| Transcript or Index | Welbeck Saturday July 8th. 1780
Dr Sir
The first moment I have had leisure from Business since my return here I consecrate to your Service to give you some little Idea how I pas'd my time in my Journey to see Mr G the most agreeable one I ever had in my Life, you are not to expect the memoirs of a Journalist who never kept a Journall, it must suffice If I can only give you from my memory a slight description of the places I visited & if it has spirit enough to keep your Eyes open half an Hour after eating a hearty Dinner it fully answers my purpose.
On Sunday after dineing at Chesterfield I set forward & reach'd Pilsbury about Seven in th evening where I found a most friendly welcome from Mr G and his Family - Pilsbury only contains 2 Houses situate close to each other near the bottom of a high Hill & commands a most pleasing View over a fine rich Valley into Staffordshire - the River Dove runs in a variety of directions in the bottom of the Vale & at each end are some very high Hills in different forms all cloathed with Verdure & numbers of Sheep feeding upon them - Monday morning was spent with Mr. Gould in looking over his farm which is very extensive & may with more propriety be called rather a Gardin than a farm is it so very neat & kept in the most husbandlike manner - He has been at very great expences in bringing it to its present state of perfection Was I a Landlord in that part of the Country I certainly wou'd prefer him for a Tenant to anyone I ever met with - In the Evening I went to Longnor a small market town in Staffordshire not remarkable either for its Beauty or Clenliness - tho it may be so on an other Account as there is neither a Parson a Lawyer or a Barber to be found in it - the latter I much wanted but was oblig'd to take up with a poor Weaver, who perform'd the office with Fear & Trembling - In this Place for the first time in my life I heard of a Society of Women who had incorporated themselves for supporting of their sick Members they are in generall Methodists & had had their yearly Love Feast a few Days before, when their Preacher expounded to them in the open air -
On Tuesday I visited the Duke of Devonshire's great Copper Mine at Ecton in Staffordshire the entrance is on the side of a very high Mountain at the bottom of which runs the river Manifold It is many Hundred yards deep where the Copper ore comes from, so deep as to be below the Bed of the River & all Springs - they much wished me to go to see the Miners at Work, but its great Debth, the time necessary for going & returning wou'd prevent a much more curious Man than myself - here are many smelting Furnaces & other works for the makeing of Copper at which upwards of 300 Men, Women & Children are employ'd & at Whiston about 7 Miles distan where it is refin'd about 200 more This is I beleive the best Copper Mine in the Kingdom & besides the payment of Wages & every other Incidentall Expence clears upwards of E15,0()0 prAnnm. & had they more smelting Furnaces there can be no doubt of its clearing considerably more - from the Miner's Account one wou'd be inclined to think it will never be exausted. Near 20,000 Pounds worth of Copper Ore lies on the Banks ready for working up
on Wednesday I rode about 7 Miles to view Dove Dale called with propriety by the Natives one of the Wonders of the Peak, the road to it is extreamly bad & stony over Hill & Dale but in generall inclosed & as good land as any in the Kingdom - Dove Dale is a narrow winding Valley amongst great variety of Rocks & precipices, the River Dove runs thro' it for more than three Miles sometimes gently at others with great rapidity there are some falls but none of them so great as I have seen elsewhere - The Rocks are various & of a Thousand different forms & aspects with vast sweeps on every side, the rocks in some places are covered with Wood from which fragments of Rocks arises of a great height in severall different forms in others the rock hangs almost perpendicular to the river & is extreamly noble - There are severall Caverns and naturall arches, one which called Reynards Hall I climb'd up to with some dificulty, but when there it required no little consideration how to get down again, Walk I cou'd not I therefore prefer'd the backward Method by travelling feet foremost. In the Vale are many Shrubs of difft. Kinds that wou'd undoubtedly be a treat to a Botanical Gentleman. From Dove Dale I went to llam the Seat of Port Esqr. the House has nothing remarkable in it but the pleasure Ground & Gardin are beautifull beyond description, they are in a small Valley boundered by high & steep Hills, covered with fine Oak & other Wood which comes down to the very Edge of the river Manifold on the other side is most beautifull Walks from which you command one of the finest Views that can be imagined, a nobale range of Wood, a beautifull Pleasure Ground laid out with great Taste & a charming river which is seen in some places in others only heard by its fall among the Rocks This Sweet prospect appears terminated by a distant Mountain called Thorp Cloud of a Conical form but blunt at Top the efect Grand & Magnificient - the only thing that displeases me in the view is a small Chinese Bridge thrown across the river it is small & produces an unpleasing sensation. Twas it mine it woud soon be tumbled from its Height - on the whole I think llam one of the most charming residances I have ever seen for a country Gentleman - In winter I am told its rather unhealthy on Acct. of continuall foggs that hover round it caused by the water being so near - I had nearly forgot that the River Manifold falls into a subterranious Passage under Ground a little below Ecton Mine & after a course of severall Miles rises again in the Pleasure Grounds of llam & instantly becomes a considerable River - From llam I went to Oakover, the Seat of Oakover Esqr. it is situate on a small rising Ground with a fine rich valley in front thro which runs the River Dove tho at a considerable distance from the House & the Hills on the other side are in generall inclos'd & interspers'd in different places wth. wood which have a pleasing Efect - One thing however here rather infused melancholy Ideas it is a Church & burying ground within 50 or 60 yrds. in the front of the House - One may suppose from this that the Gentleman who first built the House must have been a good man. to place his Seat in such a place as shou'd always put him in mind of his Mortality - No more need be said about the Invirons of this place. Let us now proced within the House & into the Dineing Room, There is Painting sufficient to please the greatest Critick in that art & in that alone few Rooms in the Kingdom can compare with it in Value, No sooner do you enter it than the Holy Family by Raphael strikes you with wonder, the Heads are inimatably done the Figures grand and Majestick - The head of the Virgin is beyond conception - The Children perticularly our Saviour are Grace itself - The folding & Drapery beyond degree pleasing The colours appear as if only laid on yesterday in short the whole is Harmony itself & is worthy the greatest Master in painting that Providence ever sent into the World - I was told that 4000G. had been offered for this piece & been refused, nor do I wonder at this as I think it the Noblest piece of Painting my Eyes ever beheld [incomplete] |