a kingdom in the north of Europe, which, though limited in extent, is an interesting object to the political philosopher, from the pacific and enlightened manner in which it has long been governed. It received a severe blow by the cession of Norway in 1814, Swedish Pomerania (subsequently exchanged for Lauenburg and a sum of money) being altogether an inadequate return for that ancient possession. However, Denmark exhibits in its present state a concentrated territory, possessing very considerable means of increasing its resources, both by navigation and inland improvement. Its continental part consists of a long tract of land, beginning in the neighbourhood of Hamburgh, and stretching northward above four degrees of latitude (from 58° to beyond 57°) to the extreme point of Jutland; Holstein forming the southern division, Sleswick the central, and Jutland, which is by much the largest, the northern. Adjacent to this mainland tract are the Islands, viz., Funen, of which the capital is Odensee, and the larger island of Zealand, which contains Copenhagen. The smaller islands are Laaland, Falster, Moen, Laugeland, and Femern, along with others of still less importance. The islands, and the portion of continent just mentioned, form the integral part of Denmark, and contain, along with Sauenburg, a surface of about 22,000 square miles. The remote appendages of the monarchy are much more extensive though of infinitely less consequence, consisting of Iceland, the Faroe Isles, and part of Greenland; along with possessions in the East and West Indies.
The surface of the Danish territory, particularly of the mainland, is in general level; there are consequently no rivers of magnitude, but a number of smaller streams. The climate is not unlike our own, partaking greatly of the characteristics of a northern region, indented by the sea. The atmosphere is often thick and cloudy, but the extremes of cold, and still less those of heat, are seldom intense, or of long continuance. The moisture of the air affords, as in Britain, a freshness and richness of pasture, which is sought in vain in the interior and southern parts of Europe; hence the superiority of their horses and horned cattle, both of which are much valued, and Denmark form a considerable article of export, particularly from Holstein: the annual export of horses exceeds 15,000, the value L.200,000. Butter and cheese are likewise abundant, and are exported in large quantities. Sheep were not improved with equal success, their wool being short and coarse: they have, however, of late, been considerably ameliorated by an intermixture with merinos.* The agricultural produce consists of oats, barley, beans, peas, and particularly of potatoes: wheat is raised, but not to a great extent. Hops, flax, and hemp, are also objects of cultivation, but in inconsiderable quantities. Gardening is little practised, unless in the island of Amak, the grand store-house for kitchen vegetables for the adjacent metropolis. Madder is good in quality, and considerable in quantity.
The forests of Jutland, formerly so extensive, have now in a great measure disappeared; hence the necessity of importing timber for building, and of resorting to turf for fuel. Of salt, a large quantity is made from brine springs, near Oldesloe; but as this is the only salt work in the kingdom, a great importation of the article takes place annually. Of coals, very few veins have as yet been found.
There has not been for some time back a complete enumeration of the inhabitants: judging from the returns of 1803 and 1811, we should put down the following as approximate numbers:
| Region | Population | |---------------------------------|------------| | Jutland | 400,000 | | Zealand (including Copenhagen), Funen, and the other Islands | 550,000 | | Sleswick | 300,000 | | Holstein | 350,000 | | Iceland | 50,000 | | Lauenburg | 35,000 | | Faroe Islands | 5,300 | | Settlements in the East and West Indies, and in Africa | 100,000 |
So that since the dismemberment of Norway (the population of which exceeded 900,000), the Danish dominions do not contain above 1,800,000 inhabitants.
The Danes are of middling stature and fair complexion, habituated, more than the inhabitants of the South of Europe, to the use of animal food and spirituous liquors. The inhabitants of Holstein, and even of Sleswick, partake a good deal of the German character. Without going into any nice discrimination of manners, it may be remarked in general terms, that the Danes have the habits of a people living in a northern latitude,
* In the days of prejudice, even the privilege of breeding and fattening cattle was vested in the proprietors of land, or in public bodies, to the exclusion of the peasantry; restrictions were also imposed on the export of those of a certain age and quality. All these absurd limitations disappeared in 1788, the year when the government declared that the peasantry should be redeemed from their degrading bondage. This measure, obvious as was its utility, was adopted in a way that implied only a gradual execution. For it was not until the end of the century that all the inhabitants of Denmark were to be considered free. and little acquainted, except in the capital, with the improvements of the more polished part of Europe. The peasantry, moreover, are but recently emancipated from a state of feudal subjection. On the other hand, the Danes possess the advantages resulting from the establishment of the Protestant religion, and from a long exemption from the superstition and idleness attendant on the Roman creed: speaking generally, improvement has made a visible progress among them during the last half century.
The government of Denmark, like that of other Gothic countries, was formerly far from despotic; the succession to the crown was even elective, until the revolution of 1660; a revolution in which monarchy was not only declared hereditary, but absolute, in the most unqualified sense of the word, it being inserted as a fundamental article, that any prerogative not conferred by the act then past, if found to be enjoyed by the king of any other country, was to be tacitly considered as vested in the king of Denmark. This singular change is to be explained, not by supposing, on the part of the nation, an indifference to liberty, but by a resentment of the overbearing conduct of the nobility, and a consciousness of the perpetual uncertainties of an elective government. The court found it thus a matter of no great difficulty to unite the clergy and commons against the aristocracy; and the power of the crown has since continued without any constitutional check. It is tempered, however, in various ways—by the influence of the reformed faith, the freedom of the press, and the progressive improvement of the nation.
In regard to law, there is as yet no general code for the kingdom at large; Sleswick and Holstein preserving their respective usages and institutions, while Jutland and the islands are governed by the code of Christiern V. Jutland is divided into four; the islands into three great bailiwicks.
The revenue of Denmark is between L. 1,500,000 and L. 2,000,000 sterling a-year; of this about L. 120,000 arise from the dues at the Sound. The national debt, formerly very considerable, has been increased by the emission of paper. Its amount, from the fluctuating value of this currency, hardly admits of calculation, but may be put down at nearly ten millions sterling. In regard to the army, the peace establishment of regulars was, by a late return, 24 regiments, consisting of nearly as many thousand men. In 1801, before their maritime disasters, the Danish navy consisted of more than 20 sail of the line, fit for service, and well provided with stores; the arrangements of the naval arsenal at Copenhagen being an object of general admiration. But their force is much reduced since 1801, and still more since 1807. The naval establishment in peace is calculated for only 4000 men; but as the number of sea-faring people in the kingdom is great, and nearly 15,000 of them are registered for service, there is no difficulty in manning the royal shipping.
The established religion in Denmark is the Lutheran, which was introduced so early as 1536, the church-revenue being at that time seized and retained by the crown. At present the nomination of the bishops is vested in the king, and the number of these dignitaries, since the cession of Norway, is only nine; of clergymen the number in Jutland and the islands is 1063; in Sleswick and Holstein 517. The bishops in Denmark have no political character; they inspect the conduct of the subordinate clergy, and confer holy orders, doing, in short, most of what is done by their fellow dignitaries among us, except voting in the legislature. Complete toleration is now enjoyed in Denmark, and considerable progress has been made in diffusing Christianity in Lapland, Greenland, and the East Indies, by a missionary institution long established in Copenhagen.
In regard to manufacture, the Danes have made no conspicuous progress, confining themselves to their own supply in certain articles, and in others importing from this country and Germany. Linen is said to be imported to the value of half a million sterling: to make that manufacture flourish, it would be necessary to produce more flax at home; the freight on so bulky an article adding materially to the price. Earthen-ware is made in many places, but the export of it is inconsiderable; the porcelain manufacture is carried on for account of the crown. The only considerable works in copper and brass are in Holstein; the cannon foundery at Fridrichswark is very extensive; but of iron founderies there are only four in the kingdom. The number of paper-mills throughout the country was, by a late return, only 22; that of sugar refineries 46. The other branches of manufacturing industry worth noticing are the tanning of leather, the knitting of stockings, the making of hats, and, among the peasantry, the practice of making their own linen.
The Danish government was formerly so unenlightened, in regard to the principles of productive industry, as to imagine that labour of almost any kind must be attended with a profit, without considering whether the raw materials were of home growth, or whether the employment in question was particularly adapted to the country; hence encouragements by public premiums and otherwise, to the manufacture of silk, attended with just as little benefit as the assistance so frequently given to our Spitalfields weavers. It is from the north of Germany, and in particular from Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Bremen, that improvement in the useful arts has made its way into Denmark; the principal workmen in a former age were, and some even at present are, from that quarter.
During the seventeenth century, the Dutch were commerce, the general navigators of Europe; and the commerce of Denmark, such as it then was, was carried on in their vessels. The wars at the close of that century, and still more at the beginning of the eighteenth, were adverse to the extension of mercantile enterprise; but after the peace of Stockholm in 1720, Denmark enjoyed a long continuance of tranquillity, and experienced its happy effects in a regular increase of her productive industry. The conflicts of other nations, particularly our American war (from 1775 to 1783), and still more that of the French revolution, called neutrals into new scenes of navigation, and added greatly to the activity of the Danish sea-ports. In the year 1800, the number of Danish merchantmen exceeded 2000; their tonnage 250,000; their sea- men 20,000. Next came the rupture with England in the spring 1801, which, however disastrous, was of short duration, and would soon have been forgotten in the commercial prosperity that followed our second war with France; had it not been for our extraordinary attack on Copenhagen in 1807; an attack which was followed by the loss to both parties of all the benefits of a state of peace. Stripped of their colonies, and excluded from distant navigation, the Danes could exert themselves only in annoying our traffic in the Baltic; to it they proved a very formidable enemy, and exhibited a striking example of the impolicy of injuring the feelings and violating the independence even of a small state.
The chief commercial towns are Copenhagen, Altona, and Tönning; of these the trade of the capital is beyond all comparison the greatest. The Greenland whale-fishery forms a considerable branch of Danish navigation; also the intercourse with the different harbours in the Baltic, from several of which they import timber, flax, iron, and corn. From Norway, Denmark receives wood, iron, and fish; from Iceland, oil, beef, tallow, hides, and wool. The trade with that island was, till lately, in the hands of a company of merchants, and afterwards in those of government; since 1788, this absurdity has been relinquished, and the traffic opened to the public. With the Faroe Isles the intercourse is not yet unrestricted: the articles of import are nearly the same as from Iceland. These are insignificant branches; but the Danes are in habits of extensive intercourse with England, Holland, France, and the shores of the Mediterranean. To the last they convey large quantities of dried fish, and derive a profit from hiring their vessels in the ports of Italy and the Levant, their flag being generally respected by the Barbary corsairs.
No country is more favourably situated for fisheries than Denmark, whether we look to its extent of coast, or the numerous inlets of the sea. Fishing, of one kind or other, has accordingly formed, almost from time immemorial, a principal branch of occupation; and it is remarkable, that the waters of the Baltic contain so little salt, that fresh water fish are found to thrive in the arms of the sea.
The navigation from the north of Germany to Denmark, around the northern point of Jutland, being always tedious, and sometimes dangerous, gave rise to the idea of uniting the two seas by a canal, communicating with the river Eyder. It was begun in 1777, and finished in the course of seven years, at a great expense. This is the canal of Kiel, which begins near that town, on the side of the Baltic, and extends eastward about twenty-three miles, when it comes in connection with the Eyder. Its least depth of water is ten feet; it admits vessels of 120 tons burden; and of such small shipping, no less than from 2000 to 3000 pass in a year. Tönning is the port on the east coast, and the length of navigation from there to the Baltic is about 105 miles.
After 1807, when the open war between Denmark and Britain made the passage by the Sound inexpedient, if not impracticable, for our mercantile convoys proceeding up the Baltic, recourse was had by them to the Great Belt, the width of which is nowhere less than 10 miles, and in most parts much greater. Communication by water is very easy in Denmark, but the roads were long neglected; of late, however, considerable improvements have taken place, particularly in Zealand. They were much wanted for mercantile purposes, as well as for travelling; periodical fairs being here, as in other parts of the continent, the grand occasions for the sale of merchandise.
In point of colonies, the Danes, if they have not colonial settlements of first rate importance, are sufficiently provided in regard to number; having establishments in Asia, on the coast of Coromandel and the Nicobar islands; in Africa, at Christiansburg; and other places on the coast of Guinea; and, in the West Indies, in the islands of Santa Cruz, St Thomas, and St John.
The three West India islands just mentioned contain above 30,000 negroes. Their trade with Denmark, subjected formerly to restrictions, is now entirely open. Their average produce may be estimated at 30,000 hogsheads of sugar and 12,000 casks of rum, part of which are sold on the spot, and the rest conveyed to the mother country. This gives employment to 60 or 70 sail of merchantmen. The planters were indebted to Dutch capitalists for the advances that enabled them to bring their lands into cultivation. The amount of this debt (nearly L. 400,000) was taken over soon after 1786 by the crown of Denmark, on the calculation that it was better that the colonists should owe the money to the mother country than to foreigners.
The Danes possess the fort of Christiansburg on the coast of Guinea. They have the credit of being the first European state that abolished the slave trade; their government having published a preparatory edict in 1792, and the traffic having finally ceased in 1803.
In India the Danes have several factories or settlements, of which the chief is Tranquebar, on the coast of Coromandel. Their East India Company was established in 1732, and the charter has since been repeatedly renewed, each time with an extension of the right of the public to participate. Since 1797 vessels may be sent out to Danish settlements by private undertakers without restriction. The trade to China, however, continues, as with us, in the hands of the company. But these distant voyages and consequent long credits are not suited to a country of such limited capital. The Danes have been introduced to them by the effect of war and the value of a neutral flag. These gave them great advantages in acting the part of carriers; but they had no higher character; for a trifling proportion of the articles imported into Copenhagen during war remained in the country. The capital of the Danish East India Company hardly exceeds half a million Sterling.
The Danish approaches nearer than any of the Scandinavian dialects to German, but it has much less and less harshness than that language. It is of late only that it has been cultivated for literary purposes. It now contains some good specimens of composition, although rapid improvement is not to be expected in a country of small extent, and where few individuals possess property enough to give them the command of time. The names of the Danish literati of the present age are little known in foreign countries, in consequence partly of the local interest of their publications, but more from their language being so little cultivated abroad. The travels of Niebuhr are familiar to most of our readers; and the name of Maltthe Brun, a Dane residing at Paris, and deeply skilled in geography, cannot be altogether unknown to them. But Denmark possesses various writers of merit, such as Bartholin, Langebeek, and Schjønning in Scandinavian antiquities; Holberg, Suhm, and Snedort in history; Boye, Gamborg, and Freschow in moral philosophy. Physic, natural history, and, in particular, botany, are also cultivated here. In poetry, lyrics are the department in which the Danes have been most successful. There are a number of scattered societies of men of letters, but no collective body on the plan of the French Institute. The University of Copenhagen was founded in 1476 with ample funds, but with very defective regulations; the latter are, however, much improved of late. Kiel has a university on a small scale, but of comparatively late erection, and on a better plan. Odensee, the capital of Funen, has a college with four professors. There are nine seminaries for the education of schoolmasters, and the number of village schools, great and small, is computed at no less than 3000.
A sketch of the history of Denmark is given in the Encyclopaedia down to the beginning of the French Revolution. Since then, the foreign policy of the Danish government has been very simple. It has avoided, as much as possible, to take part in war, and has, on all occasions, held an equal and impartial course between the contending powers. Nothing can be more groundless than the allegations repeatedly brought forward of its disposition to favour the French; neutrality, in the strictest sense, being equally its wish and its policy. Repeated complaints, and occasional detentions of the Danish merchantmen took place on our part, during the war of 1793, without, however, leading to a rupture, until the spring of 1801; when the court of Russia, governed by a madman (Paul I.), and impelled by Bonaparte, prevailed on Denmark and Sweden to join in measures which indicated a disposition to assert the right of conveying enemy's property in neutral bottoms. This alliance was crushed in the outset by our attack on Copenhagen. During our second war with France, Denmark forbore all assertion of these rights, and was admitted by our government to have acted the part of a faithful neutral, even in 1807, when our ministers suddenly adopted the determination of seizing their navy. That singular aggression was defended in parliament, not by charging the Danes with hostile intentions, but by urging their inability to resist the increasing power of France. The measure, however, is deeply to be deplored, both as dishonourable in itself, and as calculated to render our name odious in a country where we should otherwise have found sincere well-wishers and cordial allies. Unhappily the connection into which they were thus forced with France could not be discontinued; and it is to our infraction of their neutrality that they may attribute the subsequent loss of Norway, which had been governed by the same rulers for four centuries, and had become, both from intimate intercourse and popular feeling, an integral part of the monarchy. There was only one moment in which Denmark had a prospect of separating herself from France—this was at the end of 1812, after Bonaparte's forces had perished in Russia. She availed herself of it, and opened a negociation with Britain and Russia, which would in all probability have proceeded to an amicable conclusion, had not these powers, in the strait of the preceding year, come under an engagement to Bernadotte, which implied the cession of Norway to Sweden. This cruel circumstance threw the Danes once more into connection with France. When the battle of Leipsic had confirmed the liberation of Germany, Bernadotte had the power of asserting by force of arms his claim to Norway. He invaded Holstein, and, after several severe conflicts, obliged the Danish court to subscribe to the cession of that valuable part of its dominions, in return for Swedish Pomerania, which was subsequently exchanged with Prussia for a part of the country of Launenburg, and a pecuniary consideration. On the part of England, all was restored except Heligoland. (p. p.)
DERBYSHIRE was, in the time of the Britons, Derbyshire, a portion of the district that made up the kingdom of the Coritani. During the government of the Romans, it formed a part of Britannia Prima; and under the Heptarchy, it was included in the kingdom of Mercia. It is seated nearly in the centre of England, and is bounded on the east by the county of Nottingham, and a part of Leicestershire; on the west, it is divided from Staffordshire and Cheshire by the rivers Trent, Dove, and Goyt; on the north, it has Yorkshire and a part of Cheshire; and on the south is Leicestershire. Its figure is very irregular, approaching nearest to that of a triangle. The greatest length from south-east to north-west is about 56 miles, and its width from east-north-east to west-south-west 33. It contains 972 square miles, and 622,080 statute acres.
This county is divided into the hundreds of High Division, Peak, Scarsdale, Appletree, Repton, and Gresley, Morelston and Litchurch, and the Wapentake of Wirksworth. It contains 16 market towns, viz. Alfreton, Ashbourne, Ashover, Bakewell, Belper, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Chesterfield, Crich, Cromford, Derby, Heanor, Ilkeston, Sidestwell, Winster, and Wirksworth. It consists of 117 parishes; is included as an archdeaconry in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry; and divided into six deaneries, viz. High Peak, Chesterfield, Ashbourne, Castillar, Derby, and Repington. Two members are returned to Parliament from the county, and two from the town of Derby. Derby gives the title of Earl to the noble family of Stanley; Chesterfield, the same to that of Stanhope; and Hartington affords the title of Marquis to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire.
There is no English county that presents such a surface and variety of scenery as Derbyshire. The surface of soil, the southern district is, for the most part, pretty level, containing nothing remarkable in its hills, and consequently little of the picturesque. But the northern part abounds in hill and dale, and the scenery is Derbyshire, in many places romantic and sublime. The county gradually rises from the south to the town of Wirksworth, and thence to the north, assumes a mountainous appearance, which it continues to possess to its extremity. These elevations are the commencement of that mountainous ridge, which from hence divides the island, extending into Scotland. The highest points in the mountainous tract of Derbyshire are, Ax Edge, about three miles south-west of Buxton; Lord's Seat, near Castleton; and Kinderscout, near the north-western extremity of the county. About the town of Derby, and to the south of it, the country is flat and low. In the hilly districts, some of the valleys are very beautiful, particularly those of Castleton and Glossop; but what constitutes the most picturesque and singular scenery of this county, is the great number and variety of smaller valleys, or dales, with which the limestone district abounds. These may differ in extent, and some particular circumstances, but the general characteristics of them all are precipitous rocks, of very singular and picturesque forms, with mountain streams and rivulets running through the lower parts of the dales, whose sides are generally well wooded. The most celebrated of these are, Matlock-Dale, on the river Derwent; Monsal-Dale, the upper part of which is called Millers-Dale, on the river Wye; Middleton-Dale, Eyam-Dale, and Dove-Dale. In Matlock-Dale is a stupendous rock, called the High-Tor, rising almost perpendicularly from the river, to the height of about 300 feet.
The soils of Derbyshire consist chiefly of clay, loam, sand, and peat, very irregularly intermixed. The southern part, which has been distinguished by the appellation of the fertile district, consists principally of a red loam, on various subsoils, which approaches nearer to marl, clay, loam, sand, grit or gravel, according to the nature of the substratum, or its exposure to the atmosphere. Peat mosses are abundant in the northern part of the county, denominated High Peak. The substrata of most of the southern portion of the county consist of gravel, intermixed with large portions of red marl of very irregular forms; in several parts of which are beds of gypsum of considerable extent. The substrata of the other parts of Derbyshire consist of limestone of various kinds, and toadstone; shale and gritstone; coal and indurated clay resting on each other, in alternate layers.
Derbyshire is a well wooded county; and several of the noblemen's parks afford fine oak of noble appearance. Those of Kedleston Park, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, are supposed to be the largest and oldest in the kingdom, several being thought to be eight hundred years old.
The atmosphere and climate of Derbyshire vary very much in different parts. From its northern situation, even the southern part of the county is colder, and more frequently visited with rain, than many of the more central counties. In summer, cold and thick fogs are frequently seen hanging over the rivers, and surrounding the bases of the hills; and hoar frosts are not unfrequent in the months of June and July. Owing to the great elevation of the northern parts, some kinds of grain will not grow at Derbyshire, all in the Peak; and even that which is sown in the more sheltered places, is seldom cut till late in the year. The winters are, in general, very severe; and the mountains attracting the clouds in their passage over them, cause this region to be distinguished from the others, by the greater quantity of rain which falls upon it.
The chief rivers are, the Trent, the Derwent, Rivers, the Wye, the Dove, the Erwach, and the Rother. The Trent does not intersect the county, but forms the boundary between it and Staffordshire on the south. The Derwent rises at the northern extremity of the county; its whole length is forty miles. It was formerly navigable from Wylne-Ferry up to Derby, but the navigation was given up when the Derby canal was completed in 1795. The Wye has its origin a little to the north of Buxton, and falls into the Derwent near Rowsley. The Dove, which has its source in the High Peak, a few miles to the south of Buxton, is for many miles the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire; it falls into the Derwent near Newton-Solney. The Wye and the Dove are celebrated for their trout and grayling fishing. The river Rother rises near Padley, and, after running by Chesterfield, enters Yorkshire, near Killamarsh. The Erwach flows from the skirts of Sherwood-forest in Nottinghamshire, and falls into the Trent near Long Eaton. The lesser rivers are, the Amber, Barbrook, Burbage, Ecclesburn, Goyt, Lathkill, Maese, and the Morledge.
Derbyshire has several canals intersecting it in different directions. The Trent and Mersey, or Grand Trunk Canal, communicating between Liverpool and London, and also with Bristol and Hull, was begun in 1766, by the celebrated Brindley, a native of the county, and completed in 1777, under his able successors, Smeaton and Rennie. It passes through Derbyshire, from Burton to its termination at Widden Ferry, following the course of the Trent. The Chesterfield Canal was begun 1771 by Brindley, and completed by his brother-in-law, Mr Henshall, in 1776. It enters the county at Killamarsh, and terminates at Chesterfield. The Langley Bridge, or Erwach Canal, begun in 1777 by Mr Jessop, commences in the Trent navigation, near Sawley, and terminates at Langley Mill. It runs parallel to the little river Erwach, and opens into the Cromford Canal. Peak Forest Canal was commenced in 1794, and finished in 1800. It proceeds from the Ashton-under-Line Canal, near Dukinfield Bridge, and terminates at Chapel Milton, Derbyshire. The Cromford Canal was begun in 1789. Its line is wholly in Derbyshire, commencing at Langley Mill, where the Erwach terminates, and ending at Cromford. It was completed in 1794 by Mr Jessop. Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal, begun 1793, but not finished until 1805, is connected with the southern part of Derbyshire; its line passing by Willesley and Measham. The line of the Derby Canal is entirely in this county; commencing in the Trent and Mersey Canal, north of Swarkstone, passing by Derby, with a branch to Little Eaton, and terminating in the Erwach Canal, half a mile south of Sandiacre. This county is celebrated for its abundance of metals and minerals. They are various and plentiful particularly in the limestone strata. Lead ore is found in several forms; but most commonly in galena, or sulphuret of lead. That species called slickenside, having a smooth glossy surface, is found in the Odin and Castleton Mines. The portion of silver united to the Derbyshire lead, is not sufficient to be worth while separating it. A carbonate of lead sometimes occurs. Calamine, or native oxide of zinc, is found at Castleton, Cromford, Bonsall, and Wirksworth. It occurs in various colours, and different qualities; sometimes in nodules, in the form of grapes, and in the ochreous state. Blende, or black-jack, another ore of zinc, is also got. Copper has been found in small quantities only. Pieces considerable in size, detached from any vein, have frequently been met with at Matlock and Bonsall; and a slender vein has been discovered between Tideswell and Buxton.
Iron ore is found, in very great abundance, in all those tracts of the country where coal has been discovered. It lies at different depths; and frequently, from the great dip of the strata, appears on the surface of the ground. The beds of ore are from two to twelve inches thick, producing, generally, that of the argillaceous kind; but the calcareous, or sparry iron ores, of a fine brownish red colour, sometimes bright yellow, scaly, dirty brown, are found in amorphous masses near the surface, and filling insulated places. The principal founderies and forges are, Butterley, Codnor, Morley Park, Wingerworth, Chesterfield, Riddings, and Staveley.
The ore of manganese appears in various forms. The ores of arsenic and antimony appear in small quantities, united with lead ore, quartz crystals, various crystals of calcareous spar, and of fluor, or fluate of lime, gypsum, selenite, barytes, here called caulk. The most beautiful among the fossils of this county is that admired fluor, known by the name of Blue John, or Derbyshire spar, found in the fissures of the limestone, in the neighbourhood of Castleton. This substance, when polished, exhibits an infinite variety of blue, purple, red, and yellow shades: its being transparent shows the colours, to greater advantage. Petroleum, or rock oil, is found in the black marble at Ashford. Elastic bitumen, a substance peculiar to this county, resembling in appearance the common Indian rubber, is found in the cavities of the Odin mine.
Coal is very plentiful, abounding in large fields in several districts. It is of different degrees of hardness; comes out of the pit in long stratified pieces of shining fracture; burns with a brilliant flame and crackling noise, and leaves a reddish white ash.
The limestone of this county is of various colours, white, grey, yellow, blue, and black, and of various qualities; some being soft, and some being sufficiently hard to be polished into beautiful marble. Fine freestone, toadstone, shale, clunch, stalactitical concretions, and fuller's-earth, are found in different parts.
Impressions of leaves and plants, a great variety of coralline bodies, fossil shells, and even a small alligator, have been found imbedded in the limestone of Derbyshire, this county.
The warm mineral and other springs have long been celebrated. The principal are those of Buxton and Matlock. The heat of the Buxton water is 82°, never varying on account of the temperature of the atmosphere. The water is remarkably pure, being very slightly impregnated with saline particles. It is used both for bathing and drinking, and is chiefly recommended for gout, rheumatism, derangement of the biliary and digestive organs, and diseases of the urinary passages, for all of which it is of considerable efficacy. There are several public and private baths, both for ladies and gentlemen, and one open gratis to the poor. It appears from several remains discovered at different times, that these waters were known to the Romans; and, from their time to the present, they have been resorted to by invalids.
Matlock water is not so warm as the Buxton, the thermometer seldom rising to more than 68° of Fahrenheit. The springs issue from between fifteen and thirty yards above the level of the river: higher or lower the springs are cold, differing in nothing from common water. The water is very pure, and less impregnated with mineral substances than that of Buxton. There are several baths at Matlock, which are much resorted to.
There is a tepid chalybeate spring at Bakewell, the temperature of which is about 59 degrees. It is tonic, and recommended for indigestion, debility, and chronic rheumatism. Here is one bath. There is also, at this place, a spring, which has been found to contain, in 60 quarts, 13 cubic inches of sulphurated hydrogen. The tepid spring at Stony-Middleton much resembles that of Matlock, but is not so warm, being only 63 degrees. There are several other tepid springs in the county. Among the sulphureous springs, that of Kedleston is the strongest. It is like the Harrowgate water; and is used externally for most cutaneous diseases, particularly for those of an ulcerous nature; it is taken internally as an antiscorbutic and diuretic. There are cold and warm-baths. Other sulphureous springs are found in many districts. The most celebrated chalybeate water is at Quarndon, two miles from Derby, which is a good deal frequented.
Among the wonders of Derbyshire, all authors mention the intermitting spring at Barnmoor near Tideswell. It is generally called the Ebbing and Flowing well; but the intermission is not regular; for, in dry seasons, the ebbing and flowing ceases for several weeks; and in wet weather it often ebbs and flows every ten minutes.
The south and south-east parts of this county are cultivated; for great quantities of excellent wheat and barley are grown there. The arable lands in the northern parts are chiefly cultivated for oats, of which grain there is a great consumption; oat bread, leavened, being the principal food of the lower classes. The dairy country is around Ashbourne and the south-western side of the county, whence not less than 2000 tons of cheese are annually exported. In the neighbourhood of Chesterfield there are about 80 acres of land employed in the growth of chamo- This useful plant was introduced into the county about 1740; and it produces from three to six cwt. per acre, and is chiefly consumed at home and in America. Valerian and eleocharis are cultivated in Ashover and North Wingfield, in small quantities.
The breed of cows in this county has been very much improved of late years. They are, in general, horned, large, and handsome; yielding, upon an average, ten quarts of milk a-day. They are, most commonly, speckled, with large well-turned horns; though of late, the short-horned Lancashire breed has been introduced. Nature seems to have adapted the horses in Derbyshire to the different regions in which she designed them to labour. In the northern districts the breed is small, of light and slender make; in the southern parts they are in general of a strong and heavy kind; and in the stables of the country gentlemen, this beautiful animal may be found in the perfection of its symmetry. The sheep also vary in size; those that are bred on the borders of Leicestershire differ but little in weight from that county breed; but they gradually diminish in size as we proceed northwards, till they get as small as any in the kingdom. The parks in the county are well stocked with fallow-deer.
The woollen manufactories, for which this county was formerly celebrated, are now confined to the worsted-spinning at Derby, Melbourne, and Tideswell; and to the weaving a few blankets at Chesterfield. The first silk-mill established in this kingdom was introduced into Derby in the beginning of the last century; the improved machinery of which was brought from Italy by the celebrated John Lombe. This mill is still worked with the original machinery; but great improvements have been made of late years in the construction of the spinning apparatus; and the facility attained in working the several articles of silk manufacture, has contributed to the extension of this branch of business in a very eminent degree. The manufacture of stockings was introduced into Derbyshire about 1717; and this acquired additional celebrity by the ingenious discovery of Strutt, who introduced a machine for making ribbed stockings about the year 1755.
The manufacture of cotton was introduced in the year 1771, when Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor, established one of the first cotton-mills on the improved principles; and, in 1773, he, in conjunction with Mr Jedediah Strutt and Mr Need, made at Derby the first successful attempt to establish the manufacture of calicoes in this kingdom. This county, therefore, is the cradle of the most important branches of the cotton trade; and, at the present moment, an immense capital is employed in the business, which is carried on to a great extent.
There are in several places manufactures of linen; and flax-spinning is carried on in others, but upon a small scale. White and red-lead works; various manufactures connected with the iron-trade; marble and spar works; a long established and celebrated porcelain manufactory; and grindstone mills are found in different parts of the county.
Among the singular customs of Derbyshire may be mentioned that of rush-bearing; a ceremony of strewing the churches on a certain day with rushes. It usually takes place on the anniversary of the dedication of the church, or on midsummer eve. The ancient custom of hanging up in the churches garlands of roses, with a pair of gloves cut out of white paper, which had been carried before the corpses of unmarried women at their funerals, still prevails in many parishes of the Peak. The country wakes are generally observed here, on the Sunday following the day of the dedication of the church or chapel, or the day of the saint to whom it is dedicated.
The British antiquities of this county are druidical circles, tumuli of earth and stones, rocking-stones, rock-basins, and some rude military works in the uncultivated parts of the county. The Roman remains deserving of notice are, the altar preserved in Haddon-Hall; the inscribed pigs of lead now in the British Museum; and the silver plate found in Risley Park. Several Roman roads, the remains of which are still visible, passed through the county; and many stations of consequence may be easily traced.
The ecclesiastical edifices of this county exhibit the taste of different ages. Of the Saxon period is the Crypt under Repton Church, which is supposed to be the remains of the conventual church, destroyed by the Danes in the year 874. Melbourne church is a very perfect specimen of the massy style of architecture which prevailed in the eleventh century. The desecrated church of Steetly exhibits a very complete specimen of the latter and more enriched style of Saxon architecture on a small scale. Other and numerous remains of Saxon architecture are to be found in this county.
Specimens of the early Gothic style are not frequent; and those of the fifteenth and sixteenth century are inconsiderable, except the tower of All-Saints at Derby, which has been generally and deservedly admired: it is about 150 feet high, and richly ornamented with Gothic tracing.
The only monastic buildings in this county, of which any remains at present exist, are Dale-Abbey, the arch of the east window of which still stands; Beauchief-Abbey, now used as a church; part of the original Saxon monastery of Repton, and an ancient brick tower, part of the prior's lodging.
The ancient castles of Derbyshire, whose ruins now remain, are those of Castleton, Codnor, Horsley, and Melbourne. Castleton was, most probably, erected by William Peverell, to whom the manor was given by William the Conqueror. Connor was the ancient seat of the Grey family. Horsley was built in the beginning of the thirteenth century, by Ferrers, Earl of Derby, and Melbourne existed as early as the time of Edward the Third.
The most remarkable mansion-house in this county, in point of antiquity, is Haddon-Hall, belonging to the Duke of Rutland. It has been erected at various times, but no part later than the middle of the sixteenth century. Hardwick Hall, belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, is another pile of the above description, exhibiting a complete specimen of the domestic architecture, which prevailed among the upper ranks, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Balborough Hall is another handsome mansion of the sixteenth century. The manor-house of South-Wingfield, a very splendid and spacious edifice, erected by Lord Cromwell, in the reign of Henry VI., is now a mere ruin, having been suffered to go to decay, soon after the civil war, in the seventeenth century.
The nobleman's seats are, Chatsworth, the chief seat, and Hardwicke, the occasional residence, of the Duke of Devonshire; Elvaston, the seat of the Earl of Harrington; Sudbury, of Lord Vernon; Kedleston, the elegant mansion of Lord Scarsdale; Bretby, the seat of the Chesterfield family; Sutton, the seat of the Marquis of Ormond; Doveridge, of Lord Waterpark; and Hassop, of the Earl of Newburgh.
The Baronets' seats are, Ashbourne Hall, of Sir Brooke Boothby; Wingerworth, of Sir Henry Hunloke; Egginton, of Sir Henry Every; Sissington, of Sir H. Fitzherbert; Chaddesden, of Sir R. Wilmot; Osmaston, of Sir R. Wilmot; Foremark, of Sir F. Burdett; and Stretton, of Sir W. C. Browne.
There are several elegant and extensive mansions belonging to the gentry of the county; the principal of which are, Willersley, of R. Arkwright, Esq.; Markeaton, of F. Mundy, Esq.; Longford, E. Coke, Esq.; Radborne, E. S. C. Pole, Esq.; Bridge Hill, of G. B. Strutt, Esq.; Hopton, of P. Gell, Esq.; Shipley, of E. M. Mundy, Esq.; Norton, of S. Shore, Esq.; Alfreton, of H. C. Morewood.
The population of Derbyshire, 1377, assessed to a poll-tax, was 24,289. In 1789, the inhabitants were supposed to be 124,465. In 1801, they were 161,142. In 1811, 185,487, according to the returns made to Parliament. See Pilkington's, Davies's, and Lyson's Histories of Derbyshire. (Y. Y.)