The British Isles... is a country to visit!
This Royal throne of Kings, this sceptured isle,
This Earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war.
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver seat,
Which serves it in the office of the wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this Earth, this England!
In this way W. Shakespeare described his mother-land in his tragedy "Richard II". So you see, that Britain is a strong sea-power, the mother of English, which history has shaped by the sea.
Today Britain is a magnet for tourists. It attracts millions of people each year. Being the country of exciting history, Britain is a real treasure-house for those who are keen on it.
Stone Hange is one of the places of interest. It's easy to imagine the early inhabitants of Britain, when admiring Stone Hange. When you look at roughly shaped huge slabs and columns and think that this monument was made 4 thousand years ago in Bronze Age, it gives you the creeps. In Britain every stone breathes history. And visiting Scotland, the land of heather, we can't but remember the Picts. They were the Duarfish people, as R. Luis Stevenson called them and we remember their bloody struggle with another celtic tribe - the Scots. And no doubt a true lover of history will never miss visiting Hadrian's Wall. The Wall, which stretches almost along the boarder between Scotland and England still arouses hatred and dispute.
When you get tired of ancient times, you'd better go to the north of England. There you can visit such a beautiful place as Lake District. There are a lot of beautiful lakes with green, wooded or grassy shores and gray mountains all around. The breath-taking beauty of the place makes the view unforgetable. Impressed by these parts, the great English poet W. Wordsworth spent there some time writing his best romantic and lyrical poems, such as for example "The
I wandered lonely as a cloud,
That floats high over vales and hills,
And all at once I saw a crowd -
A host of golden daffodils.
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze,
Continious as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way
They stretched in never-ending line
Alone the margin of a bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee.
A poet couldn't but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed and gazed, but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood
They flashed upon that inward eye,
Which is the bless of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
