The Massachusetts Spy, And Worcester County Advertiser

MISCELLANY.

[From the New-York Statesman.]

LETTERS FROM EUROPE, No. XXIX.

DERBY, 25th AUG. 1825.

The coach arrived at Leicester at 8 o'clock in the evening of Monday, and wishing to become acquainted with a town, interesting from its antiquities and its association with historical events, as well as from its present importance, we appropriated a day to an examination of the various objects it presents to the eye of a traveller.

A friend first conducted us to the top of a five-story warehouse, for the purpose of giving us a bird's-eye view of the town and its vicinity. The prospect from such a height was wide, varied and delightful. We looked down upon Leicester, as upon a picture, tracing with the eye its streets, its numerous spires and turrets, its public edifices, the great avenues leading to it from all directions, the meanders of the river Soar through the town, and the rural environs, which extend far on every side in gentle and verdant undulations.

It is a large, well built place, with a population of about 25,000. The houses are almost entirely of brick, two and three stories high. Many new buildings are going up, and although the town is said to have been founded long before the Christian era, it is generally modern in its appearance. The southern part of it, bordering upon the London road, and extending towards a beautiful promenade upon an eminence, which is crowned with shady walks and commands a fine view towards the west, has been entirely added within a few years.

Interspersed, however, with new houses are several that are very ancient, built in the old-fashioned English style, like those at Chester; and after all, the venerable relics of other ages, still to be seen about Leicester, are among its most attractive features.

Having obtained a general idea of the topography of the town from this lofty observatory, and examined the splendid show of articles which the warehouse contains, being the largest in the place, we commenced a survey in detail, and proceeded to the remains of an ancient castle, which was built by the celebrated John o' Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the story of whose gigantic height is familiar to the reader. The ruin is entered beneath a lofty and well proportioned arch, forming a gateway to which there was formerly a port-cullis. A considerable part of the fortress is yet standing, although it has been sadly mutilated in fitting it up as a modern armory for the county. Its walls are four feet and a half thick, composed of limestone laid in a hard cement. On all sides it was strongly barricaded, and rendered impregnable.

Among our first visits, was one to the Roman Mile-stone, which is of undoubted authenticity, and forms a curious relic of the imperial conquerors of Britain. It was dug up many years ago, in an entire state of preservation, and has recently been incorporated into the shaft of a pillar erected at the junction of two of the principal streets. The inscription is considered the most ancient in England, and, according to the interpretation of antiquaries, the translation is as follows: "Hadrian Trajanus Augustus, Emperor and Cæsar, the son of the most illustrious Trajan Parthicus, in the fourth year of his reign and the third Consulate: From Ratæ (the Roman name for Leicester) two miles." The place where it was found, and where it doubtless stood, corresponds, in its distance from Leicester, with the inscription, and thus establishes the ancient appellation of the town, as well as the fact that it was a Roman station of importance.

In a beautiful situation upon the immediate banks of the Soar is an extensive manufacturing establishment, which in point of convenience and beauty is decidedly the finest we have seen in England. The grounds and gardens around it are laid out with much taste; and in entering the gate to a serpentine gravel walk, bordered by trees and flowers, one would suppose he was approaching an elegant private residence, instead of a manufactory of suspenders, comfortables, and a variety of small articles upon a large scale. There is nothing in the appearance of the building to remove the deception. Its spacious wings stand round an open court, and are three stories high, built of brick, stuccoed with white. We went over every part of it, and were highly gratified with a variety of ingenious machinery, as well as mechanical operations, which had never before been examined. Among the rest was a process of twisting cord or stay-lace, in which the spools dance a cotillion, to the sound of music, confusing every body but the automata revolving in their little spheres. All the machinery is worked by a steam-engine. About 300 persons are employed in the manufactory. A speaking-trumpet extends from the counting-room, to the apartment of the foreman in the upper loft, through which directions may be given in the ordinary voice. From the balustrade upon the top of the building, we had another fine view of the town and adjacent country. Among other places in the vicinity, the former residence of the accomplished and unfortunate Lady Jane Grey was distinctly seen upon a distant eminence.

Across the Soar at this place, is a low, narrow, and one-arched bridge, over which Richard III. rode on horseback the day before the battle of Bosworth field, which was fought at the distance of eight miles from Leicester, and in which the regal monster fell, fighting gallantly to the last. He was brought back from Bosworth, his bleeding corse stripped of its military and regal habiliments, being rudely slung across his steed, and treated with indignity by his conquerors. He was buried in the Church of Grey Friars; but in the midst of some popular excesses, a few years afterwards, his body was taken up, borne by a mob to Bow-Bridge, and thrown over the railing, upon a little island just below, which once divided the Soar, though now united on one side to the mainland. There, beneath a weeping willow, the pendant branches of which overhang and bathe themselves in the stream, repose the ashes of a monarch, at whose name "the world grew pale."

The stone coffin in which he was originally inurned, after being divested of its contents, was taken to one of the inns in Leicester, and used as an oat-trough in the stable. It was at length broken by the frost, water having been accidentally left in it on a cold winter night. As popular indignation at the crimes and cruelties of Richard had by this time in a great measure subsided, and the muse of Shakspeare had imparted an interest even to his enormities, the fragments of the sarcophagus were carefully preserved, and are still in the possession of a virtuoso living in the vicinity.

From an examination of these memorials of Richard III. we went to the ruins of the Abbey of St Mary de Pratis, scarcely less celebrated or less interesting, by being the place where Cardinal Woolsey died. At the gate, Cardinal Woolsey, in a state of penury and decrepitude, bereft of his honors by the sudden reverses of fortune, deprived of his eight hundred attendants, sick and solitary, riding upon a mule, made application for admission, and was received by the charitable Father:

At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester,
Lodg'd in the abbey, where the reverend abbot,
With all his convent, honorably receiv'd him;
To whom he gave these words—"O father abbot,
An old man, broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;
Give him a little earth for charity."

This passage from Shakspeare is as true to history, as to nature. Here the Cardinal terminated his misfortunes soon after his arrival, a melancholy example of fallen ambition, and of the wretchedness of that man who hangs on princes' favours. No traces of his tomb can be found, and it is uncertain where he was buried.

Several hours were also devoted to an examination of the manufacture of hosiery and lace, for which Leicester is distinguished. The process of weaving stockings is so simple, that children eight or ten years old work at it and complete several pair in a day. The machinery for the manufacture of lace is extremely complicated. It is a fairy web, which requires the utmost attention and exactness. In this, as in every other department of manufactures, great improvements have been introduced within a few years. It was formerly woven by females upon a cushion, who used to sing a merry tune, and keep time with their fingers to hasten and beguile the tedious process. It is now made altogether in a loom, where yards of it in breadth are manufactured at one operation.

The thread of lace is so fine, that a pound of it will make thirty-two square yards, and costs from twelve to fifteen dollars.

Last evening we rode to Derby, a distance of twenty-five miles. It is a large, well built, handsome town, the capital of the county, situated on the river Derwent, near its confluence with the Trent, with great water privileges. It has a population of 20,000, chiefly engaged in manufactures.

Our first visit was to the Church of All Saints, which stands in a conspicuous situation, and has one of the loftiest and best proportioned towers in the country. I inquired for the tomb of Dr. Darwin, who resided here many years, and here wrote a part of his voluminous works; but the guide informed me, that the Doctor died and was buried at his seat, five miles from town, where his wife is still living. Two of his sons reside in the vicinity, in affluent circumstances, rendered so by the father, who made a fortune by his practice. His memory is held in great respect by the inhabitants of this place.

From the church, we went to the porcelain manufactory, belonging to Mr. Robert Bloor, who gave us a ready admission to every part of his works. It is one of the most extensive establishments of the kind in England, giving employment to several hundreds of persons. The vessels are made in distinct pieces, as a side, a handle, or spout of a tea-pot, and then soldered together with the same material, in a semi-liquid state. Of all the processes, the painting is the most delicate and tedious, being all done with a brush, and requiring to be retouched a number of times. Three or four heats, of about twenty-four hours each, are necessary in baking the ware, before it acquires a proper hardness and polish. Among the most amusing parts of the manufacture, is that of images and toys. We saw poor "Dr. Syntax" in every possible plight from his dissecta membra—his pliant arms and legs, his unbaked head, and clay-coloured suit, until he at length came out of the kiln, with his black coat, cocked hat, and well burnished breeches and shoes.