1810.] Letters of « Wanderer through England and Wales. 309 
unfinished. It had been meant to form 
a cross, but has never been completed ; 
and the tower stands on the north side, 
which was purposed to be elevated from 
the middle of the building. The inns, of 
which there are several in Ashburn, are 
good; and there is a considerable lace 
manufactory carried an in the town and 
neighbourhood, Sir Brook. Bootheby 
has a beautiful seat adjoining the town, 
which strangers often visit. 
On the succeeding morning, having 
breakfasted, we began our journey back 
to Buxton; and when about a mile from 
Ashburn, we quitted the turnpike-road, 
and sending on the carriages to meet us 
at a particular spot some miles distant, 
we proceeded on foot to the entrance of 
the celebrated Dove-dale, a narrow 
winding valley, to which a guide con- 
ducted us, and where we found ourselves 
enclosed betwixt two rocky ridges varied 
in height, and diversified by an assem- 
blage of broken craggs and jutting preci- 
pices, partly shaded over by groupes of 
trees shooting from their crevices, and 
hanging fromthe summits of the frowning 
cliffs, or wholly hid from sight by thick 
embowering woods; while, at the bottom 
of the dell, the Dove winds amidst an 
infinity of shrubs, and broken pieces of 
rocks, sometimes assuming a more bold 
appearance as it dashes over stones and 
fragments that impede the progress of its 
waters; at others, smoothly flowing over 
ats narrow channel with gentle murmur, 
reflecting the varied colours of the pen- 
dant boughs that droop and dip their 
beautiful Juxuriant foliage in the lucid 
stream. On the rocky boundaries of the 
dale, some wonderfully picturesque pre- 
cipices rise in wild confusion, and give 
added beauty to the scene: in these, 
there are several arches formed as it were 
by the hand of art, but which, upon 
ascending the steeps to examine, we 
were satisfied were wholly the work of 
nature, and only serving to render the 
scenery around more beautifully pictu- 
resque, 
The walk we here enjoyed was indeed 
delightful; and we were ail enchanted 
with the whole of our excursion. The 
weather was charming, the air was clear, 
and the softened light thrown on the dif- 
ferent objects from the sky, contributed 
with the mildness of the air, to “send 
mto the heart a summer feeling.” The 
sun occasionally only seeped through 
white and slowly-sailing clouds fioating 
upon the azure horizon, and from the 
parual gleams it cast upon the beautiful 
intermixture of woods and rocks, and 
patches of softest verdure, the picture was 
one which could not fail to inspire the 
most pleasing sensations, and wild, 
silent, and solemn as the scene appeared, 
we were inexpressibly delighted with it. 
No trace of human babitation was seen; 
no sound was heard, save that of the 
rushing water, as it played amongst the 
broken pieces of the rocks; we seemed 
as if shut out from human intercourse ; 
‘anda fertile, romantic imagination, might 
have formed a variety of pictures, to 
charm the senses, and create ideal struc- 
tures of felicity. 
At the extremity of the dale, we found 
the carriages in waiting; when, seating 
ourselves again in them, we were shortly 
conveyed over the excellent lime-stone 
roads, for which that part of the country 
is remarkable, and reached our quarters 
at the hotel early in the evening, when 
we concluded the day’s amusement by a 
visit to the theatre, and laughed away a 
couple of hours at the representation of 
a popular comedy, and the buffooneries 
of a no less fashionable farce. 
My stay at Buxton being now com- 
pleted, and my anxiety to pursue my me- 
ditated wanderings returning as the pe- 
riod of departure drew nearer, I deter- 
mined to begin my journey to the north- 
ward ; and, two days after my return from 
Matlock, bidding adieu to the friends in 
whose society I had passed some very 
pleasurable moments, and the newly= 
formed acquaintances whom had found 
agreeable during my stay at Buxton, I 
proceeded across the mountainous and 
dreary tract that intervenes between that 
place and the populous smoky town of 
Shefheld; a tract so bleak and uninter- 
esting as any you can form an idea of, 
excepting for a little space in the vale 
where stands the village of Middleton, 
the approach to which upon the Buxton 
side, is singularly wild and romantic, the 
road passing throuvh a very narrow dell 
of nearly a mile in length, the boundaries 
of which are principally composed of 
rocky precipices of a greyish colour, 
formed into a variety of fantastic shapes, 
and in many places resembling the an- 
cient turrets of a castellated mansion, or 
a ruined fortress; while,broken fragments 
scattered on the ground, give added 
force to the idea of their having once 
belonged to the dilapidated monuments 
of grandeur that imagination leads the 
observer to fancy have at some far dis- 
tant period surmounted the cragey 
boundaries of the way. Though less 
talked 
a ae 
SS EE 
