Travels in England in 1782

on, Jun

Mr. Maud took me to the different walks about Oxford, and often remarked, that they were not only the finest in England, but he believed in Europe. I own I do not think h

ow some respect for German literature. At length we parted. He went to fill up the vacancy of the clerk's place at Dorchester, and I to the Mitre, to prepare for my departure from Oxford, which took place on Wedne

. The outside was quite full with soldiers and their wives. The women of the lower class here wear a kind of short cloak made of red clot

ly so in their hats or bonnets, which they all wear: and they are in my opinion far more becoming than the very unsightly hoods and caps which our Ger

ily, with being shy and distant to strangers. I do not think this was, even formerly, their true character; or that any such sentiment is conveyed in Virgil's "Hospitibus feros." Be this as

as this very apparent reserve of mine

to go to the East Indies, and there, first, to try his fortune as an officer. And he was now going to

old me he thought it was venturing a great deal, yet he applauded the design of my journey, and did not severely censure my plan. On my asking him why Englishmen, who were so remarkable

ed and distressed when I saw the women, where we occasionally stopped, get down from the top of the coach. One of them was actually once in much danger of a terrible fall from the roof, because, just as she was going to alight, the horses all at once unexpectedly went on. From Oxf

nd I felt in this short time a prepossession in his favour one does not easily form for an ordinary person. This, I flattered myself, wa

rd-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, where our coach stopped, that being the end of one stage. We were still two-and-twenty miles

ompositions which were afterwards to charm a listening world; and on these plains the young Hercules first played. And here, too, in this lowly hut, with a few

nly one storey high, with shingled roofs, are ranged all along its banks. These

that made the least appearance. Yet, who would not be proud to be the owner of it? There now however lived in it

rough Stratford cuts off a chip as a remembrance, which he carefully preserves, and deems a precious relic, I also cut myself a piece of it, but rev

e so strongly marked in all his works. The first impressions of childhood, I knew, were strong and permanent; of course I made sure of seeing here some images at least of the wonderful conceptions of this wonderful man. But my imagination

atford for my place in the coach from Oxford to Birmingham. At Oxford they had not asked anything of me, a

was obliged to promise him that, on my return to London, I would certainly call on him, for which purpose

rgill had died about eight days before. As, therefore, under these circumstances, my recommendation to him was likely to be but of little use, I had the less desire to tarry long at Bi

a little place called Sutton, where everything, however, appeared to be too grand for me to hope to obtain lodgings in i

myself disheartened by their calling me nothing but master, and by their showing me into the kitchen, where the landlady was sitting at a table and complaining much of the toothache. The compassion I expressed for her on t

and her children, who, on my sitting down in the kitchen, soon dra

-sweeper, came back to England and settled at Lichfield, resumed his old trade, and did well in it. As soon as he was in good circumstances, he everywhere made inquiry for his wife, and at last found out where she was, and immediately fetched her from Ireland. There surely is something pleasing in this constancy of affection in a chimney-sweeper. She told us, with tears in her eyes, in what a style of grandeur he had conducted her into

t fancy she now appeared, was worth a thousand pounds, and that without reckoning in their plate and furniture, that

ld. I had myself taken notice that this same dingy companion of mine had something singularly coarse and vulgar in her pronunciation. The word old, for

f I came back by the way of Lichfield, she would take the liberty to request the

, and paid all possible attention to their sick mother. I supped with the fami

here was at Sutton a celebrated grammar-school, where the school-master received tw

without some shame and sorrow, of our grammar-schoo

illing, and to the daughter, whom I was to consider as chambermaid, fourpence; for which she very civilly thanked me, and gave me a written recommendation to an inn at Lichfield, where I should be well lodged, as the people in Lichfield were, in general, she said, very proud. This written rec

ends, with a certain promise that on my re

nd panes of glass in the windows. The place to mime wore an unfriendly appearance; I therefore made no use of m

s were so thoroughly rustic and rude, that I saw them actually pointing at me with their fingers as a foreigner. And now, to complete my chagrin and mortification, I came to a long street, where everybody on both sides of the way were at their doors, and actually made me run the gauntlet through their inquiring looks. Some even hissed at me as I passed along. All my arguments to induce me to pluck up my c

the road to Derby, along a footpath which I knew to be right. It led across a very pleasant mead, the hedges of which were separated by stiles, over which I was often obliged to clamber. When I had walked some distance without meet

red that I could go no farther. On this the good-natured and truly hospitable man, of his own accord and without the least d

it for granted, however, that he who appeared to have hardly sufficient strength to support himself could not help me. This poor looking, feeble o

e single impertinent question, but set me down quietly at the inn,

by asking for a mug of ale, and once or twice drinking to him. This succeeded; he soon became so very civil and conversable, that I began to think him quite a pleasant fellow. This device I had learnt of the "Vic

ople lay a separate table for himself and me; fo

tell him stories of our great King of Prussia, and his numerous armies, and also what sheep sold for in Prussia. After we had been thus talking some time, chiefly on political matters, he all at once asked me if I could blow the French horn? This he supp

opics, while his children and servants at some dista

before Derby on Friday morning. The air was mild, and I seemed to feel myself uncommonly cheerful and happy. About noon the romantic part of the country began to open u

e summit of the rise I seemed to be first raised aloft, and had an extensive

ble town. It was market-day when I got there, and I was obliged to pass through a crowd of people: but there was here no such odious curiosity, no offensiv

miles. On my way thither, I came to a long and extensive village, which I believe was called Duffield.

children around him; or else I have found a map of London, and not seldom the portrait of the King of Prussia; I have met with it several times. You also sometimes see some of the droll prints of Hogarth.

k. I could easily have reached Matlock, but I wished rather to reserve the f

The landlord drank twice to my health sneeringly, as if to reprimand me for my incivility; and then began to join the rest in ridiculing me, who almost pointed at me with their fingers. I was thus obliged for a time to serve the farmers as a laughing-stock, till at length one of them compassionately said, "Nay, nay, we must do him no harm, for he is a stranger." The landlord, I suppose, to excuse himself, as if he thought he had perha

arly the next morning, and no

the great cavern near Castleton, in the high Peak of

lands here were fenced with a wall of grey stone; and of this very same stone, which is here everywhere to be found in plenty, all the houses are built in a very uniform and patriarchal manner, inasmuch as the rough stones are

s in a high rock; to the left, deep in the bottom, there was a fine bold river, which was almost hid from the eye by a majestic arch formed by high trees, which hung over it. A prodi

now and then a sheep, or a cow, separated from the grazing

when I arrived here and the following passage, which I read at the brink of the river, had a most striking and pleasing effe

ious Pa

owns with her

al mound, the

lderness, who

vergrown, grot

ied."-Book

rriages, and a great thoroughfare. From hence I came through some villages to a small town of the name of Bakewell. The whole country in this part is hilly and romantic. Often my way led me, by small passes, over astonishing eminences, where, in the deep below

k another if he did not think I was a Frenchman. It seemed as if he had been waiting

y before me. This field, all at once, made an indescribable and very pleasing impression on me, which at first, I could not account for; till I rec

growths of different green and yellowish colours, which gave the whole a most pleasing effect; but besides this large field, the general view of the co

magined what you would think and say, if you were to see your friend thus wandering here all alone, totally unknown, and in a foreign land. And at that moment I first serious

es, one of whom was now become the bailiff of the place. On your asking them whether they knew you, one and all of them answered so heartily, "O, yes, yes-why, your are Master Frederic." The pedantic school-mas

was only three miles distant, when two men came after me, at a distance, whom I had already seen at Matlock, who c

pron, with a round hat. The other was very decently dressed,

e words, and laying his emphasis, with as much propriety as I could possibly have expected, had he been educated at Cambridge or at Oxford. He advised me not to go to Wardlow, where I should find ba

talk, and from whence he was in no haste to depart. He had the generosity and honour,

little valley, where the green meadow was divided by a small rivulet, that ran in serpentine windings, its banks graced with the most inviting walks; behind a small winding, there is just seen a house where one of the most distinguished inhabitants of this happy vale, a great philosopher, lives reti

e, through which we passed, and then ascen

an account of his family, adding, by way of episode, that he never quarrelled with his wife, nor had ever once threatened her with his fist, much less, ever lifted it against her. F

er affront, and you are a damned lia

epithets on our adversary is the signal for fighting, so the term of a liar in England is the most offensive, and

on my happening to say to him in a joke, you are a liar.

rom such little circumstances as this, I must say this rooted hatr

obliged to earn his livelihood, at some distance from home, and that he

forwards on his little journeys to and from his birthplace. His father, he added, had once been a rich man, but had expended all his fortune to support one son. Unfortunately for himself as well a

r entrance into the place, bade me take notice of the church, which was very handsome, and notwithst

rred the latter, he went with me himself to a small public-house, and very particularly re

fire. This, in England it seems, is reckoned good eating, but, unfortunately for me, I could not touch a bit of it; I therefore invited my landlord to partake of it, and he ind

reason most of them are gross and corpulent; in particular they are plump and rosy in their faces. I once heard it said

rber, on whose shop was written "Shaving for a penny." There were a great many inhabitants assembled there, who took me for a gentleman, on account, I suppose, of my hat,

moral maxims and rules fastened against the room door, just as we find them in Germany. On such wretched paper some

arisons;" and if you consider how many quarrels, and how much mischief arise in the world from odious comparisons of the merits of

lose to a wall of stones confusedly heaped one upon another, as I have before described. The whole count

beautiful, composed almost entirely of naked rocks, far and near, among which, th

beautiful vale below me, which was traversed by rivers and brooks and enclosed on all sides by hills. In this vale lay

ugh the vale into the street of Castleton, where I soon found an inn, an

through the middle of the t

ith ivy and other shrubs. At its summit are the decayed wall and towers of an ancient castle which formerly stood on this rock, and a

f the cavern, a man of a rude and rough appearance, who asked me if I wis

I should want to be carried to the other side of the stream, tellin

as a real Charon. His voice, and the questions he asked me, were not of a kind to remove this notion, so that, far from its requiring any effort of ima

he told me all I had to do was boldly to

the trunk of a tree that had been cut down, on w

rward a few steps farther, I was astonished by a sight which, of all other, I here the least expected. I perceived to the right, in the hollow of the cavern, a whole subterranean village

I perceived a number of large wheels, on which on week days

eel of Ixion, and the inces

the darkness at every step to increase, till at length only a few rays appeared, as if darting through a cre

entle descent of the cavern, you can hardly help fancying the moment is come when, without pain or grief, the thread

and earth seem to join each other, when we came to a little door, where an old wo

had only been traversing the outer courts. The rock was here so low, that we were obliged to stoop very much for some few steps in order to get through; but how great was my astonishment, when we had passed this narrow passage and again

road river, which, from the glimmering of our candles amid the total darkness, suggested sundry interesting reflections. To the side of this river a small boat was moored, with some straw

ected, he himself jumped into the

gth it nearly touched my face; and as I lay, I could hardly hold the candle upright. I seemed to myself to be in a coffin rather than in a boat, as I had

once, broad and high: and then sud

at and small petrified plants and animals, which, however, we could no

was not so broad as the first, as one may see across it to the other side; across this st

came to a very small piece of water which extended i

and slippery, and sometimes so very narrow, th

th the interesting contemplation of all these various wonderful objects, in this land of darknes

erly asked my guide what this might mean? He answe

noise became weaker and weaker; and at length it seemed to sink

er of rain falling from the rock, as from a thick cloud, whose drops, which now fell

in, which fell from the ceiling or roof of

y might easily have been extinguished by the falling drops; a

in the rock, which seemed to be new or subordinate caverns, all which we passed without looking into. At

y have been taken for a majestic temple, with lofty arches, supported b

e a part, appeared to me at that moment to surpass all the most stupendous

he Creator displayed; and before I quitted this temple, here, in this solemn silence and holy gloom,

nder of the cavern, where the rock is arched for the last time, and then sinks till it touches the wate

to go any further, unless this rock could be blown up with powder, and a second cavern opened. I now thought all we had to do was to return

wards the left, where I followed him

gh the rock, where it nearly touched the ground. Having consented to do so, he told me

ground, through the opening in the rock, which was often s

saw in the cavern a steep hill, which was so high that it se

pted to ascend, I fell down. My guide, however, took hold

here were such precipices on each side, that

rock, my guide placed me where I could stand firm, and told me to stay there quietl

ed, not him, indeed, but his candle, quite in the bottom, fro

lders. And as I now stood below, he went up and let his candle shine again through an opening of the rock, while I covered mine with my hand; a

he pattering of the rain, which sounded as rain when we were near it, but which at a distance seemed a sonorous, dull, and melancholy hum; and now again we returned across the quiet

hat would surpass all the foregoing. I found that he was in the right, for when h

tages, and then the cottages themselves; and as we ascended we saw the boys still playing around the hewn trunk, till at length the red

ooked at myself, I was, as to my dress, not much unlike my guide; my shoes scarcely hung to my fe

ms he does not get the half-crown, but is obliged to account for it to his master, who lives very comf

k, as he had no new ones ready, to mend them for me as well as he could. This led me to make a very agreeable acquaintance with this shoemaker; for when I expressed to him my admiration of the cavern, it pleased him greatly that in so insignificant a place as Castleton there sh

her mountains, consist of rock, but of a loose earth, which gives way, and either rolls from the top of the precipice in little pieces,

er an abbreviation of, or the old word for, Tower, and means not only a lofty building, but any eminence. Mam is a famil

his mountain, notwithstanding its daily loss, never dec

an inhabitant of Castleton who laid a wager

looking round. At length he had gained more than half the ascent, and was just at the part where it projects and overlooks its basis. From this a

ear it no longer, and therefore, in an effort of despair, he once more collected all his strength and got hold of first one loose stone, and then another, all of which would have failed him had he not immediately caught

in and the precipice in question so near to me, I coul

, of such a monstrous depth, that if you throw in a pebble stone, and l

as the stone falls against first one hard rock and then another at a greater and a greater depth, and at length, when it has for some time been falling, the noise stops with a kind of whizzing or a hissing murmur. The people have also a world of superstitious stories rela

of nature, of which this Elden Hole, the hill of Mam To

ed. It is a spring or well, which in general flows or runs underground imperceptibly, and then all at once rushes forth with a mighty rumbling or subterranean noise, which is said to have something musical in it, and overflows its banks; lastly Chatsworth, a palace or seat belonging to the Dukes of Devonshire, at the foot of a mountain whose summit is

a desire to travel, that I had much to do to reason him out of it. He could not help talking of it the whole evening, and again and again protested that, had he not got a wife and child, he would set off in the morning at

s too late. Yet, late as it was, he mended my shoes the same eveni

me no little pain, which makes me suppose that one must needs breathe a very unwholesome damp air in this cavern. But t

uins are directly over the mouth of the hole on the hill, which extends itself some distance over the cavern b

re is no access to it but from the town, where a crooked path from the

some of the arches on which the bridge rested. This vale, which lies at the back of the ruins and probably over the cavern, is called the Cave's Way, and is one of the greatest thoroughfares to the town. In the part at which, at some distance, it begins to descend between the

he vale, is perfectly verdant and fertile, and on its summit the pasture hands are divided by stones, piled u

tion as the adventurer who clambered up Mam Tor Hill, for when I looked round, I found my eye had not been trained to view, unmoved, so prodigious a height. Castleton with th

e down the green turf in the same manner as I had got up. At length I seemed to grow accustomed to this view till it really gave me pleasure, and

country girls, who were milking their cows, and comi

lter, as it began to rain, under a part of the rock, beneath which they sat down on natural stone

ich I intend leaving in order to begin my journey back to Lo