:-NRLF 
 
 SB Eb 1 * E5M 
 
IN MEM0EIAM 
 
 -LCJ-& 
 
KING COAL'S LEVEE, 
 
 OR 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ETIQUETTE, 
 

 Printed by Strahan ?nd Spottiswoodc, 
 Printers-Street, London. 
 
KING COAL'S LEVEE, 
 
 OR 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ETIQUETTE, 
 
 WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES ; 
 
 AND THI 
 
 COUNCIL OF THE METALS. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 tO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 BARON BASALT'S TOUR. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN ; 
 AND J. UVHAM, BATH. 
 
 1820. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THE first Edition of this Poem consisted of a Jew copies 
 only, for private distribution. It has notv more than 
 doubled its former size: and the author begs leave to 
 acknowledge his obligations to the Rev. W. Conybeare 
 of Christ Church, Oxford, for .his scientific hints 
 towards the enlargement of the Text ; and to the 
 Rev. W. BucJcland, Professor of Mineralogy and Geo- 
 logy in that University, for his kind assistance in con* 
 siderable additions to the Notes. 
 
KING COAL'S LEVEE, 
 
 OR 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ETIQUETTE. 
 
 - come, come; I am a King, 
 
 My masters, know you that ? 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 THE reader will observe that this work is only intended 
 to exhibit the geological features, and order of stratifica- 
 tion of England and Wales. 
 
KING COAL'S LEVEE, 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ETIQUETTE. 
 
 MAIL shadowy power and subterranean state ! 
 
 Still may such pomp around the monarch wait, 
 
 Still may the grovelling herd in silent awe 
 
 Bend at his throne, and make his nod their law. 
 
 And may some minstrel soul in happier vein, 5 
 
 With high-ton' d harp, in louder loftier strain, 
 
 Spread through this middle world the glories of his 
 
 reign ! 
 
 King COAL, the mighty hero of the mine, 
 Sprung from a dingy, but a far-fam'd line, 
 Who, fathoms deep, in peace our earth possest, 10 
 Curb'd but in sway by ocean's billowy breast, 
 Would hold a Levee : by such gorgeous scene 
 To please PYRITES, his alluring queen. 
 Would wield the sceptre sovereign fate decreed, 
 Enforce obedience, smile the welcome meed, 15 
 
 And prove his pow'r from Vectis to the Tweed, 
 B 
 
Forth flew the mandate ; earthquakes through the land 
 Spoke in hoarse tones the monarch's high command : 
 Air caught the sounds, and in expansion free. 
 Spread the deep word to Albion's circling sea. 20 
 
 Each pond'rous sire, each grave or sprightly dame, 
 Must bow before the prince of smoke and flame ; 
 Must bend their steps, howe'er unus'd to rove, 
 
 To greet the dusky King, and his resplendent love. 
 
 On ebon throne, with choicest gems enlaid, 25 
 
 Sat the two tenants of earth's darkest shade ; 
 She bright and blithe, and blooming as the spring. 
 He stern and stately, " every inch a King." 
 From vaulted roof, in glist'ning arches turn'd, 
 Around the throne the silv'ry gas-lights burn'd; 30 
 Rose high in air, with soft ethereal fire, 
 That left the day no object of desire. 
 Mirrors of MICA, black, red, green, and white, 
 Mingling a rich and parti-colour'd light, 
 Suspensive dwelt those silv'ry suns between, 35 
 
 And pour'd their changeful splendor on the scene. 
 
 On either side, at awful distance, stood 
 The subtle-minded gnomes, a swarthy brood ; 
 The monarch's pages they, well train'd to beai* 
 His instant mandates through earth, sea, or air. 4-0 
 Ethereal spirits, but to visual ray 
 Now bodied forth, in habits rich and gay : 
 With tinsel stars upon each velvet dress ; 
 
 Conductors of the eye to ugliness ! 
 
Each in his hand a staff of office bore, 45 
 
 And grave they stood as mutes beside the dead man's 
 door. 
 
 Beneath the queen so costly and so bright, 
 The maids of honour, rob'd in purest white, 
 Soft-smiling beauties, cheer'd the dazzled sight. 
 As in mild summer-nights the gazer sees, 50 
 
 When Heaven is fair, and hush'd is every breeze, 
 The constellation of the Pleiades. 
 
 Behind the throne, triumphant music shed 
 Its loudest notes around the monarch's head. 
 The shrill-tongued trumpet, and the deep bassoon, 55 
 And cymbal, emblem of the pale-fac'd moon, 
 From full-blown cheeks, and brawny arms combine 
 To wake the drowsy echoes of the mine. 
 
 Earth shook, and well it might; for now the throng 
 In indolent procession mov'd along : 60 
 
 Mov'd, and around a hollow murmur sent ; 
 Mov'd on, and star'd, and wonder'd how they went. 
 
 What boots it here, in glowing verse to tell 
 The dire events earth's puppets that befell ; 
 What boots it here, though earth affrighted saw 65 
 Another Lisbon yield to nature's law ; 
 Though thousands died, it but abridg'd the span 
 That fate allotted to the creature man. 
 Rocks moving harmless would indeed be rare ! 
 Sufficient for our purpose, they were there, 70 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 They met, they marshall'd, all in order due. 
 Nor master of the ceremonies knew. 
 No hasty word, no brooding spirit rose, 
 Spark of hostility, and nurse of foes, 
 Precedence quick its lucid progress show'd : 75 
 
 Have mortals always trod this tranquil road ? 
 The rich saloon, the anti-room they pass'd, 
 And reach' d the spacious presence-hall at last. 
 Duke GRANITE first ; a hoary-headed sire, 
 Yet blest with symptoms of primaeval fire, 80 
 
 That beam'd across the traces of -decay, 
 As vivid tints illume departing day. 
 Of solid parts, of judgment ne'er asleep, 
 And had through life been reckon' d very deep. 
 Announc'd by GNEISS, with dignity he came ; 85 
 
 King COAL arose, as did his graceful dame ; 
 And welcomed him, as one in high command, 
 Who bore the greatest burthen in the land. 
 There was as far as our researches go 
 No slight foundation for their thinking so. 9( 
 
 That GNEISS was but a weather-beaten man, 
 (And Queen PYRITES smil'd behind her fan,) 
 With shanks so small, and such a thin-sown pate, 
 He was indeed in decomposing state. 
 Youth will indulge in levity ; but age 95 
 
 Reads the words written on life's fading page : 
 And most we feel for those who shar'd our way 
 In joy or grief, from youth's attractive day. 
 
Thence did the Duke esteem of sterling price 
 That lonely man the weather-beaten GNEISS ; 100 
 
 And prov'd at once his master, and his friend, 
 Determin'd to support him to the end. 
 
 Next, Marquis SLATE that aged pair reliev'd, 
 And was indeed most graciously receiv'd. 
 Here did he court an advantageous light, 105 
 
 But to the world he was a testy wight : 
 Would split with his best friends upon occasions slight. 
 Of wealth abundant, from his Cornish vales ; 
 Own'd too a principality in Wales ; 
 And gaz'd from Cumbria's hills, with pleasing glow, 110 
 Upon each liquid mirror spread below. 
 Of proud pretensions, and exalted mien, 
 Grac'd by the visits of the glittering queen ; 
 For on his azure couches oft reclin'd, 
 She gave to soothing indolence her mind. 115 
 
 Or in the bow'r his loyal service form'd, 
 (When summer suns the sloping strata warm'd,) 
 Around D&ndrites link'd each bright festoon, 
 To screen her slumbers from the eye of noon. 
 
 But what are honours? what are fame and wealth, 120 
 Deprived of that divinest blessing, health ? < 
 Long had convulsions dire the Marquis vex'd, 
 Long had his case the faculty perplex'd. 
 Seiz'd by strong hand invisible, he lay 
 Shatter' d and writhing in the face of day ; 125 
 
 3 
 
The doctors met, look'd solemn, talk'd, and heard, 
 
 With many a hard sesquipedalian word ; 
 
 " 'Twas strange, 'twas passing strange, 'twas wonderful!" 
 
 Yet all in vain they clubb'd each learned scull, 
 
 Endless contention all the fruit it bore : 130 
 
 They went, they came, prescribing o'er and o'er, 
 
 And pocketing their fees, no wiser than before. 
 
 If they unriddled not, oh ! how should we ? 
 
 " Who can decide, when doctors disagree?" 
 
 Then Countess PORPHYRY came, a dowager, 135 
 
 In portly person few could equal her. 
 
 She stepped with careless air, with heavy tread, 
 
 In sober garb, and with dishevell'd head ; 
 
 Nor wore the sanguine robe on Albion's coast, 
 
 That still she owns, her bright Egyptian boast. 140 
 
 PYRITES bridling, thought her dress quite shocking, 
 
 Till the king whisper' d, " she's a prime blue stocking : 
 
 " And literary dames, you know, profess 
 
 " To soar above such small concerns as dress" 
 
 Then in the hall Earl SERPENTINE was seen, 145 
 A handsome man, and clad in forest green : 
 Of small possessions, though his rank was high, 
 He bow'd, and pass'd almost unheeded by. 
 The Earl had been a spendthrift, his demesne 
 Had vanish'd like the summer-drops of rain, 150 
 
 When soft they fall upon the thirsty plain : 
 Till costs of law, in actions to defend, 
 Had driven him, aye, almost to the Land's End. 
 
Next Viscount SIENITE the presence sought, 
 (A strong resemblance of the Duke some thought,) 155 
 Proffer'd his bow with elegance and ease, 
 Like one who deem'd himself quite sure to please:" 
 Like one who felt he might command respect : 
 
 For large possessions will have that effect. 
 
 As such the King receiv'd him, passing well; 160 
 
 And from his princely lip some bright things fell, 
 
 But what they were, no one could ever tell. 
 He was a mirthful peer, he lov'd a jest, 
 
 And, of philosophers, had oft exprest 
 He thought Democritus by far the best. 165 
 
 And to one HORNBLENDE closely was attach' d, 
 Who for dry humour could be seldom match'd : 
 Indeed so intimate these worthies grew, 
 That whosoever, casting round his view, 
 Could see the Viscount, would see HORNBLENDE 
 too. 170 
 
 Then Count GRAUWACKE resolutely strode, 
 Who made our isle but lately his abode : 
 Of frame robust, and freckled face was he, 
 
 By wizard Werner bred in Saxony. 
 
 Werner, whose pow'r, by kindling fancy led, 175 
 
 O'er the dull Nucleus each light coating spread, 
 As ocean revell'd on its spacious bed. 
 With zealous care each shrinking cleft explor'd, 
 And there the rich metallic treasures pour'd, 
 To earth's deep-delving sons an unexhausted hoard. 180 
 B 4 
 
8 
 
 On came the Count; his greas'd mustachios twiiTd, 
 
 And the grey fume of Indian weed unfurl'd, 
 
 Till, wrapp'd in vapoury banner, scarce was seen 
 
 The soldierly salute he paid the Queen. 
 
 PYRITES whisper'd in the monarch's ear, 185 
 
 " Defend me, Sire; oh! let him not come near! 
 
 " What brings that fumigating monster here?" 
 
 To her the King replied, " This fertile realm 
 
 " The Count hath sought, as Justice rul'd the helm ; 
 
 " She steer'd his course across yon northern sea, 190 
 
 " She cheer r d his hopes for legal victory. 
 
 " On Marquis SLATE a harsh usurper's name 
 
 " GRAUWACKE p,ours, and strives to prove the same: 
 
 " Searcher of titles, the demesne of SLATE 
 
 " He calls his own ; excludes not one estate : 195 
 
 " Keen in the strife, would see the Marquis driven 
 
 " From every inch he owns beneath the Heaven. 
 
 " But if the law, with gouty step, moves on 
 
 " All tortoise-like, as it hath lately gone, 
 
 " The Count, amid postponements and revision, 200 
 
 " May die, smoke dried, before the last decision." 
 
 PYRITES smil'd, and sweetly deign'd to say 
 
 That Shakspeare mention' d too " the law's delay." 
 
 Near these disputed lands; in Cumbria's vale, 
 Within thy bounds, romantic Borrodale! 205 
 Liv'd one PLUMBAGO, of mix'd parentage, 
 But as a drawing-master quite the rage. 
 
9 
 
 A shining character upon the whole, 
 
 And distantly related to King COAL : 
 
 But ah! that honour was of little weight, 210 
 
 For his was but a melancholy fate! 
 
 The object of tyrannic pow'r was he, 
 
 They held him barr'd in close captivity : 
 
 At stated times his godds they bore away, 
 
 And sold them boldly, in the face of day. 215 
 
 But such effect had their vile treatment wrought, 
 
 He could not last much longer, it was thought. 
 
 Next came the elder SANDSTONE, jolly fellow! 
 In good society was ever mellow: 
 
 Which spread as oft it will in such a case 220 
 A rubicund diffusion o'er his face'. 
 He was a staid old toper; one who sat 
 Firm on his chair, though blind as any bat. 
 The younger SANDSTONE met no voice of praise, 
 He had not steer' d his course by virtue's rays, 225 
 But truth pronounc'd him given to loose ways. 
 His brother waited 'mid the marshall'd throng 
 For his arrival, and had waited long ; 
 He came not ; and with patience fairly spent 
 Old SANDSTONE to the presence-chamber went. 230 
 
 Yet some allowance might be justly made, 
 We should not be too hasty to upbraid, 
 Between the brothers a fair manor lay, 
 That own'd the great Sir Lawrence LIMESTONE'S sway : 
 B 5 
 
10 
 
 Some crown-lands also yearly profit pour'd 235 
 
 To aid the splendor of the monarch's board. 
 Another cause too shall the Muse produce, 
 Alone sufficient to enforce excuse. 
 His youth was wildly pass'd, but time will mend 
 Our early frolics; all things have their end. 24-0 
 
 He had redeem'd his fame in some degree, 
 And of the married state thought feasibly: 
 Had to Miss GYPSUM due attention shown, 
 And trusted soon to call the fair his own ; 
 For she was fair, aye, and an heiress too, 245 
 
 Which might account for such attention due. 
 But oh ! her beauty could wake small delight, 
 Compar'd with her sweet cousin SELENITE : 
 Into whose eyes were one peep only given, 
 The gazer might be snatch' d, Mohammed-like, to 
 Heaven. 250 
 
 But she was born no riches to inherit; 
 And poor relations have but little merit. 
 
 These rosy brothers such resemblance bore, 
 That strangers were mistaken o'er and o'er. 
 In every step of business they transacted, 255 
 
 A comedy of errors quite was acted : 
 Nay, poor Miss GYPSUM scarcely could descry 
 Which of the SANDSTONES she was courted by. 
 
 The younger too was deem'd a witty cub, 
 Dispenser of the dry facetious rub : 260 
 
11 
 
 SALT was in all the speeches that he made, 
 
 But not the genuine attic, I'm afraid. 
 
 None but himself possess'd this darling pow'r, 
 
 This true enlivener of the wintry hour : 
 
 The old one, sober, was a heavy soul ; 265 
 
 Had but one joke, and crack'd it o'er the bowl. 
 
 The race of SANDSTONE could produce some others, 
 But not with joyous faces, like these brothers: 
 Poor puny things, with white and sickly looks, 
 Or pale and spotted, like worm-eaten books : 270 
 
 Had nothing in their air that was commanding, 
 Nor blest with any depth of understanding. 
 They might indeed their seats in silence take 
 At the King's board, for old acquaintance sake, 
 To smile at every Jadaise he should say, 275 
 
 But it was always in a private way. 
 Such meagre forms, not one of all the bevy, 
 Could make a decent figure at a levee : 
 They wisely therefore dubb'd their two relations, 
 Their representatives in these for mat ions. 280 
 
 Degenerate beings ! uselessly ye claim 
 A pedigree from one illustrious name : 
 How ill such Lilliputian trim assorts 
 With line collateral from the great Lord QUARTZ! 
 This to the elder branch precedence gave, .285 
 Sons of that peer now slumb'ring in the grave. 
 
 But time beheld the marriage-honours grace 
 These puny youths, and LIMESTONE'S blooming race: 
 And hardy were their sons, and handsomer in face. 
 
12 
 
 Old SANDSTONE still stood curv'd in awkward 
 bow, 290 
 
 And studying to retreat, he scarce knew how ; 
 When, with firm step, and features mark'd by thought, 
 Sir Lawrence LIMESTONE the high presence sought. 
 He was a man of stern and grasping soul, 
 Extensive districts bow'd to his controul. 295 
 
 Of humour fertile, others gloom to mark ; 
 Yet could himself at times look very dark ; 
 Rather forgetful of his friends, when parted ; 
 Nay, sometimes he had seem'd quite hollow-hearted. 
 The fame of wealth he very justly bore, 300 
 
 Could always boast of pockets lin'd with ore, 
 Though annual thousands from those pockets ran 
 In dilettanti whims, that mark'd the man. 
 
 A virtuoso, love of nature rul'd 
 
 At times his mind, and every action school'd. 305 
 
 His was the pleasing duty to unfold 
 
 What " ocean's dark unfathom'd caverns" hold : 
 
 Each spiral tube fantastically wreath'd ; 
 
 Each chamber'd shell in pearly lustre sheath'd ; 
 
 The blushing star; the sea-flower's lillied head, 310 
 
 With flexile stalk upon its rocky bed, 
 
 Articulated, curving with light sweep ; 
 
 And all the living antlers of the deep. 
 
 His was the pleasing duty to preside 
 
 Where science spread her reign sublimely wide; 315 
 
 His to direct a bright and chosen band 
 
 In sage researches o'er the sea and land ; 
 
13 
 
 His to trace nature through her wildest pranks, 
 
 And second only to Sir Joseph Banks. 
 
 To chemistry Sir Lawrence too inclined, 320 
 
 With all his wonted energy of mind. 
 
 Combin'd his agents in proportions due, 
 
 TKen forth the healing mineral waters drew : 
 
 Saline, sulphureous, or bright sharp carbonic, 
 
 Mildly aperient, or as mildly tonic ; 325 
 
 All in the brimming glass went freely round, 
 
 All willing throats, but squeamish stomachs found. 
 
 Where airy Harrowgate oft reads the trace 
 
 Of deep disgust on woman's lovely face, 
 
 Where Avon's tide runs muddy to the sea 330 
 
 From Bristol seat of quiet luxury, 
 
 Where Matlock looks from its romantic vale 
 
 On frowning hills, that storms in vain assail, 
 
 To great Sir 'Lawrence flow'd unceasing wealth, 
 
 And to earth's happy sons increasing health. 335 
 
 As oft in these our upper realms we see, 
 His taste descended to his progeny ; 
 But the wide means fate sternly swept away, 
 Nor ore, nor coin, within their coffers lay : 
 Land they possess'd, aye, many a fertile rood, 340 
 And nicknacks they collected as they could. 
 Where went the wealth that should such taste advance? 
 Perhaps exported, to be spent in France. 
 As for the coin ; the Bank might haply tell 
 How of that medium, such dire dearth befell: 345 
 
14. 
 
 Coin, of late years, and years of sorest need, 
 Hath been a scarce commodity indeed. 
 Of the world's wonders, earliest seen, or latest, ; 4 
 A realm on paper-diet is the greatest ! 
 
 Four sons had great Sir Lawrence; and the four 350 
 A different stamp of mental habits bore. 
 The first but here the Muse would fain suppress 
 The Baronet's gay youthful thoughtlessness, 
 Did not all-ruling Truth the theme pervade ; 
 She says, " reveal," and she must be obey'd, 355 
 The first illicit love to being call'd, 
 When fair MAGNESIA his warm soul enthrall'd : 
 Long at her feet he breath'd the ardent vow; 
 Ere yet the lineal honours grac'd his brow. 
 This was the fruit; and on his sallow face 360 
 
 A mother's fondness might her features trace ; 
 Her temper too around the stripling clung, 
 Display' d in quick causticity of tongue. 
 Cast on the world, a father's warmth unknown. 
 *ihe part he played in life was all his own : 365 
 
 In him the younger SANDSTONE promptly found 
 A led companion through each freakish round. 
 
 The next was LIAS LIMESTONE, hight Esquire, 
 Perhaps the nearest emblem of his Sire ; 
 Born, happier youth, in wedlock's holy bands, 370 
 And blest with wider and more fertile lands, 
 Endow'd with active mind and feelings strong, 
 He might have walk'd respected 'mid the throng, 
 
15 
 
 Had he not yielded up his sense of right 
 
 To one Jack CLAY, a noted parasite; 375 
 
 Whose mind with his would just such contrast hold, 
 
 As brass pourtrays when rang'd by sterling gold. 
 
 Beneath such guidance, to fair virtue* s meed, 
 
 To good men's praise, oh ! how could he succeed ! 
 
 Explain this enigmatic influence ? 380 
 
 Why thus it stands, Art versus Indolence 
 O'er him, in sensual pleasure drowning worth, 
 Night sorrowing wept, and day came blushing forth. 
 
 On LIAS had a father's care bestow'd 
 The knowledge whence his riches partly flow'd. 385 
 In that bright theatre of fashion's dreams 
 Where Bladud first disclos'd hygeiah streams, 
 Where gouty peers, and dowagers of wealth, 
 In floating robes, are parboil'd into health, 
 And where gay Cheltenham from her double urn 390 
 Grants sickly visitants a blest return, 
 Form'd by his skill, the crystal waters drew 
 From the mix'd votaries ample revenue. 
 But CLAY was purse-bearer ; and to be sure 
 Knew well the reason why his friend was poor. 395 
 
 Of native genius blest with ample store, 
 Squire LIAS nurs'd one useful talent more. 
 On the smooth stone he bade the graver trace 
 The mimic form, the well-rem ember 'd face ; 
 Thence quick transferr'd, the fond memorial bear 400 
 To the sad sire's or hapless lover's care, 
 Seeking the summer-shade, to weep in silence there. 
 
16 
 
 The third young worthy, sprung from Limestone Hall, 
 Was Mr. OOLITE, plump, pale, and tall ; 
 But delicate whene'er from home he came, 405 
 
 Till sun and air had brac'd his languid frame. 
 Calm was his soul, on building only warm ; 
 Square, paragon, and crescent, every form 
 That art masonic on our earth hath laid 
 He aptly knew, and lent his needful aid. 4-10 
 
 He too, where Bladud's boiling springs arise, 
 Joy'd in the city's still increasing size ; 
 And, gazing forth to Lansdowne's airy site, 
 Said with a smile, " Behold my lawful right !" 
 He came not to the Levee ; the harsh sound, 415 
 The heaving shock that spread that mandate round, . 
 And earth's convulsions at the gathering throng, 
 Were far too much for nerves at no time strong. 
 He penn'd a card of elegant excuse, 
 (For where he liv'd such things are much in use,) 420 
 And written too with such exceeding ease 
 That good King COAL could read no words but these, 
 " An accident" "prevent him" " stranger" 
 
 " quarry" 
 " Contract for building" % " homage" " queen'' 
 
 " quite sorry" 
 
 And in a postscript, fanciful and quaint, 425 
 
 Against one Coade he pour'd a sad complaint ; 
 " Baker of stone-work ! forgery express ! 
 " He hop'd the King would issue straight redress." 
 
17 
 
 The youngest son to CHALK had chang'd his name, 
 Some large estates had fee'd him to the same, 430 
 That through the southern shores of Albion's Isle, 
 And eastward turning, ran for many a mile. 
 Of form consumptive, and of sickly hue, 
 Dilapidating coughs he often knew. 
 To writing prone, though not o'er-stock'd with sense ; 435 
 
 A thing with which some writers can dispense. 
 In several counties boasting great connections, 
 Was sure to be return'd on all elections ; 
 
 Poor talents there are no severe objections. 
 
 But since the ministry no zeal exprest 440 
 
 For the sole merit that poor CHALK possest, 
 
 (And those who knew him could with truth aver 
 
 He always wrote with a fair character)) 
 
 He left the house some glib-tongued wight to get, 
 
 And took the Chiltern Hundreds, when it met. 445 
 
 Stay, gentle muse, one moment only stay, 
 Ere to the presence-nail again our way 
 Holds onward, MARL their cousin to pourtray. 
 A flimsy youth was he, of feeble frame, 
 And mind accordant, indolently tame. 450 
 
 His care was safely through this life to get ; 
 
 'Twere dissolution should he once be wet. 
 On the light swell of Albion's southern strand, 
 By radiance warm'd, and mildest breezes fann'd, 
 
 His fair possessions CHALK'S green confines bound 455 
 In emerald chain, to where the white waves sound. 
 
18 
 
 There would the stripling negligently lie, 
 
 Drinking the healthful gale that glided by, 
 
 Whilst round his couch his friends compassion calFd 
 
 For one so young, by sickness thus enthrall'd. 460 
 
 But of those friends two only bore their part 
 
 In list'ning to the sorrows of his heart : 
 
 Young SAND, as weak a lad as well could be, 
 
 (The house of SANDSTONE gave his pedigree,) 
 
 In bonds of friendship twin'd by sympathy ; 465 
 
 The other, CLAY, no bonds but interest tied, 
 
 And if he loiter'd by the couch's side, 
 
 And if he deign' d the merry tale to tell, 
 
 He gain'd his point, and fleec'd the stripling well. 
 
 Around that couch, when forth to Vectis Isle 470 
 
 The youth was borne, to meet fair summer's smile, 
 
 Around that couch (oh ! how are some amus'd !) 
 
 Lay heaps of shells all carelessly diffus'd : 
 
 Alternate produce of the land and main, 
 
 As each appeared to claim alternate reign. 475 
 
 The stripling eyed the baubles with delight, 
 Their pearly wreaths, their arks of purest white. 
 Thus liv'd weak MARL, thus trifled time away, 
 Known but to him by each retiring day ; 
 He bath'd not in the bliss that dwells in wisdom's 
 ray. 480 
 
 Restrain that thought, nor smiles contemptuous wear ! 
 His mind was form'd no brighter lot to bear. 
 
 r 
 
19 
 
 Come, lively muse, our pinions now are free ; 
 Away from this dull realm of pedigree ! 
 To the bright gas-lit dome our course again shall be. 485 
 We left old SANDSTONE bowing ; now alack ! 
 We must release him. Though old SANDSTONE'S back 
 Were supple, as the very best rattan, 
 We must have some compassion on the man ! , 
 We left Sir Lawrence too on homage bent : 490 
 
 He stood, and forth a grand salute he sent ; 
 SANDSTONE then finished his long bow, and went. 
 The lacquey SPAR, in splendid livery drest, 
 At the fair footstool had announc'd the guest ; 
 Then took his station by a swarthy Gnome, 495 
 
 Waiting to light the great Sir Lawrence home : 
 And by that Gnome his clear complexion shdw'd 
 Just like a glow-worm shining by a toad. 
 He was a youth in mathematics vers'd, * 
 Cubes, rhomboids, prisms, he constantly rehears'd : 500 
 To these quaint forms would each spare moment give, 
 And was in aspect very primitive. 
 With graceful gesture, like a well-bred man, 
 And measur'd phrase Sir Lawrence thus began : 
 (PYRITES view'd him with a placid look, 505 
 
 And a large pinch of snuff the monarch took ;) 
 " Most potent Sire, and you, all-beauteous Queen, 
 " Whom to admire is only to have seen, 
 " May your warm feelings glow from joy's increase ! 
 " May your fleet moments know but beams of peace ! 510 
 
20 
 
 " My honoured mother through my tongue commends 
 " Her best respects to you her best of friends : 
 " Deplores the fate that calls her from the shore 
 " Where thus in state she might her homage pour. 
 " Her health declin'd : to Mona's isle she drove, 515 
 " Where fancy sees the druid's shadowy grove ; 
 " Where bold Caractacus, his country's pride, 
 " Caesar and chains alas ! in vain defied. 
 " Thence to that shore where Tamar's waters roll, 
 " Mingling with ocean's wave, their destin'd goal : 520 
 " On which dark wave, reposing from afar, 
 " Float the deep-mouth'd Leviathans of war ; 
 " Unfurling to the visits of the breeze 
 " That flag, acknowledg'd sovereign of the seas : 
 " Where man's high soul the billowy wrath with- 
 " stands, 525 
 
 " And the proud mass fulfils Canute's commands. 
 " Still droop *d she fast : the faculty aver, 
 " In short, that Albion is no place for her. 
 " So to Europa's southern realms she goes, 
 " And fair Italia promises repose : 530 
 
 " Italia, whence her sires exalted sprang, 
 " Where Raphael painted, and where Tasso sang. 
 " I trust your gracious majesties will see 
 " The merits of this brief apology." 
 He spake, andbow'd. The King here turn'd his head, 535 
 And to PYRITES in low accents said ; 
 
21 
 
 " I wish, sweet consort, you could once have seen 
 
 " This Lady MARBLE ; she hath lovely been. 
 
 " Been, did I say ? She is : as I'm alive, 
 
 " You scarce would take her to be thirty-five. 544) 
 
 " Astonishing how well her years she bears ! 
 
 " No muddy skin, no forehead seam'd by cares,' 
 
 " But a complexion, and an eye of light 
 
 " Like a young child's, so beautiful and bright. 
 
 " She shines in native loveliness and grace, 545 
 
 " By far the most attractive of her race. 
 
 " 111 health may be the plea ; her native air 
 
 " May tend the nervous system to repair ; 
 
 " But I should doubt her journey o'er the sea 
 
 " Is prompted by the sex's vanity ; 550 
 
 *' Since she may fancy a more genial ray 
 
 " Will render beauty slower in decay. 
 
 " That lady is most highly polish' d too, 
 
 " Each court of Europe hath she travell'd through. 
 
 " In this our isle indeed, you scarce can quote 555 
 
 " A family of any style or note 
 
 " Where Lady MARBLE cannot freely roam ; 
 
 " Indeed where she may not feel quite at home. 
 
 " I wish," the monarch whisper'd in her ear, 
 
 " That no intrigue be on the tapis here ; 560 
 
 " For I have heard of late repeated mention, 
 
 " Canova pays her very great attention." 
 
 Thus did the King reveal his mighty mind ; 
 
 Then coldly to Sir Lawrence he inclined ; 
 
 Who saw with half an eye how sat the wind, 565 
 
So bow'd again, and quickly pass'd along, 
 Bustling with look important through the throng. 
 The King had coldly view'd him, and no wonder ! 
 He always strove to keep that LIMESTONE under. 
 
 Now stept the younger SANDSTONE, with dull stare, 570 
 And what he meant should be a striking air. 
 And on his arm, Miss GYPSUM, bride elect ; 
 
 She too was plainly aiming at effect. 
 Whilst to the throne all carelessly they came. 
 
 Thus to the King observ'd the smiling dame : 575 
 
 " How like his brother ! The same rosy face ; 
 
 " Only his gait has somewhat more of grace." 
 
 " What of the Lady ?" the dark King replied : 
 
 " Oh ! quite a milliner F' PYRITES cried. 
 
 They now approach'd and paid obeisance due ; 580 
 
 When SANDSTONE many a roguish twinkle threw 
 
 Upon the maids of honour standing near, 
 
 What poor Miss GYPSUM might have called a leer. 
 
 (How will our early habits thus arise, 
 
 And oft betray us to observant eyes !) 585 
 
 But she was busily engag'd, weak elf! 
 
 In thinking of the eyes she drew herself. 
 
 And people, when their thoughts are this way turn'd, 
 
 The acts of others seldom have discern'd : 
 
 The eye and mind together inward go, 590 
 
 And few can look two ways at once, you know. 
 But on that day, full sadly it befell, 
 
 All tongues declared she look'd by no means well : 
 
23 
 
 She was but delicate ; unus'd to bear 
 
 The rude advances of the sun and air. 595 
 
 They glided slowly from the royal sight : 
 
 But where was lovely cousin SELENITE ? 
 
 Left loit'ring in the anti-room. O fie ! 
 
 Miss GYPSUM knew full well the reason why. 
 Scarce had this gentle couple left the ground, 600 
 
 Gazing with soothing self-applause around, 
 Till forth came LIAS, all in armour bound 
 Of ochrey hue ; and clearly non seipse ; 
 Most would have reckon'd him indeed quite tipsy. 
 Of this sweet prank, 'twas palpable as day 605 
 
 He ow'd the merit to his friend Jack CLAY. 
 A helmet high upon his head was reared : 
 Half lizard and half fish its crest appear'd : 
 His shield a shell, that once the tortoise wore, 
 On which, emboss'd, an ammonite he bore: 610 
 
 And at his side, like hunting bugle slung, 
 A shell of Nautilus all loosely hung ; 
 A spear he held, as one prepar'd for fight, 
 And headed with a smooth dark belemnite. 
 And to complete the humours of his style, 615 
 
 Was mounted on a monstrous crocodile. 
 With caps and bells two varlets stalk'd beside, 
 In cloaks, striped blue and grey, that floated wide ; 
 And bade such sounds their airy course unfurl, 
 As, from swollen cheeks, and through the outer 
 whorl 620 
 
 Of broken cornua-ammonis sent, 
 Breath'd no " divine enchanting ravishment." 
 
24 
 
 He trotted round in this uncouth disguise, 
 Till the King, rousing from his first surprise, 
 (Whilst the fair Queen, with shudd'ring thrills of 
 fear, 625 
 
 Kept her hands firm upon each jewell'd ear,) 
 Bade the dark Gnomes, that lin'd the spacious hall, 
 Drive forth the culprit, crocodile and all. 
 Onward they rush'd ; resistance was in. vain ; 
 His shield they crack'd, his spear they snapp'd in 
 twain, 630 
 
 And from his scaly seat they hurl'd him on the plain. 
 Away the struggling drunkard then they bore, 
 Unpacked him from the rusty mail he wore, 
 And left him in the anti-room to snore. 
 Soon he awoke ; and ruling reason too 635 
 
 Waking sad shame, he then look'd very blue. 
 Joy to the strife that wakes no funeral knell ! 
 One dire mischance the muse hath here to tell. 
 Were it but one alas ! 'twere passing well ! 
 Of the King's pages few e'er reach'd their homes ; 64O 
 The crocodile had swallow'd half the Gnomes ! 
 
 CHALK now stept on ; and with him danc'd his joy, 
 That urchin FLINT, a right hard-hearted boy : 
 CHALK lov'd him well, took much concern about him, 
 And, when at home was never seen without him. 64-5 
 The monarch greeted him like any brother, 
 Though they were total strangers to each other, 
 For CHALK, who dwelt in Albion's southern clime, 
 Had never cross'd King COAL at any time. 
 
25 
 
 Low did he bow, and from the presence went, 650 
 
 On the great prince's friendship all intent ; 
 
 And, when alighting on a willing ear, 
 
 (Of no great moment whether it could hear,} 
 
 It serv'd him to discourse on for a year. 
 
 Alas ! how humoursome are invalids ! 655 
 
 And to refuse each wish the bosom bleeds ; 
 We strive but to confine each strange request 
 Within such bounds as may appear the best : 
 But when wild fancy speaks as in command, 
 Domestics seldom dare its force withstand. 660 
 
 VlARL heard the mandate, as his couch he prest, 
 
 woke the youth from unrefreshing rest : 
 [nstant a page was speeded on his way, 
 To call the partner of his soul, Jack CLAY. 
 That worthy friend at Sheppey's Isle was found, 665 
 His own demesne, that crumbling cliffs surround : 
 [Jpon that isle he stood in silent pride, 
 And the rich treasures of its bosom ey'd. 
 What darling treasures could that isle unfold, 
 That CLAY should with such rapturous eye behold ? 670 
 Attend, I pray ; the story shall be told. 
 This is an age in wonders quite prolific ; 
 Ladies must now be very scientific : 
 Then could a queen, and young, and beauteous too, 
 Disdain these stilish studies to pursue ? 675 
 
 I thought as much, you quickly answer " No :" 
 And well you answer, for the fact was so, 
 c 
 
26 
 
 PYRITES then in shells had started quite 
 
 A connoiseuse (I think that term is right) ; 
 
 Went down the genera, and back again, 680 
 
 As readily as children count to ten : 
 
 Told Murices from Strombi vastly well, 
 
 Which, by the by, is more than some can tell, 
 
 Who talk most fluently upon a shell. 
 
 So, credit in Conchology to get, 685 
 
 She thought of forming a choice cabinet : 
 
 Pronounc'd at once her solemn ipsa dixit, 
 
 And bade Jack CLAY in Sheppey Island fix it. 
 
 Nay, as the sex are often in extremes, 
 
 She form'd another cabinet it seems 690 
 
 At Hordwell Cliff, on Hampshire's verdant knoll ; 
 
 And made him, too, curator of the whole, 
 
 Without consulting her good spouse King COAL. 
 
 A bad example ! but perhaps as well ; 
 
 For he, dull soul, knew nothing of a shell. 695 
 
 She bade Jack CLAY too promptly correspond 
 
 With savans, both in Britain and beyond : 
 
 Parading terms, right technical, to pass 
 
 For any thing but what he was, an ass. 
 
 Around, like grape-shot, CLAY'S epistles flew, 700 
 
 An F. R. S. and F. L. S. he grew, 
 
 M. G. and W. S. (so caballistick !) too. 
 
 They handed round each consequential letter, 
 
 And vow'd no man in Europe could write better. 
 
27 
 
 For theory, CLAY heeded not a button 705 
 
 Which triumphed, the Wernerians or Hutton ; 
 
 Whether or not the central heat could act 
 
 To render the loose strata more compact ; 
 
 Whether the draining fluid choak'd each cleft 
 
 That in the coating of the globe was left ; 710 
 
 Whether the veins decreasing, downward go, * 
 
 Or narrowing rise, protruded from below ; 
 
 Whether trap-rocks are stratified or not ; 
 
 Were points for which he never car'd one jot. 
 
 But he would talk, till every guest would stare, 715 
 
 And end by saying that the shells were there. 
 
 All that lie priz'd, was being conservator 
 
 Of his own interest, and the Queen's curator. 
 
 But since research will ever facts produce, 
 
 And facts in better hands will find their use, 720 
 
 CLAY drew from France and fair Italia's shore 
 
 Comparison, that fruits of knowledge bore. 
 
 Seine's chalky vale where bright Lutetia stands, 
 
 And fertile Lombardy's lake-spotted lands, 
 
 And the warm Apennines that southward bent, 725 
 
 Vaunted such shells as he from Hordwell sent. 
 
 But could PYRITES, of aspiring soul, 
 To shells alone her ardent views controul ? 
 No : Botany her thoughts alternate claim'd, 
 And Sheppey's Isle again was justly fam'd : 730 
 
 There did the plants reward her guardian care 
 With fruit and seeds that other climates bear. 
 c 2 
 
28 
 
 Much in exotics the Queen's passion lay, 
 
 But whence, and how they came, none ever knew but 
 
 CLAY. 
 
 Earth's widest realms have been explor'd in vain, 735 
 No prototypes of most on earth remain. 
 These were her chief delight ; on these would rest 
 The sunny glance that fir'd each human breast ; 
 Nor did her thoughts on deathly kindness dwell, 
 As o'er each flower her sweeter breathings fell : 74-0 
 Nor did she deem that faintness and decay 
 Might seize the stem on which her fair hand lay. 
 Alas ! their tender frames reveal'd that pow'r ; 
 What blesses man is poison to a flow'r ! 
 Yet to CLAY'S care she still their relics gave, 74-5 
 
 And Sheppey's Isle became their sea-girt grave ; 
 And o'er those relics oft her tears will flow 
 In bright astringent drops upon the beach below. 
 
 Upon that isle, I said, CLAY ling'ring stood, 
 And westward gaz'd along the ripling flood ; 750 
 
 Shot forth his glance, in conscious pride elate, 
 Smil'd on the scene, and blest his prosperous fate. 
 And well he might ; for on his circling plain 
 The mighty Thames embraced the billowy main : 
 Majestic stream ! the sun, that on thy tide 755 
 
 Spreads its pure blaze of molten silver wide, 
 Sees from all climes, from every fertile shore 
 Earth's tributary treasures largely pour. 
 And well might he gaze on with swelling heart, 
 For in his confines shone the world's great mart ; 760 
 
29 
 
 Where wealth and luxury such means employ, 
 
 As render life one sparkling scene of joy : 
 
 Where art and science, gloriously combin'd, 
 
 Call forth the latent energies of mind : 
 
 Where stands sublime the proudest work of men, 765 
 
 The fabric that immortaliz'd a Wren. 
 
 The page approach'd ; his cap and feather dofFd ; 
 And his Lord's message gave, in accents soft ; 
 Then back with all convenient speed he went : 
 But CLAY just then was not on friendship bent. 770 
 He guess' d the cause of summons, and his pride 
 Bade him avoid the sickly stripling's side. 
 He would not shine amid the courtly throng, 
 Guiding a helpless invalid along; 
 
 So sought delay : and o'er the goblet's brim 775 
 Fuddled Squire LIAS in the interim ; 
 And sent him in that pleasant state, I ween, 
 To vex the King, and terrify the Queen. 
 Then went himself, in but half-tipsy plight, 
 And found poor MARL half dead with pain and 
 fright. 780 
 
 His patience held not, (thus the case was found,) 
 He bade his servants bear him through the ground. 
 They, simple souls, had ne'er been far from home, 
 Unus'd through strata skilfully to roam ; 
 Unvers'd each cleft and cranny to explore, 785 
 
 For where they dwelt none ever heard of Ore ; 
 Against a column, Viscount SJENITE 
 Had built to mark the limits of his right, 
 c 3 
 
30 
 
 Whose summit at Mount Sorrel meets the day, 
 
 Ran the light couch where MARL impatient lay, 790 
 
 And cast him forth upon the solid way. 
 
 They rais'd him ; bruises only were his lot : 
 
 So turn'd their steps, and safely home they got : 
 
 Where lay the youth, and breath'd in whining tone 
 
 Reproaches that were due to his rash will alone. 795 
 
 Yet was it well ; for had the bearers on 
 
 Through earth's thin laminae with caution gone ; 
 
 Had MARL once reached that scene of bright parade, 
 
 No more with shells at Vectis had he play'd. 
 
 In dingy dust, the whirling gales of morn 800 
 
 Had round the regal dome his relics borne. 
 
 In life's stern trials sweet content to breed, 
 
 Calls for the Optimism that marks Candide ; 
 
 With what its scoffing author never knew, 
 
 High confidence in Him whose help alone is true. 805 
 
 Wrapp'd in hypocrisy's impervious cloak ; 
 
 With well-feigned gravity CLAY comfort spoke, 
 
 Whilst his heart chuckled o'er the timely joke. 
 
 Again we turn from our discursive track, 
 And softly summon wayward fancy back. 810 
 
 Again we seek the splendours of the throne, 
 Where care sits lurking, yet where smiles are shown, 
 And gloom of heart oft speaks in mirthful tone. 
 Again we view the illuminated hall, 
 Where star-like eyes the tender hearts enthrall, 815 
 And swarthy Gnomes half line the sparkling wall. 
 
31 
 
 But few now stood where many stood of yore : 
 Woe to the crocodile that LIAS bore ! 
 Such dismal day of death the Gnomes ne'er knew before. 
 Now was King COAL, with condescending ease, 820 
 Disseminating regal pleasantries, 
 Whilst courtiers grinn'd at every word he said, 
 When to his ear a sweet oration sped. 
 In quick astonishment the monarch stopp'd, 
 And left a brilliant apophthegm half dropped. 825 
 Before the footstool stood reveal'd Jack CLAY ; 
 In hyperbolics hail'd that blissful day ; 
 Compar'd the King to Sol ; and, " by that light ! 
 " The Queen was Luna, so serene and bright ; 
 " The maids of honour" but confus'd he grew, 830 
 He hem'd, he cough'd, alas ! it Would not do ! 
 The thread was lost, he lamely hobbled through. 
 All that they heard was something about " stars," 
 " The Queen" and " Venus" and " the King" and 
 
 " Mars" 
 
 Whatever praise might to his speech belong, 835 
 
 One fault it bore, the flattery was too strong. 
 The King now anxious closely to behold 
 The man from whom such sugar' d phrases rolFd, 
 Drew forth his spectacles, of gold enchas'd, 
 Which on his royal nose he calmly plac'd, 840 
 
 Then forward leant : Behold, a glorious treat ! 
 Before him stood a Dandy, most complete ! 
 c 4 
 
m 
 
 The wiggy scull, the neck in armour cas'd, 
 The padded bosom, and the wasp-like waist. 
 Darkly he frown'd, and bore his head aloft ,- 845 
 
 But recollected SOO*H Jack CLAY was soft. 
 He in the Monarch's glance no favour spied, 
 So made his bow, and join'd the courtly tide. 
 Soon to the anti-room his way he found, 
 Offering Septaria comfits all around ; 850 
 
 (Although one Parker, of adhesive fame, 
 Had robb'd him of great numbers of the same) ; 
 And prattling to the gentle SELENITE, 
 Who, by the way, was not a stranger quite r 
 Since CLAY, though muddled, some remembrance 
 bore' M* 855 
 
 That he had met that lovely one before. 
 But vain his efforts, when with crowds he mix'd, 
 All knew he was tenacious, where he fix'd. 
 
 Baron BASALT, though late, strode boldly in, 
 With Lady GREENSTONE, and young Master WHIN ; 860 
 Attended by their foot-page ZEOLITE, 
 In a tight dress of peach-blossom and white: 
 
 'Twas Lady GREENSTONE'S fancy, to array 
 The pale-fac'd chit in this fantastic way. 
 
 Slight was his homage, and his Lady's loo, 865 
 
 * Who from the Baron always took her cue. 
 Then did his eye glance round with action keen, 
 
 Alas ! no crowded columns grac'd the scene* 
 
* 33 
 
 Anon he whispered in his Lady's ear, 
 
 " Fairhead and Staffa not like this appear ! . 870 
 
 " Palace, forsooth ! a pig-stye should it be : 
 
 " Scarce fit for that : No ; Fingal's Cave for me! 11 
 
 Then sneer' d, and show'd no tokens of respect : 
 
 Indeed, no wonder, when we recollect 
 
 He was consummate as an architect ! 875 
 
 The monarch's frown return'd ; he long had known 
 
 That haughty Baron's disrespectful tone. 
 
 Of restless spirit ; a rebellious man ; 
 
 Had oft derang'd each best-concerted plan ; 
 
 Thwarted his views ; his courts in bitter fray 880 
 
 Trod unaton'd, and urg'd the troubled way : 
 
 Prompt to oppose, to barricade, to sap ; 
 
 In short, the family was all a trap. 
 
 A motley group the anti-room now pac'd, 
 From which no one the royal presence fac'd. 885 
 
 Stout Mr. HORNSTONE foremost ; said to be 
 Dependent on the LIMESTONE family. 
 He, and his foster-brother CHERT, were known 
 To boast of hearts as hard as any stone. 
 And JASPER too, the elder SANDSTONE'S son ; 890 
 Clad like a harlequin, as fond of fun. 
 His cousin AGATE ; bright, but plainly drest ; 
 Wont to declare, his outside was a jest : 
 In botany was never at a loss ; 
 
 And had, lock'd up, fine specimens of moss. 895 
 
 C 5 
 
34, 
 
 FELSPAR, a wight of parts ; such use about him, 
 
 Duke GRANITE never could appear without him : 
 
 Yet of a warm and irritable frame, 
 
 One turn would sometimes put him in ajlame. 
 
 Fair STEATITE, a dame of high degree, 900 
 
 Earl SERPENTINE'S decided chere amie. 
 
 TUFA, of grasping spirit, uncontroul'd, 
 
 Around his petrifying glances roll'd. 
 
 ASBESTUS grey ; and TALC, of greasy scull ; 
 
 CLINKSTONE, who humm'd monotonously dull. 905 
 
 With Roger HORNBLENDE soi-disant Esquire ; 
 
 And Tommy TOADSTONE, born in Derbyshire. 
 
 SWINESTONE was there, but did not tarry long, 
 
 The ladies said he smelt so very strong. 
 
 These timid souls were aw'd, and all aback : 910 
 HORNBLENDE peep'd in, but said the King looked black; 
 On which ASBESTUS begg'd they might retire, 
 
 Though -reckon'd brave, and boasted to standjire. 
 But from that group stept forward shiv'ring SHALE, 
 And grac'd his bow with compliments quite stale : 915 
 
 Such as, mid hoops and ruffs, by every beau 
 Were drawFd around, two centuries ago. 
 
 " Where has he liv'd?" PYRITES cried; " Unique! 
 
 " Oh ! quite a gem! decidedly antique!" 
 
 " An old acquaintance ;" straight the King replied, 920 
 
 And bade old SHALE stand snugly by his side. 
 
 " Do, Sire/' she said, " since you've the creature 
 
 own'd, 
 " Impart a little of the true beau monde." 
 
35 
 
 Sorrowing the muse now ventures to prolong, 
 As truth directs the progress of her song. 925 
 
 Who joys not o'er a nation nobly free ? 
 Who mourns not o'er insulted majesty? 
 Oh ! bitter be his doom, if any such there be ! 
 But let fair freedom at due distance tread 
 From the bright source whence regal virtues spread; 930 
 Be this the cry, as waves her guardian wing, 
 " What Heaven anointed is a sacred thing !" 
 Sorrowing the muse then hastens to detail 
 Scenes where such goodly creed was deem'd of no avail. 
 Plebeian PEBBLES, by odd BRECCIA cheer'd, 935 
 Sans loyalty, sans reverence appear'd. 
 Jostled, and rush'd, with frantic gabblings, on ; 
 When the King roar'd, " Gnomes, bid those brutes 
 
 begone ! 
 " Haste, drive them forth ! What ? will ye stand like 
 
 stone, 
 
 " And see your monarch bearded on his throne ?" 940 
 On rush'd the Gnomes, on rush'd the courtiers all, 
 And dire confusion fill'd the spacious hall. 
 As wave meets wave within some rocky bay, 
 When varying currents hold their whiten'd way ; 
 When the shrill sea-mew with unwearied cries, 94-5 
 Skimming the sea with restless pinion, flies ; 
 When deep'ning clouds foretell the wintry gale, 
 And the gaunt mariner clews up the sail ; 
 e 6 
 
So, in dire clash before the monarch's seat, 
 Gnomes, courtiers, trumpeters, plebeians meet* 950 
 Shrill shriek'd the Queen, the maids of honour too 
 As shrilly shriek'd for what less could they do ? 
 And half thrown backward, dark as gathering night, 
 The King sat scowling on the doubtful fight. 
 The PEBBLES broke, gave ground, and turn' d in 
 instant flight. 955 
 
 The Gnomes now chas'd, with loud victorious shout, 
 Through the high palace gates, the rabble rout : 
 Whilst back the courtiers march'd,now sooth'd and tame. 
 And rubb'd a few sore noddles as they came ; 
 
 But what are broken heads, if girt by crowns of 
 
 fame? 960 
 
 Then thus the monarch to PYRITES said, 
 " Cheer up, my love; the foe, behold ! hath fled. 
 " This that thou saw'st will ever be the fate 
 " Of him who holds the rudder of a state : 
 " Still will the rabble in contention rise, 965 
 
 " Still will be heard sedition's stormy cries. 
 " But if they only the dread standard rear, 
 " Whilst loyal bosoms round the throne appear, 
 " Who sits thereon need feel no throb of fear. 
 " Curb them with temper : they but < fret their 
 
 hour/ 970 
 
 " If unsupported by the arm of pow'r." 
 
 Said the King this ? or did the Muse consign 
 Her sage opinions to the flowing line ? 
 
37 
 
 Howe'er it were, 'tis no great matter now : 
 
 If 'twere the King, by Solomon ! I vow 975 
 
 He ought to govern, for he well knows how. 
 
 Though I suspect it came not from the King; 
 
 His head by no means promis'd such a thing. 
 
 But whilst PYRITES to his speech inclined, 
 
 And calmer thoughts awoke in every mind, 980 
 
 Back came the Gnomes, with fearful glance behind. 
 
 The dire contagion crept throughout the hall ; 
 
 A silent trembling wonder came o'er all : 
 
 Full on the anti-room each eye was turn'd, 
 
 In whose stretch' d orb a wild impatience burn'd. 985 
 
 Tongue found not utterance till the novel sight, 
 
 That roll'd into that atmosphere of light, 
 
 Palsied each nerve, and froze each heart with fright. 
 
 A monstrous sledge upon their vision burst, 
 Form'd of a mammoth's skeleton revers'd. " 990 
 
 An elephant's bright tusks adorn'd its head ; 
 Behind an elk's wide antlers backward spread. 
 It came, as hippopotamus, huge, slow, 
 Rhinoceros, and heavy buffalo, 
 
 Yok'd in alternate pairs, a fearful drove, 995 
 With dull and measur'd trampling onward strove. 
 Within that sledge to brooding thoughts a prey, . 
 Half stretch'd at length, the Giant GRAVEL lay. 
 A high tjara on his head he wore, 
 With polish'd stones all thickly studded o'er : 1000 
 And on his shoulders broad a patch-work cloak he bore. 
 
38 
 
 On came the frightful sledge, with grating sound, 
 
 Till place of rest before the throne it found. 
 
 The Giant rose ; a general tremor ran ; 
 
 And thus, like distant thunder, he began : 1005 
 
 " Why are my subjects from thy presence driven? 
 
 " Why to my pow'r is thus defiance given ? 
 
 " They shall remain when thou no longer art ; 
 
 " When deadly fires consume thy coal-black heart. 
 
 " Prophetic vision views the fated day, 1010 
 
 " When mortals give thy glories to decay ; 
 
 " When in these walls, now bright, and peopled well, 
 
 " Cold damps alone, and noxious vapours dwell. 
 
 " Prophetic vision sees a Davy aid r-r^'v 
 
 " Earth's daring sons thy kingdom to invade. 1015 
 
 " His be the toil ; fair science points the prize ; 
 
 " Fame plants it on his brow, and tells it to the skies. 
 
 " But why waste words upon a thing of stone ? 
 
 " Behold my pow'r ! compare it with thy own." 
 
 Off then his cloak, with gesture proud, he threw ; 1020 
 
 Around its gatherings, like a whirlwind, flew, 
 
 And, as they reach'd the dome's remotest edge, 
 
 Down sat the Giant ; and on mov'd the sledge. 
 
 But the elk's antlers caught that flying cloak, 
 
 As o'er the palace its wide drapery broke ; 1025 
 
 And as the sledge upon the rugged ground 
 
 Mov'd slowly on, with deep and jarring sound, 
 
 Toss'd the torn fragments fancifully down, 
 
 The loose-built theories of man to crown. 
 
39 
 
 Now fear, that like an incubus had prest, 1030 
 
 And check'd the vital current in each breast, 
 Roll'd slowly off: and, as with one consent, 
 A deep-drawn sigh from every bosom went : 
 The King gaz'd round, PYRITES rubb'd her eyes, 
 Gnomes, courtiers, all awoke in wild surprise. 1035 
 
 Long sat the monarch thoughtful, for deep shame 
 Had fix'd its talons on his mental frame. 
 Before his queen, before his subj ects all, 
 That fear should so his faculties enthrall ! 
 And as weak minds in strong extremes agree, 1040 
 He soon determin'd what his part should be : 
 Some kindling storm should on the minions lour, 
 And re-establish his degraded pow'r. 
 He then bethought him, that of homage shown 
 That day before the splendours of his throne, 1045 
 No METAL yet had sooth'd his regal pride; 
 And thus in stern and hurried voice he cried, 
 " In vain our mandate rode through earth and air, 
 " Few are the drones that to our court repair : 
 " Where is the tribe of METALS? On this day 1050 
 " Why seek they not our halls in bright array?" 
 No answer rose ; all gaz'd upon the ground ; 
 Then cast in dread suspense their humble looks around. 
 " Advance, Sir Lawrence," roar T d the dark-brow'd 
 
 prince, 
 " Explain this act, their loyalty evince. 1055 
 
40 
 
 " To Marquis SLATE and you their deeds they show; 
 
 " You know their habits, their opinions know; 
 
 " Why have they treated our high summons so?" 
 
 " Dread sovereign," said the Knight, in mildest mood, 
 
 " I heard the METALS wish'd not to intrude : 1060 
 
 " Nay, it was said by Scandal's tongue, 'tis clear, ; 
 
 " That they refus'd to own allegiance here" 
 
 He said, and bow'd: but pen would feebly try 
 
 To paint the wrath that fir'd the monarch's eye. 
 
 'Twas acted well; Kean scarcely could instil 1065 
 
 More soul into these dictates of his will ; 
 
 " Now by the gloom of Pluto's deepest cell, 
 
 " Where snakes and hell-born reptiles ever dwell ; 
 
 " By the red glow of earth's internal fire, 
 
 " The whole metallic tribe shall in my wrath expire ! 1070 
 
 " My queen's relations? Perish the low thought! 
 
 " Are such the souls with kindred feelings fraught? 
 
 " METALS and SEMI-METALS, pure and base, 
 
 " Here I denounce your vile presumptuous race. 
 
 " Earth shall behold each sulphury column roll 1075 
 
 " Its dark and poisonous skirts from pole to pole, 
 
 " Speaking the deadly dictates of my soul. 
 
 " The universe shall witness how I treat them : 
 
 " I'll melt the dogs, wherever I shall meet them !" 
 
 He ceas'd, and wav'd the sceptre of command: 1080 
 Volcanic tremblings shook the dusky land. 
 The subjects stood, a second prey to fear; 
 Their monarch's voice still ringing through each ear. 
 
41 
 
 Again his potent arm he rais'd on high ; 
 
 Lo ! darkness reign'd impervious to the eye J 1085 
 
 The gas-lights vanished, magically smart j 
 Pall-Mall could show no finer touch of art. 
 Confusion dire the motley crowd assail'd, 
 
 A second chaos through their ranks prevail'd. 
 All turn'd, all fled ; one feeling touch'd the throng : 1 090 
 But happiest they, of texture tried and strong, 
 For, in that strife to gain the high-arch'd door, 
 Some left their fragments on the sooty floor : 
 And many were the dints, and cuffs, and blows, 
 Like rude collision of the deadliest foes. 1095 
 
 When matters first assum'd this sad complexion, 
 STEATITE sought Earl SERPENTINE'S protection / 
 He strove to guard her, but was over-matched, 
 And in the service got most sorely scratched. 
 But when confusion spread so widely round, 1100 
 
 E'en firm Sir Lawrence could not hold his ground. 
 GRAUWACKE lost his pipe, and one Moustache, 
 Torn from his face with an unsightly gash : 
 The Marquis bore the blame ; his legal foe ; 
 
 But he could never such vile malice show ! 1105 
 Old SANDSTONE, somewhat crush'd, got forth, and 
 
 ran : 
 
 GNEISS had his knee-pan split, unlucky man f 
 HORNSTONE and CHERT work'd very safely through : 
 I said before that they no feeling knew. 
 
42 
 
 JASPER had many a hole in his gay vest; 1110 
 
 He relish' d fun, but this he found no jest, 
 
 Though he was one could struggle with the best. 
 
 LIAS, now sober, went but badly on ; 
 
 He needed help, his crocodile was gone ! 
 
 FLINT grated grievously his parent CHALK; 1115 
 
 For no compunction could that urchin balk. 
 
 The baron bustled, looking mighty grave ; 
 
 Boldly he strove young Master WHIN to save ; 
 
 And wish'd himself again in Fingal's Cave. 
 
 HORNBLENDE look'd pale, for he was sorely bruisd; 1 120 
 
 Stout Lady GREENSTONE too was much confusd. 
 
 The fair Miss GYPSUM sank, quite cracTcd with fright ; 
 
 Nor was her lover in much better plight ; 
 
 And sadly damag'd was sweet SELENITE. 
 
 SPAR scrambled through, but as the torrent rush'd, 1 1 25 
 
 The youth was almost to a rhomboid crush'd : 
 
 The more surprising, since great fame was his 
 
 For thrusting closely into crevices. 
 
 In spite of TUFA'S petrifying frown, 
 
 He was by Tommy TOADSTONE trampled down. 1130 
 
 TALC was much cut ; and CLINKSTONE roard amain ; 
 
 And SHALE oppos'd his hardier friends in vain. 
 
 Sad quarrels rose, too, in the struggling throng, 
 
 As through the anti-room they drove along. 
 
 ASBESTUS burnt to make FELSPAR atone 1135 
 
 For some reflections which that wight had thrown : 
 
43 
 
 Till Viscount SIENITE, who elbow'd there, 
 Into harmonious contact squeezed the pair, 
 Duke GRANITE, when the tumult rose, 'tis said, 
 With Countess PORPHYRY to a closet fled, 1140 
 
 And lay quite snug : which caus'd much mirthful chat : 
 You see we never are two old for that ! 
 But vainly might the Muse her powers essay 
 To tell the dire condition of Jack CLAY : 
 Stuck to the skirts of all oh ! thus he reach'd 
 the day! 1145 
 
NOTES. 
 
 VERSE 
 
 13. Iron Pyrites, Sulphuret of Iron, or Marcasite, is 
 almost constantly found in Coal, either dissemi- 
 nated in minute grains, or in small nodules, or 
 in thin veins, accompanied by Quartz, or calca- 
 reous Spar. It may be known by its weight, its 
 shining metallic lustre, and a strong smell of 
 , sulphur when broken. 
 
 33-gMica, or Muscovy Glass, (so called from being 
 a common substitute for window Glass in the 
 Russian empire,) is one of the most abundant 
 mineral substances. Its texture is lamellar, and 
 it occurs in Granite, and the other primitive 
 rocks. It is easily split into thin elastic plates, 
 and, when colourless, is used in enclosing ob- 
 jects for the solar Microscope. It is found also, 
 but more minutely divided, between the natural 
 fissures of slaty Sandstone; and in some of the 
 finest sort, appears even interspersed through 
 the whole mass. 
 
 (/ N. B. That the order of the rock-formations and 
 
46 
 
 VERSE 
 
 the superposition of the strata might not be 
 broken, many short notes, which in their proper 
 places would have interfered with such an ar- 
 rangement, have been transferred to the larger 
 heads, with which they were most immediately 
 connected. It is therefore recommended to the 
 reader to make himself master of the notes, 
 comprising such order, before he proceeds in 
 the text : and, bearing these in memory, it is 
 expected that he will find all the allusions in the 
 text properly elucidated. 
 
 79. Granite is the undermost, (that we are ac- 
 quainted with,) and therefore supposed to be the 
 oldest of the primitive rocks. It is not stratified; 
 and is a compound rock, being an aggregate of 
 Quartz, Felspar, and Mica, in variable propor- 
 tions. It appears, rising through the stratifica- 
 tion of this country, chiefly in Devonshire and 
 Cornwall ; but is also seen at Mount Sorrel, near 
 Leicester; at the Malvern hills in Worcester- 
 shire; and at Shap, Ravenglass, and the back of 
 Skiddaw, in Cumberland. Some Geologists 
 (following the opinion of Dr. Hutton) conceive 
 Granite to be of igneous origin, and to have 
 been protruded from beneath, raising and occa- 
 sionally disuniting the superincumbent strata. 
 
47 
 
 VERSE 
 
 Quartz, which is above mentioned as a consti- 
 tuent of Granite, in a granular state, composes 
 Sandstone. In a crystallised form it is found on 
 Snowdon, in Wales; and accompanies most 
 metallic veins. Its crystals resemble pure Glass, 
 and are known by the name of Rock Crystals, 
 Mock Diamonds, Cornish and Welsh Diamonds. 
 Compact Quartz is largely disseminated through 
 most rocks in veins and beds ; and is so met 
 with on Skiddaw, in Cumberland. The rounded 
 milk-white Pebbles, found on the sea-shore, 
 and in gravel, are of Quartz. 
 
 Felspar, the other constituent of Granite, will be 
 hereafter mentioned. 
 
 85. Gneiss is composed of precisely the same mate- 
 rials as Granite, but is slaty in its structure* 
 owing to the comparatively large quantity of 
 Mica it contains. And from this slaty structure 
 perhaps it arises that the Felspar is very liable 
 to decomposition. It is of very rare occurrence 
 in England, but abounds in the primitive moun- 
 tains of Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 103. Clay Slate. The appearance of Slate is familiar 
 to us under the form of common roofing and 
 
48 
 
 \ VERSE 
 
 schoolboy's Slates'; but no accurate line has yet 
 been drawn by which Clay Slate can be distin- 
 guished from the finer varieties of Grauwack 
 Slate; nor is it agreed whether Clay Slate con- 
 tains organic remains or not, or is to be con- 
 sidered primitive or secondary. 
 
 The Slate of the mining districts of Cornwall, 
 (provincially termed Killas,} which contains veins 
 of Tin, is perhaps the only indisputable Clay 
 Slate in England. It is doubtful whether much 
 of the Cornish Slate also, without the Tin dis- 
 trict, as well as great part of the Slate of Cum- 
 berland and N. Wales, ought not rather to be 
 considered as Grauwacke Slate. 
 
 Clay Slate and Grauwacke Slate are both regu- 
 larly laminated, and extremely fissile in the 
 direction of the cleavage, but their stratification 
 is often indistinctly marked. 
 
 The Tin mines of Cornwall are confined to the 
 Clay Slate and Granitic districts : but the Cor- 
 nish Copper-mines are common to these, with 
 rocks of the Grauwack series The Copper 
 mines of N. Wales are chiefly in Grauwacke 
 Slate. 
 
V r RSE 
 
 In Cumberland Clay Slate occurs on the summit 
 of the Skiddaw and Saddleback mountains. 
 
 The roofing Slates of N. Wales, Westmoreland, 
 and Ingleton in Yorkshire, which are all pro- 
 bably a fine variety of Grauwacke Slate, con- 
 tain cubic crystals of Iron Pyrites, or Marcasite 
 singularly imbedded. At Ingleton the Pyrites is 
 often beautifully disposed in the form of Den- 
 drites between the laminae of the Slate. Rocks 
 of Clay Slate and of the Grauwacke formation are 
 often found exceedingly contorted from the 
 effects of convulsions acting on them at a very 
 early period: the nature and cause of which 
 has formed the subject of much controversy, and 
 is still little understood. See an interesting 
 p-aper on this subject, with an engraving of 
 contorted strata, in Scotland, near St. Abb's 
 Head, by Sir James Hall, in the Transactions 
 of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
 
 140. Porphyry is a compound rock, consisting of 
 crystals of Felspar, and sometimes Quartz, 
 imbedded in a base, formed either of compact 
 Felspar, or of various kinds of Clay or Silex. It 
 is not plentiful in England. In Cornwall large 
 dykes of it occur, cutting Slate and Granite. 
 D 
 
50 
 
 VERSE 
 
 It is found also in Cumberland and N. Wales. 
 The Plumbago or Black lead, at Borrodale, in 
 Cumberland, is in masses, imbedded in a sort 
 of imperfect slaty Porphyry, adjoining to Slate 
 rocks. See verse 211. (The best account of 
 the Black Lead Mine above mentioned will be 
 met with in " Parkes's Chemical Essays.") 
 
 Porphyry abounds in Scotland ; forming the 
 summit of Ben Nevis, and traversing the Granite 
 and Slate rocks in many parts of the chain of 
 the Grampian Hills. The Egyptian Porphyries 
 are mostly red. Those of Sweden are ex- 
 tremely hard and fine. Porphyritic hills may 
 be often distinguished by their rounded form- 
 ation and dilapidated state ; the sides and base 
 being covered by debris from the summit. 
 
 150. Serpentine is by no means a common rock in 
 England. Its chief seat is in Cornwall ; where 
 it forms a considerable part of the Lizard Point. 
 In the Isle of Anglesea it is found in great 
 beauty, at the Mona marble quarries. It is 
 rare in Cumberland. In Scotland it is more 
 common; and in Ireland noble Serpentine oc- 
 curs near Westport, in the mountain of Croagh 
 Patrick. 
 
51 
 
 VERSE 
 
 159. Sienite is a compound rock, essentially composed 
 of Felspar and Hornblende ; and sometimes con- 
 taining Quartz and Mica. It is perhaps the 
 most abundant of the unstratified rocks in Eng- 
 land; constituting great part of the Malvern 
 Hills, of the Caer Caradoc chain, and of Mount 
 Sorrel, and the Cheviot Hills ; and occupying a 
 large portion of the mountains of Cumberland 
 and Westmoreland, near the Lakes. It is less 
 frequent than Granite in iheprimitivs mountains 
 of Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 176. Grauwacke is the next rock to Clay Slate that is 
 of much importance. Of all rocks none has had 
 its history so much disputed and so little under- 
 stood, as Grauwacke. It was named by the 
 Saxon Geologist Werner, and by him considered 
 a transition rock. It is of a granular structure, 
 supposed to consist of minute fragments of older 
 rocks, interspersed through a basis of Clay Slate ; 
 and it alternates with beds of Grauwacke Slate. 
 Both these occasionally contain organic remains ; 
 and also subordinate beds of Limestone, with 
 organic remains; many of which resemble in 
 genus those of the Mountain Lime. 
 
 The upper strata of the Grauwacke series gra- 
 D 2 
 
VERSE 
 
 duate insensibly into old red Sandstone ; as the 
 lower slaty beds do into Clay Slate. 
 
 Grauwacke is of great extent in this country* 
 The north of Devonshire, and N. Western Hills 
 of Somersetshire, are composed chiefly of Grau- 
 wacke Slate : so is also great part of Wales, and 
 the mountains of Cumberland. 
 
 223. Old red Sandstone is a formation that occupies 
 an important place in the English series, be- 
 tween the Grauwacke and Mountain Lime ; 
 attaining on the Beacons of Brecknock the 
 enormous thickness of 2000 feet. It contains 
 strata of red micaceous slaty Sandstone, and of 
 Quartz, Jasper, and other Pebbles, alternating 
 with beds of red Marl, and red Clay, coloured 
 by oxide of Iron. These beds often so closely 
 resemble in colour and substance the strata 
 which compose the new red Sandstone formation 
 that mistakes of one for the other are perpetually 
 taking place. The old red Sandstone beds are 
 usually highly inclined, like the Grauwacke ; 
 those of the new are almost always horizontal. 
 
 Old red Sandstone is extremely unprolific in 
 minerals ; containing rarely any shells, and no 
 
53 
 
 VERSE 
 
 traces of Gypsum Rock Salt, and Sulphate of 
 Strontian, which three last substances occur 
 abundantly in the new red Sandstone formation. 
 It has seldom any valuable deposits of metallic 
 Ore in it. 
 
 It occupies an extensive area in the counties of 
 Pembroke, Glamorgan, Monmouth, and Here- 
 ford. The red Sandstone and conglomerate 
 beds of the Vale of Exeter, Taunton Dean, and 
 Carlisle ; and of the extensive Plains of Cheshire, 
 .JPW Salop, and Lancashire, which are by so many 
 writers consigned to the old red Sandstone, are 
 component members of the new. Between the 
 o!4 and, new red Sandstone series is interposed 
 nn enormous mass of strata, constituting the 
 Mountain Lime and great Coal formation. The 
 Coal of England occurs, above the Mountain 
 Lime, in strata of solid Coal often many feet 
 thick, alternating with strata of slaty Clay (called 
 Shale), of Iron Stone, and Sandstone ; and occu- 
 pies immense tracts of country in Northumber- 
 land, Durham, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Stafford- 
 shire, and S. Wales. 
 
 1264. Reposing horizontally on the basset. edges of the 
 above-mentioned Coal strata (which are usually 
 D 3 
 
54 
 
 VERSE 
 
 inclined), we find the new red Sandstone, or 
 new red rock Marl formation. 
 
 Of this series the lowest member is the Mag- 
 nesian Limestone, which will be described under 
 the Limestone family. 
 
 The middle region is usually occupied by beds 
 of Conglomerate and of loose red Sandstone, and 
 Sand; alternating with and covered by a vast 
 thickness of red rock Marl. It is in this form- 
 ation only that Salt Springs and Rock Salt have 
 hitherto been discovered ; viz. in the counties of 
 Worcester, Stafford, Salop, and Chester. 
 
 Gypsum occurs in it abundantly in the form of 
 Alabaster, fibrous Gypsum, and Selenite. It 
 furnishes the only Alabaster quarries that exist 
 in England. At Keddleston House, near 
 Derby, are lofty pillars, extremely beautiful, 
 the shafts of which are of Alabaster from the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 Many sandy strata become consolidated by a 
 calcareous cement, and in this state of union form 
 useful and hard building stone. See verse 292. 
 
55 
 
 VERSE 
 
 298. The Limestone of England may be conveniently 
 divided into seven distinct kinds. 
 
 1. Primitive Limestone, or Statuary Marble; 
 which is of extremely rare occurrence in Eng- 
 land, and is only found in small quantity, in 
 Devonshire and Anglesea. It abounds in Italy, 
 Switzerland, and Greece ; whence it is obtained 
 for the purposes of sculpture. This formation 
 is alluded to in the text under the personification 
 of Lady Marble, mother to Sir Lawrence Lime- 
 stone, See verse 516, 
 
 , 
 
 2. Transition Limestone ; which has been men* 
 
 tioned in the note on Grauwacke, and in many 
 of its characters is nearly allied to Mountain 
 Lime. On this account, and as being a less im- 
 portant formation, it has no distinct represent- 
 ative in the Poem. 
 
 3. Mountain Limestone; which lies next in suc- 
 cession above the old red Sandstone, and abounds 
 in Derbyshire, Somerset, S. Wales, Yorkshire, 
 and Northumberland, The Sir Lawrence Lime- 
 stone of the Poem is intended as the represent- 
 ative of this formation. Its veins are often charged 
 with valuable stores of Lead, The rock itself 
 
 p 4 
 
56 
 
 VERSE 
 
 often abounds with extensive caverns; as at 
 
 Castleton, and at the Peak, in Derbyshire : and 
 contains an immense assemblage of organic re- 
 mains, such as marine shells, corals, and other 
 zoophytes. * Similar remains of different species 
 are found in all the other succeeding Limestone 
 
 * Perhaps the most remarkable of the zoophytic remains in the 
 Mountain and other Limestones is the Encrinus, so called from the 
 resemblance of some of its species to a lily. It unites to the external 
 form of a flower the mechanism of a numerous series of articulated 
 bones; the whole forming a kind of skeleton, which from the sur- 
 prising number and delicate finish of its parts, surpasses perhaps any- 
 thing that can be found in those animals which are usually regarded 
 as belonging to a more perfect and higher class. It appears to have 
 consisted of a root, by which it was attached to the bottom of the sea ; 
 and from whence arose a stem many yards long, not constructed (like 
 that of a flower) of one single piece, but composed of many hundred 
 joints, articulating into each other by a beautiful apparatus of grooves 
 and notches; and thus allowing a degree of play which compensates 
 for want of locomotion. Detached joints of this stem form the 
 Entrochi and Asterue so frequent in all Mountain Lime rocks. At 
 the superior extremity of the stem are a series of bones, which, to 
 pursue the analogy, may be considered as representing the calix of a 
 flower ; and these again support other series of bones, which form, as 
 it were, the petals. From the interior surface of these petals, arise 
 numerous finer filaments composed also of lesser bones, and bear- 
 ing a sort of analogy to the stamina of flowers. When the zoophite 
 was quiescent, the whole of the petals and calix appear to have been 
 closed over the filaments ; in which state one of the species exactly 
 resembles a closed lily, whence the name of Encrinus or Animal 
 Lily has been given to it, and from it transferred to the whole genus. 
 When roused to action it appears to have opened its petals, and spread 
 
57 
 
 strata; but Lead and Copper are worked in no 
 strata more recent than the Mountain Lime ; 
 with the partial exception of a little Lead in the 
 Magnesian Limestone. 
 
 It is often very compact, admits of -a high polish, 
 and is manufactured for ornamental purposes ; 
 particularly in Derbyshire. That which is very 
 dark, called there black Marble, and quarried at 
 Bakewell, receives its colour from Bitumen. 
 Lead and other Ores are found in Mountain 
 Limestone in the last named county; and it 
 also furnishes the Lead veins of Cumberland and 
 Durham. 
 
 The medicinal waters of Harrowgate, Matlock, 
 and Bristol, are connected with the Mountain 
 Limestone ; as those of Bath and Cheltenham 
 are with the Lias, which will be hereafter de- 
 scribed. 
 
 From Mr. Westgarth Forster's excellent " Sec- 
 tion of the Strata" it appears, that in the great 
 
 abroad its filaments for the purpose of catching its prey. The 
 stomach of the zoophyte was placed in the centre of the disk of what 
 may be considered as its flower. 
 
 D 5 
 
58 
 
 VERSE 
 
 Coal Field of Northumberland and Durham, the 
 strata of Mountain Limestone are invariably 
 under all the valuable seams of Coal ; rising from 
 beneath them to the north-west, and appearing 
 in succession with other alternating strata on the 
 borders of Cumberland : and this seems also to 
 be the case at Whitehaven, where the Limestone 
 rises in like manner from beneath the Coal, but 
 in an opposite direction : and in South Wales, 
 where the Limestone forms a kind of basin; 
 within which, and conforming to its shape, the 
 Coal seams are situated. 
 
 4. Magnesian Limestone, so called from its con- 
 taining a portion of Magnesia ; is of much 
 younger formation than the preceding, and in 
 some degree derivative from it. It is found in 
 the north-eastern part of England, extending 
 from near Nottingham, by Wetherby, to Sun- 
 , derland ; and reposing immediately on the Coal 
 measures. In Gloucestershire, Somerset, and 
 Glamorganshire, it contains imbedded in it peb- 
 bles and fragments of Mountain Lime, and other 
 older rocks ; still retaining the same relative 
 position above the Coal. It is also mixed with a 
 considerable proportion of new red Sandstone, 
 making the lowest member of that formation, 
 
59 
 
 and often passing by insensible gradations into 
 it, and into red rock Marl. The quick Lime 
 obtained from it is of a hotter and more acrid 
 quality than from other Limestones: this is 
 supposed to arise from its constituent Magnesia; 
 it is considered therefore more peculiarly adapted 
 to the cultivation of moor lands, from being more 
 active in producing vegetable decomposition. 
 See verse 361. Magnesia sometimes occurs also 
 in beds of the Mountain Lime; which may be 
 recognised by a peculiar glimmering lustre. 
 
 5. Lias, or argillaceous Limestone; which is 
 more recent than the preceding, and is abun- 
 dantly diffused through this country. 
 
 It may be described as running across the centre 
 of England, in a direction nearly north-east, 
 from Lyme in Dorsetshire to Whitby in York- 
 shire. It usually forms an argillaceous soil, 
 from the quantity of Clay that predominates in 
 it: and it contains subordinate beds of Marl. 
 Lias is a marly Limestone, usually blue (darkish 
 lead colour), or white (bluish grey). The white 
 beds generally are the lowest ; and both white 
 and blue are disposed in thin slabs, alternating 
 D 6 
 
60 
 
 VERSE 
 
 with bands of Marl and Clay, and occasionally 
 
 abounding in Iron Pyrites. 
 
 Clay is by far the most abundant ingredient in 
 the Lias formation. 
 
 White Lias has lately been made use of in the 
 Arts as the material for stone-engraving ; which 
 was first cultivated in Bavaria, at Munich, where 
 it has since been brought to great perfection, as 
 well as in France. The Flora Monacensis, by 
 Schrank and Mayrhoffer, Spix's Craniology, 
 many portraits, maps, &c. have been executed 
 in Lithography, with a degree of beauty that 
 approaches to line-engraving. For military pur- 
 poses it is very useful in multiplying rapidly 
 plans, circular letters, and orders. It has not 
 yet made much progress in England, but is said 
 to be applied in the preparation of forged bank 
 notes. The neighbourhood of Bath and Bristol 
 furnishes white Lias fit for Lithography, but the 
 best comes from Bavaria. 
 
 It is in beds of Lias, and Lias Clay, that we find 
 an immense deposit of organic remains, differing 
 essentially from those of the Mountain Lime ^ 
 such as Ammonites, Nautilites y and Belemnites* 
 
61 
 
 VERSE 
 
 which occur in numbers truly astonishing ; and 
 with them the remains of tortoises, crocodiles, 
 and a singular reptile of enormous bulk, form- 
 ing a kind of link between the Dolphin and 
 the Lizard tribe, which has been denominated 
 Ichthyosaurus, and is described in the London 
 Philosophical Transactions for 1814 and 1816, 
 by Sir Everard Home. See verse 373. and 607. 
 
 6. Oolite. Interposed between the Lias and 
 Chalk of England is an extensive series of shelly 
 coarse Limestones, all of which occasionally 
 present an admixture of spherical particles 
 resembling the roe of fishes ; from which cir- 
 cumstance the name of Oolite has been applied , 
 to them. One of the lowest beds of this series 
 forms the best building stone in England ; and 
 is extensively employed at Bath, and at Ketton 
 in Northamptonshire. When first taken from 
 the quarry it is extremely soft. 
 
 Organic remains abound throughout all the 
 beds composing this extensive formation, which 
 stretches north-east from Bridport in Dorset- 
 shire, through the midland counties, to the 
 Cleveland Hills in Yorkshire. 
 
62 
 
 VERSE 
 
 Coades Manufactory of patent Stone in London, 
 is an imitation of the Bath and Portland Stone 
 for ornamental purposes. See verse 409. 
 
 7. Chalk. This name has been applied to a 
 series of beds of snow-white Limestone, attain- 
 ing a thickness of many hundred feet ; varying 
 from the state of Cooper's Chalk to that of a soft 
 building stone ; and divided only by irregular 
 and imperfect strata of black Gun Flints, usually 
 disposed in nodules, and occasionally in thin 
 laminae. 
 
 The Chalk district forms an extensive range : 
 the extreme western point of which is near 
 Honiton in Devonshire ; from whence it passes 
 through Wiltshire and Bedfordshire, to Cromer 
 on the coast of Norfolk. It appears again in 
 Lincolnshire, extending to Flamborough Head 
 in Yorkshire. From its western point at Honi- 
 ton it also bears to the south-east, passing 
 through the centre of the Isle of Wight. Ano- 
 ther range commences in Berkshire, and extends 
 to the coast between Folkstone and Dover ; 
 sending off in its route a branch at Alton, and 
 terminating on the Sussex coast in the pictur- 
 esque cliffs of Beachy Head. Nodules of Flint 
 
63 
 
 VERSE 
 
 are seen deposited in regular layers through the 
 Chalk at the cliffs of Dover and Brighton, and 
 in the quarries throughout the county of Kent ; 
 but there is no mineral Coal found within many 
 miles of the Chalk formations. Perhaps the 
 nearest will be that in the vicinity of Bristol. 
 
 In its passage through Berkshire and Oxford- 
 shire, Chalk forms the range of hills known by thet 
 
 parliamentary name of the Chiltern Hundreds. 
 
 * '. " 
 
 The lofty cliffs of this formation are subject to 
 repeated falls, from being undermined by the 
 action of the waves. See verse 434. 
 
 453. Reposing on the Chalk formation of the southern 
 and south-eastern parts of England is a series* of 
 depositions, consisting of Marl, Clay, Sand, and 
 Pebble beds ; and described by Mr. Webster in 
 the 2d volume of the Geological Transactions 
 as occupying the basins of London, and of the 
 Isle of Wight. 
 
 The most striking feature of these depositions is 
 that which occurs in the Isle of Wight ; where 
 we find a series of strata, nearly 40 feet thick 
 composed of marly Clay containing marine shells, 
 
64 
 
 5 VERSE 
 
 interposed between two stratified masses of 
 marly Limestone of still greater thickness, each 
 of which is full of fresh-water shells, similar to 
 those which exist in our rivers at present. 
 
 Beneath these deposits occurs the London Clay, 
 containing beds of ferruginous Marl Stone, called 
 Septaria, which are used for the purpose of 
 making Parker's Roman Cement, and affording 
 in the Isle of Sheppey more than 700 varieties of 
 fossil plants and fruits, impregnated with Pyrites ; 
 and at Hordwell Cliff in Hants, some hundred 
 varieties of marine shells, in high beauty and 
 preservation, similar to those which occur in the 
 neighbourhood of Paris, and in Italy, in the Plain 
 of Lombardy, and along the whole extent of the 
 northern and southern base of the Apennine 
 Hills. In consequence of the decomposition of 
 the Iron Pyrites with which they are impreg- 
 nated, the fossil plants of Sheppey usually fall 
 to pieces after a few months' exposure to the 
 atmosphere : the Pyrites forming green vitriol, 
 which is a salt soluble in water, and sometimes 
 contaminating the surface water of the Sheppey 
 cliffs. 
 
 riiM$' ''*%'& O'/- "f'T'r' '.'. ,^t)'^V: '*-. J L..l : .-,'* >' .'.;."t^rf /-,,- 
 
 This bed of Clay occupies a considerable area 
 
65 
 
 VERSE 
 
 near London, which stands on it. It forms 
 great part of the county of Essex, and the 
 hills of Highgate, Sydenham, Shooter's Hill, 
 and Richmond Hill. 
 
 The height of the cliffs composed of it in the 
 Isle of Sheppey, added to the depths of wells 
 sunk near it, shows the London Clay at that 
 place to be 550 feet in thickness. Beneath the 
 London Clay, and dividing it from the Chalk, is 
 a series of alternating beds of Sand, Pebbles, 
 Marl, and Clay ; which have been designated 
 by the title of the Plastic Clay Formation, and 
 which are displayed at Blackheath and Woolwich 
 near London, at Reading in Berkshire, and in a 
 vertical position in great beauty and thickness 
 at Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight. The clay 
 obtained from this formation is much used in 
 the Potteries; whence the title of Plastic Clay 
 has been assigned to it. The same Plastic Clay 
 reposes immediately on the Chalk near Paris. 
 
 It should be remarked that beds of Marl are 
 not confined to the series of depositions we have 
 been speaking of above the Chalk ; they occur 
 subordinately in almost all formations, from the 
 Chalk downwards to the old red Sandstone. Mr. 
 
66 
 
 VERSE 
 
 Phillips in his " Outline of the Geology of Eng- 
 land and Wales" (by far the best compendium 
 of English Geology that has yet been pub- 
 lished, and occupying only a thin 12mo. volume) 
 mentions a bed of blue Marl, as extending 
 beneath the Chalk, from near Salisbury to the 
 north-western coast of Norfolk, with the inter- 
 ruption only of the low marshy grounds of the 
 Isle of Ely. Marl of an excellent quality is found 
 in large beds in some counties of England, com- 
 posed almost entirely of decayed shells. 
 
 i-:i;.: j -.'!$ -J 
 
 498. Calcareous Spar attends all the kinds of Lime- 
 stone, but is most abundant in the Mountain 
 Limestone. The forms of its crystallisation are 
 very numerous ; all originating from an obtuse 
 rhomboid ; which rhomboid may be readily ob- 
 tained by cleavage. But it is not often found 
 in the form of this its primitive crystal. It is a 
 carbonate of Lime (i. e. Lime combined with 
 the carbonic acid). That which is met with only 
 in Derbyshire, and from which the vases are 
 formed, is a combination of Lime and the fluoric 
 acid. 
 
 577. Gypsum occurs occasionally in the beds of blue 
 Clay which exist in all the English secondary 
 formations ; but is most abundant in the red 
 
67 
 
 'VERSE 
 
 Marl beds of the new red Sandstone series. 
 Here it often assumes the character of Alabaster, 
 a mineral which in England occurs only in this 
 stratum, and abounds in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, 
 Nottinghamshire, and the Plains of Carlisle and 
 Cheshire. Rock Salt accompanies it in the latter 
 county. 
 
 The Alabaster and fibrous Gypsum of Derby- 
 shire, form a valuable material for ornamental 
 purposes. 
 
 602. Selenite, or crystallised Gypsum, is found occa- 
 sionally like fibrous Gypsum in the Clay beds of 
 all the English secondary formations. It is col- 
 lected for cabinets chiefly at Alston Moor in 
 Cumberland, and in Derbyshire ; but the finest 
 crystals are met with in blue Clay at the base 
 of Shotover Hill, near Oxford. 
 
 613. For the description of the Lias Fossils, see the 
 note on the Limestone Family. 
 
 652. For the relative situations of Chalk and Coal, see 
 the same note, under the head Chalk. 
 
 693. For the account of the organic remains in the 
 London Clay, see the note on verse 453. 
 
68 
 
 VERSE 
 
 864. Basalt has been the subject of considerable dif- 
 t?$ ference of opinion in the scientific world, whether 
 it should be considered of igneous origin, or the 
 result of aqueous deposition. The examination 
 of different basaltic districts has seemed to fa- 
 vour alternately each hypothesis ; and has con- 
 sequently induced those persons who have not 
 blindly attached themselves to any favourite 
 theory, (considering an impartial survey, and a 
 careful comparison of facts as the only true 
 basis for theoretical opinion,) to regard both 
 causes as having occasionally concurred in its 
 formation. It appears however, at all events, 
 not to have been subject to the law of regular 
 stratification : in some cases appearing in incum- 
 bent masses of greater or less thickness and 
 extent,, and in others like walls, dividing the 
 strata at angles of various inclination to their 
 horizontal course. These latter are what the 
 miners in the north of England (where Basalt 
 seems most abundant) call dykes or troubles; 
 as they generally produce a disruption and 
 shift of the strata, sometimes elevating, and 
 sometimes depressing them. Basalt has a pe- 
 culiar tendency to assume a columnar arrange- 
 ment ; the effect of a process somewhat allied to 
 incipient crystallisation. There are few, if any 
 instances of great regularity in this kind of form* 
 
69 
 
 ERSE 
 
 ation in England and Wales : perhaps the nearest 
 to it may be met with on the banks of the river 
 Tees in Durham, and on the summit of Glee 
 Hill in Shropshire. The finest instances of 
 perfect columnar arrangement are to be seen 
 at the Giant's Causeway and at the Promontory 
 of Fairhead, in the north of Ireland ; and at the 
 Island of Staffa, one of the Hebrides. At which 
 latter place is that most sublime and impressive 
 natural curiosity, the Cave of Fingal. 
 
 365. Greenstone is a compound of Felspar and Horn- 
 blende, but varying extremely in its appearance ; 
 being sometimes so fine grained, as to appear 
 homogeneous, like Basalt. It is met with in many 
 parts of England, resting immediately upon 
 Granite. It appears at the Lizard Point in 
 Cornwall. It accompanies the Clay Slate on 
 the northern side of Cader Idris in Wales, dis- 
 playing a columnar formation, but in singularly 
 confused positions. In Derbyshire it is in con- 
 tact with Limestone. It is found also at the 
 Cheviot Hills in Northumberland: and, like Ba- 
 salt, it also forms dykes or veins in Coal fields. 
 
 B65. Whin, or Whinstone. A term given to the pre- 
 ceding unstratified rocks in the north of England 
 
70 
 
 VERSE 
 
 and Scotland ; and used by Dr. Hutton. By the 
 Wernerian School they have received the appel- 
 lation of Trap Rocks, (" Trap" in German 
 signifying " a Stair"} from their tendency by 
 exposure to the elements to take the form of 
 steps or stairs. 
 
 866. The Zeolite family, of which there are several 
 members, (whose distinguishing character is that 
 of gelatinising with nitrous acid,} is found exclu- 
 sively in Trap Rocks ; either in globular and 
 radiated concretions, or, crystallised, lining 
 cavities. 
 
 The above are the chief Geological formations in 
 England and Wales, and, with the exception of 
 the two immediately preceding, exhibit the fea- 
 tures of the country, in travelling from west to 
 east, that is, from the oldest to the youngest in 
 the series. The regular stratification of England, 
 speaking upon the great scale, dips to the south- 
 east, and rises to the day in the opposite direc- 
 tion ; but where any regular strata occur on the 
 western side of the range of primitive rocks that 
 pass from Wales through Westmoreland and 
 Cumberland, it is remarkable that the order is 
 there reversed; and, rising to the south-east, 
 
71 
 
 VEIISE 
 
 they dip towards the Irish Channel. There is 
 but one more formation to notice, viz. the beds 
 of Alluvial Deposit consisting of Gravel, some- 
 times mixed up with Sand and Clay. 
 
 Deposits of Gravel, or fragments of different 
 rocks rounded by the action of the Diluvian 
 waters, are universally diffused over the surface 
 of the other rocks, covering them all indiffer- 
 ently, in all the valleys of the world. These 
 appear to have resulted from the last revolution 
 the earth has undergone ; and it is in these 
 almost exclusively, with the exception of the 
 beds near Paris, that the remains of land animals 
 are found in a state that indicates a very recent 
 origin. 
 
 Many animals now supposed extinct, and many 
 others not existing in northern latitudes, such as 
 elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, mastodons, 
 elks, buffaloes, stags, are found buried in the gra- 
 vel of all the great valleys of Europe and Ame- 
 rica ; and in vast abundance on the icy shores of 
 the coast of Siberia. A few years since, the en- 
 tire carcase of an elephant of an extinct species 
 was developed in an ice-berg on the coast of 
 Tungusia, in Siberia. Its flesh was in a perfectly 
 
72 
 
 VER-E 
 
 fresh state, and was immediately eaten by the 
 bears. Some of this flesh is to be seen adhering, 
 in a dried state, to the head of the animal ; 
 which, with the entire skeleton, is preserved in 
 the public museum at St. Petersburg. A plate 
 of it is given in the 5th vol. of the Mem. de 
 1'Acad. of St. Petersburg. 
 
 The occurrence of the fossil remains of quadrupeds 
 in these the most recent deposits is a subject of such 
 great interest, that it will readily excuse a slight devia- 
 tion from the general plan of these notes, which is re- 
 stricted to the notice of facts observed in England only. 
 Viewing the- subject generally, the following may be 
 offered as a tolerably complete list of the animal remains 
 hitherto detected in such situations, arranged according 
 to the method of Cuvier. 
 
 I. Of the order Pachydermata, we find A. Two 
 species of elephants ; both differing from the 
 recent species, and probably the inhabitants of a 
 different climate, being met with principally in 
 high northern latitudes. B. The mastodon or 
 mammoth ; a genus which at present appears to | 
 be extinct, but which is allied to the elephant 
 by being furnished with a proboscis and tusks. 
 Five species have been ascertained of which 
 
73 
 
 one, found in the swamps of the Ohio must have 
 exceeded the elephant in size. Some of the 
 other species are common to the new world 
 and the continent of Europe; and the teeth of 
 one at least have been observed in England. 
 C. A species of rhinoceros differing widely from 
 the recent ; and found both on the continent 
 and in England. D. Two species of hippopota- 
 mus ; one small, and certainly different from any 
 recent species. Remains of both appear to have 
 been found in England. E. The tapir, of which 
 only one recent species is known, presents two 
 fossil species ; one of them gigantic. These 
 
 have been found in the south of France, and 
 
 / 
 
 near Vienna. 
 
 Thus the single order of Pachydermata exhibits 
 the surprising phenomenon of the discovery of 
 entirely new genera; of new species of the 
 known genera ; of those now peculiar to the 
 torrid zone, found on the coast of the frozen 
 ocean ; and of those now confined to the new 
 world, buried in the soil of the old. 
 
 II. Of the order Tardigradi or Sloths, we find in the 
 
 new world two fossil genera, both now extinct, 
 
 and one of them considerably larger than the ox. 
 
 This, the megatherium, has been discovered in 
 
 E 
 
74 
 
 South America; the other, named the mega- 
 lonyx from the enormous size of its claws, was 
 found in a cavern in Virginia. 
 
 III. Of carnivorous animals, a hyena, differing from 
 and larger than the recent species ; and the 
 bones of tigers have been observed on the con- 
 tinent of Europe. 
 
 IV. Of the order Solipedes, the bones of the horse 
 are very common in alluvial deposits ; and are 
 found so mingled with the remains of the non- 
 existing species, that they cannot be considered 
 as parts of the skeletons of animals of this kind 
 only lately deceased. 
 
 V. In the order of Ruminants, a large species of 
 buffalo ; the celebrated Irish elk, distinguished 
 by its enormous antlers ; and two species of 
 stags ; all differing from any recent species, have 
 been found : together with other species of the 
 buffalo, ox, and stag, agreeing with those 
 actually existing. 
 
 One of the most curious alluvial deposits of the con- 
 tinent is that near Canstadt, in the vale of the Neckar. 
 Here the bones of elephants, hyenas, rhinoceroses, and 
 of the common horse were found mingled together ; 
 
75 
 
 and close at hand an immense subterraneous forest of 
 Palms was disclosed. 
 
 Subterraneous forests are also frequently found buried 
 beneath the alluvial deposits of this country ; but most 
 usually of trees still indigenous. It is a most curious 
 fact, that these often occur in marshes lining the coast 
 at levels beneath even that of low water; and may thus 
 be traced extending beneath the waves. 
 
 Next to the animal remains contained in alluvial 
 deposits of gravel, the singular remains of carnivorous 
 animals preserved in the caverns near Bayreuth in 
 Germany deserve to be mentioned. Two species of 
 bear, both differing from the recent, and one rivalling 
 the horse in size, are here found, together with the 
 same hyena before mentioned as occurring in the alluvia 
 of Canstadt. Cuvier, describing these facts, enquires, 
 
 At what period was it that the elephants, and hyenas 
 of the Cape, of the size of our bears, lived in our 
 climate, and were shaded by forests of palms ? Or in 
 which they took shelter in caverns along with bears as 
 large as our horses ?" 
 
 In many places the fissures of older rocks are occu- 
 pied by a Breccia of very recent formation (perhaps 
 even still proceeding), which contains numerous bones, 
 principally of ruminating animals. Gibraltar affords 
 E 2 
 
76 
 
 well-known specimens of this kind ; as also do Arragon, 
 the Veronese, Nice, Antibes, Cette, Corsica, and Dal- 
 matia. The Gibraltar bones belong chiefly to a single 
 species, a small ruminant resembling the deer. Only 
 one instance of bones found in such situations differing 
 from the recent is known, in the lagomys of Corsica, 
 
 The human skeleton found imbedded in stone on the 
 beach at Guadaloupe, and deposited in the British Mu- 
 seum, is to be ascribed only to the process of consolida- 
 tion which is daily going on in the loose calcareous 
 beach of that Island ; and by which it should appear 
 that the skeleton of some corpse, recently and accident- 
 ally thrown or interred there, has been arrested and 
 fixed. No authenticated instance of any human bones 
 having been found in a fossil state occurs. * '*''"' 
 
 Almost the only instance of land quadrupeds being 
 found in the solid strata (as- distinguished from the 
 above alluvial deposits) is in the Alabaster beds of the 
 neighbourhood of Paris ; which are among the most 
 recent formations, posterior to Chalk, and which con- 
 tain several species of the palaeotherium, and anoplo- 
 therium; two extinct genera of the order Pachydermata, 
 approximating to the daman and rhinoceros ; together 
 with remains of ruminant and carnivorous animals, and 
 the bones of five or six species of birds . 
 
77 
 
 j" The foregoing pages contain an enumeration 
 of the chief rocks of this country, or such as 
 occupy the greatest space and range : these 
 which follow being either of smaller dimensions, 
 and less frequent occurrence ; or being enclosed 
 in larger rocks, or forming constituent parts of 
 them. 
 
 VERSE 
 
 886. Hornstone. A tough silicious stone, of a grey 
 colour, but often intermixed with various tinges, 
 imbedded generally in Limestone ; sometimes in 
 considerable masses. It is so found on the 
 banks of the Menai, in Caernarvonshire. Wood 
 petrified by Hornstone, thence termed Wood- 
 stone, is met with in ferruginous Sand near 
 Woburn, in Bedfordshire, and near Nutfield in 
 Surry. 
 
 888. Chert. Is considered to be allied to Hornstone. 
 Its general colour is grey, with a waxy or greasy 
 lustre, and translucent on the edges. It is found 
 imbedded in green Sand in the Cliff at the 
 Western Lines in the Isle of Wight, and in the 
 eastern parts of Devonshire, and at Lyme in 
 Dorsetshire. It is found in this country princi- 
 pally in the form of subordinate beds and nodules 
 in the green Sand and Mountain Lime form- 
 E 3 
 
78 
 
 ations : and in both these it occurs abundantly, 
 It is also found in the Lias of Glamorganshire, 
 and in the Oolite of Yorkshire : but is rare in 
 both these last formations. 
 
 890. Jasper. The circumstances under which Jasper 
 is sometimes found, seem to favour an opinion 
 that it may in a few cases have been formed from 
 Sandstone, in a state of fusion from the contact 
 of a heated mass. See " Playfair's Illustrations 
 of the Huttonian Theory." 
 
 Such cases, however, are very rare, and occur 
 only in rocks that are in immediate contact with 
 Trap. 
 
 892. Agate. Is found usually in nodules, of various 
 sizes, filling cavities in the Trap rocks ; and is 
 rare in those of any other formations. Pebbles 
 of Agate, probably derived from decayed Trap 
 rocks, are found on the sea-shore, and in the 
 beds of some rivers along the northern coast of 
 England. What are termed Moss Agates (from 
 being pervaded by very fine mineral ramifica- 
 tions, resembling Moss) are principally found on 
 the sea-shore at Scarborough and Whitby, in 
 Yorkshire. 
 
79 
 
 VERSE 
 
 896. Felspar has been already mentioned as forming 
 a chief constituent of Granite, Gneiss, Porphyry, 
 Sienite, and Greenstone. Compact Felspar is 
 also met with as a separate rock, though not of 
 any extent, in Westmoreland, and at the Cheviot 
 Hills : in the neighbourhood of which latter place 
 are also found masses of Breccia, composed of 
 its angular fragments. There is a variety of 
 Felspar from the coast of Labrador, remarkable 
 for its brilliant play of the prismatic tints ; in some 
 directions presenting a perfect flame colour. 
 
 s 
 
 900. Steatite, or Soap Stone. Is of a grey colour, and 
 a singularly unctuous feel ; and is abundant in the 
 Serpentine of Cornwall: also running in veins 
 through the same rock in the Isle of Anglesea. 
 
 902. Tufa. Is the most impure, irregular; and'porous 
 of all the varieties of Carbonate of Lime ; and is 
 deposited daily by streams impregnated with 
 that substance. That fine deposition of calca- 
 reous matter, from certain waters in Derbyshire 
 and many other places, upon articles immersed 
 in them ; and which bears the appearance of 
 petrifaction, is a kind of Tufa. In masses, it is 
 generally light and cellular ; but is sometimes 
 compact enough to be used for building. 
 E 4 
 
80 
 
 VERSE 
 
 904. Asbestus usually accompanies Serpentine, and is 
 found with it in Anglesea, and at the Lizard in 
 Cornwall. Amianthus, from whose slender fibres 
 the ancients wove a kind of cloth, that was im- 
 perishable by fire, and in which they burned 
 the dead, that their ashes might be preserved, 
 is a variety of Asbestus. 
 
 V '''&- 
 
 904. Talc somewhat resembles Mica in appearance, 
 but the plates into which it is divisible are not 
 elastic. It is unctuous to the touch, as are most 
 of those minerals that contain a considerable 
 portion of Magnesia, and is met with, in this 
 country, in Serpentine at the Lizard Point. 
 
 905. Clinkstone* Is a variety of Basalt, .that upon 
 being struck with a hammer gives a ringing me- 
 tallic sound. It is of a dark colour, and usually 
 columnar: attends the basaltic formations of 
 Scotland and Ireland, and is of very rare occur- 
 rence in England or Wales. But is said to be 
 found at the Breidden Hills, in Montgomeryshire. 
 
 906. Hornblende is of a greenish black colour, and 
 shining lustre ; and is generally met with as 
 composing part of Sienite, Basalt, Greenstone, 
 and volcanic substances. It may be known by 
 
81 
 I 
 
 VERSE 
 
 being struck with a harder body, as the bruised 
 part appears of a much lighter hue, and earthy. 
 
 907. Toadstone. A spotted rock, known by that 
 name only in Derbyshire, and analogous to the 
 variety of Trap Rocks called Amygdaloid in 
 Scotland and elsewhere, and nearly allied to 
 Basalt. It is usually of a dark greenish-brown 
 colour; varying greatly in hardness and density; 
 exhibits few or no symptoms of stratification, but 
 intersects the Mountain Limestone of that county 
 in different directions ; appearing at the surface 
 at Castleton, and some other places. It is some- 
 times porous, and the cavities being filled with 
 Calcareous Spar and Zeolite, give it a speckled 
 appearance ; whence it derived its name. 
 
 908. Swinestone. A species of Limestone, thus called 
 from the strong fetid odour given out, when 
 scraped or rubbed. It is of various shades of 
 grey, brown, and black. It occurs in Shropshire 
 and Northumberland, in beds in Mountain Lime- 
 stone ; and the steep banks of the Avon at Clif- 
 ton, near Bristol, contain thick strata of it. Its 
 offensive odour is attributed to the presence of 
 sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 
 E 5 
 
82 
 
 VERSE 
 
 914. Shale is a soft Slate, of a very brittle quality, and 
 a dark iron colour ; accompanying the oldest 
 Coal deposits, and generally overlying the Coal 
 itself. Shale, but of a paler colour and firmer 
 texture, very frequently occurs above and be- 
 tween the beds of white and blue Lias, where it 
 sometimes contains fishes. In Derbyshire a thick 
 stratum of Shale is found reposing immediately 
 on the upper Limestone, and is commonly called 
 the Limestone Shale ; and that which accompa- 
 nies the Coal measures is called Coal Shale, or 
 Plate. 
 
 935. Breccia is composed of Flint, Chalcedony, or 
 Limestone, united by a cement usually silicious 
 or calcareous ; and of finer grain than the im- 
 bedded pebbles. Beds of Breccia occur in many 
 formations from the Grauwacke upwards. To 
 a silicious variety found in Hertfordshire, and 
 formed of dark and variegated Flint Pebbles, set 
 in a whitish ground, of so fine a texture as to 
 admit of a high polish, the name of Plum Pudding 
 Stone has been given. 
 
 990. For the organic remains in alluvial deposits, see 
 the note at page 71. 
 
83 
 
 Geology has but lately occupied the public 
 attention in this country ; and though much has 
 been done within the last few years towards 
 investigating our mineral treasures, yet a very 
 wide field for scrutiny still remains. It were to 
 be wished that the observations of enlightened 
 individuals could be directed to limited districts; 
 arid their memoranda be afterwards compared, 
 and united into Mineralogical Histories of the 
 several counties. By which means a great body 
 of information would be produced, not only 
 highly interesting to the naturalist, but highly 
 serviceable to the agriculturist, the miner, and 
 the landed proprietor 
 
THE 
 
 COUNCIL OF THE METALS. 
 
 Well have ye judg'd, well ended long debate, 
 
 . , and, like to what ye are, 
 
 Great things resolved ; < 
 
 MILTON. 
 
THE 
 
 COUNCIL OF THE METALS. 
 
 THE levee broke up : but no order it knew ; 
 'Twas " a word to the wise," so they quickly with- 
 drew : 
 
 Twas a scene of confusion, of blows, and disgraces, 
 And few were the rocks that got safe to their places, 
 Some were wofully rent, some were mingled in 
 
 kind, 
 
 And some thrown all on edge, as at this day we find. 
 When Sir Lawrence came puffing, and pretty well 
 
 shatter 'd, 
 
 With soot and with ochre too highly bespatter'd, 
 To the hall where the METALS were loud in debate, 
 Discussing affairs that pertain'd to the state. 
 Baron GOLD look'd aghast, who had taken the chair, 
 And the rest show'd their pow'rs at a grin and a stare: 
 When the knight wip'd his brow, he was dismally 
 
 heated, 
 And begg'd, with the president's leave, to be seated: 
 
88 
 
 Then open'd the case. " Ye may well look surprised! 
 " 'Twas a sorrowful thought, when King COAL ye 
 
 despis'd : 
 
 " Why he deals with the devil, and quickly he'll give 
 " Every one a ixarm jacket, as sure ye live. 
 " I thought Giant Gravel had sober'd him well, 
 " When so loudly he rang out his funeral knell ; 
 " But he rose twice as fierce ; and soon drove us pell- 
 mell. 
 " Had ye seen but his glare, and what earthquakes 
 
 he rais'd ! 
 " That I'm out of his clutches, oh ! Heaven be 
 
 prais'd !" 
 
 Here exhausted he sank ; when the president roar'd 
 For some true " baume de vie" and the knight was 
 
 restored. 
 
 But now rose the question, in full consultation, 
 All talking together in some consternation, 
 Of what should be done, since the thing was no jest: 
 Some thought to appease the dark monarch was best ; 
 Some dubiously hung ; a few sneer'd at his thunder, 
 And deem'd it would sully their fame to knock under. 
 But since matters can seldom be well understood 
 When all speak together; 'twere strange if they 
 
 could ; 
 
 It was settled, to see how opinions might chime, 
 They should e'en play the orator one at a time. 
 
89 
 
 Baron GOLD, from the chair, made a shining harangue, 
 Amid sounds of " hear, hear," which in rapture they 
 
 sang. 
 
 Sir Solomon SILVER his sentiments told 
 In a bright little speech, but inferior to GOLD. 
 Matt. MERCURY thought it were best to assent 
 To the sway of King COAL, and his wrath to prevent : 
 And ofFer'd the message submissive to bear, 
 Since the good of the METALS was ever his care. 
 Captain COPPER on this begg'd permission to speak, 
 And the blush of resentment was seen on his cheek, 
 Whilst firmly protesting that not with his will 
 Should MERCURY ever such embassy fill : 
 Nay, he swore that the sycophant lov'd but himself, 
 And he call'd him, in public, a slippery el 
 He aecus'd him of keeping low company too, 
 That Sulphur, from whom every Englishman flew ; 
 That to bring such a fellow, was very intrusive : 
 In short Captain COPPER was vastly abusive. 
 Then gravely rose IRON, with countenance hard, 
 " He fear'd not King COAL, and should stand on 
 
 his guard ; 
 
 " But as nearest allied to PYRITES, he hop'd 
 " An arrangement was near, and all feuds would be 
 
 dropp'd. 
 
 " Though he trusted the last to consult his own ends 
 " He should ever be found ; and would vote with his 
 
 friends." 
 
90 1 
 
 TIN argued at length ; and though clear in his plan, 
 
 Yet his reasoning to too great tenuity ran 4 
 
 When LEAD at Sir Lawrence's chair took his station, 
 
 And gave them a wofully heavy oration ; 
 
 All tending to prove this self-evident thing, 
 
 " They had weight on their side, and might crush 
 
 the proud king." 
 
 At last his dull speech in displeasure he clos'd, 
 For, on looking around, there were few but had doz'd. 
 Then up stood dark ZINC, who was funny and short, 
 And being no orator, made them some sport: 
 Declaring, that should the king marshal his Gnomes, 
 The METALS would drive the black brats to their homes ! 
 TITANIUM then rose ; he was youthful and weak, 
 And he thought, as a copy of SILVER, to speak : 
 But each smile in the hall quickly chang'd to a frown, 
 And as done in the Commons they soon cough'd 
 
 him down. 
 
 Then COBALT stood up, and his speech he would read; 
 So he piuTd forth a paper, in haste to proceed, 
 But no sooner they saw him this action pursue, 
 Than they rose in dismay, and to stop him they flew; 
 For he dealt so in Arsenic, it well might appal, 
 And they thought he intended to poison them all. 
 Then TUNGSTEN, who always had seem'd very bright, 
 Spoke next ; but he shed no additional light : 
 'Twas an echo to IRON ; they then recollected 
 That IRON and he were quite closely connected. 
 
91 
 
 Then NICKEL would fain his opinion divulge, 
 But they fear'd in some fanciful flights he'd indulge ; 
 So the Baron stood up, and, with all due decorum, 
 Begg'd NICKEL would stick to the subject before 'em. 
 But though grace and reproof were most happily 
 
 blended, 
 
 Mr. NICKEL sat down ; he was highly offended. 
 MOLYBD^ENA quite warm, and URANIUM rose, 
 And from words the dispute would have ended in blows, 
 Had not BISMUTH, who always could solder division, 
 [nterpos'd, and referr'd to the Baron's decision : 
 Who instantly bade all such bickering cease, 
 And nodded in turn to the grey MANGANESE. 
 Now he was a wight whom with reverence they view'd, 
 Whom the lessons of life had with wisdom endued : 
 He had wander'd afar, through all Europe had stray'd, 
 And earth's sons had, in arts, long acknowledg'd his aid, 
 He was sparing of words, for he oft would observe, 
 " That the tongue, unless bridled, is given to swerve:" 
 But since call'd to the task for the good of the state, 
 He strok'd his long beard, and thus join'd the debate. 
 " It has ever appear'd, as I travell'd through life, 
 " That between folks disparted there seldom is strife. 
 " King COAL has vow'd vengeance because we decline 
 " To hail and obey him, as prince of the mine. 
 " Now, to turn all his threats into nought, I should say, 
 " The best plan would be to keep out of his way/' 
 
 
92 
 
 He ended ; and loud acclamations were heard, 
 
 What logic !" " What wisdom !" " What force in 
 
 each word !" 
 
 All voices declar'd further cavil should cease ; 
 All sounded the praises of grey MANGANESE ; 
 And as for King COAL, 'twas agreed not to fear him; 
 'Twas settled, nem. con. they would never come near 
 
 him ! 
 
 Then the council dissolv'd : they sped separate ways, 
 But not till the Baron, in elegant phrase, 
 Had address' d their condolence and thanks to the 
 
 knight : 
 Who was led out by ZINC in indifferent plight. 
 
 But how seldom when many are join'd in debate, 
 Of the pilots that stand at the helm of the state, 
 Though professions, like manna, fall softly around, 
 And the lip sweetly breathes unanimity's sound, 
 Will sincerity in every bosom be found. 
 To the letter they strictly adhere, just to serve 
 As a mantle, when wide from the spirit they swerve. 
 Now though IRON agreed not to visit the King, 
 To provide for his sons was a different thing : 
 With the vote that he gave for the good of the nation, 
 He had mentally treasur'd this slight reservation. 
 So he sent for Jack CLAY, - who was always at hand 
 When the METALS, rich souls, would his service com- 
 mand, 
 
93 
 
 And he gave the young fry to that dandy's controul, 
 To be taught a few airs, and to wait on King COAL : 
 With an elegant note, that he trusted would clear him, 
 For he only had promis'd he ne'er would come near him. 
 They went ; and they found the King quaffing his ale, 
 And enjoying his pipe by the side of old SHALE: 
 They were rather surprised that old SHALE was his 
 
 friend, 
 But bethought them, that kings sometimes love to 
 
 unbend. 
 
 CLAY spoke ; and in patience the King heard him out, 
 Though he scarcely could tell what CLAY'S speech was 
 
 about : 
 
 However, he kindly approv'd the connection, 
 Consigning the brats to his crony's protection. * 
 
 * Thin argillaceous strata containing spheroidal nodules and flat 
 masses of clayey Iron-stone occur subordinately in many of the Shale 
 beds of the great Coal formation, and at this time supply the principal 
 Iron Founderies of Britain with Ore. 
 
 The nodules often contain a vegetable nucleus, from which they 
 derive the outline of their external form. This nucleus is usually 
 a leaf or fragment of some of the plants that occur abundantly 
 in Coal Shale, and which also constitute the entire substance of the 
 Coal itself. The traces of vegetable structure are usually lost in the 
 beds of solid Coal, in consequence of the pressure and chemical 
 changes that have taken place ; but the Shale is crowded with lively 
 impressions of vegetables, generally leaves, of which the substance is 
 converted into Coal. In these cases the leaves are separated from 
 each other by a very thin lamina of Shale : but in the absence of 
 
94 
 
 SHALE wove them a bow'r that large palm-trees sur- 
 rounded, 
 
 And withjerns quite gigantic its area bounded. 
 A passion for plants had so grappled his soul. 
 That an old Hortus siccus each spare moment stole : 
 
 such intervening lamina the altered vegetables have become confluent, 
 and their form is generally obliterated. See Parkinson's Organic 
 Remains, Vol. I. for an account of the natural process by which all 
 vegetable matter is convertible to Coal. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most striking phenomena of Geology is that 
 enormous mass of vegetable matter which has been accumulated, at a 
 very early period in the history of stratification, to compose our Coal 
 beds. In this Island alone many thousand square acres contain 
 beneath them strata of Coal accumulated above each other, sometimes 
 to the number of 40 or 50, and disposed like beds of stone in a quarry, 
 and alternating with strata of Shale and silicious Sandstone. In both 
 the latter vegetable remains are tliickly disseminated, but not in 
 quantity sufficient to be of any use. They also form separate 
 laminae or strata of vegetables converted to pure Coal, varying in 
 thickness from a quarter of an inch to 30 feet and upwards. Coal 
 is seldom worth working unless its thickness exceeds one foot. 
 The thickest bed of Coal in this country is at Dudley, where there 
 is a stratum (called the ten-yard Coal} which measures sometimes 12 
 yards in thickness of solid Coal. Its extraordinary thickness is 
 supposed to arise from the union of three smaller beds, without the 
 interposition of the usual Shale and Sandstones. 
 
 The ordinary thickness of good Coal beds is from four to six feet. 
 
 The history of the origin of these accumulated masses of vegetable 
 matter, so admirably treasured up for the use of mankind, forms 
 one of the most difficult problems of Geology. We find in them 
 the wreck of various genera of vegetables, (many of them apparently 
 tropical, others growing in colder latitudes,) confusedly mixed 
 
95 
 
 For which he had ransack'd the swamps and the meads, 
 Till his Hortus was richest in grasses and reeds. 
 
 o 
 
 But a strange antiquarian whim he display'd ; 
 From the simplest of plants his selection was made, 
 And of structure primeval like none 'we descry 
 'Mid the bountiful gifts that the seasons supply ; 
 
 together in the same stratum. They seem at their formation to have 
 been strewed over vast spaces, at the bottom of the then existing 
 ocean in regular strata, alternating with much thicker strata of Shale 
 and Sandstone : the whole of which have since been much disturbed 
 and broken by violent agents, probably acting from beneath. 
 
 The nature of the x enclosed vegetables is also extremely singular, 
 and is as yet little understood. They seem, however, to consist en- 
 tirely of plants of the most simple structure (monocotyledonous or 
 acotyledonous), and may be referred principally to reeds, grasses, 
 canes, equisetums, palms, and ferns. Plants of this kind display no 
 trace of that more solid and compound texture which we find in 
 timber trees and the dicotyledonous genera ; exhibiting in their 
 interior concentric rings, a central medulla, and medullary radii : 
 whilst the substance of the monocotyledonous plants is disposed in 
 fasciculi of longitudinal fibres, having a central open cavity like a 
 cane or reed. Of modern plants these latter include some of the 
 most elegant tribes, usually having a smooth, delicate, and tapering 
 form, and being graceful in their proportions. 
 
 Many species of the fossil ferns seem to have attained the gigantic 
 stature which some species of that genus now arrive at in tropical 
 climates. Many Coal plants resemble in outward form the stems of 
 the cactus tribe, and are covered with an infinite variety of flutings 
 and lozenge-shaped configurations, containing points that apparently 
 formed the bases of their spines or leaflets : but the history of these 
 plants is not yet understood. Perhaps not one of the fossil Coal 
 plants can be proved to be absolutely identical with any now existing. 
 
96 > 
 
 Nor confined he his search, for the earth widely 
 From the poles to the tropics the treasures he drew : 
 Which long in his cabinet hoarded so slily, 
 As an ancient Herbarium are priz'd very highly. 
 To SHALE then the urchins were duly consigned, 
 Who found them at once to his studies inclin'd : 
 And with him and King COAL in these regular ways 
 They liv'd snugly enough all the rest of their days. 
 
 The oldest rock in which we find the remains of solid wood is the 
 Lias, in which are fossil trees of a large size, that were decidedly 
 dicotyledonous. They occur also in all younger strata, from the 
 Lias upwards ; but their identity with any existing species has not 
 yet been established. 
 
BARON BASALT'S TOUR. 
 
 despatch me hence: 
 
 Come, answer not, but to it presently : 
 I am impatient of my tarriance. 
 
 SttAKSPEARf, 
 
NOTE. 
 
 THE following attempt seemed necessary to complete 
 
 the outline of the Geology of England and Wales, in a 
 
 
 
 point which " King Coal's Levee," from the nature of 
 its plan, was not able to embrace ; viz. the localities of 
 the principal primitive and Flcetz Trap formations. 
 
 The author regrets the want of diversity in his sub- 
 ject ; which, had he not aimed as much as possible at 
 compression, might have been rendered somewhat less 
 apparent. With this remark, he consigns it to the 
 public indulgence. 
 
BARON BASALT'S TOUR. 
 
 L 
 
 LIST to the tour that was nobly plann'd 
 By Baron Basalt through Albion's land. 
 
 Baron Basalt was great in fame ; 
 From Sir Tristrem Trap his lineage came ; 
 Whom the annals of science held in birth 5 
 
 Equal to any child of earth : 
 A stout and primitive old Don, 
 Till the flood he jogg'd merrily on ; 
 Then, though neither bow'd nor chang'd, 
 His upper works were a little deranged. 10 
 
 The Baron was proud of his pedigree, 
 Which was as high as well could be ; 
 Though not for centuries backward it ran 
 Like the Chinese race ere the world began. 
 Beetle-brow'd, like his starch'd old sire, 15 
 
 Hard of heart, and quick in ire ; 
 Was his mood but slightly cross'd, 
 Sparks of wrath around he toss'd. 
 Domineering in temper, he spurn'd the green vale, 
 And strove, through our realms to be first in the 
 scale, 20 
 
 F 3 
 
102 
 
 II. 
 
 He rose with the dawn, and the welkin he eyed ; 
 " Enough ; 'tis my pleasure now southward to ride : 
 " Summon Zeolite hither ; fly, slaves, at my call ; 
 " Lead Atlas and Skeleton round to the hall." 
 
 A word was enough, 25 
 
 Away ran the slaves, 
 For the Baron look'd gruff, 
 
 As the storm-driven waves : 
 And in Zeolite tript, 
 
 At the tail of this racket, 30 
 
 Like a Cupid equipt 
 In a pink sattin jacket. 
 
 III. 
 
 Forth stept the proud and princely wight, 
 
 In broider'd surtout richly dight : 
 
 With trowsers, that might well have stow'd 35 
 
 A week's provision for the road 
 
 Their snowy folds among : 
 With boots, of which each well-shod heel, 
 Garnish' d with massive spur of steel, 
 
 Upon the pavement rung. 40 
 
 And on his frizzled seat of sense 
 A cap sat paramount, from whence 
 
 Two silken tassels hung ; 
 That o'er his cheek, of swarthy shade, 
 And with his black mustachios play'd. 45 
 
103 
 
 His hunting-whip of wondrous size 
 
 Unfurling to the breeze, 
 He fix'd on Zeolite his eyes, 
 And with a nod, austere and wise, 
 
 He spake such words as these : 50 
 
 " Babbler, my equipage prepare, 
 " Viands choice, and essence rare ; 
 " Such as flights of spirit bear, 
 " Such as please the blushing fair ; 
 " Aiding in the man of grace 55 
 
 " The witcheries of tongue and face." 
 He ceas'd, and e'en a smile appeared 
 
 Upon his lip to beam ; 
 As wintry days are sometimes cheer 'd 
 
 By the sun's transient gleam. 60 
 
 IV. 
 
 His will was the law, for in thunder it flow'd ; 
 His command was performance ; on Atlas he strode, 
 And females and children all fled from his road : 
 For he rose on the sight like some ruthless marauder, 
 Whom Scotia of old launched in ire from the border ; 65 
 Whilst on Skeleton's back little Zeolite sat, 
 With his visage so sharp, and his high-pointed hat, 
 And his legs, shrunk in strife from the scabbards they 
 
 bore, 
 Like famine, that follows the footsteps of War. 
 
104 
 
 From the border they came, and at Cheviot's base 70 
 They appear'd like the genii that rul'd o'er the place : 
 They reach'd the green summit, and eastward their view 
 O'er the fertiliz'd vales of North umbria threw. 
 
 V. 
 
 Away thence they sped to St. Cuthbert's fair isle, 
 Where the wave idly foams round its turretted pile ; 75 
 But now ocean was lull'd, and the wind on its breast 
 Was soft as the sighs of an infant at rest. 
 Then to Belford they rode, and they joy'd in a peep 
 O'er its flower-tufted crag, so romantic and steep ; 
 And to Spindlestone came, where the champion so 
 
 stout 80 
 
 Saw a reptile creep in, but a lady creep out, 
 (Oh ! few, in these days, would urge service and suit 
 Through such trial of taste, such a slimy salute !) 
 Till they track'd the red sun to his western parade, 
 And Bamburgh's proud walls were the halting-place 
 
 made. 85 
 
 VI. 
 
 They rose with morning's bright career, 
 
 From those grey turrets to depart, 
 Where meek-ey'd Pity bends to cheer 
 
 The shipwreck'd seaman's heart, 
 And o'er the bosom of the deep 90 
 
 To the Farn Islands gaily sweep. 
 
105 
 
 The Baron there got his cap well lin'd 
 
 With eider-down to nurse his brain : 
 By which his intellect, refin'd, 
 
 Started quite fresh again : 95 
 
 But since no Boswell's aid he cherish'd, 
 All his bon-mots alas ! have perish'd. 
 But whilst he grappled each eider-duck's nest, 
 
 Zeolite suck'd the eggs ; 
 Till the varlet grew so sick at last 100 
 
 He scarce could keep his legs : 
 And when they homeward came afloat, 
 He grac'd the bottom of the boat. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Baron to Dunstanborough came, 
 
 Like Guy the Seeker, with eye of flame, 105 
 
 And with locks of the raven hue ; 
 But no strange perils of day or night 
 Deaden'd his glance of living light, 
 Or chang'd his tresses to silvery white, 
 
 Such as the Seeker knew: 110 
 
 The spell was broken that lit the hall, 
 And silence sat on the crumbling wall. 
 Thence to Ratcheugh Crag he pac'd : 
 A little wilderness of taste 
 
 Dropt on the fertile lands, 115 
 
 And still, by ducal visits grac'd, 
 
 The hoary summit stands ; 
 F 5 
 
106 
 
 And peers above its fringe of green, 
 
 Yet stealing many a look between, 
 
 The placid patriarch of the scene. 120 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Baron now entered King Coal's domain, 
 And he thought of an antient feud ; 
 
 Nor strove he his vengeance to restrain, 
 
 But he harried the kingdom across, and again 
 
 His turbulent course pursued : 1 25 
 
 He mock'd at the monarch's angry call, 
 
 And almost bearded him in his hall. 
 
 Oh! long shall be seen in the realms of Coal 
 
 Those marks of the Baron's wrathful soul ! 
 
 The King sent forth an armed band 130 
 
 To drive this outlaw from the land ; 
 
 But they might march till leaves were brown, 
 
 (And summer then shower'd blessings down 
 
 On nature's fair and glowing breast,) 
 
 Ere sight could on the culprit rest ; 135 
 
 For he was far from scenes like these. 
 
 Upon the peaceful banks of Tees. 
 
 IX. 
 
 He lav'd, beneath the sultry beam, 
 
 His stately person in the stream ; 
 
 And long they trac'd its winding way ; 140 
 
 Till, upward bubbling to the day, 
 
107 
 
 Through the dark-brown heather stealing, 
 Now half hid, and now revealing 
 
 Its limpid current to the ray, 
 
 It shone, with sweet contrasted charm, 145 
 
 Like bracelet on an Ethiop's arm. ' 
 Twice they cross'd its eager route, 
 At Mickel Force, and Caldron Snout. 
 
 X. 
 
 Then to Cumbria's bounds they went, 
 
 Where huge Cross Fell its crest uprears ; 150 
 Whose western brow doth well present 
 
 The furrows form'd by weight of years. 
 The Baron had scarcely trodden the ,hill 
 
 Till a plebeian half-starv'd band 
 Burst on his view, with voices shrill, 155 
 
 And welcom'd him to their land : 
 " Odi prqfanum vulgus !" he cried, 
 And bridled his courser round, in pride 
 On Dufton Pike they next were seen, 
 
 Within Westmeria's wild domain; 160 
 
 The rustics thought their guests had been 
 The Devil and Faustus, by their mien, 
 
 And on the neighbouring plain 
 Consulted by what darling trick 
 
 They could propitiate Old Nick. 165 
 
 Now Zeolite, on Skeleton, 
 Was what they fix' d their eyes upon; 
 F 6 
 
108 
 
 They deem'd him Satan, perch'd in spite 
 Upon a miser's starveling sprite. 
 
 His horns were in his hat's high crown, 170 
 
 And his long tail was button' d down. 
 But whilst they were gazing, on worship intent, 
 O'er the hill-top the Baron and Zeolite went, 
 Nor were they once chas'd by the dastardly crew, 
 To see whether they rode off, or whether iheyjleiv. 175 
 And the same of Knock Pike to this day is reported, 
 That the Devil and his Chum on that eminence 
 sported. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The Baron to Castletoh canter'd along, 
 Where he prowFd its romantic allurements among ; 
 The Dog-Star was raging, a shade was a boon, 180 
 And he enter'd a cave, from the fervors of noon : 
 But Atlas, when Eve's crimson mantle dropt o'er, 
 To Mount Sorrel his load of nobility bore. 
 Viscount Sienite there, a peer haughty in carriage, 
 Gave a grand ball and supper (the reason, his 
 marriage 185 
 
 With the eldest Miss Slate) to a herd of haut ton; 
 And who found, by their tact, that the viands were bonnes. 
 The Baron was greeted from every side, 
 And 'twas loudly propos'd he should waltz with the bride. 
 But it happen'd most oddly (alas, for his honour!) 190 
 That he tripp'd up his partner, and fell plump upon her ; 
 
109 
 
 And the Viscountess suffered so much, that 'tis said, 
 Ever since she has woefully droop'd in her bed. 
 We may guess pretty surely, since such was the case, 
 That he bustled as soon as he could from the place. 195 
 
 XII. 
 
 Scarcely Salopians bounds he enter'd, 
 
 Where the Trap family were centered, 
 
 Till cards of compliment came pouring, 
 
 Like hail, when Winter's winds are roaring. 
 
 His lofty cousins long'd to greet him, 200 
 
 With mantling cups of ale to treat him ; 
 
 For fame had spread from sea to sea 
 
 His bacchanalian energy. 
 
 Lawley, Caer Caradoc, Ragleath, 
 
 Hope Bowdler too, and Steeraway, 205 
 
 Trusted that as he pass'd beneath 
 
 A friendly visit he would pay : 
 But Little Wenlock sent no less 
 Than note from lithographic press. 
 
 The Baron swerv'd not from his road 210 
 
 Had invitations doubly flow'd, 
 But up the Wrekin held his way, 
 And topp'd it at the close of day. / 
 Forth sail'd its Lady, with a smile, 
 
 And order'd forth the flaggon ; 215 
 
 The Baron spoke in pompous style, 
 
 And quaff d like any dragon : 
 
110 
 
 The Lady scarce knew which to think 
 
 Was most sublime, his speech or drink. 
 
 Whilst she for aptest words was seeking, 220 
 
 He toasted " all friends round the Wrekin," 
 
 Nor flinch'd, till the butler came to tell her 
 
 That her guest had consum'd all the ale in the cellar. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 There liv'd on Snowdon an old miser, 
 
 Ap Shenkin Trap, no mortal wiser 225 
 
 In his own estimation : 
 Though owner of a diamond mine, 
 His household were as lank and fine 
 
 As any in the nation : 
 
 For they had all been starv'd by him 230 
 
 Into superior racing trim. 
 To him the Baron paid a visit ; 
 And not at all surprising, is it ? 
 He was the miser's heir-at-law ; 
 And hop'd full soon to lay his claw 235 
 
 On the old codger's savings : 
 He wish'd to see how stood his health ; 
 To ease him under his load of wealth ; 
 
 Now these were natural cravings. 
 But, sooth, Ap Shenkin starv'd them out, 24-0 
 
 Till Zeolite just crawl'd about, 
 Most fashionably thin : 
 
Ill 
 
 He gave them, to their roasted rats, 
 The rinsings of his cyder vats, 
 
 Spite of the Baron's din. 245 
 
 So off they went, thus pondering 
 Your miser is a long-liv d thing ! 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Up Cader Idris the Baron was sweeping, 
 
 Where a bright mountain-streamlet beneath him was 
 
 leaping, 
 
 Scattering its spray o'er the lichen and mosses, 250 
 -r- Just as life's pathway is sprinkled by crosses, 
 When from Morgan ap Price Trap's abode on the hill 
 The sounds of the dinner-bell swung down the rill. 
 The Baron a board of good fellowship found, 
 Where the laugh and the clink of the goblet went 
 round : 255 
 
 They were fir'd by his zeal, and each wav'd high his cap 
 As they roar'd o'er their mead, " To the glory of Trap !" 
 A double quart flaggon he lifted, and rising, 
 Toss'd it off to a drop, whilst they shouted " Sur- 
 prising !" 
 
 Each stood to the test, and " He never shall beat us !" 260 
 Burst forth on all sides. 'Twas a perfect quietus : 
 Some lay on the ground ; some half propt, but unable 
 To move hand or tongue ; and some slept on the table. 
 " To horse !" cried the Baron ; " I mourn their con- 
 dition :" 
 And he left the whole group most confus din position. 265 
 
112 
 
 Now Zeolite cursing Ap Shenkin the while, 
 Had been lining his corpus in capital style ! 
 And had lifted the ale-horn so oft to his noddle, 
 That his gait was a compound of reel and of waddle : 
 So that since it was needful to follow his master, 270 
 He was strapp'd on his charger, for fear of disaster ; 
 And his master, to give it the finishing touch, 
 Preach'd, all the way down, about drinking too much. 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Baron conceived that a body, when heated, 
 Must be cool'd ere the process can well be repeated: 275 
 And with error of judgment no mortal can tax him, 
 For it seems 'tis a true philosophical maxim. 
 So away to St. David's bold headland he hied, 
 And splash' d like a drake in the billowy tide : 
 Whilst Zeolite stood with a cargo of towels, 280 
 
 And blest with delectable pains in his bowels : 
 For we seldom in pleasure life's moments employ, 
 Without paying toll for the scenes we enjoy. 
 But whether he died, and was turn'd to Welsh dust, 
 Or again had the comfort of moist'ning his crust, 285 
 In the manuscript whence these short notes are ex- 
 tracted, 
 No mention is made, nor how Zeolite acted. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The Baron then at Malvern stopp'd 
 
 To view Duke Granite's choice collection ; 
 
113 
 
 But from expressions that he dropp'd, 290 
 
 He did not think it worth inspection : 
 
 Such specimens were ne'er disclos'd ; 
 
 They were most sadly decomposed ! 
 
 From thence, it appears, he to Micklewood rode, 
 
 To call on a poor relation ; 295 
 
 Which a soul of benevolence certainly show'd, 
 In a man of his pomp and station : 
 
 But the great can display condescension in this ; 
 
 The honour is talk'd of, and tells not amiss. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Some say that from Torr Point he cast 300 
 
 His glance o'er southern waves at last ; 
 
 And scandal speaks of a connection 
 Form'd with fair Madame Steatite, 
 Who was if I remember right 
 
 Beneath Earl Serpentine's protection. 305 
 
 But it could never be the case, 
 As he would scarcely have the face 
 To meet his Lordship at the Lizard, 
 Whilst this was sticking in his gizzard : 
 And there are reasons to believe 310 
 
 His Lordship did such call receive, 
 And that the Baron smack' d his claret 
 With mighty gout ; nor would he spare it : 
 And then, to lengthen out his dance, 
 Embark'd, like most great folks, for France. 315 
 


 
 NOTES. 
 
 VERSE 
 
 72. There is great reason to conclude that the 
 summit of the Cheviot range consists of primitive 
 rocks belonging to the Trap formation : but from 
 the higher parts being covered by peat-moss, 
 and the lower acclivities by alluvial soil, it is not 
 easy to trace the exact line of separation. 
 
 74. Basaltic eminences form a striking feature in the 
 country between Alnwick and Berwick. Besides 
 those which have been formerly chosen for the 
 sites of castles, (as at Dunstanborough, Bam- 
 burgh, and Holy Island,) Belford Crag, Spin- 
 dlestone Heugh, the Farn Islands, and Ratcheugh 
 Crag, particularly deserve enumeration. Dr. 
 Thomson (says Mr. Phillips) refers the Basalt of 
 this district to the newest Flcetz Trap formation 
 of Werner, and considers it, in some places, to 
 consist of Greenstone rocks. 
 
 121, The number of basaltic veins, or dykes, tra- 
 versing the strata of the Coal measures, is very 
 considerable ; nor do they preserve any uni- 
 
116 
 
 VfiRSE 
 
 formity in their direction; They dislocate the 
 strata, throwing the beds of Coal up or down, 
 sometimes to as much (in Northumberland and 
 Wales) as from 50 to 100 fathoms ; and greatly 
 altering the nature of the Coal, when in contact. 
 
 137. A great assemblage of basaltic rocks is met 
 with in Teesdale, from the source of the Tees 
 to Egglestone. At Caldron Snout a basaltic 
 ridge crossing the river occasions a succession 
 of cascades for the space of 596 yards. Another 
 range causes the cataract called the High or 
 Mickel Force, precipitating the water from a 
 height of 56 feet. The rock which here crosses 
 the river is a coarse-grained grey Basalt. 
 
 150. The range of hills, of which Cross Fell is the 
 highest point, consists of about 20 beds of 
 Limestone, alternating with about 50 beds of 
 Sandstone, 80 of Shale, a few thin beds of Coal, 
 and one of Basalt (probably Greenstone) ; and 
 are, in the whole, 2749 feet thick. The lowest 
 of them crop out on these hills, and are visible 
 on the escarpment of their western side. 
 
 159. Dufton Pike and Knock Pike, two lofty and 
 nearly conical hills, north-east from Appleby 
 
117 
 
 VERSE 
 
 in Westmoreland, consist chiefly of a dark, 
 compact, and highly ferruginous Greenstone. 
 
 178, The Toadstone of Derbyshire appears at the 
 surface in several places; and Greenstone is 
 said to be associated with it in a cave, near 
 Castleton. 
 
 183. Some varieties of Trap appear, as accompanying 
 the sienitic rocks of Mount Sorrel in Leicester- 
 shire, and the Granites of the Malvern Hills 
 in Worcestershire. At the former place, the 
 Sienite is closely connected 'with Slate, without 
 any order of superposition. The Granite, at 
 the latter place, is so greatly decomposed as 
 scarcely to be recognised. 
 
 196. A Trap formation of considerable extent occurs 
 in Shropshire. It constitutes the great mass, 
 not only of the Wrekin, but also of the Lawley, 
 Caer Caradoc, Ragleath, and Hope Bowdler 
 hills. It has been divided under two heads, 
 Felspar rocks and Greenstone rocks, of which 
 the former are uppermost. Greenstone-Trap 
 is described as forming two principal deposits 
 in this county : the one constituting the chief 
 mass of the hill on which the town of Little 
 
118 
 
 VERSE , 
 
 Wenlock is built, the other that of Steeraway 
 
 Hill. 
 
 224% There are two principal primitive mountain 
 ranges in North Wales ; of the northernmost of 
 which Snowdon forms the most elevated point, 
 and Cader Idris of the other. The highest 
 peaks of Snowdon are said to be composed of 
 Porphyritic rocks of Trap formation, passing into 
 nearly compact Hornblende. On Snowdon are 
 found those highly transparent crystals of Quartz 
 which, when cut and polished by the lapidaries, 
 pass under the name of yVelsh Diamonds. 
 
 248. The range of which Cader Idris forms the most 
 elevated part, includes the mountains called the 
 Arrans and Arennegs. The peaks and summits 
 of this range consist of Trap rocks, succeeded 
 by slates of various kinds extending to Snowdon. 
 The northern side of the summit of Cader Idris 
 exhibits numerous columns of highly crystalline 
 Greenstone, varying greatly in dimensions, and 
 remarkably confused in position. 
 
 278. Trap rocks are found near St. David's head, 
 though the southern parts of Wales are chiefly 
 occupied by the Grauwacke formation. That of 
 
119 
 
 VERSE 
 
 St. David's head is considered to be primitive; 
 its predominating colour is brownish green, 
 
 288. See note on verse 183. 
 
 294. At Micklewood, in Gloucestershire, is a mass 
 called the Old Rock, rising perpendicularly to the 
 height of about 30 feet, less than 300 yards 
 wide, and extending in the other direction about 
 a quarter of a mile. It is again met with to the 
 north-east. This rock has an amygdaloidal 
 character, containing plain and striped Chal- 
 cedonies. 
 
 300. Trap is very sparingly found in the western 
 counties of England. A bed of Greenstone, in 
 the composition of which there is much Steatite, 
 is described as being enclosed in Clay Slate- 
 near Torr Point, on the southern coast of Devon- 
 shire ; and some of the rocks near the Lizard 
 Point, in Cornwall, partake greatly of the cha- 
 racters of Greenstone and Greenstone Slate. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by Straban and Spottiswoode, 
 Printers- Street, London. 
 
I H UO JO 1 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY