OCTOBER. 465 



some most luxuriant plants of the Iris fcetidissima in 

 seed, which seems to delight in a maritime locality, 

 and I have scarcely seen it more abundant than here 

 and in the Isle of Wight. I now toiled to the sum- 

 mit of the cliffs, and sitting down at my ease, while 

 munching some biscuits, gazed delighted on the lovely 

 expanse of ocean stretched before me. On the right, 

 with a spread of pebbly beach between, was the pretty 

 sequestered village of Salterton, beyond which a ma- 

 jestic range of red cliffs extended in a semi-circular 

 direction far away, cliff beyond cliff receding in length- 

 ened succession, till the far point of Berry Head, in 

 Torbay, dimly met the view. Above Salterton was a 

 lovely wooded inland landscape, bounded by hills and 

 groves, and the blue outline of the heights of Dart- 

 moor in the far distance. To the left, cliffs of a still 

 sublimer character presented themselves, loftier and 

 grander, massive, towering, and threatening ; beyond 

 which, in far perspective, the white cliffs and chalky 

 ranges of the coast of Dorset glittered in the declining 

 rays of the sun. But, in front, stretched that world 

 of wonders in itself the Ocean ! not, indeed, in its 

 wild, awful, tempestuous character but fair, smooth, 

 and calm, as when it tempted the shepherd in the 

 fable, to sell his flocks, equip the winged vessel, and 

 traffic in merchandize. So fair, so beautiful it seemed, 

 spreading in its loveliness to the verge of the horizon, 

 while not a vagrant sail disturbed the solemn solitude! 

 At intervals, only, a Cormorant would wing along 

 with spreading pinions close to the water, till his 

 dark form was lost behind the intervening cliff. I 

 approached close to the verge, but cautiously, and 

 looked down ; it was too awful to venture the view 



2 H 



