without issue; and the title fell to the heirs of Sir William Craven of Worcestershire, from whom the present Lord is descended.

The Castle at Skipton is the great object which attracts the attention of strangers. It stands on an eminence, that commands the town, and also a good prospect of the surrounding country. The Castle itself is by no means a picturesque object: its outward appearance is heavy, and ugly; its form being composed of several round towers, with long sweeping apartments, and heavy stone window frames.

Several passages wind round the Castle, to various rooms, hung with old tapestry. In one of these chambers is a curious old Family Picture, with whole-length figures, as large as life. This is composed of three parts; a centre, and two extremes; the latter serving as doors. The wood-work is most clumsily put together, and the picture is poorly painted, in a dry, hard style, and carrying but little interest with it as a work of art.*

In the centre compartment is George Clifford and his Lady, Margaret Russell, and two of her children.

If the family value this picture as a memorial of their ancestors, it should be immediately taken care of, or it will soon perish, from damp, and other injuries.

children. The former made twenty-two voyages against that blood-thirsty monarch Philip the Second, of Spain, who felt the effect of his prowess against his invincible Armada, in his European dominions, and also in his more distant ones in America. Queen Elizabeth appointed him her champion, in the thirty-third year of her reign. In the exercises of tilting, and the courses of the field, he excelled all the nobility of his time. He died, as the picture informs, "penitently, willingly, and christianly, October 30th, 1605."

The doors exhibit the portraits of their celebrated daughter Anne Clifford, afterwards Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery. One compartment represents her at about the age of thirteen; the other in a state of widowhood, dressed in black, with a veil. Over the latter portrait are the heads of her two husbands: Richard, Earl of Dorset, (said to have been the patron of men of letters, and bounteous to distressed worth;) and Philip, Earl of Pembroke, who cut such a ridiculous figure during the troubles of Charles the First, and who got himself elected to a seat in the House of Commons, after its Members had voted the House of Lords useless. Her second husband died in 1650, when the character of this extraordinary woman began to show itself, and the greatness of her mind broke forth in its full lustre. She rebuilt, or repaired, six of her

ancient

ancient castles; she restored seven churches or chapels; founded one hospital, and repaired another. She resided occasionally at each of her castles, for the noble purpose of being thereby enabled to dispense her charities, in rotation, to the poor of her vast estates. She travelled in a horse litter, and often took bad ways, to find occasion for laying out her money, by employing the indigent in repairing the roads. This amiably great woman died at the age of eighty-six, in the year 1676, and was interred at Appleby.

On the pictures are various inscriptions, said to have been written by the above lady, setting forth the names, titles, and other particulars, of the persons represented in them. Her spirit dictated the following letter to the minister of an ungrateful court, who wanted to force a disagreeable person into one of her boroughs.

"I have been bullied by an usurper; I have been neglected by a court; but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your man sha'nt stand.

"ANNE, Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery."

This Castle was built by Robert de Romelli, Lord of the Honor of Skipton. By the failure of issue male, it fell to William Fitz-Duncan, Earl of Murray, who had married Romelli's daughter;

and

and it passed with their daughter to William le Gross, Earl of Albemarle. In the reign of Richard the First, it belonged to William de Fortibus, whose daughter, Aveline, Henry the Third bestowed on his son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. They had issue one son, Thomas, who succeeded to this Castle and Honor; but he joining in a rebellion against Edward the Second, was taken, and beheaded at Pontefract, when all his estates escheated to the Crown. The Castle and Honor of Skipton were granted, in 1309, to Robert de Clifford, an Herefordshire Baron, in which family they continued for many generations. The estate is now the property of the Earl of Thanet, by the marriage of his ancestor with Margaret, eldest daughter of Anne Clifford. The Castle was dismantled in 1648, by order of Parliament; but it was afterwards repaired by the above mentioned Anne. The entrance is by a heavy, ill-fashioned gate. In the north and south battlements is pierced, in large letters, the motto of the Cliffords, DESORMAIS.

Hence to Gargrave the country is pleasant; and the Leeds Canal winding through the meadows, increases the interest of the views. Entering on the moors at Cold Coniston, I proceeded to the village of Hellyfield, then to Long Preston, an opulent place, where the people appear cheerful, their houses clean, and every thing car

ancient castles; she restored seven churches or chapels; founded one hospital, and repaired another. She resided occasionally at each of her castles, for the noble purpose of being thereby enabled to dispense her charities, in rotation, to the poor of her vast estates. She travelled in a horse litter, and often took bad ways, to find occasion for laying out her money, by employing the indigent in repairing the roads. This amiably great woman died at the age of eighty-six, in the year 1676, and was interred at Appleby.

On the pictures are various inscriptions, said to have been written by the above lady, setting forth the names, titles, and other particulars, of the persons represented in them. Her spirit dictated the following letter to the minister of an ungrateful court, who wanted to force a disagreeable person into one of her boroughs.

"I have been bullied by an usurper; I have been neglected by a court; but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your man sha'nt stand.

"ANNE, Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery."

This Castle was built by Robert de Romelli, Lord of the Honor of Skipton. By the failure of issue male, it fell to William Fitz-Duncan, Earl of Murray, who had married Romelli's daughter;

and