REYNARD'S HOLE.

AFTER having proceeded about a mile in Dove DALE,the romantic and sublime beauties of which will be hereafter noticed, by a route constantly diversified by new fantastic forms, and uncouth combinations of rock, the visitor is led to a mass of mural rock, bearing the above name, and perforated by nature into a grand-arch, nearly approaching to the shape of the sharply-pointed gothic style of architecture, about forty-five feet in height, and in width twenty. Having passed through this arch, a steep ascent leads to a natural cavern, called REYNARD'S HALL, forty-five feet in length, fifteen in breadth, and in height thirty. From the mouth of this cavern the scenery is singular, beautiful, and impressive. The face of the rock, which contains the arch rises immediately in front, and would effectually prevent the eye from ranging beyond its mighty barrier, did not its centre open into the above-mentioned arch, through which is seen a small part of the opposite side of the Dale, consisting of a mass of gloomy wood, from the shade of which a huge detached rock, solitary, cragged, and pointed, starts out to a great height, and forms an object truly sublime. This rock which has received the name of DOVE DALE CHURCH, is pleasingly contrasted by the little pastoral river, Dove, and by its verdant turfy banks. A narrow opening at the extremity of the cavern is supposed to lead to other similar cavities in the rock; and on the left is a cavern, about forty feet in length, in breadth fourteen, and in height twenty-six, called REYNARD'S KITCHEN, from the interior of which a pleasing view is presented of the upper part of the dale, its river, and rocks.

After passing REYNARD'S HOLE, already described, the rocks rise more abrupt on either side, and appear in shapes more wild and irregular, but diversified and softened by shrubs.

DOVE DALE is Dearly three miles in length; but from the sinuosity of its course, and its projecting precipices, the views are limited. Throughout the whole of this majestic feature of country, the river Dove flows, in the halcyon days of summer, with soft murmurs, innocently and transparently over its pebbly bed; but swells into rage during the

winter months. Little tufts of shrubs and underwood form islands in miniature within its bed, which enlarge and swell the other objects. The scenery of this Dale is distinguished from almost every other in the United Kingdoms, by the rugged, dissimilar, and frequently grotesque and fanciful appearance of the rocks. To employ the words of a late tourist, "It is, perhaps, on the whole one of the most pleasing sceneries of the kind any where to be met with. It has something peculiarly characteristic. Its detached, perpendicular rocks stamp it with an image entirely its own, and for that reason it affords the greater pleasure.— For it is in scenery as in life. We are most struck with the peculiarity of an original character, provided there be nothing offensive in it."

THOR'S HOUSE.

Where Hamps and Manifold, their cliffs among,
Each in his flinty channel winds along,

With lucid lines the dusky moor divides,
Hurrying to intermix their sister tides,

Where still their silver-bosom'd nymphs abhor
The blood-smear'd mansion of gigantic THOR-
Erst fires volcanic in the marble womb

Of cloud-wrapp'd WHETTON rais'd the massy dome
Rocks rear'd on rocks, in huge disjointed piles,
Form the tall turrets, and the lengthen'd aisles;
Broad pond'rous piers sustain the roof, and wide
Branch the vast rainbow ribs from side to side.
While from above, descends, in milky streams,
One scanty pencil of illusive beams,
Suspended crags, and gaping gulfs illumes,
And gilds the horrors of the deepen'd glooms,
-Here oft the Naiads, as they chance to stray
Near the dread Fane, on Thor's returning day,
Saw from red alters streams of guiltless blood,
Stain their green reed-beds, and pollute their flood;
Heard dying babes in wicker prisons wail,
And shrieks of matrons thrill the affrighted gale ;
While from dark caves infernal echoes mock,
And fiends triumphant shout from every rock!

DARWIN.

THIS spacious cavern is situated about two miles above Dove Dale, near the village of Whetton; and tradition says the Druids here offered human sacrifices, inclosed in wicker idols, to Thor, the principal deity of the Saxons

and Danes, in the ages of their idolatrous worship. Beneath is an extensive and romantic common, where the rivers Hamps and Manifold sink into the earth, and rise again in Islam gardens. These rivers merit a brief description. A wooden bridge has been thrown over an abyss in the rock, out of which the river MANIFOLD bursts with surprising force, after having pursued a subterraneous course of five miles, from the point where it had engulfed itself in the earth, called WESTON HILL. At the further distance of twenty yards a similar phenomenon occurs; for here another fissure of a rock presents itself, whence the river HAMPS throws its water into day. This river disappears at LEEK-WATER HOUSES, a place between LEEK and ASHBOURN; thus pursuing a subterraneous course of seven miles, before it again emerges into light. On their emersion, the temperature of the two rivers differ two degrees and a half, the HAMPS being the coldest.

THE LOVERS' LEAP.

THE environs of Buxton abound in romantic sites, among the most striking of which is the Dale named the LOVERS' LEAP, on account of a vast precipice which forms one side of a narrow chasm, and from the summit of which a lovelorn female is said to have precipitated herself into the rocky gulf below. Each side of this beautiful dell is bounded by elevated rocks, the proximity of which is such, that for a considerable space there is scarcely room for the passage of the bubbling current of the Wye. Several of these rocks are perpendicular, and bare of vegetation; while others are covered with ivy, yew, and ash-wood, with a craggy steep occasionally starting through the verdure.— A circular road, extending in circumference about three miles, passes in view of the most romantic part of this dale, and forms a very agreeable walk or ride from Buxton. At the southern extremity the scenery assumes a milder character, the hollow taking the name of MILL DALE, from a mill which is turned by the stream. In conjunction with a rude bridge, a mountainous path, and other rural objects, this forms a very picturesque view. Another fine scene is presented by a lofty rock, called SWALLOW TOR, which soars over a mass of wood, the river at its base foaming and roaring over broken masses of limestone.

THE MOORS.

DERBYSHIRE is every where fruitful in natural curiosities, among the most striking of which may be reckoned the Moors of Hope Parish, inasmuch as they afford an extraordinary instance of the preservation of human bodies interred in them. In the year 1674 a grazier and his female servant in crossing these moors on their way to Ireland, were lost in the snow, with which they were covered from January to May, when on their being found, the bodies were so offensive that the Coroner ordered them to be buried on the spot. After a lapse of twenty-nine years, on the ground being opened, they were in no way changed, the colour of the skin being fair and natural, and the flesh as soft as that of persons newly dead. For twenty succeeding years they were occasionally exposed as a spectacle, but carefully covered after being viewed. They lay at the depth of about three feet, in a moist soil or moss. The Minister of Hope Parish was present in 1716, forty-two years after the accident, at a particular inspection of these bodies. On the stockings being drawn off, the man's legs, which had not been uncovered before, were quite fair: the flesh, when pressed by the finger, pitted a little; and the joints played freely, without the least stiffness. Such parts of the clothing as the avidity of the country people, to possess so great a curiosity, had spared, were firm and good; and a piece of new serge, worn by the woman, did not appear to have undergone any sensible change.

OTHER ENGLISH CURIOSITIES.

Having thus brought to a conclusion our details relative to the wonders of the Peak, and the various and interesting natural curiosities there to be found, we subjoin a brief notice of several others, which have, in our island, attracted the notice of travellers.

Among the extraordinary caverns to be found in the mountains of the north of England, may be reckoned Yordas Cave, in the vale of Kingsland, in Yorkshire, which contains a subterraneous cascade. Whethercot Cave, not far from Ingleton, is divided by an arch of limestones, pass

ing under which is seen a large cascade falling from a height of more than sixty feet. The length of this Cave is about one hundred and eighty-feet, and the breadth ninety.

There are also in various parts of England many remarkable springs, of which some are impregnated either with salt, as that of Droitwich, in Worcestershire; or sulphur as the famous well of Wigan, in Lancashire, or bituminous matter, as that at Pitchford, in Shropshire. Others have a petrifying quality; as that near Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, and a dropping well in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Ánd, finally, some ebb and flow, as that of the Peak described above, and Laywell near Torbay, whose waters rise and fall several times in an hour. To these we may add that remarkable fountain near Richard's Castle, in Herefordshire, commonly called Bone Well, which is generally full of small bones, like those of frogs or fishes, though often cleared out. At a cliff near Wigan, in Lancashire, is the famous burning well; the water is cold, neither has it any smell; yet so strong a vapour of sulphur issues out with the stream, that upon applying a light to it, the top of the water is covered with a flame, like that of burning spirits, which lasts several hours, and emits such a heat that meat may be boiled over it.

BRITISH MOUNTAINS.

☛ THE British Isles present many mountains of a bold and imposing character: when contrasted, however, with those which have been already described, they must be considered as comparatively diminutive.

BEN NEVIS.

THE loftiest of these mountains is Ben Nevis, in Scotland, its elevation above the level of the sea being 4380 feet, somewhat more than four-fifths of a mile. It terminates in a point, and elevates its rugged front far above all the neighbouring mountains. It is of easy ascent; and at the perpendicular height of 1500 feet, the vale beneath presents a very