ON THE COAST OF AEEAN 15 



the fertile plain, with romantic hills on either 

 side. Of all the places we pass, Appleby, with 

 its fine church, its grey clustering houses, and 

 its thick woods, tempts me most to linger, and 

 I make a mental note ' come and stay at 

 Appleby upon the first available opportunity.' 

 At Carlisle we catch a glimpse of Skiddaw ; 

 and, after passing Dumfries, we plunge again 

 into a romantic country, like that which we 

 have left on the other side of the Solway. The 

 landscapes are those of the Scottish Ballads. 

 They are romantic, as I have just said. But 

 romantic is a vague word. I mean by it, how- 

 ever, a country not dependent for its effect 

 either upon cultivated richness or upon moun- 

 tain sternness. A country of glens, and crags, 

 and rivers, and pastoral sweetness, whose 

 eminences are hills rather than mountains. I 

 was reminded of this by passing a station 

 bearing the name of Kirkconnel. We were not 

 quite sure that these were the real Braes of 



