We passed by the spring of old Wintringham and the Marsh at the mouth of the Ankham, which is a vast tract of land left by the sea; and came to Feriby sluice, a stately bridge of three arches, with sluices for voidance of the water into the sea, but now broken down and lying in dismal ruins by the negligence of the undertakers: whence travellers are obliged to pass the river in a paltry short boat, commanded by a little old deaf fellow with a long beard: into this boat you descend, by the steep of the river, through a deep mirey clay, full of stones and stakes; nor is the ascent on the other side any better, both dangerous and difficult. This, with the hideous ruins of the bridge, like the picture of hell gates in Milton, and the terrible roar of the water passing through it, fitly represented Virgil’s description of Charon’s ferry: nor would a poet wish for a better scene to heighten his fancy, were he to paint out the horrors of the confines of hell. _Hinc via Tartarei quæ fert Acherontis ad undas. Turbidus hic cœno vastaque voragine gurges Æstuat, atque omnem Cocyto eructat arenam. Portitor has horrendus aquas & flumina servat Terribili squallore Charon, cui plurima mento Canicies inculta jacet_—— Æn. vi. Hence the way leads to Fereby forlorn, Where Ankham’s oozy flood with hideous roar Tears up the sands and sluices ruin’d vaults. A squalid Charon the dread ferry plies In leaky scull, whose furrow’d cheeks lie deep With hoary beard insconc’d—— When we had mounted the precipice again from the water, and paid our naul to the inexorable ferryman, we had several clayey lakes to ride over, unpassable in winter. Two roads[85] lead you to the town, a sorry ragged place, where upon the stocks is wrote, _Fear God, honour the King_. The church is set respecting no points of the compass, and just under the side of a precipice, so that you may almost leap from it upon the steeple: when we climbed the hill, it was a long while before we could find the way to Barton; and scarce could the people direct us to it, though but two miles off: at length, after wandering some time backward and forward, we hit upon the road, and, as men escaped the Stygian pool, with pleasure surveyed Barton, riding all the way through corn-fields, overlooking the Humber and Hull. Barton from hence makes a pretty prospect, having two churches, several mills, and the houses pleasantly intermixed with trees. This hill is wholly chalk, and answered on the opposite shore by another of the same nature. This is at present the passage across the Humber to Yorkshire, and we pleased ourselves at this time only with the distant view of it, and the neighbouring Hull: we could see the flag upon the castle. [Sidenote: +Barrow.+ British _temple_.] [Sidenote: TAB. XVIII. 2d Vol.]