and rank were distinguislied, carried their predilection for every thing Roman to an excessive degree ;
expensive floors for their Ijaths and banqueting rooms with every other Italian luxury, being extensively
imported in return for the invaluable minerals, so inclcfatigably sought after in this hypor-borcan region,
by tlicse mastere of the world.
After tho departure of the Romans the arts and sciences, it is well known, rapidly declined, until
the I'cligioiis cstablislimcnts, most opportunely, afforded them a precarious shelter from the barbarous
inciii-sions of tlic piratical Piets and of other predatory Northern tribes.
In the darkness whicli envelopes this page of tho scant histoiy of the liomo of tlio ancient Cangi,
one vast solitary monument of “ heaven-born love,” advances its dim and awful outline before us,
and reveals to our admiring vision the uses to which the generous and superstitious Saxon, now lord
of tho land, subjected the capacities of liis once-adored earth. The magnificent ruins of Glaston
Abbey exhibit solid pieces of lias masonry encased with freestone or oolite, wliicli stretch their
giant masses forth as if in defiance of rutiiless time, whose utmost malignity has had the only effect
of arraying them in llio evor-grccn livery of his minion—tlie ivy, contrasted, here and there, witli
the modest crimson-and-ycllow wall-flowcr. All the isolate slender pillars of this renowned abbey,
were wrought in the lias and carefully polished. Some of these elegant columns remain entire to
tliis day; and there was brought to light, in the excavations recently made witliin the abbey precincts,
one of the most delicately executed pieces of elaborate Gothic sculpture that wc have ever seen, also
of lias, wliicli is supposed to be a part of the grand liigh altar.
But although these artificers of tlio seventh and the six following ages, devoted this long-enduring
limestone to so many ornamental designs, yet they seem to have had no more idea of converting it to
the common services of man than their classical predecessors. Tlie pictured and many-jointcd floors
of tho Roman vanished, and, in their place, green bull-rushcs for the rude hall of the thane, and square
tiles, of from eiglit to tivelve inches, with legends and rude figures of animals and foliage traced in
a differently coloured earth upon them, were substituted in tiic churclics. Instead of the maiblc urns
and cenotaphs whicli contained tho mouldering ashes, or perpetuated the memory of the great amongst
the descendants of tlie wolf-bred Romulus, we perceive, in the still-surviving temples of that holy religion
wliicli overturned their idolatrous worship, the Bath-stone placed upon the grave, with the humble cross,
perchance, cut deeply in its scarce resisting bosom. At the lower part of the nave of Saint John’s
Church, at Glastonbury, arc some of tliesc memorials, which no innovating hand has yet disturbed, nor
the footsteps of thirty generations of man obliterated,
Tlic catholic clergy wlio commanded, for so many ages, both the moral and physical powers of their
country, persisted, in these parts, in applying ttie Bath and Stoke-under-Hambton stone to almost every
ecclesiastical purpose, until their better acquaintance with the Papal States tauglit them the greater value
of marl)le, in which are carved some effigies that adorn our catiicdrals and private chapels.
I t is not until the beginning of the sixteenth century that we authenticate the dedication of the
lias to the ordinarj' uses for which it is now deemed so proper a subject. The octagonal building
called “ the Abbot’s kitchen” at Glastonbury, which continues perfect to this day and is likely to
remain so for a tliousand years to come, is composed of lias, except the roof and some key-stones to
the arches and door-ways, which are of oolite. Tradition tells us, that the eighth and last Hariy,
seeking nn excuse for the tyrannical .measures wherewith he designed to punish the turbulent
hierarcliy of tho times, intimated to the abbot his disapprobation of the licentious practices of his
fraternity and even threatened to burn to the ground his refectory, notorious, probably, for feastings
of no very priestly pretension. Tlie higlily incensed father, unable to brook such atrocious insult,
for the charters of preceding kings had granted such illimitable power to the abbacy that ■' the
crowned head may not tread upon his domain until leave craved and given,” swore by the pope of
Rome, that he would erect such a one as neither tho monarch nor satan liimsblf should be able to
destroy, lie performed bis vow. and the result of it is one of the most curious relics wliicli the
expiring spirit of the fallen church bequeathed to future ages, tlirce liundred years ago.
From this period, tlic art of stone masonry gradually advanced, and within the last forty years the
demand for stone has constantly increased. Tlic lias is now likely to become even a yet more impoi tant
subject of speculation, by reason of the making a canal, which commences in the immediate ncighbour-
hood of the quarries, to communicate witli the Bristol Channel,
A few years ago our youthful attention was directed to llic lias quarries in the vicinity of
Edgaily, in consequence of some strange reports. It was said that the bones of infants and giants
had, a t distant intervals of time, been found in them, and upon inquiry wc ascertained that this
notion was general amongst the workmen.
A Mr. Moon for a long time collected such remains as were found there, but these were of little
consideration ; and he had not disabused the men of their gross mistake concerning tlicm.
Belter aware of their importance, we seized every opportunity to convince the good-natured but
unthinking fellows of tlic value we held them in. By dint of persuasion and Ijribes some of tlicm
were persuaded to respect tlie bones they chanced to find, but there is reason to apprehend that the
hateful Moloch of ignoi-ancc liad his costly sacrifices despite oar most strenuous endeavours.
At last, having endured the folly of these wise-acies a cruel time, a happy accident secured to us in
perpetuity both the good-will of the operatives and all their discoveries. Calling one summer day at a
quarry in the village of Street, we beheld a man on the point of destroying an inferior jaw of a
Plesiosaurus:'—there was a moment's time, ’tiras enough, his upraised arm was arrested and the specimen
saved. For tliis fragineiit we gave him so much money that he generously offered us his hearty services,
which effecting the result above mentioned, consummated our ardent wishes.
A few days after, to our unspeakable delight, wc dug an Ichthyosaurus from a quarry at Walton.
Since then, good fortune has secured to our cabinets (for tlie information of tlio general world wc tell it,)
every fossil organic remain, Chat has been found wilhin the range of the lias in Somerset; moreover, the
chief specimens of the other localities of the kingdom, where that rock is developed, have journeyed to
lliem ;—these united are the integral foundation upon wliicli this history is based.
OF TH E LIA S.
Tlio lias, situated between the red marl of the New Rod Sandstone Formation and the inferior oolite
of the Oolitic Formation, is an argillo-calcavcous deposit, wiiicli, altiiough it passes into the I'ocks botli
below and above it, presents us with such miiieralogical and zoological ciiaracters as render it difficult of
decision to wliicii (if to either) it belongs. It appears in France, Germany and many other parts of tlic
west of Europe, distinguislial in tiic several places by differences in tlic aggregation of its components,
but prosciUing to (lie geologist such a general uniformity of feature as to assure liim that the laws
productive of its creation, were but little affected Ihrouglioiit tlieir universal operation.
But leaving all consideration of tlie lias as dcmonstralcd on tlie Continent (tlie facts relative to
wliicli are liowevcr nearly paiallcl to tliosc wc record ; llius we learn from the I’arious authors wlio liavc