142 AUGUST. 



churchyards, and then past the dockyards, we shall 

 soon enter Charlton, on the left hand side of which 

 clean little village we shall see the celebrated sand pit 

 and its hanging wood. Having now reached our desti- 

 nation, let us say a little respecting its peculiarities. 

 Charlton Pit is a place which will try the patience ol 

 the tyro intent on adding to the number of the beau- 

 tiful objects of which he is an admirer; for if the day 

 be a little windy, farewell to all hopes of using the net 

 within its precincts, for turn which way he will, and 

 accommodate himself how he may to the different points 

 of the compass, the wind will, with a strange perver- 

 sity, ferret him out, and at last compel him to give it 

 up in despair, unless he be made of sterner stuff than 

 most mortals, or determines to assert in his own person 

 the truth of the remark which has been applied to 

 Englishmen of "never knowing when they are beaten." 

 Or if he escape the persecution of the wind, another 

 torment awaits him in the shape of the boys of the 

 neighbourhood, who somehow seem to have an in- 

 stinctive knowledge of a collector, for no sooner does 

 one arrive in the neighbourhood than he unwittingly 

 finds himself the centre of attraction to some half- 

 dozen of these any thing-but-to-be- desired assistants, 

 who, as soon as he commences operations, mar the 

 serenity of his temper by causing him to lose the first 

 insect he attempts to catch in their anxiety to "see 

 what the gen'Pmans (got ?)." 



But, however, Charlton is a good locality for many 

 things. The soil is covered with a good growth of 

 Artemisia, thistles, ragwort, broom, brambles, &c, 

 together with clumps of whitethorn, furze and sloe, 



