MODE I. MARBLE. 419 



distant and rather regular intervals. It is very 

 scarce, and deservedly in high esteem. The an- 

 cient occhio di pavone, or peacock's tail, is by 

 some called a conchitic marble, the shells forming 

 large circular and semicircular spots, red, white, 

 and yellow*. 



In the modern kingdoms of Europe, as inferior 

 in taste as in power to the Romans, many kinds of 

 conchitic marble have been introduced into archi- 

 tecture. The pillars of the venerable cathedral English, 

 of Durham, a monument of the eleventh century, 

 are constructed of a black marble with white 

 shells, but both of a dull lustre, the quarries of 

 which are still known to exist at no great distance. 

 Of the black shell marble there are also tombs in 

 the abbey of Melrose, probably from the same 

 quarry with those of Durham. The marble of the 

 north of Scotland is chiefly primitive. 



A fine black marble, with white shells, is found 

 near Bristol, where it is used for chimney-pieces. 

 A similar, it is believed, occurs in Derbyshire. 



' * Da Costa, p. 213, says the peacock's eye is a beautiful marble, 

 of a bright cinnabar colour, with spots and veins of milk white 

 spar : many of the spots form circles about the size of a sixpence, 

 filled with a red ground ; and which, from an imaginary resem- 

 blance, have conferred the name. It takes a high polish, but is 

 generally much cracked or flawed. It must not be confounded 

 with the pavonazzo, or purple. 



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