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of rounded eminences, cultivated and planted only in their lower 

 portions. Yet forests of well-grown timber most probably once 

 covered these bare slopes, and, as we shall presently see, England's 

 monarchs even followed the chase over them. It is much to be 

 regretted that no attempt is made to restore to the hills that 

 covering of which they have been so long deprived. The benefits 

 derived from the plantation of similar bare slopes have been so 

 great that it is strange the experiment has not been tried here. 

 The lower portions of the Mendip Hills are often of the greatest 

 possible fertility, and immense crops of early potatoes and peas 

 find their Avay hence to the Bristol markets at a time when those 

 valuable commodities are as yet unheard-of elsewhere. 



We must now glance at the cliffs of Cheddar, which, as we 

 have said, overhang a deep defile cut through the very midst of 

 the Mendip range. This pass begins in the village, and it thence 

 takes a north-easterly direction, extending through the hills for 

 about two miles. One of the first objects seen on entering the glen 

 is the remarkable Lion Eock. This is a grassy slope rising about 

 150 feet from the road on the right hand, and crowned by what 

 is apparently the colossal effigy of a recumbent lion carved in the 

 living rock. The likeness is really most extraordinary, and it is 

 at first almost difficult to believe that the hand of man has had 

 nothing to do with its formation.* But a closer inspection shows 

 the eye, the nostril, and the mouth to be formed merely of grass, 

 ivy, and other plants which have taken root on projecting ledges, 

 while the illusion is wholly dispelled on passing farther up the 

 defile and looking back, when the form of the mighty guardian of 

 the pass is found to have disappeared altogether. There are un- 

 fortunately abundant cracks in the limestone rock which thus 

 simulates so wonderfully the lion's huge shape, and ere long much 

 of it will doubtless fall away. 



The approach from the village is extremely pleasing, and that 

 in no small degree from the fact that the transition from plain to 

 valley is exceedingly abrupt. At one moment we are on the most 

 level of ground ; a few steps farther and a sudden turn brings us 

 into a rocky gorge between cliffs and crags that tower up on either 

 side of us. It is like witnessing a dissolving view of some place 

 in Holland, which melts in turn into an Alpine pass. The scenery 

 of the clifi's is of the grandest kind, and it is no exaggeration to 

 say that there are few things in England to be compared with it. 

 It rather reminds one of something in the Tyrol or the Scottish 

 Highlands. Towards the right the rocks are considerably taller 

 than on the opposite side, and the effect produced by the precipi- 



* For the illustration of tlie Lion Rock, we are indebted to the kindness of Mr 

 Bryne of Cheddar, the publisher of Mr Stevens' excellent 'Guide.' 



