and it does not appear to have suffered from the forays of the Scotch Borderers, whose troops many a time swept over the lowland country as far as St. Bees and Penrith. lt is on record, indeed, that they attacked Cockermouth, thirteen miles from Keswick, but probably there was not booty enough to tempt them much higher up the valley. The annals of Cumberland for some centuries before the union of the two kingdoms are little more than a continuous chronicle of forays, slaughter, burning, rapine, and "the only means by which anything like security for life and property could be obtained were a most vigilant

system of watching, and the construction of numerous fortresses. Almost every gentleman's house, particularly on the sea-side or near the capacious to afford refuge to its inhabitants. so constructed as to answer this purpose.

66

Borders, had its fortified tower, sufficiently In some parishes the church towers were Even after the accession of James I., the moss-troopers," the successors on a smaller scale of these more organised bands, continued to harass the "Middle Shires" for more than a century, and it was not "till some time after the Union, in Queen Anne's reign, that the inhabitants of the Borders had attained to a state of perfect security."

Keswick, though in those troublous times it was happy enough to be without a history, has of later days acquired some fame of a more peaceful sort. Like Rydal, it has a place in our literary annals as one focus of the Lake school of poets. In Greta Hall, a modest mansion

Lyson's "Cumberland," p. xi,

surrounded by trees, above the lower end of Keswick, Southey passed the last forty years of his life. "An English worthy doing his duty for fifty noble years of labour, day by day storing up learning, day by day working for scant wages, most charitable out of his small means, bravely faithful to the calling which he had chosen, refusing to turn from his path for popular praise or princes' favour. We have left his old political landmarks miles and miles behind. We protest against his dogmatism; nay, we begin to forget it and his politics; but I hope his life will not be forgotten, for it is sublime in its simplicity, its energy, its honour, its affection. In the combat between Time and Thalaba, I suspect the former destroyer has conquered. Kehama's curse frightens very few readers now, but

Southey's private letters are worth piles of epics, and are sure to last among us as long as kind hearts like to sympathise with goodness, and purity, and love, and upright life."* It is true that Southey's fame will always be that of an easy and harmonious versifier rather than of a true poet, yet there are scattered throughout his works many pictures of great beauty. The world has acquiesced too hastily in Byron's stinging sarcasm in the "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers "—

and forgets the humour of some even of the "Berkeley Ballads most uncivil," and the numerous passages scattered throughout his writings which show a deep love of nature, and a spirit that could enter into her secrets. Who but a poet could have written these lines, descriptive of the view from his own house?

""Twas at that sober hour when the light of day is receding,

And from surrounding things the hues wherewith day has adorned them

* Thackeray, "Lectures on the Four Georges" (George IV.).

Fade like the hopes of youth, till the beauty of earth is departed.
Pensive, though not in thought, I stood at the window, beholding
Mountain and lake and vale; the valley dissolved of its verdure;
Derwent retaining yet from eve a glassy reflection,
Where his expanded breast, then still and smooth as a mirror,
Under the woods reposed; the hills that, calm and majestic,
Lifted their heads in the silent sky, from far Glaramara,
Bleacrag and Maidenmawr, to Grizedale and westernmost Withop,
Dark and distinct they rose. The clouds had gathered above them
High in the middle air, huge purple pillowy masses,
While in the west beyond was the last pale tint of the twilight,
Green as a stream in the glen whose pure and chrysolite waters
Flow over a schistose bed, and serene as the age of the righteous."

At Greta Hall, in the year 1843, his laborious life was ended-a quiet decay, sad indeed to those around him, yet almost a falling asleep-and on "a dark and stormy morning in March" he was laid to rest at the western end of Crosthwaite Churchyard, whither son, and daughter, and wife had already preceded him. Crosthwaite is really the parish church of Keswick, but it lies slightly out of the town on the road to Bassenthwaite. It is a picturesque old structure, and now contains a handsome marble altar-tomb, erected to Southey's memory, with an inscription written by Wordsworth. The name of another

poet, whose influence upon the present generation has been far greater than Southey's, cannot be dissociated from Greta Hall, for here also, for about three years, dwelt S. T. Coleridge, the two families living under the same roof. Before long he quitted it for the Continent, as the damp climate was not suited to his health; and though he again spent some time in the country, finally took up his residence near London.

Behind Greta Hall rises the great mass of Skiddaw, wooded on its lower slopes, smooth grass and bare crag above. "It rises with two heads," says an old author, "like Parnassus, and with a kind of emulation beholds Scruffel Hill before it, in Annandale, in Scotland.” By these two mountains, according as the misty clouds rise or fall, the people dwelling thereabouts make their prognostication of the change of the weather, and have a common expression

"If Skiddaw hath a cap,

Scruffel wots full well of that.'"

The ascent, as might be supposed from the appearance, is perfectly easy, as a bridle-path leads almost to the top, and in fine weather the view is a very extensive one, including the hills of Galloway and Kirkcudbright across the Solway, the long fells of the Pennines, almost all the more important summits in the Lake District, and a distant glimpse of the Isle of Man, like a cloud on the far-off sea. It is, however, inferior in picturesque effect to that from some of the more central mountains of the region, for the hills to the north, which intervene between Skiddaw and the Solway, are monotonous and uninteresting, and the bare moorlands which form its slopes are called Skiddaw Forest, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, for there is hardly a tree to be seen upon them. During most of the year, this part of the scene is rather dreary; but if the traveller find himself by chance at Keswick

Southey, "A Vision of Judgment,” i.

during the winter, after a heavy fall of snow, he will be repaid for the labour of scaling the summit of Skiddaw; for all this bleak moorland becomes an undulating expanse of snow, like the great fields which feed the glaciers in the Alps, and all the hills around, clad in this new vesture, seem to rise with loftier summits and unwonted dignity.

Facing Blencathra, and commanding fine views of its crags, is the Vale of St. John, down which a tributary of the Greta descends from the waters of Thirlmere. With this the memory of a poet from the other side of the Solway is associated. In the "narrow Valley of St. John," the scene of the "Bridal of Triermain " was laid. Here Gyneth, his daughter, was laid to sleep by Merlin's magic arts for five centuries, till the kiss of De Vaux waked her like another slumbering princess to life and love. King and castle, the one hardly more real than the other, have vanished now; yet, as Sir Walter tells us, even now—

66 --when a pilgrim strays,

In morning mist or evening maze,
Along the mountain lone,
That fairy fortress often mocks
His gaze upon the castled rocks

Of the Valley of St. John."

One relic, however, there is near Keswick of days older yet than those of Arthur, but more veritable and substantial than the phantom castle. This is the so-called "Druid Circle" near Keswick. It is about half an hour's walk from the town, near the old road to Penrith, upon a spur projecting from the fells cast of Derwentwater, and commanding a remarkably fine view of Skiddaw, Blencathra, with Helvellyn and the surrounding mountains, and up the valley of the Greta. The stones, about forty-eight in number, are unhewn, and of the hard rocks of the Borrowdale district. Some six of them are now prostrate, the rest are still upright, and the tallest of them rises about seven feet above the ground; they are placed at rather irregular intervals, and form a rude oval a little more than 100 feet in diameter in one direction, and a little less in the opposite. Looking roughly north and south are two gaps rather wider than usual, which seem as if they might have been designed for entrances. The most unusual feature, however, of the circle is a small enclosure projecting into the area on the south-eastern side. It is formed of nine stones, is about seven yards long, and a little more than three wide; the longer axis lying nearly east and west. It is sometimes called a chapel, but what the purpose may have been is only conjectural, for we have little information as to what is the significance of these stone-circleswhether temples, law courts, battle rings, or aught else—though they occur in so many parts of our island, from such gigantic structures as Stonehenge and Avebury to the humble rings of upright stones on some Welsh or Scotch moorland. All we can say of stonecircles, of menhirs, and of cromlechs, is that they were set up by our British forefathers, in most cases, if not in all, before the Roman set foot on this island, when the weapons of men were of stone, or of bronze at best. Here they have stood, it may be, for more than twice a thousand years, while the Roman and the Dane, the Saxon and the Norman, have come and gone; here they seem likely to stand for as many years to come, mute memorials of a forgotten faith and an almost forgotten people.

Antiquity of Liverpool-Origin of the Name-"The Liver"-Early History of the Town-The Stanleys-Family FeudsPort of Liverpool-Stringent Rules-First Mayor of Liverpool-Siege in the Civil War-Prince Rupert-Growing Commercial Prosperity-The Slave Trade-Clarkson at Liverpool-Liverpool Worthies-Present Aspect of the PlaceNew Buildings-The Principal Streets-The Docks and Landing-Stages-Custom House and St. George's Hall-Lime Street Station-Sir W. Brown and the Free Library and Museum-Population of Liverpool-Trade and Traffic.

ARMS OF LIVERPOOL.

OCAL tradition claims for Liverpool the prestige of very great antiquity. It has been gravely asserted by local writers that it is identical with the capital of the Setantii, which stood in the centre of a dense forest at the time of the Roman invasion under Julius Cæsar. Others, again, declare that it was the port from which St. Patrick sailed for Ireland at the end of the seventh century, and that a cross which was erected in honour of his visit stood at the bottom of what is now the Vauxhall Road till

within the last hundred years. These are not well-authenti

cated facts. Equally uncertain is the etymology of the name Liverpool, which in different times has been very differently written: Lyrpool, Litherpool, Liderpool, and Liferpool are among the varieties. The most ancient record in which the word appears-namely, the charter of Henry II.-spells it Lyrpul. Camden says, "The name Lirpul is derived from the water extending like a pool there." Another derivation is Litherpool, "the gentle lake."

A more probable suggestion is that all the varieties-Lither, Lider, Lifer, Lithe, and Liver-are from "the Gothic word Lithe or Lid, signifying the sea;' or from its derivatives Liter and Lid, signifying a ship;' or Lithe, signifying a fleet of ships.'" Others assert that it comes from the Welsh Ller-pul, "the place in the pool;" or from the family of Lever, of great and ancient repute in those parts; or from the plant liverwort, much found upon its shore. The most favourite explanation, however, but one which has no very plausible foundation, is that the word Liverpool is taken from the heraldic bird the "liver," a bird of no known species, but said to be of aquatic habits. The bittern tribe certainly long frequented these coasts. In the reign of James I. the crest of the