504 A WALK THROUGH THE VIA GELLIA. 



from this road alone would repay a long walk or ride, but 

 there are richer splendours in store for us. Middleton is 

 at length reached, and one face of the Black Rocks is 

 prominently in view. Middleton struck us as a village of 

 poor dusky houses, but without any signs of deep poverty. 

 The cottagers had few exotics, but many wild flowers 

 in their gardens, among which the periwinkle and wild 

 chamomile seemed the favourites ; the mezereon and the 

 holly were of more than common luxuriance. 



There is something exhilarating in the friendly 

 recognition you meet with from everyone in these out-of- 

 the-way places. It seems to say, "We are glad to see 

 you, and proud of the beauties of our district, which 

 we see by your faces you admire." In all thinly-peopled 

 districts there is at least the semblance of a universal 

 brotherhood. In large towns, on the contrary, fashion 

 makes it unfashionable to know even your next door 

 neighbour. 



The Black Rocks are neither high nor difficult of 

 ascent, but from the top there is a magnificent and 

 extensive view the village of Middleton on the left, the 

 town of Cromford lying immediately beneath, and a 

 glorious and apparently illimitable valley stretching away 

 on the right hand. " The finest view in England, sir," 

 said a respectable man in rustic garb. We thought 

 probably so as we gazed, and the conviction grew upon us 

 that it was past our powers of description, and therefore 

 we shall not attempt to describe it. The breezes, the first 

 real breezes we had inhaled for months, felt peculiarly 

 refreshing, and we lingered till the descending sun re- 

 minded us that we were on foot and far from our night's 

 resting place. The top of the Black Rocks is decorated 

 with Scotch pines, their bare tough roots fantastically 

 interlaced on the surface of the ground, while behind 

 is a wood or forest of firs. The faces of the rocks are bare, 

 black, perpendicular, showing from the base as if of 

 stupendous size. The base is adorned with trees, beech 



