ENGLISHMEN ON THE SEA. 209 



victuals, which they had from England or Ireland ; and 

 if they killed a bullock here, it was so seldom, that in 

 one of the best houses in the islands they have kept 

 l^art of a bullock killed in September to roast for their 

 Christmas dinner." He adds, that in his time mutton 

 was abundant enouo'h, but beef unattainable. 



SjDiritual-minded persons, indifferent to mutton, may 

 disreo-ard this carnal inconvenience, and take refuo-e in 

 the more ideal elements of picturesqueness, solitude, 

 and simplicity. I cannot say that the inconvenience 

 weighed heavily in the scale against the charms of 

 Scilly ; the more so, as an enlarged experience proved 

 the case not to be quite so bad as it seemed at first. 

 After all, I came not here for sumptuous larders, but 

 for zooloo'ical delio'hts ; and those were not wantino-. 

 Was not the mere aspect of the sea a banquet ? Xeno- 

 phon tells us that, when the Ten Thousand saw the sea 

 again, they shouted. No wonder. After their weary 

 eyes had wandered forlorn over weary parasangs of flat 

 earth, and that earth an enemy's, wistfully yearning 

 for the gleams of the old familiar blue, they came upon 

 it at last, and- the heart-shaking sight was saluted by 

 a shout still more heart-shaking. At the first flash 

 of it there must have been a general hush, an univer- 

 sal catching of the breath, and the next moment, like 

 thunder leaping from hill to hill, the loosened burst of 

 gladness ran along the ranks, reverberating from com- 

 pany to company, swelling into a mighty symphony of 

 rejoicing. What a sight, and what a sound ! There 

 was more than safety in that blue expanse, there was 







