" It would be difficult to find
letters of more genuine feeling and satisfaction, or more eloquently
expressed, than these.
The narrative of the Autobiography will now be resumed.
"I had been disappointed two years before of an expedition to
Derbyshire. I had wished still to make it, and my brother wished to
go: and we determined to make it this year (1824). We were prepared
with walking dresses and knapsacks. I had well considered every detail
of our route, and was well provided with letters of introduction,
including one to the Rev. R. Smith of Edensor. On June 29th we started
by coach to Newmarket and walked through the Fens by Ramsay to
Peterborough. Then by Stamford and Ketton quarries to Leicester and
Derby. Here we were recognized by a Mr Calvert, who had seen me take
my degree, and he invited us to breakfast, and employed himself in
shewing us several manufactories, &c. to which we had been denied
access when presenting ourselves unsupported. We then went to Belper
with an introduction from Mr Calvert to Jedediah Strutt: saw the great
cotton mills, and in the evening walked to Matlock. Up to this time
the country of greatest interest was the region of the fens about
Ramsay (a most remarkable district), but now began beauty of scenery.
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