OF THE LAKE DISTRICT. 



ground for belief, a time when England was 

 not an island, but a portion of the Continent, 

 and when, before other and distant terrestrial 

 changes had taken place, not having its shores 

 washed by a warm sea, such as the Grulf-stream, 

 it was subject to such severe winters, that these 

 our valleys, in their length and breadth, were the 

 seat of glaciers, of the existence and action of 

 which we have here everywhere proof, as I shall 

 have pleasure, in the excursions which I hope 

 we shall make together, to point out to you. 



AMICUS. You spoke of the absence of clay 

 in the district, as one of its happy peculiarities' 

 How is that, especially as the rocks of the 

 district are, I understand, chiefly of slate, clay- 

 slate ? 



PISCATOR. Of metamorphic clay-slate; that 

 is, of slate that has been subjected to an indu- 

 rating cause, an action rendering it hard, and 

 little liable to disintegrate, such as that of heat. 

 There is reason to believe that, before the 

 glacier period, there might have been a fiery 

 one, when the effect I allude to was produced. 

 Moreover, owing to the heavy rains, and the 

 little stagnant water in the district, hardly an 

 opportunity is afforded for the accumulation of 



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