not commanding those extensive and delightful prospects, which other and neighbouring situations afford. However this may be, the view which is here given of it can scarcely fail to raise a longing in the mind of the spectator, that this splendid fabric, with its magnificent lawn and gardens, were his "allotted home." "Shrined in its own delicious seclusion," Underlay Hall resembles the palace of the Happy Valley, where the Abyssinian princes reside during their minority, and to which they would willingly retire again, after brief experience of the world's tumult, and the ceaseless anxieties which gather round a throne.

The artist has thrown a broad and vivid light upon the building, giving distinctness to that minute and decorative finish, the prevailing characteristic of the style in which it is executed. Over the lawn and gardens

"Behold, the shades of afternoon have fallen"

and the massive shadow affords a decisive and pleasing contrast to the brilliancy and lustre which invest the mansion.

LOWTHER CASTLE,-WESTMORLAND.

This majestic structure, the magnificent residence of the Earl of Lonsdale, stands in an extensive park, comprising six hundred acres of land, four miles and a half south of Penrith, on the east side of Lowther vale. The site of this mansion had attracted the notice of Lord Macartney, who, whilst describing a beautiful and romantic scene in China, observed, that "it reminded him of Lowther in Westmorland, which, from the extent of prospect, the grand surrounding objects, the noble situation, the diversity of surface, the extensive woods, and command of water, might be rendered, by a man of sense, spirit, and taste, the finest scene in the British dominions." Whether his Lordship's opinion influenced the Earl of Lonsdale in his undertaking, we are not able to say; but certain it is, that this nobleman, by the erection of the present Castle, and by a tasteful and judicious arrangement of the grounds in its vicinage, has nearly, if not entirely, realized the suggested scene.

The Lowther family is of great antiquity. The names of William and Thomas de Lowther are subscribed as witnesses to a deed executed in the reign of Henry II.; there can, however, be little doubt that they were located here previously to the Conquest, as their name is evidently derived from the Lowther river, which in the ancient British language is Gled-dwr, signifying a limpid stream. In the reign of Elizabeth, Sir Richard Lowther, Knt., was appointed Lord Warden of the West Marches, and had the custody of Carlisle Castle, and of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scotland. In addition to the manor of Lowther, this house is now possessed of many other extensive demesnes, formerly belonging to the ancient families of Westmorland and Cumberland.

Lowther Castle, the erection of which was begun in 1802, occupies the site of the old hall, which was nearly destroyed by fire so far back as the year 1720. This noble

structure is built of pale freestone, and combines the majestic effect of a fortification, with the splendour of a regal abode. The north and south fronts are of a widely different character, the former presenting the appearance of a castle, and the latter that of a cathedral. The view exhibited in the Engraving is taken from the south, and discovers the highly decorative Gothic work in this front of the building. The surrounding scenery "accords well with the solemn character of the edifice, being a lawn of emerald green and velvet smoothness, shut in by ornamental trees and shrubs, and by timber of the loftiest growth." The prospect from the north front is more extensive, and that from the great central tower is extremely grand, being shut in by the mountains Skiddaw and Helvellyn.

The interior of the Castle is fitted up in a style of splendour, corresponding with the richness of the exterior, and exhibits a plentiful use of British oak, beautifully carved, in the wainscotting and furniture of the rooms. The grand staircase has an imposing appearance. The apartments are enriched with a vast quantity of massive plate, and contain several pictures of great value.

The monastic character of the south front almost identifies the structure with our ancient abbatical residences; while the aspect of the northern front recals the glorious days of chivalry, when "the feast was kept right merrily," and the castle walls echoed back the song of the minstrel :

"The minstrel! wandering on from hall to hall,
Baronial court or royal; cheered with gifts
Munificent, and love, and ladies' praise;
Now meeting on his road an armed knight,
Now resting with a pilgrim by the side
Of a clear brook ;-beneath an abbey's roof
One evening sumptuously lodged; the next,
Humbly, in a religious hospital;

Or with some merry outlaws of the wood;
Or haply shrouded in a hermit's cell."

DERWENTWATER, AND LOWDORE,-CUMBERLAND.

The view which is here presented of Derwentwater differs widely in its character from the one already described, at Castle-head. In the latter, the mountains, stretching along the western shore of the lake, rise smooth and uniform; several islands variegate the surface of the water; and the whole scene reposes in quiet and pleasing majesty. Surveyed from the north-west, the stern and rugged features of the southern boundary arrest the sight. The spectator gazes in silence on the scarred and tempest-worn rocks, beyond which are seen a series of broken mountainous crags, soaring one above the other, and overshadowing the dark winding deeps of Borrowdale.

The southern extremity of Derwentwater is shown in the accompanying view. This portion of the lake, usually called the Bay, includes in its scenery a picturesque, though distant view of the Lowdore cataract, issuing from a chasm in the rear of a small hamlet,

which takes its name from the waterfall. Much of the wild sublimity that characterises this region, is produced by the vast and awful crags which rise on either side of the torrent. At the foot of these stands the hamlet of Lowdore, in which is a well-conducted inn, for the reception and accommodation of tourists. In the meadow, descending to the margin of the lake, an extremely fine echo can be heard, proceeding from the enormous fells above.

The lake scenery of England is in no degree monotonous: when the visitor has contemplated with a mingled feeling of reverence and delight any one of those romantic and mind-ennobling prospects which it affords, he must not conclude that he has seen all the combinations of form that "mountain, flood, and vale," can assume. Even amid those scenes where beauty seemeth to repose "in the lap of horror," the naked crags and gloomy recesses of the overhanging mountains are surveyed with emotions of pleasure, rather than of pain;-for, stern and awful as their appearance may be, they image forth a majesty more solemn, a magnificence infinitely greater than their own :

"These craggy regions, these chaotic wilds,

Does that Benignity pervade, that warms
The mole, contented with her darksome walk,
In the cold ground."

The meditative wanderer lingers in these deep retirements of nature "from morn till dewy eve," and at length leaves them with regret. He views them as the sacred haunt of superior intelligences,-beings with whom his soul claims kindred, and to whose "high converse" he hopes to be admitted. He feels

"How divine,

The liberty, for frail, for mortal man
To roam at large among unpeopled glens
And mountainous retirements, only trod
By devious footsteps, regions consecrate
To oldest time!

While the streams
Descending from the regions of the clouds,
And starting from the hollows of the earth
More multitudinous every moment, rend
Their way before them-what a joy to roam
An equal amongst mightiest energies,
And haply sometimes with articulate voice,
Amid the deafening tumult, scarcely heard
By him that utters it, exclaim aloud,

'Be this continued so from day to day,

Nor let it have an end from month to month.""

THIRLMERE, OR WYTHBURN WATER,--CUMBERLAND.

The lake of Thirlmere, which is also called Wythburn Water, and occasionally Leathes Water, lies along the foot of the Borrowdale Fells, and extends nearly three miles in