FROGGAT EDGE. "In the western sky, the downward sun THOMSON. 21 Notwithstanding the promise of a most lovely morning, we had a day of partial rain. A sweet evening succeeded, and the sun set with unusual splendour. A bright gleam of light burst from the clouds which yet rested on the western horizon, and spread a rich misty glow over the woods and the Palace of Chatsworth. "'Twas one of those ambrosial eves Bright hours atone for dark ones past, "And whose sweet tears o'er wrong forgiven, From this commanding station the steep ridge of mountains called FROGGAT EDGE form the back-ground of Stoke Hall. They are the loftiest eminences on this part of the Peak, and their towering summits are often covered with clouds. Stern, rugged, and apparently impassable, they frown over the valley below; from whence, to an active and ardent imagination, they look like "the barrier of unwrought space." 1 "A rocky coronet adorns their brows; "A verdant wreath, with purple heath-bells gay M. S. Many of the hills in this part of Derbyshire are thus turreted, and Froggat Edge presents a striking specimen of their prevailing character. Generally their summits are unblessed with verdure; and they look as if at some remote period their soil had been washed away by the rains of heaven, and their heads left bald by the storms of time. From Stoke we passed by a pleasant road to Eyam, a village containing about one hundred houses, scattered over a gently rising ground, and chiefly inhabited by miners. Hills of steep ascent rise high above the village on one side; on the other the view is bounded, at a distance of several miles, by the mountains in the neighbourhood of Calver, Baslow, and Chatsworth. Night had now closed upon us; and as we were aware that Eyam would occupy our attention the greatest part of the following day, we paid a hasty visit to the church-yard there, and then proceeded through a narrow craggy defile to Middleton Dale. The moon rose majestically over the hills: the soft dubious light thrown on the rocky projections, the dark mass of intervening shadow, and the obscurity that now pervaded this wild and singular dale, wonderfully enhanced its grandeur. We passed it in silence, as if we feared to disturb the stillness of the scene, and interrupt its solitude by conversation. The uncertainty in which the mind is involved when it contemplates objects undefined in form, and only indistinctly seen, is a source of sublime and elevated feeling. Participating the emotions thus excited, we leisurely rambled down the dale to Stoney Middleton, where we took up our residence at the Moon Inn. Here we found excellent accommodations, a neat room, a clear fire, civil treatment, and good beds. The long chain of mountain we had previously passed on our way from Sheffield, is generally denominated EAST MOOR. It is the barrier that separates the coal and limestone districts of Derbyshire, and it constitutes an enormous stratum of millstone grit. The highest hills on the opposite side of the Derwent are of similar formation, but more argillaceous and laminated: they rest on an immense bed of limestone, which, in one direction, extends from Eyam beyond the river Wye. At Middleton, where it makes its first appearance, it has evidently been rent asunder by some strong convulsion in nature, at a period of time too remote for historical record. A great variety of shells and marine impressions are found in the rocks, and the rugged walls in the dale contain many curious combinations of organic remains. No part of the kingdom is better calculated to facilitate the study of mineralogy and geology, than the Peak of Derbyshire it is here that nature, in a peculiar way, lays bare her operations. The various strata here exhibited, in some places highly elevated, in others greatly depressed, and broken into rents and chasms by frequent dislocations, unfold the interior formation of the earth we inhabit, and carry the mind back to that era of time when it was shaken and tumbled together, and the hills and dales assumed their present form and posi <tions. GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 23 Whitehurst, in his theory of the formation of the earth, has deduced his most powerful arguments from the strata of Derbyshire, which, he contends, exhibit irrefragable testimony of their volcanic origin. St. Fond, who entertained a differ ent opinion, professes his astonishment, that a man so gifted as Whitehurst should discover any proofs in support of his peculiar theory, in a country where, as he remarks, "every thing is evidently of an aqueous origin." Thus it is that the disciples of Werner and Hutton, the Neptunists and the Vulcanists of the present geological school, support their different theories from appearances strikingly similar, if not essentially the same. The basaltic stratum which, in various places, alternates with calcareous rock, and which is provincially called toadstone, has furnished Whitehurst with his most triumphant arguments: that it is obviously and indisputably lava, he maintains, cannot be denied. Wherever it occurs, it occupies and fills up the space that intervenes between the different limestone strata ; and the manner in which it cuts off or intercepts the metallic veins is, in his opinion, conclusive on the subject. It may be here remarked, that though the toadstone of Derbyshire differs materially in its external appearance, it has one general character by which all its varieties are decidedly marked. So indeed has lava. It breaks with an equal fracture in all directions: so does volcanic lava. It is likewise of various colours: so are the lavas of Etna and Vesuvius, and there is a striking similarity in their internal structure. I have attentively examined more than a hundred specimens of lava, now in my possession, and have repeatedly compared them with the toadstones of Derbyshire, without being able to detect any thing like a characteristic difference; and I have now by me a tablet composed of nine varieties of each, which forcibly illustrates their general affinity. most The lavas of Etna exhibit every degree of compactness and hardness, from the close texture of granite and marble to the The interior of the molten mass, being geneporous. rally in a more fluid state, when hot and flowing, differs in appearance from that which floated on the surface; and the part which appears to have been in immediate contact with the earth is, in many instances, but little more compact than half-burnt clay. I have indeed observed only one specimen of lava that does not closely correspond with some one or 24 EFFECTS OF A BRISK WIND. other of the toadstones of Derbyshire: it is of a dark blueishgreen colour, intermixed with streaks of a dirty earthy yellow; and it contains a great number of quartz crystals of various sizes, sometimes closely imbedded in the surrounding matter, and sometimes congregated together in small caverns. I feel it would be presumption in one so superficially acquainted with geology, to offer an opinion on a subject necessarily requiring long previous investigation. I shall therefore, after first apologizing for the preceding observations, resume the detail of my excursions, reserving to myself the privilege of again adverting to the subject on my visit to Matlock Dale; where, if I am not mistaken, a vein of lead ore occurs, and is regularly worked, in a stratum of toadstone. This fact indeed is far from being fatal to the theory of Whitehurst, as several instances of metallic veins being found in the very craters of volcanoes are known to exist.* The following morning we revisited Stoke: the sun that had set so gloriously the preceding evening, and seemed to give "The promise of a golden day to-morrow," A brisk was partially obscured with clouds when he arose. wind prevailed, which we did not regret, as it imparted to the scenery around us a pleasing variety, and impressed upon the mind a new train of images. At intervals the sun shone brightly in the heavens; the clouds were driven rapidly along by the violence of the gale: every object was at one moment strongly illuminated, then instantaneously dark with shadow. The quickness of the change, the freshness of the breeze, the elastic motion of the branches of the trees as they strained and struggled with the blast, the rustling of the leaves, —all conspired to produce a very interesting effect. Motion, amidst the eternal repose of fixed objects in nature, is always pleasing to the eye, and frequently exhilarating to the mind. The course of clouds, changing place, and shape, and colour continually; the flight of birds, whether suddenly startled from the bushes, sailing aloft in the air, or darting to and fro near the earth; the visible lapse of waters in the variable bed of a river; the fluttering of the foliage of hedge * Gold-mine in the island of Ischia. The whole island is entirely volcanic. Breislat Mine of mercury at Guanca Velica, is in the crater of a volcano; and also the gold-mine of Naggag. - Bakewell on Geology. row trees, or the verdant undulations of a sea of wood, tossing in the gale and shifting its lights and shadows in the sun; the revolutions of a water-wheel or a wind-mill; the alternate glimpse and disappearance of carriages on an interrupted line of road; the progress of solitary passengers seen here and there in contrary directions; the rambling of animals, herds on the mountains, sheep on their walks; - all these various forms of motion, if such they may be called, either present life, or resemble it, and excite peculiar feelings of sympathy, curiosity, and pleasure. These are but the adventitious adornments of a landscape; they are, nevertheless, some of its richest and most attractive appendages. Rocks and hills, dales, plains, and mountains, are fixed and permanent; their forms and their positions change not. Unvisited by life and motion, they repose in undisturbed tranquillity, and their stillness is often grand and awful; but their most picturesque effects are transient and incidental. The beauties of Stoke have often excited the admiration of travellers. It is indisputably one of the most delightful mansions in the north of Derbyshire; and though not sufficiently capacious for the purposes of magnificence and splendour, it might yet be selected as a fit and happy home for the comforts and elegances of life. Its architecture is neat and simple- neither poor for want of ornament, nor gaudy with profusion; and it stands on a graceful eminence near the brink of the river, embosomed in some of the most lovely wood-scenery in Derbyshire. The Derwent, as it passes the grounds of Stoke, is a noble stream; black with shadow, it moves majestically along, its dark surface occasionally relieved by the transparent reflection of the foliage which overhangs its banks. This beautiful place was formerly the residence of Orlando Bridgman, Esq., now Lord Bradford, of Weston Hall, in Staffordshire. It is at present occupied by Robert Arkwright, Esq., a grandson of the late Sir Richard Arkwright; a man who was the artificer of his own fortune, the founder of a highly respectable family, and a benefactor to the commerce of his country. Returning over the fields to Middleton, and descending by a by-path from a farm-house on the brow of the hill, we had a pleasing view of the village, which is romantically situated at the entrance into Middleton Dale. The cottages |