THE extensive and interesting ruins of Kirkstall Abbey are embosomed in a beautiful recess of Airdale, about three miles west of Leeds, on the road to Bradford. A sentimental visiter, who would experience the full gush of enjoyment in surveying these venerable remains, needs, perhaps, no fitter preparation, than a brief sojourn amidst the din and bustle of the neighbouring great commercial town, the metropolis of the British cloth manufacture. After having been shrouded in the smoke of dye-houses, and distracted with the hurry and rattle of trade-vehicles of every form and size, you find yourself in a peaceful vale, screened off from surrounding wildness by hills and trees, that rise gradually from your feet, and fade away in blue perspective; a vale, where no sound is heard, save the almost noiseless ripple of the river Aire, stealing along its course, and the nestling foliage of the beechen trees set in motion by the breeze.

In the midst of this peaceful valley, reposing upon the lap of pastoral luxuriance, are the ruins of the celebrated VOL. III. Second Series.

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