Dr. Darwin's[1163]. I went again to Mrs. Aston's. She was sorry to part.
JULY 9.
Breakfasted at Mr. Garrick's.
Visited Miss Vyse[1164].
Miss Seward.
Went to Dr. Taylor's.
I read a little on the road in Tully's _Epistles_ and _Martial_.
Mart. 8th, 44, 'lino pro limo[1165].'
JULY 10.
Morning, at church. Company at dinner.
JULY 11.
At Ham[1166]. At Oakover. I was less pleased with Ham than when I saw it
first, but my friends were much delighted.
JULY 12.
At Chatsworth. The Water willow. The cascade shot out from many spouts.
The fountains[1167]. The water tree[1168]. The smooth floors in the
highest rooms. Atlas, fifteen hands inch and half[1169].
River running through the park. The porticoes on the sides support two
galleries for the first floor.
My friends were not struck with the house. It fell below my ideas of the
furniture. The staircase is in the corner of the house. The hall in the
corner the grandest room, though only a room of passage.
On the ground-floor, only the chapel and breakfast-room, and a small
library; the rest, servants' rooms and offices[1170].
A bad inn.
JULY 13.
At Matlock.
JULY 14.
At dinner at Oakover; too deaf to hear, or much converse. Mrs. Gell.
The chapel at Oakover. The wood of the pews grossly painted. I could not
read the epitaph. Would learn the old hands.
JULY 15.
At Ashbourn. Mrs. Diot and her daughters came in the morning. Mr. Diot
dined with us. We visited Mr. Flint.
[Greek: To proton Moros, to de deuteron ei en Erasmos,
To triton ek Mouson stemma Mikullos echei.][1171]
JULY 16.
At Dovedale, with Mr. Langley[1172] and Mr. Flint. It is a place that
deserves a visit; but did not answer my expectation. The river is small,
the rocks are grand. Reynard's Hall is a cave very high in the rock; it
goes backward several yards, perhaps eight. To the left is a small
opening, through which I crept, and found another cavern, perhaps four
yards square; at the back was a breach yet smaller, which I could not
easily have entered, and, wanting light, did not inspect.
I was in a cave yet higher, called Reynard's Kitchen. There is a rock
called the Church, in which I saw no resemblance that could justify
the name.
Dovedale is about two miles long. We walked towards the head of the
Dove, which is said to rise about five miles above two caves called the
Dog-holes, at the end of Dovedale.
In one place, where the rocks approached, I proposed to build an arch
from rock to rock over the stream, with a summer-house upon it.
The water murmured pleasantly among the stones.
I thought that the heat and exercise mended my hearing. I bore the
fatigue of the walk, which was very laborious, without inconvenience.
There were with us Gilpin[1173] and Parker[1174]. Having heard of this
place before, I had formed some imperfect idea, to which it did not
answer. Brown[1175] says he was disappointed. I certainly expected a
larger river where I found only a clear quick brook. I believe I had
imaged a valley enclosed by rocks, and terminated by a broad expanse
of water.
He that has seen Dovedale has no need to visit the Highlands.
In the afternoon we visited old Mrs. Dale.
JULY 17.
Sunday morning, at church.
Afternoon, at Mr. Diot's.
JULY 18.
Dined at Mr. Gell's[1176].
JULY 19.
We went to Kedleston[1177] to see Lord Scarsdale's new house, which is
very costly, but ill contrived. The hall is very stately, lighted by
three skylights; it has two rows of marble pillars, dug, as I hear from
Langley, in a quarry of Northamptonshire; the pillars are very large and
massy, and take up too much room; they were better away. Behind the hall
is a circular saloon, useless, and therefore ill contrived.
The corridors that join the wings to the body are mere passages through
segments of circles. The state bed-chamber was very richly furnished.
The dining parlour was more splendid with gilt plate than any that I
have seen. There were many pictures. The grandeur was all below. The
bedchambers were small, low, dark, and fitter for a prison than a house
of splendour. The kitchen has an opening into the gallery, by which its
heat and its fumes are dispersed over the house. There seemed in the
whole more cost than judgment.
We went then to the silk mill at Derby[1178], where I remarked a
particular manner of propagating motion from a horizontal to a
vertical wheel.
We were desired to leave the men only two shillings. Mr. Thrale's bill
at the inn for dinner was eighteen shillings and tenpence.
At night I went to Mr. Langley's, Mrs. Wood's, Captain Astle, &c.
JULY 20.
We left Ashbourn and went to Buxton, thence to Pool's Hole, which is
narrow at first, but then rises into a high arch; but is so obstructed
with crags, that it is difficult to walk in it. There are two ways to
the end, which is, they say, six hundred and fifty yards from the mouth.
They take passengers up the higher way, and bring them back the lower.
The higher way was so difficult and dangerous, that, having tried it, I
desisted. I found no level part.
At night we came to Macclesfield, a very large town in Cheshire, little
known. It has a silk mill: it has a handsome church, which, however, is
but a chapel, for the town belongs to some parish of another name[1179],
as Stourbridge lately did to Old Swinford.
Macclesfield has a town-hall, and is, I suppose, a corporate town.
JULY 21.
We came to Congleton, where there is likewise a silk mill. Then to
Middlewich, a mean old town, without any manufacture, but, I think, a
Corporation. Thence we proceeded to Namptwich, an old town: from the
inn, I saw scarcely any but black timber houses. I tasted the brine
water, which contains much more salt than the sea water. By slow
evaporation, they make large crystals of salt; by quick boiling, small
granulations. It seemed to have no other preparation.
At evening we came to Combermere[1180], so called from a wide lake.
JULY 22.
We went upon the Mere. I pulled a bulrush of about ten feet. I saw no
convenient boats upon the Mere.
JULY 23.
We visited Lord Kilmorey's house[1181]. It is large and convenient, with
many rooms, none of which are magnificently spacious. The furniture was
not splendid. The bed-curtains were guarded[1182]. Lord Kilmorey shewed
the place with too much exultation. He has no park, and little
water[1183].
JULY 24.
We went to a chapel, built by Sir Lynch Cotton for his tenants. It is
consecrated, and therefore, I suppose, endowed. It is neat and plain.
The Communion plate is handsome. It has iron pales and gates of great
elegance, brought from Lleweney, 'for Robert has laid all open[1184].'
We saw Hawkestone, the seat of Sir Rowland Hill, and were conducted by
Miss Hill over a large tract of rocks and woods; a region abounding with
striking scenes and terrifick grandeur. We were always on the brink of a
precipice, or at the foot of a lofty rock; but the steeps were seldom
naked: in many places, oaks of uncommon magnitude shot up from the
crannies of stone; and where there were not tall trees, there were
underwoods and bushes.
Round the rocks is a narrow patch cut upon the stone, which is very
frequently hewn into steps; but art has proceeded no further than to
make the succession of wonders safely accessible. The whole circuit is
somewhat laborious; it is terminated by a grotto cut in a rock to a
great extent, with many windings, and supported by pillars, not hewn
into regularity, but such as imitate the sports of nature, by asperities
and protuberances.
The place is without any dampness, and would afford an habitation not
uncomfortable. There were from space to space seats in the rock. Though
it wants water, it excels Dovedale by the extent of its prospects, the
awfulness of its shades, the horrors of its precipices, the verdure of
its hollows, and the loftiness of its rocks: the ideas which it forces
upon the mind are, the sublime, the dreadful, and the vast. Above is
inaccessible altitude, below is horrible profundity. But it excels the
garden of Ilam only in extent.
Ilam has grandeur, tempered with softness; the walker congratulates his
own arrival at the place, and is grieved to think that he must ever
leave it. As he looks up to the rocks, his thoughts are elevated; as he
turns his eyes on the vallies, he is composed and soothed.
He that mounts the precipices at Hawkestone, wonders how he came
thither, and doubts how he shall return. His walk is an adventure, and
his departure an escape. He has not the tranquillity, but the horror, of
solitude; a kind of turbulent pleasure, between fright and admiration.
Ilam is the fit abode of pastoral virtue, and might properly diffuse its
shades over Nymphs and Swains. Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitants
than giants of mighty bone and bold emprise[1185]; men of lawless
courage and heroic violence. Hawkestone should be described by Milton,
and Ilam by Parnel.
Miss Hill shewed the whole succession of wonders with great civility.
The house was magnificent, compared with the rank of the owner.
JULY 26.
We left Combermere, where we have been treated with great civility. Sir
L. is gross, the lady weak and ignorant. The house is spacious, but not
magnificent; built at different times, with different materials; part is
of timber, part of stone or brick, plastered and painted to look like
timber. It is the best house that I ever saw of that kind.
The Mere, or Lake, is large, with a small island, on which there is a
summer-house, shaded with great trees; some were hollow, and have seats
in their trunks.
In the afternoon we came to West-Chester; (my father went to the fair,
when I had the small-pox). We walked round the walls, which are
compleat, and contain one mile three quarters, and one hundred and one
yards; within them are many gardens: they are very high, and two may
walk very commodiously side by side. On the inside is a rail. There are
towers from space to space, not very frequent, and, I think, not all
compleat[1186].
JULY 27.
We staid at Chester and saw the Cathedral, which is not of the first
rank. The Castle. In one of the rooms the Assizes are held, and the
refectory of the Old Abbey, of which part is a grammar school. The
master seemed glad to see me. The cloister is very solemn; over it are
chambers in which the singing men live.
In one part of the street was a subterranean arch, very strongly built;
in another, what they called, I believe rightly, a Roman hypocaust.
Chester has many curiosities.
JULY 28.
We entered Wales, dined at Mold, and came to Lleweney[1187].
JULY 29.
We were at Lleweney.
In the lawn at Lleweney is a spring of fine water, which rises above the
surface into a stone basin, from which it runs to waste, in a continual
stream, through a pipe.
There are very large trees.
The Hall at Lleweney is forty feet long, and twenty-eight broad. The
gallery one hundred and twenty feet long, (all paved.) The Library
forty-two feet long, and twenty-eight broad. The Dining-parlours
thirty-six feet long, and twenty-six broad.
It is partly sashed, and partly has casements.
JULY 30.
We went to Bach y Graig, where we found an old house, built 1567, in an
uncommon and incommodious form. My Mistress[1188] chattered about
tiring, but I prevailed on her to go to the top. The floors have been
stolen: the windows are stopped.
The house was less than I seemed to expect; the river Clwyd is a brook
with a bridge of one arch, about one third of a mile.
The woods[1189] have many trees, generally young; but some which seem to
decay. They have been lopped. The house never had a garden. The addition
of another story would make an useful house, but it cannot be great.
Some buildings which Clough, the founder, intended for warehouses, would
make store-chambers and servants' rooms[1190]. The ground seems to be
good. I wish it well.
JULY 31. We went to church at St. Asaph. The Cathedral, though not
large, has something of dignity and grandeur. The cross aisle is very
short. It has scarcely any monuments. The Quire has, I think, thirty-two
stalls of antique workmanship. On the backs were CANONICUS, PREBEND,
CANCELLARIUS, THESAURARIUS, PRAECENTOR. The constitution I do not know,
but it has all the usual titles and dignities. The service was sung only
in the Psalms and Hymns.
The Bishop was very civil[1191]. We went to his palace, which is but
mean. They have a library, and design a room. There lived Lloyd[1192]
and Dodwell[1193].
AUGUST 1.
We visited Denbigh, and the remains of its Castle.
The town consists of one main street, and some that cross it, which I
have not seen. The chief street ascends with a quick rise for a great
length: the houses are built, some with rough stone, some with brick,
and a few are of timber.
The Castle, with its whole enclosure, has been a prodigious pile; it is
now so ruined, that the form of the inhabited part cannot easily
be traced.
There are, as in all old buildings, said to be extensive vaults, which
the ruins of the upper works cover and conceal, but into which boys
sometimes find a way. To clear all passages, and trace the whole of what
remains, would require much labour and expense. We saw a Church, which
was once the Chapel of the Castle, but is used by the town: it is
dedicated to St. Hilary, and has an income of about--
At a small distance is the ruin of a Church said to have been begun by
the great Earl of Leicester[1194], and left unfinished at his death. One
side, and I think the east end, are yet standing. There was a stone in
the wall, over the door-way, which it was said would fall and crush the
best scholar in the diocese. One Price would not pass under it[1195].
They have taken it down.
We then saw the Chapel of Lleweney, founded by one of the Salusburies:
it is very compleat: the monumental stones lie in the ground. A chimney
has been added to it, but it is otherwise not much injured, and might be
easily repaired.
We went to the parish Church of Denbigh, which, being near a mile from
the town, is only used when the parish officers are chosen.
In the Chapel, on Sundays, the service is read thrice, the second time
only in English, the first and third in Welsh. The Bishop came to survey
the Castle, and visited likewise St. Hilary's Chapel, which is that
which the town uses. The hay-barn, built with brick pillars from space
to space, and covered with a roof. A more[1196] elegant and lofty Hovel.
The rivers here, are mere torrents which are suddenly swelled by the
rain to great breadth and great violence, but have very little constant
stream; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy. There are yet no mountains. The
ground is beautifully embellished with woods, and diversified by
inequalities.
In the parish church of Denbigh is a bas relief of Lloyd the antiquary,
who was before Camden. He is kneeling at his prayers[1197].
AUGUST 2.
We rode to a summer-house of Mr. Cotton, which has a very extensive
prospect; it is meanly built, and unskilfully disposed.
We went to Dymerchion Church, where the old clerk acknowledged his
Mistress. It is the parish church of Bach y Graig. A mean fabrick: Mr.
Salusbury[1198] was buried in it. Bach y Graig has fourteen seats
in it.
As we rode by, I looked at the house again. We saw Llannerch, a house
not mean, with a small park very well watered. There was an avenue of
oaks, which, in a foolish compliance with the present mode, has been cut
down[1199]. A few are yet standing. The owner's name is Davies.
The way lay through pleasant lanes, and overlooked a region beautifully
diversified with trees and grass[1200].
At Dymerchion Church there is English service only once a month. This is
about twenty miles from the English border.
The old clerk had great appearance of joy at the sight of his Mistress,
and foolishly said, that he was now willing to die. He had only a crown
given him by my Mistress[1201].
At Dymerchion Church the texts on the walls are in Welsh.
AUGUST 3.
We went in the coach to Holywell.
Talk with Mistress about flattery[1202].
Holywell is a market town, neither very small nor mean. The spring
called Winifred's Well is very clear, and so copious, that it yields one
hundred tuns of water in a minute. It is all at once a very great
stream, which, within perhaps thirty yards of its eruption, turns a
mill, and in a course of two miles, eighteen mills more. In descent, it
is very quick. It then falls into the sea. The well is covered by a
lofty circular arch, supported by pillars; and over this arch is an old
chapel, now a school. The chancel is separated by a wall. The bath is
completely and indecently open. A woman bathed while we all looked on.
In the Church, which makes a good appearance, and is surrounded by
galleries to receive a numerous congregation, we were present while a
