between two mountains ;-a fence separated me from the verge of this abrupt valley, which was 150 to 200 feet deep, and wound its way along between the moun-` tains, to a great distance.

I soon reached Tideswell, a considerable village in a charming vale. I was astonished to see, in this secluded spot, a magnificent Gothic church, in fine preservation. It was built in the middle of the 14th century, and promises to survive many more modern

structures.

This church, with all the houses in the town, and indeed, all the houses for many miles around, is constructed of limestone.

At Tideswell, the country people were assembled at a fair ;- -a multitude of swine were collected in a particular part of the village, and, on inquiry, I found that they were the object of the meeting. As I advanced beyond Tideswell, I met numerous parties of the country people, dressed in their Sunday clothes, and going to attend the fair. I made a little conversation with several of them, and found them civil and obliging. They speak the language with many peculiarities of pronunciation, and with a considerable number of words which we never hear in America. Their dress was quite as decent as that worn on similar occasions by the same class of people with us, and their manners indicated cheerfulness and contentment. I had never seen any thing in my own country resembling the scenery which now surrounded me. Lofty hills, or rather mountains, appeared on every side, sloping with an ascent rather gentle than steep. They were barren, rude, and dreary, without a single shrub or tree, and divided to the very summits by enclosures. They were free from rocks,-no hedges were to be

seen, but, every where, stone walls precisely like. those which are so common in New England. Limestone is universally the material of the fences and houses; it is dug out of these hills, which, with a vast tract of country around, appear to be founded upon this basis. After being burned, it is used as a manure, and many of the hills which I passed, were covered with it. On examining the fences, rocks and stones of the road, the limestone appeared universally filled with shells of marine origin. These shells are perfectly distinct, and lie imbedded in the solid limestone, so that when one is knocked out, a perfect copy of its form is left in the cavity. Near the Peak the hills were every where pierced with pits, which, as I was informed by a man who was digging limestone, were lead mines.

I dismounted to examine one. No person was there. The opening of the mine was down a perpendicular cavity, walled up like a well, through which the people, implements, and ore are conveyed in buckets, worked by machinery. A vast heap of rubbish was lying around the mouth of the mine. Mounting my horse again, I soon arrived at the summit of a hill, down which, as I descended, an extensive valley, all green and fertile, formed a surprising and interesting contrast to the rude scenery on which I had now turned my back. I entered the valley not by the usual road, but by one farther east; this gave me a view of the village of Hope on my right, while Castleton, the great object of my journey, appeared on my left.

One of the first objects which struck me, on entering the valley, was an ancient castle, half broken down, and apparently tottering to its fall. It stands on one of the mountains, upon the very edge of a rock, of VOL I.

more than 250 feet in perpendicular height. There is no certain account of its origin. It is said to have been known to the Romans, under the name of Arx Diaboli, and among its ruins Roman coins and utensils have been found. Its walls are of free stone, and as there is no stone of this description on the mountains, the castle must have been constructed with vast labour and expense, by raising the materials up the mountains from the valley below. The castle is now a venerable ruin, and gives a name to the village of* Castleton.

No. VII. THE PEAK OF DERBYSHIRE.

Castleton....The winding gate....Valley of Castleton and the surrounding mountains... Ancient fosse.... Castle....Mam Tor ..... Its ruins....Anecdote....Peculiarity of language....Guides.... Peak's Hole....Description of, and adventures in it....Humour of the guide.....Owdin Mine...Miners....Their cheerfulness, hardships and dangers....Speedwell Mine....Subterraneous voyage...Wonderful cavern....Spar Mine....Descent into it.... Return to Buxton....Ebbing and flowing well....Contrivance to save labour...Singular want of curiosity.

CASTLETON.

The usual approach to Castleton is through a narrow passage between the mountains, called the winnetts or the winding gate. Although I did not enter the valley through this defile, I visited it during my stay in Castleton. When a traveller approaches the valley through the WINNETTS, he finds himself, the moment before he discovers the village, winding down the hills, through

a gap, where rude and broken rocks overhang the road, and a little way ahead, seem to cross the path, and bar it up completely. While he is engaged in comtemplat. ing a scene where every thing is wild, rude and forbid. ding, and affords no pleasure, except from the con templation of grandeur, all of a sudden, the valley breaks upon his view, like a fine scene at the rising of the curtain. In the nearest part of the picture, Castleton appears at the foot of a mountain, which is one of a great number that surround the valley.

The form of the valley is that of an obtuse ellipse, and its diameter is three or four miles. Some of the mountains are barren, but most of them are verdant to the very top, and fences slope from their summits down their sides, and are continued across the valley, divid ing it into rectangular fields. The appearance of these fields is the most eminently beautiful, just where the steepness of the mountain declines into a rapid slope, immediately before they terminate in the plain. In those places the fields seem as if rising up to meet you.

Excepting the craggy passage at the Winnetts, and a few other similar openings, the surface of the mountains is almost wholly free from rocks, and equally destitute of trees. The collection of mountains of which I am now speaking, with all the rest in this northern part of Derbyshire, is called the Peak of Derbyshire. It is a common mistake to suppose that there is some one high mountain, bearing this name, by way of distinction.

Running along the sides, and on and pear the tops of the mountains, is a deep fosse with a rampart, extending several miles; it is said even to cross the val ley, and it may be distinctly perceived, going on to the castle; it is interrupted by chasms in the moun

tains, and its origin remains to this time uncertain ; in all probability it was a military work.

Another thing which strikes one very agreeably in this general survey, is the number of sheep, horses and black cattle, which are seen grazing on the sides of the mountains, even where they are so steep that the animals seem rather to adhere to the hills by their sides, than to be standing on their feet. The sheep are the most adventurous and persevering, in grazing upon these steep declivities, and it was curious to observe how, in the long progress of time, they had, by constant treading, formed a succession of parallel paths, running round the hills in the manner of a belt, and continued at the distance of two or three feet, quite to their tops; so as, on the whole, to form a tolerably regular succession of steps. The same thing had been effected by the larger cattle, where the hills were less steep.

Immediately after you have discovered the valley when entering it by the Winnetts, you perceive Mam Tor, very near on the left.

This appellation is of Saxon origin.

This mountain has a singular appearance. It is supposed, that at some period of remote antiquity, it divided, probably all on a sudden, with a fissure, beginning at the summit, and proceeding to the bottom, in a direction nearly perpendicular, and that thus, the front of the mountain fell, down into the valley, overwhelming every thing below in its ruins. This conclusion is founded on the fact that the side of the mountain next to the valley exhibits a perpendicular section of bare rock and earth, exposing all the strata, with great regularity, and, for a long way below the