ruptly from the dale, blending its topmost foliage with the horizon. A part of Sheffield, including the three churches, occupies the extreme point of the valley; beyond which the hills gradually ascend, presenting a continued succession of woodland scenery to the vicinity of Wentworth. The three architectural monuments of Hoober Stand, Keppel's Pillar, and the Mausoleum erected by Earl Fitzwilliam to the memory of the late Marquis of Rockingham, embellish the remote distance of this richly diversified prospect. Another two miles of ascending road brought us to the summit of the hill that first presents a view of the fine open valley through which the Derwent runs. What a noble prospect is here unfolded! Boldly featured hills crested with rock, retire into mid-distance: beyond, embosomed in a capacious amphitheatre of mountains, the beautiful eminences that stud the dales of Hathersage, Hope, and Castleton, display their graceful variety of outline. "With rude diversity of form "The insulated mountains tower : MONTGOMERY's Peak Mountains. The Dale of Hope looked lovely from this commanding situation. A mild gleam of sunny light fell broad upon it, and for a while it was the only illuminated spot of ground within the wide horizon: the name of this sweet vale the soft yet cheerful ray that now rested upon and lighted up its meadows, produced an association of pleasing images round which the mind lingered with delight. This is one of the lofty stations from whence the scenery of the Peak of Derbyshire assumes an appearance of grandeur; and the sudden change we had experienced from one species of landscape to another, made the contrast more forcibly felt. We had just enjoyed a sweeping and highly diversified view of fine flat country, which included many parts of the counties of Nottingham, Derby, York, and Lincoln, every where cultivated like a garden, enriched with the fairest park and woodland scenes, and ornamented with some of the most magnificent mansions of our nobility. The hand of industry was busily employed even in this COLOURING OF PEAK LANDSCAPES. 17 rude place, where stone walls, intersecting each other at right angles, have obtruded on the wildness of these moorland wastes, and robbed them of a beauty which they once possessed. In a few years they will wear a different appearance, and corn will wave where the yellow gorse and the purple heath now flourish; and the oak, the ash, the elm, and the pine, will each contribute to enrich and ennoble the scene. To accomplish so important an object, a society has been formed in Sheffield, for the purpose of purchasing and planting those parts of the Derbyshire moors which lie nearest to the town, and their plan includes the district which has excited the preceding observations. The establishment consists of a limited number of shares of fifty pounds each, no person being permitted to subscribe for more than ten. The management is confided to a committee, and they annually plant a stipulated number of acres. Derbyshire was new to my companion; and, feeling ourselves now completely within the boundaries of the Peak, we paused awhile to contemplate the country around us. Strangely insensible to the beauties of nature must that man be who can approach these hills with indifference, and unmoved behold the varying and graceful outline of form which they occasionally exhibit, the subtle admixture of light and tint that play upon their surfaces when near, and the soft blue misty colouring which pervades them in distance. Yet the mountains of Derbyshire, remotely seen, are not always distinguished by this pleasing and shadowy hue. When the black clouds that crown their summits portend a storm, they wear a darker colour, and display a more awful aspect Even at sunset I have sometimes beheld them invested with a purple tint, so firm and deeply toned, that, with the exception of the great landscape painter, Turner, who delights in the strong opposition of light and shadow, and in those sublime effects which gloom and storm produce, but few artists could be found hardy enough to transmit to canvass so striking and singular an appearance, unless they hesitated not to incur the imputation of having Every turn in the road now varied the picture, and every object that presented itself attracted attention, and charmed by its novelty. The abrupt knoll, the rocky projection, and the broken foreground, are not often defective in picturesque 18 DERWENT DALE AND FROGGAT EDGE. beauty; and, when combined with the heathy hills of Derbyshire, they sometimes produce a landscape in which the parts have a dependance on each other, where the same general character prevails, and where nothing glaringly incongruous intervenes to disturb the harmony of the composition. On a flat plot of ground, contiguous to the situation we now occupied, several piles of stones formerly stood, which were rudely built in a conical form, without lime or cement: they were removed about fifty years ago, and used for the purpose of repairing the road, when it was discovered that they contained urns or vessels of earthen-ware, in which some human bones were deposited: they were placed at regular distances, and, in connection with each other, they described nearly a circle: they were the cemeteries of the ashes of the dead; and one cannot but regret that their hallowed character, and their antiquity, have not preserved them from violation. I recollect once observing some uncouth heaps of stones of a similar construction, in a wild and very singular dell in the neighbourhood of Bretton, about half way between Highlow and Eyam : they greatly excited my curiosity; but, at that time, I had neither the means nor the opportunity to ascertain their contents, and information is extremely difficult of attainment in the Peak of Derbyshire. The Lows and Barrows that so frequently occur in this now cheerless district, may probably justify the supposition, that it was once inhabited by a more numerous population, and that these naked hills and bårren moors have heretofore been fertile places; a conjecture which may require more particular attention, when traversing those parts of Derbyshire where these burial-places of the earlier ages are more frequently found. The road from the summit of East Moor is carried with a gentle descent along the brow of the hill to a steep rocky knoll, which may be regarded as the commencement of that lofty ridge of mountains denominated Froggat Edge; then 'crossing the Derwent, near the village of Calver, it proceeds to Stoney Middleton. The view from this rocky elevation, in grandeur and sublimity, is unsurpassed in Derbyshire: indeed it would be difficult to find in one short mile of road, in any other part of the kingdom, a succession of scenery more richly and beauti fully varied than is here presented. The hills which form the capacious dale of the Derwent, even when individually IMPERFECTION OF DESCRIPTIVE TERMS. 19 considered, are noble objects: they are beautiful in outline; and, in connection with each other, they exhibit all the grace and majesty which rock, and wood, and heath, and verdure, can possibly possess, when spread over a long chain of hills, sometimes rising boldly and abruptly into lofty and magnificent masses, at others declining into easy dales. The banks of the Derwent, from Stoke upwards, and throughout the whole of its windings, as far as the eye can trace its course, is every where luxuriantly wooded. On one side of the river the highest eminences are turreted with broken crags of rock, which is the grand marking feature of every lofty projection from Froggat to Mill-stone Edge, and from thence to the vicinity of Hathersage; beyond which the blue misty hills of the Peak present a succession of faint and shadowy outline, scarcely distinguishable from the clouds of heaven. He who undertakes, in passing through a country, to describe the scenes he admires, and who hopes to excite a correspondent picture in the minds of his readers, will often have to lament the inefficiency of the means he is under the necessity of employing. The pencil, by an accurate delineation of forms, may speak to the eye, and the canvass may glow with the vivid tints of nature; but it is not through the medium of words, with whatever felicity they may be selected and combined, that an adequate idea of the finest features of a landscape can be communicated. The language of description is likewise so very confined, and its phrases so extremely few, that similar appearance will often suggest a similarity of expression; hence the choicest terms become tiresome from repetition, and the impression they produce faint and imperfect. FROM the village of Froggat we crossed the bridge to Stoke. The day was now declining; and as it was our intention to visit Eyam before we took up our lodgings for the night, we clambered to the top of the mountain terrace which connects the high grounds near Stoke with that interesting and pleasant village. The The Peak of Derbyshire has here a new character; the wildness of its native features is adorned with the ornaments of art, and the general austerity of its aspect is softened into beauty. Immediately below, sloping to the brink of the river, waves the thick and ample foliage of Stoke; within whose shades the Derwent for awhile retires, only to burst again upon the sight with increased force and beauty. rocky chasm called Middleton Dale lay on our right: the hills near Calver rose majestically from the valley. Their base was lost in smoke, which, issuing in clouds from the lime-kilns below, had spread like an obscuring fog over this part of the landscape, where it seemed to rest, while a mild and steady light played on their summits. Scattered down the vale, which is distinguished by the beautiful meanderings of the Derwent, several little villages and groups of cottages. appear. In mid-distance the extensive woods that surround the splendid mansion of Chatsworth, backed with the hills which form one side of Darley Dale, stretch across the valley. The extent of the scene, the features by which it is marked, the time of the day, and the peculiar circumstances under which it was beheld, all conspired to impress upon it a character of grandeur. |