ENGLAND. 157 



*ry, those of Derbyshire appear to deserve the first place. Elden 

 hole, about four miles from Mam Tor, or the Mother Tower, which 

 is superstitiously said to be continually mouldering away but never 

 to diminish, is a chasm in the side of a mountain, nearly seveh yards 

 wide, and fourteen long, diminishing in extent within the rock ; but 

 of what depth is not known. A plummet once drew 884 yards of 

 line after ic, of which the last eighty were wet, without finding a bot- 

 tom. The entrance of Poole's Hole, near Buxton, for several paces, 

 is very low, but soon opens into a very lofty vault, like the inside of 

 a Gothic cathedral. The height is certainly very great, yet much 

 short of what some have asserted, who reckon it a quarter of a mile 

 perpendicular ; though in length it exceeds that dimension : a current 

 of water, which runs along the middle, adds, by its sounding stream, 

 re-echoed on all sides, very much to the astonishment of all who visit 

 this vast cavern. The drops of water which hang from the roof, and 

 on the sides, have an amusing effect ; for they not only reflect num- 

 berless rays from the candles carried by the guides, but as they are 

 of a petrifying quality, they harden in several places into various 

 forms, which, with the help of a strong imagination, may pass for 

 lions, fonts, organs, and the like. The entrance into that stupendous 

 cavern at Castleton, which is, from its hideousness named the Devil's 

 Arse, is wide at first, and upwards of thirty feet perpendicular. 

 Several cottagers dwell under it, who in a great measure subsist by- 

 guiding strangers into the cavern, which is crossed by four streams 

 of water, and then is thought impassable. The vault, in several 

 places, makes a beautiful appearance, being chequered with various 

 coloured stones. 



Other extraordinary caverns are found in the mountains of the north 

 of England, as Yordas Cave, in the vale of Kingsdale in Yorkshire, 

 which contains a subterraneous cascade. Wethercot Cave, not far 

 from Ingleton, is divided by an arch of limestone, passing under 

 which is seen a large cascade falling from a height of more than 20 

 yards. The length of this cave is about 60 yards, and the breadth 30. 



There are also, in various parts of England, many remarkable 

 springs, of which some are impregnated either with salt, as that of 

 Droitwich in Worcestershire ; or sulphur, as the famous well of 

 Wigan in Lancashire ; or bituminous matter, as that at Pitchford in 

 Shropshire. Others have a petrifying quality, as that near Lutter- 

 Tvoith in Leicestershire, and a dropping well in the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire. And, finally, some ebb and flow, as those of the Peak in 

 Derbyshire ; and Laywell, near Torbay, whose waters rise and fall 

 several times in an hour. To these we may add that remarkable 

 fountain near Richard's Castle in Herefordshire, commonly called 

 Bone-well, which is generally full of small bones, like those of frogs 

 or fish, though often cleared out. At Ancliff, near Wigan in Lan- 

 cashire, is the famous Burning Well ; the water is cold, neither has 

 it any smell ; yet there is so strong a vapour of sulphur issuing out 

 with the stream, that, upon applying a light to it, the top of the water 

 is covered with a flame, like that of burning spirits, which last several 

 hours, and emits so strong a heat that meat may be boiled over it. 

 The fiuid itself will not burn when taken out of the well*. 



* This extraordinary heat has been found to proceed from a vein of coals, which 

 i)as been since dug from under this well ; at which time the uncommon warmth 



