These emblematic relics stand in two of the villages in the Peak
district: viz. Eyam and Wheston. They are places of little importance;
though a touching interest is attached to Eyam, from it having been
visited by the Great Plague of the year 1666; its population, at this
time, was about 330; of whom 259 fell by the plague.[2] The history of
this calamitous visitation forms the subject of a meritorious poem
by W. and M. Howitt, entitled _the Desolation of Eyam_, in which
the piety of Mr. Mompesson, (who then held the living of Eyam,)
his pastoral consolations to his mourning people, and the amiable
character of his beautiful wife, who fell a victim to the plague,--are
narrated with true pathos. Yet, this afflicting episode in village
history--
So sad, so tender and so true.
having been but recently related by our ingenious contemporary, Mr.
Hone,[3] we quote but two of the opening stanzas by the Messrs.
Howitt:
Among the verdant mountains of the Peak
There lies a quiet hamlet, where the slope
Of pleasant uplands wards the north-wind's bleak;
Below wild dells romantic pathways ope;
Around, above it, spreads a shadowy cope
Of forest trees: flower, foliage, and clear rill
Wave from the cliffs, or down ravines elope;
It seems a place charmed from the power of ill
By sainted words of old: so lovely, lone, and still.
And many are the pilgrim's feet which tread
Its rocky steps, which thither yearly go;
Yet, less by love of Nature's wonders led,
Than by the memory of a mighty woe,
Which smote, like blasting thunder, long ago,
The peopled hills. There stands a sacred tomb,
Where tears have rained, nor yet shall cease to flow;
Recording days of death's sublimest gloom;
Mompesson's power and pain,--his beauteous Catherine's doom.
[2] Dr. Mead, in his Narrative of the Great Plague in London,
particularly mentions its introduction into Eyam, through the
medium of a box of clothes, sent to a tailor who resided there.
[3] Table Book, 1827, p. 481.
The cross at Eyam stands near the entrance into the chancel of the
church. According to village tradition, this rare relic was found
on some of the neighbouring hills. It is curiously ornamented with
symbolic devices in bold relief. "It has suffered dilapidation from
the culpable neglect of those who should have felt an interest in its
preservation. About two feet of the top of the shaft is wanting, as
may be seen by reference to the engraved sketch, (_See the Cut_,)
which was taken in the year 1815." The sexton of the church, who was
then an old man, told Mr. Rhodes in 1818, that he well recollected the
missing part being thrown carelessly about the churchyard, as if of no
value, until it was broken up by some of the inhabitants, and knocked
to pieces for domestic purposes. The preservation of the Cross, to the
extent we have shown, is referable to the philanthropic Howard,
who, in a visit to Eyam, about the year 1788, or 44 years since,
particularly noticed the finest part of the relic lying in a corner
of the churchyard, and nearly overgrown with docks and thistles. "The
value this hitherto unregarded relic had in the estimation of Howard,"
says Mr. Rhodes, "made it dearer to the people of Eyam: they brought
the top part of the cross from its hiding-place, and set it on the
still dilapidated shaft, where it has ever since remained." Other
crosses, similar in appearance and workmanship, have been found on
the hills of Derbyshire, particularly one in the village of Bakewell,
which we have already figured in _The Mirror_.[4] It evidently
originated with the same people as that at Eyam, though it is much
more mutilated. These crosses have been generally regarded as Saxon or
Danish, though the probability is in favour of the Saxon origin, from
the high veneration of the Saxons for the sacred symbol of the cross.
Thus, stone crosses were not only parts of the decorations of every
church and altar, but set up as land-marks on the high roads as aids
to devotion, and in market-places as incentives to integrity and
fair-dealing.
[4] Vol. xi. p. 40.
Near the cross at Eyam, and in the distance of the Cut, is the tomb of
Mrs. Mompesson, on one end of which is an hour-glass with two expanded
wings; and underneath on an oblong tablet is inscribed CAVETE;
(beware,) and nearer the base, the words _Nescitis Horam_ (ye know not
the hour). On the other end of the tomb is a death's head resting on a
plain, projecting tablet; and below the words _Mihi lucrum_ (mine is
the gain).
The second hallowed relic is at Wheston a small and pleasant village,
which is situated on an eminence that forms one side of Monksdale,
and which at this place is known by the name of Peter-dale. A short
distance from hence is Tideswell, about four miles from Eyam.[5]
"Wheston," observes Mr. Rhodes, "though consisting of a few houses
only, is a picturesque little place: the trees which are mingled with
the cottages, are so abundant, and everywhere so finely foliaged, that
the place altogether, particularly when seen at a short distance,
appears more like a copse or wood than a village." The position of the
Wheston cross favours the conclusion already made as to the purposes
for which this kind of emblem was originally set up in England. It
stands in the village, _near the road-side_. The upper part of the
cross resembles in some of its ornaments the mullion-work of a Gothic
window: the shaft is unadorned, and more modern. One side represents
the infant Saviour in the arms of his mother: over their heads is a
faint indication of a star, emblematic of the ray that directed the
wise men of the East to the birthplace of Jesus. The reverse of the
cross exhibits the crucifixion of Christ, whose birth and death it
has apparently been the design of the sculptor to commemorate in the
erection of this symbol of his faith. Similar structures are by no
means uncommon by the road-sides throughout France, and to this day
the peasantry may be seen bending before them; while the drivers of
carriages on the most frequented roads are not unmindful of an act of
passing homage to the time-worn emblem.
[5] From King John, the Eyam estate descended to the Stafford
family, on whom it was bestowed in consideration of certain
military services, and on the express condition "that a lamp
should be kept perpetually burning before the altar of St. Helen,
in the parish-church of Eyam." The lamp has long since ceased
to burn, and the estate has passed into other hands: it now
constitutes a part of the immense property of his Grace the Duke
of Devonshire.
Several crosses have been found in this part of Derbyshire, but only
a few have escaped the dilapidations of age; the others have been, we
had almost said sacrilegiously, destroyed as objects of no value. Mr.
Rhodes tells us that "in one place the shaft of a cross, originally of
no mean workmanship, has been converted into a gate-post; at another,
one has been scooped and hollowed out, and made into a blacksmith's
trough. I have seen one, which is richly sculptured on the three
remaining sides, with figures and a variety of ornaments, all well
executed, that was long applied to this humble purpose." The Cut shows
that a portion of the cross at Wheston has been broken off; Mr. Rhodes
saw the fragment as a common piece of stone, built and cemented into
an adjoining wall; and he judiciously adds, "where so little interest
has been felt in the preservation of these relics, it is only
surprising that so many of them yet remain in different parts of the
kingdom." Among all acts of wanton license, the destruction of a cross
is to us the most unaccountable. We can readily refer the defacement
of imperial insignia and the spoliation of royal houses to political
turbulence engendered by acts of tyrannical misrule; but the
mutilation of _the cross_--the _universal_ Christian emblem--remains
to be explained, unless we attribute it to the brutal ignorance of the
spoilers. Its religious universality ought consistently to protect it
from intolerance.
We must not bring this paper to a close without explaining that the
preceding Engravings have been copied from the first of Mr. Rhodes's
excursions of seventeen miles, viz. from Sheffield to Tideswell.
The Abbey and the two Crosses therefore occur in that district. The
original plates are effectively engraved by W. and W.B. Cook, from
drawings by Mr. Chantrey, R.A., who presented to Mr. Rhodes a series
of drawings for his work, "as a token of his friendship, and a mark of
his attachment to his native country."
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