The road continues by Tansley, with its church, its mills, and its pretty dales; Tansley, or Dethick, Moor, a wild unreclaimed tract of moorland, purple with heather and untrammelled with fences; Washington, with its village-green, its stocks, and its duck-ponds; Higham, a picturesque village with an ancient cross; Shirland, with its fine monuments, some of which are of remarkable character and full of interest; Morton, with its pretty church and charming cottages; for a short distance the coal district, with their pits and shafts and ever-creaking engines; Pilsley and its pleasant lanes; Hardstoft and Deeplane, to the lower entrance to the Park: through these and other places of deep and varied interest we go, until we reach the Hardwick Inn—a pretty house of entertainment close to the entrance to the Park, from which a winding ascent of less than a mile leads to the Hall. By this route some curious transitions from the lead-mining district to that of coal, and from the limestone to the sandstone, with their varied scenery and their diversified aspects, will be noticed; and Derbyshire, rich both in minerals beneath the surface and in arable, meadow, and pasture land on its face, as well as in rock, and tree, and wood, and hill, will be seen to great advantage. From Chesterfield, too, the road is beautiful; and the visitor may make a delightful “day’s round” by driving direct to Hardwick by way of Temple Normanton; Heath, with its truly picturesque and interesting church and parsonage; Ault Hucknall, in the church of which are many monuments of the Cavendish family, and where lies buried that sometime “world’s wonder,” “Hobbes of Malmesbury;” thence through the lodge-gates and down the fine old deer-park to the Hall, and then returning by way of Bolsover Castle, a magnificent old building, the former residence of the Cavendishes, Earls and Dukes of Newcastle, and rendered famous in the Duke of Newcastle’s work on horsemanship, 1658, and now for many years the residence of Mrs. Hamilton Gray, the authoress of “Etruria.” But from whatever side Hardwick is approached, the land is full of beauty, and rich in the picturesque. Hardwick Hall is one of the many princely seats—Chatsworth, Bolton Abbey, Lismore Castle, Holker Hall, Compton Place, Eastbourne, and Devonshire House, London, being among the others—of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, in which resides the duke’s eldest son and heir, the Marquis of Hartington, M.P., at this time Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Ireland. It is distant from London about 140 miles, from Derby 20 miles, from Chesterfield 9, and from Matlock 15 miles, and these are perhaps the more general routes by which visitors will proceed. Whatever road is taken, they will find natural beauties in abundance greeting the eye at every mile of a delicious journey. Before we describe the venerable Hall, we give a brief history of the noble family to which it now belongs, reserving that of its predecessors for a later page.