SECTION V.

Morning at Matlock.---Via Gellia.---Hopton.---Sir John Gell.---Carsington.---Rocks in the Vicinity of Brassington.---Derbyshire Trossacks.--Tissington.---Ancient Custom of Dressing Wells with Flowers.---Night Walk to Ashborne.

WE spent the night at Matlock, and the following morning proceeded on our excursion. When we left this romantic place, the woods that lie embosomed within the deep hollow of the dale were vocal with the song of birds, that were warbling forth their matin orisons to the new-born day. The rush of the Derwent was accompanied with a prolonged and softened sound, that, mingled with the lively strains of these feathered choristers, gave a richer and mellower tone to their wild but harmonious chantings. We quitted Matlock with regret---passed through the artificial opening that has been made in Scarthing Rock---left the greyhound-inn at Cromford, on our right--and entered into a deep but narrow dale that leads to Bonsal and Via Gellia. A scene near the mill, at the entrance into Bonsal Dale, particularly attracted our attention: rocks, and hills, and wood, and water, are here most happily combined. I once heard the younger Reinagle observe, "that he never met with a more picturesque composition in nature than is here presented."

Following the route we had prescribed to ourselves, we left the road

to Bonsal on our right, and passed along Via Gellia, on our way to Hopton. I entered on this classically denominated road without any pleasurable anticipations. The recollections of a former journey obtruded upon me, and I experienced a tediousness of feeling, which could only be ascribed to disappointed expectations on a former occasion. It was then the first week in September, but the weather was as hot as in July; not a cloud was seen in the heavens, and a mid-day sun poured a flood of light and heat into the dales through which Via Gellia is carried. All was glare and flutter to the eye; not a spot of shadow intervened to afford a moment's shelter from the warm rays of a clear sun, which a dusty limestone road rendered almost unbearable. Under such circumstances hardly any scenery could be tolerable; I therefore passed along a road celebrated for its scenery, heartily wishing myself in any other part of Derbyshire, and wondering at the taste that had discovered any thing like beauty in such a place. Thus the mind throws its own sickly or healthful hues over the objects of its contemplation, and wraps them in gloom, or adorns them with loveliness, agreeably to the emotions by which it is influenced---as illhumour dictates, or cheerful thoughts prevail. I now beheld the scenery of Via Gellia under more fortunate circumstances, and with other feelings; cloud and sunshine, a gleam of light and then a passing shadow, moved over the hills---increased their natural beauty--and made one forget the monotony of form and clothing by which they are distinguished. High sloping acclivities, chiefly covered with hazels, and sparingly sprinkled with dwarf oak, and ash, mark each side of the road: hence every turn that it makes, instead of a new scene, presents only a repetition of the past---and the parts as they succeed are so similar in character and appearance, that we felt as if we were walking the same ground over again, and made no sensible progress

Approach to Hopton.

61 in our journey. A gradual ascent of a few miles at length brought us to the top of the hills that separate Hopton from Matlock. Whichever way we looked, the country was beautiful. The road we had passed was marked by a continued range of eminences, the outlines of which played into, and were blended with each other, in pleasing and almost endless variety. We now discovered that we had passed through Via Gellia in a direction that prevented us from fully appreciating its picturesque qualities. In ascending towards Hopton, our view was bounded by the hills that closely environed us around; descending, the prospect is every where varied and full of beauty: the different eminences amongst which the road winds are seen rising behind each other---their summits enveloped in a soft aërial tint---and gradually becoming more shadowy in form, and indistinct in outline, as they recede into distance, and are lost among others still more remote. I one evening passed on the outside of a carriage along this romantic road to Matlock. We shot rapidly through the dales: the quick succession of scenery, and the frequent shifting of the hills before us, which seemed to change their positions at every turn we made, together with the rich tone of colouring which a declining sun spread over them, produced an effect almost magical. The whole soon passed away, and left an impression on the mind more like the recollection of a dream than the remembrance of any thing that had actually occurred.

Approaching Hopton, the scenery of the country assumes a different character---the upper stratum is still lime, but the few rocks and hills that occur are diminutive, when compared with those we had left behind us; yet, as a mineral district, it is interesting and important---and immediately in the neighbourhood of Hopton it is pic

62

Sir John Gell.

turesque and beautiful. As we descended the hill towards the village a deep dale lay before us, and the elevated grounds on our right were crested with wood. The road we were pursuing was dark with the shadows of closely-tangled boughs and spreading foliage; and our right was thickly beset with some of the loftiest trees in the county of Derby, between whose tall trunks we occasionally caught a glimpse of verdant slopes and rocky knolls beyond, on which the light played vividly and many a lovely picture of this description we beheld as we descended the hill to Hopton. Emerging from the gloom in which we had been involved, we came upon a more open country, over which Hopton Hall enjoys a delightful prospect. This pleasant mansion, the residence of Philip Gell, Esq. M. P. is a good modern structure, and finely situated at the foot of a steep eminence, amongst a thick mass of luxuriant wood, intermingled with jutting craggs and verdant knolls. The Hopton estate has been in the family of the GELLS upwards of two centuries. In 1642, John Gell was created a baronet by Charles the First, but he did not, however, attach himself to the King's party on this account. He was indeed the first individual of consequence in the county of Derby, who took up arms in the cause of parliament. He was an active and zealous partizan, and his example influenced the determinations of his neighbours so entirely, that Lord Clarendon observes, "there was in Derbyshire no visible party for the king, the whole country being under the influence of Sir John Gell." After the termination of the war, he complained of the treatment he had received from the very power whose cause he had espoused, whose battles he had fought, and whose exertions he had assisted with large contributions from his own purse, greatly to the injury of his fortune. He likewise sustained considerable loss when his house was plundered by the enemy,

for which he received no compensation. In 1650, this enterprising officer had serious charges preferred against him: he was tried for misprision of treason, and was sentenced, by the high court of justice, to be imprisoned for life, and his estates to be confiscated; but two years afterwards he obtained the remission of his sentence. With the third baronet, Sir Philip Gell, who died in 1719, the title became extinct.

Situated close to Hopton is the village of Carsington, one side of which is built under some limestone rocks, whose grey crags jut over the tops of the houses; but there is nothing in the place that a tourist would stop to notice. Leaving Carsington, we enquired our way to Brassington; and, strange as it may appear, the man of whom we asked the question, although he was a resident in the neighbourhood, told us he did not know such a place." We then enquired the name of the village we had left: he answered, " Carson, to be sure." ---“ And what place do we come at next?"--" Brasson,” he replied. These answers solved the mystery; the three syllables were cut down into two, which we found was the customary pronunciation of the country;---we were therefore prepared for these contractions in future.

Shortly after leaving Carsington, we crossed into the fields called Brassington pastures. In these pastures, and on the higher grounds north of the village, several curious specimens of rock scenery are to be found. In some places, insulated masses rise out of the ground, assuming a variety of fantastic forms; in others, a ridge of bare limestone crags crests an eminence with a line of rocky arrows, into which it is split and divided. These innumerable spires, which look like a