Ex Libris 
 ! C. K. OGDEN
 
 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK.
 
 BORN 1803, DIED 1874.
 
 THE SMEDLEYS 
 OF MATLOCK BANK: 
 
 Jt Hcbieto of the IWijjicits aub -philanthropic Ipabours 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. AND MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY STEER. 
 
 (bg permission) 
 
 H.R.H. THE PRINCESS LOUISE, MARCHIONESS 
 OF LORNE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G. 
 
 '897.
 
 THIS BRIEF RECORD 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DEVOTED, RELIGIOUS, PHILANTHROPIC, AND REMEDIAL 
 LABOURS OF 
 
 MR. AND MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY, 
 
 OF 
 
 MAT LOCK BANK, 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 (BY HER KIND PERMISSION) 
 
 TO 
 
 HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, PRINCESS LOUISE, 
 
 MARCHIONESS OF LORNE, 
 
 WHO HAS EVER SHOWN 
 A GRACIOUS SYMPATHY WITH SUFFERING HUMANITY, 
 
 AND 
 
 AN AFFECTIONATE INTEREST IN EVERY HEALING AGENCY 
 THAT HAS PROMISED TO SECURE THE RELIEF 
 
 OF 
 
 HUMAN WOES. 
 
 2017643
 
 NOTE. 
 
 IN presenting this sketch of the united life-work of two 
 persons who conferred lasting benefits on their generation, 
 I desire gratefully to acknowledge the valuable assistance of 
 Mr. J. Buckley, Mr. John Ward, The Smedley Hydropathic 
 Company, Mr. J. L. Dean, Messrs. Bemrose and Sons, and 
 also of Mr. Grundy, the late Mr. R. Keene, of Derby, and 
 Mr. Statham, of Matlock, photographic artists. 
 
 H. S. 
 DERBY, 1897.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. HYDROPATHY OR WATER-CURE 
 II. THE SMEDLEY FAMILY 
 
 III. THE HOSPITAL AT LEA MILLS 
 
 IV. RELIGIOUS AND PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS 
 V. THE ESTABLISHMENT AT MATLOCK BANK 
 
 VI. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM 
 VII. EXTENSIONS AT MATLOCK BANK - 
 VIII. RISER CASTLE 
 IX. DEATH OF MR. SMEDLEY - 
 
 X. MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 
 APPENDIX: TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 JOHN SMEDLEY - - Frontispiece 
 
 THE OLD HOME AT LEA MILLS - - 9 
 
 THE FIRST HYDRO UPON MATLOCK BANK 28 
 SMEDLEY'S HYDROPATHIC ESTABLISHMENT. FOUNDED 1852 - 32 
 
 THE RIVER DERWENT AT MATLOCK - 35 
 
 THE HIGH TOR, MATLOCK 39 
 
 THE HIGH TOR, MATLOCK, SECOND VIEW - 43 
 
 GROUNDS IN WINTER - 47 
 
 BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE GROUNDS, ETC. - 57 
 
 GENTLEMEN'S BATH HOUSE - - 61 
 
 A CORNER IN THE DRAWING-ROOM - 69 
 
 DRILL-ROOM AND WINTER PROMENADE- 73 
 
 RIBER CASTLE FROM THE NORTH-WEST To face 80 
 
 COLLOTYPE MONOGRAMETTE - . . 
 
 CAROLINE ANN SMEDLEY, BORN l822, DIED 1892 - - 91 
 
 LEA HURST, NEAR MATLOCK, THE HOME OF FLORENCE 
 
 NIGHTINGALE - - 99
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HYDROPATHY OR WATER-CURE. 
 
 As Mr. and Mrs. John Smedley, the subjects of this 
 biography, were so long and so intimately associated with 
 what is known as the ' Water-cure,' it is fitting that some 
 attention should first be given to the origin and develop- 
 ment of the Hydropathic system, and its introduction into 
 the county of Derbyshire. 
 
 The employment of water as an agency in the cure of 
 disease is probably as old as the human experience of 
 suffering. It is hardly necessary to present the evidence 
 which history supplies that bathing was used as a remedy 
 in very early times. 
 
 'The Lord createth medicines out of the earth,' we read 
 in Old Testament phraseology. ' Hath He not made the 
 waters sweet with wood, that the virtues thereof might be 
 known ? With such doth He heal men, and take away their 
 pains.' These words certainly suggest some kind of water- 
 cure, and the expression ' sweet waters ' indicates impreg- 
 nation with some particular healing virtues. Medicated 
 waters should be understood to carry natural, and in no 
 sense miraculous, efficacy. Certain so-called medicinal 
 waters, such as the sulphur springs of Harrogate, have a 
 very strong taste and smell, but many doctors on the spot 
 have very little faith in their efficacy, save in certain well-
 
 2 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 defined forms of disease. Their general utility, as remedial 
 agencies, has long been seriously questioned. On the other 
 hand, the simple spring waters of Matlock, which have 
 no special or recognisable medicinal qualities, but are 
 remarkably pure and soft, are found singularly efficient for 
 hydropathic purposes. The treatment of diseases by cold 
 water was practised by Hippocrates in the fourth century 
 B.C. ; by the Arabs in the tenth century A.D. ; and it was 
 revived by Dr. Currie in 1797. 
 
 The Romans were famous for their construction of baths, 
 and during their residence in this country they erected 
 some in the vicinity of hot springs, not merely for the sake 
 of convenience and economy, but also with some idea of the 
 additional recuperative power of water when it is heated. The 
 evidence that cold spring-water has for generations been used 
 to advantage in cases of fever is overwhelming, but of late 
 years its use has to a large extent given place to warm water 
 applications. The employment of water as a healing agent 
 has grown in popular favour by leaps and bounds. Vincenz 
 Priessnitz (died 1851), an unlettered peasant of Austrian 
 Silesia, gave the movement a greater impetus than any other 
 person during the last five hundred years; but, taking into 
 due account his undoubted success and popularity, it can 
 hardly be said that the system has yet been taken up with 
 that degree of enthusiasm which might reasonably have 
 been expected. 
 
 Captain Clarige introduced hydropathy into England in 
 the year 1840, and Dr. Wilson, of Malvern, adopted the 
 system in the same year. He tells us in his voluminous 
 work, entitled, ' The Water-Cure, and Household Medical 
 Science,' that he was the first English medical man who 
 went to visit Graffenberg, and he adds, ' I have every reason 
 to believe that if I had not gone there, the water-cure would
 
 HYDROPATHY OR WATER-CURE 3 
 
 hardly yet have excited attention, or made any progress in 
 this country. . . . My success in practice here induced 
 many medical men to visit Graffenberg, and also to adopt 
 the practice. On my return to England the water-cure met 
 with no encouragement from any of my medical friends, 
 with the exception of one. . . . Many were opposed to 
 my undertaking (building a house at a cost of twenty 
 thousand pounds), but when it was finished and full of 
 patients, the effect was much what might have been 
 anticipated. House-building began and went on increasing 
 rapidly, and there is now a new town of commodious villas 
 and lodgings.' 
 
 Dr. Macleod conducted a very successful Hydropathic 
 Institution at Ben Rhydding, near Ilkley, in Yorkshire, and 
 the benefit which Mr. John Smedley received there led 
 to his devoting himself to the establishment of a similar 
 institution in his native county of Derbyshire.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SMEDLEY FAMILY. 
 
 JOHN SMEDLEY was born at Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, on 
 June 12, 1803. This town has gained some literary interest 
 as the place where Elizabeth Evans, the aunt of George 
 Eliot, resided, who was taken by that gifted authoress as the 
 original of Dinah Morris, in ' Adam Bede.' Smedley's birth- 
 place was a cottage which has given place to the present 
 Bank. His paternal ancestors had been engaged in lead- 
 mining in the neighbourhood of Wirksworth, but his grand- 
 father's step-sire, being engaged in the worsted spinning 
 and hosiery trade, induced Thomas Smedley to join him, 
 and John Smedley's father continued in this business. 
 
 His mother's family, the Brights and Woods of Wirks- 
 worth, Winster, and Woodthorpe, were possessed of con- 
 siderable landed property. Mrs. Smedley's great-grand- 
 father was a magistrate of the county, and her grandfather 
 was an attorney-at-law. Mr. John Smedley had small 
 portraits of his grandparents and their wives, and the like- 
 nesses of two other members of the family who had lived in 
 the reign of James II. On his mother's side he was also 
 related to the Slingleys of Nottingham. Robert Moore 
 (A.D. 1686), an ancestor of John Smedley's mother, owned 
 Winster Hall, resided there, and had a considerable estate. 
 He married Elizabeth Hey wood, of Cromford Bridge House,.
 
 THE SMEDLEY FAMILY 5 
 
 in 1705. Some silver plate of hers and a clock were taken 
 to Cromford Bridge House by Mr. Smedley's father in 
 1818, just 113 years after. On the clock the births and 
 deaths of all Mr. Smedley's family are marked, and this 
 clock was an excellent timekeeper, in its mahogany case, 
 at Riber Castle. John Smedley had a considerable number 
 of heirlooms : articles of dress, ornaments, and a china 
 bowl which had been used at the marriages and christen- 
 ings of the Woods and the Brights for some two hundred 
 years. 
 
 Hannah, the great-granddaughter of Robert Moore, of 
 Winster, married the Rev. D. Ewes Cooke, and their son 
 was owner of the Dove estate, it having been devised to 
 him in 1721 by Anthony Stones. Margaret Ridgway, the 
 daughter of Tristram Ridgway, lead merchant, Wirksworth, 
 was a direct ancestress of John Smedley, and she married 
 this Anthony Stones, who also left considerable property 
 round Wirksworth to the Ridgway s. One of these Ridgways 
 built what was for many years known as ' Ridgway's Folly,' 
 on the hillside, near Gorsey Bank. The intended mansion 
 was never finished, and was subsequently purchased by 
 John Toplis, the banker, as building materials for the 
 mansion which he was erecting in Wirksworth. 
 
 Smedley's great-grandfather, one of the Brights, died 
 about 1717, leaving to his widow real estate of considerable 
 value. This lady took John Smedley's mother, who was 
 her eldest granddaughter, to live with her at Wirksworth; 
 and in that town his father had, only a short time before, 
 commenced business on his own account. He soon took 
 the lead in spinning, and in manufacturing hosiery of the 
 best qualities. Scarcely, however, had Smedley's parents 
 been married twelve months when business calamities befell 
 them. Mr. Smedley's brother Isaac, who was a wholesale
 
 6 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 hosier in Milk Street, London, failed in business, and as 
 Mr. Smedley had fully trusted his brother, he became 
 seriously involved in his failure, and lost the whole of his 
 property. His name, however, had been associated with 
 the manufacture of a very superior class of goods, and this 
 led to an offer of assistance from Mr. Jeffrey Ludlam, a 
 London army clothing contractor and hosier. With this 
 assistance, and subsequently that of another business man, 
 named Cane, who secured a monopoly of the goods pro- 
 duced, and so increased the profits, Mr. Smedley tided over 
 this difficult time. 
 
 During this very trying period John Smedley's mother 
 contributed, in no small degree, to the re-establishment of 
 the business. With a brave spirit of endurance, and with 
 much patient industry, she superintended the sewing depart- 
 ment of the manufacture ; and this both lightened the cost 
 of production, and guaranteed the excellent quality of the 
 goods produced. 
 
 In the year 1818 the business had outgrown the capacity 
 and convenience of the premises at Wirksworth, and Mr. 
 Smedley, with a view to the further development of his 
 trade, obtained possession of Lea Mills, and removed his 
 residence to Cromford Bridge, which is some two miles 
 from Wirksworth. The new enterprise did not, however, 
 succeed as was anticipated. New styles of goods at lower 
 prices were introduced into the market, and the fame of 
 1 Smedley's hosiery ' began to decline. To recover position, 
 an effort was made to spin fine yarn for the Norwich trade, 
 but the experiment failed, because the machinery proved to 
 be unsuited for the work ; and this attempt involved a con- 
 siderable loss. Notwithstanding unwearied attention, the 
 business continued to decline, and for the second time, in 
 the year 1823, Mr. Smedley found himself in a state of in-
 
 THE SMEDLEY FAMILY 7 
 
 solvency. His position is indicated by the fact that the 
 mill wages were then under ten pounds per week. As in 
 the former case, however, the most serious result was averted, 
 and with great difficulty he succeeded in avoiding bank- 
 ruptcy, or compounding with his creditors. But this second 
 failure, and the loss of nearly everything save his integrity, 
 seriously affected him, and he despaired of ever recovering 
 his position. The death also of his younger son, which 
 took place suddenly in December, 1827, so prostrated him, 
 that he never afterwards entered actively into business life. 
 
 At the time of his father's removal from Wirksworth to 
 Lea Mills, John Smedley was fifteen years of age. He had 
 completed his school-time about a year previously, and was 
 assisting his father in the business. When his father was 
 prostrated by the anxieties of his second failure, John 
 Smedley realized the responsibilities that devolved upon 
 him, and being well trained in the business, resolved to put 
 forth all his energy to retrieve the fortunes of the family. 
 
 He had been for some time experimenting on the adapta- 
 tion of cotton machinery to the manufacture of woollen 
 goods. He was also endeavouring to improve the shape 
 and quality of underclothing. He felt that the best then 
 offered in the market (Mills's and Warner's) were inferior to 
 what he could produce, so he resolved to commence opera- 
 tions. He purchased a small quantity of Spanish wool, 
 valued at about eighteen pounds, from Taylor of London, 
 who allowed him twelve months' credit, as he wanted it only 
 for purposes of experiment. How to work the wool to the 
 best advantage was not, however, clear to him ; so day after 
 day, and often night after night, assisted by mechanics some- 
 times, but oftener alone, he laboured to adapt the old 
 cotton machinery to the new kinds of work which he was 
 determined it should perform. If he failed, nothing but
 
 8 
 
 bankruptcy was before them ; if he succeeded, he might 
 hope for a profitable run of trade. He persevered, and after 
 fifteen years of concentrated effort (during which his father 
 died, March, 1840), he found himself possessed of a con- 
 siderable balance at his bankers'. 
 
 At this time John Smedley had serious thoughts of retiring, 
 but as he could not secure a purchaser for Lea Mills, he 
 was compelled to remain in business. He married, his 
 wife being Caroline Ann Harward, the second daughter of 
 the Rev. John Harward, Vicar of Wirksworth. The wed- 
 ding tour was sadly marred by the bridegroom's taking a 
 severe chill in a damp church in Switzerland. He was 
 smitten down with fever, and returned home with its debili- 
 tating influence still upon him. He put himself under the 
 ordinary medical treatment of that day, in which, like other 
 people, he had every confidence^ 
 
 For some years, from 1848 to 1851, this man of so much 
 energy and enterprise was in a nervous and despondent 
 condition, and altogether unfitted for attending to his busi- 
 ness, which, fortunately, was in the hands of very capable 
 managers, though they found the responsibilities almost 
 overwhelming. The young wife proved equal to the occasion, 
 bravely undertook her serious charge, and came out of that 
 trying time purified and ennobled. 
 
 The old system of drugs could not be expected to suit 
 such a case of hypochondria and nerve prostration, and after 
 trying it for a year or two with only distressing results, the 
 cold-water system of cure was brought to Mr. Smedley's 
 notice. This was tried with the most hopeful results. The 
 treatment practised at Ben Rhydding, in Yorkshire, under 
 the direction of Dr. Macleod, has the credit of giving John 
 Smedley a new lease of life, and of opening before him new 
 fields of usefulness.
 
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 THE SMEDLEY FAMILY u 
 
 John Smedley's kindness and consideration for others in 
 their times of need was reciprocated by his workpeople, 
 who, at this critical period, gave him their sympathies and 
 their prayers. There are those yet living who will remember 
 the special meeting for united prayer on behalf of Mr. 
 Smedley which was held in Mrs. Wass's chapel. The 
 building was filled with sympathizing, praying men and 
 women, who wrestled with the Angel, and were heard, and 
 received gracious answers in the restoration of their beloved 
 master to mental and bodily health. 
 
 Long afterwards Mr. Smedley's workpeople sent him a 
 letter of considerable length in the heartiest acknowledg- 
 ment of his long-continued goodness to them. 
 
 Greatly improved in health through his visit to Ben 
 Rhydding, Mr. Smedley returned to Cheltenham, having 
 purchased the Rose Hill estate, where he intended per- 
 manently to reside. But re-established health led him to 
 alter his resolution, and having experienced so much benefit 
 from the water-cure, he determined to confer, if that were 
 possible, similar benefits upon others, and first of all upon 
 the fifteen hundred workpeople connected with his own 
 mills. 
 
 Mr. Smedley's full-length portrait shows him to have been 
 a sharp, commanding, strong-willed, and almost austere 
 master. He was straight as a dart, quick in his move- 
 ments, determined in expression, and extremely particular 
 about the precise observance of his rules. He was a very 
 early riser, and could do as much work as two ordinary 
 men. He was in the habit of taking a share in the manual 
 work of the mill measuring the ' stockingers' ' productions 
 which were brought in every Saturday, and sorting the 
 goods into their various sizes. But all such duties he left 
 in the hands of others when the Hydropathic Establishment
 
 12 THE S MEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 got into full swing, and its responsibilities increased upon 
 him. 
 
 With the building and repeated enlargements at Matlock 
 Bank, the care of the patients at Lea Mills, and providing 
 chapels and schools in various parts of the district, John 
 Smedley had a great many ' irons in the fire.' And to his 
 wise schemes most unfortunately he added the foolish one 
 of his paper and verbal war with the clergy of the Church 
 of England.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE HOSPITAL AT LEA MILLS. 
 
 SOON after his arrival at Cheltenham, John Smedley issued 
 a pamphlet which was entitled, ' An Address to the Work- 
 people of Lea Mills, by John Smedley, Cheltenham ' (1850). 
 Our recollection of it is vivid and accurate enough to permit 
 us to say that it was instinct with a spiritual fervour that is 
 unusual, save among young converts. It was full of Scrip- 
 tural quotations. It revealed the buoyant and hopeful state 
 of the writer's mind, and indicated his complete recovery 
 from the melancholy and depressed condition in which he 
 had been so long. The transformation was a remarkable 
 one, but the new moods were wholly genuine and sincere. 
 
 Throughout John Smedley's life there was a characteristic 
 restlessness, which made him take up new enterprises before 
 his earlier ones were fully established. He could not rest 
 quietly at Cheltenham, nor be content until he had returned 
 to the seat of industry at Lea Mills. Being fully convinced, 
 through his own experience, of the remedial powers of 
 water, he resolved to make such bathing arrangements at 
 the mills as circumstances would permit ; and in the in- 
 tensity of his religious fervour, he proposed to combine with 
 bodily healing moral and religious instruction. 
 
 The ordinary business routine of the mills was, for a time, 
 thrown into confusion. Everything was made to give way to
 
 14 THE S MEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 experiments with the dripping sheet, the wet pack, the douche, 
 and so on ; and everybody had to undergo some form of the 
 new treatment, whether he were ailing or not. Cattle, as 
 well as human beings, were experimented on, with more or 
 less success. 
 
 The Free Hospital, which Mr. Smedley established, con- 
 sisted of a number of rooms adjoining the mills, which had 
 been converted into bath-rooms and bedrooms for the male 
 patients, and some cottage property close by, which was 
 made suitable for the female patients. 
 
 This institution, being wholly free to poor sufferers, soon 
 greatly prospered ; but it involved a heavy strain on Mr. 
 Smedley's resources, for he bore the entire cost of maintain- 
 ing some thirty patients, providing board, lodging, and 
 baths for over twenty years. A local missionary was ap- 
 pointed, whose duty it was to minister to the temporal and 
 spiritual wants of the workpeople. 
 
 Soon after this most useful institution had been opened, 
 applications were received from persons belonging to the 
 middle ranks of society, who desired to submit themselves 
 to the water treatment. Some of these persons were ad- 
 mitted to his own house, and were treated gratuitously. 
 
 The following extract from a letter by the author of this 
 work will indicate how greatly this kindness was appreciated : 
 
 ' About the year 1854, my late dear father being then a 
 maker of hooked or bearded needles, used in the manufac- 
 ture of stockings, gloves, and underclothing, I went to Lea 
 Mills, and asked Mr. Smedley for an order. . . . This was 
 the first time I had seen him. He observed that I was not 
 well, most kindly invited me as a guest to his house, and 
 gave me both excellent advice and beneficial hydropathic 
 treatment. There I first met that estimable and clever lady, 
 Mrs. John Smedley. No wonder that, in after ailments, I
 
 THE HOSPITAL AT LEA MILLS 15 
 
 sought Mr. Smedley's hydropathic advice and treatment, 
 and after his time that of others. I met at the house by 
 Lea Mills those excellent Christian people, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Robert Wildgoose. Mr. Wildgoose was for many years 
 manager of the mills, and he is now chairman of the 
 directors of the Smedley Hydropathic Company and a J.P.' 
 
 The new champion of hydropathy believed that he had 
 a threefold mission. Not only was it necessary to explain 
 and enforce the new remedy, but the evils of the old 
 allopathic system had to be exposed, and the mischievous 
 use of drugs arrested. But Mr. Smedley thought he had 
 also a mission to reform the clergy, whom he regarded as 
 ' blind leaders of the blind,' and as ' having the form of 
 godliness, but denying the power thereof.' So, with his 
 studies and experiments in connection with the water-cure, 
 with his attacks on the doctors who were blindly wor- 
 shipping the Pharmacopoeia, and with his opposition to the 
 clergy, who shocked his moral sense by sanctioning dinner- 
 parties and secular concerts, he had very little time for 
 investigating the merits of newly-invented carding machines, 
 or mules. But, with all these miscellaneous matters in 
 hand, each one of which was treated with uncompromising 
 activity, the wants of the poor were diligently and sympa- 
 thetically attended to. 
 
 'There's Mrs. M , sir, from W , come to see if 
 
 anything can be done for her. Her husband's ill i' bed wi' 
 rheumatic fever, and they're eight o' family five little 
 childer as can earn nought.' So said the man who was 
 appointed to look after the poor and sick of the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 This sort of application, for help became quite usual, and 
 every day some tale of want or woe was poured into his 
 ears. He sat at his small enclosed desk, in a corner of the
 
 16 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 counting-house, and no sooner had some pitiful tale been 
 told than a small piece of paper would be handed to the 
 storekeeper, and as many household requisites as the 
 applicant could carry would be written on it. Then the 
 desk door would be shut, but only to open for a similar 
 scene again before many hours had passed. 
 
 The store-room which had been fitted up in connection 
 with this system of relief was an interesting place. It con- 
 tained a various collection of home requisites, a large stock 
 of Irish oatmeal in peck parcels, bread, flour, linseed- meal 
 for poultices, sheets, blankets, flannel, tea, coffee, sugar, 
 Bibles, Testaments, body bandages and compresses for the 
 hydropathic treatment, etc. 
 
 The success attained by the new remedies made Smedley's 
 denunciations of doctors and drugs increase in bitterness. 
 And he made no sort of allowance for the clergy, who, he 
 contended, could not have the love of God dwelling in 
 them, or they would never make young children into 
 members of Christ by a mere rite, or bury drunkards in 
 'sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal 
 life.' 
 
 ' But you admit that the evangelical clergy are good 
 people ?' observed a friend of Smedley's to him one day. 
 
 ' I consider,' he replied, ' that the Evangelicals, as they 
 are called, are the worse of the two, because they practise 
 what they do not believe.' 
 
 ' I know they don't believe in Baptismal Regeneration,' 
 said his friend. 
 
 ' Then why do they practise it ?' 
 
 ' Well, you see, it has been handed down to us in that 
 form, and those clergy who don't believe it regard it as a 
 mere form which needs explaining.' 
 
 'Yes, I should say it needs a good deal of explaining.
 
 THE HOSPITAL AT LEA MILLS 17 
 
 And what about the Burial Service ? Does that need ex- 
 plaining, too?' 
 
 ' Just in the same way. But a dear good clergyman 
 whom I know always shakes his head when he comes to 
 the " sure and certain hope," if he has reason to think that 
 the person died impenitent.' 
 
 That was Smedley's view. He maintained that some of 
 the clergy did not believe in the doctrines of their own 
 Prayer-Book. And the doctors were much the same. Very 
 few of them really believed in the efficacy of their drugs. 
 And when we find eminent allopathic doctors, like John 
 Taylor, confessing that ' to him it appeared a physician was 
 a man who wrote prescriptions till either the patient dies 
 or is cured by Nature,' and joined in the confession by 
 Huffland, Cotton, and others, such men as John Smedley 
 are not out of place when they expose the fallacies of the 
 older system.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RELIGIOUS AND PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS. 
 
 As an employer of labour, John Smedley endeavoured to 
 deal justly and fairly with his workpeople ; and though for 
 many long and weary years the scale of wages he was able 
 to pay was necessarily low, his employes had privileges and 
 comforts that are but seldom found in large manufactur- 
 ing establishments. When that remarkable change of life 
 occurred to which reference has been made, he began to 
 look round, and to see if it was possible to make toil less 
 toilsome to those who worked for him. He made arrange- 
 ments which permitted the ' hands ' to take their meals in 
 comfort. He provided cheap tea, coffee, and porridge, and 
 a person to cook their meat for dinner. He provided for 
 the girls and women mackintosh capes and goloshes, because 
 many of them had three or four miles to walk after standing 
 for ten hours beside a throstle, a mule, or a doubling 
 machine. On very wet or snowy nights, those who preferred 
 not to go home were accommodated with a rough-and- 
 ready ' shakedown ' on the warm floors of the mill. In 
 cases of sickness, Mr. Smedley provided the best remedy 
 with which at the time he was acquainted, and in which he 
 had great confidence ' Fearn's Family Pills.' 
 
 Inquiries were made in the locality around the mills 
 concerning the prices charged for bread, and finding that
 
 RELIGIOUS AND PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS 19 
 
 they were high, while the quality was poor, a truck-load of 
 flour was sent for from Newark, and retailed at a trifle 
 over cost-price, to the very great annoyance of the local trades- 
 men. American clocks, too those marvels of mechanical 
 skill were purchased in large quantities, and sold on the 
 premises on the same economical principle as the flour ; 
 and many a poor man's cottage was rendered brighter and 
 more home-like by the addition of a timepiece. Even the 
 farmers in the locality, who set their faces against mowing- 
 machines, were glad to get Smedley's guano at nearly cost- 
 price.* 
 
 Enforced holidays, such as Christmas Day and Good 
 Friday, were invariably paid for, and time lost through illness 
 was generously dealt with. Improvements went on in every 
 direction. The standing wages were gradually advanced, 
 and whatever could be treated as piece-work was given out 
 in that way, to the great advantage of the skilled workers, 
 who were thus enabled nearly to double their incomes. 
 
 Mr. Smedley used to boast that he never had such a thing 
 as a ' strike ' at his mills ; from which fact we may gather 
 that his workpeople generally were satisfied with his treat- 
 ment of them. His building operations introduced him to 
 a new set of workpeople. He became quite a master-builder, 
 and in that capacity, as in his earlier position as a manu- 
 facturer, he was both just and generous, though in many 
 respects very unlike the general run of master-builders. 
 
 Each day at Lea Mills half an hour (from 8.30 to 9 a.m.) 
 was devoted to morning worship. At this hour the great 
 body of workpeople assembled in the dining-house, or in 
 summer in a tent in his garden, for singing, reading the 
 Scriptures, and prayer. The proprietor acted as high-priest, 
 and Mrs. Smedley sat by her husband, and took the deepest 
 * Care should have been taken to leave dealers a fair profit.
 
 20 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 interest in the service. Those who were permitted to join 
 in the services, as strangers or visitors, will not readily forget 
 the unusual but very pleasant scene. 
 
 This morning worship was started immediately after Mr. 
 Smedley's return from Cheltenham, and it was kept up for 
 many years. The loss of the half-hour from the working 
 time was borne by the employer. A person who was 
 present at one of these services wrote concerning them as 
 follows : ' I can never forget the happy scene, and the deep 
 impression made upon my mind, the first time Mr. Smedley 
 conducted the morning service in the dinner-house. I 
 know of nothing which he has yet done that so fully meets 
 my approval as this half-hour devoted to the honour of 
 God and the highest interests of the workpeople.' 
 
 Mr. Smedley began his work as a preacher in a time of 
 great excitement, and for awhile the common people heard 
 him gladly. A marquee, which, it is said, was made for the 
 purpose, was bought about the year 1853, when he became 
 an abstainer, and for several years he never missed pitch- 
 ing his tent on some spot, within a radius of ten miles from 
 his residence, on the Lord's day. His meetings were often 
 attended by from five hundred to fifteen hundred persons, 
 some of whom had never before entered a place of 
 worship. 
 
 John Smedley, however, never became a great preacher, 
 and he was never, in any sense, a great writer. But his 
 efforts, both in speaking and in writing, had their direct 
 and indirect uses ; and if his audiences did not tremble as 
 he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
 come, the gathering of the people to his tent suggested the 
 necessity for building places of worship where there was 
 such manifest spiritual destitution. The movement for 
 chapel-building which John Smedley and his wife originated
 
 RELIGIOUS AND PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS 21 
 
 was carried out at a cost of over twenty thousand pounds. 
 He built and supported chapels for the Methodist Free 
 Church at Holloway, Higham, Ashover, Bonsall, Matlock 
 Bank, and Birchwood-by-Alfreton, and he was an earnest 
 supporter of Sunday and other schools. 
 
 In the building of his chapels, and in the forms of 
 worship he adopted, Mr. Smedley was his own architect. 
 He did not think it right to build these places, and then 
 hand them over, either to the Wesleyan Conference, or the 
 Methodist Free Church, or to any other Nonconformist 
 denomination. At his death these chapels came to his 
 successor, along with the machinery at the mills, and the 
 establishment on Matlock Bank. There was no restriction 
 in Mr. Smedley's will as to the way in which they should 
 be disposed of, or the forms of worship which should be 
 used in them. Most of them were sold by private con- 
 tract for sums far below their original cost. The net result 
 was not an encouragement for wealthy Christians to build 
 chapels and leave them to be made into money.by their heirs. 
 John Smedley made his mark in the world because of 
 his originality, which bordered on eccentricity. He was 
 nothing if not original and independent; nothing if not 
 intense and extreme. Whether in matters of dress, in 
 business, in religion, or in medicine, the impress of his 
 individuality could always be recognised ; and his inimitable 
 hosiery goods, produced at Lea Mills, bear to this day the 
 stamp of his name. Who can dispute the peculiarity of his 
 ' get-up ' in dress ? In business ideas and habits he differed 
 from everyone else. In medical notions and practices he 
 severed himself as widely as possible from the orthodox 
 system ; and even in his development of hydropathy he 
 made new applications. 
 There was no sect of religion that he felt he could approve
 
 22 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 so far as to join it. He favoured some sects more than 
 others ; but to him none was perfect. The way in which 
 he tried to supply what was lacking in the sect that came 
 nearest to his mind has its amusing features. 
 
 He was an early riser. He also was industrious as an 
 author. He produced leaflets, tracts, and pamphlets, books 
 on Church history, theology, prophecy, and kindred sub- 
 jects, mostly of a controversial character. He compiled 
 a book on hydropathy, and began a satirical sketch of the 
 English Church; but of this he tired, and, happily, never 
 completed it. 
 
 As we look back upon the reforming propensities of John 
 Smedley some sixty years ago, we feel that this much at 
 least may be said for him. With the best of motives he had 
 done much, by building chapels, to relieve the spiritual 
 destitution around him ; and it was but natural that he 
 should wish to arrange the form of the worship conducted 
 in them. So he decided that some form of prayer-book 
 all the dross and tin refined out of the Church Prayer-Book, 
 for instance would be a great improvement on the simple 
 service of the Wesleyan Methodists. Mr. Smedley pre- 
 pared a work of this kind, purging the Church Prayer-Book 
 of all objectionable matter, all unsuitable rites and cere- 
 monies, and all heterodox doctrines, of which he had long 
 complained so bitterly, if so unsuccessfully. 
 
 In due time an ample supply of Smedley's new ' Sabbath 
 Service ' arrived from the printers, and copies were offered 
 to the nearest church, on the magnanimous condition that 
 the church was not bound to use the 'Service,' unless it 
 liked to do so. But the church did not like it. At least, 
 they did not like to think that the new form was really 
 being forced upon them. They could not, and did not, 
 object to the subject-matter of it, for it was nearly all taken
 
 RELIGIOUS AND PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS 23 
 
 from the Scriptures. The awkward part of the situation 
 was, that nearly all the members of this particular church 
 and congregation were workpeople at Mr. Smedley's mills ; 
 and to refuse his gift, although it had been made on the 
 most liberal conditions, might certainly be attended with 
 the most unpleasant results. 
 
 The views of the church and congregation were laid, as 
 delicately as possible, before the author of this new form of 
 worship. ' If it were all the same to him, the people wor- 
 shipping in the place that he had so generously built if it 
 were all the same they preferred their own form of wor- 
 ship, as introduced by John Wesley.' But the books were 
 printed, and had come to hand. What was to be done? 
 Ultimately the difficulty was mastered, to some extent, by 
 the author himself reading the new form of prayer, and the 
 appointed minister preaching the sermon. 
 
 A strong controversy arose, in this particular church, on 
 the form in which the rite of baptism was to be adminis- 
 tered. Infant baptism, although sanctioned by Methodism, 
 was objected to generally by this congregation. But for 
 baptism by immersion no provision had been made, nor 
 was baptism in that form approved by Mr. Smedley, though 
 he was so stanch an advocate of hydropathy. What was 
 to be done ? 
 
 The difficulty was removed after very considerable dis- 
 cussion. A contrivance was arranged. Those desirous of 
 baptism by immersion entered barefoot a small square 
 compartment, which was curtained off, and placed im- 
 mediately in front of the pulpit. The person to be baptized 
 entered into this enclosure, stood with bare feet in the water, 
 and had a mackintosh loosely thrown over the shoulders, and 
 the head uncovered. Then a kind of shower-bath was made 
 to play over the body. This invention was owned by Mr.
 
 24 THE S MEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 and Mrs. Smedley conjointly, and cannot but be regarded 
 as original. And forasmuch as there was more to be said in 
 its favour than against it, and as no one could prove that 
 Paul, and the rest of the Apostles, did not use some such 
 method, many persons were baptized in this fashion. The 
 custom, however, did not gain general favour, and in process 
 of time it died out. 
 
 Taking into consideration the large sums of money that 
 Mr. Smedley spent in the Matlock neighbourhood, and the 
 equally large sums that he virtually caused to be spent, it is 
 not too much to ask that some allowance be made for the 
 eccentricities that were characteristic of him. He was a 
 creature of God's making, and if he expended large sums of 
 money foolishly (as many persons thought he did), it should 
 be remembered that he never neglected the poor, the 
 destitute, or the ailing, and that he did much to make the 
 lives of his workpeople happy. 
 
 He had an idea that in matters of faith he was the most 
 tolerant of men and of masters ; and on one occasion he 
 said something to that effect. But his hearers knew that he 
 misapprehended himself in this respect. At the time when 
 he was considered a sound Churchman he was very in- 
 tolerant of Dissenters, especially of John Wesley's followers. 
 Hearing one day that a young man in his employ had joined 
 himself to Methodism, he sent for him into his breakfast- 
 room, to protest against such 'liberties.' At that time Mr. 
 Smedley insisted on his workpeople being either Churchmen 
 or nothing at all. Only a year or two after this he found in 
 the teachings of Wesley his only hope of salvation. This 
 was after his conversion. Another error into which he fell 
 was the habit of representing that he never had money 
 beforehand ; that it went as it came. It did come pretty 
 freely, and a good deal of it went very freely ; but to say,
 
 RELIGIOUS AND PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS 25 
 
 as he did, that he did not know, when one week's wages 
 were paid, where the next was to come from, did not convey 
 a precise idea of the fact, and it must be taken cum grano 
 salts, like a good many other of Mr. Smedley's sayings. He 
 can be better judged by his deeds than by his words.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT ON MATLOCK BANK. 
 
 ABOUT the year 1851 a Mr. Ralph Davis lived at Barley 
 Dale, and went about in the neighbourhood of the Mat- 
 locks prescribing hydropathic treatment. He subsequently 
 rented an eleven-roomed house on Matlock Bank at twelve 
 pounds a year, and arranged to give hydropathic treatment 
 in it. This was the first Hydropathic Institution on Matlock 
 Bank. After it had been opened about six months John 
 Smedley became the medical adviser. About the year 1853 
 Mr. Smedley bought the house, and soon the success 
 attained warranted its removal, and the erection of the 
 extensive buildings which were the beginning of the now 
 world - famed institution commonly called ' Smedley's 
 Hydro.' 
 
 In the course of ten or twelve years the popularity and 
 success of the Matlock Bank Institution had become so 
 established that enlargements had to be undertaken. 
 
 If any man ever had reason to rejoice in material success, 
 that man was John Smedley. And his wife, who had 
 entered with heartiness and devotion into the work, rejoiced 
 with him. The successful treatment of an ever-increasing 
 number of patients from all parts of the world was far beyond 
 their expectations. 
 
 Additions to the buildings followed additions with sur-
 
 ii i! ' ' "faa'SISff
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT ON MAT LOCK BANK 29 
 
 prising rapidity, until all the available land had been built 
 on ; and still more buildings were required. Having always 
 been accustomed to have his own way, Mr. Smedley was 
 surprised to find that he could not keep on buying land 
 just as he wanted it, and at his own price. But he was 
 equal to the emergency that arose. He threatened to shut 
 his place up if the little owners thereabouts did not part 
 with their land on his terms. That he seriously intended 
 to carry out his threat is not for us to say, but it seems to 
 have had the desired effect Further purchases of land 
 were effected, new plans of extension on a large scale were 
 formed, and what was known as the New Wing, with its 
 numerous large, lofty bedrooms, consulting-rooms, etc., was 
 erected. 
 
 To have closed the place for no other reason than that 
 assigned would have been an extreme act, and scarcely less 
 than a national calamity. But Smedley was much dis- 
 posed to take sudden and extreme measures, which were not 
 always wise, nor did they always prove successful. He at 
 one time threatened to shut up Lea Mills, because he was 
 not allowed to have his way on some minor religious 
 question. Living as he did in a little world of his own, 
 he seldom saw two sides of any question, and it was a 
 well-known fault of his to pass judgments upon insufficient 
 data. 
 
 Mr. Smedley's hands were now quite full. Still at war 
 with the clergy and the doctors, and with little hope of 
 reconciliation ; still adding fresh burdens to his self-imposed 
 tasks, he fought on with unabated vigour. He constituted 
 himself his own architect, and himself made the plans for 
 the new extension. He was also his own constructor, and 
 his own clerk of works. But some of his architectural 
 calculations were unsound, and when the top-stone of the
 
 30 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 ornamental turret which he had designed had been put 
 on with rejoicing, a cruel wind blew it down through the 
 roof, and it made its destructive way right to the basement. 
 Fortunately, the accident was not attended with any loss of 
 life. 
 
 Such calamities are only of passing and minor import- 
 ance, when placed beside the great work that was going on 
 in the institution the relieving of human suffering, restoring 
 vitality to many hundreds of debilitated frames. 
 
 What are the forces to which must be attributed the 
 satisfactory and permanent results of the Matlock treat- 
 ment ? Matlock is not the only place in England where 
 the benefits of the water-system can be obtained. The 
 methods adopted were not original, at least in the beginning 
 of the enterprise. Cold applications were employed, both 
 at Lea Mills and at Matlock Bank, for a long time after 
 these institutions were first opened. At Lea Mills it was 
 no uncommon thing for the patients in the winter-time, and 
 when snow was on the ground, to be seen making their 
 pilgrimages to a cold spring about three-quarters of a mile 
 away without any shoes or stockings. The idea then was 
 that after exposure a reaction would set in, and this would 
 induce a more vigorous circulation. 
 
 A well-authenticated story is told of an out-patient at 
 Matlock who was ill with fever, and was plunged into a tub 
 of ice-cold water. Though no harm, and only good, came 
 of the experiment, it nearly cost the patient his life. But 
 the practice of cold shocks was, after a while, given up, and 
 what was known as the ' Mild Water Cure ' was substituted. 
 But so fully did John Smedley believe in cold applications 
 and cold processes, that he is said to have walked the length 
 of Paternoster Row without shoes or stockings, in order to 
 illustrate his theory of reactions. As time went on, many
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT ON MATLOCK BANK 33 
 
 of the original methods were abandoned or modified. Sea- 
 bathing was absolutely condemned. 
 
 It was not this or that particular development or applica- 
 tion of the water-system which secured the success of the 
 Matlock Institution. It was the ' personality ' of the two 
 remarkable persons who were at the head of it. Their 
 sympathy and generosity were hardly more remarkable 
 than their administrative ability and unique personal 
 influence. 
 
 It will be interesting to recall some of the early difficulties 
 that were connected with Mr. Smedley's management of the 
 institution on needlessly strict lines. Sometimes there were 
 patients who were sceptically inclined, and objected to the 
 religious routine and associations. And knotty questions 
 were often put to him by shrewd, irritable, and unreasonable 
 patients. Then there were many patients who would submit 
 to the treatment willingly enough, but who would not so 
 willingly alter their mode of life. A patient who had been 
 used to three or four ' bitters ' during the day, and a few 
 ' whiskies ' in the evening, would, and did, find it difficult 
 to part company with such companions. Snuff- inhalers 
 would, and did, find it hard to go about with empty snuff- 
 boxes ; and large eaters of flesh-meat found it hard, and 
 sometimes almost impossible, to abstain therefrom. These 
 habits, when indulged in, were calculated to retard the 
 doctor's efforts, and we have evidence that much disappoint- 
 ment was caused. So irritating was this want of co operation 
 on the part of many patients that it was found expedient to 
 notify this annoyance of the promoters upon every prescrip- 
 tion that was given out. It reads as follows : 
 
 'Unless patients can make up their minds to attend 
 strictly to the conditions laid down for their recovery, it is 
 unjust to be imposing an impossible work on their 
 
 3
 
 34 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 advisers ; it is wrong in principle, and disheartening to 
 them. Snuff, tobacco, stimulants, opiates, sweetmeats, 
 excess in food, and in animal food especially, over-fatigue 
 in long walks, or sight-seeing, and insufficient clothing, have 
 in many cases prevented that restoration to health which 
 would have been the certain reward of patient perseverance 
 and self denial.' 
 
 The architecture of Smedley's establishment was most in- 
 congruous. The builder was a very impulsive man, and 
 persisted in being both his own architect and his own 
 decorator. Stained glass abounded. The style and arrange- 
 ments might be called hotchpotch, for you were liable to 
 come upon a boiler, or something else equally unsuitable, in 
 the most unlikely localities. Comfort, however, was carefully 
 attended to. 
 
 The following description of the daily routine of life in 
 the early days of the institution, when only patients were 
 admitted, was written by one who had a personal experience 
 of its scenes : 
 
 ' Everyone knows by sad experience the uncomfortable 
 state into which body and mind sometimes fall, when the 
 one requires a change of air, and the other a change of 
 occupation. He who has been too long in cities pent, 
 whose eyes have been overtasked by nightly watchings, and 
 whose brain has been dulled by the monotony, or excited by 
 the hurry, of labour, finds a languor stealing over his frame, 
 a film clouding his intellect, which cannot be overcome or 
 dispersed except by a painful effort. Life begins to lose its 
 attractions, and a mysterious gloom half eclipses its sunlight. 
 The past assumes a preternaturally sombre aspect, a chilling 
 fog gathers around the present, and the future becomes lost 
 in lowering clouds, or illuminated by the lurid light of 
 storms. The least exertion is a source of pain, the slightest
 
 THE RIVER DERWENT AT MATLOCK. 
 
 32
 
 37 
 
 exercise of mind becomes distasteful. Twinges, suggestive 
 of fearful diseases, shoot across the tired body; strange 
 tremors, forebodings of terrible disasters, invade the wearied 
 mind. Weird voices whisper hereditary maladies to the 
 mental ear, ghostly fingers direct the spiritual eye to un- 
 mistakable symptoms of mania or imbecility. The sufferer 
 directs his attention to completing his will and setting his 
 house in order ; gloomy visions of yews and cypresses swim 
 before his eyes, and he begins to dwell with a sad fondness 
 on the idea of himself as a lamented defunct, circled around 
 by a dark group of disconsolate friends. For these imaginary 
 woes and real discomforts many remedies have been pre- 
 scribed. The favourites with many doctors have been the 
 hateful blue-pill and the fetid black draught ; but their 
 exhibition does not entirely exhaust the malice of the 
 faculty. We might enumerate the hideous company of 
 horrors, each attended by its own particular nausea, but it 
 is better, like the poet in the infernal regions, merely to 
 glance at them, and pass them by. Better is it to dwell 
 upon the more pleasing sources of health recommended by 
 kinder advisers : the change of air, the alteration of diet, the 
 escape from toil, the flight from care ; to fill the mind with 
 images of mountain freedom and seaside brightness, of 
 tangled lanes and woven copse, of sweeping moor and 
 bounding wave ; to revel in the thoughts of home delights 
 and foreign wonders, and to gloat over the imaginary charms 
 of unwonted fish, and novel flesh, and unaccustomed fowl. 
 It may be well to draw, at present, the picture of a spot 
 which offers, together with these attractions, others of a 
 different kind, and which is eminently adapted for the 
 alleviation of the actual and fictitious miseries to which 
 allusion has been made above. Those who have already 
 visited it will be glad to be, for a period, conducted there
 
 38 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 again, and all to whom its name is unknown ought to be 
 grateful to the guide who points out to them its hiding- 
 place. 
 
 ' It is situated where, after winding at its ease along a rich 
 and smiling vale, the River Derwent enters a gloomy gorge. 
 On either hand rise lofty heights, faced upon one side by 
 precipitous walls of limestone, which gleam like marble 
 when the sun strikes full upon them, or the moon steeps 
 them in her silver light, and which stand out in bold relief 
 from among the luxuriant foliage of the trees, by which they 
 are half concealed, and under whose spreading branches the 
 water is seen gleaming here and there. From this gorge 
 the river emerges, only to enter a second pass, in which it 
 is equally overhung by trees and crags, the stone blazing 
 with light at noonday, or looming indistinctly through the 
 evening mist, the leaves sparkling above and casting cool 
 shadows below, refreshing the jaded eye with their quiet 
 green tints, or burning with the splendours of autumnal 
 gold and fire. On every side hills arise, or moorlands 
 sweep away into the horizon, and a hundred high places 
 offer views of tortuous valleys sprinkled here and there with 
 cottages built of gray stone, and enlivened by flowers and 
 creeping shrubs, and of swelling ridges rising beyond ridges, 
 their dark outlines relieved against backgrounds of pale 
 vapour or smoke. 
 
 ' Let us ascend one of these hills, and make acquaintance 
 with the singular edifices which are dotted about the slope, 
 and the people who inhabit them. It is a hard pull up the 
 steep road which leads from the level ground on which the 
 little railway-station is situated ; but the purer air we breathe 
 as we climb higher, and the widening landscape which unrolls 
 itself at our feet, well reward us for our labour. Let us 
 pause beside the large house on the left-hand side of the
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT ON MATLOCK BANK 41 
 
 way, and after examining its quaint exterior, proceed to 
 investigate its still stranger internal arrangements. From 
 the road it looks like a hybrid building, uniting the charac- 
 teristics of a factory, a workhouse, and a barrack high 
 walls of monotonous gray stone, pierced with small windows 
 peering out in rows, the only objects which relieve its dead- 
 ness ; but its front aspect is of an entirely different nature. 
 A double row of terraces abutting on a garden slope ; long 
 corridors with gravel walks beside them ; a range of exten- 
 sive rooms, the front of which is formed of glass, glittering 
 all day while the sun is shining, and at night seen far across 
 the valley when lighted up from within ; and above them tier 
 upon tier of windows, with a balcony in front of each set, 
 all fantastically coloured, gaudily gleaming with red and blue 
 and gold. Date about 1857. Hither come visitors from all 
 parts of England, and, indeed, from all parts of the globe. 
 The proprietor has no occasion to spend money in advertise- 
 ments. Throughout the neighbouring counties his name is 
 a household word, and all the year round a stream of guests 
 pours steadily through his portals. Old and young, seriously 
 ill or slightly ailing, they come to gain health here, for this 
 is one of our chief hydropathic institutions. Summer and 
 winter, spring and autumn, some eighty to one hundred 
 and forty patients are to be found here, and few appear to 
 go away without deriving benefit from their stay. If it were 
 only for the pure air, the varied scenery, the freedom from 
 anxiety and care, the cheerful society, and the simple food, 
 all of which they meet with here, they might well expect to 
 improve in health; but, in addition to this, they are put 
 through a regular course of treatment. While they are 
 inmates of the establishment, they are expected to live as 
 teetotalers, and to abstain from such stimulants as wine, 
 tobacco, cards, and quadrilles. They are made to rise early,
 
 42 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 and go to bed betimes, in the hope that they may be led 
 back to childhood's health. The porridge and milk which, 
 perhaps, delighted the infant mind, are recognised here by 
 the adult sense, and here also it meets once more the long- 
 lost puddings and fruits which once satisfied its unsophisti- 
 cated cravings. The sauces and condiments in which the 
 jaded palate delights are absent, and the simplicity of the 
 dinner can only be rivalled by the primitiveness of the hour 
 at which it is taken. But the fare, simple as it is, generally 
 proves grateful, for the recipient usually finds an appetite 
 here, even if he brought none with him. Early in the 
 morning, before the mists are yet lifted from the valley, he 
 begins his day. A cup of tea and a morsel of bread and 
 butter are allowed him, after which he descends to the bath- 
 room, there to be wrapped in the embrace of the wet-sheet. 
 Having recruited his energies with breakfast, about n a.m. 
 he again attends to what he facetiously styles his aquarium, 
 and is now probably treated to a pack, swathed like a 
 mummy in many bandages, with a hot pad to his aching 
 side, and much pungent mustard biting his legs and feet ; or 
 the soothing spinal applications, all done with a view to the 
 restoration of Nature's power by mild applications. Mid-day 
 brings dinner, with its incomparable puddings and stewed 
 fruits worthy of rapturous mention. Then comes a period 
 of rest, during which all exercise is forbidden, whether of 
 body or mind. Afterwards follows a third slight bath, 
 or, in some cases, none, and with that the day's labours 
 are over, and the remaining hours are devoted to amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 ' It is a quaint scene for a stranger to witness that which 
 the interior of the house affords. He may fancy that he is 
 on board a giant ship, bound for a distant shore, as he paces 
 the long saloon with its glazed side looking over towards
 
 THE HIGH TOR, MATLOCK, SECOND VIEW.
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT ON MATLOCK BANK 45 
 
 hills which at morning and evening rise above the pale 
 mists like rocky islands emerging from calm waters ; or as 
 he takes his place at the narrow tables which stretch the 
 entire length of the room, and on which he is almost 
 astonished to see the crockery remain undisturbed by a 
 pitch or a roll. Nor is the nautical idea less strongly sug- 
 gested by the appearance of the drawing-room, with its 
 alcoves hung with green curtains, and bearing a singular 
 resemblance to berths, its large sheets of glass, through 
 which at night the lights of distant houses twinkle like 
 those of a scattered fleet, and its wall-frescoes so like the 
 specimens of art with which a voyage has made us too often 
 and far too familiarly acquainted. The manners and cus- 
 toms of the place are also not unlike those which prevail 
 on board ship. Every new-comer is startled at the appari- 
 tions which cross his path at early mom the gentlemen 
 unkempt, their shoulders wrapped in ruddy blankets, the 
 ladies huddled up in dressing-gowns, with hoods pulled 
 over their unrestrained tresses, devoid of the attractions of 
 science, guiltless of crinoline, very different from the fairy- 
 like beings who won the heart yesterday on the croquet- 
 ground, or last night in the drawing-room. But perhaps 
 the strangest scene to the unaccustomed eye is that which 
 the public rooms present after dinner. Then, for twenty 
 minutes or more, the custom is to recline at full length 
 on the sofas, each one hugging, not to the bosom exactly, 
 but a little lower down, a yielding cushion or a tender 
 bolster. No work or play is allowed during this period of 
 rest. 
 
 ' To all who suffer from disease the system here adopted 
 may safely be recommended ; here the victim will meet 
 with the solace which Nature often gives to the suffering, the 
 strength which pure air and exercise freely offer, the tonics
 
 46 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 which are supplied by the society of a number of kindly 
 disposed acquaintances, of whom many may mature into 
 friends, and the consolation which, amid any troubles, such 
 puddings and fruits as can alone here be met with are sure 
 to dispense.'
 
 ;* 

 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM. 
 
 FOR some time Mr. Smedley's mode of hydropathic treat- 
 ment was very simple the wet-pack and the douche, the 
 sitz-bath and the wet-sheet after the pack, were about all that 
 were considered essential. Then a readier way of opening 
 the pores of the skin was found out by means of the steam- 
 box, and the spirit-lamp bath. Then for local applications, 
 where inflammation had set in, hot mustard-poultices were 
 used, and to assist the stomach to do its work the ' body 
 bandage ' was adopted. Thus, step by step, this successful 
 physician went on experimenting until he had more than 
 two hundred different kinds of baths, and other means of ap- 
 plication, on his bath list. 
 
 Meanwhile, all the standard works on anatomy, physiology, 
 and kindred subjects were being studied, and with what result? 
 Why, with this result, that the aim of the true physician in 
 the treatment of disease is to restore vital tone, and that this 
 can only be accomplished through the stomach and the blood. 
 ' You must make better blood,' John Smedley found out, 
 and he also discovered that this could only be done by 
 acting on the organs of nutrition. ' And what is the speediest 
 and most effective way of doing this ?' he naturally asked 
 himself. Nature herself told him told him to use her own 
 simple but potent remedies assist her by a soothing wet- 
 
 4
 
 50 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 pack to cast off morbid matter through the skin ; gently 
 stimulate the stomach to do its work more effectually, avoid- 
 ing all kinds of indigestible food, and avoiding also the 
 giving of that vital organ too much to do. As for bleeding, 
 blistering, cupping, and the giving of preparations of 
 mercurial ointment, iodine, mercury, aloes, strychnine, 
 opium, henbane, and other narcotics, these he denounced 
 with the vehemence of Demosthenes, and the courage and 
 perseverance of Prometheus. 
 
 Yes, this is what John Smedley did : he acted upon 
 Nature's own principles of restoration, and he succeeded. 
 
 ' Hydropathy insists, in quite a special way, on the neces- 
 sity of regarding disease, first, in relation to its cause. It 
 next requires that whatever assistance may be afforded to the 
 vis medicatrix naturiz should, in the first place, be similar in 
 kind (i.e., should be natural or physiological) rather than 
 alien to it, and drawn from sources remote and strange ; and 
 while proceeding on lines which have been common to all 
 medical practice from an early period, it does so by agents 
 hitherto strangely neglected, though not unknown, and effects 
 its purpose in ways less open to objection than those it would 
 displace. For example, when local depletion is required, as 
 of the lung in pneumonia, or the brain in hsemorrhagic 
 apoplexy, the final withdrawal from the general circulation 
 of a quantity of blood was deprecated, as unnecessary for the 
 attainment of the object in view, and prejudicial in the 
 after period of convalescence. Hydropathy substitutes a 
 diversion to parts indifferent as the extremities and general 
 cutaneous surface, and so material and sustained as to be 
 much more effectual ; while at the same time it holds in 
 reserve the abstracted blood to perform its part in the re- 
 storation of strength. Where purgation is employed to 
 derive blood from the brain, liver, or kidneys, a highly
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM 51 
 
 sensitive and vital membrane is more or less injured thereby, 
 and convalescence proportionately imperilled. Hydropathy 
 selects the skin as more accessible than the mucous membrane 
 of the alimentary tract, more serviceable also, and less, if at 
 all, susceptible of injury, either temporary or permanent. 
 The skin can with safety be used for counter-irritation, and 
 is a reservoir of capacity almost unlimited into which to 
 divert the excess of blood from the brain or other part ; 
 while, for purposes of excretion, it is not inferior to the 
 bowels themselves, and, unlike the latter, is left even more 
 efficient than before. In the febrile state, a reduction of 
 pulse and temperature, and relief from pain and sleepless- 
 ness, were commonly attempted at the period when hydro- 
 pathy was introduced by depressants, in combination with 
 sedatives. Impaired digestion and depressed vitality were 
 results, in some measure, inevitable, and always of moment, 
 especially in the more protracted fevers, where recovery 
 becomes a question of simple physical endurance. By 
 means of the wet-sheet pack, cooling compresses, and allied 
 measures, these ends are attained with comparative ease, 
 certainty, and simplicity, and with entire freedom from 
 objectionable secondary effects. Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 It has already been remarked, that in the first days of his 
 enthusiasm, Mr. Smedley vigorously opposed the older 
 allopathic system, and denounced its advocates. At one 
 time he thought very little of the College of Surgeons and 
 its teaching, and endeavoured to show that there was no 
 manner of agreement between hydropathy and medicine. As 
 the end of his eventful career approached, he became so 
 far reconciled to the medical profession judging outwardly 
 as to hand over hydropathy, and all that pertained to it, to 
 the care of an experienced physician. By this means he so 
 toned down and shaded the hard lines he had formerly 
 
 42
 
 52 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 drawn, that you could scarcely tell where hydropathy ended 
 and where medical science began ; and one hardly knows 
 now which of the conceding parties (if either of them did 
 concede) to admire most the one which placed John 
 Smedley's production in the hands of medical science, or 
 medical science, which embraced the new creation and 
 brought it to its present great strength. 
 
 The following passages, which are taken from the pros- 
 pectus of the Smedley Hydropathic Company, will give 
 sufficient information on the treatment which patients have 
 to undergo : 
 
 ' Concerning hydropathy, its principles and practice, 
 but little can be said within the limits of a prospectus, 
 but some slight notion of it, and of that development of 
 hydropathy more especially which, till lately, had been 
 peculiar to this establishment, will be looked for by such 
 as are minded to make proof of its efficacy, while yet 
 in ignorance, more or less, of its character, scope, and 
 appliances. 
 
 ' Some of the advantages claimed for hydropathy are, in 
 brief : 
 
 ' i. The breadth of view in regarding disease, which has 
 been a characteristic of hydropathy from the first, embracing 
 not only remote causes, but the action of the general con- 
 dition on local ailments, and reaction of these on the 
 general condition, and hence, in great part, its power long 
 recognised over chronic disease, intractable under treatment 
 merely local in aim and effect. 
 
 ' 2. The radical manner in which it deals with disease, 
 going to the very sources of vitality, so to speak, in search 
 of the origin of that depressed or depraved condition of the 
 economy of which this local affection or that is often merely 
 an outcome, whether direct or otherwise.
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM 53 
 
 ' 3. Speediness of effect, a recommendation not generally 
 conceded hydropathy, concerned as it has been mainly with 
 cases of a chronic kind, in which rapid results are unattain- 
 able, but in acute or recent ailments this is often strikingly 
 manifest, in the febrile class more especially. 
 
 ' 4. Permanency of result, lasting, because thorough, not 
 content with " correcting " symptoms, nor pre-occupied with 
 the signs to the neglect of the thing signified. Hence, it 
 comes that the after-state of a patient thus treated is so often 
 much better than that which preceded the illness. 
 
 ' 5. The simplicity of the agents employed natural and 
 understandable, manageable to the physician, and grateful 
 to the patient constitutes a strong claim to favourable con- 
 sideration as against drugs, which, to say the least, are less 
 safe in the using, and do not commend themselves to the 
 untutored understanding. 
 
 ' 6. The determination of morbid action to the surface, as 
 opposed to the deeper and more vital parts, is a recom- 
 mendation for hydropathy as strong, rightly understood, as 
 it is well-founded, the skin being that organ of all others 
 least susceptible of grave or lasting damage. Nor is this all, 
 for the morbid excitement thus diverted is utilized in certain 
 cases as a counter-irritant (when over the diseased organs), 
 in others as a derivant (when in some remote part), and in 
 reducing the internal congestion, contributes, in a singular 
 degree, towards the cure of that which in many cases has 
 been the root and origin of the whole malady. 
 
 ' 7. Were hydropathic measures alone and unaided less 
 potent for good than drugs, their comparative simplicity and 
 absolute safety, their natural affinity to the human economy, 
 so to speak, should secure their general employment up to 
 and within the range of their efficacy. Of equal power, if 
 such were established, they should, on the same grounds,
 
 54 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 be granted precedence over medicines in the practice of 
 healing ; but of greater power, as hydropathy has been de- 
 monstrated to be in many ways common to it and drug 
 medication, operative also in certain conditions of disease to 
 influence which medicines make little or no pretension. It is 
 thereby entitled to rank first and foremost in the field of 
 therapeutics, in order both of time and importance. And 
 this granted nothing is forfeited, medicinal and other means 
 remaining a goodly reserve, available as auxiliaries, and 
 having still a sphere to themselves, restricted considerably, 
 no doubt, and subject perhaps to further invasion with the 
 development of hydropathy.' 
 
 The following article by Richard Metcalfe, Medical 
 Superintendent of the Hydros, Paddington Green, London, 
 and Wellington Square, Hastings, appeared in the Hydro- 
 pathic World, January, 1892. It deals with the hydropathic 
 treatment of brain-fag and mental depression : 
 
 ' If there is one thing which characterizes the present age 
 more than another in human suffering, it is the growing 
 prevalence of mental diseases, commencing with a simple 
 headache, and too often resulting in suicide or insanity. In 
 my daily experience as a hydropathic practitioner of over 
 twenty years' standing, and that, too, in the Metropolis, 
 nothing has struck me more than the great increase of sub- 
 jects of nervous disorders applying for relief. 
 
 'With the advancement of civilization, and the compli- 
 cated relations of modern life, certain diseases have appeared 
 that did not afflict primeval man. When men lived by the 
 chase, by tending their flocks and herds, or tilling the soil, 
 by their simple handicrafts, or by the barter of merchandise, 
 the ills they suffered from were not those that arise from 
 fag of brain. The evils consequent on over-activity of this 
 organ are the result of a high state of culture they are the
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM 55 
 
 peculiar outcome of our modern civilization, and more 
 particularly of our town life. 
 
 ' Take London as the most striking instance. How many 
 thousands here depend for their success in life many for 
 their very daily bread upon incessant mental activity ! 
 The business man, the lawyer, the journalist, the school- 
 master, the clerk, the thousands who, in various ways, are 
 obliged to spend the greater portion of their lives indoors 
 these are the men who know what it is to suffer from fag of 
 brain. 
 
 ' Those whose means allow them to take occasional trips to 
 the country or abroad, to enjoy the luxury of riding, the 
 exhilaration of outdoor sports, or the pleasure of a cruise 
 on the ocean, experience little of the effects of fagging 
 mental labour. A spell of hard head work now and again is 
 a fine thing in its way, and as good for the health as an 
 occasional pull against the stream, or a ride over a rough 
 country; but let the hard work be incessant, or let it be 
 accompanied by anxiety and care, so that the brain does not 
 get rest even when the body is at ease, and the evils of 
 brain-fag will soon be apparent. 
 
 ' How many do we meet in the streets of the busy city 
 whose restless eyes and careworn brows betoken a state in 
 which the brain has been severely overwrought ! This state 
 is one of general malaise, worse than languor, worse than 
 actual sickness. It is only those who have given attention 
 to this subject who can have any idea of how prolific a cause 
 it is of misery and premature death. Let anyone go over 
 the list of his friends and acquaintances, and he will be a 
 fortunate man indeed if he can complete the survey without 
 meeting with a case in which the mental powers have been 
 over-strained. The case may be that of a young man, a 
 student, perhaps, who had a burning thirst for knowledge,
 
 56 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 but whose mental tension had been too great. With im- 
 paired memory and loss of health, he is now a wreck for life. 
 It may be that of a professional man, with bright prospects. 
 The worry of pecuniary embarrassments, combined with an 
 excessive zeal for the cause of his clients, may have pros- 
 trated him. Or the case may be that of a business man. What 
 with the anxiety connected with mercantile affairs, and the 
 excessive watchfulness needed in these days of eager com- 
 petition, his health has given way, and he begins to feel life 
 a burden. To such men as these the day affords no comfort, 
 the night brings no rest, and morning no renewal of the joys 
 of labour. 
 
 ' Such are some of the evils produced by an undue exercise 
 of the brain. Now, what is the remedy for this state of 
 things ? The commiserating friends say : " You must take 
 things easier ; you must not worry so." Very good advice, 
 undoubtedly, but the question is, how to act upon it? 
 Then, when the worry continues, and the evil increases, the 
 patient is told, " You must go away, and you must have 
 change of scene and change of air ; you must let your 
 business go for awhile." This advice is all very well. 
 But suppose the patient is disposed to let business alone 
 for awhile, will business let him alone? In the majority 
 of cases it will not do so ; and that is just where the diffi- 
 culty is. The man is tied to his work, his business, or his 
 profession. Too often it cannot be deputed to others 
 without suffering ; and to give it up altogether would be 
 giving up the means of livelihood. What, then, is to be 
 done? 
 
 ' Let us, in the first place, see what the nature of the case 
 really is. The influence of the mind over the body is so 
 great that the whole vital economy may almost to any 
 extent be accelerated or retarded thereby. A cheerful and
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROPATHIC SYSTEM 59 
 
 easy mind promotes nervous energy and healthy secretions, 
 while the very opposite effects are produced by severe or 
 continuous mental application. The brain is, so to speak, 
 the reservoir of nervous energy, and when this is exhausted 
 there is a flagging of the whole system. The stomach is 
 often the first organ to suffer. It loses its tone, and 
 digestion goes on imperfectly. Hence the prevalence of 
 dyspepsia and hypochondria among literary and professional 
 men. In fact, so direct is the influence of the brain on 
 the digestive organs that sickness and vomiting are among 
 the earliest symptoms of many affections of the head. Not 
 less marked is the influence of the mind or brain on the 
 action of the heart and lungs hence the sighing, palpita- 
 tion, fainting, and even death from mental emotions. It is 
 also not uncommon to see, in early or middle life, fever of 
 a violent character induced by unremitted mental exertion 
 and anxiety. A case in point is that of Sir Humphry 
 Davy, who, owing to fatigue and over-excitement of brain, 
 was attacked with an illness which reduced him "to the 
 extreme of weakness, and the mind participated in the 
 debility of the body." Then, again, vascular excitement 
 of the brain, always the accompaniment of continuous 
 mental activity, gives rise to irritation and sleeplessness. 
 Thence follows that despondency which sometimes leads 
 to mental alienation and suicide. 
 
 ' Now, what is the subject of this brain-fag and its con- 
 comitant evils to do in order to get well, when he cannot leave 
 his business for more than twenty-four hours at a time ? The 
 remedy I would suggest is hydropathic measures. With 
 these we speedily mitigate his troubles, and eventually 
 remove them. The hydropathic measures are but a use of 
 natural means. They do no violence to the system : they 
 simply help Nature ; and in brain-fag a little aid is all that
 
 6o 
 
 is required. The skin has to be brought into full play, 
 from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. The 
 stomach, and the adjacent organs, need to be strengthened, 
 the action of the heart soothed, and the circulation im- 
 proved. Long experience enables me to say that these 
 effects can be produced more quickly and satisfactorily 
 by means of hydropathy than by any other remedial agency. 
 
 ' All external applications act directly on the nerves, and 
 these control the circulation, by means of which alone can 
 Nature rid the vital organs of that which oppresses them. 
 But the measures are not uniform in their effects. Thus 
 (i) the invalid may, according to the indications of the 
 case, be plied with cold applications to give tone and to 
 invigorate. (2) With the wet-sheet packs to allay irritation, 
 to reduce fever, and to act as a sedative generally. (3) With 
 the hot air, vapour, sulphur, or other medicated baths, to 
 act as depurators of the blood. (4) With the sitz-baths 
 acting as powerful derivatives. (5) Judicious diet, exercise, 
 etc. All these form a battery of appliances to which the 
 most obstinate cases of brain-fag must eventually succumb. 
 
 ' With regard to the cool applications, the sudden contact 
 of the water gives to the cutaneous nerves a powerful im- 
 pulse which is carried within to the ganglia of the viscera. 
 The impulse given to the ganglionic nerves is aided by the 
 indirect sympathetic action of the cerebro-spinal system. 
 
 ' The effect of this double nervous impulse is to send an 
 electric thrill through the whole system, and to rouse it to 
 renewed activity. 
 
 ' There are those who say the treatment is dangerous. 
 My answer is, danger can arise only from the greatest 
 bungling and incompetency. But it is disagreeable, say 
 others. Those who have had experience of it (the first 
 Lord Lytton among the number) have found it the reverse.
 
 63 
 
 Anyhow, it is worth while enduring much to secure a return 
 of health, and those who have gone to the trouble of getting 
 ill, should not be unwilling to put themselves about a 
 little, and to submit, if necessary, to a few disagreeables 
 in order to get well again. A course of hydropathic treat- 
 ment need not take these patients from their business. 
 The treatment can be carried on at home, or at any 
 establishment within easy reach of their homes. And 
 to those sufferers in the busy city who have got into 
 the habit of bolstering themselves up with stimulants, 
 nothing could prove of more advantage. " Patients," says 
 Lord Lytton, " accustomed for half a century to live hard 
 and high, wine-drinkers, spirit-bibbers, whom the regular 
 physician has sought in vain to reduce to a daily pint of 
 sherry, here voluntarily resign all strong potations, and 
 after a few days cease to feel the want of them, and reconcile 
 themselves to water as if they had drunk nothing else all 
 their lives. Others, who have had recourse for years and 
 years to medicine their potion in the morning, their cordial 
 at noon, their pill before dinner, their narcotic at bedtime 
 cease to require those aids to life, as if by a charm. 
 
 ' Moreover, a person who has once experienced the benefits 
 of this hygienic treatment does not merely start forward 
 again with renewed health, but with something added to 
 his education. He has imbibed new ideas with reference 
 to health, and the laws of its maintenance, so that it is 
 next to impossible for him to relapse into his old habits.'
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EXTENSIONS AT MATLOCK BANK. 
 
 THE following sketch of the progress of the institution, and 
 the building developments, appeared in the High Peak News, 
 June 23, 1888: 
 
 ' Since the introduction of hydropathy into Matlock by 
 the late Mr. John Smedley it has developed as rapidly as 
 any of the acquired sciences ; but at no place has the water- 
 cure system gone through more varied changes than at the 
 " Home " of this beneficial treatment. From the humble 
 house situate on Matlock Bank, where the genius of John 
 Smedley laid the foundation of the famous institution, which 
 has his name for its powerful attraction, and his principles 
 of comfort and convenience for its guidance, no greater trans- 
 formation has taken place amongst the hundreds of estab- 
 lishments which have originated from his ideas than at the 
 sanatorium which carries on the universal hygienic business 
 under his world-known title. Smedley's at Matlock Bank 
 has ' mended its ways ' indeed. Within its walls is sufficient 
 splendour to make the most fastidious lead happy lives. 
 Colonel Burnaby, in his " Ride to Khiva," relates that he 
 saw over a Russian tavern door the enticing invitation, 
 " Get drunk and be happy, all for a penny." At Smedley's 
 you have a distinct advantage over this : you can, and must, 
 keep sober, and be thoroughly merry well, not gratis, but
 
 EXTENSIONS AT MATLOCK BANK 65 
 
 or a moderate sum. The doors are open as freely to the 
 artisan as to the millionaire. It has sheltered foreign poten- 
 tates, distinguished noblemen in diplomacy and statecraft, 
 and the noblest and grandest have honoured it with their 
 presence. The visitors' book is a gazetteer which includes 
 patients from Australia, China, India, America, and all 
 parts of Europe. The history of hydropathy is not yet 
 penned. When it is, the potent name which formed the 
 most interesting annal of this system of physiological treat- 
 ment will be inscribed in the contents. John Smedley is 
 inseparably associated with hydropathy, and to his experi- 
 ence and experiments some parts of Derbyshire owe very 
 much of their prosperity, and thousands will concede that 
 they have been relieved from suffering. It is said water was 
 the sole article in the pharmacopoeia of Napoleon I. The 
 great Corsican is reputed to have thus addressed an Italian 
 physician : " Believe me, we had better leave off all these 
 remedies. Life is a fortress which neither you nor I know 
 anything about. Why throw obstacles in the way of its 
 defences ? Its own means are superior to all the apparatus 
 of your laboratories." Napoleon, then, believed in water 
 when he referred to Nature's means as superior to physic. 
 
 ' Hydropathy is growing in favour in all parts of England. 
 It is not merely in the warm months that Matlock is sought 
 by the invalids, and those who are deprived of the ad- 
 vantages of a more genial climate in the sunny south. In 
 winter it is equally favourable. The place is effectually 
 sheltered from cold winds by the nature of its situation. 
 
 'The growth of Smedley's institution is without rival. 
 The late philanthropist commenced in an ordinary house. 
 He had no medical education, but had long studied human 
 physiology. The more he pondered over this subject, the 
 more convinced he became of the inexpediency of bleeding, 
 
 5
 
 66 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 cupping, and the other drastic remedies then employed. 
 He commenced in a house fitted to accommodate six persons. 
 The numbers gradually increased to about 1,600 per annum, 
 and in 1867 tnev had reached 2,000. At this number the 
 patients remained for some years, owing to want of accom- 
 modation. In 1867 so many persons were refused admission 
 that Mr. Smedley decided upon the erection of a new and 
 commodious building. It was completed a year later, the 
 engineer, architect, and clerk of the works being Mr. 
 Smedley himself. Then the patients rose to 2,500 per 
 annum. During this time the whole responsibility rested 
 upon Mr. Smedley. His patients were scattered all over the 
 world, and with them he had correspondence. Besides, he 
 advised upon every case, and was at business by five o'clock 
 every morning. The strain was too heavy, and he became 
 anxious to secure the services of a medical gentleman who 
 would relieve him of the personal supervision of cases. It 
 was not until 1872 that Dr. W. B. Hunter was met with. 
 To him was given the sole charge of the medical department. 
 The choice was most judiciously made, and the name of Dr. 
 Hunter was as popular as that of any specialist of the day. 
 To him Smedley 's is largely indebted for its present renown. 
 In 1875 the institution was acquired by a limited company, 
 with a capital of ^"50,000. Probably over 3,000 cases are 
 dealt with annually, and with the increased accommodation 
 these numbers will be exceeded in future. 
 
 'The establishment is fitted with all the modern appliances 
 for bathing, cooking, and every comfort which human fore- 
 sight can discover. There are extensive pleasure gardens, 
 tennis-lawns, skating-rinks, etc. When the premises came 
 into the possession of the present company, steps were at 
 once taken to improve and enlarge them. It was decided 
 to do the work in four sections. The first was commenced
 
 EXTENSIONS AT MATLOCK BANK 67 
 
 in January, 1881, and included a spacious entrance-hall, 
 grand staircase, bedrooms, reception rooms, lavatories, 
 secretary's office, and other rooms. The entire cost was 
 placed at ^30,000, and the style adopted that of the Queen 
 Anne period. The whole of the woodwork is American 
 walnut, interspersed with oak. An elaborate dado of walnut 
 runs round the walls, the upper parts being effectively 
 covered with lincrusta-walton. At the south end of the hall 
 is a memorial window to the late Mr. Smedley. It was 
 erected by public subscription, and contains over 300 square 
 feet of glass, the cost being about ^350. The symbolical 
 figures are : in the centre, Truth seated in a well, holding 
 her symbols a glass of water and a mirror; to the left a 
 figure of Hygeia, and to the right one of yEsculapius. The 
 second section was begun in 1864, and comprises dining- 
 hall, bedrooms, and a lofty corridor, 100 feet in length, 
 connecting the east and west wings. The dining-hall is 
 most ornately designed, and is 90 feet by 45 feet, the roof 
 resting upon twenty-eight Corinthian pillars. It has ac- 
 commodation for 250 guests. This section cost ^10,000, 
 making an immense improvement. The third section was 
 commenced in October, 1886. It consisted of the main 
 front of the building, looking over the valley in the direction 
 of Masson and Matlock Bath. The fagade is designed in 
 Italian renaissance style, very freely treated. The effect is 
 very imposing and elegant, both internally and externally. 
 The new drawing-room is 95 feet long, 45 feet wide, and 22 
 feet high. The roof is constructed of iron concrete, and 
 forms a promenade. Besides 28 bedrooms, there are added 
 in this block, a recreation-room, 80 feet by 30 feet ; a private 
 dining-room, 27 feet by 18 feet; ladies' and gentlemen's 
 cloak and ante-rooms; and matron's and manager's offices. 
 It is more particularly with this new portion we have to deal. 
 
 52
 
 68 
 
 'As we have stated, in October, 1886, a contract was let 
 to Mr. L. T. Wildgoose, of Matlock, for the construction of 
 the third block of buildings. The plans were prepared by 
 Mr. G. E. Statham, architect, of Nottingham and Matlock, 
 as were all the other designs for the company. The actual 
 figures for the masonry were ^5,107, and of course the 
 extras increased this sum. The woodwork was undertaken 
 by Messrs. Moore Brothers, of Rawtenstall, at a cost of 
 : 2,924, and the furnishing and decorating was placed in 
 the hands of Messrs. Foster and Cooper, of Nottingham. 
 Of the capabilities of these firms nothing need be said. 
 They have carried out the plans in the most finished style 
 and Smedley's will serve as a reference for them. For 
 general excellence their work cannot be excelled. 
 
 ' To give a description of the new drawing-room is a task 
 of no ordinary character. It is superb and perfect The 
 opinion obtains that the room is second to none in any 
 semi-private place in the country. At one end is a per- 
 manent stage, 20 feet deep and 20 feet wide, with ante- 
 rooms. It is flanked by Corinthian columns and pilasters. 
 The stage is as large as those in most of the leading theatres. 
 All the architectural work is of free classic style, from the 
 plans of Mr. Statham. This magnificent room is elaborately 
 decorated, and furnished in artistic taste. There are six 
 recesses on one side. These are arranged to give a sight 
 of the great hills to the west and south. The seats are 
 upholstered in steel-blue frieze velvet, tastefully draped with 
 velvet curtains. The woodwork is richly carved, and the 
 seats are fixed for a view of almost the entire room. In 
 one of these recesses is a beautifully-carved mantelpiece of 
 exquisite design. Opposite the recesses are six spacious 
 windows, with fanlights above. The windows are of costly 
 stained glass, the centre panels of which are figures repre-
 
 EXTENSIONS AT MAT LOCK BANK 71 
 
 senting the Muses. One of the features of this elegant 
 apartment is the embroidered blinds, which give an artistic 
 effect and a splendour to the rest of the room. The window 
 curtains are also of. the richest velvet. The woodwork is 
 chastely decorated. The doors, the recesses, and the 
 windows are done in solid walnut, all finely carved. The 
 dado is of Japanese paper, whilst the middle part is an 
 ordinary rich blue paper, with a handsome fringe running 
 round the top. The floor is covered with a carpet which 
 has been specially manufactured for Messrs. Foster and 
 Cooper in Bohemia. It is about one ton in weight, and is 
 made entirely by hand by skilled people, and can scarcely 
 be said to wear out. The splendid thickness and softness 
 of the pile makes it like walking upon moss. It is luxurious 
 and costly, and fits exactly in every part, like one immense 
 piece, though, on account of the great weight, it was 
 necessary to have several sections. The settees, ottomans, 
 and chairs have been specially designed and constructed so 
 as to take apart and form in line for entertainments. The 
 colours are various, principally the electric blue and old gold. 
 There are centre tables and card tables, all made en suite. 
 The roof is most delicately and prettily decorated with cream 
 and gold, interspersed with terra-cotta and light blue. To 
 say the room is immensely rich does not convey an idea of 
 the exceeding beauty contained within the four walls. 
 Messrs. Foster and Cooper have more than pleased the 
 directors and the architect with their workmanship. Along 
 with the furnishing of twenty bedrooms, Mr. C. E. Hughes 
 took the contract on their behalf for the whole of this im- 
 portant work. 
 
 ' There is another important innovation to be noticed at 
 Smedley's. Messrs. J. H. Holmes and Co., of Newcastle, 
 have laid apparatus for electric lighting throughout the place.
 
 72 THE SM ED LEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 The system is the Swan incandescent. There are 350 lights, 
 but the directors have wisely not dispensed with gas. In 
 the event of any mishap, the gas can be used as previously. 
 Mr. VV. B. Askew, of Matlock, has erected an engine-house 
 near the laundries, on the road side opposite the central 
 block. The cost is estimated at about ^1,500. The 
 corridors, offices, and rooms are illuminated with electricity, 
 and the effect is charming. 
 
 'The company's architect, Mr. G. E. Statham, may be 
 warmly congratulated on his admirable schemes, and the 
 methodical manner in which they have been carried into 
 effect. The comfort of visitors has scarcely been interfered 
 with, and this is a consideration, when not less than 100 
 patients are staying there at once. Mr. W. Doxey was clerk 
 of the works. He has spent the last thirty-five years, with 
 the exception of short intervals, in the service of Mr. Smedley 
 and the present proprietors. Under his direction the pre- 
 mises were heated with steam. 
 
 ' We cannot omit to mention the arduous duties of Mr. 
 A. H. Douglas, the late manager, who held a very respon- 
 sible position. He was courteous and obliging, and had 
 the interests of the gigantic concern in his care. Along 
 with the matron, he had to regulate the establishment and 
 the large staff of over 150 servants. 
 
 'The ceremony of formally opening the new drawing- 
 room took place recently. A recherche dinner was provided, 
 and 190 guests sat down. 
 
 ' In the evening a grand ball was given in the dining-hall, 
 Mr. J. H. Barnes's orchestral band being entrusted with the 
 important engagement. 
 
 ' The success of Smedley's seems phenomenal, as year by 
 year the visitors increase with the comforts of the colossal 
 structure. There is yet another section to build, but it
 
 EXTENSIONS AT MAT LOCK BANK 75 
 
 may be some time before this is put in hand. The buildings 
 alone cover one and a half acres. It need not be added that 
 the treatment here obtained is of the most perfect descrip- 
 tion, the diet varied and judicious, and that nothing remains 
 to enhance the charms of the establishment. 
 
 ' The new billiard-room, which forms the fourth instal- 
 ment to the magnificent establishment belonging to the 
 Smedley's Hydropathic Company, has been formally opened. 
 The apartment has a frontage to the main promenade, which 
 runs the whole length of the sanatorium, and is situated at 
 the southern extremity of the new block, which has been 
 erected during the past few years. The new billiard-room 
 has a magnificent internal appearance, and no expense has 
 been spared to make it as luxurious as anything to be found 
 in the county of Derbyshire, or the country. The dimen- 
 sions are 42 feet in length by 35 feet wide. The ceiling 
 has been elaborately decorated, the workmanship being of 
 the highest merit. The upper portions of the windows are 
 fixed with stained glass of novel design, with centre pieces 
 depicting the various national games, such as golf, croquet, 
 tennis, archery, cricket, billiards, and skipping, the last four 
 of these forming the corresponding feature in the ornamenta- 
 tion on the other side of the room. The wainscoting and 
 general decoration of the walls are most attractive in appear- 
 ance, the whole being of highly-polished English oak, which 
 is carved in all manner of pretty devices. The wainscoting 
 is relieved by costly Sienna marble pillars, a feature of the 
 decoration which has the advantage of being new as well as 
 beautiful. Ranged along one side of the room are recesses 
 which will accommodate small parties for cards or social 
 purposes, and these are ornately decorated, in keeping with 
 the other portions of the room. The upholstering is of the 
 best description, and the lounges placed around the room
 
 76 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 are covered with frieze velvet. The illumination of the 
 room, so as to procure the best light, has been one of the 
 studies of the architect, and wonderful success has been 
 achieved. The main lights are six large plate-glass windows, 
 facing the front of the terrace, and looking into the Derwent 
 valley. There are also skylights. After darkness, the whole 
 is lighted by electricity, which has formed one of the attrac- 
 tions at Smedley's for several years. The ventilation of the 
 room is perfect, and the heating apparatus is the same as 
 that supplying the whole of the colossal hydropathic estab- 
 lishment. There are two billiard-tables in massive oak, to 
 correspond with the fittings of the room. The floor is laid 
 in mosaic marble, which is also to be found in the entrance 
 hall of the establishment. The cost has been about ,6,000. 
 There was no ceremony at the opening of this portion.' 
 
 It is necessary to make a brief allusion to the extensions 
 which took form as competitive institutions. The friendly 
 rivalry, however, created but little, if any, jealousy or irrita- 
 tion on the part of the head of the parent institution. 
 
 Mr. Charles Rowland was one of the first to act upon the 
 assumption that a second institution might not be a bad 
 speculation. He built Rock Side in the year 1862, and it 
 has been enlarged from time to time to meet the increasing 
 demands made upon it. 
 
 Experience soon proved to Mr. Smedley that accommoda- 
 tion ought to be provided for the middle classes of society> 
 who could not afford to pay his terms. Accordingly, one 
 or two of his experienced bath-men were induced to open 
 establishments of this description, Mr. Thomas Davis, of 
 Prospect Place, and Mr. Ralph Davis, of Chesterfield 
 House, were the first to try this experiment, which proved 
 in every way successful. Those below and others followed :
 
 EXTENSIONS AT MATLOCK BANK 77 
 
 Mr. George Davis, of Tor House. 
 Mr. Henry Ward, of Bank House. 
 Mr. Freckingham, of Rose Cottage. 
 Mr. James Hawley. of South View. 
 Mr. Crowder, of Wellfield. 
 Mr. George Barton, of Jackson House. 
 Mr. Stevenson, of Belle-Vue. 
 
 A number of Manchester gentlemen formed a company 
 and erected Matlock House. 
 
 The new remedial revolution was not to be confined to 
 the narrow limits of Matlock Bank ; and it being found 
 desirable to strike root elsewhere, congenial and fruitful soil 
 was found at Buxton, Southport, Manchester, Ashover, 
 Tansley, Baslow, Darley Dale, and many more places a 
 striking proof of the value and importance of the hydro- 
 pathic system. 
 
 The new baths are a scientific triumph, nothing which 
 skill and capital can provide being wanting. The Turkish 
 and Russian baths are excellent of their kinds, and are most 
 valuable curative agents. They are great luxuries, and 
 much of the treatment in the other baths is most enjoyable. 
 Under the direction of very eminent medical ability, there 
 are gathered together, so far as is practicable (to use an 
 American phrase), the finest curative means on earth. 
 Electrical and other excellent treatments have due attention. 
 Let invalids (if possible) have these advantages, and get well 
 rapidly. In a very large number of cases money as well as 
 time would be saved. To those who depend upon com- 
 paratively small earnings for their living, health is of far 
 more importance than to the rich. Would that some 
 wealthy philanthropist or philanthropists would found insti-
 
 78 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 tutions upon similar curative lines, and let those hospitals 
 be entirely free to the poor ! 
 
 A well-dressed lady spoke to me at Smedley's. She 
 voluntarily said she had been much benefited, and had 
 brought her husband and large family for a month. She 
 spoke very highly of the curative powers of the place and 
 also of the excellent management and comfort, and inquired 
 about the origin. I gave her the history, with which she 
 was much interested.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RIBER CASTLE. 
 
 IN order to examine certain portraits, etc., it was necessary 
 for the author to personally visit Lea Mills, Riber Castle, 
 and Matlock Bank. This he did in the year 1892. 
 
 ' Leaving Derby in the early morning, I arrived at Crom- 
 ford Station, and from thence had a delightful walk, mostly 
 by the side of the Derwent, to the village and mills at Lea 
 Bridge. The exterior of the mills has not been altered, 
 and the houses are much as they were in Mr. Smedley's 
 early days. In a room which is set apart for the work- 
 people's meals there is an excellent portrait of Mr. Smedley. 
 I received much courtesy from the work-people, who were 
 then at breakfast, and their love and admiration for their 
 late kind-hearted master was very evident. 
 
 ' From thence I walked through charming country to Lea 
 Green ; I afterwards went to Riber Castle, which was built 
 by Mr. Smedley in the year 1862, only a little time before 
 he commenced the extensive alterations of the building on 
 Matlock Bank. The castle is handsomely built of stone, 
 and it is beautifully situated. The interior, as well as the 
 extensive grounds, is full of indications of good and refined 
 taste. It is stated that when the Upper Lodge on Riber 
 Hill was finished, Mr. Smedley designed a tower, 225 feet 
 high, with the intention of presenting it to the nation as an
 
 8o THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 astronomical observatory : but he found that the base and 
 superstructure were not suitable for the heavy instruments 
 which are now employed in the higher branches of that 
 science. He therefore projected and reared the castle, which 
 stands prominently on the summit of Riber Hill, overlook- 
 ing Matlock Green and Matlock Bank. He was himself 
 the architect of the entire structure. It harmonizes well with 
 the majestic hill on which it stands, and also with those by 
 which it is surrounded, and it forms one of the most delightful 
 residences in the country.* 
 
 ' From Matlock Bank the front of the castle is seen to 
 stand on a very bold and steep eminence. It is peculiar in 
 having no entrance in the front portion. That is arranged 
 at the back of the building. Two things had to be taken 
 into consideration : the great difficulty of approach to the 
 front, owing to the steepness of the hill, and the exposure to 
 high winds. The residence is much warmer than if a large 
 entrance had been put in the front portion. The castle is 
 very extensive ; exclusive of kitchen, coach-houses, etc., it 
 stands upon a quarter of an acre of ground. 
 
 ' I arrived at the lodge, and walked through the grounds 
 and past some out-buildings to the coach-house, which is 
 directly connected with the entrance. Several carriages can 
 thus be sheltered at the entrance while their occupants 
 alight. The coach-house is very large. The beams and 
 walls are ornamented with elegant iron castings, and patterns 
 are painted in red, green, blue, brown, and a little gold, 
 with excellent effect. The Smedley crest abounds, and seats 
 are provided. 
 
 'The actual entrance to the mansion is handsomely 
 decorated in colours, and the crest, monogram, etc., are 
 
 * It is said to have cost ,60,000, and it was completed and oc- 
 cupied in a remarkably short space of time.
 
 MONOGRAM, CREST, AND MOTTO FROM RISER CASTLE.
 
 RIBER CASTLE 81 
 
 finely illuminated. You proceed by handsome corridors to 
 the grand saloon, which is entered by a broad staircase. 
 This noble room is about thirty-five yards long and ten yards 
 wide. The staircases at each end lead to a wide gallery 
 running all round, from which drawing-rooms, bedrooms, 
 and dressing-rooms are entered. There are galleries at each 
 end, one story higher than the main one. 
 
 ' The seating of the floor of the saloon is arranged down 
 each side, and divided into open boxes, each of which will 
 accommodate some twelve persons. There are chairs in 
 addition. At one end are finely painted oil portraits of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Smedley. There is much coloured ornamentation 
 of a somewhat Moorish style, and statuary, vases, mirrors, 
 choice paintings, and other works of art abound. The floor 
 is covered with rich carpets. All the ornamentation is of 
 Mr. Smedley's own design. There is an organ, a grand 
 piano, and a bagatelle board. The lighting is chiefly from 
 the roof, and partially comes through pretty stained glass. 
 There are fine chandeliers of cut glass. 
 
 ' In one of the rooms Mrs. Smedley held a Sunday-school. 
 The principal kitchen is large and well lighted from the roof, 
 the skylight being of variously coloured glass. The con- 
 siderateness of the master was seen in his providing for the 
 kitchen a small cushioned sofa. There is a conservatory, 
 which is about fifty feet square. It is evident, however, 
 that much was designed that has never been carried out 
 
 ' There are houses close to the castle, and by removing the 
 inner walls and floor of one of these, and putting in seats, 
 Mr. Smedley made a homely place of worship, which was 
 used for some time. He also built gas-works, in order to 
 supply the castle with light, and sunk a deep well, so that 
 the castle might have an independent supply of water. 
 
 'Some time ago the castle was sold to the Rev. J. W. 
 
 6
 
 82 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 Chippett, M.A., late of High Harrogate, a clergyman of 
 the Church of England. It is now a first-class school for 
 boys. 
 
 ' On leaving Riber Castle, I visited the establishment on 
 Matlock Bank, and also the Smedley Memorial Hospital, and 
 with this completed what was to me a most enjoyable day, 
 arriving home at a somewhat late hour.'
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DEATH OF MR. SMEDLEY. 
 
 MR. SMEDLEY had been ill for some three months, but was 
 well enough to take his ordinary drive on the Friday before 
 his death. Change of air and scene were being arranged 
 for him. During the drive, however, he complained of feel- 
 ing unwell, and on returning to Riber Castle he took to his 
 bed, and did not rise from it again. On the Sunday he was 
 in great pain, and it was evident that his illness had taken 
 a very serious turn. From that time he gradually sank, and 
 his spirit quietly passed away about six o'clock on the 
 Monday morning, July 27, 1874. He was seventy-one years 
 of age at the time of his death. 
 
 The road along the slope of the hills which rise on the 
 east bank of the Derwent, from Holloway to Riber, showed 
 on the funeral morning that some unusual event was 
 about to take place. Groups gathered at noon in the court- 
 yard, and outside Riber Castle, to witness the departure of 
 the remains of one who was widely known and respected. 
 The grave was prepared in the new cemetery at Holloway. 
 On the open common, and on the rocks around the ceme- 
 tery, and all along the road, spectators had gathered. In 
 the hollow of the valley, where the road dips down to the 
 brook, were marshalled the workpeople employed at Lea 
 Mills, the principal foremen and clerks wearing scarves. 
 
 62
 
 84 THE S MEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 There they awaited the arrival of the hearse and mourning 
 coaches ; and a number of private carriages assembled on 
 the upper road, prepared to join the rear of the procession. 
 It is supposed that there were not less than five thousand 
 people, and the general grief was evidently great and sincere. 
 
 After the body had been placed in the coffin, Mrs. 
 Smedley permitted those who wished to do so to look once 
 again upon the familiar face ; and hundreds of persons who 
 had been variously associated with Mr. Srnedley availed 
 themselves of the permission. 
 
 The funeral was arranged in accordance with the customs 
 of that particular body of Wesleyans the Wesleyan Free 
 Church to which Mr. Smedley had, in a sense, belonged. 
 At Riber Castle, before the procession started, the Rev. S. 
 Dyall, chaplain to the Matlock Bank Hydropathic Institu- 
 tion, read the Scriptures and offered prayer. The funeral 
 service was conducted in the Methodist Free Church, 
 Holloway. The pulpit and the singers' pew were draped 
 in black cloth. 
 
 Mr. George Barber, who had been for five-and-thirty 
 years in Mr. Smedley's employ at Lea Mills, and who had 
 not only been a confidential servant, but a coadjutor in 
 religious and temperance work, gave the address. The 
 choir sang hymns which were favourites of the deceased 
 gentleman ; among them were : ' They are waiting,' and 
 'The shining shore.' A portion of Mr. Barber's address 
 may be given to our readers. He said : 
 
 ' Dear friends, we are about to convey to their last rest- 
 ing-place the mortal remains of one whose end many of us 
 did not expect so soon. It is with tearful eyes and sorrow- 
 ful hearts that we follow to the grave one whose death will 
 be felt by great numbers, both far and near, to be a most 
 serious loss indeed, it may even be regarded as a national
 
 DEATH OF MR. .SMEDLEY 85 
 
 loss ; for Mr. Smedley was at once a public bene- 
 factor and a generous and familiar friend. In making a 
 few observations concerning the deceased, we would not be 
 influenced by merely personal feelings, we would not judge 
 him simply from the impressions of a long acquaintance 
 with him, but would look at his character and life as a 
 whole, and would point out some of his most prominent 
 traits. There was a marked individuality about the de- 
 ceased. He was not a man of a class : he was a man 
 who had a strong nature ; and many of us know how diffi- 
 cult it is for high moral and religious principles to maintain 
 complete mastery over such an individual. There is re- 
 quired in such cases a long self-denying process. Mr. 
 Smedley was a man of great energy and of strong will. He 
 was prompt and rapid in his judgments, and was possessed 
 in a high degree with his own ideas ; and hence he would 
 sometimes appear impatient of contradiction or hindrance. 
 But if we take into consideration the qualities I have 
 pointed out, we shall see that many of these things can be 
 accounted for, and we may be helped to form correct views 
 respecting him. He might at times seem to be hasty and 
 severe in his expressions, but we must judge of the whole 
 scope and outcome of his life ; we must lay aside all narrow 
 judgments and contracted views ; get upon higher ground, 
 and take a broad view of the deceased's life and character 
 as a whole. 
 
 ' If we regard him from a business point of view, his has 
 been a remarkably successful career; and probably his 
 success under God's blessing was owing to his being very 
 clear-sighted, very thorough in all he undertook, and charac- 
 terized by indomitable energy and perseverance. To regard 
 him as a philanthropist opens a wide field for remark. 
 There was in him a heart that beat true to the poor. He
 
 86 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 gave his time, his wealth, and his talents to promote good 
 Christian work, some of which took form as the erection of 
 chapels such as this. He was a liberal supporter of Sabbath 
 and day schools, of all sects and parties, and of all societies 
 whose object is the elevation of mankind and the spread 
 of the truths of the Gospel, such as Bible, Tract, and 
 Missionary Societies. He also supported the Temperance 
 and Permissive Bill organizations. 
 
 ' The institution at Matlock Bank cost him an immense 
 amount of thought, anxiety, and labour ; but who can calcu- 
 late the amount of good that has resulted from it, or the 
 numbers that have been benefited by it in body and in mind? 
 They are scattered in all parts of the world have taken 
 everywhere with them a grateful recollection of the benefits 
 they have received, and have helped to spread its fame. 
 
 ' Many around us have found in Mr. Smedley a kind and 
 sympathetic friend ; and since his death letters have been 
 received in which the writers state that they have lost in 
 him their best friend in time of trouble and distress. They 
 had found in him, not only a tender heart, but also a 
 willing and liberal hand. If we come to his workpeople, 
 some of us have been with him upwards of five-and-thirty 
 years, and feel for him a profound esteem ; for, since we 
 have been placed under his care, we have felt that we were 
 cared for. In times of sickness and want he has provided 
 the means by which we could be attended to, and might 
 have proper treatment, nursing and food ; and this he has 
 done gratuitously ; and in many other ways he has given us 
 proofs of his disposition to spare no expense if he could 
 promote the comfort, the health, and the general well-being 
 of those whom Providence had placed under his charge. 
 
 'With regard to his Christian work, I have seen him 
 many times shed tears of gratitude when he had letters
 
 DEATH OF MR. SMEDLEY 87 
 
 testifying to the good people had received at Matlock Bank ; 
 and he often said, "What are riches compared with the 
 pleasures of religion, and the delight one feels when 
 spiritual good has been accomplished, and when souls 
 are benefited?" Latterly, he has especially been under 
 gracious influences, and open to good teaching and sug- 
 gestion when wisely and judiciously presented. He longed 
 for Christian communion, and felt it to be of great value to 
 him ; and in order to obtain it called out men whom he had 
 employed and known for years, and in whose characters he 
 had confidence, and gathered them round him for Christian 
 conversation and united prayer. 
 
 ' Coming to the close of his life, on the Friday t he 
 stopped at the works and took a draught of water. On the 
 way home he was attacked with violent sickness, accom- 
 panied with extreme pain and suffering, and went to 
 bed, from which he never rose again. He suffered severe 
 pain for nearly two days, but on the Sabbath evening it 
 somewhat abated, and his mind became calm and quiet. 
 He said to his beloved wife, whom he addressed by her 
 Christian name, " I should like to live a little longer, and 
 to show my faith by my works." He had become impressed 
 more than ever with the fact that faith works by love, and pro- 
 duces true and genuine obedience. Amongst his last words 
 were, "Looking unto Jesus." What a simple and beautiful 
 expression that is ! Whatever may be our talents, whatever 
 may be our wealth, whatever may be our labours, or what- 
 ever our gifts, we must all come to that if we are to be 
 prepared to enter heaven, and to realize the "rest that 
 remains for the people of God." Another expression he 
 used was, " They shall walk with Him in white, for they are 
 worthy." He had washed his robes, and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb. He had realized the power and
 
 *8 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 presence of Jesus. He had done his work, and was pre- 
 pared to join those who " walk with Him in white." 
 
 ' " Into the harbour of heaven now we glide 
 
 We're home at last ! 
 Softly we drift o'er its bright silver tide 
 
 We're home at last ! 
 Glory to God, all our dangers are o'er, 
 We stand secure on the glorified shore ! 
 Glory to God ! we will shout evermore, 
 
 We're home at last !" ' 
 
 The procession was then re-formed, and the body con- 
 veyed to the cemetery. On the following Sunday the chief 
 mourners attended the service at Holloway Chapel, and 
 the grave on that day was visited by thousands of persons 
 from the neighbourhood. 
 
 Mr. Smedley left in personal property over ^100,000. 
 The bulk of the estate was left to a distant relative, John 
 Marsden, and he was appointed residuary legatee. To 
 Mrs. Smedley a handsome annuity was left, with Riber 
 Castle and furniture for her life. The young heir sold the 
 Hydropathic Establishment to a limited company. In 
 about a year after coming into the property he met with an 
 accident, which proved fatal. 
 
 The following inscription is placed on the monument 
 erected to Mr. Smedley's memory in Holloway Cemetery : 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 JOHN SMEDLEY, 
 
 OF 
 
 RIBER CASTLE AND LEA MILLS, 
 
 WHO FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS, JULY 27TH, 1874. 
 AGED 71 YEARS. 
 
 ' I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in Me, though 
 he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in 
 Me shall never die.' John xi. 25, 26. 
 
 Erected by the Employes, in remembrance of his unceasing kind- 
 ness, liberality, and care for their welfare.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY. 
 
 JOHN SMEDLEY met with a wife who was in every way 
 suitable for him, and eminently useful in furthering his 
 various philanthropic schemes. She was equally at home in 
 promoting religion, tending Mr. Smedley in his times of 
 sickness, visiting invalids, or prescribing treatment at the 
 hospital and at the institution. She was full of zealous 
 affection, and as clever as she was enthusiastic. No wife 
 could have loved with stronger devotion, while her sub- 
 jection to her own husband was as perfect as even the 
 Apostle Paul could have desired. She was characterized by 
 great amiability of manner, and was, in many respects, a 
 model woman. 
 
 Soon after their marriage Mrs. Smedley was plunged into 
 trouble. Her husband's serious illness, with its after- 
 complications, and some severe family afflictions, very greatly 
 tried the young wife, and her qualities as wife and com- 
 panion were put to a severe test. It was four years after 
 the marriage that the hydropathic system restored the 
 health of the sufferer. When deliverance from the de- 
 pressed condition of mind and feeling was vouchsafed, the 
 change was so complete, and the new condition of health 
 and spirits so delightful, that the tribulation through which 
 they had passed, and which had duly wrought patience,
 
 90 THE S MEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 experience and hope, seemed only a ' light affliction, and 
 but for a moment.' In the year 1850 Mr. and Mrs. 
 Smedley seemed to begin a new and regenerated life ; 
 nothing could be more evident than the genuineness, 
 thoroughness and magnitude of the change through which 
 they had passed ; and there can be no doubt of the sincerity 
 of their resolve to lead henceforth godly and self-denying 
 lives of service to others. This is shown on the one hand 
 in the pamphlet which was sent to the workpeople, and on 
 the other in the zeal with which time, talents, and wealth 
 were consecrated to the highest ends. 
 
 In all Mr. Smedley's benevolent work his wife showed 
 as much zeal and activity as he did, and they .were 
 harmoniously united in every good word and work. She 
 did not, indeed, publicly preach the Gospel, but she did almost 
 everything besides. She was a class-leader; she presided 
 at prayer-meetings ; she was an earnest worker in tract- 
 distribution ; and she was an enthusiastic supporter of 
 organizations for distributing the Word of God. 
 
 After a time, however, Mrs. Smedley withdrew her sup- 
 port from the British and Foreign Bible Society, because 
 that society thought proper to distribute translations of the 
 English Bible which she believed to be imperfect. 
 
 Mrs. Smedley was regarded by those who knew her as a 
 most spiritually-minded woman one who lived 'not by 
 bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
 mouth of God.' She constantly drank of the Water of Life, 
 and it was more than meat and drink to her to do her 
 Heavenly Father's will. It was an unusual privilege to hear 
 her read a portion of Scripture from her well-worn 
 polyglot Bible, and this it was her custom to do after nearly 
 every meal. Her clear, melodious voice, so full of sym- 
 pathy and so rich in pathos, gave additional interest to that
 
 PORTRAIT OF CAROLINE SMEDLEY 
 ABOl'T THE YEAR 1888.
 
 AGED ABOUT 66.
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 93 
 
 which was read, and even seemed to unfold new and 
 deeper meanings. She had great powers of personal in- 
 fluence and persuasion ; and her gift in prayer was quite 
 unusual. To listen to this Christian pleader in a public 
 meeting was to feel as if one was brought near to the 
 throne of heaven. A very large portion of the sentences 
 she used in prayer were adaptations of Scripture phrase- 
 ology. 
 
 She was indeed ' a burning and a shining light,' and to the 
 hour of her death this fervour of spirit remained character- 
 istic of her. Hers was a beautiful life of self-abnegation 
 and Christly service, full of holy joys and heavenly 
 aspirations. 
 
 Mrs. Smedley devoted herself for nearly twenty years to 
 the care of the female patients, both at the hospital and at 
 the Institution. That she should have fitted herself so well 
 for these serious responsibilities, and acquitted herself to 
 the almost universal satisfaction of so large a number of 
 sufferers, is not the least remarkable feature in the career 
 of this gifted woman. Courageous as she was by nature, 
 it must have been a great strain to her to undertake the 
 position of medical practitioner, and to prescribe the treat- 
 ment for the female patients. At first her patients were 
 those who were taken in gratuitously at Lea Mills, but her 
 work among them provided her with invaluable experi- 
 ences. She did not know much about physiology or path- 
 ology, and her education on such matters was necessarily 
 slow. But the hydropathic practitioners, who began to 
 spring up rapidly at this time, did not wait until they were 
 qualified by having passed medical and surgical examina- 
 tions prior to opening their respective establishments, and 
 prescribing hydropathic treatment. They began as boldly 
 as if they were entitled to put M.D. after their names. It
 
 94 THE S MEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 was not, therefore, regarded as either strange or dangerous 
 that Mrs. Smedley should direct the application of simple 
 remedies according to the prescribed formulae of the water- 
 cure system. 
 
 A friend of mine, in conversation with one of the lady 
 patients, who had made two somewhat prolonged visits to 
 Matlock Bank, was enabled to gather some interesting par- 
 ticulars of the success Mrs. Smedley attained. Addressing 
 the lady, he said : 
 
 ' I believe you were a patient under Mrs. Smedley at 
 Matlock Bank ?' 
 
 ' I was there on two different occasions.' 
 
 ' How long is it since your first visit there ?' 
 
 ' Well, I can hardly say : it is so long ago more than 
 thirty years, I should say.' 
 
 ' Was it before the new wing was built ?' 
 
 ' Oh dear yes ; long before that time.' 
 
 ' About how many ladies would there be in the establish- 
 ment when you were there ?' 
 
 ' That I cannot remember.' 
 
 1 Thirty or forty ?' 
 
 ' Oh yes ; more, I should say. I remember that Miss 
 Allport, Sir James Allport's daughter, was there, and the 
 daughter-in-law of Sir Titus Salt. Mr. Jacob Bright was 
 there, and I remember his being very vexed at having the 
 late box presented to him for being a little behind time. 
 He left soon afterwards, and it was generally thought on 
 account of being boxed.' 
 
 ' A good many distinguished persons were, I believe, in 
 the habit of going to Smedley's, even in those far-off 
 days ?' 
 
 ' Oh dear yes a great many ; but they were all patients, 
 you should understand, and took the treatment.'
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 95 
 
 ' Just so. I understand that. The rules were then very 
 strict, I believe?' 
 
 1 Very.' 
 
 ' And strictly enforced ?' 
 
 ' Yes.' 
 
 ' Giving offence occasionally ?' 
 
 ' The Smedleys did not mind that. If the rules did not 
 suit, those who were not satisfied were at liberty to go, and 
 were given to understand this.' 
 
 'Tell me whether you think Mrs. Smedley understood 
 the work she had to do ?' 
 
 ' I thought so. In my own case she showed great pene- 
 tration, and prescribed treatment which proved most suitable. 
 I was in a very weak state. I think I only weighed a little 
 over seven stones ; but I was the mother of a moderately 
 large family. I improved rapidly, and got quite well and 
 strong.' 
 
 ' That was your first visit. What about your second ?' 
 
 ' Well, my second visit was a repetition of the first, or 
 nearly so, as regards the treatment and its effects. I was 
 again in a weak state from over-work, worry, and want 
 of rest.' 
 
 ' And the treatment set you up again ?' 
 
 ' Completely.' 
 
 ' What kind of baths were prescribed ?' 
 
 'Oh, the ordinary mild treatment. A tepid wet-sheet 
 before breakfast. A warm wet-pack in the forenoon. A 
 tepid sitz-bath in the afternoon. Sometimes instead a 
 dripping-sheet. I had a soap-blanket, which I remember 
 was most enjoyable and refreshing.' 
 
 ' No mustard-packs or steam-boxes ?' 
 
 ' No, nothing so powerful as that. You see, I only 
 wanted gentle stimulants, plain diet, cheerful companion-
 
 96 THE S MEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 ship, and rest. Mrs. Smedley told me that was all I re- 
 quired. I had, however, a good deal of mustard rubbings 
 with the hands, and various chest and spinal bandages. I 
 see by my little book of treatment, which fortunately I 
 have preserved, that I had occasionally rain-bath; sitz, 70 ; 
 blanket-rubbing ; mustard-plaster to the liver, and a turban 
 for the head.' 
 
 ' And your second visit was as pleasant as the first ?' 
 
 ' Delightful.' 
 
 ' I am told that the food is very plain, and somewhat re- 
 stricted, especially as to flesh meat.' 
 
 'All ailing persons need plain food if they are to get 
 better. One great secret is and this I learned by talking 
 to others, and by reading Mrs. Smedley's book not to 
 overtax the stomach. If you do, the food you take does 
 not get properly digested, and therefore cannot build you 
 up as it otherwise would. As to flesh meat, I think the 
 restriction to one helping is a very wise one. Patients 
 recover all the sooner by observing this simple rule. Much 
 mischief would follow not partaking sparingly, or not abstain- 
 ing altogether, when this was prescribed The heads of the 
 institution were often greatly annoyed by the obstinacy of 
 patients who refused to submit to rule. I see printed con- 
 spicuously on the front page of my treatment-book this ex- 
 pression of regret : " The restoration of patients to health is 
 very often retarded, and even prevented altogether, by their 
 partaking too freely of flesh meat. Scarcely one comes to 
 the establishment without derangement of stomach, and in 
 these cases the less flesh meat they take the sooner will 
 the mucous inflammation be subdued, and good action of 
 the digestive organs commence. August, 1866."' 
 
 ' You appear to me to be pretty well up in these mys- 
 teries.'
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 97 
 
 ' Well, I ought to be, seeing the time I was there.' 
 
 ' Then you consider the food was not too plain ?' 
 
 ' How can the food which God sends be too plain ? 
 You might as well talk of the air being too pure. I'm sur- 
 prised at you, Mr. !' 
 
 ' I'm seeking for information sincerely and anxiously, 
 let me assure you.' 
 
 ' The patients were more than satisfied.' 
 
 ' I suppose almost everything has been altered since 
 those days the mode of treatment, diet, house regulations, 
 amusements, everything ?' 
 
 ' I suppose so. For better or worse, I won't say. Of 
 course the place now is simply charming superior in its 
 artistic attractions. Nothing is forgotten that is calculated 
 to minister to one's comfort. Forty years' experience, with 
 plenty of money, should make the institution as perfect as 
 it needs to be. Still, I question whether, with all the new 
 scientific appliances, the artistic decorations, and the 
 luxurious appointments, another sojourn would be more 
 enjoyable than the two I have already had. Dear Mrs. 
 Smedley, how we loved her ! And how precious her 
 memory must be to all who made her acquaintance !' 
 
 ' Yes ; I believe she was a good woman. But did she not 
 do a little too much preaching when she was prescribing ?' 
 
 ' No ; I don't think so. She never once named religious 
 subjects to me during either of my visits. But why do you 
 ask that question ?' 
 
 ' Because I understood that she did rather too much in 
 that line ; and I notice Scripture texts even in your treat- 
 ment-book.' 
 
 ' So there are. But surely that would not offend anyone. 
 You will find the same thing done at railway-stations. Mrs. 
 Smedley believed in " sowing beside all waters." ' 
 
 7
 
 98 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 1 Never having seen a photograph of Mrs. Smedley, I am 
 curious to know what sort of person she was, and how she 
 dressed. I suppose, being of such a religious turn of mind, 
 she would appear in very simple and colourless attire, and 
 no doubt wear a Quaker bonnet ?' 
 
 ' Nothing of the sort, I can assure you. With Mrs. 
 Smedley dress was a work of art ; she made it a study, but 
 not for the sake of show. In her daily relations she met 
 with numerous cases of despondency ; so her idea was, that 
 she could help her work by appearing in every way as bright 
 and as cheerful as possible. To this end she nearly always 
 appeared in a bright blue silk gown, a white lace shawl 
 thrown over her shoulders, and a white front, with frills, and 
 a flower therein. Her hair, which was auburn, was done 
 quite plain, and parted in the centre. Both hands were well 
 covered with valuable rings, and her countenance was ever 
 lit up by a cheerful and happy smile. Her consulting-room 
 was a sort of floral bower, full of choice plants and flowers, 
 which surrounded her on every side, and the sight must 
 have made many a sad heart light. Everything the eye 
 beheld was calculated, and indeed intended, to cheer and 
 charm. Mrs. Smedley once told a friend that if circum- 
 stances ever called upon her to put on conventional mourn- 
 ing, she should object, so far, at least, as her presence in 
 the institution was concerned. Would you believe that in . 
 the skirt of that beautiful dress there was the " hoop " of 
 the period ? Mrs. Smedley excused this apparent leaning 
 to the world's ways by saying, that these mechanical appli- 
 ances rendered dress pleasant and cool in the hot weather. 
 Jewellery for the hands, crinoline for the dress, and bright 
 colours all over the figure would, if the effect were pleasing, 
 be commended by most persons, and would be classed 
 among the things required by " proper pride." '
 
 7 2
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 101 
 
 After the decease of her husband, Mrs. Smedley interested 
 herself in founding the Smedley Memorial Hospital on 
 Matlock Bank, and for years she gave medical directions 
 for the female patients. This hospital is the only one of its 
 kind. It is partly supported by voluntary contributions, and 
 is an immense blessing to the poor, as it enables them to 
 have the treatment for the time that is necessary to effect 
 a cure. 
 
 The late Dr. Hunter, for so many years head physician 
 to the Smedley Hydro, was one of the chief founders of 
 this hospital. In memory of him, a new wing has just been 
 added, at the cost of about ,700, called the Hunter Wing, 
 the money for which is not all subscribed. 
 
 Mrs. Smedley died at her residence, Riber Castle, on 
 Friday, February 26, 1892, after a protracted illness. On the 
 death of Mr. John Smedley his widow retired to Riber 
 Castle, and it is said that she never visited the hydropathic 
 establishment afterwards. About a year before her death 
 grave concern was felt as to her condition of health. There 
 were signs of cancer. In the later stages of the disease the 
 advice of the London representative of the famous Count 
 Mattei was sought ; but medical skill was of no avail, and 
 the disease took its usual course. The last day of her life 
 she fell into a comatose state, and passed away about nine 
 o'clock at night. 
 
 The funeral took place at the Holloway Cemetery on the 
 Wednesday afternoon, in bitterly cold weather, but amid 
 general manifestations of grief. The cortege left the castle 
 at two o'clock, the hearse being followed by eight mourn- 
 ing coaches, and some private carriages. At the cemetery a 
 short burial service was read by the Rev. J. Harward, of 
 London, brother of the deceased, who also officiated at the
 
 102 THE SM ED LEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 graveside. The coffin was of beautifully polished oak, with 
 panelled sides and silver furniture. It was placed in the 
 same vault as that of Mr. Smedley. 
 
 FUNERAL SERMON IN CONNECTION WITH THE BURIAL 
 OF MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY, OF RIBER CASTLE. 
 
 BY THE REV. E. CLARKE. 
 
 ' The little chapel at Riber opened and sustained for 
 so many years by Mr. and Mrs. Smedley, where they 
 sought together the Divine strength and light they needed 
 for their great work for the bodies and souls of men 
 presented recently an interesting though mournful sight. 
 The large congregations drawn together to the two services 
 were for the most part in deep mourning, and few re- 
 mained without tears. There, alas ! was the empty place, 
 and the books which the " Mother in Israel " would use no 
 more. There was the sweet, simple, reverent service of God 
 which was composed by the late Mr. Smedley, but her clear 
 inspiring voice would lead the responses no more. Nowhere 
 was the loss more felt than in that room. Never absent. 
 never late even, during all her busy years, it was hard to realize 
 she was gone from the familiar seat for ever. 
 
 ' Special psalms the 3Qth and poth were read, and 
 special prayers offered for the sanctification of this great 
 loss to all, and for the consolation and guidance of the 
 bereaved, particular mention being made of the sorely- 
 tried servants of the deceased. 
 
 ' The text was taken from the Epistle to the Philippians 
 i. 20 : " According to my earnest expectation and my hope, 
 that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all bold- 
 ness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my 
 body, whether it be by life or by death." The following is 
 a brief outline of the sermon :
 
 MRS. JOHN S MEDLEY 103 
 
 ' Paul's great object to magnify Christ, whether in life 
 or in death. What life is without its object ? Who is 
 without his ideal ? Grant me it, let me attain to it, and I 
 can die happy. Let me fail of it and I have lived in vain. 
 Even in the grave I could scarcely rest. But whose ideal is 
 like this ? To magnify Christ ! How poor an object it is 
 to achieve riches, which may mean the bitterest poverty and 
 eternal loss ; to attain greatness, which in God's eyes, and 
 man's too, may be the veriest littleness. To pursue plea- 
 sure pursue, but never overtake, or to overtake and find 
 bitterness for sweetness, and ashes for joy ; or a worse ideal 
 still ideal, indeed ! to simply drift, to exist and not to live, 
 to rest in slothful ease. What are such life objects to 
 this : to magnify Christ, to be God's witness among men, 
 God's foremost and most forceful manifestation of Himself ; 
 to set forth the glory of Him we love, the light of our 
 seeing, the strength of our heart, and the joy of our life ? 
 Not Paul, but Christ ; not self, but the Saviour : this the aim 
 of his life and teaching, his earnest expectation and hope 
 in life and death. By what rare means does he seek to 
 accomplish this ? High ideals must have high pursuits ; 
 high ends demand high ways. " Christ may be magnified 
 in my body." Surely there is some mistake; the instru- 
 ment is not equal to the music, the means to the end. 
 Would not the Mother of our Lord have taught him better ? 
 " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath 
 rejoiced in God my Saviour." " Spirit," " soul " that is 
 more fitting; but what can you do by means of a poor 
 body ? How can it praise or magnify Christ ? Or listen 
 to David : " The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, 
 and the firmament showeth His handiwork." That is right. 
 All the universe is only a fitting organ to sound forth His 
 praise, and " day unto day," until the end of time, not
 
 104 THE S MEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 sufficient to " sing through the hymn." But think again. 
 Is not Paul right ? What is the world better for all your 
 spiritual emotion, however rapt and pure, unless it per- 
 meate your body, speak through your lips, look through 
 your eyes, and work through your hands ? We want to 
 hear your religion in your footfall, and feel it in your hand. 
 We want it to stream through your garment's hem. Then 
 is the world better for it. How different is this view of 
 the body to what, alas, is too common with us ! Yes, that 
 very body we so often defile, despise, abuse, we treat it 
 as a mere receptacle for food or exhibitor of clothes ; we 
 corrupt and defile it with passion, and sometimes fill it with 
 disease and pain ; yet that body is holy unto God ; is the 
 instrument of His praise ; a temple for His presence ; a 
 means of His manifestation. Call it what you will dust 
 and ashes the dust was made for Deity, and the ashes He 
 redeemed with His precious blood. Let Christ be magni- 
 fied in your bodies. 
 
 ' We see through one another in a sense we hardly think. 
 We are never long really unknown to each other. We all 
 live under glass, and as we watch the works of a clock 
 through the shade that covers it, so may we watch the 
 workings of each other's hearts. It is not pleasant work to do. 
 Do men really know what we are in heart ? Yes ; far more 
 than you think far more than you care for. But what is 
 there you ought to wish to hide ? Surely not your Christian 
 faith, your love to your Lord and Saviour. He claims you 
 for His witness. You are to magnify Him in your body. 
 This is what the world wants. Even the greatest things of 
 life and death are such small print to the worldly that they 
 cannot read them. Show them magnified in your life till the 
 sight startles them, as often the sight of magnified print has 
 done. Make it so plain in your life that there is one Father
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 105 
 
 of us all the God of Love; one Saviour of us all; one Holy 
 Spirit the Comforter that the truth shall startle them. Let 
 them see in you the peace of God, and the truth of God, and 
 the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the gentleness and 
 patience and loveliness and goodness of Christ, until they 
 shall crave your Saviour to be their Saviour, and your 
 Friend for their Friend. Be His living epistle printed in 
 bold lines so that he who runs may read that God is in you of 
 a truth. Bring the distant near, too. How many say they 
 believe these things, but they are so far off in the dim past 
 or the distant future that they feel them not. Bring Calvary 
 into the present. Let them see that you are both crucified 
 and risen and living with Christ. Bring the Day of Judgment 
 into your present-day transactions. Live as honestly, as 
 nobly as if before the great white throne itself, as, indeed, 
 you are. Try not to-morrow, but to-day. " Behold, now 
 is the accepted time ;" " behold, now is the day of salva- 
 tion :" " to-day, if ye will hear His voice." All these things 
 God was teaching the world through Paul, and these things 
 God has been seeking to teach us again through His hand- 
 maid, whom He has taken to Himself. 
 
 ' If anyone might take " Magnify Christ " for a life motto, 
 it was Mrs. Smedley. She lived in and for Him. They 
 who knew her best knew what Christ was to her. They 
 saw also what Christ was doing in her. It is only now that 
 she is gone we are beginning to see how great and good a 
 woman she was. The place she has left empty empty, 
 never again to be filled is teaching us that. The improba- 
 bility of finding anyone to do the work she did is bringing 
 it home to us. I am speaking among you who have known 
 her long and intimately, and I ask you if you ever expect 
 to know another like her? We know only too sadly we 
 shall not look upon her like again.
 
 106 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 ' You say, or others say it for you, there were imperfec- 
 tions and blemishes ; but this is only to say that she was 
 mortal. Had she been perfect, she would not have been 
 here. But is it not the sweetest and the ripest fruit that is 
 often most specked and pecked ? And this we know : her 
 feelings were never the feelings of weakness, but of strength, 
 without which she would not have done the work she did. 
 But I bid you look up. Two Sabbaths she has been in 
 heaven now ; for so long has she gazed on Him she loved 
 and longed to see (and we do not love Him unless we long 
 to see Him) ; and what now is it you see, if you can see her 
 at all for the glory in which she dwells what but this, that 
 she is without spot before the throne? Every blemish, 
 whether it made or marred her character here, is gone, and 
 she is like Him she loves. Now she magnifies Him, and 
 mirrors Him as she could not here below. She magnified 
 Christ in her life conversion. Ever, from the blessed time 
 when she first definitely knew and realized the personal love 
 of Christ, she gave Him love for love, and life for life. For 
 Mrs. Smedley's was that privileged lot of knowing, not only 
 the certainty, which is the great thing, but the circumstances 
 of the coming-in of the Divine life into the soul, which is a 
 very comforting thing. 
 
 ' Be that how it may, she testified that one may be brought 
 up in " the highest and straitest sect of our religion," and 
 do and forego many things for the sake thereof, and prosper 
 therein before many others, and yet know not the inward 
 reality thereof that changes all, and brings with it peace and 
 power. 
 
 ' Paint and stone, or wax with millinery, can go far in imi- 
 tating life. They can be moulded and shaped into the 
 image of a man according to the beauty of a man, so as 
 even to deceive the living. But they are not living : the
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 107 
 
 gulf between life and death remains unbridged. To the 
 teacher in Israel as to the most degraded there comes the 
 Divine requirement the voice of God and not man " Ye 
 must be born again." And it is the voice of Love. For it were 
 better not to have been born at all than not to be born 
 again. But the joy of that great change whose effect is so 
 great that it constitutes a new act of creative power she 
 knew and rejoiced in. So did Paul. Such definite know- 
 ledge is not given to us all. We may not all see the sun 
 rise, but we may all know when the new day is come. 
 Consecration is that act wherein we give again to God that 
 life He has given to us ; and conversion was not more 
 certain and definite to her than consecration. 
 
 ' I remember almost the first talk I had with her, now 
 close upon twenty years ago ; the wonderful distinctness 
 with which she remembered the consecration of herself to 
 God the place, the hour, and the witnesses present. Her 
 all was then and there laid upon the altar, and now we 
 witness the completion of that sacrifice. Truly, the altar 
 fire has never gone out, and now the last fragrance of the 
 evening sacrifice has gone up to God, and the Lord was 
 well pleased therewith. She brought her best to God the 
 glory of her prime, the fulness of her powers, the very 
 flower and fruit of her sweet and potent womanhood. Unto 
 the utmost limit of her powers " she hath done what she 
 could." The cruse of ointment was very costly ; how costly, 
 very few knew. But He knew all her work. The whole 
 day would not suffice us to tell that. 
 
 ' But go, stand upon the brow of this hill, and look away 
 across the valley to that new town lying in the sun, and 
 the great institution, ever growing greater, and the town 
 around it, ever growing with it. On the front of that insti- 
 tution, in large letters, is the name of Smedley. There, and
 
 io8 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 in that growing town, you see her monument. We may say 
 hers emphatically, for none would have been so ready to 
 testify as the devoted partner of her toilful life that to her 
 woman's love, her woman's wisdom, her woman's patience 
 and tact, was due the success of the great work they jointly 
 achieved. And yet she has brighter and nobler monuments. 
 Some of you owe yourselves to her. Other monuments 
 are found in hearts and lives all over the world, and these 
 will only be read in the fulness on the last day. 
 
 'She magnified Christ in her death; yes, friends, more 
 than in her life. Her last months of suffering here taught 
 us that suffering is greater than service. How many have 
 asked the question, " Why should one so good and useful 
 be stricken down by severe sufferings ?" Because, friends, 
 the most active and devoted of us cannot be perfected by 
 the things we do, but only by the things we suffer ; because 
 our highest, holiest fellowship with Christ is in His suffer- 
 ings ; because our hardest service and severest test is found 
 in suffering therefore, as with our Lord, it usually comes 
 latest ; " because there is a Divine need-be " in suffering 
 beyond our ken. Neither Paul nor Peter entered heaven 
 without suffering. And she, who had borne the heat and 
 burden of the day of toil, must needs pass through the Re- 
 finer's fire, that she might issue forth on the other side as 
 gold seven times purified. We have not seen the pure gold, 
 but we have seen the Refiner's fire, and we thought we saw 
 the Refiner sitting there, until He saw His own image in the 
 precious metal. But this we do know : great as were those 
 sufferings great beyond our power to fathom they are 
 already forgotten. They were not worthy to be compared 
 with that " exceeding weight of glory which has been re- 
 vealed in her." If you could hear her now, she would tell 
 you that, great as was the trial, there was not, even in her
 
 MRS. JOHN SMEDLEY 109 
 
 case, an unnecessary tear, or a pain that could be spared. 
 Believe it is so in your case. You mourn to-day in great 
 sorrow of heart ; you have lost one whose place can never 
 be refilled. Some of you sorely need guidance and help. 
 But though she is gone, her Saviour remains. He is here 
 to be your joy, as He was hers. Cast your care upon Him. 
 Let Him dry your tears. By nothing could you please her 
 more than by giving yourselves wholly to Him.'
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. 
 
 THE following incident is recorded in the biography of the 
 late Mr. Wilkins, of Derby, written by his widow : ' In 
 grateful thankfulness would I record an act of noble 
 generosity on the part of a gentleman who was then a com- 
 parative stranger to us John Smedley, Esq., of Lea Mills. 
 Coming one day to order some little printing matter, he 
 perceived the depression under which my poor husband 
 was labouring, and kindly insisted on knowing the cause. 
 He listened to the sorrowful detail, and then immedi- 
 ately wrote out a cheque for some hundreds of pounds 
 (requiring only an IOU for it), which was sufficient to 
 tide us over the emergency, making at the same time 
 this characteristic remark : " How can I see the Lord's 
 child go to the dogs without stretching out a helping 
 hand ?" ' 
 
 Walking towards the graveyard on the day of the funeral, 
 a friend overtook a female who was draped in mourning. 
 
 ' You're going to the funeral,' he remarked. 
 
 ' Yes,' she said ; ' I could not go to the funeral of a 
 better.' 
 
 ' I suppose you're one of the " hands " ?' 
 
 ' No, I am not. I don't work there at all ; but Mr.
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. in 
 
 Smedley was very kind to me when my husband lay ill in 
 the house ; so I am merely going out of respect.' 
 
 ' Indeed !' 
 
 ' I once went to the castle to see Mrs. Smedley about 
 my husband, who was ill. When I got there, Mrs. Smedley 
 was out, but Mr. Smedley came to me, and I felt quite 
 afraid to speak, as I had never spoken to him before. He 
 asked me what was the matter, and I told him my husband 
 was ill of the dropsy, and I wanted to ask for a bit of 
 mustard and a bandage. " I'll give you a note to George 
 Grattan," he replied, "and he shall give you what you 
 require. But how are you off for bedding ?" " Well, he has 
 not complained yet." " But the cold weather is coming on ; 
 and if your husband is dropsical he'll require extra cloth- 
 ing. George Grattan must give you one of the best 
 blankets.' " 
 
 So the poor woman got all she wanted, and the blanket 
 besides. It was the unexpected gift that touched her 
 heart. 
 
 On the same occasion this friend met another person 
 who deeply deplored Mr. Smedley's loss. 
 
 ' Mr. Smedley saved my son's life. He came home with 
 a fever,' he said. ' I let Mr. Smedley know, and he imme- 
 diately sent a carriage to take him to the hospital, and 
 there he was quite restored to health. I shall always respect 
 Mr. Smedley.' 
 
 The following paragraph is taken from the Yorkshire 
 Post : 
 
 ' John Smedley was a remarkable man, and did remark- 
 able things. It seems strange that a man of such peculiar 
 mental construction bordering sometimes on lunacy itself
 
 112 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 should be the author of so many practically useful move- 
 ments ; but, as George Eliot truly says, " The blessed work 
 of helping the world forward happily does not wait to be 
 done by perfect men. . . . The real heroes of God's making 
 are quite different : they have their natural heritage of love 
 and conscience which they drew in with their mother's milk; 
 they know one or two of those deep spiritual truths which 
 are only to be won by long wrestling with their own sins 
 and sorrows. . . . Their sympathy is perhaps confined in 
 narrow conduits of doctrine, instead of flowing forth with 
 the freedom of a stream that blesses every weed in its 
 course ; obstinacy or self-assertion will often interfuse itself 
 with their grandest impulses ; and their very deeds of self- 
 sacrifice are sometimes only the rebound of a passionate 
 egoism." So it was with John Smedley, for when at his 
 very best his worst was there ; and if some riddling process 
 had been practicable there were not wanting, to all human 
 appearance, qualities enough to form an ideally perfect 
 man. 
 
 'John Smedley was a man of extremes, and nothing if not 
 extreme. Perhaps it was this special characteristic which 
 lay at the root of his success. " Let your moderation be 
 known unto all men " was never his doctrine, and he had 
 the good sense never to take that text as the "foundation " 
 for a Sunday discourse. Overflowing with impetuosity, with 
 but little ballast within himself, he was continually doing 
 the unaccountable, even in plain matter-of-fact business 
 transactions ; but when he became a religious propagandist, 
 and had, moreover, the responsibilities of a hundred patients 
 resting on his shoulders, along with his new notions of 
 medicine and morals, there were not a few ready to adopt 
 language that was used in somewhat similar circumstances, 
 and to say : " Thou art beside thyself, John Smedley ; too
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. 113 
 
 much religion hath made thee mad.'' " I am not beside 
 myself," would then be his ready and reasonable answer, 
 " but speak the words of truth and soberness ; and whether 
 ye will hear, or whether ye will forbear, Magna est veritas, 
 et prcevahbit." 
 
 ' In nothing, perhaps, did John Smedley show more 
 strikingly how extremes meet than in his own change of 
 views as regards remedial measures. At one time he was a 
 great believer in a well-known pill, which was administered 
 freely to the workpeople in all cases of illness or ailment 
 named in the handbill found in every pill-box. Afterwards 
 he became as much averse to pills as he was to pastry. In 
 the early stages of his hydropathic experience he maintained 
 that cold applications acted as a tonic, and in order to demon- 
 strate the truthfulness of this theory some of his first patients 
 at the free hospital were sent, in the depth of winter, to a 
 neighbouring well about half a mile distant without shoes 
 or stockings ! Afterwards, finding that ' it is cold that kills,' 
 he discarded cold applications almost entirely, and to secure 
 warmth for the feet, which he now deemed of the utmost 
 importance, he invented a warm Wellington boot which was 
 lined with fur, and had these made for ladies as well as 
 for gentlemen.' 
 
 A selection may be made from the abundant testimonials 
 of the benefits derived from visits to Smedley's Institution : 
 
 4 January 27 ', 1859. 
 
 'DEAR SIR, 
 
 ' How widely and far society at large is benefited 
 and blest by your philanthropic efforts ! I am but one of 
 the many who have received such benefit physically and 
 mentally ; one of those who, dwelling in distant places, are
 
 ii 4 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 gratefully influencing others by communicating informa 
 tion, and relieving and curing the bodily sufferings of such 
 as come within our reach. In my sphere, as a minister 
 of religion, I am continually brought in contact with 
 the sons and daughters of affliction. For several months 
 past I have had patients in hand, and I am happy to 
 inform you that in no case have I been unsuccessful. 
 Seldom a day passes without one or more applying to me for 
 advice, and, such as it is, I thankfully give it. Often, both 
 day and night, I am in the sick-room, personally applying 
 Nature's efficacious and simple remedy for the various 
 ailments of the human body. Not unfrequently I am desig- 
 nated an enthusiast by incredulous lookers-on; but much 
 oftener does the blessing of those who are ready to perish 
 fall on me. I can only mention a few of the cases which 
 I have undertaken, and this I do by way of encourage- 
 ment to perseverance in your valuable labours for the public 
 good. . . .' 
 
 'REGENT STREET, L , 
 
 ' Marck 5, i860. 
 
 ' MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 ' ... At Matlock, in connection with the " water 
 treatment," I met with that mental repose, cheerful society, 
 exercise, diversion of mind, and kind, encouraging treatment 
 from others which I so much needed ; and, by the blessing 
 of God on the means used, I came home, as they told me, 
 a new man. My mental and nervous vigour seem to have 
 been quite renewed, and the entire tone and action of the 
 system appears to be better than it has been for the last 
 fifteen or twenty years. Without speaking in the spirit 
 of vain boasting, I believe I may say, in truth, that I can 
 both study and preach with greater facility and ease than
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. 115 
 
 I ever could in my life before, and yet I had given up all 
 for lost. 
 
 ' I am, my dear sir, very truly yours, 
 
 S B .' 
 
 The following handsomely illuminated and framed docu- 
 ment was sent to Mr. and Mrs. Smedley by the patients at 
 the Matlock Bank establishment : 
 
 'To JOHN SMEDLEY, ESQ., AND MRS. SMEDLEY. 
 
 ' A number of the patients in your hydropathic establish- 
 ment feel desirous of expressing their sincere gratitude for 
 the benefits they have personally received, and their great 
 admiration of the knowledge and skill displayed in your 
 application of the curative powers of water. Your solicitude 
 for the poor, and your untiring endeavours to alleviate their 
 sufferings, are above all praise; while the efforts to place 
 your wealthier patients on the footing of freedom from 
 pecuniary obligation, in unison with a disinterested economy, 
 are equally manifest and honourable. And when we 
 recollect the extent to which your establishment has grown, 
 its heavy responsibilities, and the time and attention it 
 absorbs, we are not only struck with the purity of your 
 motives, but impressed with wonder at the unflagging zeal 
 and unremitting care so truly consecrated to the relief of 
 human suffering. 
 
 " ' To the assistance you have so generously rendered to 
 other establishments, to your various publications and 
 reiterated teachings, which have made the truths of hydro- 
 pathy like "household words," we attribute, under God, 
 the remarkable success which has been witnessed. Thou- 
 sands have been delivered from anguish, and restored to 
 health and joy, who, but for the water-cure, would have
 
 Ii6 THE S MEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 lingered in pain, and finally have sunk into a premature 
 grave. 
 
 ' But not alone for physical benefits do you merit our 
 thanks. The mental, moral, and spiritual interests of all 
 under your care have been sedulously studied. Many have 
 been profited in spirit who sought only bodily ease ; and 
 many have received religious counsel and consolation who 
 came only for improved health. 
 
 'Temperance, providence, and education, with other 
 means of social elevation and progress, have found in you 
 both goodwill and good works. When we remember that 
 to such noble uses you have devoted a fortune honourably 
 acquired by superior skill, diligence, and commercial 
 integrity, and that it has been by the constant self- 
 abnegation and relinquishment of luxuries you have con- 
 ferred so many benefits on others, we are impelled to 
 express more than common admiration at conduct so un- 
 worldly, and sacrifices so rare. 
 
 'With lively emotions, such as have arisen from the 
 observation of your daily lives and labours, it would have 
 given us great pleasure to signify them in some per- 
 manent and artistic form. But respecting your objections to 
 even the appearance of ostentation, we venture to present 
 this simple but truthful expression of our sentiments, to 
 evince how high and dear we, at least, esteem your kind 
 Christian and skilful labours ; and so long as Providence 
 may be pleased to prolong your valuable lives to benefit 
 mankind, we earnestly pray that you may see your work of 
 love prosper exceedingly, and that the blessing of God may 
 rest upon you both, until your final reward shall be realized 
 in His kingdom. 
 ' January I, 1863.'
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. 117 
 
 There is also an illuminated and framed address to 
 Mr. Smedley from the Methodist Free Church meeting at 
 Cromford, containing their thanks for his fitting up a 
 schoolroom, and for his great liberality. 
 
 ' January 10, 1865. 
 1 MY DEAR MR. SMEDLEY, 
 
 ' I received a newspaper to-day making known to 
 me the Christmas Day Dinner at my old favourite path- 
 ological rendezvous, Matlock Bank Hydropathic Establish- 
 ment. Long may you and Mrs. Smedley live to be toasted 
 upon such good fare every Christmas Day, and long may 
 the virtue of water in its applications internally and externally 
 to men's bodily infirmities be the panacea in your hands ; 
 as it has hitherto proved under God's blessing a balm for 
 innumerable woes, and the well-spring of life and force to 
 many a distracted mind and shattered frame. In fact, I 
 speak with all respect to the Great Being when I say your 
 system has been to many a physical resurrection of a dying 
 body. I often ponder over the many months of pleasure 
 and happiness I enjoyed under your care. Thank God, 
 body and mind are now reaping the advantages of skilful 
 appliances, kind and considerate treatment, and every 
 means which skill and experience could devise in giving 
 increased energy to every faculty and function of an active 
 
 frame. 
 
 ' " Let us, then, be up and doing. 
 
 With a heart for any fate, 
 Still achieving, still pursuing, 
 Learn to labour and to wait." 
 
 ' I am in excellent health myself, and discharging public 
 and private duties with my usual good health, and when I 
 again visit my old favourite place, I hope it will be to join 
 in supporting the toast, " Long life, happiness, prosperity,
 
 ii8 THE SMEDLEYS OF MATLOCK BANK 
 
 and increasing usefulness to John Smedley, Esq., and his 
 devoted partner." 
 
 ' Yours faithfully, 
 
 t * * *> 
 
 'JOHN SMEDLEY, ESQ. 
 ' In unu Jesu omnia. 
 
 ' Thy friendship, 'twas no hollow-sounding name ; 
 
 No gilded opiate of a clouded soul ; 
 
 No commonplace begot on windy shams ; 
 
 No silly fascination of blind sense ; 
 
 No selfish speculation for mean ends ; 
 
 No coquetry of feeling changeable 
 
 And fleeting as the lines of summer clouds. 
 
 It was the passion of a noble heart ; 
 
 The instinct of affinities sublime ; 
 
 The appreciation of God's thought in man, 
 
 Apart from accidents of birth or state, 
 
 Favour or fortune, or the glare of gold. 
 
 Thy heart was warm and simple as a child's, 
 
 But rich in virtue and impulses high. 
 
 Who trusted thee trusted the grasp of honour ; 
 
 Who loved thee felt he loved the good in thee ; 
 
 And such affection never makes ashamed. 
 
 Thy morning broke amid tempestuous clouds, 
 
 Night warr'd with day, and storm succeeded storm, 
 
 But innate virtue and thy Maker's hand 
 
 Sustained thy course, and made each angry cloud 
 
 Reflect back rainbows. Thy various trials worked 
 
 In thee endurance, and that patience taught 
 
 Thy soul philosophy unlearnt in schools, 
 
 And filled thee with the wealth of hope, and shed 
 
 A halo round thee of unmingled peace. 
 
 Oh, may I seek, like thee, life's noblest ends, 
 
 Aiming to garland it with flowers and gems, 
 
 Celestial religion to combine 
 
 With duty and philosophy, as 
 
 The Graces' hands were joined in blissful dance
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. 119 
 
 In Academian groves ; or like those suns 
 
 Triplex, by astronomic ken beheld 
 
 In heaven, whose complementary hues 
 
 Declare them from one fountain. Thus to live 
 
 May it be mine ; thus to illustrate life 
 
 And make earth radiant with the light of heaven ! 
 
 ' S. J. BAND. 
 ' GLOSSOP, 
 
 ' Aztgttst 3, 1874.' 
 
 ' IN MEMORY OF THE LATE 
 
 JOHN S MED LEY, ESQ., 
 
 OF RIBER CASTLE. 
 ' "And they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy." 
 
 ' Calmly the sun uprose, another day 
 
 Filled with its amber light the silent room, 
 As with the dawn a spirit passed away 
 
 Passed to the " shining shore " beyond the tomb. 
 
 ' Yearning we stand beside the hallowed earth, 
 
 With stricken hearts and sorrow that is pain ; 
 For well we know, as we record his worth, 
 We ne'er shall gaze upon his like again. 
 
 ' Silent the voice, and stilled the true, warm heart 
 
 That lived for others, and who counted dross 
 All things that spoke not of the " better part," 
 
 A Saviour's love, and Calvary's blood-stained cross. 
 
 ' He passed away as fades the setting sun 
 
 In western skies. His harvest-field was white, 
 His sheaves were gathered, and his work was done : 
 The Master called him for the crown of light. 
 
 ' His works shall live, though midst the holy dead, 
 
 Live in our hearts, and homes, and shrined above ; 
 And future ages, when long years have sped, 
 
 Shall speak of him with reverence and with love. 
 
 'MRS. HOBSON FARRAND. 
 
 'MATLOCK.'
 
 120 THE SMEDLEYS OF MAT LOCK BANK 
 
 The writer saw, when visiting Riber Castle, a book bound 
 in black, in which Mrs. Smedley had arranged a large 
 number of letters of condolence, etc., on the decease of 
 her husband. A few of these he ventures to give to his 
 readers : 
 
 ' I fear that his valuable life has been prematurely ended 
 by his large-hearted and self-denying work for the benefit 
 of others, thousands of whom still live to bless his memory ; 
 and how many more who, through his influence, have entered 
 into rest, would welcome him on that glorious day when 
 the battle of life was ended and the victory won. I know, 
 dear Mrs. Smedley, how you must feel the loss of such a 
 husband, and we all feel the deepest sympathy with you, 
 and pray that He on whom you lean may give you peace 
 and comfort in your time of trial. 
 
 ' December 31, 1874.' 
 
 ' His loss will be felt through a wide circle of friends, as 
 well as relations, his life having been so much devoted 
 to ameliorate the condition and sorrows of others, and to 
 do good to all that needed a helping hand. We have a 
 lively remembrance of his many acts of kindness. 
 
 'C. D. E. 
 
 "July 28, 1874.' 
 
 ' I feel that I must write a few lines to assure you of our 
 deep sympathy with you in your great bereavement, and to 
 join in with the hundreds I may say thousands who will 
 feel that by the death of your dear husband they have lost 
 a friend indeed. I am sure that we can from our hearts 
 say so, for I believe that, under God's hand, he was instru- 
 mental in twice saving my life. 
 
 ' JAMES W. B. 
 , 1874.'
 
 TESTIMONIES, INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES, ETC. 121 
 
 ' FROM S. MORLEY, ESQ., HALL PLACE, TONBRIDGE. 
 
 ' I knew your husband, I suppose, probably longer than 
 most of his friends, and have seen him under many phases, 
 and remember with pleasure not only the universal kind- 
 ness of his nature, but the equity which characterized all 
 his dealings during many years and in very large transac- 
 tions. But he is now at rest, and with him sorrow and 
 sighing are at an end. As one after another is removed 
 from the ranks, I pray that we may be found looking for- 
 ward with increasing confidence and anticipation to a re- 
 union with those who are gone before. 
 
 'August 3, 1874.' 
 
 In the Guard Book there is a small card with floral orna- 
 mentation. A circle is drawn upon the card, and twelve 
 spaces are made by drawing lines from the centre to the 
 circumference. In one of these is written the word ' Trust.' 
 In the others the following Scripture references : 
 
 Prov. xxii. 19 ; xxviii. 25 ; xxx. 5 ; Ruth ii. 12 ; Ps. iv. 5 ; 
 xxxvii. 3, 40 ; cxxv. i ; cxli. 8 ; Isa. xxvi. 4 ; Jer. xvii. 7 ; 
 Nahum i. 7. 
 
 These well repay for looking out. ' Trust ' is the burden. 
 I ask my readers to do this in a devotional spirit, and 
 imagine they hear the beautiful musical voice of the late 
 lady reading them. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, London.
 
 A 000 103 714 2