Woods and Dales of Derbyshire

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap^iL/i? Copyright No ;.. ' Shelf^4tJ g UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Woods and J)ales of J)erbgshjre BY THE REV. JAMES S. STONE, D.D. " O for a seat in some poetic nook, " Just hid with trees and sparkling with a brook ! PHILADELPHIA GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. J898 TWO COPIES HECE1VEJ3, L ibr&ry of Congret* Offieo of tb« MM 1 « 1900 K.ijUUr of CopjrtgHfc stcjno copy. 62688 J* aft preface. ^~\nce in May, and again in August, in the year 1892, it fell to my lotto wander through some of the woods, valleys and towns of Derbyshire. The pleasure I felt and the knowledge I gained on these occasions I have sought to suggest in the following pages ; and, as with former books written by me updn similar subjects, this book is given to my reader, not so much as a history, or a survey, or even as a guide, but chiefly to help him pleasantly to while away a few minutes now and again, in exciting memory to recall, or imagination to picture, the people, places, manners and traditions of an old-world region. I am well aware of difficulties and defects in my work. I have wandered, as some of the brooks in Derbyshire wander, here, there and almost everywhere. Perhaps not a few will think me as dry, desultory and wearisome as are the highlands of that same county ; if so, I hope such readers will look again into other passages of my book which I have striven to make pleasant and merry as are green and well-watered glens cleft in the wide, waste moorland. No author knows into whose hands his work may come : my hope is that this volume may be read only by generous and genial folk,—good- natured, happy-hearted friends, who love gossip at least as much as they care for precision of style, clarity of thought or conciseness of argument. I could tell them what creature-comforts would help them both to enjoy my book, and also to take from them the inclination to use rules of criticism—the justice of which rules I should be the first to admit, but the application of which I should be the last to like ; only, if the}' do not know such for themselves, there is no hope that they will take kindly to anything I may write. By far the greater part of the book was written in Europe, much of it at the time and at the places mentioned. It is still in its rough freshness, —without study, without elaboration, without polish, —almost exactly as first composed. When I read again the pencil- 2 (5) — 6 PREFACE. written sheets, before sending them to the printer, I came to the conclusion that if I began to revise I should probably take out the very spirit I wished to retain, perhaps the truth as well as the rudeness, and the humor as well as the " " ' to inequalities. So like Over the Hills to Broadway and ' From Frankfort Munich," the reader has the book, if not finely finished, yet, I fondly hope, warm and living as from my very heart. Further than this, it is well for me to say that I used the most scrupulous care to make the book true both to life and to fact. All diligence was taken not to give even a coloring or an idea that was not both fair and faithful, as much for niy own satisfaction as for my reader's comfort. It is not of course implied that my taste or my judgment is always correct. I may have erred, even in allowing first impressions to remain untouched ; but of this others, and not I, must decide. Many are the books which have been written on Derbj^shire and' its towns since Domesday, Rotuli Hundredorum, and Camden's Britannia were set forth. Hutton, Simpson, Davies, Glover and Noble wrote long ago of the history and also, though more briefly, did Daniel and antiquities of the county ; and Samuel Lysons in their Magna Britannia, and Grose in his Antiquities. " The History and Topography of Ashbourn " was published at Ashbourne in 1839, and is a careful and exhaustive octavo of 380 pages, containing many original wood- cuts and drawings on stone. E. Rhodes's " Peak Scenery," published in 1824, abounds in pleasant descriptions of journe3'S taken at various times through different parts of the shire. Of modern books there are none better than Mr. John Leyland's "Peak of Derbyshire," and Mr. Edward Bradbury's "All About Derbyshire." The last-named volume, with Mr. M. J. B. Baddeley's ' ' is ' Peak District, ' I found most helpful and thoroughly accurate. Nor there a better written book on the county than Mr. John Pendleton's Popular History of Derbyshire. Among less pretentious works may be mentioned, Mr. William " Smith's "Derbyshire : its Ballads, Poesy, Humourists and Scenery —a bright and spicy pamphlet, originally read before the Sheffield Literary and Philosoph- " Ashbourne Parish Church " ical Society ; the Rev. Francis Jourdain's Guide to illustrated T. Thornley's edition of the Rev. —admirably gotten up and ; Mr. John Hamilton Gray's " Bolsover Castle" —without which I should have been " unable to say much of that famous stronghold ; Mr. A. E. Cokayne's Day in " the Peak," and " Bakewell and its Vicinity —two books which are deservedly PREFACE. 7 read by most visitors to Derbyshire ; "The Complete Guide to Dovedale," published by Mr. Edward Bamford, of Ashbourne, and Mr. George Moores' " Guide to the North Staffordshire Railway"—both of which are of highest worth. Every one of the books named, besides several upon Haddon Hall and Chatsworth, I looked into more or less carefully, either when in Derbyshire, or while preparing the following pages, or as the book was going through the press. In the Derbyshire Advertiser—one of the oldest and most trustworthy of provincial journals— I have found, from time to time, many interesting sketches of Derbyshire places and customs. From these authorities I gathered some facts, but I used them more as checks upon my own work than as sources of suggestion : my purpose being to convey to my reader, not so much the information they give, as my own impressions and the results of my own observation. But of much greater help to me than these, were my old and good friends, Mr. John Lucas, Mr. William H. Lucas and Mr. William Waterall, three natives of Derbyshire, now and for long resident in Philadelphia. Loving and remembering the land and the scenes of their youth, and continuing through many years in close touch with their former acquaintances and sur- roundings, they were able both to stir up my own sympathies, and also to give me much counsel and not a little knowledge. Some of my stories came from them ; and were I to acknowledge my indebtedness to them particularly, I should say that Mr. John Lucas helped me with some recollections of Ash- bourne ; Mr. William H. Lucas, b}' lending me two or three of the books above mentioned, and Mr. William Waterall, with much of the local coloring of Bols- over, and especially by allowing me to have copied from a water-color in his possession, the picture of the " Swan " in that village. My thanks are also due to my dear friend, Mrs. S. M. Elliot, of Philadel- phia, by whose generosity this volume was made possible, and who, with Mr. and Mrs. George L. Knowles, of the same city, went with me through much of the Derbyshire country. They drew my attention to many things which other- wise would have escaped me, and for the interest they took in the gathering ol my notes, and the shaping of the same into their present form, I am very grate- ful. It is only fair that I should add that my wife, who accompanied me throughout the whole journey, read my pages and made many helpful sug- gestions. S PREFACE. All the illustrations were prepared for this work by the Electro-Tint Engraving Company of Philadelphia, and I have no doubt that my reader will agree with me in recognizing the great merits of the workmanship. The subjects were, with a few exceptions, brought by me from Derbyshire. Among these exceptions were some photographs which I secured of Mr. William H. Rau, of Philadelphia, and the photograph of a painting of the Resurrec- tion, which Mrs. Elliot kindly brought me from Norway. In the Appendix I have given some of the Songs and Ballads popular in Derbyshire, and these, I hope, will be appreciated by my reader, if not for their own merits, yet because illustrating the life and habits of the people. I ought not, perhaps, to try the patience of my reader, or to break the rule that a preface should be as brief as possible, but there is a feature of this book, and of other books of mine, of which I should like to say something. It is not unlikely that they who follow me through these next paragraphs may be all the better able to enjoy my book : such readers will consider these same passages rather as a prelude to the book than as part of the preface thereof. I have never doubted but that they who took the trouble to read these pages would love the subjects of which they treat. Nobody else would be likely to buy the book. There is nothing inconsistent in an American loving well his own country, and also loving well the lands from which he or his fathers came.

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