12 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 



Scarcely any part of the world affords so 

 great a variety in so small an area as our own 

 island. Commencing in the south, we have 

 first the blue sea itself, the pebbly beaches, 

 the white chalk cliffs of Kent, the tinted 

 sands of Alurn Bay, the Red Sandstone of 

 Devonshire, Granite and Gneiss in Cornwall : 

 inland we have the chalk Downs and clear 

 streams, the well-wooded weald and the rich 

 hop gardens ; farther westwards the undu- 

 lating gravelly hills, and still farther the 

 granite tors : in the centre of England we 

 have to the east the Norfolk Broads and 

 the Fens ; then the fertile Midlands, the 

 cornfields, rich meadows, and large oxen ; and 

 to the west the Welsh mountains ; farther 

 north the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lancashire 

 hills, the Lakes of Westmoreland ; lastly, the 

 swelling hills, bleak moors, and picturesque 

 castles of Northumberland and Cumberland. 



There are of course far larger rivers, but 

 perhaps none lovelier than 



The crystal Thamis wont to glide 



In silver channel, down along the lee, 1 



1 Spenser. 



