stream. The road now became rutty, uneven and hilly, and passing through several gates and enclosures, we soon reached the beautiful village of Tissington.

TISSINGTON

Is a village of considerable interest, from a custom which annually prevails in it-a fragment of those dark ages when every thing that could be, was pressed into the service of the prevailing superstition, and when the objects of religious veneration were multiplied to an indefinite extent. We will not charge the parties interested in the first instance, with an intention to mislead the mind, although that was the direct and obvious tendency of the introduction of the old worn-out and cumbrous machinery of the Heathen world; or of the abrogated ceremonial rites of the Jewish church, into the simple ritual and sublime faith of the Son of God. All these led away the mind from the simplicity of the truth, and had well nigh ended in the total extinction of both religion and science. The custom in question, that of Well flowering," is one of the most innocent and beautiful relics of that age, and which doubtless owed its existence to a striking incident which occurred in the history of the Israelites in the wilderness at "Beer," when, as an expression of a grateful heart, for the precious boon of water, they sung this song, "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it," &c. In allusion to which, Mr. Rhodes has the following lines, which we will take the liberty of quoting :

66

* See Numbers, chapter 21st, verses 16th, 17th and 18th.
+ Derbyshire Tourist's Guide, page 209.

Upon this occasion the wells or fountains, five in number, are most tastefully and beautifully decorated with a profusion of flowers attached, by means of moist clay, to temporary structures made of boards, and reared over them, and so arranged as to represent a temple or some elegant Grecian pediment. The several parts (pilasters, frieze, architrave, &c.) distinguished by using different coloured flowers to form them, and ornamented with festoons and numberless other devices, crowns, &c. and always some appropriate text of scripture, the letters formed by the same means and placed in the most prominent position. This festival occurs on Holy Thursday, when all the villagers keep open-house, in the genuine old English fashion, for their friends, visitors, and even strangers; and Sir Henry Fitzherbert very liberally throws open his old Hall to all comers upon such occasions. A solemn service is performed at the Church, after which the inhabitants go in procession to the different wells, preceded by a band of music, when the Collects for the day are read, and Psalms and Hymns are sung in alternate succession.* On leaving the village we entered the grounds of Sir Henry Fitzherbert, by the Lodge-gate, and had a fine view of his old baronial mansion. The road leads through a splendid avenue of lime trees to the west entrance-gate, where we cross the road from Newhaven and Buxton to Ashborne, and proceed up Spend-lane by the Dog and Partridge, to the village of Thorp,+ only about two miles distant. On reaching which and passing some cottages to the right, we turned out of the road through a gate into a field, which is the nearest way, and but a short distance from the entrance of Dovedale-which is 13 miles from Matlock, 4 from Ashborne, 17 from Buxton, the same from Derby, and 16 from Bakewell.

* The same custom, which used to be very general in Derbyshire, has been revived of late years with great spirit at Wirksworth and Youlgreave. +At Thorp, a Guide and Donkeys are in readiness, if required.

THE APPROACH TO DOVEDALE.

As we descended over the irregular road-way, if it may be so called, full of ruts and chiefly over the green sward or heathy mountain side, the east end of the Dale began to open before us,―Thorp Cloud rising proudly to the left, Bunster immediately before us, and the lofty point bounding the east entrance to the right.-There is an indescribable and overpowering majesty in nature, especially in mountain scenery, that is difficult to account for, which seems not so much to arise from a minute examination of the parts of which she is composed as from the combined effect of the whole as it is rapidly traversed by the eye, until the mind is completely filled with her vast and colossal dimensions, inspiring a deep sense of our own insignificance and nothingness, as compared with such monuments of creative wisdom and omnipotent power; and that power reigning in supreme though silent majesty around us.We experienced the full effect of this as we made our way from the smiling fields and busy haunts of man to plunge into and examine the deep and narrow recesses of Dovedale, which still retains all its ancient simplicity and grandeur uninjured by the art of man, and its magic charm still unbroken by the intrusion of his dwellings.It would seem, therefore, that its solitude is that which (combined with its romantic scenery) speaks so impressively to the heart, and which has elicited the admiration of all the lovers of nature, and been the theme of their praise from the days of Old Izaak Walton to those of Sir Humphry Davy, and still continues to be so.Byron, in one of his letters to his friend Moore, asks "if he had seen Dovedale!"—and assures him that "there are things in Derbyshire as noble as Greece or Switzerland."+ In fact it has been the subject of such repeated

* Moore's Life, Vol. III. page 369.

The Rev. Mr. Davies observes, in his History of Derbyshire, that "The loneliness and silence that reign here entitle it to the appellation of the Vale of Fancy, or another Vaucluse; and as there is but one rugged narrow foot path, it has more the air of being the haunt of imaginary beings than human ones.' ,,

observation and remark, that any further description of its beauties might be deemed quite superfluous,-and besides the task is not so easy as at first sight it appears to be to string together a number of highsounding epithets about lofty mountains, towering crags, abrupt precipices, and a lovely river flowing smoothly and sometimes fretting and foaming amongst them, is easy enough, but to convey to the mind of a stranger a just conception of the Dale, to lead him through all its sinuosities, pointing out its romantic beauties and ever-varying character of rock and cliff-the rippling stream and the foaming fall, without straining and exciting too much the imagination by a false colouring, and yet to rise to the loftiness and beauty of the subject is a task of no ordinary difficulty, but we must e'en try it we fail in the attempt.

Dovedale may be said to be a secluded glen, nearly three miles in length, situated in the upper measures of the carboniferous limestone, of which it presents some fine sections, and exhibits some of its most striking features, bold, craggy, and precipitous.-Notwithstanding its great length, it nowhere exceeds a quarter of a mile in width, and diminishes from this to the narrow space of seven yards-particularly at the north end, where he river is cooped up between perpendicular rocks, and the tourist is obliged to make his way over rough stones, forming a part of its broken and rocky bed-and where it is utterly impassable in floods -The Staffordshire, or left hand ridge, forms one unbroken chain, lofty and precipitous, throughout its whole extent, finely crested at the top with a series of small conical knolls.-The right or Derbyshire side is broken, craggy, and undulating, and is the only one which admits of a safe,though rude and uneven footpath up the Dale.-The inclination is everywhere so steep that notwithstanding the traveller is confined within such narrow limits, yet he may descry the loftiest summits generally, which inconceivably adds to the effect,-giving to it a sublimity it would not otherwise have possessed.-In one place it exhibits masses of limestone starting from the moun

tain side in groups, not unlike pyramids-sometimes
beautifully fretted, assuming the character of rich gothic
spires. In others they ridge the mountain like mighty
walls divided and intersected by steep gullies, and in
others they are more comparable to the ruins of an old
cathedral or castle, with its dilapidated towers and tur-
rets, than the simple effect of nature's giant forces.-
Let the stranger now imagine these clothed, in part,
with mosses, lichens and the creeping ivy, and their
bases encircled with the hawthorn and mountain ash and
perhaps a few stunted shrubs or tiny yews inserted into
their lofty clefts.-The hills bare and steep, sprinkled
with dwarf firs, hazels and ash, enriched with the golden
flower of the furze.-The limpid stream here forming
lovely cascades, there, fretting their base or bubbling
over its broken bed,-and again flowing like a glassy
mirror around miniature islands covered with osiers, its
lands adorned with odoriferous shrubs and flowers of
sweetest fragrance; and the balmy and refreshing breeze
playing down the Dale, and he may then form some
faint conception of the romantic character of Dovedale.
"Away with every lighter thought, the ground
Is consecrate; a barrier fix'd between;
And leaving all as all had never been,
My pilgrimage rests here, beyond the bound
Of habitation, in the dale profound,

Where Dove by rock and cavern glides serene,
Through solitude, where nought of life is seen-
Through silence that forbids all earthly sound.
Vain world, pursue me if thou canst! retire,
Ye bosom foes; ambition's maddening spell,
The drugs of hate, the foul tormenting leaven
Of avarice, the sorceries of desire,

The hand of blood, the tongue on fire of hell!—
Retire-and leave me to myself and heaven!"
Literary Souvenir, 1828. H.

But we shall now attempt to lead the stranger up the Dale. On reaching the entrance, the carriage was dismissed and ordered to ford the river to Ilam Inn, there to await our return from the Dale, as being the most convenient point from Ilam Hall and grounds, which it was our purpose to visit, and none should omit to do so by any means.