CONTENTS. SECTION I.-Excursion commenced.-Banner Cross.-Curious Effect of Clouds. Enter Derbyshire.-Burbage Brook.-View from Millstone Edge.-Winter of 1813.-Hathersage.-Little John's Grave.-Hather- SECTION II.-Hope Dale.-Recollections of a former Excursion.-Approach to Castleton.-Fine Autumnal Evening.-Castleton Church.-Peak's Hole 10 SECTION III.-Cave Dale.-View from the Hills above.-Juvenile Beggars at Castleton.-Fluor Mines.-Odin Mine.-Mam Tor.-Winnats.- Speedwell Mine.-Faujas St. Fond.-Mawe and Whitehurst ............ SECTION IV.-Mid-day View of Castleton Vale.-Ebbing and Flowing Well. -Approach to Chapel-en-le-Frith.-Chinley.-The Apostle of the Peak.-Kinderscout.-Evening at Glossop.-Catholic Chapel at Glossop Hall.-Glossop Church.-Rush-Bearing.-Monument to the Memory of Joseph Hague, Esq.-Brief Memoir of him. SECTION V. The river Etherow.-Broad Bottom Bridge.-Compstall Bridge. -View from Compstall House.-Cotton Printing.-Junction of the Etherow and the Goyt.-Marple Bridge.-Mellor Mill.-S. Oldknow, SECTION VI. Return from Glossop.-Peak Forest.-Eldon Hole.-Bagshaw Cavern.-Small Dale.-Lime-kiln Fires.-Night Scene.-Morning in Hope Dale.-Hope Brough.-The River Derwent SECTION VII.-High-low.-Leam.-Padley.-Approach to Calver.-Calver Lime.-Morning Scene.-Hassop Hall.-Longstone.-Godfrey Row- land-his imprisonment in the Castle of the Peak SECTION VIII.-Money-Ash.-Marble Quarries.-Source of the Lathkil.- Scene near Conksbury Bridge.-Youlgrave.-Arbor-Low.-Bradford River.-Alport.-Tufa Rocks........ 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............ SECTION X.-Druidical Circle on Hartle Moor.-Snake Stones.-Mock Beggar Hall.-Cratcliff Tor.-Winster.-Birchover.-Rowtor Rocks.-View from the road near Birchover........ SECTION XI.-Approach to Matlock.-Visit to Lums-Dale.-Lime Tree Lane.-Entrance into Matlock Dale.-Approach to Matlock Bath.— General Character of the Scenery of the Dale.-Walk to Stonnis- View from thence.-Evening Scene from Masson.-Morning in Mat- SECTION I. Excursion commenced.---Banner Cross.---Curious Effect of Clouds.--Enter Derbyshire.---Burbage Brook.---View from Millstone Edge.---Winter of 1813.---Hathersage.---Little John's Grave.---Hathersage Church--Camp Green. THE 'HE day fixed for my THIRD EXCURSION into Derbyshire arrived ; but, instead of being clad in smiles and loveliness, "the dawn was overcast, and heavily in clouds brought on" the important hour when myself and my companion, once more bade adieu to the sooty majesty of the town of Sheffield, and the thick atmosphere in which it was enveloped, for the purpose of participating the pleasure of another ramble amongst the heathy hills of Derbyshire, and inhaling the fresh breeze that plays upon their summits. A walk of two miles brought us to Banner Cross, which was the first object that engaged our attention: the delightful mansion lately erected here, stands at the upper extremity of a valley, not within the boundary line of Derbyshire, but, yet upon the very verge of the county. The new building at this place was commenced by the late Lieutenant General Murray, who did not live to witness the completion of the work he had begun. It is the design of Jeffery Wyatt, Esq. and one of the best specimens of modern Gothic Architecture that this part of the county contains. The towers, and turrets, and embattled parapets, by which it is surmounted, rise gracefully from amongst the trees, that nearly environ it around, and the upper apartments command a view of one of the richest and best-wooded landscapes in the vicinity of Sheffield. Smithy Wood, and some of the most beautiful scenery of Abbey Dale, are included in the prospect. From Banner Cross the road continues gradually to ascend until it reaches the highest part of East Moor, about two miles from Hathersage. As we approached the five-mile stone the mists of morning hung thickly on every part of the landscape: on our right the clouds were close upon us, and entirely precluded the view of every distant object. The sky seemed to rest a part of its contracted canopy within a few fields of the place where we stood, so very limited was our horizon : shortly the clouds, which were of one unvaried cold colour, broke, and admitted a glimpse of cultivated hill above, while all below was apparent sky: detached portions of the scene were successively discovered through the partial breaks, and the little pictures they displayed looked like separate landscapes in the clouds: the effect was singular and pleasing, and we felt much interested in watching the progressive unfolding of the whole, for in the clearing away of the vapour, one part of the prospect, and then another, appeared to be taken from the heavens and given to the earth in succession, until the whole hill was distinctly seen. upon a As we approached Burbage Brook the hills of Derbyshire began to appear, and looking on our left towards the river Derwent, we had a noble prospect, finely diversified, spread before us. We stood rude stone bridge, thrown across a mountain stream, that connects the two sides of a deep valley, through which the Burbage runs amongst huge fragments of stone and broken rocks. Padley woods, and the woods of Stoke, appeared in the offscape, and the hills about Chatsworth filled up the distance. Burbage Brook, though generally a scanty stream in summer, has considerable beauty when swollen by heavy rains, or the melting of the snows accumulated during a long winter: then its waters burst from the narrow arches of the bridge in streams about twenty yards apart, and foaming over rugged projections of rock down a precipitous descent, unite in the dell below. High mounds of rock mark the course of this rivulet to the immediate vicinity of the Derwent, which it enters near Grindleford Bridge. We had now, though only seven miles from Sheffield, come suddenly upon the fine scenery of the Peak, and as we proceeded towards Hathersage it became more and more imposing. A rocky eminence on our left induced us to scramble to its summit, where for a while we stood in silent admiration of the magnificent scenery which this high point of Millstone Edge commands: here we passed a delightful hour of existence, contemplating the majesty of nature, and watching the thin clouds withdraw their curtains from amongst the mountains until their highest peaks gleamed with the bright effulgence of the morning Far below, in the deep hollow of the valley, lay the village of Hathersage, surrounded by lofty eminences; Win Hill, Lose Hill, and Mam Tor, are amongst the highest and the most remote, and when the clouds had melted into air and passed away, their shadowy summits, every where invested with the pale hues of distance, looked like mountains in the heavens. sun. Intending to take the shortest, and, for a pedestrian, the best way |