a market-town and fashionable watering-place of Derbyshire, in the parish of Bakewell, and hundred of High Peak, 31 miles N.W. of Derby, and 160 miles from London. It is situated in a deep valley surrounded by hills of considerable elevation, except on the side where the Wye, which rises near this, has its exit. It consist of an old and new town, the former more elevated than the latter, and consisting of one wide street with some good inns and lodging-houses; but most of the buildings are low and mean. In the centre of the market-place is an old cross. The new town is much more elegant, and contains many handsome buildings. Among these is the crescent, a noble range of buildings in the Grecian style, erected by the late Duke of Devonshire in 1779-86, at a cost of £120,000, and containing hotels, ball-room, lodging-houses, bank, library, arcade, promenade, and an extensive range of stables with riding gallery behind. At the west end of the crescent is the old hall, built by the Earl of Shrewsbury in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, once the residence of Mary Queen of Scots. The church is a handsome edifice, built in 1812 by the Duke of Devonshire. There are numerous public and private baths. The springs, which were known to the Romans, are inclosed in a small Grecian building, and supply hot and cold water within a few inches of each other. They are saline, sulphurous, and charged with nitrogen, and flow at the rate of 60 gallons a minute. They are found useful in cutaneous and nervous complaints, indigestion, gout, and rheumatism. Besides these there is a chalybeate spring behind the crescent, the water of which when mixed with that of the other springs, proves purgative. The "Bath Charity," supported by subscription, is for the maintenance for one month of poor invalids who may require to use the waters. The season extends from June to October, and from 12,000 to 14,000 visitors arrive annually. The public walks are numerous and tastefully laid out. In the vicinity are Pool's Hole (a vast stalactite cavern), and the Diamond Hill, so called from the profusion of crystals dispersed through the soil. Pop. (1851) 1235, mostly engaged in the manufacture of alabaster, spar, and other ornaments, and in lime-burning.

Jedediah, a prodigy of skill in numbers, was born in 1704, at Elmoton, near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. Although his father was schoolmaster of the parish, and his grandfather had been the vicar, his education had been so neglected that he could not write; and with respect to any other knowledge but that of numbers, he seemed always as ignorant as a child. How he came first to know the relative proportions of numbers, and their progressive denominations, he did not remember; but on such matters, his attention was so constantly riveted, that he frequently took no cognizance of external objects, and when he did, it was only with reference to their numbers. If any space of time was mentioned, he would soon afterwards reduce it to minutes; and if any distance, he would assign the number of hair-breaths, without any question being asked or any calculation expected by the company. He worked out every question after his own method, without any external aid, or even understanding the common rules of arithmetic as taught in the schools. He would stride over a piece of land or a field, and tell the contents of it almost as exactly as if it had been measured by the chain. In this manner he measured the whole lordship of Elmoton, consisting of some thousand acres, and gave the contents not only in acres, roods, and perches, but even in square inches. After this, for his own amusement, he reduced them into square hair-breaths, computing forty-eight to each side of the inch. His memory was so great, that in resolving a question he could leave off and resume the operation again at the same point after the lapse of a week, or even of several months. His perpetual application to figures prevented the smallest acquisition of any other knowledge. On his return from church, it never appeared that he had brought away one sentence, his mind, having been busied in his favourite occupation. His wonderful faculty was tested in 1754 by the Royal Society of London, who acknowledged their satisfaction by presenting him with a handsome gratuity. In this visit to the metropolis, the great object of his curiosity was to see the king and royal family; but in this he was disappointed by their recent removal to Kensington. He was taken to see the tragedy of Richard III. performed at Drury Lane theatre; but his mind was solely employed in his usual occupation. He attended to Garrick only to count the words he uttered. During the dance, he fixed his attention upon the number of steps; and he declared that the innumerable sounds produced by the musical instruments had perplexed him beyond measure. Jedediah returned to the place of his birth, where he died about the age of seventy.