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النشر الإلكتروني

NORTH DERBYSHIRE, AND DOVE DALE.

Buxton had long been highly reputed for its warm springs, and was at that time much resorted to in consequence by the gentry of the surrounding country. It might be expected, therefore, from present experience, that the discovery of nearly similar springs at Matlock would have stimulated some enterprising inhabitants of the vicinity to provide suitable accommodation for those who might be led to make trial of the new claimant; but there seems to have been little anxiety felt to induce strangers to visit the neighbourhood. The plentiful lack of accommodation at Matlock was conspicuous even when it had become an established bathing-place. Defoe, describing, in the first quarter of the eighteenth century,* his visit to Matlock, observes that "the bath would be much more frequented than it is, if a sad stony way which leads to it, and no accommodation when you get there, did not hinder." The roads throughout Derbyshire were then very bad; but those leading to Matlock-and there were none through it-appear to have been even worse than ordinary. Soon after this time, however, the ways were mended, comfortable buildings were erected, and from the middle of the last century the improvements have kept pace with the requirements of the constantly increasing visitants. Matlock has long afforded all that even the delicate and the luxurious could require. The hotels and boarding-houses are abundant and satisfactory; the roads are excellent; the railway is within a distance of a few miles; and now a branch line is in process of construction through Matlock.

THE northern part of Derbyshire, especially if Dove | unimportant mines, which were worked by a few hands. Dale be added thereto, is a district hardly to be rivalled in England for varied picturesque scenery and general interest. A pleasanter or more instructive summer or autumn ramble could not easily be elsewhere found. There is something to delight and to amuse almost every kind of traveller. The Peak alone, with its wild craggy moors and mountains, the mines and miners, the caverns, and the several striking geological and mineralogical features, would furnish abundant attraction for one fond of exploring the more impressive and uncommon scenes of Nature, and would reward the researches of those curious in the ways of life exhibited in such localities. But then there are also objects which mark the changes in manners and customs, and the advance of refinement and luxury. Old baronial halls are contrasted with modern mansions of surpassing splendour; rude and secluded villages with fashionable watering-places. Scattered over the hill-tops there are for the antiquarian and the leisurely visitant remarkable if not inexplicable Druidic monuments, and other archæological treasures. And then, again, there is some river scenery which must charm the most phlegmatic many of the dales are of exceeding beauty, to say nothing of the famous valley of the Dove, while almost all are celebrated among Waltonians as trouty streams.' Thus, whether the visitor's tastes lead him to prefer secluded or fashionable spots, unsophisticated or trim and cultivated scenery, places which depend on their natural or their acquired charms, their wealth, their antiquity, or their celebrity; whether he go mainly in pursuit of health, or information, or amusement; of the picturesque or of the antique; or whether, like a proper genial rambler, he go resolved to obtain all the good of every kind he can out of every place he visits, he will here find much to occupy his attention, to reward his inquiries, and to furnish pleasing recollections and comparisons for future hours.

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MATLOCK.

These various objects may be best looked at in some measure apart. The order in which they will be actually inspected must depend chiefly on the visitor's own convenience. We shall find it most convenient to select two or three central points and make excursions from them. Like most tourists, we may begin with Matlock. By Matlock we of course mean what is more precisely styled by the residents, Matlock Bath: the village of Matlock is about a couple of miles from its more celebrated namesake.

It was not till near the close of the seventeenth century that the medicinal qualities of the waters of Matlock began to attract attention. Previously it was but a rude hamlet, only known for two or three

At first strangers came hither mainly for their health; afterwards as much for the society which the place afforded; still later for the scenery also, and because it was the fashion. Whatever be the causes which now attract and doubtless all these combine-they still come here, and even more numerously than formerly. But the character of the place is not exactly what it was it has changed much as other watering-places have changed the visitants make a shorter stay, and spend their time after another fashion. A generation or two back families stopped here for three or four months at a time, and lived socially while here; they dined much in common, and filled their evenings with social amusements and parties; knew each other, and were pretty much at home. Now each dines apart, and lives apart; and even the social parties are few and frigid. While many who come to drink of the springs, or to bathe, remain for some time, the greater number do little more than pass through Matlock; but the change has not interfered with the prosperity of the place, which is as flourishing as ever it was.

* His 'Tour of Great Britain' was first published in 1724.

The situation of Matlock is very striking; it is, indeed, almost unique among English watering-places. "Matlock Dale," says Mr. Jewitt, in the 'Matlock Companion,' ,"is naturally a deep narrow ravine, how produced, or by what convulsion, must be left to geologists to determine. One side is formed by lofty perpendicular limestone rocks, the other by the sloping sides of giant mountains; and along the bottom runs the Derwent, sometimes pent up in a narrow channel, and obstructed by the fragments which have, from time to time, fallen from the beetling Tor, and sometimes spreading like a lucid lake, and reflecting as a mirror the beautiful but softened tints of the overhanging foliage." In this fine valley the little gay village is placed. There is hardly what can be called a street: the houses and shops are gathered irregularly along one side of the road, while on the other the river flows at the base of the steep and lofty hills. Before, behind, and on either hand, are other vast heights, some presenting bare masses of rock, others verdant and thickly wooded, while all the lower slopes are spotted over with neat dwellings. The stranger who is incurious enough not to look out of the conveyance which brings him from the railway, gazes around with no little surprise when he quits the vehicle in the midst of the village. Mr. Rhodes, in his admirable work, entitled Peak Scenery,' has described with sufficient animation the impression which the scene produces on the stranger, when beheld under favourable circumstances, and "in the season's height." The visitor will probably admit its truth; and also agree with the concluding sentence: "A more extraordinary, and, to a stranger, a more unexpected and fascinating scene but rarely occurs. At the time we beheld it, it was a vision of enchantment-a prospect into the fairy regions of romance-where all that can delight the mind and excite admiration, seemed to be assembled together. The stream, as it slowly swept round the wooded hill in the front of the Museum, sparkled with the vivid reflections of the white houses and the lofty trees that adorn its banks: carriages rolling along the road, and well-dressed ladies and gentlemen perambulating the dale in various groups, gave animation to this extraordinary scene. We paused instinctively before we proceeded onward, as if we feared to dissolve the charm, by obtruding ourselves upon it. The unexpected novelty of the scene produced sensations of delight; but the hotels, and all the elegant accommodations of Matlock Bath were soon lost in the contemplations of the hills, rocks, and woods, with which they are surrounded. The objects that at first had both surprised and pleased us, now seemed strangely out of place, and we imagined that this sublime dale would have produced a more imposing effect in a wild and savage state, than thus studded with gardens, lodginghouses, and hotels."

Of that there can be little doubt. Gardens, and lodging-houses, and hotels, are very comfortable things (sometimes); but alas for him who associates thoughts of them with his ideas of sublimity, or, indeed, antici

pates finding the sublime anywhere in the vicinity of a watering-place. Sublimity steadily recedes before the approach of fashion: hardly will it even stand a moment against • the progress of civilization.' It would be idle to complain of what is in the nature of things. We must acquiesce in the inevitable. Learn, if not to look on that as best which is necessary, at least to make the best of it. Let the visitor, therefore, make the most of the gardens, and terraces, and walks, the hotels, and the museums of Matlock, and he will find it a right pleasant cheerful place for a brief abode, and the scenery around very charming: he will be content to look farther a-field for solitude and sublimity. But he may more reasonably complain that much of what would be else agreeable is trimmed into formality, or decorated into insipidity; and above all, that such provokingly absurd names are appended to the objects which on every side engage attention.

This, indeed, appears to be a fault incidental to all places of public resort, and especially to wateringplaces; but of all watering-places, those of Derbyshire are the most extravagant in their nomenclature. Whether Matlock or Buxton be worst it is hard to say. Here you look up at some rather curious crags, and are told they are the Romantic Rocks :' there you see a tawdry cottage, and observe painted up' Cottage of Contentment.' A little further, no doubt, is 'Love Lodge,' or the 'Home of Happiness.' Leaving the sentimental quarters, you come upon the historical or the classic, and are equally charmed with the aptness of the applications, and the graceful associations which they suggest. The higher grounds above the Baths are the Heights of Abraham :' then there are 'Cupid's Cascade,' 'Venus's Bower,' 'Dido's Cavern,' and an infinity of other elegant' titles. Even a new road must be 'Via Gellia.' Matlock folks are far from thinking that

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"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." If it were a thing to be exhibited they would prefer to style it the 'flower of loveliness.' Ask them "What's in a name?" and they would reply, in the words of Ben Jonson's Master Medley, (that is, if they could speak in such rude English)—

"Indeed there's a woundy luck in names, Sirs,
And a main mystery."

But some of these places are worth visting, in spite of their names. Of the romance of the 'Romantic Rocks' you may judge after you have paid your sixpence to their keeper. The Heights of Abraham' may be easily ascended when the door is opened which eads to them ("where 6d. will be politely demanded"); and assuredly there is a very fine view from their summit. The Caverns are curious, though rather disappointing after those of the Peak: seen first they are very well. That known as Cumberland Cavern is interesting in a geological point of view. The High Tor Grotto, and the New Speedwell Mine, have rather remarkable stalactites, to which no less remarkable

names are attached. The others which are shown are perhaps less curious, but they will afford amusement to one staying for a while here: so, too, will the 'Petrifying Wells,' which rank among the lions' of Matlock. In them it is customary, as at Knaresborough and elsewhere, to place articles of various descriptions in order to receive the incrustation of carbonate of lime which is abundantly deposited from the water. Some of the articles submitted to this 'petrifying' process are sufficiently odd. Old wigs, birds' nests, and ladies' locks, appear to be among the most popular; but stags' horns and other large substances are also to be seen in the different wells. For them, however, the taste of the owners of the wells must not be held responsible: they receive whatever the curious choose to bring, charging a trifling rent for the use of the well and for their care in continually shifting the articles, which it is necessary to do, frequently in order to prevent them from adhering to the bottom or to each other. Of course, in what they prepare for sale they are guided by their experience of the taste of purchasers; and the odder the object generally, the more readily is it sold. While speaking of these places we must not neglect to direct attention to the Museums, which are quite a feature in Matlock. Some of these have really a splendid appearance: the Old Museum, for example, has a large and handsome room filled with an extensive and costly display of native minerals, both crude and manufactured. The beautiful fluor spar, which is found only at Castleton, is here chiefly wrought into vases and other ornamental articles, which, with similar articles made of Derbyshire marble, are displayed for sale in a great profusion of forms. Some of the fluor spar vases are exquisite specimens of that beautiful material; and in shape and workmanship they are equally admirable. Many of those which have been formerly exhibited here now adorn foreign as well as British palaces. Besides these, there is a considerable variety of Italian vases and sculptured articles; but these may be seen elsewhere: the Blue John is characteristic of the locality. We have mentioned the Old Museum because it is the chief; but the other museums have also very beautiful displays. If the stranger chooses to carry home with him a specimen of the Derbyshire mineral and Derbyshire art, as a memento of his Derbyshire tour, he will doubtless please folks at home, as well as at the Museum; but if he do not, he should at least please himself, by examining one or two of the collections: they are open to the visitor, whether a purchaser or

not.

The architecture of Matlock needs no space. The hotels and lodging-houses, the baths and museums, are the noticeable places; but there is not one of them remarkable as a building. The new church is a neat structure, erected on a site which deserved a noble one. Libraries and all the ordinary conveniences of such places are to be found at Matlock, but do not require detailing here. The walks and rides around are everywhere pleasant, and in some places grand;

and for those who do not care to walk, donkeys and chairs for short distances, and various vehicles for long, are always at hand. On the river, too, a charming though short row or sail may be had. It is a favourite practice in the summer to sail or row here on moonlight evenings; and even grave and prosy people grow quite poetical and sentimental on these occasions. You go down by the 'Lovers' Walk,' and-but we shall not attempt to describe such a scene, having, unhappily, a clumsy hand at poetic painting: listen, however, to what enthusiastic heroics a scientific native can indite when discoursing on this theme. "On fine summer evenings, many parties go to regale themselves with a sail, and loiter on the waters sometimes to a late hour. On such occasions the band is sent for to mingle the strains of music that charms' with the solemn dash of the oar glittering in the moonbeam; and at intervals ladies will tune their sweet voices to heavenly music, when it is literally thrilling, entrancing the soul, and carrying it aloft in its conceptions to kindlier skies!" If middle-aged gentlemen can write in such a strain, merely at the recollection of these evening serenadings, how dangerous must it be in reality for tender-hearted young gentlemen to go listening to them beneath the soft silver light of the moon! Verily the gentle youth had better beware how he ventures by the margin of Lovers' Walk, or entrusts himself on the bosom of Derwent's sparkling stream while these fair syrens are warbling their "delusive strains i' the moonlight." Thus of old Ulysses—but we are growing poetical; Matlock air has infected us; (we should have said the waters have inspired, but that we never even tasted of the enchanting spring;) it is time to leave off.

All has been said that seems needful about the place and its attractions, and it only remains for us to add as our own private opinion, that if the reader have the leisure and means requisite for the indulgence of a hot-spring illness, Matlock is as pleasant a place as he can find for his purpose. There are good lodgings, good living, a delicious air, plenty of company, pleasant scenery, and water, which, though not quite so hot as that at Buxton, is hot enough for any moderate parboiler, -and there are plenty of doctors, moreover to contrive excuses for prolonging the holiday if it be thought desirable. If the patient does not like hot water, there is plenty of cold, equally mineral and equally medicinal: and, by the way, a little distance. up the neighbouring dale there is for those who prefer the cold-water-cure, a hydropathic establishment; but whether the poor soddened souls are permitted to share in the festivities of gay hot-water Matlock, we are not informed. If we could afford such a luxury Matlock would be the place we should choose, and the good old hot-water system, with all its comfortable appliances, the remedy.

The immediate vicinity of Matlock is exceedingly beautiful, and will doubtless be, as far as practicable, explored before more distant places be visited. Here we can only mention two or three of the more eminent objects. Matlock High Tor, of which we give an

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engraving (Cut, No. 1) is the most striking piece of rock scenery here, and not easily to be matched elsewhere. The word tor is applied through Derbyshire (as it is in Devonshire) to a lofty precipitous mass of rock, much as scar is used in Yorkshire. Tor is the Saxon word from which our word tower is directly derived. The High Tor is an enormous mass of rock, which rises aloft to a height of nearly four hundred feet. The lower part is covered thick with various trees and shrubs, but above, a vast perpendicular wall towers for a hundred and fifty feet, its face bare, rugged, and weather-beaten. At the base winds the Derwent; all around are objects of only inferior grandeur. This is unquestionably the finest part of Matlock Dale, and the Tor forms a noble object in whatever direction it be viewed. When illumined by the setting sun, or the full moon-and the meaner features of man's introduction are hidden in the deep masses of gloom-the effect becomes magnificent. It is one of the memorable scenes in a Derbyshire tour. Masson, on the opposite side of the Dale, is much loftier than High Tor, but, from its form, is far less remarkable. The view from the summit of Masson is extensive and very fine: the southern entrance of Matlock Dale is naturally inferior to the northern, and its original character is pretty well destroyed by the cotton-mill, the stiff weir, and prim gardens. Yet, in almost any other locality it would be admired by the

stranger, while with Matlock people it appears to be the greater favourite.

At this southern end of the dale is the entrance to Willersley Castle, a castellated mansion of the style which prevailed near the close of the last century: it was erected by Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning-jenny. The grounds and gardens are permitted to be seen on two days in the week, and are generally visited by those who make a temporary sojourn at Matlock. They are worth visiting; formed from what was previously a wild rocky piece of moorland, while the air of cultivation and polish was imparted which is so needful and becoming in the vicinity of a mansion, care was yet taken to preserve the natural features. Some parts are very picturesque, and others afford excellent prospects. The view of Matlock Dale from Cat Tor is an admirable one. The house contains some pictures, but it is not open to strangers.

The walks around Matlock are, as was said, very pleasing, and there are several places at a short distance which afford a good termination to a stroll. The village of Matlock, about two miles from Matlock Bath, is one of these: it wears a rude old-fashioned air, and has an ancient church with a rather fine tower, having crocketted pinnacles at the angles. The neighbourhood is picturesque, and the views from the summit of Matlock Bank and Riber Hill are celebrated. On the summit of Riber there was once a very large rock

ing-stone, which is said to have borne a considerable resemblance to the famous Cornish Logan: it was broken up several years ago to make stone fences.

Bonsall is another village which affords a pleasant walk over the hills of about a couple of miles, and is itself a place worth seeing it is a village of mines and miners; and the mining works have a strikingly picturesque effect as foreground objects to the fine scenery by which they are surrounded. There is an old cross in the centre of the village; and the church is a fine old weather-beaten edifice.

WIRKSWORTH.

But the character of this part of the country as a mining district may be much better seen by a visit to Wirksworth, which is only about three miles from Matlock. Wirksworth is the ancient capital of the lead mining district of the Low Peak. The Moot Court, at which all mining questions and causes are tried, is held at Wirksworth, in a neat building erected for the purpose, called the Moot Hall. It is supposed that Wirksworth was the chief mining town in the time of the Romans, by whom the Derbyshire leadmines are known to have been worked. Coins, and other Roman remains, have been discovered at Wirksworth. In the Moot Hall a curious brass dish is kept, which serves as the standard measure for lead ore in the Peak district it was constructed for the purpose in the fourth year of the reign of Henry VIII., as an inscription on it in the old English character states,"by assent and consent as well of all the miners as of all the brenners (smelters) within and adjoining the lordship of Wirksworth Pervell of the said honour. This dish to remain in the Moote Hall, at Wirksworth, hanging by a chain, so as the merchants or miners may have resort to the same at all times to make the true measure at the same." The dish still remains as here directed, affixed to a chain in the hall.

It

Wirksworth carries few evidences of antiquity. stands on a hill side, and is surrounded by other hills; the houses are irregular, and altogether the place is rather peculiar as well as picturesque. But there is nothing in it particularly requiring notice: it may suffice to describe it as a busy town of four thousand inhabitants. The sites of the mines are marked by the engines and works seen on the hill sides and in the dales all around. Some of them are in full work, some are exhausted or stopped. Almost all of them present some curious or noteworthy feature to those who take interest in such matters; but we cannot enter here upon the subject of mines and miners, however interesting it might be. The mining villages, or little collections of hovels, with the people about them, might often afford subjects for the painter.

On the way to Wirksworth, Cromford will be passed through, but it has no very remarkable attractions. It was at Cromford that Arkwright built the first mill in which cotton was spun by his new machines. He afterwards built two more on the same stream, and at

no great distance from his original mill. Before the erection of the first mill Cromford was an insignificant hamlet; Sir Richard Arkwright purchased the manor, erected houses for the work-people whom he employed, and procured the grant of a market for the young town; the Cromford Canal was made to terminate there; and a railway for the carriage of goods was constructed, which connects Cromford with the Peak Forest Canal. The place has now the appearance of a busy little country-town. But it has nothing very noteworthy in its appearance: cotton-mills, and formal rows of workmen's dwellings, possess little attraction for the tourist. The mills at Cromford still belong to the descendants of Sir Richard Arkwright, who employ about twelve hundred hands in them. There are also extensive lead and colour works.

If Wirksworth be visited, it will be a convenient occasion to ascend Stonnis, which lies but a little way out of the road. But whether Wirksworth be visited or not, no one should stay at Matlock without ascending Stonnis. The place which bears this title is a mass of huge blocks of stone, which appear piled on each other on the very summit of a lofty hill. The hill itself, with its rocky crest and the ragged pines that are growing out of the fissures of the rocks, is a striking object; but the glory of Stonnis is the magnificent prospect which is obtainable from it. We know nothing exactly comparable with it hereabouts, and the author of Peak Scenery' asserts that it is without a rival in Derbyshire. Few who see it under circumstances similar to those he describes will question his decision-at least while on the spot: there are views in the High Peak which make one feel the odiousness of comparisons. The passage, or a portion of it, is worth quoting: the visitor must decide for himself whether the glowing eulogy be deserved. "I have scaled," says Mr. Rhodes, "the highest eminences in the mountainous districts of Derbyshire-seen from their summits the sweet dales that repose in tranquil beauty at their base-marked the multitude of hills included within the wide horizon they command, and my heart has thrilled with pleasure at the sight; but not an eminence that I ever before ascended-not a prospect, however rich and varied, which I have descried, was at all comparable with the view from Stonnis. In that species of beauty of landscape, which approaches to grandeur, it is unequalled in Derbyshire. The parts of which it is composed are of the first order of fine things, and they are combined with a felicity that but rarely occurs in Nature. Scarthing Rock, the woods of Willersley Castle, Matlock High Tor, the hills of Masson, Crich, and Riber, are all noble objects; and the rude masses that constitute the foreground of the picture, are thrown together, and grouped and coloured in a manner strikingly picturesque. When I beheld the scene from Stonnis, a fine breeze drove the clouds rapidly athwart the sky, and the flitting gleams of light, which were instantaneously succeeded by deep shadows, illumined in succession the various parts of the landscape, and imparted to it an interest that was powerfully felt. Sometimes the pass

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