A SUMMER-CLAD HEATH 177 



pattern of silver-bright heath -galium, yellow tor- 

 mentil, and tangle of the coral-pink lesser dodder; 

 while in springtime, before the heath awakened, little 

 milk-worts peeped about here under the ling, and pale 

 violets rose singly in sheltered corners, and dog-violets 

 shone in friendly clusters. Through the heather, like 

 a haze, brushing the mellow warmth of mingled tints 

 with light, rise dead grasses that make a play of bright- 

 ness over the heath, where the wind bends them and 

 the sunshine touches their polished stems ; while the 

 huge masses of the tors also answer the sun, and for 

 his warmth return a display of Nature's heraldries, 

 pricked out upon the planes of the granite in ochre 

 and chrome, in silver, ebony, and orange emblazon- 

 ments, where the lichen folk spread their quick, har- 

 monious hues. 



And upon these foundations of balanced light and 

 contrasted shadow the eye may dwell not vainly, for 

 the vision \vas planned at primal chaos ; the shape 

 and fashion of it were hid in the wombs of volcanoes, 

 under the icecaps of old those glacial avalanches, 

 harder than the granite itself that played their part 

 and left the mark of their terrific passing for ever. 

 Time drew the picture spread here; countless sun- 

 rises and sunsets went to paint these splendours and 

 tone these misty hills; wind and rain, hail and storm, 

 mingled the colours ; the chisel of the lightning 

 fashioned in one stroke of fire many among the 

 granite towers and turrets of the land. 



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