one use in storing this vast room with portraits, even though as works of art they do not individually possess much merit: there is no being amongst these numerous resemblances of men without receiving serious and salutary impressions; men who, while they "strutted and fretted" away their little hour of human existence, attracted the attention and obtained the honours and regards of mankind, possessed splendid palaces, and had a crowd of followers to do them homage, but who now have no habitation but the grave. It is not the skill of the artist alone that imparts to these portraits their most powerful interest, but the associations they excite, and the train of thinking and tone of feeling produced on beholding them. We have here the likenesses of many dignified and noble personages, and of some who are known only by name, or remembered perhaps for something that had better be forgotten. Here is the picture of Henry the Eighth, by Holbein, which I have previously noticed in my observations on Chatsworth; —of Elizabeth, the arbitrary daughter of this haughty monarch, who, whatever were her excellencies in some respects, one cannot love. Near the resemblance of this cruel queen is the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, not in the zenith of her beauty, but with a countenance faded, and marked with grief and suffering. Here too is Stephen Gardiner, the persecuting Bishop of Winchester, and others, likewise, who revive unpleasant recollections, and whose portraits are beheld with emotions remote from love and veneration. In this gallery there are some good pictures of the Devonshire family, one of the most splendid of which is the long-armed duke on horseback. His horse is richly caparisoned, and he is himself gaily dressed, as if for the purpose of exhibition. The picture is, nevertheless, a valuable production; it is well painted, and displays an accurate portraiture of the splendid costume in which the duke sometimes appeared. The most pleasing effort of the pencil which I noticed at Hardwick is a fancy portrait of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, the mother of the present duke. She is standing amongst the clouds in the character of Diana, with the crescent beaming on her forehead. Advancing from out the dark starry sky, the clouds appear to recede before her, and to be lighted up by the effulgence that emanates from her. There is a fine poetic feeling in this picture, and the whole is exquisitely managed.

Hardwick Hall was another of the prisons of the Queen of

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MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AT HARDWICK.

Scots, and some of her needle-work is still preserved with great care, particularly the covers of a set of chairs, a counterpane, and the hangings of a bed, all richly and beautifully embroidered. Mrs. Ann Radcliffe, the author of the Mysteries of Udolpho, &c. &c. in her Northern Tour, when speaking of Hardwick, observes, that "the second floor is that which gives its chief interest to this edifice, as nearly all the apartments were allotted to Mary, and the furniture is known by other proofs than its appearance to remain as she left it." From Hardwick we proceeded to Bolsover, which I shall make the subject of the last section of my excursions in Derbyshire.

で

SECTION X.

Walk from Hardwick to Bolsover. Bolsover. The Buckle Manufacture formerly there. Bolsover Church.-The Dead Robin. Bolsover Castle. ·Ancient Fountain.— Historical Notice of Bolsover Castle.-The Terrace, Rampart, and Watch Towers.- King Charles' Visit to Bolsover.—Renishaw Hall.— Return to Sheffield, — Retrospection.—Conclusion.

A PEDESTRIAN ramble of a few miles through Hardwick Park, and by Glapwell, the seat of B. Hallows, Esq. brought us to Bolsover; and I have not, in any of my excursions, found a more delightful walk. A foot-path is carried along the brow of a hill, which overlooks the beautiful mansion and grounds of Sutton: on the right, situated at one extremity of the same eminence, is Bolsover Castle: on the left, the towers of Hardwick Hall, rising majestically over the surrounding woods, occupy the other: in the middle of this graceful sweep of hill lies the village of Palterton. The houses are all ranged on one side of the road; the other is open to a wide expanse of valley, rich in culture, and beautifully adorned with nearly every object that can give a charm to landscape.

BOLSOVER is a populous village only; it was once a market town; and it still retains many indications of an importance which has passed away. The inhabitants are now almost entirely employed in agricultural pursuits: formerly a considerable manufacture of spurs and buckles was carried on in this place. These were made in a very superior manner of the best malleable iron, and then hardened on the surface only, that they might admit of a fine polish. The process of hardening used by the buckle-makers of Bolsover, is technically called case-hardening, and is well known amongst those who are connected with the manufacture of articles of steel and iron; to those who are not it may be useful to intimate that iron, properly so called, is incapable of receiving a very

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MONUMENTS IN BOLSOVER CHURCH.

high polish; the buckles and spurs were therefore formed and filed into shape when in the state of iron only; the exterior surface was then converted into steel by a peculiar process, in which burnt bones, and ashes made from the leather of old shoes, were generally used. The manufactured article was now internally iron, and therefore not liable to be easily broken, but the exterior surface was converted into the purest steel, and fitted to receive the most brilliant polish that can possibly be imparted to this beautiful metal.

The land in the neighbourhood of Bolsover is very good, and the rents reasonable, not more on an average than twenty shillings an acre: the farmers are therefore many of them in easy and comfortable circumstances. Those who are esteemed the best managers pursue the following routine; they lay down their land in fallow every four or five years, and generally get a crop of turnips at the end of the fallow; they have then, first year, wheat, second, clover, the third wheat again, and the fourth oats.

Bolsover church is but a plain and homely structure without, but within it is neat and even handsome. In a small chapel, which has been added to the original building, there are some costly monuments; one of them contains a group of figures in alabaster, and all the parts are richly and elaborately ornamented: another to the memory of H. Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, is composed of different coloured materials, chiefly marbles. In design it is architectural: the columns that form part of the composition are lofty, and two figures in white marble occupy the pediment they support: emblematic devices, honorary inscriptions, and a variety of decorative sculpture, are scattered about this splendid monument, My visit here was in autumn: at this season of the year the red-breast begins to leave the fields and the woods, and resort to the hedges and trees of the cottage garden: there he warbles forth his matins and his vespers amongst the habitations of men: grown more familiar, he enters their dwellings and picks his food from their tables. A robin at Bolsover had flown into the chancel of the church, and unable to obtain subsistence, where, perhaps, there was neither a crumb of bread, nor a living thing besides himself, he had perched upon this sumptuous monument, chaunted forth his own melancholy requiem, and died amonst the tombs of the noble and the great. When I found him, life seemed to have only just departed; his plumage was fresh and unruffled, and

he occupied a situation on the monument as if he had been a part of the design of the artist: no red-breast had ever a more splendid sepulchre. A few months afterwards, when looking over the museum of a friend, I regretted that I had not brought away and preserved this bird, to complete his collection. "Here," said he, 66 you see every British bird, from the eagle to the wren, with the exception of the robin - him I can catch and kill at any time whenever I want him, but he shall live until then."

The church-yard at Bolsover is a remarkably clean and neat looking place. The grave stones are placed in an upright position at the head of the grave, and many of them contain devices and inscriptions that refer to the uncertainty of life, and the evanescent nature of all human enjoyments. This resting-place of the departed is capacious, and when I saw it, it was covered with a fresh and cheerful verdure. The turf is here but rarely disturbed, and when it is, the removal appears to be done with care, and, as soon as the body is interred, the grass sod is again laid upon the place.

BOLSOVER CASTLE, the place we next visited, occupies the plain of a rocky hill, that rises abruptly from the meadows. This building is of great extent, and, from the elevated situation it possesses, it is a land-mark for the country round. The various parts of which the structure denominated Bolsover Castle is composed, were built at different periods. The northeast end, which was erected by Sir Charles Cavendish, about the year 1613, is the oldest; it is now occupied. A broad flight of steps leads to the entrance, and over the door is a kneeling figure of a Hercules, who supports on his shoulders a heavy balcony, that seems to oppress him with its weight; two lions sculptured in stone stand by his side. The interior of this portion of Bolsover Castle exhibits a curious specimen of the domestic arrangements, and accommodations of the age when it was built. The rooms are small, and the walls are wainscotted and fancifully inlaid and painted. The ceilings of the best apartments are carved and gilt, and nearly the whole of the floors are coated with plaster. In the pillar-hall there are some old portraits of little or no value, and the labours of Hercules are painted in different compartments. The starchamber has been richly gilt and carved, and the walls are decorated with the portraits of twelve Roman emperors. The only comfortable apartment that I observed in this old structure, is now called the drawing-room, a name it has recently