D ERBYSHI R E. 
ocean feemed roaring in upon us ; in fome places burn¬ 
ing witli inconceivable impetuofity, and at others falling 
through dreadful chafrns, btirft into Ihaggy forms to give 
it vent: through this our journey was to continue. A 
cry of light, however, alarmed us : the confinement of 
the air, and the narrownefs of our track, had extinguifhed 
all our torches; the candles too, all but one fmall end, 
were totally expended. We knew not what to do. In 
vain the miners called for the fupply which was to have 
come behind; no anfwer was to be heard. Our fate 
feemed inevitable ; but the principals of the party for¬ 
tunately exprefled no fear. In this extremity, one of 
the guides, who yet was ignorant of the place, but from 
experience knew the danger we were in, fuddenly difap- 
peared, and, after groping for a confiderable time in the 
dark and difmal horrors of the place, at length returned 
to us with a fupply of candles, having discovered his 
companions, to whom they were given in charge, al- 
raoli petrified with fear, and unable to follow us from 
apprehenfion. Reprieved in this manner from a death 
which feemed to await us, in its mod horrid form, we 
onward proceeded with a frefii recruit of fpirits ; and 
plunging into the ftream above our waifts, fcarcely tena¬ 
ble from the impetuofity of the torrent, cautioully picked 
our fteps, and, at length, after four hours molt unfpeak- 
able fatigue, arrived at about 300 yards beyond the fpot, 
where the fubterranean pafiage we had the day before 
explored was expected to find an entrance into this dread¬ 
ful place. Here we were obliged to flop. A pafiage ftill 
continued, but fo filled with water, an4 fo full of peril, 
that the miners themfelves were averfe fib farther travel. 
All together, the depth we Had defeended was about 140 
fathoms, or 9S0 feet, and the length about three miles. 
We had the happinefs to return without any injury.” 
Contiguous to this is a place called Tidejtvdl, or JVecd- 
enzuell, being a fpring which ebbs and flows as the fea 
does; and hence it is confidered as one of the wonders of 
the Peak. The bafon, or receiver for the water, is about 
three feet fquare ; the water feems to have fome other 
receiver within the rock, which, when it fills by the 
force of the original fiream, the air being contracted, or 
pent in, forces the water out with a bubbling noife, and 
fo fills the receiver without; but, when the force is (pent 
within, then it flops till the place is filled again; and, 
in the mean time, the water without runs off, till the 
quantity within fwells again; and then the lame caufe 
produces the fame effedt. So that this oceunet, as Mr. 
Cotton calls it, which has been the iubjeCt of feveral 
philofophic enquiries, is owing wholly to the figure of 
the place, and is only a mere accident in nature ; and, 
if any perfon were to dig into the narrow cavities, and 
give vent to the air, they would foon fee Tidelwell 
turned into an ordinary ftream. 
Poole's-hole is within one mile of Buxton. The entrance 
into it is low and narrow ; but it loon dilates into a wide 
and lofty concavity, which reaches above a quarter of a 
mile endways, or perhaps more. Eight women, with 
lighted candles, are guides in this dark abyfs. Water drops 
every where from the roof, and incrufts all the (tones 
with long cryltals and ftuors, whence a thoufand imagi¬ 
nary figures are (hewn by rhe name of lions, fonts, lan¬ 
terns, organs, &c. At length we come to what is called 
the queen of Scot’s pillar, (o.named by that unhappy prin- 
cefs, when (he vifited this place. A ftream of water runs 
along the middle of the cavern, among the falling rocks, 
with a tremendous noife, re-echoed from all fides of the 
vaft concave. On the left-hand is a fort of chamber, 
where Poole, a noted robber, lived, and whofe kitchen, 
as well as bed-chamber, they lhew ; and from this cir- 
cumftance this cavern has taken its popular name. The 
meft furprizing thing here met with, is the extraordinary 
height of the arch, and its (jugular refplendence. As 
every one carries a candle, the light reflected by the glo¬ 
bular drops of water, dazzles the eyes like dew in the 
morning fun 3 whereas, were any part of the arch of this 
vault to be feen by a clear light, all this beauty would 
difappear. As Poole’s-holt Is called the fccqnd wonder 
of the Peak, on the north fide of the road from Buxton 
to Caftleton we come to what is called the third wonder, 
which is Mam-Tor , or, as the word in the original Britifh 
imports, the mother rocks, upon a fuggeftion that the (oft 
crumbling earth which falls from its fummit produces 
feveral mountains below, without being i,n the leaft di- 
miniftied irfelf. The whole of the wonder is this.: On 
the fouth fide of this hill is a precipice, very deep from 
top to bottom ; and the fubftance, being of a crumbling 
loofe earth, mingled with little (tones, is continually fall¬ 
ing down in fmall quantities, as the heavy rains loofen 
and waft it off, or as frolts and thaws operate upon it. 
Now the great hill, which is thick as well as high, parts 
with this loofe material, without being fenfibly dimi- 
nifhed ; though the bottom into which it falls, being 
narrow, is more ealily perceived to (well. Here then is 
the pretended wonder, That the little heap below fhould 
grow tip into an hill, without any decreafe of the great 
hill, as it Ihould feem, notwithftanding fo much has 
fallen from it. But the fact is certainly otherwife, though 
not perceivable. 
Elden-hole is in the middle of a plain open field, gently 
defeending to the fouth, and forming a frightful chafm 
in the earth, or rather in the rock. The mouth of it is 
about twenty feet over one way, and from fifty to fixty 
the other, defeending perpendicularly into the earth : 
how deep could never be dilcovered, notwithftanding (e- 
veral attempts have been made to find its bottom. Mr. 
Cotton fays, he let down 3 oo fathoms of line, which is 
1600 yards, near a mile, perpendicular. The earl of Lei- 
cefter, in the time of queen Elizabeth, hired a man to 
go 1 jwn in a balket of (tones, who was let down 300 ells, 
and, being pulled up, was both fpeechlefs and fenlelefs, 
and died within eight days of a phrenfy. It was ulual 
for thofe that went to (ee it, to throw down (tones, and 
lay their ear to the mouth of the pit, which made a great 
rattling noife for a long time, that lelfened by degrees, 
till beyond the fphere of hearing. The owner of the 
pafture in which this chafm is (ituated, having loft feve¬ 
ral cattle, agreed with two men to fill it up. Thefe men 
fpent fome days in throwing down many loads of (tones ; 
but, feeing no etfedfi of their labour, ventured down it 
themfelves, and found at the bottom a vaft cavern ; upon 
which, defpairing to procure a quantity ot (tones fuffi- 
cient to fill it up, they defirted from their work. A 
Mr. Lloyd, having received this account from one of the 
men, and being alfured that there were no damps at the 
bottom, went down himfelf. The entrance is a wide 
chink, as before obferved. Mr. Lloyd was let down by 
two ropes, about forty fathoms long. For the fil'd: twenty 
yards, though he defeended obliquely, he could affift 
himfelf with his hands and his feet; but, below this, the 
rock projected in large irregular crags, fo that he found 
it very difficult to pals ; when he had defeended ten yards 
more, he found the rope by which he was fufpended at 
leaft fix yards from the perpendicular3 from hence, the 
breadth of the chink was about three yards, and the length 
about fix; the fides were very irregular, and the crags 
were covered with mofs, being, befides, wet and dirty ; 
within fourteen yards of the bottom, the rock opened on 
the eaft fide, and he fwung till he reached the floor of 
the cavern, which was at the depth of (ixty-two yards 
from the mouth ; the light, however, which came from 
above, was fufficient to read the fmalleft print. Here he 
found the cavern to conlift of two parts: that in which 
he alighted, was like an oven ; the other, where he (li ft 
began to fwing, was a vaft dome, (liaped like the inlide 
of a glafs-houfe ; and a fmall arched pafiage formed a 
communication between them; in this pafiage, the (tones 
which had been thrown in at the to'p formed a (lope, ex¬ 
tending from the wall at the weft fide of the iirft dome 
almoft to the bottom of the fecond cave or oven, fo that 
the farther end of the cave was lower by twenty-five 
