yersion, that the castle formerly belonged to the Hastings, lords of Abergavenny, by exchange with king Henry the Third; but the truth is as is given above, and as the context itself shows, it being there observed, that the king, unwilling that the county of Chester, to which Bolsover belonged, should be parcelled out among distaffs, gave other lands here and there, in lieu thereof, to the sisters of John Scot, the last earl.' Roger, son of Nigel de Luvetot, when sheriff of the counties of Nottingham and Derby for the last half of the 39th year of Henry, was made governor of Bolsover for the king, the fortress being now resumed by him*. The famous Simon Mountfort extorted from prince Edward, when he had him in his custody after the battle of Lewes, a patent in the king his father's name, of the castle and honour of Pect; but nothing is there said of Bolsover. Ralph Pipard was made governor of Bolsover and Hareston castles for life, 30 Edw. I., and died 3 Edward II.‡, which plainly shews that the fortress was then in the king's hand; probably it had been in the crown ever since 39 Hen. III. 19 Ric. II., R. Stury had it in possession §, but who this person was is uncertain. In the 5th Henry VIII. Thomas Howard, the very day he was created duke of Norfolk, obtained a grant in special tail of the castles of Bolsover and Horeston, and the manor of Horsley, all in Derbyshire, to be held, with other mannors and lordships, by the service of one knight's fee.|| On the attainder of his son, another Thomas Howard, 38 Henry VIII. the castle escheated to the crown, and there remained some little time; 10 April, 5 Edward VI. the king granted a lease of the manor of Bolsover to Sir John Byron, for fifty years; and 20 May, 7 Edward VI., the king granted the same in fee-farm to George Talbot, knight, lord Talbot, and his heirs. Dec. 20, 6 Jac. I. A. D. 1608, Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, his countess Mary, William Hammond, and Edward Linsell, granted a lease of the manor for 1000 years to Sir Charles Cavendish, knight, for a rent of 10% per annum; and 9 August, 11 Jac. I., A. D. 1613, earl Gilbert, in consideration of a certain sum of money, sold the manor to Sir Charles, and the deed was inrolled in Chancery 20 Aug. 1613. The cattle, according to Leland, was at this time in ruins, but Sir Charles, when in possession by his lease, began in 1613**, to build the habitable mansion at the north end††, designing it evidently more for a place of abode • Dugd. p. 570. + Idem, p. 756. Dugd. Baron II. p. 8. § Nathaniel Ringross, MS. Breviary of Records. Dugd. Bar. II. p. 268. He had a second grant, 22 Hen. VIII. He died Nov. 18, 33 Eliz. Inquisitio post mortem. Í mention this, because on his tomb at Sheffield the time of his death is not specified. ** Almanack of 1613 penes Joh. Carter de Bolsover, says in a MS. note on Mar. 30, • Foundation of the new house at Bolsover bègune to be layde.' †† Huntingđơn Smith on, living at Bolsover, 1601, was the architect; and a ground-plan by him of the grand building, different from that which was afterwards executed, an than a fortification. I cannot find it was ever used for the latter purpose during the grand rebellion in the reign of king Charles I., though, by way of precaution, Colonel Muschamp was then made governor of it by the owner, William earl of Newcastle*. On the contrary, the parliament, who had seized it on account of the delinquency of its noble proprietor, sold it, and it was begun to be pulled down; but Sir Charles Cavendish, younger brother of the said proprietor, finding means to buy it of the parliamentarian purchasers at an advanced price, prevented the total demolition of it †. Sir Charles Cavendish the elder departed this life, A.D. 1617, and was buried at Bolsover.‡ William Cavendish, his eldest surviving sun, and afterwards earl marquis, and duke of Newcastle, was a person of great eminence §, and probably born at Handsworth com. Ebor. A. D. 1593 ||. He was at Bolsover, with some forces, A.D. 1643, but made only a short stay. The castle was then in a very respectable state, though not the place of his ordinary residence, as appears from this singular circumstance. King Charles I. was entertained by this great and opulent nobleman three different times; the charge of the first reception was above 4000l., of the second near 15,000l., and of the third, which was but a slight business, 1500l. The queen was present on the second occasion*, and the banquet was furnished at Bolsover, in the most superb manner, the earl residing there for the time with his domestics, while His Majesty, his court and retinue, were accommodated at Welbeck †. The cost was truly immense for those times, but William was a princely man. After the Restoration of Charles II. to his throne, and himself to his shattered and broken fortunes; and after spending some time in regulating, other plan of the offices, and a third of the little house as he calls it, meaning the structure we are here speaking of, are in the hands of the Rev. D'Ewes Coke, o? Broke-hill, purchased by him at Lord Byron's sale 1778 or 1779. This architect died at Bolsover, A.D. 1648, and was buried in the chancel; and to judge from the first of the above plans, the grand building must have been intended, and perhaps by Sir Charles, many years before it was begun; and indeed there was reason sufficient for postponing it till after the Restoration. See a further account of Smithson in Mr. Walpole's Anecdotes, vol. ii, p. 59. ed. 3. He is there by mistake called John. * Life of Duke of Newcastle, by the Duchess, p. 115. † Collins, p. 24. 42. Collins' Collections on the family of Cavendish, &c. p. 20. & seq. § Life, written by the Duchess his second wife. Collins, ut supra. Biographia Brit. tom. III. Dugd. Baron. vol. II. alii. || Not 1592, as Collin's has it. Life, by the Duchess, p. 39, ** One suit of table cloths, napkins, &c. bought on one of these occasions, cost 1607. Life by the Duchess, p. 105. tt Ibid. p. 105, 140. Collins, p. 26. The words of the duchess on the occasion are so remarkable that I shall transcribe them. The earl' employed Ben Johnson in fitting such scenes and speeches as he could devise; and sent for all the gentry of the country to come and wait on their majesties; and in short did all that ever he could imagine to render it great and worthy of their royal acceptance.' P. 140. recovering, and recruiting his estate, duke William began a noble fabric on a very magnificent plan, but never finished it. Henry, duke of Newcastle, son of William, resided often at Bolsover, and was buried there*, as likewise were many others of this branch of the great family of Cavendish. The castle and manor held of the crown in capite, and had certain lands holding and depending upon them. But since the fabric can now be considered only as the capital mansion of a manor or barony, which, together with Woodthorp, was rated, A. D. 1641, at 846l. 8s. 11d. per annum†, I need only add, that it went from Cavendish to Hollis, from Hollis to Harely, and from Harley to Bentinck, in which illlustrious family, after the foregoing short trips and flittings, may it rest and continue as long as the sun and moon endure! The present building, says Mr. Bray, is nothing more than a house, as ill-contrived and inconvenient as ever was formed. By the arms carved in stone over the door, which are those of Cavendish, with a crescent for difference, empaling Ogle; it is to be supposed that it was built by Sir Charles Cavendish, mentioned at Welbeck; and descended, with that estate, to the Duke of Portland, the present cwner. The outer court, in which are stables and offices, is large, and walled in; within that is a smaller, also walled in and paved, in which stands the house, built of brown stone, square and lofty. A flight of steps leads through a passage to a hall, not large, the roof supported by stone pillars, and from thence into the only room designed for habitation on this floor; in the centre of it is a pillar supporting an arched roof, in the manner of that at Christ Church in Oxford, but much less light. Round this pillar is a plain circular table, used to dine on. Up stairs is one room moderately large, and within it a very small one, which, from an old tea-table, and a set of old china standing on it, seems to have been used as a drawing-room. In the large room are several coats of arms painted, Cavendish empaling Ogle, and in different places the latter is painted alone. The rest of the rooms are very small, and not nnmerous. The floors of all are plaister. From the windows in general the prospects of the country are rich and extensive, reaching still farther from the leads on the top of the house. Beneath, at a small distance, lies Sutton, with its park, the seat of the late Mr. Clarke; farther off, the lofty towers of Hardwick are seen amongst the woods. What was wanting in these rooms seems to have been supplied by a range of building which is now ruined, standing on a noble terrace commanding a magnificent prospect in its full extent; the side walls and the floor of the apartments, which were entered from the terrace by a grand flight of steps, are all that remain, the roof having been taken off long ago. It is said these rooms were fitted up for the reception of Charles I. who, having visited the earl of Newcastle (as he was then called) at Welbeck, in his progress in⚫ to Scotland, in 1633, was so well pleased with the magnificent entertainment Life of the Duke, p. 97. † Bray, p. 239. he met with, that a year or two afterwards he made him a second vist with his queen; on this occasion he gave up Bolsover for Their Majesties lodging, and spared neither industry nor cost to add splendor to the entertainment, which cost him above 14,000l. Ben Johnson was employed in fitting such scenes and speeches as were proper on the occasion, and all the gentry in the country were sent for to wait on Their Majesties. This place was seized by the parliament after the duke* went abroad, and was sold and begun to be pulled down; but was then bought by Sir Charles, the duke's youngest brother, and so restored to the family. + LINES ON A GIBBET IN THE PEAK OF DERBYSHIRE, To the Editor of the Northern Star: THOUGH fully aware that you wish to offer through the medium of your poetical pages, original contributions only, I think in some instances the friends of the Northern Star will consider the insertion of any article pos sessing poetic merit, along with local interest, admissible, though it may partially have met the public eye. As such I estimate the lines that appeared in the Sheffield Iris, some weeks since, "written beneath a gibbet, upon one of the Peak mountains in Derbyshire," the miscellaneous history of which, as a sister county, is one of the proposed objects of your Magazine. The insertion may probably gratify many who shall not have seen them in the Iris, where they first appeared, or in the Courier, where they also afterwards appeared. Many of the lines are very powerful, and the scene and circumstance are fully impressive. If you think the annexed description of the country immediately around, gives any added interest to the poem, it is at your disposal. Emerging from Middleton-Dale, whose deep defile had excluded all objects but the sky over-head, and the rock-crowned mountains on each side, whose broad bases, extending arthwart the dale, appeared to cross the winding way, and impede our progress, we entered upon a fine expanse of open country, from whence the pure breath of heaven came fresh as the gale of ocean. The heathy moor-land was stretched far and wide around, bounded in the distance by blue and misty mountains. To the left, the turfy shill ascended gradually to that unbroken outline above, called LongstoneEdge, which intervenes between Longstone, Hassop, and Chatsworth, stretching its upland line to the little Alpine village of Wardlow. Where house rising over house, interspersed with fine old trees, skirts on each side the high-way to Bakewell; leaving to the right, the loftier mountain of * He was not Duke then, being only created such after the Restoration. † Collins' Collections, p. 22. 24, 26. Wardlow-Hays, rising high above the amphitheatrical village, the steep sides of which neither tree nor house nor human being diversifies. Recalling the eye from its excursive survey, it meets on the right hand of Middleton-Dale-head a more rocky elevation, inclosing the open expanse, and sheltering at its base the little towns of Hucklow, Foolow, and Eyam, softened and adorned by those beautiful ash-trees that seem to enjoy their own beauty and existence in Derbyshire. Its aerial ridge is strongly marked upon the clear sky by the tall cupola chimnies of a smelting mill, (whose light pinnacles are so picturesque in that country,) the only objects that break the horizontal line that extends to the far-off distance, terminated by Mam-Torr, the Mother of Mountains, dimly seen except when the morning sun enlightens its bold and shivering front. These were the barriers of that open plain on which we entered, the excellent-carriage road descending almost imperceptibly a mile before us, leading to Wardlow toll-bar house, and one other adjoining, their whitened walls cheering the sombre brown and green by which they were surrounded, and reposing at the foot of the steep hill, upon the ascent of which the village of Wardlow commences, a quarter of a mile above; the toll-bar seeming to unite these "two or three" inhabitants with the distant world; the rapid mail-coach, the creeping waggoner, and the ratling post-boy leaving their accounts of the events of the more busy scenes through which they had passed, for the wonder or condemnation of their humble inmates. From this point, the firm high road in front ascends two miles towards Tideswell; but a deep valley opens immediately on the left of the toil-bar, and winds its narrow way beneath the high peak of Wardlow-Hays and the opposing hill, through which a mere sheep-track and a never-ceasing rivulet of the purest water fill up the deep defile. At the entrance of the valley, before its opening recedes between the hills, stands a rock of singular form and appearance, its base completely insulated and severed from any surrounding object. It is of considerable height and circumference, and rises perpendicularly on all sides; the top is. level and covered with verdure, from the centre of which a second rock arises, with a circular base considerably less, that terminates in a lofty dome, the whole appearing in the distance like a church in a wilderness, which, if unenclosed by higher objects; would seem of far greater heighth and magnitude. But what is lost in individual grandeur, is gained in local solemnity: the hills appear to recede for its sanctuary, and to aspire for its guard; the sun shines not on its dark grey sides; no trees wave their boughs around; the wild herbage on its lower summit is never cropped by beast, or trodden by man; but in solitary majesty, it seems to say, I am, 66 and there is none beside me!" Silent awe, not horror, is the emotion it inspires; under this impression the soul is moved to musing melancholy, from which it shrinks not, for all around is peace and soft tranquillity. Such at least once were its natural features; but now crime has breathed a darkened horror upon its guiltless surface, and frightened contemplation from its silent haunts: never could the infamy of that crime have been obliterated, though its abhorred memorial had not existed,—a memorial that VOL. III. Uu |