ASPECTS OF THE SEA. 29 



all help and all pity, unseen except of Heaven, with no 

 messenger of its agony to earth, except this log which 

 floats so buoyantly on the tide ? We may weave some 

 such tragic story, as we idly w^atch the fluctuating 

 advance of the dark log ; but whatever we weave, the 

 story will not be wholly tragic, for the beauty and 

 serenity of the scene are sure to assert their influences. 

 mighty and unfathomable sea I terrible familiar ! 

 grand and mysterious passion ! In thy gentleness 

 thou art terrible, when sleep smiles on thy quiet-heav- 

 ing breast ; in thy wrath and thunder thou art beauti- 

 ful ! By the light of rising or of setting suns, in grey 

 dawn or garish day, in twilight or in sullen storms of 

 darkness, ever and everywhere beautiful ; the poets 

 have sung of thee, the painters have painted thee ; but 

 neither the song of the poet, nor the cunning of the 

 painter's hand, has caught more than faint reflexes of 

 thy incommunicable grandeur, thy loveliness inexhaust- 

 ible ! 



Durins: this dioression our cio:ars have come to an 

 end, and the tide has almost cut off" our retreat. "We 

 clutch up our baskets, and with belated strides hasten 

 over ridges out of harm's way. Our return home 

 brings us on to the Capstone Parade, where our appear- 

 ance must of course stimulate quizzing. If that young- 

 lady with the sketch-book, who saw us going out, made 

 private reflections on the imj)erfect elegance of our cos- 

 tume, I leave you to judge of the impression we pro- 

 duce on the mind of that haughty " swell '' with a 

 telescope, and a mustache of recent growth. He has 



