[6]

[6] From Rhodes's "Peak Scenery."

Of all the personages connected with the local history of Chatsworth,
who may have been rendered conspicuous either by their situation or
their talents, perhaps no one has a more powerful claim to notice than
the once celebrated latin poet and philosopher, Hobbes: his connexion
with the Devonshire family began early in life, and Chatsworth, in
consequence, became his occasional residence; he was a man originally of
a weak constitution, and he is said to have been subject through life to
imaginary and unnecessary personal fears, which continually preyed upon
and agitated his spirits; yet by a strict and uniform attention to diet
and exercise, he lived to the age of 92. He was a very early riser, and
as soon as he had quitted his bed he walked or rather ran to the tops of
some of the hills about Chatsworth, that he might enjoy a fresher and a
purer breeze than circulated through the valley. This practice he
continued until he was compelled to relinquish it by the infirmities of
age. After breakfast he visited the Earl and the Countess of Devonshire
and their children, until about twelve o'clock, when he dined in a
private apartment by himself: he then retired to his own room, where ten
or twelve pipes, filled with tobacco, were ranged in a row on his table
ready to be used in succession: he then commenced his usual afternoon's
employment of smoking, thinking, and writing, which he continued for
several hours. When thus engaged he was frequently visited by foreigners
of distinction, who were attracted to Chatsworth chiefly by the
celebrity which Hobbes had acquired amongst the learned and the great.
St. Evermond, in one of his letters to Waller, which is dated from
Chatsworth, details some interesting particulars of this extraordinary
man, whom he found, as he expresses it, "like Jupiter, involved in
clouds of his own raising." He says,

"I now write to you from the Earl of Devonshire's, where I have been
this fortnight past, paying my devotions to the Genius of Nature.
Nothing can be more romantic than this country except the region about
Valois, and nothing can equal this place in beauty but the borders of
the Lake.

"It was not, however, so much the desire of seeing natural curiosities
that drew me hither: there is a certain moral curiosity under this roof
which I have long wished to see, and my lord Devonshire had the goodness
to indulge me by a very kind invitation: I