Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/159

 called; a stratum of calcareous incrustation twenty-feet in thickness, and extending three hundred yards in every direction. It seems to have had its formation from water which had passed through limestone, and thus become replete with earth; and had then formed itself upon a morass, or collection of moss, shrubs, and small trees, which having incrusted, the vegetable matter gradually decomposed, and left nothing but the stony envelopement. It first appears at the bottom of the hill to the west, dips rapidly to the east, and is lost in the bed of the river. Under it we find a common clay soil.

The village of Matlock lies a mile to the north of the baths, but has none of those romantic features around it, which characterize the happy valley we have been describing. All picturesque beauty, indeed, now disappears, and the dark sterile hills of Derbyshire present themselves; amongst which, in a quiet bottom, watered by the Derwent, is the little village of Darley. The parsonage-house, belonging to the Rev. Mr. Wray, makes an agreeable object from the road, at the side of which it stands; and the church rises pleasingly from the eastern bank of the Derwent. It contains some old monuments; and a very ancient stone coffin is seen in the church-yard, probably connected with the monastery removed to this place from Derby VOL. I.