*_Sonnet_ XXI.
'Chatsworth! thy stately mansion,' &c.
I have reason to remember the day that gave rise to this Sonnet, the 6th of November 1830.

Having undertaken--a great feat for me--to ride my daughter's pony from Westmoreland to Cambridge, that she might have the use of it while on a visit to her uncle at Trinity Lodge, on my way from Bakewell to Matlock I turned aside to Chatsworth, and had scarcely gratified my curiosity by the sight of that celebrated place before there came on a severe storm of wind and rain, which continued till I reached Derby, both man and pony in a pitiable plight.

For myself I went to bed at noon-day.

In the course of that journey I had to encounter a storm worse if possible, in which the pony could (or would) only make his way slantwise.

I mention this merely to add, that notwithstanding this battering, I composed on pony-back the lines to the memory of Sir George Beaumont, suggested during my recent visit to Coleorton.
228.