On yonder pointed rock: firm as it seems,
Such is its strange and virtuous property,
It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch
Of him, whose breast is pure; but to a traitor,
Though even a giant's prowess nerv'd his arm
It stands as fix'd as Snowdon."

An opening in the rock, on the top of the precipice, with three large crags piled arch-wise above it, is called The Lover's leap, a leap from which would be likely to cure not only the pangs of slighted love, but all the ills that flesh is heir to. We are not aware that any of the love lorn nymphs or swains of Brimham have ever tried the experiment; and the name is like many more purely imaginary-like those of Tom Taylor's Chamber, The Druids Cave, Pulpit, Parlour, and Bedroom, applied to a series of caves or dens in the rocks, which might afford cold and uncomfortable dwellings for the " sages skill'd in nature's lore" whose names they bear. The Giant's head and neck rock looks from this cliff over the valley beneath. An opening in the girdle of crags gives access to the plain below, where the face of the cliff can be seen to great advantage in all its rugged grandeur. Here is the Great Split rock, a mass of stone about one hundred yards in circuit, through which an opening about four feet wide has been rent by some sudden shock, as the indentations, projecting and receding parts on each side, if brought together would fit into each other. On the upper side of this rock, is a low crag of a circular form, from opposite sides of which have grown an holly and an oak, neither of them of great bulk, but only inferior in age to the rock on which they grow. The group called the Middle Crags is seen to great advantage from this point. A heath-clad hillock near this rock is probably a barrow, it is of a conical form, and apparently artificial.

The Cannon rocks are large masses of rock perforated through their entire thickness, upwards of twenty feet by a circular hole about twelve inches in diameter, of nearly uniform width from end to end, and having the appearance of a shot hole-hence the name of the rocks;-a shorter one through a part of the same rock is called the Druid's Telescope. Perforations of a nearly similar kind are visible in many of the rocks, and have probably been caused by the decay of some gigantic fossil Lycoped or Equisetum, from its harder matrix of gritstone, the sides are rugose or indented, and the softer vegetable matter having been wasted by the action of the elements, left its place unoccupied. These holes have also been impressed into the service of Druidism. Hargrove, the

historian of Knaresbrough, says "To a person stationed at this side, the voice of another placed at the mouth or lower extremity of the cylinder sounds most dismal. Immediately

above the orifice of the cylinder, and on the very summit of the rock, are two small grooves, about two feet asunder, and of equal dimensions; they are perfectly circular, of about two inches in width, and the same in depth, and might serve for the insertion of two pedestals or props, which it is not improbable, may formerly have supported the form of some oracular idol; for these tubes, which are internally rugose, were capable of augmenting the sound of the voice and giving its tone a degree of almost supernatural vehemence and terrible solemnity; and by the artful management of the Druid priests, might occasionally become instruments for the promulgation of oracular decrees.

It would much improve the pleasure of a ramble among

these rocks, could we possess but a firm faith that they were the veritable abodes of Druidism; and see the places where

"The Pagan's myths through marble lips were spoken,
And ghosts of old beliefs still flit and moan
Round fane and altar overthrown and broken,

O'er tree-grown barrow and grey ring of stone."

The Crown Rock is a stone of large size somewhat in the shape of a crown, the angles are nicely rounded and smoothed; on one side is an opening called the Druid's Oven, and on the other, another called the Courting or Kissing Chair.

The Cheese Wring is so named from a resemblance to the celebrated Cornish rock of that name. Great numbers of the isolated crags have names, generally modern and unmeaning, as Stelling Crag, an uncommonly large detached rock; the Porpoise Head, the Sphinx's Head, the Boar's Snout, Hawk's Crag, so named from a pair of hawks regularly building their nests there; the Flower Pot Rock, the Aerial Altar, the Foxholes, the Elephant Rock, the Rhinoceros Rock, &c.

What is called the Druid's Circle is almost close to the house, it consists of a group of stones in their natural state, which art might form into a circle, but which have only a very remote resemblance to one at present.

The Mushroom Rocks and Hares' Heads, are groups detached from the main mass, the former on an eminence a short distance to the north-east.

"Which were it not for many a rude rock nigh,
Rising in lofty ranks and loftier still

Might well themselves be deemed of dignity."

The Boat Rock, is a lofty crag, so named from its shape, which resembles a boat ready for launching. Not far from

which is the largest rocking stone known to exist here, supposed to weigh upwards of 100 tons; it is placed on the top of another crag, and is not easily accessible. It is close to

the Cannon Rocks, which with the Crown and Porpoise Head form one group.

A small lake covering about half an acre south of the main mass of rocks is called Brimham Tarn; part of it is of considerable depth. On the opposite side of the road about a quarter of a mile distant, on the moor below, a dam has been thrown across the bottom of a narrow valley, and the water running down it damned and thrown back, so as to cover an area of about ten acres in extent. The dam yet remains only broken in the middle, which might be restored at no great cost, and would add another attraction to the many already existing at Brimham. There cannot be any doubt but that it was formed by the monks of Fountains, for a fish pond; for they were men who loved dainty cheer.

Graffa Crag and the Beacon Rock form a group on the southern boundry of the rocks, close to the house called Graffa House, they are grand and lofty, and the latter had its name from being the place where a beacon was erected when the first Napoleon Emperor of France threatened to invade England; the steps which were put up at that time yet remain on the north side of the crag. Graffa plain the place of graves, adjoins Graffa Crag to the eastward, and is generally said to bear three or four large barrows, which on examination appear to be nothing but natural hillocks. A short distance to the south-west, also detached from the main mass of rocks, is an upright stone, about thirteen feet high and four broad, resembling at a distance a small tower, called by the inhabi

tants the Noonstone, from the sun shining upon one of its sides at that time of the day.

The soil among the rocks is generally dry and sandy, formed from the decomposition of their substance, and full of water-worn fragments of quartz. On the summit of many of the highest rocks is a considerable thickness of peat, generally covered with heath. Is that the place of its formation? or, how has it come there? The vegetation is of the hardiest kind, the oak, the birch, the holly, the mountain ash, the white thorn, and the hazel occasionally grow out of the fissures of the rocks, but they are of dwarfish size; and a straggling wood of the same girdles the foot of the precipice towards the west. Mosses and lichens abound among and upon the rocks, but not in great variety. The three British varieties of heath may be found; and the Whortleberry, (Vaccinium Myrtillus,) the Cowberry, (Vaccinium Vitis Idea,) and the Crowberry (Empetrum Nigrum) are very abundant, growing in the crevices and on the crests of nearly all the crags; the Pettywhin, (Genista Anglica) occurs among the heath. Ferns are not particularly abundant, except the common Bracken; and occasional tufts of Polypody on the rocks; the Spleenwort (Ceterach Officinarum) and Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense are also occasionally met with. Club mosses are also found among the heath, so that the botanist will find ample amusement for a summer's day in this high region.

Hartwith Chapel is situate about a mile in a south-easterly direction from the rocks, and nearly in the centre of the township. It is a plain, unpretending fabric, consisting of nave and chancel, with a small wooden bell turret on the west gable; the side windows and doors have pointed arches, the