136 



AUDUBON 



to go first, but we were attracted by the ancient Gothic 

 edifice. It seemed to me a sort of illusion that made me 

 doubt whether I lived or dreamed. When I think how fre- 

 quently our plans have been laid to come here, and how 

 frequently defeated, it is no great wonder that I find it 

 hard to believe I am here at last. This morning at break- 

 fast. Lady Rathbone spoke of coming to Matlock, and in 

 a few moments all was arranged. She, with her niece, 

 Mrs. Dockray, and Miss Hannah, with several of the 

 children and myself, should leave in two chaises at noon. 

 I spent the time till then in going over Mr. Dockray's 

 wool mill. He procures the wool rough from the sheep, 

 and it is cloth when he disposes of it; he employs about 

 seventy weavers, and many other people in the various 

 departments. I was much interested in the dyeing appara- 

 tus. I packed up a few of my drawings to take with me. 

 We started, seven of us, in two chaises ; all was new, and 

 therefore interesting. We reached Stockport, a manufac- 

 turing town lying between two elongated hillsides, where 

 v/e changed horses, and again at Chapel En-La-Frith, 

 thirty miles from the point of departure. I saw a good 

 deal of England that I admired very much. The railways 

 were new to me, but the approach of the mountains damp- 

 ened my spirits ; the aridity of the soil, the want of 

 hedges, and of course of birds, the scarcity of cattle, and 

 the superabundance of stone walls cutting the hills in all 

 sorts of distorted ways, made me a very unsocial companion, 

 but the comfortable inn, and our lively evening has quite 

 restored my cheerfulness. 



Matlock, October 12. This morning I was out soon after 

 sunrise ; again I walked round the church, remarked its 

 decaying state, and that of all the thatched roofs of the 

 humble cottages. I ascended the summit of the hill, cross- 

 ing a bridge wi.ich spanned a winding stream, and had a 

 lovely view of the country just lighted by the sun's first 

 beams, and returned to the inn, the Rutland Arms, in 



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