“Such are the scenes, where savage grandeur wakes An awful thrill that softens into sighs; Such feelings rouse them by dim Rannoch’s lakes, In dark Glencoe such gloomy raptures rise: Or farther, where, beneath the northern skies, Chides wild Loch-Eribol, his caverns hoar— But, be the minstrel judge, they yield the prize Of desert dignity to that dread shore That sees grim Coolin rise, and hears Coriskin roar.” ENGLAND. PART II. CHAPTER I. ENGLAND—GENERAL SKETCH. Differing as England does in people, manners, language, laws, and institutions from Scotland, a still greater difference will be found to exist in the physical structure, the mineral qualities, the organic remains, and in all the other phenomena of her geological development. In the ascending series of rocks, Scotland furnishes only a few steps of the building—the lower courses of a gigantic pyramid; across the borders, strata upon strata follow each other in regular gradation, until they attain their apex of elevation in the center of the capital. Another distinction exists in the quantity and extent of those rocks which are common to both countries. All the primary, transition, and igneous formations are more abundant in the northern division of the island, constituting nearly three-fourths of its surface, while in the southern division they do not amount to a fiftieth part; but, on the other hand, the secondary and tertiary formations, which in Scotland are scarcely recognized, or only found in patches, form in England about two-thirds of its superficial area. Hence, on English ground, a new interest begins as a totally new series of mineral strata rises into view, and all charged with types and families of creatures of equally new and marvelous organization. The new series of rocks to be described, are termed the Permian, triassic, oolitic, cretaceous, and tertiary systems. Some of these deposits are of vast thickness and extent. They all abound in fossils, some in the greatest profusion, others only in the rarest and most remarkable types. In consequence of these accumulations, England, as compared with her sister kingdom, may be described as the full organic form in bones, muscles, and fleshy appendages, plump and rounded all over, where one sees little of the framework or internal ossification. The great masses are so covered over, the ribs and members are so silted up, that the ridges and hills of the country, save on the outskirts, dwindle into insignificance. Every original depression has been concealed, new increments of matter are everywhere added, layer upon layer superinduced, until the older fabric is nearly obliterated, or only at wide intervals observed to rise above the surface. Scotland exhibits the huge trunk, stripped and laid bare; every yielding thing has been eroded and torn off; and little remains, except the giant skeleton, the lineamentary fragments of the primeval world.