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tant from this place; here we arrived about seven in the evening. It was a most delightful ride; every turn of the road opened before us a landscape, having some new and interesting features. On approaching Matlock, there was a strong contrast presented in the change of scenery, from fertile and cultivated plains and hills, to high and rugged rocks, covered with trees of the deepest shade of green. I had frequently noticed before, that the colour of the foliage and verdure in this country was deeper than in America-no doubt owing to the continual moisture of the climate; but here the green colour was pethculiarly dark. I instantly commenced an examination of this romantick and interesting spot; for though it was evening, you are to recollect that it is not dark here till after nine o'clock. One of the most Estriking objects is the range of high far and broken rocks, on either side of the village, the highest of which is called High Tor: Mam Tor, which is the loftiest of them all, is at Castleton, some distance off. The stream, or the noble river Derwent, as they call it here, runs at the base of High Tor, and turns some mining machinery in the neighbourhood. To enjoy the scenery around Matlock, as the Guide Book justly says, "requires some vigorous exertion, there being so many hills to climb, mines to visit, and caverns to explore." I never remember to have felt more fatigued than in mounting the hill immediately behind the inn called Old Bath, to the Dungeon Rocks, and then to the Spar Mine. In the last place, I had the pleasure of seeing the veins of lead ore, and the manner of working them, which I had often heard of before. I collected also in the mine, some good specimens of fluor, in fine cubick crystals, with which I hope to adorn my cabinet at home. The mine was lighted up in different parts, by a number of candles. From the height which I had attained, the view of the country

round, and of the Derwent river running through the valley below, was very beautiful. Night coming on, however, soon hid every distant object. I therefore hastened down the hill to a place called the Museum, where I found a collection of the most interesting mineral productions of the neighbourhood for sale. I purchased a number of specimens of the spar and marble, which were manufactured, as I understood, at the establishment. We found but little company at this charming abode of Hygeiathe months of July and August being the portion of the year devoted to such an excursion, by the wealthy and the great. At our hotel, called the Old Bath, which is the most fashionable, we met with a few titled persons. The waters are only used for bathing; and having a temperature of 68° F. they cannot form a very agreeable bath, without additional heat. The place is visited, no doubt, more for its beautiful scenery, and its natural curiosities, than for any thing else. I could pass a week here in Derbyshire with great pleasure; its natural and artificial caverns, its ebbing and flowing well, its mines of lead ore and fluor spar, its numerous warm springs, and a variety of other objects of curiosity, were strong inducements for me to stay longer than my time would permit.

June 1.-It was our intention te spend this day, which is the Sabbath, at this place; and I got up in the morning expecting to go to church; but, on inquiry, I found it two miles distant. As the morning was rainy, we took a post-chaise, and rode seventeen miles to Derby. Here my companions, Messrs. Ř. and S., left me, and proceeded to London in the mail-coach. I felt, at first, a good deal lonely and heavy hearted; but hearing the bells for afternoon worship ringing, I went to the house of prayer, where my thoughts were turned from present objects. On the road. after the weather cleared up, I was

delighted with the little groups of Sunday school children, which were frequently seen wandering among the hedges, towards the village churches. I realized many of the scenes mentioned by Mrs. Sherwood, in her interesting stories on these subjects.. The Manse, the Church, the Village, the Sunday School Children and their Teachers, were all before me.

On leaving Matlock Bath, the scenery is wild and romantick; at no very great distance we saw, on the high ground, on the opposite side of the Derwent, Willersley Castle, built by Sir Richard Arkwright, the great mechanical genius whom I have already mentioned. No site could have been more happily chosen, and the mansion itself may be considered as a monument of his taste and ingenuity.

June 2.-I rose early this morning, to examine the old and interesting town of Derby, which stands on the Derwent. The most attractive object to me was All Saints church, built in Henry the VII.'s time. It is really beautiful and grand; the tower, with its pinnacles, is near 200 feet high, and is a fine rich piece of Gothick architecture. Almost all the Earls and Dukes of the Cavendish family are interred in this church; and more than all the rest, here lie the remains of the Hon. Henry Cavendish, one of the most accurate chemists of his time, and the illustrious discoverer of hydrogen gas, the composition of water and of nitric acid. I examined many other interesting objects at Derby, and among the number was the old school, built in the twelfth century, and at which Flamstead, the astronomer royal, received the rudiments of his education. Dr. Darwin, while on a visit, died in this place. Derby may be considered a manufacturing town. On the banks of the Derwent there is a large building occupied as a silk mill, the first and the largest ever erected in England: I did not count them, but it is said to contain

488 windows. The fluor or Derbyshire spar is here principally manufactured into vases, urns, and other ornaments. The neighbourhood of the town affords a number of fine views.

About 11 o'clock I left Derby in the coach for Birmingham. The country is not so thickly settled, in many considerable districts, as I expected to find it: there is a great deal of common, or unhedged land, into which all the neighbouring farmers, at certain seasons of the year, turn their cattle and sheep. Still larger open tracts are planted with low bushes, for the purpose of giving shelter to foxes and hares, when they have the honour of be ing hunted and murdered by the nobility.

One feature of an English landscape, common all over the country, is the number of wind mills. Some of these are quite ornamen tal; many of them are coloured white, and are surrounded with rich ever-green hedges. The graceful motion of their wings, as they slowly revolve, gives an animation to them, which might well provoke the ire of a knight like that of La Mancha. I passed through two or three places which were exceeding ly interesting to me. The first stage brought me to a neat little town on the banks of the Trent, called Burton-every one has heard of the fine ale which is brewed here-and from curiosity, if not from thirst, I called for a tumbler of the best Burton ale. I have no great faith in the exquisite sensibility of the gustatory organs, said to be pos sessed by certain persons-at any rate, I would just now prefer to have a draught of the ale made in Philadelphia or Burlington.

Our next stage was to Litchfield. This town every one knows as the birth place of Johnson. I could not visit the house where he was born, and which is now shown to many persons annually; but the spot where it stands was pointed out to me, by a man who said that, with

in a short time, forty individuals had applied to him as a guide to the place. I saw, however, the little school-house in which he and Garrick received the rudiments of their education. The author of Sandford and Merton, a book which gave my youthful hours much delight, was also a native of this place; and Dr. Darwin lived and wrote most of his works here. I should, in gallantry, name Miss Seward also; but I do not think she ought to be placed in such good company. Litchfield is quite a common looking town; there is, how ever, a cathedral here, which, it is said, is among the finest specimens of Gothick architecture in England -it has two tall stone spires.

The next place is Birmingham, the great toy-shop of the world. As we approached, the sooty appearance of the buildings, the dense volumes of smoke rising up from numberless furnaces-the noise of hammers, and the rattle of machinery-all proclaimed it the emporium of arts and manufactures. The whole country round seems to be the abode of the Cyclops family, for it smokes and fumes in every direction. Though on a much larger scale, it forcibly reminded me of my first entrance into Pittsburg, in the United States. Watt and Bolton, by means of the steam engine, have done for Birmingham, what Sir Richard Arkwright, with his spinning apparatus, &c. has effected for Manchester. About a mile or two from the town, I noticed, at some distance from the road, a fine mansion, in the midst of a beautiful park. This is the residence, I was informed, of Mr. Watt, son of the great engineer. It is also the Bracebridge Hall of Irving; and the place which suggest ed to him many of the fine pictures which he has sketched in that delightful tale.

A person who is fond of examining machinery, and the thousand useful and fantastick articles which it produces, can no where be so

much gratified as at Birmingham. I viewed a number of the warehouses and work-shops. In the latter, you are filled with wonder at beholding many of the operations; for instance, a rough piece of iron or steel gradually assuming shape, symmetry, and beauty, as it passes from the hands of one workman to another. I need not say that the machinery by which these results are produced is highly ingenious; in many instances, so exact are its operations, that it seems endowed with life and thought. Many of the articles manufactured here are exceedingly cheap-it is said that common buttons have been "really gilt with gold, for three pence half penny a gross." The low price of pins, which pass through so many hands before they are finished, is another example;-a boy twelve years old will spin 7,200 pin heads in a minute, and the rest of the operation is rendered equally expeditious. Mr. Thompson's show rooms are exceedingly spacious, and well arranged; they contain a vast variety of articles, both for ornament and use, made of gold, silver, iron, and some other metals and alloys. That which pleased me most, was an exact copy, in bronze, of the famous Warwick vase, dug from the ruins of Herculaneum; it is seven feet in diameter, and all the carving upon it— its festoons, grapes and heads-are finished in the highest style of beauty and perfection-The guide told me it was more than a year in making. There is a gallery round the room in which the vase stands, for the purpose of enabling you to examine its interior. Mr. Thompson has also executed a colossal statue of some King or Duke, I forget which; in workmanship, I think it even superior to the Warwick vase.

At the παντεκναθηκα, which is the name applied by Mr. Jones to his rooms, I saw many splendid and useful articles, and many more gaudy toys. Among the medals

which are here made in great number and perfection, I noticed one in honour of Watt-his head in fine relief. I tried to purchase it, but Mr. Jones told me it was the only one struck; the die being then destroyed by the son of Mr. Watt, who was of opinion that the face did not sufficiently resemble his father, though the most celebrated artist had been for a long time at work upon it. I purchased some small glass vessels, beautifully coloured with metallick oxides, so as to resemble the amethyst, the ruby, and the topaz.

I was desirous of visiting the celebrated manufacturing establishment founded at Soho, by Boulton and Watt; but I understood that admittance into the work-shops is denied to every one, without distinction. The crowds which constantly visited this place so much interrupted the workmen, that this measure was necessarily adopted.

You recollect that in 1791, the mob here destroyed Dr. Priestley's house, for the part which he took in the French revolution. As one of the noticeable things, I saw the place where it stood. Outrages of this kind are not to be justified; but I never believed that the Doctor was forced to abandon England for our own happy country, on account of the political sentiments which he at this time published.

It happened to be the last day of the fair when I arrived at Birmingham, so that the town was filled with the drunken and the dissolute. The same kind of shows that are exhibited at horse races are always to be seen at the fairs; their immoral tendency I have already noticed.

June 3.-I left Birmingham today for Oxford. There was no one in the coach with me but a well dressed woman, who informed me she had travelled alone a long distance to see her husband, who was about embarking for Canada. I then mentioned that I had just come from America. Did you travel all the way by land? was her inquiry.

The coach stopped for some minutes at Stratford, a lovely town on the river Avon. Here, you know, Shakspeare was born, and a handsome monument is erected to his memory in the church, which stands just at the skirts of the town, surrounded with trees, and occupying a most beautiful site. Irving, in his Sketch Book, or Tales, I do not recollect which, has given us a beautiful description of the spot I inquired for the house in which the great dramatist was born. My guide, pointing to a cluster of old buildings, said there is the spot; but which house will you visit, for there are two that seem to have equal claims to the honour. I therefore gave up the enterprise, and reserved my enthusiasm and rhapsodies for less equivocal occasions. The country around Stratford is, I think, upon the whole, more beautiful and luxuriant than any through which I have yet passed. The stream called the Stour, which runs every where through the grass, adds much to the scenery. A fine rail-road is near the stage route for several miles, and a number of wagons, heavily laden, were passing continually over it. After Stratford comes Woodstock, a small town, well known for the excellent gloves manufactured in it. Here I left the coach and remained for several hours to examine Blen heim, the famous seat of the more famous John, Duke of Marlborough. (To be continued.)

FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

ON INTEMPERANCE.

(Continued from page 357.) The subject claims to be noticed in a political point of view.

We might call the attention of the politician to the waste of capital. Thirty millions of dollars annually squandered on intemperance, are as really lost to the nation as though they had been “cast

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into the depths of the sea." Some, I am aware, are of opinion, that the consumption of ardent spirits promotes industry, by furnishing employment to those who are engaged in distilling and vending the article. Were this representation true, it would only prove that employment is furnished to a comparatively small class of the community, at the expense of a much more numerous class, who by the means of ardent spirits, become idle and vicious. But the representation itself is erroneous, or at least defective. The drunkard in order to gratify his appetite, will deprive himself and family of many of the comforts, and even of the necessaries of life. Let us suppose that the money wasted by him on the article of ardent spirits, were consumed in the purchase of comfortable apparel for himself and family, or in household accommodations which would contribute to health and enjoyment. Is it not manifest that he would do more to promote industry than he now does? While benefiting himself and family, he would furnish employment to an additional number of tradesmen, and these in turn would furnish a market for the produce of the husbandman, which cannot be otherwise disposed of at present, than by converting it into poison. How contracted are that man's notions

of political economy, who would dispossess the industrious tradesman, to make room for the unserviceable distiller and conscience-lacking dram vender! The drunkard and his family must be half fed, half clad, half shod, half housed, to the injury of the manufacturer, the shoemaker, the tailor, the carpenter, in order that he may husband his resources for the support of the distiller! Is any man wicked enough to imagine, that a Being of infinite wisdom and power and goodness, has so mismanaged in the organization of the world, that it cannot be properly conducted but by the conVOL. VII-Ch. Adv.

version of wholesome nutriment into a liquid "fire, which burns to the lowest hell!"

There is another evil, more strictly political, arising from the use of ardent spirits. This article manages, or rather mismanages, our popular elections. That candidate is the most likely to win the day, who has made a liberal distribution of the poison. He will receive the votes of his partisans, and the hearty support of the whole fraternity of drunkards. Hopeful constituents, and meet representatives! -"fit body for fit head!" It must be evident that if this disgraceful practice become general (and it already prevails to an alarming extent) the most virtuous and conscientious candidate will be the least likely to succeed in his election, because he will not have recourse to such a mode of ensuring

success.

We are apt to imagine that our political privileges rest on too solid a basis to be ever shaken. But nations who once had as much pride and power as we now possess, are at present "known only in song." Drunken Babylon was surrounded by a wall 350 feet in height, and 90 feet in breadth; and yet the very site she occupied is now unknown! The salutary exercise of our elective franchise is the sheet anchor of our republick. If this continue unimpaired, the political vessel will ride in triumph amid the fiercest hurricane; but if this safeguard be once removed, our barque will be dashed upon the rock of despotism, or stranded on the shoals of anarchy.

We have an illustration in the evil already alluded to, of the inefficacy of salutary laws, where there is not virtue and intelligence in the community to support those laws. There is an express statute in this commonwealth, against any attempt to influence a man's vote by the means of ardent spirits! The most wholesome regulations may easily

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