PREFACE. 



FROM childhood my attention has been fixed on the 

 great County in which most of the labours and enjoy- 

 ments of my life have been experienced. Long before 

 my eyes rested on the mountains of the north of England, 

 the mighty form of Ingleborough was engraved in my 

 imagination by many a vivid description ; and when I 

 crossed the old Gothic bridge, and beheld the glorious 

 Church, which is the pride and veneration of Yorkshire, 

 it was but the realization of a long-indulged dream of 

 boyhood. 



Few, I hope, will censure the grateful feeling which 

 accompanies this record of some of the thoughts which 

 have filled my mind, while renewing health and strength- 

 ening hope, on the mountains and in the dales, by the 

 rivers and ruins of Yorkshire, and while seconding or 

 prompting the efforts of many dear friends to unfold the 

 Natural History and Antiquities, so richly spread round 

 the great Towers of the Minster. 



There exists, I believe, nothing in print, which pro- 

 fesses to do what is here attempted ; to win from the 

 hasty traveller an hour's delay at the station, a day's 



