VI. PREFACE. 



a book of mere zoology of any sort. I venture to ask 

 your companionship, courteous Reader, in my Rambles 

 over field and do^vn in the fresh dewy morning ; I ask 

 you to listen with me to the carol of the lark, and the hum 

 of the wild bee ; I ask you to stand with me at the edge 

 of the precipice and mark the glories of the setting sun ; 

 to watch with me the mantling tide as it rolls inward, and 

 roars among the hollow caves ; I ask you to share with 

 me the delightful emotions Vv^hich the contemplation of 

 unbounded beauty and beneficence ever calls up in the 

 cultivated mind. 



Hence I have not scrupled to sketch pen-pictures of the 

 lovely and romantic scenery with which both the coasts 

 of Devon abound ; and to press into my service personal 

 narrative, local anecdote, and traditionary legend ; and, in 

 short, any and every thing, that, having conveyed pleasure 

 and interest to myself, I thought might entertain and 

 please my reader. It is not the least of the advantages 

 of the study of natural history, that it strengthens in us 

 "the habit of wishing to discover the good and the beau- 

 tiful in all that meet and surround us." 



If it should be objected that — to treat of the facts which 

 science reveals to us, in any other manner than that tech- 

 nical measured style, which aims not at conveying any 

 pleasurable emotions beyond the mere acquisition of know- 

 ledge, and is therefore satisfied with being coldly correct, 

 — is to degrade science below its proper dignity, I would 

 modestly reply that I think otherwise. That the increase 

 of knowledge is in itself a pleasure to a healthy mind is 

 surely true ; but is there not in our hearts a chord that 

 thrills in response to the beautiful, the joyous, the perfect, 

 in Nature ? I aim to convey to my reader, to reflect, as it 

 were, the complacency which is produced in my own 

 mind by the contemplation of the excellence impressed on 

 everything which God has created. 



