gloomy and romantic appearance.

A small, but picturesque fall enters its upper end. The spot is known as Ibby Peril, and is said to be haunted by an old witch of low stature, whose ghostly step, and wizened features obtruding beneath a black poke-bonnet, have frequently, it is said, been observed by erring dales folk, (but chiefly we believe of the inebriate class) in the vicinity of the dark ravine. Many startling tales are told in the dale of surprises from this uncanny creature.

The little hamlet of Gibshall, or Gibbs Ha', is near by, and an old house (now a shop) on the north side of the road, is a prominent object in Mary Howitt's pathetic story of Hope on, hope ever, or a Peep into

Dent. Here the famous poet-novelist used to visit her Quaker friends, and here it was, in the words of the story, that Andrew Law, the schoolmaster at Dent, removed with his child after the death of his beloved wife Dorothea. Here the good man took the "little parlour with the chamber over it," and where in the long cold evenings Gibbs Ha' fireside became the most popular one in the Dale, for it was soon discovered that the "maister's books were worth a' th' knitting-sangs as iver were made." The Linns Gill house, mentioned in the story, is on the south side of Clint and Hackergill, and is now a barn. It was last occupied by a man who went by the name of "Lile Friday." The poor fellow had the misfortune to lose his reason, and died a few years ago in the workhouse.

There is an old out-house near the present shop bearing the initials and date L. S. 1680. The letters stand for Leonard Sedgwick, an ancestor of the Sedgwicks of Dent parsonage, who had long been settled in Dentdale. There are some old tan-pits, now filled up, below the house, relics of the enterprise of these early Sedgwicks, who made a fortunate speculation in the purchase of the Gibshall estate, which was then plentifully covered with oak, of great value at that time in tanning. At Gibshall a small charge is made for crossing the land to the famous Hell's Cauldron. This is a dark, deep pool, on the Dee, shut in with rocks that rise precipitously on three sides of the chasm, and which render a too close acquaintance with its gloomy recesses somewhat hazardous. One day last year a sheep slipped into the deep, treacherous dub, and was only rescued after considerable difficulty with the aid of a plank and a stout rope. A cascade plunges violently into the eddying pool, and during a flood the water has been known to cover the high funnel-shaped rock called the Devil's Pulpit, on the north side of the cauldron. A little higher up the stream is a low opening in the limestone known as Hackergill Cave. It is the channel ordinarily of a pretty strong current of water from Hackergill, but in dry weather it may be penetrated a distance of about 100 yards, when daylight is seen above the Hackergill Beck, which indents beneath thick woods the northern flanks of Whernside. The cave in one or two places used to be rich in stalactites, but these have been nearly all carried off. Formerly also among the wild-blooms,-the "visible music" of this sweet parterre, the shy lily-of-the-valley grew in some profusion above the entrance to the cave. An old oak and ash wood occupied the declivities of Hackergill, but most of this was cut down 25 years ago, and the present timber planted on its site.

Approaching Dent, the valley expands, and the Dee receives a copious tributary stream from Deepdale, (in old deeds written Dibdale), a romantic and solitary glen through which a road runs southward to Yordas Cave, and through lonely Kingsdale to Ingleton,-a grand road which we have previously described.

CHAPTER XLVI.

DENT.

Disputed nomenclature of Dent-Meaning explained-An old Danish settlement -Anciently Deneth-The Dentone of Domesday-Review of the manorDanish proprietors before the Conquest-The Fitz Hughs-Origin of clan of Metcalfe-Dent "statesmen "-Old local industry-" Terrible knitters i' Dent" -Aspects of old Dent-Singular incident-Old customs-Parish churchDescription of interior-Local longevity-Grammar School-The Sedgwicks -Late Ald. Wm. Batty-Prof. Adam Sedgwick, LL.D.-Early history of the Sedgwicks-Some local institutions-Accommodation at Dent.

HE etymon of Dent has given rise to much unsettled controversy. It is now the only place in England of that name. The suggested derivations from dent (a tooth), dene (a valley), Dee (the river), and danet (the author of evil, vide Sedgwick) have, I think, no title to consideration whatever. In early (pre-17th century) deeds and charters I find the name variously written Dentone (in Domesday), Denton, Dente, Denet, Denette, Deneth, Dennet, Dent, Danett, and Dant. Dent is, therefore, obviously a contraction of its oldest recorded spelling, Dentone. I have already observed how populous the Danes were in these parts, and in Dentdale the nomenclature of almost every gill, and many field-names, can be definitely traced to them; such, for example, are the principal, Deepdale (D. dyb, deep), Hackergill (D. eke, oak), Scotchergill (D. skogr, a wooded ravine), and Flintergill,* (D. fliot, v. fleotan, a flush or small river channel.) Dentone is, therefore, the town of the Danes, precisely as Denmark is the country, or literally, the boundary, of the Danes. In the eastern parts of England, where Danish settlements were particularly numerous, we have several Dentons, and many places compounded with Den, Ten, Din, Dun, &c., which have the same meaning.†

*There is a Fliotsdal on the north side of Snaefell, in Iceland; also a Flintebek, near Kiel, in Denmark.

In the extreme north of Scotland, I may point out, is the headland overlooking the Pentland Frith, formerly known as Dente or Denet Head (so written by Camden), but now called Dunnet Head. This country was overrun with the seafaring Danes, and there was here a well-known Danish harbour. It is, moreover,