SECTION IX.

Stanton.---Visit there in the month of November.---Andle Stone.---Plantations on Stanton Moor.---View from the hill near Cat Stone.--Stanton Lees.---Stanton House: fine Work there by Gibbons.

OUR

UR walk to Hartle Moor lay through a narrow lane shadowed with trees, which admitted at intervals a glimpse of the surrounding country, and opened a pleasing view of the plantations and grounds about Stanton. The park, the house, and the village, occupy the side of a steep hill, along which the eye passes over hedge-row trees, and woody eminences, to the distant scenery in the vicinity of Chatsworth. These objects, together with the chain of broken rock, which extends from Stanton Park to Bradley Tor; and the fresh foliage rising out of the dell, that marks the course of the Lathkil, form a very imposing landscape.

Stanton was the ancient residence of the family of the Baches, by whom it was occupied for upwards of two centuries. The heiress of this family married John Thornhill, Esq. His grandson, the present proprietor of Stanton, not many years ago pulled down the old mansion, and erected an elegant modern structure in its place. Other improvements have succeeded: hundreds of acres of new plantations have been made, and a deer park has been added to the other delightful accommodations of the place. The Thornhills were originally

78

Retrospect of a Visit to Stanton.

of Thornhill in the Peak, where they possessed considerable property, so early as the reign of Edward the Third.

The scenery about Stanton House is gradually improving: the new plantations begin to assume an imposing aspect; and, as they are spread over a large extent of hill and dale, they will shortly become a principal feature in a landscape, that even now is richly diversified and full of beauty. If that spirit for planting trees and raising woods, where before neither branch nor shrub grew, which has so eminently distinguished the present proprietor of Stanton, could be generally disseminated through the Peak of Derbyshire, it would soon become a scene of grandeur.

I once visited Stanton the last week in November: a severe frost had prevailed for several days; and, as I left the town of Sheffield, the effect produced by the rising sun was not less singular than beautiful. My road was through Abbey-dale. The hoar-frost lay like snow upon the ground; and every object by the road-side sparkled with innumerable icy prisms, that for a moment, as they caught the rays of the newly-risen sun, glittered like gems---then suddenly dissolved, and passed away. The fine woods, with which the hills on the left are invested, though despoiled of their "leafy honours," presented a novel scene: the trees were every where covered with frosty particles, that hung lightly, like new-fallen snow, upon their branches, feathering every stem with great, but evanescent beauty. Passing from Abbey Dale to East Moor, a rapid change had taken place: the sun was shining brightly in a cloudless sky, and the hoar-frost, which but half an hour before covered every object, had disappeared, leaving scarcely a trace of its former presence behind.

Crossing East Moor, some fine grouse ran before me on a part of the road, which they seemed to quit reluctantly: one of them, a fine heath cock, flew to a little eminence near the road-side, where he stretched forth his neck, and assumed a dignity of deportment, that strongly manifested his indignation at being disturbed in the midst of his own domains. The majesty and beauty of this bird can only be seen on his native mountains, and even there he is generally too shy to be nearly approached. I have often beheld the heath cock on the Derbyshire moors, but on no other occasion have I ever seen how grand and dignified he can occasionally be. These birds are very numerous on these wastes, where they are preserved with great care, that they may furnish amusement to the sportsman, and a feast to the epicure: they feed on the bilberry and the heath, with which these hills abound.

A few miles further brought me to Baslow Bar, one of the wildest scenes in this part of Derbyshire, where the rocks are thrown together in confused masses, apparently by some terrible agitation, which has left the rent and disjointed fragments, that had been separated from the parent mass, poised and fixed in positions, that strongly indicate the instantaneous cessation of violent motion.

"Awhile the living hill

"Heav'd with convulsive throes-then all was still."

DR. DARWIN.

Through the rude rocky vista which nature here has formed, the village of Baslow, the finely-cultivated country that surrounds it, and the woody eminences and verdant slopes of Chatsworth Park, are

beheld; forming altogether as lovely and as rich a landscape as ever the eye reposed on with delight.

says,

A letter, now before me, written by a lady on passing the moors of Derbyshire for the first time, strongly expresses the feeling excited by this extraordinary scene. "As I approached Baslow Bar," she "the prospect, which before was sufficiently barren and desolate, became wild and savage, inspiring only emotions of terror: judge, then, what my feelings were, when I first beheld, through the narrow defile of rock before me, the woods and hills, and all the lovely grounds that environ Chatsworth House. The sudden transition from one kind of feeling to another, the wild and savage grandeur of the foreground, and the beauty of all beyond, strongly reminded me of Satan's first peep into Paradise."

I passed through Bakewell, and had a pleasant walk down Haddon Vale. A little below the two mile-stone, I paused at the road-side, to contemplate once more the fine old structure of Haddon Hall; and to indulge in unavailing regret, that I had not obtained a view of so picturesque and interesting a mansion from so favourable a situation. A small lake of water intervened between me and the building, in which the towers and turrets, and the embattled parapets of Haddon, were vividly reflected. Had the celebrated artist, to whose friendship I am indebted for his beautiful illustrations of the Peak Scenery of Derbyshire, witnessed the imposing picture that Haddon here presents, he would have mingled his regret with mine, that a rainy and cheerless day had prevented him from enriching his sketch-book with so fine a subject.

I now left the vale of Haddon, and entered into a narrow woody dell that leads to Stanton. The river Lathkil strays through its windings; and, as the busy stream bubbles and plays amongst the branches, it every where sparkles with life and beauty. Leaving the course of this sportive rivulet, where a road on the right branches off to Alport, I pursued my way to a picturesque toll-house, half covered with ivy, which is situated at the foot of Stanton Hill. At this place, I entered the grounds belonging to the Thornhill family, and had a pleasant walk along a good carriage-road, that overlooks Hartle Brook; and, in its progress to Stanton House, opens a series of views, in which Cratcliff rocks, Bradley Tor, Mock Beggar Hall, and the hills about Elton and Winster, are distinguishing features. Near the entrance into the Park, I noticed on my left a stone cross, evidently of modern date, placed near the opening into a mine, to commemorate the fate of a man, who had lost his life there. A death's head is sculptured on the upper part of the cross, and the name of the sufferer," John Annable," is inscribed below. There is a pleasing interest excited, and a commendable feeling manifested, in thus consecrating the spot where a fellow-creature has untimely perished.

Stanton House has been built about twenty years. The late J. Linley, Esq. of Doncaster, was the architect. It is pleasantly situated on the side of a hill, that declines towards the west, and the elevated grounds above it protect it from the inclement winds of the east they overlook Darley Dale, and command a great variety of rich and beautiful scenery.

The day, which for the first four or five hours, promised nothing but halcyon skies and uninterrupted prospects, suddenly lost its