they come behind the right ones; yet I have
knowne some of them set on so good a foile as
at first sight they might appose a not unskilful
lapidarie." Then, again, the lias, when
containing amonites, or other organic
remains, may be cut and polished into
beautiful chimney-pieces and similar objects.
Bits of porphyry are occasionally dug
up, suitable for fashioning into vases. The
hard greenstone and the red jasper which
are met with in certain localities are available
for ornamental purposes. Marble—
white, grey, black, yellow, red—is to be found
in the two western counties; and those
blocks which are composed almost entirely of
fossil-corals variously mingled in the mass,
and called madrepore marbles, present a
very remarkable appearance when fashioned
and polished. The rock which mineralogists
designate diallage is, from its great beauty
and hardness, well suited for purposes of
architectural ornament. When cut and
polished, some varieties have a fine purple
tint, while others are greenish; and the
stone can be obtained in considerable
abundance in pieces of large size. Elvan, in the
language of the Cornish miners, is a granitic
rock, though not a true granite, which occurs
in courses or long lines in various parts of the
county. Worked up to a bright surface it often
presents a beautiful appearance, especially
when it contains white crystals of felspar in
a reddish or flesh-coloured base. One of the
magnates of the county the late Mr. Treffry,
the greatest mine-owner in Cornwall, had
some beautiful steps, and staircases, and
pavements made in elvan for his mansion at
Fowey. The stone can be obtained in masses
of five or six tons weight.

The lizard and serpentine sound very
reptilish; but they are very valuable
nevertheless—the lizard as a land-mark, and the
serpentine as a beautiful ornamental stone.
The Lizard Point is that jutting out peninsula
which lies southward of Falmouth and Helston.
When viewed from the land side, it is
simply a bald and dreary table-land, elevated
a considerable height above the level of the
sea, and presenting a remarkably level
surface. But it is to the mariner, especially
when the "stormy winds do blow," and when
the arrival at a safe haven is anxiously
desired, that this bold headland is most
dear. The Lizard Point is the most southerly
land in Great Britain, and is that which
first generally meets the eye while sailing
or steaming from the Atlantic into the English
Channel. It is doubly valuable; for it
is in itself a landmark, which shows that the
old country is near at hand; and it indicates
the locality of one of the finest and largest and
safest harbours in England—that of Falmouth,
which lies immediately to the east of the
Lizard peninsula. Such a spot is, of course,
an excellent locality for a lighthouse. There
are two upon it, elevated at a great height
above the sea. Landsmen might think that one
would suffice; but when a ship is knocking
about in a storm on a dark night, it might be
a serious problem whether a light on a headland
belonged to one of the Scilly Isles, or to
the Lizard, or to Guernsey; and to remove
this possible source of embarrassment, the
Scilly beacon has one light, the Lizard beacon
two, and the Guernsey beacon three.

It is in this sea-bound peninsula that
the beautiful stone called serpentine is
chiefly found. The name, probably, was given
from some supposed resemblance of the rock to
the streaks and colours on a serpent's skin.
This rock, and another called diallage, constitute
nearly half of the Lizard peninsula.
Serpentine contains a large percentage of
magnesia, and on this account the soil formed
by its disintegration is not favourable to
vegetation; but for the very same reason a
certain chemical value is placed on the stone,
for ship-loads of it are, or were, a few years
ago, sent to Bristol, to furnish magnesia for
the manufacture of carbonate of magnesia.
One part of the Lizard coast, Kinance Cove,
presents the serpentine under very striking
circumstances. A steep descent leads down
to the shore among wild and shaggy rocks,
which appear as if they had been purposely
grouped, with all kinds of fantastic variations
of colour; the predominant colour is olive
green, but this is diversified by waving lines
of red and purple, by seams of white steatite,
or soapstone, and by incrustations of yellow
lichen; the caves and picturesque hollows
have their sides beautifully polished by the
action of the waves, and the beach is strewn
with pebbles of gorgeous hues.

Regarded geologically, serpentine is believed
to have been concerned in some busy changes
in a very remote period of the earth's history.
The parent rock of the Lizard is what geologists
call hornblende, with slate, and mica,
and talc, and other hard minerals, intermixed.
But, serpentine, has evidently been under the
influence, of heat. At one spot the serpentine
seems to shade off into the hornblende slate
in which it is imbedded; at another, the
serpentine has every appearance of having been
thrust up among the hornblende-slate, twisting
and contorting the laminæ adjoining it in
directions which induce geologists to think
that the serpentine had passed between the
laminæ of the hornblende in a state of igneous
fusion; in most localities, however, the indications
are such as would lead to the supposition
that the hornblende-slate at one time formed
a basin into which the serpentine flowed in a
state of fusion. The serpentine was evidently
an interloper, a new-comer, who came in
red-hot haste, and poured out his fulness
upon and among hard quiet cold rocks of
ancient date. Whence the serpentine came,
and how it came, and why it was so hot and
fluid, are mysteries.

Serpentine has had the good fortune to
grow into favour somewhat rapidly. It is one
of the youngest of the fashionable family.