Hull, though one of the most considerable ports of the kingdom, is also one of the least picturesque. From its low situation, little more of the town can be seen than the modern houses near the banks of the Humber; and though jetties, dock-gates, and pier-heads, are sometimes useful as accessories in a picture, yet where such occupy almost the entire line of the foreground, with a row of brick buildings behind them, the painter must manage his subject as he best can, and be content with giving correctly that which his art cannot improve:—"Res ipsa negat ornari." The view of Hull, from a painting by Balmer, is taken from the Humber, looking towards the north. Beyond the river-craft, which are seen in front, is the entrance to the Humber dock; and the jetty to the right, which appears crowded with people, is a favourite promenade with the inhabitants of Hull, who sometimes assemble there in crowds to watch the sailing and arrival of the steam-packets. The most distant building to the right is the citadel, at the entrance of the river Hull, which then discharges itself into the Humber. Towards the middle of the engraving is seen the tower of Trinity Church, the only object which, at the distance of a mile, commands the attention of the stranger, and gives an individual character to the river.

The town of Hull, or, as it is sometimes called, Kingston-upon-Hull, is in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and lies about one hundred and seventy miles northward of London, and about thirty-nine to the south-east of York. On the south it is bounded by the Humber, and on the eastward by the small river Hull. The old town, which was formerly protected on the north and west by a wall running from the Hull to the Humber, is now wholly insular, as a line of wet-docks occupies the site of the old fortifications. The suburbs, of Sculcoates on the north, and Drypool on the east, may be considered as forming, with the old borough of Hull, but one large town.

The Hull, which is but a small river, has its source near the village of Lissett, about five miles from Burlington, and after running about twenty-six miles, in a southern direction, discharges itself into the Humber, on the east side of the town to which it gives name. It is navigable for small craft as far as Elmotlands about sixteen miles from its mouth. It contains many fish, such as roach, perch gudgeon, eels, and pike; and Driffield Beck, one of its tributaries, is famed for the size and excellence of its trout.

The Humber, which opposite to Hull, is nearly three miles broad, and about six fathoms deep in mid-channel, is formed by the junction of the Trent and the Ouse, about sixteen miles above Hull, and it discharges itself into the sea about twenty-four miles below that town. From the rapidity of the current, which at spring tides runs at the rate of five miles an hour, and from the numerous sand-banks which are in the river, the navigation of the Humber is both intricate and dangerous; for should a vessel get aground on one of the sands, she is extremely liable to be overset by the force of the tide. Such accidents are, indeed, by no means uncommon, for almost every year affords instances of vessels, both ships and river-craft, being lost in the Humber in this manner. In the upper part of the Humber, in the Trent, and in the Ouse between Trent-falls and Selby, the flood tide, more especially in a strong easterly wind, frequently rushes up the river like a wave, considerably raised above the water which it meets. This tidal wave is called by the people of Hull and its vicinity the "Ager,"—the g being pronounced hard; and from the murmuring sound which it makes, as it rolls onward and dashes against the shore, it has been supposed that the river was called the "Humber." Drayton, in his Poly-Olbion, thus notices the "Ager," or as he spells it, the "Higre," in his description of the Humber:—

Taylor, the water-poet, observed this tidal wave in the estuary of the Wash below Boston:—

Dryden, who had noticed it in the river Trent, calls it the "Eagre."