TYPES OF BRITISH SCENERY 79 



governed the nature of the soils and the distribution 

 of vegetation. Chalk, for instance, forms long ridges 

 of grassy and bushless down. Sandy and gravelly 

 tracts are marked by heather and pine-trees. Volcanic 

 rocks often rise into isolated crags with verdant 

 slopes below. Granite lifts itself into mountains and 

 rocky moorlands, with cliffs, corries and ' tors ' and 

 long trails of naked scree. 



For the purposes of the present Lecture, I will 

 arrange the scenery of this country in three leading 

 types : 



I. Lowlands. 



II. Uplands. 

 III. Highlands. 



These types are not always separable from each 

 other by any definite lines of boundary. The low- 

 lands, for example, include ranges of hills, and here 

 and there gradually rise into uplands, which in turn 

 occasionally mount into lofty, rugged ground that 

 may well be called highland. Moreover, each type 

 presents a number of local varieties, dependent on 

 geological structure. Thus the English lowlands differ 

 in many respects from the Scottish, and both from 

 the Irish. 



The arrangement now proposed, though not strictly 

 scientific, is for the proposed discussion convenient. 

 We shall find, I think, that each of the three main 

 types has had a perceptible influence on our literature, 

 and not only so, but that even the local variations of 

 each type have left their impress on our literary 

 history. To treat the subject as fully as it deserves 



