in the victor at Ashby and Templestowe, a son who had proved his good heart and strong arm and knightly worth. Sir Walter himself had best describe the fortunes of Rebecca and of the Lady Rowena, the romantic exploits of Robin Hood and his merry men, and Ivanhoe's attainment of a true knight's reward. This sketch, already too prolonged, is, it is trusted, rendered a sufficient guide along the winding ways that lead to the places once scenes of their adventures, and need hardly betray more of their secrets or those of the Great Magician. There are a few notable places mentioned, or more than mentioned, in the story, but not as important in it as those already named. The traveller is supposed to have visited FountainsAbbey, that monastic glory of Yorkshire, to which Friar Tuck of Copmanhurst was attached. Perhaps ten miles southward of Richmond (where is the grand Norman Keep), the traveller who thoroughly explores the topography of Ivanhoe may find Middleham Castle, once held by a brother of Prior Aymer of this story (and afterward by Earl Warwick the king maker). A few miles farther is Jorvaulx Abbey, to which Aymer was attached. It is, however, less noticeable in this story, than the Prior himself, who figured remarkably in Sherwood Forest. Much of Prince John's plotting and circumvention was in the castle at York. The structure is very much changed since the time of the story, and is not suggestive of it. One notable incident is described as having occurred in the minster, but necessarily in an edifice replaced by the sublime church that now exists, founded as the latter was during the succeeding century. We are told also that Ivanhoe, when wounded after the first great Tournament, was quartered at the Abbey of Saint Botolph. Identification of this establishment is left, however, to the enterprise of others, and to their enlarged resources in archæological topography. The closing lines of the romance inform us that "Ivanhoe distinguished himself in the service of Richard, and was graced with farther marks of the royal favor. He might have risen higher but for the premature death of the heroic Coeur-de-Lion, . . . to whom may be applied, with a slight alteration, the lines composed by Johnson for Charles of Sweden, — "His fate was destined for a foreign strand, A petty fortress and an humble' hand, He left the name at which the world grew pale, XXXIX. "PEVERIL OF THE PEAK." Sixteenth Novel of the Series; Written 1822; Published January, 1823; TRAV `RAVELLERS departing from Mansfield may go, as advised, across the country, and, taking a train near Ambergate, reach the central portions of Derbyshire, where are some of the chief scenes of this long and diversified novel. Meanwhile, several of the remarkable places of England may be passed and visited. First, will be found Matlock Bath, an odd little summer resort, surrounded by picturesque scenery. Then, accessible from Rowsley, should be visited-if scarcely another similar place in the country-the magnificent Palace of the Peak, -Chatsworth; a seat of the Dukes of Devonshire. Few country residences ever existed comparable with this in the variety of its treasures and decorations. One who has been viewing scenes illustrative of the higher rank of social life in past ages will find here a combination of all the amenities that, in this last century of history, can surround it, in the open air, picturesque scenery exquisitely adorned, sumptuous architecture, a truly palatial house, surrounded by gardens in many styles, with almost unique conservatories, water-works, and botanical wonders; and within doors, superb apartments furnished in the richest manner, not only by upholstery, but by pictures and drawings, statuary and books. It is the perfection of a modern home in its most brilliant development of wealth, refinement, and education. A few miles from it will be found (and tourists should not omit finding) a seat that illustrates the condition and development, two to three centuries ago, of a corresponding social rank, — Haddon Hall, one of the most romantic places of Old England, and the supposed original of a house prominent in this story; consequently more about it, in the course of this chapter. A short distance from it is Buxton, another pretty watering-place, where will be found warm and cold springs,-chalybeate, iron, or other waters, more or less palatable and curative, and good hotels. One will also find the snuggest and nicest of quarters near Chatsworth, and at the "Peacock" at Rowsley. From either of these two places, or from Buxton, is an easy excursion to Castleton, where is the Peak Cavern, the largest cave in Britain; and, above its imposing entrance, the castle not only giving it its name, but aiding to the designation of a family who once owned the stronghold, and whose name appears in the title of this novel, action of which there opens. This novel, written with even more rapidity than usual by its author, is thought to rank among his most masterly compositions. "An accidental circumstance," he stated in 1831,"decided my choice of a subject for the present work. It was now several years since my immediate younger brother, Thomas Scott, ... had resided for two or three seasons in the Isle of Man, and, having access to the registers of that singular territory, had copied many of them, which he subjected to my perusal." These papers were somehow lost; but, continued Sir Walter, "The tenor of them, that is, the most remarkable, remained engraved on [my] memory." Thus originated a prominent episode, duly mentioned, that led the author to represent persons and scenes identified with places to which travellers are, in this chapter, supposed to be directed. "William, the Conqueror of England," begins the story, "was, or supposed himself to be, the father of a certain William Peveril, who attended him to the battle of Hastings, and there distinguished himself." In the division of the spoils of war this Peveril "obtained a liberal grant of property, and lordships in Derbyshire, and became the erector of that Gothic fortress, which, hanging over the mouth of the Devil's Cavern, so well known to tourists, gives the name of Castleton to the adjacent village." From him descended, directly or indirectly, a family "long distinguished by the proud title of Peverils of the Peak, which served to mark their high descent and lofty pretensions." A curious story is told of a tournament held by one of them, at the instigation of Mellet, a martial daughter of the house, in which knights desiring her in marriage might attain the prize by successful combat. A member of the great French house of Lorraine, overcoming sundry eminent opponents, thus gained her. The later history of the family, given in the novel, may be thought to differ from that to be found elsewhere; yet may be thought sufficiently accurate for the subject, as is also Scott's account of the fortunes of the castle itself, said to have been reduced from pristine strength and completeness to more or less ruin, when the Peveril of this story sustained loyally in it a siege by Cromwell, "of the irregular kind which caused the destruction of so many baronial residences during the course of" the great Civil War. Mounted upon a site originally very strong and almost inaccessible, and built as if "for the sole purpose of puzzling posterity," this castle still rises prominently, though ruined, on a curious eminence above the upper part of a broad, steep, grassy hillside, over the slippery slope of which the writer reached it. On the top of this eminence appeared the south and east fronts of the structure, bounded by a narrow ravine with almost perpendicular banks, gashed into the hillside to a great depth, -in one place nearly two hundred feet. This is called Cave Dale. Towards this, westward, extends a tremendous gorge, into which opens the cavern, and which presents, beneath the castle, an abrupt cliff-side two hundred and sixty feet high. About at the point between the two, over a deep, connecting cut, was once the drawbridge to the keep, that stands not far from this point. Northward, lie the slopes up which the explorer is supposed to have climbed. Beyond the ravines will be seen the great hills of Derbyshire, while all north about is the wide and far-extending Vale of Hope, over which the castle seems to have kept watch and ward. The bottom of the Vale is undulatory, beautifully cultivated, crossed by many lines of parallel or intersecting hedge-rows, and studded with picturesque trees. On this, as on the other, side of the castle, huge, rolling hills bound the horizon. The castle was built of rude stones imbedded in mortar so strong as to render the whole a sort of conglomerate. Both the outside and inside facings were squared blocks of smoothed yellowish gritstone, now, in spots, either much worn by weather, or pulled off and used upon the village houses, leaving ragged masses of rubble. "The castle yard, an enclosed area, extended almost over the whole summit of the eminence. The wall is nearly in ruins to the level of the area; though in some few places of the outside, it measures twenty feet in height. On the north side were two small towers, now destroyed. . . . Near the north-west angle is the keep," and as noted, opposite it, the entrance arch-way, remains of which yet exist. The general form of the area of the works was triangular. The keep is square, about thirty-eight feet on each side. The walls were six or eight feet thick, and built as already described. Two sides are much shattered; but one part is yet over fifty feet high. The interior, now entirely ruinous, once contained a dungeon basement, a story of fourteen feet height, another of sixteen, and a sort of attic under gables north and south. A broken flight of steps, after a fashion, leads to the top. Other buildings once completed the accommodations of the castle. Here, about the opening of this story, the Lady of Sir Geoffrey Peveril, the representative of the ancient house, and a tried and once afflicted Royalist, gave a grand banquet in celebration "of the blessed Restoration of his most sacred Majesty" Charles the Second. This banquet, given while the Knight was absent at court, was a curious demonstration of the existing condition of the kingdom. The neighboring leading persons in both the great parties the Cavaliers and the "Roundheads "- were invited and came, — and in separate bodies, "by different routes, and forming each a sort of procession, as if the adherents of each party were desirous of exhibiting its strength and numbers." For various reasons, the Puritans were the fewer. Their dress was, in general, studiously simple and unostentatious, or only remarkable by the contradictory affectation of extreme simplicity or carelessness. Its colors were "sad," its forms stiff. Their short hair and stern and gloomy gravity of countenance, their language, and, above all, the psalm-like song they uplifted while ascending to the castle, showed some of their peculiarities. Contrasted with these grave and not over-eager accipients of the invitation to the festivity were the jovial Cavaliers, "who, decked in whatever pomp their repeated misfortunes and impoverishment had left them, were moving towards the same point, though by a different road, and were filling the principal avenue to the Castle with tiptoe mirth and revelry." To the former party, Lady Peveril presented herself, accompanied by two children. She conducted the Puritans to the banqueting-room they were to occupy. The steward of the castle, meanwhile, received the Cavaliers, who occupied a separate apartment, where hospitality soon began to exercise its benign influence, "so that when the Lady Peveril walked into the Hall, accompanied as before with the children and her female attendants, she was welcomed with the acclamations due " her. The extensive banquet, thus held at Martindale Castle, for by that name is the seat of the Peverils known in this story, might seem to require a larger edifice than "the Place in the Peke," as old accounts name it. But the author had strong imagination, and by that potent power has sufficiently enlarged it, by combining with it another residence, just men |