286 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



the sea. The " innumerable laughter of the waves of 

 the sea," one is apt to interpret as a giggle — an expres- 

 sion not only unbefitting the sea, but unworthy of the 

 occasion. Neptune was not mocking the agony of 

 Prometheus with a school-girl's incontinence. He was 

 too gTand and fluent for such weakness. In moments 

 of serenest summer-calm he may be said to smile ; in 

 moments of more leaping mirth he may be said to 

 laugh ; but to imagine him distorting his countenance 

 by innumerable giggles, would be at ah. times intoler- 

 able, and at such a time perfectly indefensible. 



On the sea, therefore, allow me to be silent. On the 

 great attractions of Jersey for the naturalist one word 

 will suffice : there is no such spot in England for marine 

 zoology. Besides all these charms, it had other charms 

 in my eyes. Memory consecrated the ground. Eight- 

 and-twenty years ago I was at school here. Changed 

 as the aspect of St Heliers necessarily is, the few spots 

 still recognisable had a pecuhar fascination for me. The 

 Royal Square seemed to have shrunk to a third of its 

 old dimensions, but with what strange sensations I first 

 re-entered it ! The Theatre had by no means the ma- 

 gical and imposing aspect which it then wore, when it 

 seemed the centre of perfect bliss. Its yellow playbiUs 

 no longer thrilled me, although memory wandered back 

 to those happy nights when enchanting comedy and 

 tearful tragedy were ushered in by the overtures to 

 '' Tancredi," or '' Semiramide " (the only two which 

 the orchestra ever played), and when ponderous light 

 comedians in cashmere tights, or powerful tragedians 



