ENGLAND. 



363 



well chosen for defence. Dover castle, which, notwithstanding large sums expended to pre- 

 serve it, is dilapidated, covers 30 acres, including all its appurtenances ; and Kenilworth, 

 which was built by Henry the First, and repaired in the time of Elizabeth, is but a shape- 

 less ruin. There are, however, various castles that are entire, some of which are now used as 

 prisons. - . 



Tinte.rn JUhcy. Ruins of an Ancieiit Feudal Castle. 



The abbeys, except in cities, have suffered no less than the castles. Many of them were 

 magnificent in the extreme, and the very ruins strike the beholder with admiration. These 

 are numerous, and generally placed in situations of great fertility and beauty. Tintern Abbey, 

 on the river Wye, is, like many other ruins, overgrown with ivy. The roof is gone, and 

 within, the edifice is seen to great advantage. The walls, pillars, and abutments are perfect. 

 The grass is cropped within, and every loose stone is removed. It is as if Westminster 

 Abbey were unroofed. There are many other abbeys, whose ruins are much visited and 

 admired. The cathedrals are noble structures. The cathedral at Canterbury is a rich gothic 

 building, 514 feet long, and 74 broad. One of the towers is 235 feet in height. The spire 

 of the Salisbury cathedral is 4!0 feet in height. York cathedral, called by the citizens the 

 Minster, was built in the time of jCdward the L^'irst, and is an elegant and magnificent structure, 

 not encumbered with buttresses without. Tlie length is 525 feet, and the greatest breadth is 

 222 feet. It is 235 feet in height, and the largest window is 75 feet by 32. There is nothing 

 that so much attracts the admiration of Americans in England as the cathedrals. There is 

 nothing like them in his own country, and few edifices are more imposing in Europe. " Did 

 man make it } " was but a natural thought of the Esquimaux at the sight of St. Paul's. 



Britnns Romanized. 



24:. History. The earliest inhabitants of England appear to have been Celts, who peopled 

 this island from the Continent, about 1,000 years before the Christian era. Th^ Goths after 



