the Venetians, from whom it was taken by sultan Bayazid After obtaining the mastership Dürer visited Holland II. Durazzo is now included in the pachalik of Skutari, and Italy, where he executed some of his best pictures, near the borders of that of Berat. It carries on some trade such as the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew for the church by sea, and exports the surplus corn which grows abun- of St. Mark, and Adam and Eve for the German church dantly in the neighbouring plains. Its population is reck-in Venice, which was afterwards bought for the Gallery of oned at between 4000 and 5000, and it has a Greek bishop. Prague. In Bologna he became acquainted with Raphael, It is a place little visited by travellers: the scanty remains who esteemed him highly. In token of their friendship, each of Apollonia, which are two short days' journey to the south presented the other with his portrait. He returned home of it, near the banks of the Apsus, have been described by in 1507, with the reputation of being the first painter of his Colonel Leake and Dr. Holland. (Leake's Travels through country. Northern Greece.) Leake was prevented by illness from proceeding to Durazzo. John, the eighth son of Charles II. of Anjou, king of Na pies, assumed, with the consent of the Byzantine emperor, the title of duke of Durazzo and lord of Albania; and from him sprung the Durazzo branch of the Anjous, who reigned a while over Naples and Hungary. Charles III., king of Naples, was a grandson of John; he died in Hungary, and left two children, Ladislaus and Joauna, who reigned in succession at Naples, but died both without issue. Coin of Dyrrachium. British Museum. Actual size. Silver. Weight, 469 grains. DUREN, a minor circle of the administrative circle of Achen (Aix la Chapelle), in the Prussian province of the Rhine. Its area is about 215 square miles, and it contains 1 town, 1 market village, 106 villages, and 16 hamlets, with a population of about 46,600 (1816, 37,186). The Roer traverses it from south to north-west: it is hilly in parts, and has about 128,000 acres of arable land, 18,330 of meadows and pastures, and 51,700 of woods and forests. It produces much grain and fruit, rears cattle, contains iron, lead, alum, and coal mines, and manufactures woollens, ironware, paper, vegetable oil, &c. DÜREN, the chief town, called by the Romans Marcodurum, whence its former name of Mark-Düren, lies near the banks of the Roer, 50° 46' N. lat., and 6° 36' E. long. It is a walled town, the seat of a public miningdirection, possesses a Roman Catholic gymnasium or high school, three nunneries, five Catholic and two Protestant churches, and a synagogue, and contains about 6800 inhabitants: in 1818 their numbers were 4909; and in 1825, 5610. Düren has considerable manufactures of fine and ordinary woollen cloths, stuffs, and coverlids, which employ between 1200 and 1300 hands, as well as of screws and nails. There are also manufactures of iron and steel ware, paper, coarse cottons, soap, leather, oil, trinkets, &c. It has an extensive trade in grain, a horse market, and three large fairs in the course of the year. On this spot several cohorts of the Ubii, who had assumed the Roman name of Agrippinenses, were surprized and cut to pieces by Civilis, the Batavian leader, in the year 70 A.D. (Tacit. Hist. iv. 28.) DÜRER, ALBRECHT, or ALBERT, born at Nürnberg the 20th of May, 1441, was the son of a skilful goldsmith, and received that sound education which the wealthy burghers of the free towns of Germany were accustomed to give to their children. In all branches of instruction Albrecht made great progress, and showed also much ingenuity in the profession for which he was intended; but his genius being bent towards a nobler art, he gave up at once, to the great vexation of his father, the working of gold, and placed himself under the most able painter of his native country, Michael Wohlgemuth (1486). After finishing his apprenticeship he set out on his travels, and in 1490 went through Germany. On his journey he painted portraits and other pictures which were highly admired. Improved by experience and with increased reputation, he returned home in 1494, and soon after executed his master-piece, a drawing of Orpheus. It was the custom of those times for a painter, in order to be received and acknowledged as a master, to exhibit a piece which merited the approbation of his teacher and of the other masters of his craft. When this was accomplished, the candidate received a kind of diploma, and was entitled to the honours and rights of a master. Certainly,' says Vasari (Vite de' Pittori), if this diligent, industrious, universal man had been a native of Tuscany, and if he could have studied as we have done in Rome, he would have been the best painter in our country, as he was the most celebrated that Germany ever had.' His productions were so highly valued as to attract the notice of the most powerful sovereigns of his time, Maximilian the First and Charles the Fifth, who appointed him their painter, and bestowed upon him riches and honours. To please his father Dürer had married, against his inclination, the daughter of a wealthy neighbour; but the match turned out so unfortunate that it embittered his life, and his countrymen attributed his premature death to his domestic misfortune. It is said that his wife was not deficient in personal attractions, but peevish and jealous to the utmost degree. He died broken-hearted in 1528, in the 58th year of his age. The senate of Nürnberg, to honour the memory of their illustrious citizen, decreed him a public funeral, which was celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. This circumstance has led some of his biographers to suppose that Dürer died in poverty, which however was not the case. In spite of his liberality, he left a tolerably good fortune to his surviving Xantippe. Dürer's paintings are admired for the vivid and fertile imagination, the sublime conception, and the wonderful union of boldness and correctness of design which they display. He was the first man in Germany who taught the rules of perspective and the proportions of the human body according to mathematical and anatomical principles. In fact, his works were in this respect so classical, that even his prints and wood-cuts were purchased by the Italian painters for their improvement in those branches. Some critics have found fault with the unnecessary correctness of drawing and the exuberance of his imagination; but the only fault that can be really objected to him is his total neglect of costume. Yet this fault is more conventional than real. His pictures, in spite of this violation of the rules of taste, produce lasting impressions of the sublime and beautiful; and impartial judges must always honour in him the greatest master of the German school. Besides his great historical paintings, the best of which are in the collections of Vienna, Prague, Munich, and Dresden, Dürer has left some landscapes that are highly valued. Some of his paintings were in England in the collection of Lord Arundel. Dürer was also an excellent engraver in copper and wood; his woodcuts are masterpieces of the art, and considered equal to those of Hugo da Carpi. The best among his woodcuts, both in respect of inveution and execution, are his greater Passion and his Revelation of St. John. So much were they sought after, even during his lifetime, that a Venetian artist was induced to went to Venice, and commenced a suit against the man, counterfeit them. When Dürer heard of this forgery, he whose name was Marc Antonio Franci. The senate of Venice would have punished the offender severely, if Dürer had not obtained his pardon. There is a volume containing more than 200 original drawings by Albert Dürer in the to the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and was probably part print-room of the British Museum, which formerly belonged of the celebrated collection of Dürer's friend W. Pirkhamer. In the same room is preserved an exquisite carving by him, in hone-stone, of the Birth of St. John, bequeathed to the Museum by Mr. R. P. Knight, who had purchased it at the price of 5007. It is dated 1510. An extensive collection of Albert Dürer's engravings was bequeathed to the British Museum by the late Mr. Nollekens. of him that he not only possessed the talent of catching the Dürer's portraits were also highly esteemed: it was said exact expression of the features, but also of delineating the different characters and passions. woodents in two colours, and that of etching. Some, howTwo inventions are attributed to him; that of printing ever, dispute his claim to the invention of the art of etching, though it is not denied that he was the first who excelled in it. In his private life he was amiable, upright, and benevolent. He was a strong supporter of the Protestant religion, without making any pretensions to superior piety. Dürer wrote several valuable works on geometry, perspective, and fortification. He bestowed such labour on the purity of his native tongue, that his writings even now are well worth the study of the German scholar. While the French corruption of taste was exercising a baneful influence over the fine arts, Dürer was looked upon as a barbarian; but opinion is now changed, and the modern school of German painters and critics view him as one of their great masters, and as a model by following which the art of painting may be brought back to its former dignity. His life has been written by Arend and Roth, and lately by Heller, who has given the most critical and complete catalogue of all his works. Goëthe, Tieck, Wackenrode, and other distinguished writers have vindicated his claims. D'URFEY, THOMAS, was born in Devonshire, but the exact time of his birth is uncertain. He was designed for the law, but quitted that profession for poetry. His dramas had remarkable success in the days of Charles II., but were soon afterwards banished from the stage on account of their outrageous indecency, and at present scarcely their names are known, except to the students of English dramatic history. Much of his fame was owing to his songs and satirical odes, which he is said to have himself sung in a lively and agreeable manner. He is represented in the 'Guardian' as being on such terms of intimacy with Charles II., that the king would sometimes lean on his shoulder and hum tunes with him: he was also a favourite at most convivial parties, and was so much celebrated for his qualities as a good companion, that it was considered a kind of honour to have been in his company. He was reduced to great distress in the latter part of his life, and applied to the managers of the theatre, who performed for his benefit one of his comedies. The profits which were acquired seem to have been sufficient to render his last days comparatively easy, if any judgment is to be founded on his poems of this period, which are written with liveliness. He died in 1723, and was buried at St. James's, Westminster. A collection of D'Urfey's poems, entitled 'Pills to purge Melancholy,' is extremely rare, and sells for a high price. It is much esteemed by those bibliographers who think licentious works valuable if they are but scarce. DURHAM, an English county, consisting of the main part, between the rivers Tyne and Tees, and of three detached portions, which are separated from the main portion by the intervening county of Northumberland, or by that of York. 1. The main portion is bounded on the north and north-west by Northumberland, from which it is for the most part separated by the river Tyne and its tributaries, the Stanley Burn and the river Derwent; on the west it is bounded by Cumberland and Westmoreland, from the former of which it is partly separated by the Crook Burn, a feeder of the Tees, and from the latter by the Tees itself; on the south it is bounded by Yorkshire, from which it is separated throughout by the river Tees; and on the east it is bounded by the German Ocean. Its greatest length is from east to west, from Seaton Snook, a headland at the mouth of the Tees, to the junction of the Crook Burn and the Tees, on the boundary of the three counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, 48 miles; its greatest breadth, at right angles to the length, is from the fort at the mouth of the Tyne, at South Shields, to Stockburn, or Sockburn, on the Tees, 39 miles. 2. The principal detached part, consisting of Norhamshire and Islandshire, which latter includes Holy Island and the Farne Isles, is bounded on the north by Berwick bounds, from which it is separated by the Tweed; on the north-west and west by Berwickshire in Scotland, from which also it is separated by the Tweed; on the south by Northumberland, and on the east and north-east by the German Ocean. The form of this portion of the county approaches that of a triangle, of which one side faces the north and north-west, and is nearly 11 miles long in a straight line; another, the north-east, and is 14 miles long in a straight line; and the third, the south, and is 17 miles long in a straight line. 3. The second detached portion, comprehending the parish of Bedlington, sometimes called Bedlingtonshire, is bounded on the north, west, and south by Northumberland, from which it is separated on the north by the river Wensbeck, on the south by the river Blyth, and on the east by the German Ocean. It is 7 miles long from east to west, and 44 miles broad from north to south. 4. The third detached portion, the parish of Craike, is near Easingwould, in Yorkshire, and is surrounded by that county: it is 3 miles long from north to south, and about 24 miles broad. The areas of the several portions, as found by taking the areas of the several parishes, are as follows :--- The area of the whole is about 1097 square miles. The population in 1831 was 253,910, giving 231 to a square mile in size and in absolute and relative population Durham is below the average of the English counties. Durham, the capital of the county, is on the Wear, 235 miles in a straight line north by west of London; 259 miles by the road through Baldock, Stamford, Doncaster, Boroughbridge, and Bishop Auckland; or by that through Boroughbridge, Northallerton, and Darlington; or 263 miles by the road used by the Thurso, Edinburgh, and York mail, through Ware, Huntingdon, Stamford, Doncaster, York, Easingwould, Thirsk, Northallerton, and Darlington. The main portion of the county is comprehended between 54° 27′ and 55° 1' N. latitude, and 1° 8' and 2° 21' of W. longitude. Coast, Islands, &c.-The coast of the county of Durham is for the most part low, especially in the detached portions of the county. Islandshire has no cliffs, neither has Bedlingtonshire. From Islandshire sand banks (Fenham flats) run out and connect Holy Island with the main land, so as to render the island accessible at low water to vehicles of all kinds; though the sands are dangerous to persons not acquainted with them. In the main portion of the county there are several ranges of cliffs, as at Suter Point, between the Tyne and the Wear; along the coast from the Wear southward to Hawthorn Dean; again along the coast for three miles south from Horden Point, at the headland on which Hartlepool stands; and again at Seaton Bents. All these cliffs are of magnesian limestone, except those at Seaton Bents, which are formed by rocks of the red marl or new red sandstone formation. Holy Island is of an irregular form, nearly 4 miles long from east by south to west by north, and nearly 2 broad from north to south. It contains 3320 acres, and had in 1831 a population of 836 persons. This island was called by the Britons Inis Medicante, and was afterwards known by the name of Lindisfarne: its name of Holy Island was given to it from its having been the residence of several of the fathers of the Saxon church. It was antiently the seat of a bishoprick, and had a monastery under the government of the bishops, which was subsequently reduced to be a cell of the Benedictine monastery of Durham. The church of the monastery is now in ruins. The soil of the island is rich, but before the inclosure of the common in 1792 there were only forty acres under tillage, and that portion was subject to intercommonage as soon as the crops were reaped. There is a small village or town on the west side, formerly much more extensive: the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in fishing. There is a small harbour and an old castle, which during the last war was occupied by a garrison sent from Berwick. This castle is upon a lofty rock of whinstone, in the south-east corner of the isle. On the north-east side of the island is a projecting tongue of land a mile long, and in some parts only sixty yards broad, occupied by rabbits; on one side of this tongue the tide may be seen ebbing while it is flowing on the other. The Farne Islands lie to the south-east of Holy Island. The group consists of several small islets or rocks, some of which are visible only at low water. They produce kelp. and some of them a little grass. There are two lighthouses on two islets of the group. Surface, Hydrography, Communications.-Durham may be characterized as a hilly county. The western part is overspread by the branches of the great Penine Chain, from the eastern slope of which the chief rivers of the county flow. The two principal branches of this chain, which belong to Durham, are separated from each other by Weardale, the valley of the Wear; from the Yorkshire hills by Teesdale, or Teasdale, the valley of the Tees; and from those of Northumberland by the valley in which the Derwent, a feeder of the Tyne, flows. Large portions of the mountain district consist of moor-lands covered with heath, or, as it is here termed, 'ling.' The hills north of Weardale have the name of Weardale Forest, and those north of Teasdale are called Teasdale Forest; but they are bare of wood. The principal elevations in the county are Kilhope Law (2196 ft.), Cross Ridge, Bolts Law, Baron Hope, Collier Law (1678 ft.), and Fatherly Fell, in Weardale Forest; Pike Law, West Pike, Manner Gill Fells, and Eglestone Bank, in Teasdale Forest; Pontop Pike, on Lanchester Common, south-east of the valley of the Derwent (1018 ft.); Down Hill, Lizard, Fulwell Hill, and Boldon Hill, near the sea, between the Tyne and the Wear; Maiden's Paps, Warden Law, or Wordeslow (632 ft.), Low Hills, Hare Hill, and Hartmoor, near the sea, between the Wear and Hartlepool; Wheatley Hill, north-east of Durham; and Brandon Mount, south-west of the same city, but on the north side of the valley of the Wear (875 ft.) The moors are chiefly occupied as pasturage for sheep of the black-faced or heath kind, and for a few young cattle and horses. The best wooded part of the county is the vale of Derwent, which is especially adapted to the growth of oak; but it produces also ash, elm, birch, and alder, and a quantity of underwood, especially hazels. The chief rivers are the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, with their tributaries. The Tyne drains the northern parts, the Wear the middle, and the Tees the southern. The Tyne [NORTHUMBERLAND] forms the northern boundary of the county for about 18 miles, from the junction of the Stanley Burn at Wylam to the sea, and its navigation extends from above Newcastle to the sea, a distance of about 15 miles. Its Durham affluents are the Derwent and Team rivers and the Stanley and Hedworth Burns. The Derwent rises in Northumberland, and flowing east, reaches, about 3 miles from its source, the border of Durham, along which it flows, first east and then north-east, then south-east, and then north-east again for 16 or 17 miles, receiving on its right (or Durham) bank the Nuckton, Boltshope, Baronhope, Hysop, and Herselop Burns, or Becks (i. e. small streams; the last two unite before entering the Derwent); and on its left (or Northumberland) bank many others. At the junction of the Milk or Milch Burn it leaves the border (which here turns off to the north), and flows through the county for about 9 miles north-east, till it again meets the border, and falls into the Tyne 3 miles above Newcastle. Its whole course is 28 to 30 miles. The river Team rises on the side of Pontop Pike, and flows first east-by-north and then north-by-west about 13 miles into the Tyne, about a mile above Newcastle. The Stanley Burn and the Hedworth Burn are only four or five miles long. The Wear rises near Kilhope Law, and flows east and south-east above 4 miles to Burtree or Bowertree Ford. In this part of its course it is known as the Kilhope Burn, and is joined by the Welhope and Burnhope, and some other burns. From Bowertree Ford the Wear flows east-by-south 18 miles to the junction of the Bedburn river, passing the towns of Stanhope and Wolsingham, and receiving on the right bank the Irshope, Harthope, Dadree, Swinhope, Westenhope, Snowhope, and Bollihope Burns (the last of which receives the Harehope); and on the left bank the Middlehope, Rookhope, Stanhope, Shittlehope, Wescrow, Houslip, and Eals Burns, all of which are small. The Wescrow receives the Tunstall and the Thornhope. The Bedburn river is formed by the junction of the Euden and Sharnberry Becks, and subsequently of the North Grain Beck, and another to which the maps give no name. This upper part of the course of the Wear is through the wild and romantic district of Weardale, bounded on each side by high hills. From the junction of the Bedburn the Wear flows still east-by-south 6 miles to Bishop Auckland. In its way it is joined on the right by the Lin Burn, on the left by the Bitch Burn, and at Bishop Auckland by the Gaunless, which rises on Eglestone Common, and has a course of 15 miles. The Gaunless, near its source, is called the Hyndon Beck: it is joined in its course by the Humber Beck. From Bishop Auckland the Wear turns to the north-east, and flows in a very winding course about 36 or 37 miles past Durham and Chester-le-Street into the German Ocean at Sunderland. Between Bishop Auckland and Durham it receives the Croxdale Beck and the Shinkly river on the right bank, and the Stockley Beck and the Browney river on the left. The Browney river is the largest of these; it rises on Satley Common, and flows first east and then south-by-east 17 miles, receiving the Pan, the Smallhope, and the Derness (which is joined by the Hedley) Becks. Below Durham the Wear receives the Stanley Burn, united with the Cock Burn on the left bank, and the Lumley Burn on the right bank, all at or near Chester-le-Street. The whole course of the Wear may be estimated at about 65 miles, for about 18 or 20 of which, viz. up to the city of Durham, it is navigable. It is crossed at Sunderland, near its mouth, by an iron bridge of one arch, of 236 feet span and 100 feet above high water-mark. The importance of its navigation arises from the export of coals from the neighbouring mines, for the produce of which it furnishes an outlet. London and many towns upon the Thames and on the eastern coast receive a considerable portion of their supply of coals from the Wear. The Tees rises in Cumberland, on the slope of Cross Fell (2901 feet high), and for the first few miles of its course forms the boundary between Cumberland and Westmoreland. It is joined by the Trout and Crook Becks, and upon its junction with the latter forms the boundary of the county of Durham, separating it for a very few miles from Westmoreland, and throughout the remainder of its course from Yorkshire. The general direction of the Tees till it reaches Sockburn, nearly 55 miles from its source, is east-southeast; from thence it flows nearly 30 miles north-east into the German ocean, its total course being between 80 and 90 miles. The first part of the course of the Tees to Barnard Castle is pretty direct; it flows through a narrow valley in a hilly country, and is swelled on the right or Westmoreland and Yorkshire bank by several becks, or small rivers, of which the chief are the Maize or Marys, the Lune, and the Balder or Baulder: on the left or Durham bank it receives the Harwood joined with the Langdon Beck, the Ettersgill, the Bowles, the Hadshope or Hudshope, the Eglestone, and one or two others. The valleys watered by these several affluents of the Tees 'open laterally into the valley of the Tees, and are many of them remarkable for picturesque beauty. A ridge of trap rocks across which the river flows at Caldron Snout, at the junction of the Maize or Marys Beck, forms a series of falls in a distance of 596 yards which offer a fine contrast to the still water of The Wheel, a pool or lake into which the river expands just above. At High Force, or Mickle Force, a few miles lower down, another ridge of coarse-grained grey columnar basalt crosses the river, and causes another fall of 56 feet. A few miles below this fall and three above the village of Middleton in Teasdale, basaltic rocks form the bank of the river, and serve to support Winch Bridge, which consists of a plank two feet wide, with low handrails, suspended by iron chains across the river, here 63 feet wide, at an elevation of 56 feet above the water. Below Barnard Castle the course of the river is still tolerably direct till it reaches the neighbourhood of Darlington. It receives in this part of its course, on the right bank, the Greta from Yorkshire, and on its left bank, the Grand River, or Staindrop Beck, 10 or 12 miles long, which flows through Raby Park and past the town of Staindrop, receiving the Forth or Sut Beck. From the neighbourhood of Darlington the channel winds very much. At Croft near Darlington it receives a considerable stream on its right bank, and on the left the river Skerne, which, rising between Durham and Hartlepool, has a very winding course to the south-south-west, of more than 25 miles, receiving several streams by the way, and passing the town of Darlington just before its junction with the Tees. The Tees does not receive any considerable affluent after the Skerne, except the Leven from Yorkshire. It passes the town of Stockton, below which it receives the Hartburn and Billingham Becks, and at Greatham Fleet, near its mouth, the Elmeldon Beck united with another from Greatham. The wide æstuary of the Tees is navigable for colliers and other large vessels up to Stockton, and for small craft several miles higher up, above Yarm in Yorkshire: the navigation has been shortened by a cut, by which a considerable bend in the river is avoided. There are several small streams which flow into the sea between the Wear and the Tees. They are called Deans, The river navigation of Durham, comprehending only the lower waters of the Wear and of the border rivers Tyne and Tees, is confined to the castern side of the county. There are no canals or artificial cuts, except one, already noticed, made to shorten the winding course of the Tees. as Ryhope Dean, Seaham Dean, Dalton Dean, Hawthorn | lowest bed in the two deepest workings was found to be a Dean, Castle Eden Dean, and Hasledon Dean. strong white rock of a calcareous nature. Sulphureted springs are found in this strata: one of them arose from a perforation made in boring for coal. (Mr. Winch, Geol. Trans.) The newer magnesian or conglomerate limestone crops out from beneath the north-western limit of the red marl: it extends along the coast to the mouth of the The mail-road to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Tyne, and along the valley of the Tees to the junction of the north of Scotland, crosses this county from south into Staindrop Beck with the Tees, between Darlington and north. It enters it at Croft Bridge over the Tees, and passes Barnard Castle: its inland boundary is a line drawn souththrough Darlington, 241 miles from town, Durham (259 ward from the mouth of the Tyne, gradually diverging from miles), Chester-le-Street (265 miles), and Gateshead (272 the coast-line to the village of Coxhoe, between Durham miles), where it quits the county, crossing the Tyne to and Stockton; and from thence south-west to the Tees. Northumberland. There are two other roads from London This limestone forms a range of round-topped hills along to Durham city: they branch off from the Glasgow and the coast, of small elevation, the highest (Painshaw, near Carlisle mail-road at Scotch Corner in Yorkshire, and enter the Wear) being estimated at only 400 feet. The upper the county by Pierce Bridge over the Tees (239 miles from stratum of the limestone here is a species of breccia, with London). Here they divide, the right-hand road passing which wide chasms or interruptions in the cliff are filled: through the villages of Heighington and Eldon, and the the next strata are thin and slaty, of a white colour inclinleft-hand road through Bishop Auckland (2484 miles from ing to buff; but lower down the stratification becomes inLondon). They reunite a few miles beyond Bishop Auck-distinct, the rock is of a crystalline and cellular texture, and land and fall in with the Edinburgh mail-road near Sunder- of a light-brown colour. The brown variety is quarried near land Bridge, over the Wear, about four miles before reach- Sunderland: it partakes of the nature of limestone, and from ing Durham (259 miles). containing some inflammable matter requires only a small quantity of coal to be reduced to lime. Some of it, which takes a tolerably good polish, is sold as marble. The thickness of the limestone formation varies. At Pallion, near Sunderland, it is only about seventy feet thick; but this is near the north-western or under boundary: near Hartlepool it has been bored to the depth of more than 300 feet without penetrating through it. Along the coast the strata dip to the south-east. Galena is the only ore that Mr. Winch observed in this limestone, and few organic remains are found in it. Botryoidal masses (i. e. masses like a cluster of grapes) of fetid limestone, devoid of magnesia, in balls varying from the size of a pea to two feet in diameter, imbedded in a soft, marly, magnesian limestone, are found near Hartlepool. There are caverns and perforated rocks in this formation along the coast, which appear to have been formed by the action of the sea. The road from London to Sunderland branches off from the Edinburgh mail-road at Thirsk in Yorkshire, and proceeding by Yarm, upon leaving that town crosses the Tees into the county of Durham, and proceeds forward to Stockton (241 miles from London), and from thence to Sunderland, 2684 miles. At Bishop Wearmouth, which is a suburb of Sunderland, where the road turns off to enter that town, a branch proceeding forward runs to South Shields at the mouth of the Tyne (275 miles). From this branch road another branch to the left leads to Gateshead, forming a communication (13 miles) between Sunderland and Newcastle. From Durham roads lead to Sunderland (distant 13 miles), through Bishop Wearmouth; and by Bishop Auckland (distant 10 miles), and Staindrop (19 miles), to Barnard Castle (24 miles). From Barnard Castle (245 or 246 miles from London) a road leads along the valley of the Tees, by Middleton in Teasdale (distant 94 miles) to Aldstone Moor in Cumberland; and from Darlington, one by West Auckland (distant 9 miles), Wolsingham (20 miles), and Stanhope (26 miles), along the valley of the Wear to the same town. From Wolsingham a road runs northward to Hexham in Northumberland and another to Gateshead. From Gateshead a road runs along the south side of the Tyne valley to Hexham. Other roads do not require notice. Under the article COAL-FIELDS the reader will find a general description of the coal-field of Northumberland and Durham. The following remarks apply more particularly to the county of Durham. Of the dykes of basalt or greenstone which intersect the coal measures, one crosses the Tyne into Durham county, near the Walker colliery, and another crosses the bed of the Wear at Butterby, near Durham. In the south part of the Durham has numerous rail-roads, most of which have been county is a remarkable basaltic dyke, extending several constructed by the coal owners for the conveyance of coals miles from Cockfield to Bolam, where the coal measures dip from the pits to the rivers Tyne and Wear, where they are beneath the newer magnesian limestone: a dyke of similar shipped. Acts of parliament have been obtained for two kind and in just the same line intersects the new red sandmore extensive rail-ways; one, the Stockton and Darlington, stone or red marl, and crosses the bed of the Tees near extending from Wilton Park colliery, west of Bishop Auck- Yarm into Yorkshire. I have never been able,' says Mr. land, by a circuitous line past Darlington to Stockton, and Winch, to trace any of these basaltic veins into the magfrom thence across the Tees by a suspension bridge, and by nesian limestone, and am almost certain that, together with the side of the navigable cut made in the Tees to Middles- other members of the coal formation, they are covered by burgh and Cleveland Port on that river; with various it.' In Mr. Greenough's Geological Map of England and branches: the other, the Clarence rail-road, from the Stock- Wales the Cockfield dyke and that which crosses the ton and Darlington rail-road, a few miles north of Darling-Tees are represented as parts of one vast dyke, extending ton, by a more direct course to the northern bank of the from the upper valley of the Tees near Eglestone, through Tees below Stockton, with a branch to the city of Durham, the millstone grit and limestone shale (or, as it is laid down and some subordinate branches. The various acts for the in Mr. Winch's map, the mountain limestone), the coal meaStockton and Darlington rail-road were obtained in 1821-sures, the newer conglomerate or magnesian limestone, the 1828; those for the Clarence rail-road in 1828-1829. The red sandstone, the lias, and the inferior oolite, in all sixtyestimated length of the former, including its branches, is five miles in an east-south-east direction, to the Yorkshire about 38 miles; of the latter, nearly 46. coast, between Scarborough and Whitby. The coal in conGeological character.-The lower part of the valley of tact with the dyke is charred and reduced to cinder; and the Tees, from the junction of the Skerne, and the coast the sulphur is sublimed from the pyrites near. A belt of from the mouth of the Tees to Hartlepool, are occupied by trap rocks is marked in Mr. Greenough's map as extending the red marl or new red sandstone, the uppermost of the across the coal measures in Bedlingtonshire. Besides the formations which are found in the county. Among the fissures filled with basalt, others of a different nature instrata of the formation a fine-grained sandstone of a brick-tersect the coal-field: these, if large, are also called dykes; red colour predominates. Some attempts have been made to find coal by boring through the red marl, but without success, though the pits were sunk to the depth of more than 700 feet. At Dinsdale, near Croft Bridge, where one of these attempts was made, the strata were found to be numerous, and to consist, as far as could be judged from the miners' language, of white, grey or red sandstone, with occasional partings of a more compact nature, red or blue shale, coaly matter in thin layers, and gypsum in nodules or in beds, which in one case were three feet thick: the P C., No. 557. but, if small, 'troubles,' 'slips,' or 'hitches,' and by some geologists faults:' by these faults' the strata are thrown, i. e. raised on one side or depressed on the other, many feet. Other irregularities are observed in the coal measures, such as the depression below their proper level of large wedgeshaped portions of the strata; fissures which divide the strata, but do not alter their level; basin-formed depressions in the floors of the seams, called 'swellies' by the miners, by which the coal is materially thickened, the roof of the seam preserving its regularity; and nips,' where the VOL. IX-2 E coal nearly disappears, the roof and the floor of the seam coming almost into contact. Mineral springs are found in various parts of the coal-field, and chalybeate springs occur in every part of it. metallic veins of the district which comprehends the great Northumberland and Durham coal-field. Lead mines abound in Weardale and in Teasdale Forest, and there are a few in the valley of the Derwent. Of the fissures which The coal-field of Durham is bounded on the west by the contain the lead ore, such as range from north to south district occupied by the millstone grit. This district extends are called cross veins,' or sometimes ' dykes;' they are westward up the valley of the Tees to Eglestone, and is generally of great magnitude, but yield very little ore: those bounded by a line drawn from thence northward to Bol- fissures which run from south-east to north-west are most lihope Beck, along that stream to the Wear above Wol- productive; they are from three to six feet wide. These singham, and from thence north-west to the Derwent at cut through the cross veins, which are frequently rendered Blanchland. The millstone grit extends northward into productive to some distance from the points of intersection. Northumberland, skirting the west side of the coal-field; The hade of the veins is variable in direction and in degree: and southward into Yorkshire, where it extends between where those in Weardale point east and west, they hade to the districts occupied by the newer magnesian or conglo- the south: the strata are elevated on the side to which the merate limestone and the carboniferous or mountain lime- veins dip. The same vein is productive in different degrees stone. The beds of this formation may be estimated at according to the bed which it traverses: the limestones are 900 feet thick; and this is probably short of the truth. The the chief depositories of ore, particularly the great limeprevailing rock of this series is shale, known by the pro- stone,' which is considered to contain as much as all the vincial name of "plate," with which various beds of sand- other beds put together: next to the limestones, the strata stone, differing in hardness and texture, and, according to of sandstones called hazels' are to be ranked in point of these differences, distinguished as freestone, hazle, whet- productiveness, but the lead-bearing veins appear to be stone, grindstone, and millstone, occur: of the latter only compressed between these hard beds. Galena is the only one bed is worked, the thickness of which is about thirty lead ore procured in abundance from this formation; but feet. This is one of the uppermost strata on the Der-white and steel-grained ore are occasionally found: silver went, where it crops out, and does not occur farther west.' is contained in the ore in different proportions, varying from (Phillips and Conybeare, Outlines of the Geol. of England two to forty-two ounces in the fother of 21 cwts.: twelve and Wales.) The millstone bed is quarried on Muggles- ounces may be considered as the general average, and if wick Fell, and between Wolsingham and Stanhope in eight can be obtained, the lead is worth refining. NewWeardale. The grey millstones of Muggleswick are em- castle and Stockton are the ports at which lead is shipped. ployed for grinding rye. Towards the lower part of this (Geological Transactions, vol. iv.; Conybeare and Philformation two thin beds of limestone occur, alternating lips, Outlines of the Geol. of England and Wales.) with some occasional seams of coal. These coal measures are distinguished by their thus alternating with limestone from those of the principal coal formation. The remainder of the county, west of the district occupied by the millstone grit, is occupied by the carboniferous or mountain limestone. The limestone beds in this formation epeatedly alternate with beds of siliceous grit and slateclay, to which they bear not so great a proportion as one to three, so that it is not very easy to draw the line of demarcation between the beds of this formation and those of the millstone grit. Mr. Winch, from whose account we have largely borrowed, classes both formations under the common designation of the lead-mine measures. He estimates their joint thickness at from about 2700 ft. to 2750 ft., and the aggregate thickness of the limestone beds at 576 ft.: deducting the thickness of the millstone grit as given above, that of the mountain limestone will be about 1800 ft. or 1850 ft., of which the limestone beds amount to 570 ft.: this includes about 250 ft. of sandstone and slate-clay, lying immediately above the old red sandstone, which is the formation subjacent to the mountain limestone. The limestone beds are the most characteristic of this formation, and the most important to the miner. The bed called the great limestone' is from sixty to nearly seventy feet thick, and consists of three strata, divided by indurated clay. It is the uppermost bed in this formation, and crops out at Frosterly, in Weardale, between Wolsingham and Stanhope, where it is quarried in large quantities for agricultural uses and building cement, or for ornamental purposes: it is a brownish-black or dark bluish-grey marble, in which bivalve shells are imbedded. The scar limestone,' a lower bed, thirty feet thick, is divided into three strata like the great limestone, which it also resembles both in colour and organic remains. The Tyne-bottom limestone,' above twenty feet thick, is also divided into three strata: 'Robinson's great limestone' is above eighty feet thick. All the limestones of this formation appear to contain the encrinus, and most of them also bivalve shells: one of them (the cockleshell limestone) contains oyster shells of four or five inches diameter. They seem to agree in every essential character, as well as in their extraneous and native fossils. The beds of sandstone which occur in this formation are thicker than those in the millstone grit: they are thickest towards the bottom of the series. The beds of shale, or, as it is called, plate,' are very numerous: they are seldom so much as forty feet in thickness, but one bed is sixty feet. Iron pyrites, imbedded in shale, is found in abundance; but owing to the high price of fuel and the great distance from any seaport, cannot be manufactured into green vitriol with any advantage. Clay ironstone is found in Teasdale; but there are no iron works in this county. The carboniferous limestone is the great depository of the Agriculture.-The climate of the county of Durham is mild for its northern situation. The sea, which bounds it on the east, moderates the cold in winter; and the surface, being hilly without any considerable mountains, presents many sheltered valleys, the climate of which nearly_resembles that of the more southern parts of the island. The soil varies in different parts; its general nature is that of a rather strong loam. In the south-eastern part of the county northward from the mouth of the Tees, is a tract several miles in breadth, stretching along the coast towards Hartlepool, where the stiff loam is rich and productive. Next to this, to the east and north, to within a few miles of Sunderland, is a very poor thin clay, with a very hard and impervious subsoil, on which neither corn nor grass will thrive without great labour and expense. Westward of this lies a strip of excellent loam on a limestone rock, which affords the soundest pastures and the best grass, and is fit for any kind of crop. In the centre of the county there is a moist clay loam, of moderate quality, on an ochre subsoil, which gradually becomes peaty, and joins the western portion of the county towards Cumberland and Westmoreland, the whole of which last-mentioned part of the county is a poor peat or moor, chiefly covered with heath. From Barnard Castle to Darlington there is a strip bounded by the Tees on the south, which consists of a dry loam intermixed with clay. In this there are some good pastures and productive farms. In the valleys of the Tees, Skerne, Tyne, and their tributary streams, the soil is in general above the average of the district around, and consists of a good friable loam, which is cultivated at a small expense, and under good management is sufficiently profitable to the occupier. A great part of the county lay at one time in open commons and common fields, most of which are now divided and enclosed. The moors and heaths that remain are chiefly in the poor district to the westward, and even there cultivation has spread very generally; and the wastes are profitable, in some degree, by rearing a hardy breed of sheep and cattle. The general state of cultivation throughout the county is above mediocrity; and improvements have been more readily adopted than in some more southern parts of the island. Fallows are found indispensable on the cold wet clays; but wherever turnips can be raised this useful root supersedes the old summer fallow. The fallows are usually dressed with lime, which is no doubt a proper application on cold clay soils; but the use of it has become so customary (being inserted as a condition in many leases), and is so erroneously considered as a substitute for dung, that it is often applied injudiciously, and with little or no advantage. In many old leases there was a clause to oblige the tenant to lay all his farm-yard manure on the old grass land, which effectually prevented the improvement of the arable part of the farm. 1 |