约翰逊4-6-88

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 itfirst, 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 thehighest rooms. Atlas, fifteen hands inch and half[1169].River running through the park. The porticoes on the sides support twogalleries for the first floor.My friends were not struck with the house. It fell below my ideas of thefurniture. The staircase is in the corner of the house. The hall in thecorner the grandest room, though only a room of passage.On the ground-floor, only the chapel and breakfast-room, and a smalllibrary; 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 notread the epitaph. Would learn the old hands.JULY 15.At Ashbourn. Mrs. Diot and her daughters came in the morning. Mr. Diotdined 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 thatdeserves 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; itgoes backward several yards, perhaps eight. To the left is a smallopening, through which I crept, and found another cavern, perhaps fouryards square; at the back was a breach yet smaller, which I could noteasily have entered, and, wanting light, did not inspect.I was in a cave yet higher, called Reynard's Kitchen. There is a rockcalled the Church, in which I saw no resemblance that could justifythe name.Dovedale is about two miles long. We walked towards the head of theDove, which is said to rise about five miles above two caves called theDog-holes, at the end of Dovedale.In one place, where the rocks approached, I proposed to build an archfrom 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 thefatigue of the walk, which was very laborious, without inconvenience.There were with us Gilpin[1173] and Parker[1174]. Having heard of thisplace before, I had formed some imperfect idea, to which it did notanswer. Brown[1175] says he was disappointed. I certainly expected alarger river where I found only a clear quick brook. I believe I hadimaged a valley enclosed by rocks, and terminated by a broad expanseof 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 isvery costly, but ill contrived. The hall is very stately, lighted bythree skylights; it has two rows of marble pillars, dug, as I hear fromLangley, in a quarry of Northamptonshire; the pillars are very large andmassy, and take up too much room; they were better away. Behind the hallis a circular saloon, useless, and therefore ill contrived.The corridors that join the wings to the body are mere passages throughsegments of circles. The state bed-chamber was very richly furnished.The dining parlour was more splendid with gilt plate than any that Ihave seen. There were many pictures. The grandeur was all below. Thebedchambers were small, low, dark, and fitter for a prison than a houseof splendour. The kitchen has an opening into the gallery, by which itsheat and its fumes are dispersed over the house. There seemed in thewhole more cost than judgment.We went then to the silk mill at Derby[1178], where I remarked aparticular manner of propagating motion from a horizontal to avertical wheel.We were desired to leave the men only two shillings. Mr. Thrale's billat 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 isnarrow at first, but then rises into a high arch; but is so obstructedwith crags, that it is difficult to walk in it. There are two ways tothe 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, Idesisted. I found no level part.At night we came to Macclesfield, a very large town in Cheshire, littleknown. It has a silk mill: it has a handsome church, which, however, isbut 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 toMiddlewich, a mean old town, without any manufacture, but, I think, aCorporation. Thence we proceeded to Namptwich, an old town: from theinn, I saw scarcely any but black timber houses. I tasted the brinewater, which contains much more salt than the sea water. By slowevaporation, they make large crystals of salt; by quick boiling, smallgranulations. 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 noconvenient boats upon the Mere.JULY 23.We visited Lord Kilmorey's house[1181]. It is large and convenient, withmany rooms, none of which are magnificently spacious. The furniture wasnot splendid. The bed-curtains were guarded[1182]. Lord Kilmorey shewedthe place with too much exultation. He has no park, and littlewater[1183].JULY 24.We went to a chapel, built by Sir Lynch Cotton for his tenants. It isconsecrated, and therefore, I suppose, endowed. It is neat and plain.The Communion plate is handsome. It has iron pales and gates of greatelegance, brought from Lleweney, 'for Robert has laid all open[1184].'We saw Hawkestone, the seat of Sir Rowland Hill, and were conducted byMiss Hill over a large tract of rocks and woods; a region abounding withstriking scenes and terrifick grandeur. We were always on the brink of aprecipice, or at the foot of a lofty rock; but the steeps were seldomnaked: in many places, oaks of uncommon magnitude shot up from thecrannies of stone; and where there were not tall trees, there wereunderwoods and bushes.Round the rocks is a narrow patch cut upon the stone, which is veryfrequently hewn into steps; but art has proceeded no further than tomake the succession of wonders safely accessible. The whole circuit issomewhat laborious; it is terminated by a grotto cut in a rock to agreat extent, with many windings, and supported by pillars, not hewninto regularity, but such as imitate the sports of nature, by asperitiesand protuberances.The place is without any dampness, and would afford an habitation notuncomfortable. There were from space to space seats in the rock. Thoughit wants water, it excels Dovedale by the extent of its prospects, theawfulness of its shades, the horrors of its precipices, the verdure ofits hollows, and the loftiness of its rocks: the ideas which it forcesupon the mind are, the sublime, the dreadful, and the vast. Above isinaccessible altitude, below is horrible profundity. But it excels thegarden of Ilam only in extent.Ilam has grandeur, tempered with softness; the walker congratulates hisown arrival at the place, and is grieved to think that he must everleave it. As he looks up to the rocks, his thoughts are elevated; as heturns his eyes on the vallies, he is composed and soothed.He that mounts the precipices at Hawkestone, wonders how he camethither, and doubts how he shall return. His walk is an adventure, andhis departure an escape. He has not the tranquillity, but the horror, ofsolitude; a kind of turbulent pleasure, between fright and admiration.Ilam is the fit abode of pastoral virtue, and might properly diffuse itsshades over Nymphs and Swains. Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitantsthan giants of mighty bone and bold emprise[1185]; men of lawlesscourage 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. SirL. is gross, the lady weak and ignorant. The house is spacious, but notmagnificent; built at different times, with different materials; part isof timber, part of stone or brick, plastered and painted to look liketimber. 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 asummer-house, shaded with great trees; some were hollow, and have seatsin 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 arecompleat, and contain one mile three quarters, and one hundred and oneyards; within them are many gardens: they are very high, and two maywalk very commodiously side by side. On the inside is a rail. There aretowers from space to space, not very frequent, and, I think, not allcompleat[1186].JULY 27.We staid at Chester and saw the Cathedral, which is not of the firstrank. The Castle. In one of the rooms the Assizes are held, and therefectory of the Old Abbey, of which part is a grammar school. Themaster seemed glad to see me. The cloister is very solemn; over it arechambers 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 thesurface into a stone basin, from which it runs to waste, in a continualstream, through a pipe.There are very large trees.The Hall at Lleweney is forty feet long, and twenty-eight broad. Thegallery one hundred and twenty feet long, (all paved.) The Libraryforty-two feet long, and twenty-eight broad. The Dining-parloursthirty-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 anuncommon and incommodious form. My Mistress[1188] chattered abouttiring, but I prevailed on her to go to the top. The floors have beenstolen: the windows are stopped.The house was less than I seemed to expect; the river Clwyd is a brookwith a bridge of one arch, about one third of a mile.The woods[1189] have many trees, generally young; but some which seem todecay. They have been lopped. The house never had a garden. The additionof another story would make an useful house, but it cannot be great.Some buildings which Clough, the founder, intended for warehouses, wouldmake store-chambers and servants' rooms[1190]. The ground seems to begood. I wish it well.JULY 31. We went to church at St. Asaph. The Cathedral, though notlarge, has something of dignity and grandeur. The cross aisle is veryshort. It has scarcely any monuments. The Quire has, I think, thirty-twostalls 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 onlyin the Psalms and Hymns.The Bishop was very civil[1191]. We went to his palace, which is butmean. 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 Ihave not seen. The chief street ascends with a quick rise for a greatlength: 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 isnow so ruined, that the form of the inhabited part cannot easilybe traced.There are, as in all old buildings, said to be extensive vaults, whichthe ruins of the upper works cover and conceal, but into which boyssometimes find a way. To clear all passages, and trace the whole of whatremains, would require much labour and expense. We saw a Church, whichwas once the Chapel of the Castle, but is used by the town: it isdedicated to St. Hilary, and has an income of about--At a small distance is the ruin of a Church said to have been begun bythe great Earl of Leicester[1194], and left unfinished at his death. Oneside, and I think the east end, are yet standing. There was a stone inthe wall, over the door-way, which it was said would fall and crush thebest 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 chimneyhas been added to it, but it is otherwise not much injured, and might beeasily repaired.We went to the parish Church of Denbigh, which, being near a mile fromthe town, is only used when the parish officers are chosen.In the Chapel, on Sundays, the service is read thrice, the second timeonly in English, the first and third in Welsh. The Bishop came to surveythe Castle, and visited likewise St. Hilary's Chapel, which is thatwhich the town uses. The hay-barn, built with brick pillars from spaceto space, and covered with a roof. A more[1196] elegant and lofty Hovel.The rivers here, are mere torrents which are suddenly swelled by therain to great breadth and great violence, but have very little constantstream; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy. There are yet no mountains. Theground is beautifully embellished with woods, and diversified byinequalities.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 extensiveprospect; it is meanly built, and unskilfully disposed.We went to Dymerchion Church, where the old clerk acknowledged hisMistress. It is the parish church of Bach y Graig. A mean fabrick: Mr.Salusbury[1198] was buried in it. Bach y Graig has fourteen seatsin it.As we rode by, I looked at the house again. We saw Llannerch, a housenot mean, with a small park very well watered. There was an avenue ofoaks, which, in a foolish compliance with the present mode, has been cutdown[1199]. A few are yet standing. The owner's name is Davies.The way lay through pleasant lanes, and overlooked a region beautifullydiversified with trees and grass[1200].At Dymerchion Church there is English service only once a month. This isabout 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 crowngiven 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 springcalled Winifred's Well is very clear, and so copious, that it yields onehundred tuns of water in a minute. It is all at once a very greatstream, which, within perhaps thirty yards of its eruption, turns amill, and in a course of two miles, eighteen mills more. In descent, itis very quick. It then falls into the sea. The well is covered by alofty circular arch, supported by pillars; and over this arch is an oldchapel, now a school. The chancel is separated by a wall. The bath iscompletely and indecently open. A woman bathed while we all looked on.In the Church, which makes a good appearance, and is surrounded bygalleries to receive a numerous congregation, we were present while a