66

rents ventured their all in this frail bark, and the wreck was total." A gloomy inscription: but its gloominess is lessened somewhat by its repetition in some three or four languages. The afflicted father gave further vent to his grief in a volume of poems entitled 'Sorrows sacred to Penelope.' The visitor who takes any delight in looking at poets'. houses may see the cottage in which Moore wrote his 'Lalla Rookh,' not far from Ashbourn. The views about the river, especially near Hangingbridge, are exceedingly picturesquecottages, mills, a rustic bridge, the broken banks, and distant mountains, a few milk-maids in bright red gowns, and a well-equipped fly-fisher or two, combine to make up some pleasant, though not very magnificent tableaux.

We may rejoin the Dove from Ashbourn by keeping alongside Henmore brook, which is, as Cotton says, a very pretty little river. The Dove runs past Snelston and Norbury, where we need not stay. From the latter place to Bocester the scenery is somewhat rougher and more striking, especially towards Bocester. The rambler will be repaid by a stroll about this village and the sandstone hill above it. On the Derbyshire side of the river, along Eaton Dove-dale and Dove-cliff, the scenery is rather wild in parts, and in others exceedingly beautiful. The few miles from Norbury to Eaton Dove-dale should on no account be missed; they are not indeed comparable with the grander dales we have already traversed, but they are such as would take high rank anywhere else, and they are the last of a striking character we shall meet with on our journey down the Dove. A prettier pastoral landscape than you have as you look back

upon Bocester, after you have passed it about a quarter of a mile, can hardly be met with. Groups of noble trees occupy and give firmness to the middistance, between and above which appear a few straggling roofs of the irregular village, and the square tower of the antique church; curling wreaths of smoke indicate the position of some unseen cottages, and beyond all rise the dim hills of the distant moor-lands: in the foreground the transparent river rumbles over its stony bed, while a few cattle standing in its waters, under the shade of the old alders, and an angler or two, and a host of rapid martins skimming over its surface, complete the picture.

Uttoxeter, which lies a short way from our river, on the Staffordshire side, is a town of some importance. It is long and bustling, but has nothing at all noticeable, or at least nothing rememberable about it. From the bridge, which lies between it and Dove-ridge, the view up the river is very fine, the distance being filled up with the Wever hills and Peak mountains; but the scenery hereabouts is everywhere very beautiful. Doveridge contains a noble park, with wide-stretching lands and famous trees, and is altogether a pleasant place, and there is a neat inn (called, if we remember aright, the "Anchor and White Hart"), where the fisherman or pedestrian will find comfortable accommodation and a "neat-handed Phillis," no unpleasant thing after a long day by the river's side. A little farther along the river is Sudbury, which contains a fine house and extensive park, belonging to Lord Vernon. The building is a large red brick structure, and a rather fine specimen of the baronial architecture of the Stuart

period. Our river from Sudbury to Tutbury pursues a most tortuous and wayward course, and we shall leave it to take its wanton way unattended.

Tutbury Castle is a prominent object from the river it stands on the summit of a bold cliff, which ends abruptly at its northern extremity. Its history is rather interesting, but we must content ourselves with the most bald outline. A castle existed at Tutbury in Saxon times, and is mentioned in Domesday; but it was destroyed by the Danes in one of their incursions into this part of the island. It remained a ruin till the period of the Conquest, when William gave it and other large estates in this county to Henry de Ferrars, one of his noble Norman followers. Ferrars rebuilt the castle on a magnificent scale. It remained in the possession of the Ferrars family till the reign of Henry III., when its lord was pronounced a traitor, and his estates forfeited. Henry gave Tutbury castle to his second son, Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, whose successor Thomas, second Earl of Lancaster, repaired it, and rendered it a splendid residence. His style of living here is spoken of as most princely, and that it was so may be readily supposed when it is stated that his household expenses in the year 1313 amounted to 22,000l., an almost incredible sum when the difference in the price of provisions at that time is borne in mind. Thomas, it will be remembered, was the leader of the barons who conspired against the foolish Edward II., and who succeeded in depriving him of his favourite Gaveston, and afterwards causing him to banish the next unworthy minion, Hugh le Despencer. But soon after the banishment of Le Despencer, the king's party again made head,

and the barons were defeated in a battle at Boroughbridge. The Earl of Lancaster, with many others of note, was made prisoner, and soon after beheaded. Mackintosh calls him the Montfort of this reign, and his memory was long held in great esteem. He was canonized in 1389. Tutbury castle having fallen, by the attainder of the Earl of Lancaster, into the possession of the crown, it was given in succession to various parties; and at length passed into the hands of the famous John of Gaunt. On his marriage with the Lady Constance, Queen of Castile and Leon, he presented her with this castle, which he had restored and fitted up with great magnificence. Here she fixed her residence, and appears to have kept a splendid court. With the other estates pertaining to the Duchy of Lancaster, it became the property of the crown when Henry Bolingbroke ascended the throne. From this time there is nothing of consequence recorded concerning Tutbury castle, except that Henry VII. occasionally resided in it for the sake of hunting in the neighbouring forest of Nerewood, till the reign of Elizabeth, when it was for awhile made the prison of Mary Queen of Scots. That unhappy princess was not confined for any very long period together at Tutbury, but she was brought here three or four different times, and she appears to have been treated with much consideration while she remained here. James I. often visited Tutbury, like Henry, for the sake of hunting in Nerewood forest. Charles I. spent a fortnight here before the commencement of his troubles, and afterwards, with Prince Rupert, took up his abode in the castle, while his army encamped at the foot of the hill and in the surrounding coun