The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-20 00:00:00

282

be instructive. Some critics object to the
introduction of personal matters into a pro-
found scientific work ; and consider it imper-
tinent in Mr. Lewes to tell us what he had for
dinner, how he slept, and how he travelled,
while echinodermata, entomostraca, and ser-
puke with " lovely feathery gills," are awaiting
examination. For our own part, having no
prejudices on these important subjects, we
have read the book simply in the light of a
marine tour described for us by a cheerful but
slightly eccentric gentleman, with a pleasant
knack of composition. Little bits of scenery
peep out here and there through catalogues of
crustacea, like flowers in a cleft of rock. The
following passage is redolent of the hash sea-
breeze—the locality is one of the Scilly
Islands :

The promontory on which stands Star Castle offered a
fine breezy walk over downs resplendent with golden furze,
and suffered thb eye to take the widest sweep. How tho-
roughly I enjoyed that walk ! The downs were so brilliant
that one could sympathise with the enthusiasm of Linnaeus
on his arrival in England, and his tirat sight of furze, as he
flung himself on his knees, and thanked God for having
made anything so beautiful. The downs were all aflame
with their golden light. Ever and anon a rabbit atarted
across the path, or the timid deer were seen emerging
from the clumps of golden bush. A glance at the many
reefs and creeks along the wavy shores raised expectation
tiptoe, forcing hope into certainty of treasures abounding.
Whatever drawbacks Scilly might possibly have in store,
this at least was indubitable—the hunting would be good.
Not that any shadow of a drawback darkened the horizon;
for what could the heart desire more? Here was a little
archipelago, such as Greek heroes might have lived in—
bold, rugged, picturesque—secure from all the assaults
of idle watering-place frequenters—lovely to the eye,
fall of promise to the mind—health in every breeze.
Ithaca was visibly opposite. Homer's cadences were
sweetly audible
Much arable land there is not, but an occasional upland
smiles prosperity at you ; and in the sheltered nooks of
Holy Vale you are startled with the appearance of what
almost looks like a tree. In the other parts of the island
no tree is discoverable—without a lens. The lanes are

formed of stone hedges, as in Devonshire and Cornwall ;
but these hedges are not, at this early season, prodigal of
ferns and wildflowers as they will he soon. Yet they have
already abuntint ornament. On the summit grows the
furze, with its profuse bunches of gold; from the crevices
peep the stonecrop, the leaves of the foxglove, pennywort,
and a multitude of other wall-loving plants, dear to my eye,
though unknown by nacre; already the dog-violet and
celandine are gay with colour, and the lichens tint the
stone with delicate pale greys or greens, deep orange, or
bright gold.
The grouping of the islands is very picturesque, forming
several good sounds, where vessels of great tonnage find
secure anchorage, and give a pleasant aspect to the scene.
Standing on any of the eminences, we raze down upon the
deep blue of the bays, the white sweep of sands, and rugged
reefs, and purple masses of the opposite shores; the plaint
of the sea-gull, floating overhead, being almost the only
sound audible, except the never-ending s3mphony of the
waters. As we ramble round the coast, the successive
scenes of the unfolding panorama make us long to have the
artist's power of transferring them to our sketch-book. The
rocks are entirely of granite ; and the huge waveworn
boulders, sudden pillars and piles of broad ledges into
which they have been disrupted, give endless variety to
their forms.

Here is another similar bit from the paper on
Jersey, though the latter half of the extract is
objectionable:—

The Americans say that England looks like a large gar-
den. What England is to America, that is Jersey to
England. Even the high-roads have the aspect of drives
through a gentleman's grounds, rather than of noisy tho-
roughfares ; and the byroads and lanes are perfect pictures
of embowered quiet and green seclusion. There are few
more delightful places to ramble in. Every turn opens on
some exquisite valley or wooded hill, through the cool
shades and glinting lights of which the summer wanderer
is tempted to stray, or to ie.dine in the long grass, and lan-
gurously listen to the multitudinous music of the birds and
insects above and around. Observe, I say nothing of the
sea, and the succession of bays on the coast ; for what can
be said at all commensurate with that subject? Even the
poets, who not only contrive to say the finest things about
Nature, but also teach us how to feel the finest tremors of
delight when brought face to face with her, have very im-
perfectly spoken of the sea. Homer is lauded for having
called it ' wine-faced." He probably meant some ivy-
green potation, since " wine-faced " is the epithet by
which Sophocles characterises the ivy. In any case his
epithet is only an epithet, and the sea is of all colours, as
it is of all forms and moods. Doubts also may be raised
respecting the "giggling" which lEschylus, in a terribly
thumbed passage, attributes to the sea. The " innumerable
laughter of the waves of the sea," one is apt to interpret as
a giggle ; an expression not only unbefitting the sea, but
unworthy of the occasion. Neptune was not mocking the
agony of Prometheus with a schoolgirl's incontinence. He
was too gland and fluent for such weakness. In momenta
of serenest summer-calm he ma) be said to smile; in
moments of mere leaping mirth ho may be said to laugh ;
but to imagine him distorting his countenance by innu-
merable giggles, would he at all times intolerable, and at
such a time perfectly indefensible.

The reference to Sophocles is a little bit of
superfluous pedantry on the author's part.