40 GLAUCUS; OR, 
contempt to be now ill-founded. But still, there 
: are those who regard it as a mere amusement, and 
that as a somewhat effeminate one; and think that 
it can at best help to while away a leisure hour 
harmlessly, and perhaps usefully, as a substitute for 
coarser sports, or for the reading of novels. Those, 
however, who have followed it out, especially on the 
sea-shore, know better. They can tell from expe- 
rience, that over and above its accessory charms of 
pure sea-breezes, and wild rambles by cliff and loch, 
the study itself has had a weighty moral effect upon 
their hearts and spirits. There are those who can 
well understand how the good and wise John Ellis, 
amid all his philanthropic labours for the good of 
the West Indies, while he was spending his intellect 
and fortune in introducing into our tropic settle- 
ments the bread-fruit, the mangosteen, and every 
plant and seed which he hoped might be useful for 
medicine, agriculture, and commerce, could yet feel 
himself justified in devoting large portions of his 
ever well-spent time to the fighting the battle of 
the corallines against Parsons and the rest, and even 
