|
History and Antiquities of
Carlisle
book review
The History and Antiquities of Carlisle: with an account
of the Castles, Gentlemen's Seats, and Antiquities in the
Vicinity, and Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Men connected
with the Locality. 8vo. pp.460.
THIS is, on the whole, a work of considerable merit. The
publisher, Mr. Samuel Jefferson, of Carlisle, has been more
than usually fortunate in the amount and quality of the
literary assistance he has received from a variety of able
contributors; and has executed his own editorial task with
much judgment and good sense. There was not before any
History of Carlisle beyond a few summary guide-books; and
the only former accounts of it worthy of mention, are those
in the Histories of Cumberland, by Nicolson and Burn, by
Hutchinson, and by the Lysons's.
From its peculiar and very important situation as a border
fortress, Carlisle mixes more than most places in the
general history of the kingdom; and for this part of the
subject the foundation was broadly laid in Ridpath's Border
History, and in other works. We feel bound, however, to add
that our author appears to have availed himself very
industriously of all sources within his reach, and to be
generally alive to the additional materials which have been
afforded by modern works.
His architectural descriptions have been very ably supplied
by an anonymous contributor. This was a subject which his
predecessors of the last generation were entirely
unacquainted; a flood of new light was, however, brought
into Cumberland by the brother authors of the Magna
Britannia. We may here incidentally mention that Mr. R. W.
Billings, a well-known architectural artist, and author of a
very complete work on the Temple Church, is now engaged in
engraving a series of plates descriptive of Carlisle
cathedral, after the manner of Britton's Cathedral
Antiquities. It is an edifice shorn of its due proportions,
battered alike by time and border warfare, and imperfect
from unfinished reconstructions; but it has curious
portions, and its east window, in particular, is perhaps the
finest existing specimen of the Decorated style, being
|