Although the surface of England is of a diversified character, it does not contain any elevated mountain ranges. Westmoreland, indeed, and part of Northumberland, Cumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, are mountainous; but most of the other counties of England present rather a series of picturesque eminences, than of elevated ridges or peaks; and some of the eastern counties are remarkable for their level surface. This absence of high land, added to its insular situation, renders the climate of the southern part of the island particularly mild. The highest summits in England scarcely exceed 3,000 feet above the sea. The most elevated is The dark brow of the mighty Helvelyn, Lakes and mountains beneath gleaming misty and wide; Wales is a mountainous country in all its parts, and contains some summits of greater elevation than any in England, though none approaching the limits of perpetual snow; Snowdon, which is the most elevated, not exceeding 3,571 feet above the level of the sea. The mineral treasures of England and Wales are very great. “Coal, one of the most useful of all the productions of the earth which it has pleased the Almighty to provide for the use of man," is remarkably abundant in our own favoured isle, especially in the western and northern districts, to which, indeed, the true coal formation is nearly confined. Iron, the mineral of greatest importance next to coal, abounds in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and Wales; it also occurs, in conjunction with coal, in the Forest of Dean, where it is worked to a considerable amount; we likewise meet with this valuable mineral in Surrey and Sussex; and though in smaller quantities, in various other localities. Tin is found in Cornwall, and part of Devonshire. These counties have for ages been celebrated for their supply of this rare and peculiar metal, with which it is even supposed that they furnished ancient Tyre. Copper is found in Cornwall, Devonshire, Staffordshire, and Westmoreland, and also in Anglesea, and other parts of Wales. Lead occurs in Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Devonshire. Silver occurs, both native and in combination with galena, or sulphuret of lead, in Devonshire, yielding thirty-five ounces in the ton; and native silver is also met with in Anglesea. Native gold is found in the refuse of a mine at North Molton, in Devonshire; and the yellow copper of Gold Scoop mine, near Keswick, is said to contain much gold. Garnets occur near the latter locality; and also, as well as tourmaline, in Devonshire. The most esteemed graphite, or plumbago, in Europe, is obtained from a mine near Seathwaite, in Borrowdale. Petroleum, asphaltum, and elastic mineral pitch, occur in Shropshire and Derbyshire. The former rises to the surface in a bitumen-spring at Coalport; and the latter, called also mineral caoutchouc, from the property it possesses of effacing lead-pencil, is found in the lead-mine at Odin, in Mamtor. The finest alabaster in the kingdom occurs on the shores of the Bristol Channel, where, between Watchet and Minehead, vast rocks of this elegant substance have been met with. These beautiful cliffs were, however, almost demolished by the severe storms of 1836. Salt, that almost indispensable necessary of life, is found in great abundance in this island. The extensive deposit at Northwich, in Cheshire, occurs in beds sixty feet in thickness; and is supposed to be two miles in length, and about three-quarters of a mile in breadth. The annual produce of the Cheshire salt-mines is estimated at fifteen millions of bushels. Scotland, in its general outline, consists of two perfectly distinct parts, the Highlands and the Lowlands. The Lowlands comprehend the whole country south of the Friths of Forth and Clyde, likewise extending to the north of the Forth on the eastern coast, through the counties of Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, and Aberdeen, to the borders of the Moray Frith, which, notwithstanding its higher latitude, yet, from its sheltered situation, enjoys as mild a climate as any part of Scotland. A considerable portion of the Lowlands is very hilly, but none of the summits exceed the height of 3,000 feet above the sea. The most remarkable are the "Cheviots grey," celebrated in the annals of border warfare. Immediately north of the Clyde, the Highland ranges begin to rise. This region "stern and wild," consists wholly of continuous ranges of lofty mountains, which, on their southern borders, leave between them some of the fine broad valleys called straths; but in the interior, they are only intersected by the rocky intervals, called glens. One of the most remarkable of these is Glen Coe, which, in terrific grandeur, perhaps, surpasses every other spot in Great Britain. The bold and broken forms of the surrounding mountains, the abrupt and pointed rocks, and black precipices, all conspire to give it a gloomy but picturesque character, whilst, at the bottom of the glen, flows the little river Coe, the Conan of Ossian. The mountains of Scotland, especially the great Grampian barrier, which extends across the counties of Perth and Argyle, are so continuous, that they can only be entered by formidable passes. Several of the summits approach the altitude of 4,000 feet, and some exceed that elevation. The most lofty is Ben Macdui, which attains the height of 4,418 feet above the sea level. Ben Nevis is about sixty feet lower, Other summits, of nearly equal elevation, also occur |