Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/172

 YORK AND ITS MINSTER.

��ON our route to York, about sixteen miles from Newcastle, we had opportunity to admire the rich meadows of Durham sleeping in the embrace of the &quot;NVeare, and the lofty eminence crowned by its magnifi cent cathedral and castle. The towering oaks of Dar lington attracted our attention, as did also Hermitage- Castle, Thirlby-House, embosomed amid noble trees, and other edifices and townships, of which a traveller s haste permitted only a cursory examination.

After crossing the Trent, which divides the county of Durham from Yorkshire, we observed a high state of tillage and fine breeds of cattle, with farm-houses of brick, roofed with red tile, far less picturesque than the whitewashed cottage, with its embrasure of roses. The city of York is situated in a rich vale, of a penin sular form, between the rivers Ouse and Fosse, and equidistant from the capital cities of Scotland and England. It is fortified, and tradition says, that Agri- cola labored upon its walls. However this may be, it was early distinguished by the Romans, during their dynasty in Britain. The Emperor Adrian made it his

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