Built in the early part of the fourteenth century, it presents those architectural features which mark the decorated style. It has the reputation of being the largest parish church (not a cathedral) in England. It is 272 feet long from east to west, of which the nave occupies 144 and the chancel 100; the extreme breadth is 172 feet. It has all the elements of a complete ecclesiastical structure; nave, aisles, chancel, and transepts. There is a noble central tower at the crossing of the nave and transepts. The east end, visible from the market-place, exhibits one of the finest and noblest windows which could be found even among our cathedrals. The light delicate perpendicular work of the western or nave portion; the fine tracery of the great window of the south transept; the rich decorations of the interior of the chancel; and the numerous interesting monuments placed in different parts of the building-all render this fine church worthy of admiration. It has lately been restored in some of its parts; but there is one little matter which, though not very glaring, is rather too much so for the present taste in ecclesiastical architecture. The elaborate gates of the southern front, formed of cast iron scroll work, are made to contain the names of two individuals, thus bound up for ages with the gates themselves. Now if these were the names of the original architects of the church, to whose genius we owe the majestic pile; or of some bishops or pastors who gave celebrity to it in past times; or of some munificent persons by whose donations the building has been restored-it might be well enough; but when we find that they are the names of two townsmen who happened to be Churchwardens some half dozen years ago, in the year probably when the repairs were finished, we cannot help thinking that vanity rather than good taste has been exhibited.

Stephen, St. James, and one or two others-which possess various degrees of merit, from the very pretty to the very ugly.

The maritime associations of Hull have given to it many buildings and institutions of a peculiar character. The Guild of the Trinity House has existed at Hull for nearly five centuries. It was originally an association for religious purposes and mutual relief; but it gradually assumed a maritime character; and its successive charters at length defined its uses to be "the conservation and government of all mariners, and increase of the navies and seamen belonging to the town;" as also for the relief and support of poor marines and seamen, their widows and children. These charters have confirmed to the Guild certain tolls or dues on the shipping of Hull, which have for many centuries been devoted to the various purposes of the Guild. Other estates and funds have gradually fallen into the hands of the Guild, and other controlling privileges over the general management of the port and seamen: the result of which has been that the Guild is now a very important Corporation, the consent of which is requisite for almost any and every improvement in the port or commerce of Hull.

The Trinity House itself, where the business of the Guild is transacted, is about a century old. It is a plain brick structure, consisting of buildings surrounding a spacious open court, with the usual naval emblems of Neptune, Britannia, and so forth, as adornments. The council-room, court-room, and other apartments, contain a few portraits and a few curiosities; but the chief part of this building is occupied by pensioners. There are many hospitals and almshouses in Hull, wholly for pilots or seamen, which are supported either by the Trinity Guild or by other bodies. There is, for instance, the almshouse at the Trinity House; where upwards of thirty "younger brethren" of the Guild, or their widows, have a house and a weekly stipend; there is the Marine Hospital, a house for a small number of old seamen and their wives; there is Robinson's Hospital, for six "younger brothers" and their wives; there is Watson's Hospital, for the widows of seafaring men ; there is the Merchant Seamens' Hospital, for twenty seamen and their wives; and Ferres' Hospital, for

There is a fair average of good-looking churches at Hull, though none, except the High Church, which would rivet the attention of the observer. In the centre of the town there are the Mariners' Church, near the Junction Dock; the Trinity Chapel, attached to the Trinity House; and several chapels belonging to the various dissenting bodies; while in the portions of the town which surround this busy centre we find the churches of St. Peter, St. Mark, St. Paul, St.

buildings are scattered about the town, mostly towards the centre: they are of no mark externally; but their uses are such as fittingly pertain to such a town as Hull.

The benevolent institutions, other than those relating to maritime affairs, are of the usual character. One of them is the Charter House, or "God's House of Hull." It is a very ancient foundation; having been chartered in the reign of Richard II., for the support of "thirteen poor men and thirteen poor women, feeble and old, as brethren and sisters." As the funds, arising chiefly from the rents of estates, have gradually increased in value, the number of "brethren and sisters" has increased to about sixty, and a new house has been

built for them. The existing Charter House stands a little northward of the Old Dock; it is a brick building with wings and a semi-circular porch, and is rather well arranged within than beautiful without. There are no fewer than a dozen hospitals and almshouses at Hull, besides those managed by the Trinity Guild, for the support of decayed and aged persons. Of those institutions which relate to the sickness of the body, rather than to the decay of worldly wealth, the chief is the Infirmary, devoted to the usual purposes of buildings having that name. It is one of the best looking among the public buildings of Hull. Occupying a large open area, in a wide road on the north-west margin of the town, it stands well forth to view; and in the front court is a statue of Dr. Alderson, whose name is favourably connected with the medical charities of Hull. Near the junction of the railways to Beverley and to Selby is a Lunatic Asylum; and in other parts of the town are buildings pertaining more or less to infirmities, bodily or mental.

Of the buildings relating to education and literature, the oldest is the Grammar School, founded during the reign of Richard III. The existing building is Elizabethan both in its date and its style; and within its walls were educated Andrew Marvell, Bishop Watson, William Wilberforce, Archdeacon Wrangham, and others whose names have become public property. The Vicar's

School in Vicar Lane, is a sort of free grammar school on a smaller scale. Among the modern educational establishments at Hull, the most notable are Hull College and Kingston College, which stand to each other in the same kind of rivalry as University College and King's College in London; the one being open to pupils without religious test; the other in connection with the Established Church. Both are proprietary; both were opened about the same time; both give a comprehensive system of education; and both are situated near the same spot. At the termination of a wide street, in the north-west part of Hull, two roads branch off, one leading to Beverley and the other farther westward. In the former of these roads, near the junction, stands Kingston College, a picturesque structure in the Tudor style, with a few neighbouring houses built to correspond with it, so as to form an architectural whole. In the other road is Hull College, in the Grecian style, with an octa-style Corinthian portico, and wings having semi-circular ends. The rivalry is singularly close, but we doubt not it has proved beneficial to both. The chief building at Hull devoted to literary and scientific matters is situated in Kingston Square; it is a large structure, containing a lecture-room, a museum, and apartments for various scientific institutions.

Concerning the corporate and judicial buildings of

Hull, the less we say the better. The Town-hall, Sessions-house, &c., are much below the standard of towns of equal size. The Wilberforce column, the equestrian statue of William III. in the Market-place, (the Market-place and the statue are shown in Cut, No. 5,) and the New Baths and Washhouses deserve, however, to be pointed out. The latter, especially, is highly creditable to the town. This structure stands (it must be admitted) in a spot where its beauty can be little seen, in the southern part of the narrow street called Trippet, near the North Bridge, out of the way of the busy traffic; but as it is in the midst of a dense poor neighbourhood, it is well placed for its especial object. Considered as a structure, it is a beautiful and richlydecorated specimen of the Tudor style; if placed in front of one of the docks, or in any other open space, it would be a great ornament to the town.

If we were to linger further among the streets of this busy town, we should doubtless find more objects to interest us, either commercial or antiquarian; but we must spare a few lines to notice the environs.

THE PENINSULA OF HOLDERNESS.

Hull lies in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is in the midst of a county so perfectly flat, that all picturesque hilly scenes are out of the question, unless we go so far from Hull as to be beyond the vicinity altogether. Westward, towards Ferriby and Anlaby; north-west, towards Market Weighton; northward, towards Beverley; eastward, towards Patrington and the Spurn Light-all is flat. In travelling along the Hull and Selby Railway, we have the flats of the East Riding on the north of us, and the flats of Lincolnshire across the Humber on the south. Lincolnshire, whether seen from the Railway or from the Pier-head, presents some such an aspect as that shown in Cut, No. 6. It must be confessed, that these are not scenes which the artist would choose for his pencil. Almost the whole of the towns and villages which form a semicircle around Hull are purely agricultural; some of them have pretty churches; but, generally speaking their relics of past ages are few in number, while the commercial element is but little developed.

Turning eastward, we find that the district beyond Hull is of a somewhat remarkable character. It constitutes the peninsula of Holderness, the outline of which has been oddly compared to a boar's head, with the town of Patrington in its snout." Its shores maintain a constant battle with the sea: in some places exhibiting traces of having been washed away by currents, sending the coast-line farther and farther inland; while in other places, sands and shoals indicate that dry land is superseding an expanse of water. One side of Holderness is washed by the German Ocean, and another by the Humber; and, as may reasonably be supposed, the washing away of the coast is exhibited principally on the former, and the shoaling on the latter. In a large map of Holderness, accompanying 'Poulson's History' of the district, it is curious to

remark the catalogue of ravages made by the sea. At the north of the district, within the limits of the ocean, is marked "Hartburn, washed away by the sea;" lower down is " Ilye, lost by the sea;" farther south are two localities, both similarly beyond the limits of land-"Site of the town of Hornsea Beck," and "Site of Hornsea Burton." Not far from there is the town of Aldborough, near the coast; and six or eight hundred yards out at sea, opposite the town, is the "Site of the ancient church of Aldborough." The coast at this part is washed away at the rate of about four yards annually; and it is believed that a whole string of sea-side villages has been thus destroyed during the lapse of ages. Farther south again, opposite the existing village of Withernsea, is the site of the ancient church," about a third of a mile out at sea. On the southern margin of Holderness, nearly the whole distance from Spurn Point to Hull, there is a succession of shoals, which render the navigation of the river somewhat difficult.

The Spurn Point here spoken of is a remarkable spot. It is an elongated strip of land which juts out southward across the very mouth of the Humber, as if it would bar the confluence of that river with the ocean, and there can be little doubt that the present course of the estuary of the Humber has been affected by this obstruction. It does not appear to be a lofty solid promontory; it is rather a low peninsula of gravel and sand, accumulated by the sea and wind, and laid in its peculiar form by the united action of currents from the sea and the Humber. It is instructive to observe how shattered fragments arrange themselves according to natural laws, and give a determinate character to different spots. The cliffs of Flamborough, Bridlington, and other parts of the coast, are being constantly washed down by the action of the sea, and the materials are sorted by the tide according to their weight and magnitude: the pebbles first, the sand farther south, and the fine impalpable mud near the mouth of the Humber. It is deemed not improbable that Spurn Poin twill, in some future age, be an island, by the washing away of the isthmus of pebbles and sand which joins it to the mainland westward of Spurn Point; in the broadest part of the Humber estuary is an extraordinary accumulation of sand, designated Sunk Island. It is in truth an island, inhabited and cultivated; but it has been wholly gained from the river, by the deposit of sand and mud through a long series of ages, occasioned by a particular set of the tide at this point. It now presents about ten thousand acres of dry land, and is said to be increasing at the rate of about a hundred acres annually.

The projection of this sandy peninsula into the mouth of the Humber renders it a dangerous obstacle to shipping; and as early as the monastic times, a daysignal and a night-light were set up on the Point. Two light-houses were built on Spurn Point in the reign of Charles I. Both were rebuilt by Smeaton, in the latter half of the last century; the "high light" still