SECTION VII.

High-low.-Leam. - Padley.-Approach to Calver. - Calver Lime. Morning Scene. Hassop Hall. Longstone. Godfrey Rowland imprisoned in the Castle of the Peak.

FROM Malham Bridge we followed the margin of the Derwent to Hazleford, where we crossed the river amidst some very beautiful scenery. From this place we visited the old mansion at High-low, and then returned by Leam into the valley we had so lately left. The house at High-low was once a comfortable residence, but there are now many marks.about it that indicate an alteration in its fortunes. It was formerly inhabited by a branch of the family of the Eyres, one of the oldest in this part of Derbyshire, but it is now a mere farmer's dwelling, and scarcely worth a visit. At the back of the house there is a high conical hill, which has the appearance of being thrown up by the labour of man; but it is so immense a mound that the supposition seems extravagant. Its name, however, implies that it was once a burial-place; if so, it is scarcely less mighty than the Tomb of Achilles

"That wide the extended Hellespont surveys."

From High-low, a short walk brought us to LEAM, the residence of C. M. Middleton, Esq. How beautifully situated is this delightful mansion! It is surrounded with hills, rocks, woods, and dales, amongst which flows the river Derwent, every where fringed with a variety of the finest foliage. Leam Hall occupies an elevated situation on the side of a steep hill, and every view that it commands abounds with beauty.

Regaining the brink of the Derwent, we had a leisurely ramble through the woods in the direction of Grindleford Bridge. Every person who has made the tour of the Peak of Derbyshire must have observed the frequent occurrence of

wells and troughs of water, placed by the road-side for the accommodation of travellers and their horses. This is both a commendable and a convenient practice; and the many streamlets that run down the sides of the hills furnish the means of doing a good deed at a little expence. As we passed along the road through the wood below, Leam, we noticed a well of this description, which was really a very pleasing object, and my companion gave it a place in his sketch-book. A little stream rushing down a steep declivity, and leaping from one projection to another, amongst fragments of rock, and the tangled branches of light overhanging trees, fell into a basin, that was placed in a woody recess at the road-side to receive it; and the picturesque appendages by which it was surrounded made it a good subject for the pencil. Shortly afterwards we came to a more open part of the valley, where we had an unobstructed view of the left bank of the river, and the dells and woods of Upper and Nether-Padley.

Padley Hall, scarcely a vestige of which now remains, was once the most important mansion in this part of Derbyshire. It was for several centuries the family residence of the Eyres, from whom it passed into the possession of Sir Thomas Fitzherbert, who married the daughter of Sir Arthur Eyre, and occupied the Old Hall at Padley, in the reign of Elizabeth. G. Talbot, the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, hereditary Earl Marshal of England, was at this time Lord Lieutenant of the county of Derby; and he appears to have exercised an unbending rigour towards the Catholic Recusants within his jurisdiction. In a letter of his to Sir Thomas Knyveton, he says, "The Queens Majestie beinge moved by sundry occasions greatlie importing the Estate of this her realme, to abridge the liberty of sundry papists recusants, ill members of the same, resyant within this County of Derby, &c. I have thought mete heereby to requier you forthwith to receave into y' charge and custodie the bodie of Philip Draycote, Gent. recusant, to be by you well saflie kept as her Mts prisoner, upon his proper costs and charges, untill furder order, &c." This authority the Earl of Shrewsbury appears to have used with some severity towards the family at Padley. In the year 1587, John Manners and Roger Columbel inform the Earl, that "Yesterday being Candlemas Daye, Mr. Columble went himself yearly in the morning with sixteen or twenty men to Padley, where he found Thomas Fitzharbert's wife, Anthony Fitzharbert, two of his sisters, and about twenty persons besides,

SIR T. FITZHERBERT TO THE EARL OF SHREWSBURY. 221

seeming to be of their household; and made diligent searche for Mr. John Fitzharbert, but could not find him," &c. In another part of the letter, they add, "Padlaye maye be doubted much to be a house of evil resort, and therefore, my L. their wilbe no good redresse there (in our simple opinyons) in those matters, unless that some may be resyant there that wilbe conformable, and some preacher placed amongst us, here in the Peake, to teache the people better."

Two years after the date of the preceding letter, Sir Thomas Fitzherbert addressed the following to the Earl of Shrewsbury :

Very good Lorde,

Wth all humble dewtie, I crave leave in lowly wise to openne my greifes unto you. I suppose yr honor hathe knowne me above fiftie yeres, and my wief, that was daughter and heire unto Sr Arthur Eyre. I trust I have bine dewtifull unto my Lords yr grandfather, y' father, and y' Honor, and I have found yr Honors all my good Lords, till now of late y LoPP entringe into the Howse of Padley, found two semynaries there, all unknowne unto my brother, as was confessed at theire deathe, and is well approved since by good testimony; sithence wch tyme yr LPP also hath entred uppon my Howse of Padley, and the demeanse thereof, seazed all the goods of my Brothers and myne that was in that Howse, amongeste wch I had certeine evidences of a Woode and Meadowe under Levin Howse, called Fawltclyffe, wch as I ame enformed yr Honor hathe entred uppon, and occupieth whollie to yr use, though I have bine possessed and my wief's auncestors thereof, tyme out of mynde. Very good Lo, theise things are greater than my presente poor estate can suffer, or in any wise beare, I payinge her Matie the statute of recusansie, beinge CCLX by yeare, weh is more then all my rents yerlie rise unto. Loathe Iam to complaine of yr Ho' any waie, wherefore I complaine me firste unto y' LOPP; hopinge you will deale so noblie and chairitablie wth me as I shall be restored to my Howse, lands, and goods, by y' Honor, so as I shall be fullye satisfied, and be able to paie her Matie, and for ever bounde to praie for yo' LOPP liefe in all honor longe to continew. From London, this 28t of Maie, 1589.

These letters scarcely require a comment; they exhibit a shocking picture of the exorbitant power of the nobility, and the miserable situation of the Roman Catholics in the days of Elizabeth. Heartily congratulating ourselves that we were not disciples of the pope, and subjected to the mild and tolerant government of "the golden days of good Queen Bess," we left the vicinity of Padley, and proceeded on our way to

Grindleford Bridge and Stoke. As we descended the hill beyond Stoke Hall, the darkness of the night was fast approaching. The rocky eminences about Calver had lost their peculiar features, and lay in masses before us. The lime-kilns were now become imposing objects; the very outline of their base was lost in shadow : from their summits volumes of smoke, partly illumined by unseen fires, rose in spiral folds, that became dark and heavy as they ascended. At the top of one of the kilns, a human figure, placed against the white volume of smoke that rolled over his head, had a fine effect; his form came dark upon the eye, and, being surrounded with illuminated and murky vapours, he seemed like a magician framing his spells and muttering his incantations over a burning cauldron. The scene was essentially different from the one we had observed the preceding evening, yet it strongly reminded us of the night-fires of Small Dale.

CALVER is a part of one of the principal limestone districts of Derbyshire, and it derives considerable advantage from its proximity to lands where a different soil prevails, and its produce is in great demand. The lime obtained here is admirably fitted for agricultural purposes; hence a lucrative trade has been established, for the supply of which the hills of Calver furnish abundant materials. It is much to be regretted that no canal communication has been opened between this and other parts of the same county, where lime is wanted and coal abounds; a mutual exchange of the productions of each would be highly advantageous to both. Great difficulty would certainly be found in thus passing the immense rampart of hill by which they are divided; but, as a canal has been lately continued to Sheffield, it might easily be carried through Abbey Dale to East Moor, above Totley, and thence by Dronfield to Chesterfield. With the nearest part of this branch a rail-road, on the principle of the one near Chapelen-le-Frith, might communicate. The practicability of this undertaking is easily discernible, and its utility would produce an increase of business to the Sheffield and Chesterfield Canals, that would be of incalculable benefit to both.

The limestone rocks of Derbyshire not only furnish excellent manure for agricultural purposes, but, when untouched by fire, they produce the best materials in the kingdom for road-making. The persons employed here in this useful branch of labour are by no means deficient in a knowledge of their business; on the contrary, they appear to understand the best

principles of making and repairing roads. They break the limestone to a circular gauge of from two and a half to three inches in diameter, and a forfeit is incurred for every stone that will not pass the ring: the stone when thus broken is laid upon the road six or eight inches thick, and shortly it becomes so hard and compact, that the carriage wheels as they pass over it scarcely leave a mark behind them. In the vicinity of Bakewell, Basslow, Calver, Hassop, &c. &c. this system of road-making has long prevailed, and has been found very beneficial; the roads are not only easy to travel on, but they are very durable, and made at little expence.

We once more passed the night at the Moon Inn at Stoney Middleton, within half a mile of Calver; and the following morning, after sketching a picturesque waterfall at a corn-mill near the inn, we proceeded to Hassop, a very pleasant village, where Lord Kinnaird, the eldest son of the present Earl of Newburgh, resides.

As we left Calver, the morning was singularly fine and beautiful; the air was balmy and full of freshness, yet so still, that the smoke from the cottage chimneys was hardly disturbed. by its breathings; the herbage in the fields, and the leaves of the trees, were "impearled with the dew;" and God's beauteous sky was one magnificent canopy of clear and spotless azure. There was no contemplating the scene without experiencing sensations of delight. The dullest clod that ever wore the form of man could not have been insensible to the influence of so much beauty; every thing around us seemed to feel it. The hares and pheasants, which are here abundant, were running and playing about by the road-side, as if the world and all that it contains had been theirs, and theirs alone. I was delighted with their gambols-with the confidence they displayed; and should have thought it a sacrilege against the happiness of nature to have broken in upon or disturbed their sports.

The manor of Hassop formerly belonged to the Foljambes ; but, in the year 1498, it was purchased by Catherine, the widow of Stephen Eyre, a younger son of Ralph Eyre, Esq. of Padley; since when it has continued in the possession of the same family. The late Earl of Newburgh died without issue, and the title being inheritable through heirs female, it devolved to Francis, the present earl, who is the son of Lady Mary, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Charlotte, Countess of Newburgh; Prince Justiniani, the son of the eldest daugh