Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/129

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[117]

ted, that so much taste and art should have been exerted to produce a disgusting incongruity.

The splendid mansion of Lord Scarsdale being included in our route, we proceeded along the Ashbourne road on quitting Derby for nearly three miles; when we reached the handsome inn of Kiddlestone, built by his Lordship for the accommodation of such strangers as curiosity may lead to view his residence. The house (erected by the present Lord in 1761) stands half a mile to the left of the inn, from whence it is approached by a foot-path, which conduces the visitor to the Baths, a simple elegant building, ambushed in yew-trees, having accommodations for hot and cold bathing, and covering a medicinal spring of the same kind, strongly impregnated with sulphur as the water of Harrowgate, but of less power: these are rented by the innkeeper. Following the path, it conducted us to a noble stone bridge of three arches, thrown over a large piece of water, amplified to its present extent by cutting away judiciously the banks of the little brook Weston, which formerly rilled through the park in quiet and insignificance. The surface of this wide sheet above the bridge is broken into several falls, which are caught from the house with good effect. From hence a gentle ascent leads to the house, whose front (three hun-