can teach us as to the past history of our country."

None, I think, will disagree with these words of the learned Doctor,
whether or not they may go as far as Cadwallader J. Bates, who, in
concluding his chapter on the Roman Wall, gave it as his opinion that
"unless the island is conquered by some civilized nation, there will
soon be no traces of the Wall left. Nay, even the splendid whinstone
crags on which it stands will be all quarried away to mend the roads of
our urban and rural authorities."

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VIII.

SOME NORTHUMBRIAN STREAMS.

"Come, don't abuse our climate, and revile
The crowning county of England--yes, the best.

* * * * *

Have you and I, then, raced across its moors.
Till horse and boy were well-nigh mad with glee,
So often, summer and winter, home from school,
And not found that out? Take the streams away,
The country would be sweeter than the South
Anywhere; give the South our streams, would it
Be fit to match our Borders? Flower and crag,
Burnside and boulder, heather and whin,--you don't
Dream you can match them south of this? And then,
If all the unwatered country were as flat
As the Eton playing-fields, give it back our burns,
And set them singing through a sad South world,
And try to make them dismal as its fens--
They won't be! Bright and tawny, full of fun
And storm and sunlight, taking change and chance
With laugh on laugh of triumph--why, you know
How they plunge, pause, chafe, chide across the rocks,
And chuckle along the rapids, till they breathe
And rest and pant and build some bright deep bath
For happy boys to dive in, and swim up.
And match the water's laughter."

* * * * *

Northumberland is fortunate in the number of rivers which, owing to the
position of the Cheviot Hills, flow right across the county from west to
east. These Northumbrian streams have a distinct character of their own,
and are of a different breed from those of the southern; counties. They
are neither mountain torrents nor placid leisurely rivers, such as are
met elsewhere in Britain, but busy, bright, joyous, and sparkling,
never sluggish, never silent, even when deep and full, as is the Tyne in
its lower reaches. With the Tyne and its tributary streams we have
already travelled; but there are others yet awaiting us, claiming our
attention sometimes for the roma