Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/200

 MATLOCK.

��OUR visit to Matlock was one of unmixed satisfac tion. We had not been instructed to expect the ro mantic prospect that burst upon us, almost cheating us into the belief that we had wandered into one of the wild villages of Switzerland. Our descent from the postchaise was simultaneous with taking a seat upon some well-bred donkeys, which, with their necks deco rated with blue ribbands, were standing under the windows of our hotel upon the green. The excitement of thus traversing the mountain-heights, and the odd appearance of our cavalcade, so grotesquely mounted, each steed occasionally urged onward by the voice or staff of the guides, afforded us much amusement. Af terwards 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,

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