1810.] Letters of a Wanderer through England ate Vales. 
‘ 
deserved punishment much more than 
Actz#on. 
mon fable originated in the hydrophobia 
infecting his dogs. Acton, and Peep- 
ing Tom of Coventry! There is a very 
fine medallion in Pellerin of this ad- 
venture; some of them-are very bad: 
that in Maffei, exhibits him in Roman 
military costume; possibly because the 
Orchomenians, after his death, made him 
a hero, and raised to him heroic monu- 
ments. Now the true Greek costume of 
heroes, is, to make an Hibernicism, nu- 
dity, with much vein and muscle. 
No. 46. A terminal head of Bacchus 
and Herculesunited. Very deep reasons 
have been assigned for this union. Vos- 
sius de Lisieux says, that Bacchus was a 
theological deity, of the same nature as 
the Thebun Hercules, &c. Froret adds, 
that Hereules and Bacchus were gods of 
the first order, the soul of the world, &c. 
Perhaps these ¢éermini may not be mere 
caprices of the artist,/but have an alle- 
gorical allusion. a 
T. D. Fosprooke. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LETTERS OF A WANDERER, 
LETTERII.—T7o a Briend. 
Y last would inform you of my 
Ni visit to Poole’s Hole; I have now 
to acquaint you with my further ramble 
over an extensive hill that rises at the 
Back of the before-named cavern, in 
which there are a number of curiously- 
coustructed dwellings, infimtely better 
worth looking at than the gloomy hole 
we had recently guitted.. They are 
formed in what have formerly been lime- 
kilns, the sides of which having hardened 
by time and oft repeated rains, serve as 
the walls of these extraordinary habita- 
tions, the roofs-being supported by poles. 
fixed in the ground in front, while the 
other end of such rafters as they have, 
Jean on the bank: or wall.at the back. 
* Each het, or cabjn, contains two rooms, 
jn general remarkable for cleanliness, 
and really a greater appearance of com- 
fort and convenience, than could be at 
first imagined’ in such wretched places, 
~ Fhe hill on which they are erected, has 
#n astonishing appearance ata little dis- 
tance: jnnumerable dwellings, from 
whence simoke is seen issuing — perpe- 
tually, and which looking only like heaps 
. of rubbish, may almost be mistaken for 
miniature volcanoes, opening on its bare 
uncultivated heights; forssurely no per- 
son could imagine that above a couple of 
hundred human beings. actually exist in 
In all probability, this com-— 
211 
these abodes, and, on a nearer view of 
them, appear to wear the countenances 
of contentment and cheerfulness, But 
so it is; and thus we behold another in- 
stance added to the many already undar - 
our knowledge, of how wonderful is the. 
wisdom and the power of. Providence ; 
how “God tempers the wind to the 
shorn lamb,” and bestows even on the 
meanest of his creatures, that happiness 
aud ease of mind, the more favoured sons 
and daaghters of opulence and luxury 
too frequently destroy in theirs own bo- 
soms, by the wilful abuse of his blessings, 
and their own capricious dispesitions. 
The poar people who inhabit. these 
ash-hillocks, or ashy-hillocks as they are 
sometines called, sometimes gain a trifie 
for the relief of their wants, by the sale 
of some small pieces of crystal and 
petrifaction they gather in the environs, 
and present to the notice of those whom 
curiosity, or the idea of a frolic, induce 
to pay a visit to their wonderful dwel- 
lings. 
Having heard ofa famous Well called 
the “‘Ebbing and Flowing Well,” a few 
miles distant from Buxton, I one day 
Joined a partyin a ride to visit it. We 
accordingly pursued the way across a 
dreary moorland tract of hilly country, 
about five miles; when, on reaching the 
spot we sought, we found only a very - 
common-looking spring of water, ree 
ceived into a bason of about a yard 
square, which occasionally fills and empe 
ties itself to the astonishment of js. 
norant and superstitious observers, who 
Imagine it the work of some supernatural 
power, and never enquire further into the 
cause of its.appearance; which, in rea- 
lity, am told, arises from a. bason beine 
hid’ beneath the surface of the earth, 
which, on filling, disgorges its contents, 
and is avain replenished as before, Ag 
there was nothing in the appearance of 
this place calculated to induce us to 
prolong our stay, and having neither in- 
clination, nor sufficient curiosity to pe- 
netrate further into its mysteries, we left: 
its desolate melancholy precincts, and 
by a circuitous route arrived at the road, 
leading from Middleton to Buxton, when 
aliyhting onan height called Chee Tar, 
we gave our horses to the servants, and 
after a short walk across a kind of com. 
smon, round which there area few cot. 
tages picturesquely situated, we de. 
scended a steep and rugged bank, aid 
} epee 
SUNK aS It were at once into # contracted 
dell, through which a pretty rivulet winds 
its devious way, aud in front beheld an 
lnmen:e 
