Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/93

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the seat of Mr.Bamber, (three miles from Armatli- waite) called the Nunnery, from a religious house for Benedictine nuns established on the spot by William Rufus, who trembled, like other profligates, amidst his impiety, and was willing enough to secure a chance of heaven, provided it could be obtained by any other means than virtuous practice. The grounds alone are shewed to strangers, laid out by the late Christopher Aglionby, esq; with great taste and judgment. They commence with a turf-walk of some length carried along the margin of the Eden, whose waters, concealed by trees, are only heard in their furious passage through their rugged channel, and terminating at a point which opens upon a grand face of rock, scarred with natural caverns, the largest of which is called Samson's- Cave. Returning from hence, we leave the road by which we descended to the left hand, and taking a higher level, are soon introduced to the conflu- ence of the two rivers 1'iden and Croglin. Here, I am sorry to say, we rndier ungratefully quit the former, with whose beauties we had been hitherto so much delighted, and attach ourselves to the latter; entering present 1\ the dee;) rocky ravine through whose gloom ii throws its waKrs. The banks at once rise into lofty precipices beetling- over the road, but finch' softened down with shrub \ o l . . 1 1 . (

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