Hope, the open valley we passed through was covered with a thick misty vapour, that obscured every object. The sun, however, ascending above the hills, soon spread his warm influence over it; and the vapour, that before was a dull and inactive mass, soon became a source of beauty: as if instinct with life, it everywhere appeared in motion; and it was highly curious to observe the whole progressively leave the vale, and, assuming the form of clouds, pass in regular and solemn march across the sides of the mountains, settling in succession on the summits of Winhill, Losehill, and Mam Tor. These phenomena are common in the Peak of Derbyshire; and though not amongst the fixed and permanent features of the place, they are interesting appendages to mountain scenery, and sometimes produce a grand effect.

In our walk to Hope we passed the little hamlet of Brough, an insignificant village, but supposed to have been once a place of some importance. Where the two rivulets, the Bradwell and the Now, meet, a Roman town formerly stood. The site it occupied is a field now called the Halsteads, near which a stone column, evidently Roman, a bust of Apollo, and the mutilated head of another deity, both of rude workmanship, were found. Near this place bricks and urns, impressed with Roman letters, have occasionally been turned up with the plough and the spade; and at Brough Mill, a gold coin of the Emperor Vespasian, in a good state of preservation, has been dug up. These circumstances all concur to prove the fact of the Romans having had a settlement here; and the opinions of that venerable antiquarian, the late Rev. Mr. Pegge of Whittington, and the northern tourist, Mr. Bray, favour the same conclusion.

a

HOPE, a very respectable-looking village, was the next place we passed through. The church stands on an insulated plot of ground by the road-side, and, in connexion with group of picturesque dwellings, and a double row of lime-trees, by which it is nearly surrounded, presents a very pleasing picture. From Hope we had a delightful walk down the valley by the side of the river Now, until we reached Malham Bridge, where we once more regained the banks of the Derwent.

The Wrongsley and the Westend, two little rivulets, that rise amongst the heathy hills at the northern extremity of the county, are the sources of this beautiful river. These inconsiderable streams, after running a few miles among moorland

VARIOUS SCENERY OF THE DERWENT.

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wilds, flow into each other near a place called Abbey House, and there assume the name of the Derwent, which, pursuing its way in a southerly direction, passes the village of Derwent, and shortly afterwards receives the Ashop, a river that has its source at the base of Kinderscout; proceeding thence to Malham Bridge in Hope Dale, it is joined by the united waters of the Bradwell and the Now.

In the space of forty miles, which includes the whole course of this river, from the highest and wildest parts of the Peak to the town of Derby, scenery more richly diversified with beauty can hardly any where be found. Generally, its banks are luxuriantly wooded; the oak, the elm, the alder, and the ash, flourish abundantly along its course; beneath the shade of whose united branches the Derwent is sometimes secluded from the eye of the traveller, and becomes a companion for the ear alone; then suddenly emerging into day, it spreads through a more open valley, or, winding round the base of some huge mountain or rocky precipice, reflects their dark sides as it glides beneath. Sometimes this ever-varying and ever-pleasing stream precipitates its foaming waters over the rugged projections and rocky fragments that interrupt its way; again the ruffled waves subside, and the current steals smoothly and gently through the vale, clear, and almost imperceptible in motion.

What an emblem of the busy world does this river present, when contemplated through its various windings, from its source amongst the heathy hills of Derbyshire to its confluence with the Trent! In the immense multitude that compose the aggregate of mankind, there are many who seek the sequestered shades of a still and retired life-who shun the tumult of society, and seclude themselves, not only from the eye of the traveller, but who pass through life equally unknowing and unknown. Others rush into day, and like the Derwent, pouring through the more open and sunny meadows, court and attract the gaze of all around them, and live only in proportion as they become the object to which public attention is directed. There are likewise those who delight to mix in the agitated scenes of a troubled world, and whose pursuits partake the character of the Derwent, when forcing an impetuous passage over the disparted fragments of rock that obstruct its channel and impede its course.

Those who have perambulated the banks of the Derwent, and become acquainted with its beauties, will recollect with

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VARIOUS SCENERY OF THE DERWENT.

delight the many exquisite scenes that it adorns, the pleasing groves of Stoke, the splendid palace and noble grounds of Chatsworth, the placid Darley Dale, the romantic rocks and woods of Matlock, Willersley Castle, and the whole of those picturesque hills that shape its course from thence to Belper, Duffield, and Derby.

40

SECTION VII.

High-low.-Leam. - Padley.-Approach to Calver. - Calver Lime. Morning Scene. - Hassop Hall. - Longstone. Godfrey Rowland imprisoned in the Castle of the Peak.

FR

ROM Malham Bridge we followed the margin of the Derwent to Hazleford, where we crossed the river amidst some very beautiful scenery. From this place we visited the old mansion at High-low, and then returned by Leam into the valley we had so lately left. The house at High-low was once a comfortable residence, but there are now many marks about it that indicate an alteration in its fortunes. It was formerly inhabited by a branch of the family of the Eyres, one of the oldest in this part of Derbyshire, but it is now a mere farmer's dwelling, and scarcely worth a visit. At the back of the house there is a high conical hill, which has the appearance of being thrown up by the labour of man; but it is so immense a mound that the supposition seems extravagant. Its name, however, implies that it was once a burial-place; if so, it is scarcely less mighty than the Tomb of Achilles

"That wide the extended Hellespont surveys."

From High-low, a short walk brought us to LEAM, the residence of C. M. Middleton, Esq. How beautifully situated is this delightful mansion! It is surrounded with hills, rocks, woods, and dales, amongst which flows the river Derwent, every where fringed with a variety of the finest foliage. Leam Hall occupies an elevated situation on the side of a steep hill, and every view that it commands abounds with beauty.

Regaining the brink of the Derwent, we had a leisurely ramble through the woods in the direction of Grindleford Bridge. Every person who has made the tour of the Peak of Derbyshire must have observed the frequent occurrence of

wells and troughs of water, placed by the road-side for the accommodation of travellers and their horses. This is both a commendable and a convenient practice; and the many streamlets that run down the sides of the hills furnish the means of doing a good deed at a little expence. As we passed along the road through the wood below Leam, we noticed a well of this description, which was really a very pleasing object, and my companion gave it a place in his sketch-book. A little stream rushing down a steep declivity, and leaping from one projection to another, amongst fragments of rock, and the tangled branches of light overhanging trees, fell into a basin, that was placed in a woody recess at the road-side to receive it; and the picturesque appendages by which it was surrounded made it a good subject for the pencil. Shortly afterwards we came to a more open part of the valley, where we had an unobstructed view of the left bank of the river, and the dells and woods of Upper and Nether-Padley.

Padley Hall, scarcely a vestige of which now remains, was once the most important mansion in this part of Derbyshire. It was for several centuries the family residence of the Eyres, from whom it passed into the possession of Sir Thomas Fitzherbert, who married the daughter of Sir Arthur Eyre, and occupied the Old Hall at Padley, in the reign of Elizabeth. G. Talbot, the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, hereditary Earl Marshal of England, was at this time Lord Lieutenant of the county of Derby; and he appears to have exercised an unbending rigour towards the Catholic Recusants within his jurisdiction. In a letter of his to Sir Thomas Knyveton, he says, "The Queens Majestie beinge moved by sundry occasions greatlie importing the Estate of this her realme, to abridge the liberty of sundry papists recusants, ill members of the same, resyant within this County of Derby, &c. I have thought mete heereby to requier you forthwith to receave into y' charge and custodie the bodie of Philip Draycote, Gent. recusant, to be by you well saflie kept as her Mts prisoner, upon his proper costs and charges, untill furder order, &c." This authority the Earl of Shrewsbury appears to have used with some severity towards the family at Padley. In the year 1587, John Manners and Roger Columbel inform the Earl, that "Yesterday being Candlemas Daye, Mr. Columble went himself yearly in the morning with sixteen or twenty men to Padley, where he found Thomas Fitzharbert's wife, Anthony Fitzharbert, two of his sisters, and about twenty persons besides,