51 



might even be led to echo the celebrated exclamation of George IV., in reference 

 to the lovely district which bounded the western horizon of their view : — " By 

 Jove, this is a land worth fighting for." 



Passing over the ripple like ridges of Eastnor, and the white towers of the 

 castle, mirrored in the quiet lake, the eye ranged over the whole county of Here- 

 ford, with parts of Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Breconshire, and 

 Monmouthshire. From the high table-land of the Clee Hills on the north, to the 

 Blorenge and the Scyrydd-fawr on the south, and far west over the pretty town 

 of Ledbury, nestled in foliage, the isolated hill of Shucknall, the blended summits 

 of Credenhill and Lady Lift, to the lofty Radnor Forest, the two peaks of the 

 Gadr, and the cone of the Pen-y-val, the beautiful land lay smiling in the summer 

 sunlight. Turning eastward, the high rim of the Woolliope basin led the eye to 

 the lofty enclosing range of Dean Forest, to May Hill with its diadem of trees, 

 to Robin Hood's Hill, the "fair city" of Gloucester, the Cotteswolds, and the 

 broad out-lying mass of Bredon Hill. The vale of the Severn, studded with 

 village spires and towers, as far north as Worcester, lay spread out like a map, 

 while far in the dim distance, the Lickey Hills bounded the view with a 

 cloud-like mass. 



To the eye of the geologist, the scene was suggestive almost beyond descrip- 

 tion. At one sweep, the eye passed down a long vista of distinct creations ; the 

 physical history of myriads of ages lay unrolled, as it were, before him. The 

 grandeur of the conceptions thus suggested, blended with the picturesque history 

 of the scene, give to the view from Malvern an almost unique interest. It has, 

 however, another and a hardly less potent attraction to tlie geological student : 

 Malvern is classic ground. By painful and long pursued investigation, here 

 Murchison gradually mastered the mysteries of the Silurian system ; and half the 

 interest of his colos.sal work rests upon discoveries made at the western base of 

 the Malvern ridge. After enjoying the view for a short time, the party were 

 gratified by a very clear and beautifully delivered 



LECTURE BY MR. STRICKLAND 



on the geology of the scene presented to their gaze. Mr. Strickland began by 

 describing the nature of the range of hills upon which they were then assembled, 

 remarking that it is composed by a mass of syenite, a rock of igneous origin, 

 which had been forced up from beneath at a ver}' early period of geological 

 history, subsequent to the formation of the strata deposited on its western side, 

 but long anterior to the time when the eastern strata were formed. In the 

 syenite, fragments of gneiss and mica schist are found, and the whole substance 

 of the rock seems to be composed of fragments of older rocks in a partially fused 

 state. The sandstones, shales, and limestones, which He obliquely against the 

 syenite on its western side, do not seem to have been altered by contact with it, 

 although in various cases the edges are in close approximation, hence he inferred 

 that the mass was forced upward after having cooled ; while the regular, almost 

 horizontal, deposition of the rocks on the eastern side proves that the elevation 



