GEOLOGY OF DERBYSHIRE. 215 



ant and striking natural division of the district. Any one who has 

 passed through the county and crossed this line, even on the top of 

 a stage coach, must have heen struck with the difference that exists 

 in the aspect and character of the country to the north of it and 

 that to the south. South of that line, the country is a complete 

 plain — fertile and heautiful indeed, and frequently varied with gen- 

 tle undulations — but, upon the whole, a broad level space, stretch- 

 ing east and west between the hills of Leicestershire on the one 

 hand, and those of the north of Derbyshire on the other. Through 

 this plain runs the river Trent, to meet which the Derwent, the 

 Dove, and the Erewash, with their numerous tributaries, come 

 gliding in from every side. In a level and cultivated tract, like 

 this, where every bank is clothed with grass, and nothing deeper 

 than a gravel-pit is anywhere visible, a man may pass his life 

 without a thought of what lies beneath the soil he tills. If, how- 

 ever, we cross the line before mentioned, towards the north, the 

 scene is quickly changed : the country becomes gradually bolder in 

 its features, till we find ourselves at length winding among the 

 deep and lovely valleys of the Peak, environed on every side by 

 lofty hills. Here every one becomes a practical geologist, so far as 

 the composition of the different rocks and their range at the surface 

 goes ; and no one, however unacquainted with the science he may 

 be, can traverse the country without having the subject forced upon 

 his mind. He will sometimes cross the high bleak moors of grit- 

 stone, dark with the foliage of the fern and the heather, or covered 

 with long plantations of fir trees, where dreariness itself has some- 

 thing of grandeur from its very extent. From these he will look, 

 on the one hand, over the coal district, composed for the most part 

 of longitudinal ridges, furrowed by transverse valleys, frequently 

 well wooded and, where not actually deformed by smokey chim- 

 neys and heaps of cinders and rubbish, containing many lovely 

 spots. Turning his back upon the coalfield, and proceeding towards 

 the limestone district, he will generally find the gritstone terminate 

 in an abrupt descent, with a line of rough beetling crags overlooking 

 a narrow fertile valley. On the opposite side of this valley, the 

 hills rise with a smooth but sometimes steep ascent, to a height 

 equal or superior to that on which he stands. This valley is com- 

 posed of shale, and has most commonly a brook winding among a 

 strip of lovely meadows, and the hills opposite are limestone, and on 

 them is no heather, no fern, and but few trees ; but they are clothed 

 with a short light-green turf, and their outlines, though not peaked, 

 are yet lighter and more delicately traced than the heavy lumpish 



