“Hall i’ the Wood,” as we have intimated--the preservation of which as a monument to the memory of useful industry, and its prodigious practical results, may be regarded as a public duty--is falling gradually into decay; but its condition is such, that a very trifling degree of labour may effectually restore it. Its present occupants work at the neighbouring factories: and although we found them taking some pride in the aged walls [Illustration] they inhabit, from them we can expect nothing in the way of its preservation. Surely it ought not to be left to the common fate of common things! The accompanying print--from an excellent drawing by Mr. J. J. Dodd, a most intelligent artist, by whom we were accompanied to this “shrine” of manufacturing devotees--exhibits the principal front, “Crompton’s Room” being indicated by the open window. The house is built in the usual style of old dwellings of a better class in Lancashire, being composed of “wood and plaster.” It has no projecting windows or carved doors; the chief entrance, at the south gable, appears to have been a later addition. It is of stone; and above it, in a square panel, is the date 1648, with the initials A.N.A. Within, a staircase of massive oak leads to the upper chambers; of which, one only--“Crompton’s Room”--seems to have been treated with respect; but this also has been doomed to periodical “whitewashings,” which, however, have failed to efface a deeply-cut panel (given as our initial letter), interesting as that upon which the eyes of “the Discoverer” must have often looked. Seen from a distance, the house is highly picturesque; it stands on high, rocky ground, which on one side is almost perpendicular to a great depth, broken into masses, covered with moss and lichens, among which, here and there, shoot out the branches of the oak and ash, which have found places for their roots in the crevices of the rocks. Some of these trees have been partially hurled down by frequent storms, and their gnarled branches form singular contrasts with the silvery stems of a few slender birch-trees, which flourish in young vigour by their sides. At the foot of the precipitous descent, a broad and somewhat clear stream winds its way over large stones, forming tiny waterfalls; passing under a rustic wooden bridge, it makes its way through the adjacent valley to supply many scores of mills and factories, creating wealth. [Illustration: J. S. Dodd, Delᵗ. on Stone by W. Walton. M. & N. Hanhart, Lithogʳˢ. SMITHELL’S HALL, LANCASHIRE.] SMITHELLS HALL, LANCASHIRE.