INTRODUCTION. 51 
to be nothing else than so much space, filled with young 
shrimps, in the act of bounding into the air, from the 
shallow margin of the water, or from the wet sand. If any 
‘motion of a mute animal could express delight, it was this: 
if they had meant to make signs of their happiness, they 
could not have done it more intelligibly. Suppose then, 
what I have no doubt of, each individual of this number 
to be in a state of positive enjoyment, what a sum, collec- 
tively, of gratification and pleasure have we here, before our 
view !” 
In a delightful excursion which I greatly enjoyed many 
years ago in the yacht of Mr. Smith of J ordanhills, along 
with that great and good and most loveable man, the late 
Dr. Chalmers, who was so alive to the beauties of nature, I 
remember that looking around on a grand and beautiful 
scene at the junction of Loch Long and Loch-goil, he said, 
with deep emotion, “ How wonderful that the Lord should 
make this sinful world so exceedingly beautiful!” I think 
it must have been the feeling that they were so worthy of 
being admired, that led our forefathers to people many beau- 
tiful secluded spots with fairies, as the ancient Greeks and 
Romans made their Dryads the inmates of the woods, and 
their Naiads, of the glens and streams. Well do I remember, 
