Wednesday, 20th July.-We left Ashbourn and went to Buxton-Thence to Pool's Hole, which is narrow at first, but then rises into a high arch; but is so obstructed with crags, that it is difficult to walk in it-There are two ways to the end, which is, they say, six hundred and fifty yards from the mouth-They take passengers up the higher way, and bring them back the lower-The higher way was so difficult and dangerous, that, having tried it, I desisted-I found no level part. At night we came to Macclesfield, a very large town in Cheshire, little known-It has a silk mill: it has a handsome church, which, however, is but a chapel, for the town belongs to some parish of another name 2, as Stourbridge lately did to Old Swinford-Macclesfield has a town-hall, and is, I suppose, a corporate town. [Thursday, 21st July.]-We came to Congleton, where there is likewise a silk mill-Then to Middlewich, a mean old town, without any manufacture, but, I think, a corporation-Thence we proceeded to Namptwich, an old town: from the inn, I saw scarcely any but black timber houses -I tasted the brine water, which contains much more salt than the sea water-By slow evaporation, they make large crystals of salt; by quick boiling, small granulations -It seemed to have no other preparation. At evening we came to Combermere, 3 so called from a wide lake. Friday, 22d July.-We went up the mere-I pulled a bulrush of about ten feet 4 -I saw no convenient boats upon the mere. Saturday, 23d July.-We visited Lord Kilmorey's house-It is large and convenient, with many rooms, none of which are magnificently spacious 5-The furniture 1 [It would seem, that from the 9th to the 20th, the head-quarters of the party were at Ashbourn, whence they had made the several excursions noted.-ED.] 2 [The parish of Prestbury.-DUPPA.] 3 [At this time the seat of Sir Linch Salusbury Cotton, now of Lord Combermere, his grandson, from which place he takes his title. It stands on the site of an old abbey of Benedictine monks, which was founded 1133; and, about the year 1540, at the dissolution of the monasteries, was granted, with a great part of the estates of the abbey, to George Cotton, Esq., an ancestor of Lord Conbermere. The library, which is forty feet by twenty-seven, is supposed to have been the refectory. The lake, or mere, is about three quarters of a mile long, but of no great width; it is skirted with woods, and from some situations it has the appearance of a river. It is situated in Cheshire, twenty-two miles from Shrewsbury.DUPPA.] was not splendid-The bed-curtains were guarded 6 Lord Kilmorey 7 showed the place with too much exultation-He has no park, and little water. Sunday, 24th July.-We went to a chapel, built by Sir Lynch Cotton for his tenants-It is consecrated, and therefore, I suppose, endowed-It is neat and plainThe communion plate is handsome-It has iron pales and gates of great elegance, brought from Lleweney, "for Robert has laid all ope9." [Monday, 25th July 10]-We saw Hawkestone, the seat of Sir Rowland Hill,” and were conducted by Miss Hill over a large tract of rocks and woods; a region abounding with striking scenes and terrific grandeur. We were always on the brink of a precipice, or at the foot of a lofty rock; but the steeps were seldom naked: in many places, oaks of uncommon magnitude shot up from the crannies of stone; and where there were no trees, there were underwoods and bushes. Round the rocks is a narrow path cut upon the stone, which is very frequently hewn into steps; but art has proceeded no further than to make the succes sion of wonders safely accessible. The whole circuit is somewhat laborious; it is terminated by a grotto cut in the rock to a great extent, with many windings, and supported by pillars, not hewn into regularity, but such as imitate the sports of nature, by asperities and protuberances. The place is without any dampness, and would afford an Shrewsbury, and, like Wrottesley Hall, in the adjoining county, is said to have as many windows, doors, and chimneys, as correspond in number to the days, weeks, and months in a year.-DUPPA.] 6 [Probably guarded from wear or accident by being covered with some inferior material.ED.] 7 [Thomas Needham, eighth Viscount Kilmorey.-ED.] 8 [At Burleydam, close to Combermere, built by Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, Mrs. Thrale's uncle.-DUPPA.] [This remark has reference to family conversation. Robert was the eldest son of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, and lived at Lleweney at this time.-DUPPA. All the seats in England were, a hundred years ago, enclosed with walls, through which there were generally "iron pales and gates." Mr. Cotton had, no doubt, "laid all open" by prostrating the walls; and the pales and gates had thus become useless. The same process has taken place at almost every seat in England.-Ed.] 10 [This date is evidently here wanted; a day is otherwise unaccounted for; and it is not likely that Johnson would have gone sight-seeing on a Sun [Great Cat's-tail, or Reed-mace. The Ty-day.-ED.] pha latifolia of Linnæus.-DUPPA.] [Now belonging to Sir John Hill, bart., 5 [This house, which is called Shavington father of Lord Hill. It is twelve miles from Hall, is in Shropshire, twenty-one miles from Shrewsbury.-DUPPA.] VOL. I. 61 habitation not uncomfortable. There were | mile three quarters, and one hundred and from space to space seats cut out in the rock. Though it wants water, it excels Dovedale by the extent of its prospects, the awfulness of its shades, the horrors of its precipices, the verdure of its hollows, and the loftiness of its rocks: the ideas which it forces upon the mind are the sublime, the dreadful, and the vast. Above is inaccessible altitude, below is horrible profundity; but it excels the garden of Ilam only in extent. Ilam has grandeur, tempered with softness; the walker congratulates his own arrival at the place, and is grieved to think he must ever leave it. As he looks up to the rocks, his thoughts are elevated; as he turns his eyes on the valleys, he is composed and soothed. He that mounts the precipices at Hawkestone wonders how he came thither, and doubts how he shall return-His walk is an adventure, and his departure an escape-He has not the tranquillity, but the horrors, of solitude; a kind of turbulent pleasure, between fright and admiration. Ilam is the fit abode of pastoral virtue, and might prop erly diffuse its shades over nymphs and swains. Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitants than giants of mighty bone and bold emprise; men of lawless courage and heroic violence. Hawkestone should be described by Milton, and Ilam by Parnel 2. Miss Hill showed the whole succession of wonders with great civility-The house was magnificent, compared with the rank of the owner. Tuesday, 26th July.-We left Combermere, where we have been treated with great civility-The house is spacious, but not magnificent; built at different times, with different materials; part is of timber, part of stone or brick, plastered and painted to look like timber-It is the best house that I ever saw of that kind-The mere, or lake, is large, with a small island, on which there is a summer-house, shaded with great trees; some were hollow, and have seats in their trunks. In the afternoon we came to West-Chester; (my father went to the fair when I had the small-pox). We walked round the walls 3, which are complete, and contain one 1 [Paradise Lost, book xi. v. 642.-DUPPA.] 2 [The whole of this passage, is so inflated and pompous, that it looks more like a burlesque of Johnson's style than his own travelling notes.ED.] 3 [It would seem that a quarrel between Johnson and Mrs. Thrale took place at Chester, for she writes to Mr. Duppa-" Of those ill-fated walls Dr. Johnson might have learned the extent from any one. He has since put me fairly out of countenance by saying, I have known my mistress fifteen years, and never saw her fairly out of humour but on Chester wall;' it was because he would keep Miss Thrale beyond her hour of one yards; within them are many gardens: they are very high, and two may walk very commodiously side by side-On the inside is a rail-There are towers from space to space, not very frequent, and I think not all complete. Wednesday, 27th July.-We staid at Chester and saw the cathedral, which is not of the first rank-The castle-In one of the rooms the assizes are held, and the refectory of the old abbey, of which part is a grammar school-The master seemed glad to see me-The cloister is very solemn; over it are chambers in which the singing men live-In one part of the street was a subterranean arch, very strongly built; in another, what they called, I believe rightly, a Roman hypocaust 4-Chester has many curiosities. Thursday, 28th July.-We entered Wales, dined at Mold 5, and came to Lleweney 6. going to bed to walk on the wall, where, from the want of light, I apprehended some accident to her-perhaps to him."-Piozzi MS.—ED.] ["The hypocaust is of a triangular figure, supported by thirty-two pillars, two feet ten inches and a half high, and about eighteen inches distant from each other. Upon each is a tile eighteen inches square, as if designed for a capital; and over them a perforated tile, two feet square. Such are continued over all the pillars. Above these are two layers; one of coarse mortar, mixed with small red gravel, about three inches thick; and the other of finer materials, between four and five inches thick; these seem to have been the floor of the room above. The pillars stand on a mortar-floor, spread over the rock. On the south side, between the middle pillars, is the vent for the smoke, about six inches square, which is at present open to the height of sixteen inches. Here is also an antechamber, exactly of the same extent with the hypocaust, with an opening in the middle into it. This sunk nearly two feet below the level of the former, and is of the same rectangular figure; so that both together are an exact square. was the room allotted for the slaves who attended to heat the place; the other was the receptacle of the fuel designed to heat the room above, the concamerata sudatio, or sweating chamber; where people were seated, either in niches, or on benches, placed one above the other, during the time of the operation. Such was the object of this hypocaust; for there were others of different forms, for the purpose of heating the water destined for the use of the bathers."-DUPPA.] This 5 [Mold is a small market town, consisting principally of one long and wide street.-DUPPA.] 6 [Lleweney-hall, as I have already observed, was the residence of Robert Cotton, Esq., Mrs. Thrale's cousin-german. Here Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson staid three weeks, making visits and short excursions in the neighbourhood and surrounding country. Pennant great-Some buildings which Clough, the founder, intended for warehouses, would make store-chambers and servants' rooms -The ground seems to be good-I wish it well. Friday, 29th July. We were at Llewe-, make an useful house, but it cannot be ney-In the lawn at Lleweney is a spring of fine water, which rises above the surface into a stone basin, from which it runs to waste, in a continual stream, through a pipe-There are very large trees-The hall at Lleweney is forty feet long, and twenty-eight broad-The gallery one hundred and twenty feet long (all paved)The library forty-two feet long, and twenty-eight broad-The dining-parlours thirty-six feet long, and twenty-six broad-It is partly sashed, and partly has casements. Saturday, 30th July.-We went to Bach y Graig, where we found an old house, built 1567, in an uncommon and incommodious form-My mistress chattered about cleaning 2, but I prevailed on her to go to the top-The floors have been stolen: the windows are stopped-The house was less than I seemed to expect-The river Clwyd is a brook with a bridge of one arch, about one-third of a mile 3-The woods have many trees, generally young; but some which seem to decay-They have been lopped-The house never had a garden-The addition of another story would gives this description of its situation-"Lleweney lies on a flat, has most pleasing views of the mountains on each side of the vale, and the town and castle of Denbigh form most capital objects at the distance of two miles." It now belongs to Mr. Hughes of Kinmel, who lately purchased it, with the estate, for 150,000.-DUPPA.][of Lord Kirkwall, who had bought it of Sir Robert Cotton for 96,000l.-Piozzi MS.] 1 Sunday, 31st July.-We went to church at St. Asaph-The cathedral, though not large, has something of dignity and grandeur-The cross aisle is very short-It has scarcely any monuments-The quire has, I think, thirty-two stalls of antique workmanship-On the backs were Canonicus, Prebend, Cancellarius, Thesaurarius, Præcentor-The constitution I do not know, but it has all the usual titles and dignities-The service was sung only in the Psalms and Hymns-The bishop was very civil 4-We went to his palace, which is but mean-They have a library, and design a room-There lived Lloyd and Dodwell 5. Monday, 1st August.-We visited Denbigh, and the remains of its castle-The town consists of one main street, and some that cross it, which I have not seen-The chief street ascends with a quick rise for a great length: the houses are built some with rough stone, some with brick, and a few with timber-The castle, with its whole enclosure, has been a prodigious pile; it is now so ruined that the form of the inhabited part cannot easily be traced-There are, as in all old buildings, said to be extensive vaults, which the ruins of the upper works cover and conceal, but into which boys sometimes find a way-To clear all passages, and trace the whole of what remains, would require much labour and expense-We saw a church, which was once the chapel of the castle, but is used by the town: it is dedicated to St. Hilary, and has an income of about 4 [The bishop at this time was Dr. Shipley. Upon another occasion, when Johnson dined in company with Dr. Shipley, he said he was knowing and conversible. Their difference in politicks would hardly admit of more praise from Johnson.DUPPA. [Bach y Graig had been the residence of Mrs. Thrale's ancestors for several generations; Pennant thus describes it. "Not far from Dymerchion lies half buried in woods the singular house of Bach y Graig. It consists of a mansion of three sides, enclosing a square court. The first consists of a vast hall and parlour: the rest of it rises into six wonderful stories, including the cupola; and forms from the second floor the figure of a pyramid: the rooms are small and inconvenient. The bricks are admirable, and appear to have been made in Holland; and the model of the house was probably brought from Flanders, where this kind of building is not unfrequent. It was built by Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The initials of his name are in iron on the front, with the date 1567, and on the gateway 1569."DUPPA. This was the mansion-house of the estate which had fallen to Mrs. Thrale, and was the cause of this visit to Wales. Incredible as it may appear, it is certain that this lady imported Dodwell was a man of extensive learning, and from Italy a nephew of Piozzi's, and, making an intimate friend of Lloyd, and, like him, a him assume her maiden name of Salusbury, be- great friend to the revolution. He also entertainqueathed to this foreigner (if she did not give it ined religious opinions which were, for the greater her lifetime) this ancient patrimonial estate, to the exclusion of her own children.-ED.] 2 [Quere, climbing?-ED.] 3 [Meaning perhaps that the bridge is one-third of a mile from the house.-ED.] 5 [Lloyd was raised to the see of St. Asaph in 1680. He was one of the seven bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688, for refusing to permit the publication of the royal declaration for liberty of conscience, and was a zealous promoter of the revolution. He died Bishop of Worcester, August 30, 1717, at ninety-one years of age. part of his life, inconvenient to him: but when he became an old man, his reason prevailed over those scruples, to which his skill in controversy, in the vigour of his life, had given more impor tance than they deserved.-DUPPA.] At a small distance is the ruin of a church | Mr. Salusbury 8 was buried in it: Bach y said to have been begun by the great Earl Graig has fourteen seats in it. As we rode of Leicester, and left unfinished at his by, I looked at the house 9 again-We saw death-One side, and I think the east end, Llannerch, a house not mean, with a small are yet standing-There was a stone in the park very well watered-There was an wall over the doorway, which it was said avenue of oaks, which, in a foolish comwould fall and crush the best scholar in the pliance with the present mode, has been diocese 2 One Price would not pass under cut down-A few are yet standing: the it-They have taken it down-We then owner's name is Davies 10-The way lay saw the chapel of Lleweney, founded by through pleasant lanes, and overlooked a one of the Salusburies: it is very complete: region beautifully diversified with trees and the monumental stones lie in the ground-grass. A chimney has been added to it, but it is otherwise not much injured, and might be easily repaired 3. We went to the parish church of Denbigh, which, being near a mile from the town, is only used when the parish officers are chosen-In the chapel, on Sundays, the service is read thrice, the second time only in English, the first and third in Welsh-The bishop came to survey the castle, and visited likewise St. Hilary's chapel, which is that which the town uses -The hay-barn, built with brick pillars from space to space, and covered with a roof-A more elegant and lofty hovelThe rivers here are mere torrents, which are suddenly swelled by the rain to great breadth and great violence, but have very little constant stream; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy-There are yet no mountains-The ground is beautifully embellished with woods, and diversified with inequalities-In the parish church of Denbigh is a bas-relief of Lloyd the antiquary, who was before Camden-He is kneeling at his prayers 4. Tuesday, 2d August.-We rode to a summer-house of Mr. Cotton, which has a very extensive prospect; it is meanly built, and unskilfully disposed 5-We went to Dymerchion church 6, where the old clerk acknowledged his mistress-It is the parish church of Bach y Graig 7—A mean fabric; [By Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1579. He died Sept. 4, 1588.-DUPPA.] 2 [See a similar story of a building in Edinburgh, ante, p. 334.—ÉD.] 3 [The late Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton had no taste for antiquity of any kind; and this chapel was not regarded by him as being in any respect better than a barn, or fit for any other purpose; and the present proprietor applies it to that use.DUPPA.] At Dymerchion church there is English service only once a month-this is about twenty miles from the English border-The old clerk had great appearance of joy at the sight of his mistress, and foolishly said, that he was now willing to die— He had only 11 a crown given him by my mistress-At Dymerchion church the texts on the walls are in Welsh. Wednesday, 3d August.-We went in the coach to Holywell-Talk with mistress about flattery 12 Holywell is a market town, neither very small nor mean-The spring called Winifred's Well is very clear, and so copious, that it yields one hundred townships of the parish of Dymerchion.—Du PPA.] 8 [Mrs. Thrale's father.-DUPPA.] 10 [Robert Davies, Esq. At his house there was an extensive library.- DUPPA.] he has first entered in his diary, "The old clerk [In the MS. in Dr. Johnson's handwriting, had great appearance of joy at seeing his mistress, and foolishly said that he was now willing to die." He afterwards wrote in a separate column, on the same leaf, under the head of notes and omissions, "He had a crown;" and then he appears to have read over his diary at a future time, and interlined the paragraph with the words "only" -"given him by my mistress," which is written in ink of a different colour. This shows that he read his diary over after he wrote it, and that where his feelings were not accurately expressed, he amended them.-DUPPA.] 12 [He said that I flattered the people to whose houses we went: I was saucy, and said I was obliged to be civil for two-meaning himself and me. He replied, nobody would thank me for compliments they did not understand. Gwaynynog (Mr. Myddleton's), however, he was flattered, and was happy of course.”—Piozzi MS. Johnson had no dislike to those commendations which are commonly imputed to flattery. Upon one occasion, he said to Mrs. [Humphry Lloyd was a native of Denbigh, Thrale, "What signifies protesting so against and practised there as a physician, and also re-flattery! when a person speaks well of one, it presented the town in parliament. He died 1568, must be either true or false, you know: if true, aged forty-one.-DUPPA.] let us rejoice in his good opinion; if he lies, it is a [This summer-house is in the grounds belong-proof at least that he loves more to please me, ing to Lleweney, and their ride to it was to see the prospect the situation commands a very beautiful view.-DUPPA.] than to sit silent when he need say nothing.""The difference between praise and flattery is the same as between that hospitality that sets wine enough before the guest, and that which forces him to drink.”—Piozzi's Anec. p. 141.— DUPPA.] area. Stapylton's house is pretty 4; there are pleasing shades about it, with a constant spring that supplies a cold bath—We then went to see a cascade-I trudged unwillingly, and was not sorry to find it dry5-The water was, however, turned on, and produced a very striking cataract-They are sion to divert the stream to the minesThe river, for such it may be termed, rises from a single spring, which, like that of Winifred's, is covered with a building. We called then at another house belonging to Mr. Lloyd, which made a handsome appearance-This country seems full of very splendid houses. Mrs. Thrale lost her purse-She expressed so much uneasiness, that I concluded the sum to be very great; but when I heard of only seven guineas, I was glad to find that she had so much sensibility of money. tuns of water in a minute-It is all at once | The garrison had, perhaps, tents in the a very great stream, which, within perhaps thirty yards of its irruption, turns a mill, and in a course of two miles, eighteen mills more-In descent, it is very quick-It then falls into the sea-The well is covered by a lofty circular arch, supported by pillars; and over this arch is an old chapel, now a school-The chancel is separated by a wall-The bath is completely and indecent-paid a hundred pounds a year for permisly open-A woman bathed while we all looked on-In the church, which makes a good appearance, and is surrounded by galleries to receive a numerous congregation, we were present while a child was christened in Welsh-We went down by the stream to see a prospect, in which I had no part-We then saw a brass work, where the lapis calaminaris is gathered, broken, washed from the earth and the lead, though how the lead was separated I did not see; then calcined, afterwards ground fine, and then mixed by fire with copper-We saw several strong fires with melting pots, but the construction of the fireplaces I did not learn-At a copper-work, which receives its pigs of copper, I think, from Warrington, we saw a plate of copper put hot between steel rollers, and spread thin: I know not whether the upper roller was set to a certain distance, as I suppose, or acted only by its weight--At an iron-work I saw round bars formed by a notched hammer and anvil-There I saw a bar of about half an inch or more square, cut with shears worked by water, and then beaten hot into a thinner bar-The hammers all worked, as they were, by water, acting upon small bodies, moved very quick, as quick as by the hand-I then saw wire drawn, and gave a shilling--I have enlarged my notions, though not been able to see the movements; and having not time to peep closely, I knew less than I might-I was less weary, and had better breath, as I walked farther. I could not drink this day either coffee or tea after dinner-I know not when I missed before. Friday, 5th August. Last night my sleep was remarkably quiet--I know not whether by fatigue in walking, or by forbearance of tea. I gave [up] the ipecacuanha--Vin. emet. had failed; so had tartar emet. I dined at Mr. Myddleton's, of Gwaynynog-The house was a gentleman's house, below the second rate, perhaps below the third, built of stone roughly cut-The rooms were low, and the passage above stairs gloomy, but the furniture was good-The table was well supplied, except that the fruit was bad-It was truly the dinner of a country gentleman -Two In the 4 [The name of this house is Bodryddan [pronounced, writes Mrs. Piozzi, Potrothan]; formerly the residence of the Stapyltons, the parents of five co-heiresses, of whom Mrs. Cotton, afterThursday, 4th August.-Rhudlan1 Cas-wards Lady Salusbury Cotton, was one. tle is still a very noble ruin; all the walls year 1774, it was the residence of Mr. Shipley, still remain, so that a complete platform, dean of St. Asaph, who still lives there.-DUPand elevations, not very imperfect, may be PA] taken 2-It encloses a square of about thirty yards-The middle space was always open-The wall is, I believe, about thirty feet high, very thick, flanked with six round towers, each about eighteen feet, or less, in diameter-Only one tower had a chimney, so that there was 3 commodity of 6 [Johnson affected to be a man of very nice living--It was only a place of strength-discernment in the art of cookery (DUPPA); but [In the first edition this name was by mistake printed Ruthin.-ED.] [Meaning, probably, could be drawn on paper.-ED.] 3 ["No," or "little," is probably here omitted.-ED.] 5 ["He teased Mrs. Cotton so about the dry cascade at Dysert rock, that I remember she was residence made her, I suppose, partial to the ready to cry: the waterfall being near her maiden place; for she sent us thither to be entertained, and expected much praise at our return."-Piozzi MS.] if we may trust Mrs. Piozzi's enumeration of his favourite dainties, with very little justice. See ante, p. 208. And observing in one of her letters to Mr. Duppa on this passage, she says, "Dr. Johnson loved a fine dinner, but would eat perhaps more heartily of a coarse one-boiled beef or veal pie; fish he seldom passed over, |