st person to decide upon the impossibility of any two series of
events being independent of each other; and in sciences, so many
natural miracles, as it were, have been brought to light,--such as
the fall of stones from meteors in the atmosphere, the disarming of
a thunder-cloud by a metallic point, the production of fire from ice
by a metal white as silver, and referring certain laws of motion of
the sea to the moon,--that the physical inquirer is seldom disposed
to assert, confidently, on any abstruse subjects belonging to the
order of natural things, and still less so on those relating to the
more mysterious relations of moral events and intellectual natures.

* * * * *

DEVIL'S HOLE, KIRBY STEPHEN.

(_For the Mirror._)

At about three quarters of a mile east of Kirby Stephen,
Westmoreland, is a bridge of solid rock, known by the name of
_Staincroft Bridge_ or Stonecroft Bridge, under which runs a
small but fathomless rivulet. The water roars and gushes through the
surrounding rocks and precipices with such violence, as almost to
deafen the visitor. Three or four yards from the bridge is an
immense abyss, where the waters "incessantly roar," which goes by
the name of _Devil's Hole_; the tradition of which is, that two
lovers were swallowed up in this frightful gulf. The neighbouring
peasants tell a tale of one _Deville_, a lover, who, through
revenge, plunged his fair mistress into these waters, and afterwards
followed her. How far this story may get belief, I know not; but
such they aver is the truth, while they mournfully lament the sad
affair.--They point out a small hole in the bank where you may hear
the waters dashing with fury against the projecting rocks. This,
some imagine to be the noise of infernal spirits, who have taken up
their abode in this tremendous abyss; while others persist in their
opinion, that the lover's name was _Deville_, and that it
retains his name to this day, in commemoration of the horrid deed.

I have seen, and taken a view of the frightful place, which may
rather be imagined than described. One part of the water was
formerly so narrow, that a wager was laid by a gentleman that he
could span it with the thumb and little finger, and which he would
have accomplished, but his adversary, getting up in the night time,
chipped a piece off the rock with a hammer, and thus won the wager.
It is now, however, little more than from a foot and a hal