the higher traits that go to redeem our race. That their original
rough virtues were polished and refined by their beautiful environment
in the land that became their heritage few can doubt. That their
gradual absorption and amalgamation with the other races who fought
them for the possession of this "dear, dear land" has resulted in the
evolution of a people with a great and wonderful destiny is manifest
to the world, and is a factor in the future of mankind at which we can
but dimly guess.

[Illustration: THE DORSET COAST--MUPE BAY.]

The scenery of Inner Wessex is as varied as the materials that go to
make it up, from the bare rolling chalk downs of Salisbury Plain to
the abrupt and imposing hills around the Vale of Blackmore. To most
who travel in search of the picturesque and the beautiful, the Dorset
coast and the country immediately in the rear, will make the greatest
appeal. The line of undulating cliffs, often towering in bold,
impressive shapes, that commences almost as soon as Dorset is entered
and continues without a dull mile to the eastern extremity of
Weymouth, is to some minds the finest stretch of England's shore
outside Cornwall, a county that depends entirely on its coast line for
its claim to beauty. To some eyes, indeed, the exquisite and varied
colouring of the Dorset cliffs is more satisfying than that of the
dour and dark rocks of Tintagel and the Land's End. And if Wessex
cannot boast the sustained grandeur of the stern face that England
turns to the Atlantic waves, the romantic arch of Durdle Door, the
majestic hill-cliff that rises above the green cleft of Arish Mel, and
the sombre precipices of St. Aldhelm's, with the smiling loveliness of
the Wessex lanes and hamlets behind them, will be sufficient
recompense.