Many subjects engage the attention of the antiquary and the painter in the neighbourhood of Alnwick. The Castle, of course, stands first in importance, and it is this venerable structure which is delineated in our sketch, the standpoint being the Lion Bridge, itself a most picturesque object. From the battlements of the bridge a fairly comprehensive view of the castle may be obtained. Those who wish to include the bridge and castle in one grand scene will have to walk a short distance along the river bank. It is here that the artist may frequently be seen with busy pencil. The bridge figures prominently in Turner’s great picture of Alnwick by moonlight. An incident in connection with it is described by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his “Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” as an illustration of the strange fact that trivial things are often remembered when more important ones are forgotten. ” I remember,” he says, “the Percy Lion on the bridge over the little river at Alnwick the leaden lion with its tail stretched out straight like a pump handle and why? Because of the story of the village boy who would fain bestride the leaden tail, standing out over the water which breaking, he dropped into the stream far below, and was taken out an idiot for the rest of his life.”
