mounted, each steed occasionally urged onward by the voice or staff of the guides, afforded us much amusement. Afterwards our walks and purchases among the shops, where the rich Derbyshire spars are presented in an endless variety of articles for ornament and utility, the enchanting prospects that met us at every turn, and the bright sunny skies that cheered us during our whole stay in Matlock, made our time there glide away, as a fairy dream. One of our entertainments was to climb a steep hill, and entering an aperture on its brow, explore a mine 3000 feet in length, and gradually descending to 400 beneath the surface. A less laborious and more agreeable recreation was to visit the groves and heights of Willersly Castle. Bold masses of rock mingle with the foliage of lofty trees, and the richest velvet turf creeps to their very base. The prospect in the rear of the castle is one of the most delightful that we saw in Derbyshire. The pleasure-grounds, gardens, and hot-houses, with their fine productive graperies and pineries, were more interesting to us Americans, from the circumstance, that the founder of this goodly mansion, the late Sir Richard Arkwright, was the architect of his own fortune. He was the youngest of thirteen children of a poor man in Preston, in the county of Lancashire. By native vigor of mind and great perseverance, he overcame the many difficulties and discouragements of his humble station. After much opposition, he succeeded in establishing here the first cotton-mill
