se of comfort and prosperity
that reigns in its streets and suburbs, the steady flow of traffic
running through it, and the welcome geniality of its inhabitants. What a
delightful spot is Stanwix yonder, for instance! And the banks of the
Eden have something of those "Eden scenes" about them which Burns
claimed for the Jed. That Bridge is not unlike Rennie's at Kelso. The
public buildings are worth a more minute examination than the passing
stranger usually gives. An atmosphere of delicious semi-antiquity is the
crowning feature of "Merrie Carlisle," and one feels instinctively that
under the inevitable modernity of the place there is an older story
written on its stones--

"Old legends, of the monkish page,
Traditions of the saint and sage,
Tales that have the rime of age,
And chronicles of eld."

It is so old a town that one cannot be certain of its origin. The name
is apparently British, derived probably from _Caer Lywelydd_, or simply
Caer Lywel, "the town or fort of Lywel," but whether this was a tribal,
or local, or personal name it would be hazardous to say. By the Romans
it was known as _Luguvallium_ or _Luguballia_, possibly "the town or
fort by the Wall." This the Saxons abbreviated and altered to _Luel_,
the original name, with the prefix _Caer_, hence Caer-Luel, Caerleil,
Carleol, Karluil, Karliol, Carliol, Carlile, and Carlisle.

"No English city," says Bishop Creighton, "has a more distinctive
character than Carlisle, and none can claim to have borne its character
so continuously through the course of English history. Carlisle is still
known as 'the Border city,' and though the term 'the Border' has no
longer any historical significance, it still denotes a district which
has strongly marked peculiarities and retains a vigorous provincial
life. There was a time when the western Border was equally important
with the Border on the north, when the fortress on the Dee had to be
stoutly held against the foe, and when the town which rose among the
scrub by the upper Severn was a place of conflict between contending
races. But this struggle was not of long duration, and Chester and
Shrewsbury ceased to be distinctly Border towns. On the north, however,
the contest continued to be stubbornly waged, till it raised up a
population inured to warfare, who carried the habits of a predatory life
into a time when they were mere survivals of a well-nigh forgotten past.
Of this period of conflict Carlisl