemn shade; "The world's a stately bark, on dang'rous seas, "With pleasure seen, but boarded at our peril. "Here, on a single plank, thrown safe on shore, "I hear the tumult of the distant throng, "As that of seas remote, or dying storms; "And meditate on scenes more silent still, "Pursue my theme, and fight the fear of death. "Here, like a shepherd, gazing from his hut,

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Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff,

Eager Ambition's fiery chace I see;

"I see the circling hunt of noisy men

"Burst law's inclosure, burst the bounds of right,

Pursuing and pursu'd, each other's prey;

"As wolves for rapine, as the fox for wiles;

"Till Death, that mighty hunter, earths them all.”

Very different from this scene of abstraction, where all is calculated to inspire humility, and excite devotion, was the proud edifice of AlnwickCastle, to which we hastened on quitting Warkworth; an immense building, crowning a lofty mound, the outward walls including an extent of five acres. The hostile purposes for which it was originally erected are pointed out by the singular ornaments that surmount its turrets; figures in stone,

as large as life, representing combatants in every situation of military defence; some in the act of heaving down stones on the assailants, others of discharging arrows, wielding battle-axes, and casting javelins. Early in the Saxon times (if not whilst the Romans continued in that kingdom) AlnwickCastle appears to have been built, though not upon its present extensive scale; nor was its importance sufficient to entitle it to historical record till the Norman æra, when, in the reign of Rufus, Malcolm III. lost his life in attempting to possess himself of it. Already had the garrison consumed all their provisions; and, dispirited with hunger, and hopeless of succour, were on the point of beating a surrender, when a gallant soldier, named Hamond, determined to make an effort for the salvation of his comrades. Armed cap-a-piè, and bearing the keys of the castle on the point of his spear, he rode towards the Scottish camp, as if to present them to the king. Malcolm, delighted with the unexpected event, ran hastily out of his tent unarmed to receive them; when Hamond suddenly drawing his dagger, plunged it into the monarch's heart, and clapping spurs to his horse, rushed into the river, swam the ford, and escaped into the castle. The death of Edward, the eldest son of the deceased king, (who, in the bitterness of anguish, exposed

himself incautiously to the weapons of the garrison, in order to revenge the murder of his father) compleated their triumph, and insured their safety; for the Scotch army, in despair at their twofold loss, quitted the siege, and marched directly home. But the laurels of Caledonia were doomed to experience another rude blow before the towers of Alnwick-Castle; where, in the twelfth century, her king William III. surnamed the Lion, was taken prisoner while laying siege to it; and condemned to deplore his ill success in a prison of Normandy, whither he was sent to King Henry II.

Situated so near those scenes of perpetual animosity and bloodshed, the bordering counties, Alnwick-Castle partook largely of the confusion which characterized that district, until the advancement of James I. to the English throne created a sort of union between the two countries, which lessened the frequency, and weakened the violence, of the contentions on the borders. Its annals record a variety of military adventures, of which it was the theatre; but none more remarkable than the removal of a whole garrison, consisting of three hundred Lancastrians, to the extreme disappointment and surprise of the army of Yorkists, who were investing the fortress, with the certainty of its falling into their hands.