Carlisle was the Lniguvallum of the Romans. This name was afterwards abbreviated to Luell, and with the prefix Caer (a city), became Caer-Luell, and afterwards by easy transition, Carliol and Carlisle. After the departure of the Romans in the 5th century the Picts laid the city in ruins; but in the 7th century it was rebuilt by Egfrid, king of Northumberland. In 875 the town was attacked by the Danes, who burned the houses, pulled down the wall, and massacred the inhabitants. In this state of desolation it was left for 200 years, with no inhabitants but some few Celts who lodged themselves among the ruins. In 1092 William Rufus, impressed with the importance of Carlisle as a Border military station, ordered the town to be rebuilt and fortified, and left a garrison there. It was not, however, until after the capture of the town in the reign of Stephen, by David, king of Scots (who died within its walls in 1153), that the castle, the walls, and the citadel were completed.

After undergoing two sieges the town was surrendered to the English Crown in 1217. Edward I. held three parliaments in Carlisle. In 1298, after the battle of Falkirk, he marched to Carlisle; and nine years later it was while crossing Burgh Marsh, about four miles from that city, with his army, to quell the third revolt which had occurred in Scotland during his reign, that he sickened and died. A monument has been erected on the spot to commemorate the event. With his last breath he enjoined his son to prosecute the enterprise, and never desist until he had completed the subjugation of Scotland. The nobles hastened to Carlisle to pay homage to the new king, Edward IL, to whom, however, the legacy of vengeance against the Scots proved but a “heritage of woe.” In 1315, after the independence of Scotland had been won by the decisive battle of Bannockburn, Robert Bruce, following up his success by ravaging the north of England, besieged Carlisle Castle. There he met with determined resistance on the part of the garrison and the inhabitants, under Sir Andrew Harcla, governor. Bruce, who had his headquarters at the cathedral, made a general assault on all the gates of the town on the ninth day; but the citizens defended their position with such valour that the besiegers soon beat a retreat, having only killed two of the besieged. Sir Andrew Harcla was created earl of Carlisle and Lord Warden of the Marches for this gallant defence of the city; but he was afterwards found guilty of treason and executed at Harraby Hill. In 1345 the Scots burned Carlisle and Penrith. “They were very much annoyed,” says Lysons, “by small forces collected by Bishop Kirkby and Sir Thomas Lacy. The bishop and Sir Robert Ogle had a sharp skirmish with the enemy; the prelate was unhorsed during the encounter, but having recovered his saddle continued to fight valiantly, and contrived greatly to win the victory.” Nor was it only the “church militant” which did the state much service in those days. In one of the sieges the women of Carlisle helped in the defence of the city by pouring boiling water and rolling heavy stones from the walls upon the heads of the beleaguering Scots below. In the 15th century Richard, duke of Gloucester, was governor of Carlisle Castle, and during his governorship extensive repairs were made in the old fortress, and in the course of time, during the reigns of Henry VIII. (who built the citadel) and Elizabeth, it was adapted to artillery. In 1568 Mary Queen of Scots, having fled from Lochleven, arrived in a fishing boat at Workington, a Cumberland seaport· 32 miles from Carlisle, and was there met by the deputy-governor of Carlisle, aud conducted to Carlisle Castle, where she was lodged nominally as a guest but actually as a prisoner. She remained there for two months. A little later in the same year a daring exploit was performed by the duke of Buccleuch. William Armstrong, a redoubtable Borderer, better known as “Kinmont Willie,” having been taken prisoner in disregard of a truce or understanding which facilitated his capture, the “Bold Buccleuch,” with 200 followers, attacked Carlisle Castle, and rescued the prisoner, an achievement which gave dire offence to Queen Elizabeth.

During the civil wars Carlisle was harassed by frequent troubles; but the next event of importance occurred in 1644, when the city and castle were besieged by the Parliamentary forces under General Leslie for eight months. Sir Thomas Glemham, the commander-in-chief of the royal troops, was in charge of the garrison, who were reduced to great extremities before they surrendered on 25th June 1645. Their valiant resistance was recognized by the besiegers, who allowed them to march out “with their arms, flying colours, drums beating, matches lighted at both ends, bullets in their mouths, and twelve charges of powder a-piece.” The Parliamentary army pulled down some important portions of the cathedral buildings, and out of the materials erected a guard-house in the market-place. In 1648 Sir Philip Musgrave and Sir Thomas Glemham effected the capture of Carlisle by surprise; but in October it was again surrendered to Cromwell, according to treaty. At this time great distress prevailed in the county, considerable families having barely the necessaries of life, while numbers of the poor died on the highways.

In the Scottish rebellion of 1745 Carlisle again figured in history. The Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, laid siege to it, the three divisions of the army with which he marched from Edinburgh having converged at the city. The castle was at that time garrisoned by only two companies of invalids and some disaffected militia, and Colonel Durand, who was in command, found it necessary, with great reluctance, to surrender. “Bonnie Prince Charlie” rode into the town on a white charger, with a hundred Highland pipers playing a triumphal march in front, and made a house in English Street, which is still in existence, his headquarters. But in December of the same year the duke of Cumberland arrived and bombarded the castle, which his grace described as “an old hencoop, which he would speedily bring down about their ears,” and on the 30th the garrison surrendered. The duke quartered his soldiers in the cathedral, and thirty-one of the rebels were subsequently executed at Harraby Hill. The tower in which Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned was pulled down in 1835; but a considerable portion of the ancient castle still remains, and it is used as a garrison for the 2d Brigade Dépôt. Only a small portion of the old city walls now exists, and the city gates have entirely disappeared.

Carlisle suffered in 1380 from a great fire, which destroyed 1500 houses in three of the principal streets; and the plague in 1598 carried off 1076 persons, one-third of the inhabitants.

Carlisle is the see of a bishop. The cathedral was founded by William Rufus, and completed by Henry I. The original proportions of the building have been very much curtailed. A disastrous fire, in 1292, destroyed the nave, only a small part of which now remains. The most interesting architectural feature of the cathedral is the east window, which has been pronounced by archaeologists to be one of the finest in the kingdom, the harmony of its parts and the easy flow of its lines being particularly remarkable. The remains of Dr Paley are interred in one of its aisles, and a stone pulpit, richly carved in Caen-stone and ornamented with white alabaster, has been erected to his memory. The window in the north transept has been filled with stained glass in memory of the five children of Dr Tait, archbishop of Canterbury, who died of scarlet fever while his grace was dean of Carlisle. The cathedral possesses many memorials of interest. A large portion of the adjacent priory, founded by William Rufus, was destroyed during the civil wars, but the remains may still be traced on the south side of the cathedral. A convent of grey friars which existed in the city was destroyed by the fire in 1292. There was also at one time a convent of black friars, and a hospital founded at St Nicholas for lepers; the latter was destroyed in the 17th century. According to Lyson’s History, the bowels of Richard Coeur de Lion were buried in Carlisle cathedral.

In addition to the cathedral aud the castle, the chief buildings in Carlisle are the court-houses—two large round towers built upon the site of the old citadel; the county-jail, contiguous thereto; the news-room, the post-office, the railway station, the infirmary, and two of the joint-stock banks. There is a market-cross in the centre of the market-place, and two marble statues adorn the principal streets. One of these, between the two court-houses (by Musgrave L. Watson), is of William, earl of Lonsdale; the other, in the market-place (by Woodington), is of James Steel, editor and proprietor of the Carlisle Journal, a citizen who during his lifetime took a prominent part in local public affairs. In addition to the cathedral there are eight established churches in Carlisle, and several places of worship for Independents, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, aud Roman Catholics. Its literary and scientific institutions include a mechanics’ institution, a young men’s Christian association, and several working men’s reading rooms, managed entirely by working men themselves. Its charities consist of an infirmary with 100 beds, a dispensary, and a fever hospital; and in connection with the infirmary there is a convalescent institution at the seaside at Silloth, to which patients are admitted-upon payment of a small weekly sum. There is a school-board, of nine members; a school of art; and a cathedral grammar school.

Carlisle is a great railway centre. The London and North-Western, the Midland, the Caledonian, the North British, and the Glasgow and South-Western Railways have each a terminus there; while the North-Eastern Company have access to the city by their Newcastle and Carlisle section. In 1876 more than sixty passenger trains left Carlisle Citadel station every week-day, and as many more entered the city.

The principal business of Carlisle is the manufacture of cotton goods, the finishing of silesias, the printing of calicoes, and the manufacture of biscuits. There are also within the city two or three large iron-works, and the manufacture of felt hats is carried on upon a large scale. A dock at and railway to Silloth, on the Solway Fnth, 21 miles from Carlisle, were constructed in 1855 to facilitate the transit of the commerce of the district, and this gradually superseded Port Carlisle, which is no longer used as a harbour.

Carlisle returns two members of parliament. Its municipal government is vested in a mayor (unpaid), ten aidermen, and thirty councillors, who also constitute the Urban Sanitary Authority. To them belong the gas-works and water-works, and by them a system of sewerage was carried out in 1854 at a cost of about £30,000. The city has a recorder and separate court of quarter sessions.

The market is held on Saturdays and Wednesdays, the former being the principal market. The grain is sold in the open street in bulk. Population in 1871, 31,074.

CARLISLE, a town of the United States, capital of Cumberland county in Pennsylvania, about 2½ miles south of the Conedogwinet Creek, and 18 miles west of Harrisburg by the Cumberland Valley Railway. The town is well built, has spacious streets, and contains thirteen churches. Of its public buildings the most interesting is Dickinson College, which was founded in 1783, and possesses an extensive library. In the immediate neighbourhood are barracks, which date from 1777, and are capable of containing 2000 men; and about four miles to the north, in a pleasant valley of the Blue Mountains, is the summer resort known as Carlisle Springs. Carlisle was founded in 1751, and in 1794 it was the headquarters of Washington during the Whisky Rebellion. On the night of 1st July 1863 it was bombarded by the Confederate troops. Population in 1870, 6650.

CARLISLE, Frederick Howard, Fifth Earl of (1748- 1825), a statesman and author, was born in 1748. During his youth he was chiefly known as a man of pleasure and fashion; and after he had reached thirty years of age, his appointment on a commission sent out by Lord North to attempt a reconciliation with the American colonies was received with sneers by the Opposition. The failure of the embassy was not, however, due to any incapacity on the part of the earl, but to the unpopularity of the Government from which it received its authority. He was, indeed, considered to have displayed so much ability that he was entrusted with the vice-royalty of Ireland in 1780. The time was one of the greatest difficulty; for while the calm of the country was disturbed by the American rebellion, it was drained of regular troops, and large bands of volunteers not under the control of the Government had been formed. Nevertheless, the two years of Carlisle’s rule passed in quietness and prosperity, and the institution of a national bank and other measures which he effected left permanently beneficial results upon the commerce of the island. In 1789, in the discussions as to the regency, Carlisle took a prominent part on the side of the Prince of Wales. In 1791 he opposed Pitt’s policy of resistance to the dismemberment of Turkey by Russia; but, on the outbreak of the French Revolution he left the Opposition, and vigorously maintained the cause of war. In 1815 he opposed the enactment of the Com Laws; but from this time till his death, which occurred in 1825, he took no important part in public life. Carlisle was the author of some political tracts, a number of poems, and two tragedies, the Fathers Revenge and the Stepmother, which received high praise from his contemporaries.

CARLISLE, George William Frederick Howard, Seventh Earl of(1802-1864), Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was born in London, 18th April 1802. He was the eldest son of the sixth earl by his wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish, eldest daughter of the duke of Devonshire, and bore at first the courtesy title of Lord Morpeth. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he earned a reputation as a scholar and writer of graceful verse, obtaining in 1821 both the Chancellor’s and the Newdigate prizes for a Latin and an English poem. Two years later he graduated B.A. as first class in classics. In 1826 he accompanied his uncle, the duke of Devonshire, to Russia, to attend the coronation of the Emperor Nicholas, and became a great favourite in society at St Petersburg. At the general election of the same year he was returned to parliament as member for the family borough of Morpeth. In one of his earliest speeches he undertook, at the risk of forfeiting the good opinion of the Liberal party, the defence of the Russian emperor against severe attacks made on him in reference to the suppression of the Polish insurrection of 1830. In the agitation for parliamentary reform he took the side of Earl Grey; and after the dissolution of parliament, which took place about that time, he was elected member for Yorkshire. This seat he held till after the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. In the following year he was returned for the West Riding; and in 1835 he was appointed by Lord Melbourne Chief Secretary for Ireland, a position at that time of great difficulty, O’Connell being then at the height of his reputation. This post he held for about six years, winning great popularity by his amiable manners and kindly disposition. Losing his seat at the election of 1841, he availed himself of the leisure thus afforded him *to visit the United States. He afterwards gave an account of this visit in a popular lecture, first delivered at Leeds and subsequently repeated at other places. In 1846 he was again elected for the West Riding. Two years later, on the death of his father, he succeeded to the peerage and took his seat in the Upper House. He accepted office as Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, and afterwards as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The great event of his life, however, was his appointment by Lord Palmerston to the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland in 1855. This high office he continued to hold till March 1858, and again from June 1859 till within a few months of his death. His retirement in August 1864 was necessitated by failing health. Lord Carlisle was not a man ot great and original power, but he was above the average in knowledge, in acquirements, and in eloquence. As* a debater he held his own in the midst of a large number of great orators, and in the stormy controversies of his Irish secretaryship he succeeded in carrying through the House of Commons several measures of great importance. His literary tastes and culture were displayed in various popular lectures and in several published works. Among these may be mentioned a lecture on The Life and Writings of Pope (1851); Ths Last of the Greeks, a tragedy (1828); a Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters (1854), the fruit of travels in the East in 1853 and 1854; and a volume of Poems, published after his death. He took warm interest in the reformation of juvenile criminals, and established on his own estate one of the best conducted reformatories in the country. Lord Carlisle died at Castle Howard on the 5th of December 1864. He was never married, and was succeeded in the peerage by his brother. In 1866 appeared his Viceregal Speeches, collected and edited by J. Gaskin.