ENGLISH MARBLES. 107 
cellent marbles than the BRITISH ISLANDS. Although 
these marbles are seldom noticed much beyond the limits 
of the districts in which they occur, many of them are 
admirably adapted for ornamental purposes; particularly 
for slabs and chimney-pieces. It is much to be regretted 
that we should send to foreign countries for stones 
which, in many instances at least, could certainly be as 
well supplied from our own. The following is an enu- 
meration of a few of the most important kinds. 
ENGLISH MARBLES. 1*0. PETWORTH MAR- 
BLE, when cut into slabs, is equal, both in beauty and 
quality, to many of the marbles imported from the Con- 
tinent. The Earl of Egremont has, at Petworth, seve- 
ral chimney-pieces formed of it. Much of this marble 
was used in the cathedral church of Canterbury. The 
pillars, monuments, vaults, pavement, and other parts 
of that venerable structure, have been formed of it. The 
archbishop's chair is an entire piece of Petworth marble. 
This marble is found in greatest perfection upon an 
estate of the Earl of Egremont, at Kirdford. It lies at 
the distance of from ten to twenty feet under the surface 
of the ground, and in flakes or strata nine or ten inches 
in thickness. Petworth marble is also an excellent 
stone for walls ; and, for paving, it cannot be ex- 
celled. When burned, it also constitutes a valuable 
manure, superior, as some farmers imagine, even to 
chalk. 
171. PURBECK MARBLE is obtained from the island 
of Purbeck, in Dorsetshire. It is of dark colour, and 
contains numerous small round shells, which, when it is cut 
and polished, mark it with roundish variegations of 
brown, dark green, and grey. This marble was formerly 
more used than it is at present. Several of the small 
columns, and many of the monuments, in the churches 
of Dorsetshire, and the adjacent counties, are formed 
of it. But it is not so durable as many other kinds. 
Wherever it is long exposed to the weather, the surface 
cracks, splits off, and becomes defaced. 
