142 STADDON HEIGHTS. 



and in an insinuating kind of whisper cried, " Hush ! 

 Honey dear, Hush ! don't say a word about it and Fit 

 tell you where you' II Jind another." Pat's appearance, 

 and the circumstance altogether operated so powerfully 

 that the iron features of the Duke relaxed into a smile, 

 and then expanded in a roar of laughter ; when clapping- 

 spurs to his charger he was soon out of sight, leaving 

 the Connaught Boy in quiet posession of his hard earn- 

 ed booty. Pat's amazement may be well conceived 

 when an orderly Dragoon told him by whom he had 



been accosted. 



jj * * # p * # 



LOCAL SCENERY, No. II. 



STADDON HEIGHTS.* 



The Sea 



With all its waters hushed into repose, 

 Of calmest seeming, lies in rest beneath ; 

 Reflecting in the mirror of its waves 

 The sunset glories of a matchless sky, 

 Effulgent with the sheen prismatic tints 

 Of ruby, gold and amethystine clouds, 

 Gorgeously piled and pillared into forms 

 More splendid than Imagination's scenes 

 Of rarest beauty Thus the lingering day 

 Assumes a fascination in her charms 

 More lovely than the sweetness of the morn, 

 Or the still radiance of the glowing noon, 

 When, bidding farewell to the darkening earth 

 She seeks the portals of the golden west, 

 And yields herself to night's encircling arms. 



Far far beneath, where the time beaten cliff 

 Rises abrupt, and o'er the shining flood 

 Hangs perpendicular, as if 'twould fall 

 In ruin on its own fair image there ; 



* An eminence on the eastern side of Plymouth Sound. 



