1752. Prologue to Mr. Foote's TASTE, &c. 'Tis said tbis night a certain wag

intends Yet Thall futurity behold his name, I laugh at us, our calling, and our friends : Fill the bright annals of immortal fame : If lords and ladies, and jucb dainty folks, The muse ambitious shall his acts com- . Are cur'd of auction-bunting by bis jokes ;

mend, Should this add dretnine Spread throughout tbe The honest muse is always virtue's frienda

land, Before you buy, be sure to understand,

A DESCRIPTION OF DERBYSHIRE, Ob ! think un us what various ills will flow, A With a new MÁp of the said County. When great ones only purcbafe-- wbat tbey know.

(fashion, ERBYSHIRE is an inland county, Why laugh at Taste? It is a barmless And quite fubdues each detrimental paffion; part of Cheshire and Staffordshire on the The fair ones bearts will ne'er incline to man, west, Warwickshire on the south, LeiWbile thus they rage for china and japan. cestershire on the south-west, and York. The Virtuofo too, and Connoisseur,

fhire on the north. It is about 38 miles Are ever decent, delicate and pure ;

long from north to south, and 26, where The smalleji bair tbeir lcofer tboughes might B broadest, from east to 'west, but much bold,

[cold ; narrower in some parts, and in the south Just warm eben fingle, and when married not above 6 miles broad. It is computed Their blood at fight of beauty gently flows ; at about 130 miles in circumference, and Their Venus must be old, and want a nose ! is reckoned to contain 680,000 acres ; is No am'rous passion with deep krowledge tbrives; divided into 6 hundreds, has 106 parishes, 'Iis the complaint indeed of all our wives ! and 10 market-towns, and sends 4 mem'Tis said Virtù so such a beight is growi, bers to parliament, viz. two knights of All artists are encourag'. but our own. C the shire, who at present are lord FredeBe not deceiv'd, I bere declare on oarb,

rick Cavendish, and Sir Nathaniel Curzon, I never yet fold goods of Foreign grotutb : Bart, and two burgesses for the town of Ni'er fent commons out to Greece or Rome; Derby, who in the present parliament are My belt antiquiries are made at home.

lord viscount Duncannon, and Thomas I've Romans, Greeks, Italians near at Rivett, Esq; The river Derwent runs band,

almost thro' this county from north to True Britons all--and living in the Strand. south, dividing it into east and west. I ne'er for trinkets rack my pericranium, D The air is generally temperate and good, They furnish out my room from Herculaneum. but cold on the Peak mountains. The But bufh

south and east parts are well cultivated, Stould it be knotun ibat English are employ'd, and fruitful in corn and grass, and abound Onır manufaéiure is at once destroy'd ;

with gentlemens feats and parks; the No matter what our countrymen deferve, north and west parts, called the Peak, Tbey'll thrive as antients, but as moderns or Peak-land, are mountainous and barfarve

ren, but yield great profit to the inhabiIf we should fall-0 you it will be owing ; tants by the valuable mines, especially of Farewel to Arts--they're going, going, E lead. There are also some rich vallies going ;

between, and on the hills are fed very The faral bammer's in your band, ob town! good tho' not very large Theep, in great Tben fet Us up and knock obe Poet down. abundance ; nor are they wanting in

good store of black cattle. Oats in there An Epitaph on Admiral MATTHEWS. parts are their chief grain, with which (See Lond. Mag. for O&. laft, p. 476.)

they make their brtad, and sometimes their beer. In other parts they make

more

,

(tear, for . shortbesides the If honour's favourite claims a British rich produce of the surface of the earth in This tomb approach ! Nobly let weeping some parts, this county is famous for its eyes,

[thews lies. great number of lead, coal and iron Each virtuous heart proclaim, Here Mat- mines, and quarries of free-stone, limeImperious Spain, proud Gallia now no stone, marble both black and grey, ala

[ders roar : bafter, &c. They have also quarries that Shall dread his arm, Thall hear his thun. yield mill-stones, grind-stones, whetNo more black envy shall his honours G fones, &c. and 'in the Peak mines are throuda

[cloud. found alabaftrites, ftalactites, vitriol, aTruth like the fun dispels the noxious lum, &c. Lead is their principal commoIngrateful age! Here merit loft her due, dity, of which they have great plenty, Tho' this brave chieftain's worth too and very good, and in which they drive well ye knew,

a very considerable trade. They had much

6 A DESCRIPTION of DERBYSHIRE. Jan. more wood here formerly than now; for We now proceed to the towns, which the iron-works, lead-mines, and coal

arc, pits, have occafioned much of it to be 1. Derby, the county town, whick destroyed. But they have the less need of gives name to the shire, 98 computed, wood for fuel, as they are so well fur- and 112 measured miles N. W. from Lonnished with coal; insomuch that they don. It was called by the Danes Deoraby, supply the defects of many neighbouring which signifies a shelter for deer, it being counties, as Leicester, Northanıpton, Rut: A anciently a park, and a buck is in the land and Lincolnshires, whose inhabitants arms of the town to this day. It is frequently bring barley to sell at Derhy, situate on the river Derwent, over which and load themselves back with coals. The it has a fair stone bridge. It is a place chief bridges of this county are, that at of fome antiquity, being a borough in Burton upon Trent, which leads into Edward the Confessor's time, is now goStaffordshire, and has 35 arches ; and verned by a mayor, high-fteward, rethat at Swarston, over the same river, corder, 9 aldermen, 14 brethren, 14 which is near a mile long, part of it be- common-council men, and a town clerk, ing a causeway on the road leading to B and is the only town in the county that Derby.

sends members to parliament, who are Before we describe the towns, we Mall chose by the freemen and sworn burgesses, mention some things worthy of observa- about 700 in number. The town is tion in this county, leaving the moft re- large, well built, rich and populous, has markable of all, called the Seven Wonders great privileges, and is exempt from payof the Peak, for a conclufion. Near ing toll in London, or any other place, Byrchover valley is a large rock, with 2 except Winchester and a few more. 'Here tottering ftones, one of them 4 yards Cares parish churches, of which that long, and 12 round, and rests on a point, called All-hallows is the chief, and has a fo equally poised, that one may move it beautiful high steeple, erected at the with a finger.- Near Brudwall, in link- charge of young men and maidens, as ing a lead grove, was found a tooth, appears by the inscriptions. The townwhich, tho' a quarter of it was broke off, hi:ll, where the aflizes are kept, is a fine was 13 and 1 inches round, and weighed Atructure of free-stone. A little river, 3 pounds, 10 ounces and 3 quarters ; called Martinbrook, on the south side of and among other pieces of bones, a large the town, has 9 bridges over it. The kull, which held 7 pecks of corn : Some D trade is in wool, corn and malt, and it is think them to have belonged to an ele- noted for its fine ale. It has a very phant, because elephants bones are found plentiful market on Fridays, and smaller pear Castleton, fupposed to have been ones on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It brought thither by the deluge ; but Dr. gives title of earl to the family of Stanley, Leigh thinks them to be the lusus naturæ and has done so ever tince the reign of of the fluor stalactites, caused by different

Henry VII. mixtures of bituminous, fajine and ter- 2. Athburn, 10 miles N. W. of Derby, rene particles. - At Kedlafton there is a £ on the borders of Staffordshire, a pretty well, that cures old ulcers, and the le- large town, situate in a rich soil, with a profy. In several mountains of this coun- market on Saturdays. It began to decay ey are cavities at the bottom, called by the much in the last age, many families being inhabitants Swallou's, because streams run extin&t, and others removed; and the reainto them, of which no vent appears. son given by an author of that time, was Dr. Leigh is of opinion, that the fubter- the many attorneys living thereabouts, raneous rivers in the Peak (of which here- and its being within the Peverel courts. after) and those rapid springs that issue 3. Wirksworth, 7 miles N. E. of Ashfrom the mountains near Castleton, are F burn, a large, populous town, with a formed by them.-The river Dove, which market on Tuesdays. It is the chief town parts this county from Staffordshire, runs of the Peak, and the greatest Icad-market for the most part thro' a lime-stone, in England, there being furnaces in the which gives such a fructifying quality to neighbourhood for melting it. A court the waters, that when they overflow the is kept here for the miners, called the neighbouring meadows, they become ex- Barmoot court, confifting of a master and ceeding fruitful. The water is clear, fa- 2.4. jurors, who have power to set out 2 mous for 'a fish called grailings, and ex-G meers of land, 29 yards long in a pipe. cellent trouts. It swelis so much fome- work, and 14 yards square in a fiattimes in 12 hours, that it carries off many work, to any person that has found a Theep and other cartie, and in as little vein in any man's ground, except orchards me returns to its old channel,

and gardens; and they appoint the owner

one

1752. Å DescrIPTION of DERBYSHIRE.

7 one meer, and other perquisites, for par- well, or Wendon-Well

, Poor's-Hofi, and fage of carts, use of timber, and other the Devil's-Arse. Mr. Hobbs has com conveniencies. They restrain all irregular prized these 7 wonders in this fingle verse; proceedings, and in a few days determine

Ædes, mons, baratbrum, binus forts, anall controversies that happen betwixt the

traque bina. miners themselves, or the miners and owners of lands. Here is a fair churchi, House, mountain, depth, two fountains,

and two caves. a free-school, and an alms-house. In the A neighbourhood are a hot and a cold spring, 1. Chatsworth-House, a noble and statefo near together, that a man may put one ly palace of the duke of Devonshire, of hand into one and the other into the other

which we have here given a beautiful at the same time.

View, and which is thus described by 4. Bakewell, 9 miles N. W. of Wirkr

Dr. Leigh, in his Natural History. Like worth, another considerable town in the

the sun in a hazy air, it gives luftre to Peak, seated among hills, with a large the dulky mountains of the Peak, and atmarket on Mondays for lead, the great tracts multitudes of spectators. The par. manufacture of these parts, and for all B

sage is by an easy ascent, and the gate forts of provisions. The parish is of great adorned with trophies. The hill comextent, having î chapels, and is a pecú- pofes a stately square, from which, thro' liar, exempt from all episcopal jurisdiction. a gallery, upon stone stairs, so artfully Near it is a field, which the country peo- contrived, that they seem to hang in the ple fay will either fatten or kill a horse in air, is a prospect of a beautiful chapel « month's time.

and hall, full of curious paintings; the 5. Tiddeswell, or Tideswal, miles

one being the history of Cæsar stabbed in N. w. of Bakewell, an indifferent town, C the senate, and the other à draught of the with a fair church and free,

school, and a Resurrection ; both done by the famous market on Wednesdays,

Vario. The chambers are noble and large, 6. Chapel in Frith, s miles N. W. of richly inlaid with the choiceft woods, and Tiddelwell, was formerly a market-town,

compose a stately gallery, at the upper but the market is now disured. And the

end of which is the duke's closet, finely fame may perhaps be said of Winster, or beautified with Indian paint, and figures "Winstre, which lies between Wirksworth of birds drawn by native Indians. The and Bakewell, and is marked in the maps for a market-town.

gardens are pleasant and stately, adorned D

with exquisite water-works; as, i. Nep7. Dronfield, 16 miles E. of Tydeswal, tune, with his nymphs, who seem to sport a small town, standing on an eminence, in the waters, let out by a cock in several 'with a market on Thursdays.

columns, and falling upon sea-weeds. 2. 8. Chesterfield, 3 miles S. E. of Dron- A pond, where sea-horses continually roll. field, an ancient corporation town, go- 3. A tree of copper, resembling a wilverned by a mayor or bailiff, and alder- low; and by the turning of a cock, every men. It is pleasantly fituate between two leaf drops water, which represents a rivulets, on the south side of a hill, in a F shower. 4. A grove of cypress, and a fruitful soil ; is well built and populous, cascade with two sea-nymphs at top, and has a fair church and a free-school, and a jars under their arms, from whence water good market on Fridays for lead, and for falls upon the cascade, which makes a corn and other provisions. It gives title noise like cataracts. 5. At the bottom of of earl to the family of Stanhope.

the cascade there is a pond with an arti9. Balsover, or Bolsover, 5 miles E. of ficial rule, thro' which, by the turning of Chesterfield, a large, well-built town, a cock, the water ascends, and hangs in with a market on Fridays, and noted for the air in the figure of that flower. 6. making fine tobacco-pipes.

F

Another pond, with Mercury pointing at 10. Alfreton, 8 miles S. of Chesterfield, the gods, and throwing up water. Bepleasantly seated on a hill, and thought sides there there are the statues of several to be first built by king Alfred. Its market gladiators in very lively postures. For the on Mondays is not very considerable, ex- honour of Chatsworth we mall observe cept for the great quantities of bread fold here, that when count Tallard, márthal here.

of France, being taken prisoner in the We now come to the seven wonders of

battle of Blenheim, by the renowned duke the Peak, which are the surprize of all G of Marlborough, was brought over and travellers who go to see them, and are ordered to reside at Nottingham, the duke ingeniously described by Mr. Hobbs, Dr. of Devonshire gave him an invitation to Leigh, and Mr. Cotton. There are Chatr- this his feat, where he staid about a worth-House, the mountain called Mam. week, and at his departure made his Tor, Elden-Hole, Buxton-Wells, Tidder. grace the following almost inimitable com.

plimens,