120

CHAPTER VI.

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH-WILLOUGHBY NEW BATHS

DERBY-RUGBY.

An Invitation STAMFORD Springs- Stage-coach a Rarity-Derby, Improvement, New Buildings-The New Catholic Church-Great Change in Derby occasioned by Railroads-Mr. Strutt's ARBORETUM - The Largest EMBARCADERO in England-First Opening of the Derby Line to London-Ticket No. 1.-Awkward Journey-RAILROAD SPEED-Gluttony and Philosophy-The Long Coach-ASHBYDE-LA-ZOUCH-Source of the MOIRA Water-Its Physical, Chemical, and Remedial Properties-Four Analyses of the Water-all Different! What ought to be done?-Bathing in the Moira Water-The IVANHOE Baths-THE HOTEL-Mode of Living at the Spa-STRIKING CASES of Cure-WILLOUGHBY New Baths-RUGBY School-Road to Willoughby-The WELL-The Water-Properties Physical and Medical -Want of Accommodation-SUGGESTIONS—Excellency of the Water -Opinion of the Author thereon.

WHILE yet in the neighbourhood of Lincoln, busy in examining the geology of Woodhall Spa, and the agricultural capabilities of the country around it, I received from Dr. Hopkinson, a leading and much respected physician at Stamford, a letter inviting me over to that city, in reference to the principal object of my inquiries into mineral waters, "It would delight me," says he, "to see you as a visiter here. Stamford is very convenient on the north road, and if you would only let me know a few days previous to your coming, I will be ready to make your stay as interesting as I can. We have two or three mineral springs hereabouts: one rather

out of the common way. and I will at the same time get together all the matter I can about Woodhall, respecting which you have written to me. I know your work on the Spas of Germany well enough to make me desirous of knowing the author and assisting him all I can in my humble way.".

These I should like to show you,

The invitation was a tempting one, and still more so from the very polite manner in which it was expressed. For some time I hoped to have been able to avail myself of it with a view to my intended publication; but when the period arrived for proceeding thither, the calculated time of my absence from town, during which I had to perform a certain determined quantity of work, and the pressing engagements that awaited me in London, compelled me to abandon the idea of going to explore the springs alluded to by Dr. Hopkinson, for whose considerate kindness I beg to return him, in this place, suitable. acknowledgments.

My object now was to direct my steps towards the midland counties, in search of certain mineral waters which seemed to me worthy of examination, judging from the information I had received and read about them; although to the public at large one only of the whole number seemed sufficiently known-namely, that of Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Accordingly, I made that place my next point of destination; and proceeded to Nottingham by the old-fashioned mode of conveyance-a stage-coach, which, by the bye, in the midland counties, is becoming more and more of a rarity every day, and will end by being "a wonder."

After a short delay in Nottingham, sufficient to inspect its staple manufactures, I reached at last the capital of Derbyshire by the neat and short railroad which connects the two cities.

DERBY, as I had occasion to state once before, exhibits strong marks of general improvement, by an extension as well as renovation of its principal buildings. The range of edifices, consisting of the royal hotel, a new post-office, and the bank

in the corn-market, is a mass creditable to the town. The style of the front is an imitation of the late Mr. Wilkins's "peculiar," of which a tolerable specimen may be seen in the building of St. George's Hospital, at Hyde-park-corner, especially as regards the arrangement of the windows, which is by no means a commendable one. The principal feature of the whole range is the rounded angle, and here Grainger'sbuildings at Newcastle were in the architect's mind when he designed the elevation.

Like Preston and Lancashire generally, and indeed a great many other places in England, Derby shows the daily increasing importance of the Catholics in this country, both as to numbers and wealth, as well as with regard to their staunch adhesion to the religious rites of their creed. I allude to the erection of a very large cathedral-looking chapel, which has been very recently completed. It is in what is commonly called the Gothic style; but although the whole, especially the tower, looks imposing, when the several members of the building, either externally or internally, are examined separately, it is impossible not to be struck with the want of unity—a lack of a continuous spirit of invention, and a total failure in applying means to one end. No one, for example, who beholds the stately tower would expect to find side-windows of such paltry dimensions in the body of the church, nor such mesquines doors for lateral entrances; still less (within the church) such petty side-aisles-a positive apology for those stately divisions of a large Gothic temple. As to the shafts which separate the nave from the aisles, and support a flat roof, though they are formed of clustered pillars, their general diameter is really so insignificant (bearing no proportion to the general size of the edifice) that they resemble more the single trunks of an old avenue of limetrees than Gothic pillars, and are evidently disproportionate to their object.

The fact is that this building is two narrow for its length, and too lofty for its width; defects that help materially to

disfigure the façade of this New Catholic temple, which will be a striking, but not an admired nor a correct edifice.*

The junction of three railroads in this County-town, bringing travellers and goods from the north and the south, and also from the west, is already sensibly changing its character, its general appearance, and its importance. I remember the time when Derby, in spite of the silk manufactures, its lace, its hosiery, and its wrought iron and copper works, appeared to a traveller one of the dullest county-towns in the heart of England. It is now full of bustle, lively, and apparently in the enjoyment of greater wealth, comforts, and even luxury, than it has ever before possessed.

Simultaneously with these advantages, one is happy to see, -both from the spontaneous inclination of the citizens themselves, and the public and patriotic spirit of one or two of the wealthiest among them,-a corresponding advance made in the cultivation of the useful as well as the polite arts, and of many other branches of knowledge.

A relation of one of the representatives for the city, whose mansion I beheld not far removed from where the new Catholic church rises, is the spirited individual to whose exertion, and I may say munificent liberality, every citizen I spoke with seemed to attribute much of the improvements in and about the place. His picture gallery, which is probably destined for the ultimate use of his fellow-townsmen, is, in the mean time, open for their inspection, and serves to give them correct notions of taste in the fine arts.

This same individual is at present engaged in adding a feature to Derby, which will, of itself, form one of its best attractions. Under the well-known skill and taste of the author of many able and very useful works on agriculture and gardening-the only man whom government might have placed with confidence in the management of all the royal and public parks and gardens, if they were desirous of seeing

*The building was not quite finished when these remarks were written.

them always in their best attire and most favourable condition-Mr. Loudon, in fine,-an arboretum, or collection of trees and shrubs of every country, is just about being completed, by direction of Mr. Joseph Strutt, the spirited individual alluded to. The grounds extend to nearly eleven acres, including the gardens and buildings, for all which a sum of from ten to twelve thousand pounds has been appropriated, by the munificent donor of this beautiful as well as useful establishment to the town.

"Access to the arboretum," observes Mr. Adam, who has recently given a short account of it, "will be permitted on fixed days and at such times as will accommodate the artisan as well as the peer, and all parties whose time is more at their command. Here, therefore, the working classes of Derby will have a place of delightful resort, calculated alike to administer to their health and pleasure, as well as the refinement and cultivation of their taste, by affording them frequent opportunities of beholding the noblest combinations of artificial gardening."

The arrangement of the arboretum is equally ingenious and effectual. The scientific name of each plant, with its corresponding denomination in English; its native country or habitat; the family or natural order to which it belongs; its height; the year of its introduction, and many other particulars, are let into brick tallies, which, after being glazed, are stuck into the ground at a short distance from the plant.

But Derby promised fairly, at the time of my visit, to possess another equally striking and novel feature in the immense building which it was expected would be erected as a general station or rendezvous of the Midland, North Midland, and Derby and Birmingham lines of railway, if a coalition of the three companies could be accomplished, willing to work under one roof.

The head stations of the three railroads are near to each other on an open space of ground, called "the Old Meadows," contiguous to the old London road, and not far from