206 THE PEAK IN THE DAYS OF QUEEN ANNE. 



of the Inns of Court or Chancery, who, as he states, " set out 

 from the metropolis the 5th September, 1709, accompanied by 

 Mr. Rogers, the gentleman to whom this discourse is dedicated." 



He was certainly a lowlander, as he describes our modest 

 hills and woodland wastes as prodigious mountains and amazing 

 deformities, and the ordinary rough roads of a hilly country 

 are invested with terrors which are truly ludicrous. It was a 

 wonder that he lived to tell the tale of his travels, so often was 

 he in danger of being " dash'd to peices " by " Horrid Rocks "' 

 or over " Stupendous Precipices." The members of the Alpine 

 and Himalayan Clubs should hide their abashed faces in pre- 

 sence of such daring temerity as our travellers displayed. We 

 are not told what Mr. Rogers thought of it all; but no doubt 

 he was consoled for all the perils he had encountered, and all 

 the fatigues he had endured, by the dedication to him of this 

 grandiloquent effusion. 



Our author shows great admiration for the works of Hobbes 

 and Cotton, and in one point he resembles both those writers, 

 in that his imagination is much stronger than his rhymes. 



Certainly our ancestors were a credulous race, and ready to 

 accept as " wonders " the most ordinary phenomena. Of the 

 seven wonders of the Peak sung by Hobbes and Cotton, 

 certainly Chatsworth is wonderful in its way, and the Peak 

 Cavern and Poole's Hole are natural curiosities, though not so 

 extensive as some of the caves at Cheddar ; but to the casual 

 critic Buxton Well is but one amongst a score of similar springs 

 in England, Mam Tor is an inconsiderable hill of loose shale, 

 Eldon Hole a small chasm in the mountain limestone, and the 

 Ebbing and Flowing Well a mere row of befouled cattle troughs*. 



But let our traveller speak for himself : — 



" Next morning we enterred Derbyshire bounded on y e South 

 by Leicestershire on y e East by Nottingham West by Stafford- 

 shire and northwards it joins to Yorkshire. The river Derwent 



* This natural example of the siphon system, which was once deemed 

 worthy of being classed amongst the wonders of the Peak, sadly needs 

 attention. Mr. Hubbersty, on behalf of the Society, is endeavouring to 

 provide for its preservation. — En. 



