104 ST. ANNE'S CHAPEL. these places, in addition to the time occupied in bathing, riding, walking, and dressing, completely fill up the whole round of a long summer day, and bid defiance to ennui. The Petrifaction Works, as they are generally designated by those who deal in the mineral and fossil productions of Derbyshire, are another source of amusement, and their investigation can hardly fail to produce both information and delight. The fluor, or phosphoric spars of this interesting county are here manufactured into a variety of ornaments, and many of the retail shops in Buxton are enriched with these beautiful productions of the Peak. That this now fashionable bathing place was in earlier times a Roman station, appears indisputable, and it is highly probable that it was selected for the purpose by this warlike people on account of the warm springs with which it abounds. Buxton is likewise the intersecting point of two great military roads the one connecting Manchester with little Chester, and the other running from Middlewich and Congleton to Brough, near Castleton, in the Peak, and thence to York and Aldborough. Yet Buxton, with all its advantages, and notwithstanding the early notice it obtained, appears to have risen but slowly into consequence: an author whom I have somewhere read, intimates "that the Romans erected magnificent mansions and elegant models of Italian architecture among the majestic mountains of the Peak." When a man is disposed to indulge in these splendid reveries of imagination, it is extremely difficult to restrain his wanderings and confine him within the limits of probability. The same strain of fanciful feeling he still farther indulges, and he sees "in his mind's eye" this insignificant place "assume the appearance of a Roman bathing villa," and he talks with rapture of "the sudatories and dressing-rooms with which it was then furnished." But this is more like poetry than history: yet the coins and the other remains which have at various times been found here, establish the fact that Buxton was known to and visited by the Komans. To this generation of enterprising men we are perhaps indebted not only for the use of the tepid baths in this country, but for the discovery of the warm springs at Buxton. Immediately after the expulsion of the Romans these baths probably sunk into neglect, yet it is not likely that they should even then remain long unvisited: their salutary in SIR WILLIAM BASSETT'S LETTER TO LORD CROMWELL. 105 fluence had been experienced in many instances, and gradually they became extensively and generally known. Centuries ago they were in great repute, and the chapel of St. Anne, the tutelary saint of these hot springs, was hung round with the crutches of those who had come infirm and lame to try the sanative powers of these waters, and had returned "leaping and rejoicing." A zeal for reform destroyed these reliques, which were supposed to have a tendency to perpetuate error and delusion. The following letter, written by one of the agents of the Eighth Harry, and addressed to Lord Cromwell, shows with what a ready subserviency the orders of monarchs are carried into effect, however silly and contemptible they may be. As connected with the history of Buxton, it is an interesting and curious document, and much too valuable to be neglected on this occasion: I therefore gladly close my observations on this rapidly improving place with a production so full of information. 66 66 Right Honourable and my inespecial Good Lord. According to my bounden duty, and the tenor of your Lordship's letters lately to me directed, I have sent your Lordship by this bearer, my brother Francis Basset, the images of Saint Anne of Buckston, and Saint Andrew of Burton-upon-Trent, which images I did take from the places where they did stand, and brought them to my house within forty-eight hours after the contemplation of your said Lordship's letters, in as sober a manner as my little and rude will would serve me. And for that there should be no more idolatry and superstition there used, I did not only deface the tabernacles and places where they did stand, but also did take away crutches, shirts, and shifts, with wax offered, being things that allure and entice the ignorant to the said offering; also giving the keepers of both places orders that no more offerings should be made in those places till the King's pleasure and your Lordship's be further known in that behalf. 66 My Lord, I have locked up and sealed the baths and wells of Buckston, that none shall enter to wash there till your Lordship's pleasure be further known; whereof I beseech your good Lordship that I may be ascertained again at your pleasure, and I shall not fail to execute your Lordship's commandments to the utmost of my little wit and power. And my Lord, as touching the opinion of the people and the fond trust they did put in those images, and the vanity of the things, this bearer can tell your 106 SIR WILLIAM BASSETT'S LETTER TO LORD CROMWELL. Lordship better at large than I can write, for he was with me at the doing of all this, and in all places, as knoweth good Jesus, whom ever have your Lordship in his precious keeping. "Written at Langley with the rude and simple hand of your assured and faithful orator, and as one and ever at your commandment, next unto the King's, to the uttermost of his little power. “WILLIAM BASSETT, KNight. "To Lord Cromwell." SECTION V. Tunstead. James Brind -- Leave Buxton. Water Swallows. ley.-Wormhill-Dale.-View from Diamond Hill.--Miller's Dale. Raven Tor.- Litton Mill-Dale. Cressbrook-Mill. Wm. Newton. Difficult Passage from Litton-Mill to Cressbrook. Scenery there. AFTER It was FTER spending a few days at Buxton, rambling about its vicinity, and sharing in the gaieties and the pleasures of the place, we left it early on a fine morning, and took the road to Fairfield. From Cheedale we had passed along the brink of the river Wye, on our way to Buxton; instead, therefore, of retracing our steps, we crossed the fields by a bye path in the direction of Great-Rocks, leaving the farm-house called Water Swallows at a short distance on our left. At this place a stream that flows through the adjacent meadows suddenly loses itself in a chasm in the earth; then pursuing its way along a subterranean passage for several miles, it again emerges into day at the base of a steep hill near Wormhill. our intention to regain the channel of the Wye at this particular place, for the purpose of passing along the margin of the river, from thence to Haddon and Rowsley. We therefore took the most direct path, through verdant meadows and lanes but little used, leaving the village of Tunstead about half a mile on our left. Here we paused for a short time to look at the birthplace of Brindley, the celebrated engineer who was employed by the Duke of Bridgewater in the improvement of that system of inland navigation now so widely extended through every part of the kingdom, and which the talents of this obscure and humble individual contributed so essentially to promote. Few men have done more to benefit society than James Brindley: he was a man of an extraordinary and independent genius: he thought, comprehended, and decided for himself; and his invincible perseverance surmounted every obstacle interposed in his way. In the prosecution of his plans the mountains may be said to have sunk before him, and the hills 108 JAMES BRINDLEY. - WALKS TO WORMHILL. and valleys were to him as plain places: he perforated the one, and he bridged the other, with apparent facility, while his contemporaries, who were astonished at the vastness of his daring, confidently predicted his failure, and anticipated his disgrace. The Duke of Bridgewater was fortunate in confiding to this self-taught engineer the execution of his designs, and Brindley found a patron in the Duke, whose wealth was commensurate with his public spirit, and who entrusted to this humble individual the entire management of those works, which, in their results, might have involved the whole of his immense estates. In the execution of the various canal establishments in which Brindley was employed, it appears to have been his primary object to avoid all interference with natural rivers, and to maintain the same undeviating level to the greatest possible extent. On this principle his designs invariably move, in bold defiance of every obstruction which nature had thrown in his way. It is a curious fact, and not unworthy of remark, that this man planned and executed the most complicated mechanism without the assistance of either drawing or model. When employed on any new undertaking, or when difficulties obtruded upon him, he would lie in bed for several successive days and nights, until he clearly comprehended the whole detail of his operations, and his mind had become familiarized to the most minute parts and the most complex movements. He then commenced his work with all the confidence of success, and he was but rarely disappointed in his calculations. The little village of Tunstead was the birth-place of Brindley: he was born in the year 1716, and died in 1772, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. From this place a short walk brought us into a narrow dale, that became gradually wider, deeper, and more picturesque, as we proceeded through it in our way to Wormhill. The lower part of this dale opens to the river Wye. Where it terminates, two beautiful streams emerge from under a limestone rock, about twenty yards apart, and, meandering amongst the long tufts of grass, form a thousand little rivulets, that flow into the Wye near the foot of Chee Tor. The course of one of the principal branches of these streams is extremely precipitous, and the water is divided into many currents by rocky fragments, covered over with mosses and lichens, and the banks are adorned with every flower that haunts the brook or dips the leaf in water. The brilliant hues here displayed |