Description of the Yarmouth Coast audits Plants. [April I^ 



Btinias eakile, sca-rockct, in many 

 places approaciics nearest to the water, 

 striking its fibrous roots into tlie loose 

 sand, and harbouring Ijetvvecn the stones. 

 Its purplish (lowers, resembling those 

 of the small kind of stock, enliven the 

 bare spot on which it grows. 



Scdsohi kali, prickly glasswort, is iiere 

 but sparingly found, accompanying the 

 former. It giows more plentifully on 

 the banks of llie river Yarc, near its 

 nioiilli. 



Arundo armaria, sca-recd grass or 

 marrum, grows somewhat highfr, in 

 scattered tults, forming little hillocks of 

 sand. It is this projicrty of binding the 

 sand by its deep-matted roots, which 

 renders it so valuable on the coasts of 

 Eui^land and Holland, which arc pro- 

 tected from the ocean by ranges of sand- 

 hills. At Caister, two miles north of 

 Yarmouth, begins a line of these hills, 

 of considerable height, on which this 

 grass grows abimdanlly. 



Arenaria peploides, sea-chick weed, 

 remarkable for the depth and length to 

 which it runs its roots, is found first 

 sparingly, but afterwards in such plenty, 

 that its broad stiff leaves make the 

 chief verdure of the sandy beach near 

 its junction with the turf of the common. 



Eriins;iitm maritiimtm, cryngo or sea- 

 holly. This singular and beautiful plant 

 grows in an irregular scattered manner 

 upon the beach, and also strays higher 

 on the common where it is most naked 

 and sand\'. 



Carex arenaria, sea-carex. This, 

 where it begins, forms a regular line, at 

 an equal distance from the sea, first 

 tiiiuly covering the sand, but growing 

 thicker and thicker, as one proceeds 

 higher. Its horizontal creeping roots 

 and frequent shoots bind the sand in 

 the manner of the reed-grass. 



Convolvulus soldanella, sea-bindweed, 

 or Scottish scurvy grass, grows most 

 plentifully at the eilge of the junction of 

 the beach with the common, or upon 

 the barest spots of the latter, laying its 

 large and beautiful llowers upon the 

 naked sand. It is really surprising to 

 see so fine a flower growing abunilantly 

 upon so exposed and barren a soil. 



Ononis repens, creeping restharrow. 

 This grows thinly on the beach, but 

 copiously on the sandy parts of the com- 

 mon, running its strong roots very far 

 into tlie loose soil. 



Galium verum, ladies bed-straw. This 

 appears thin and scattered about the 

 junction of the beach with the common; 

 but afterwards becomes so plentiful as 



to 



214 



and for the gold that perisheth. Those 

 who possess an enlightened and culti- 

 vated taste, may be said to be the only 

 indej/endent beings in the world. A 

 necessary consequence is, that their de- 

 sires are simple, and generally easily 

 gratified ; and hence, they arc in a great 

 measure above the smiles or the frowns 

 of fortune. All nature wears a smiling 

 appearance to tiiom. Ti'.ey possess 

 within themselves " a city of refuge," 

 an asylum to which they can always 

 retire when forsaken by the world, or 

 even amidst those moral and political 

 convulsions which may be passing 

 around. 



Thus have I aftemi)(ed to give a 

 short and imperfect account of the 

 inerifs and defects of this celebrated and 

 classical poem. Its defects are but as 

 dust in the balance. The beautiful 

 passages are so many, that there is oidy 

 diflieulty in selecting. I cannot sufli- 

 ciently express the pleasnre which the 

 jjcrusal of it has alTordcd me; and, I 

 have little hesitation in saying, that, as 

 long as taste and the fine arts retain 

 their legitiniate and holy empire over 

 the minds of men, so long will the 

 " Pleasures of tlie Imagination" con- 

 nuc to be read and admired. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



THE following manuscript account 

 of the coast of Norfolk, and its 

 rare plants, a|)pcarsinteresti;ig, and may 

 amuse your botanical rcailers: I found 

 it among my pajjcrs, snd am ignorant 

 of the author; but it has lain some 

 time in my portfolio. EotamcI'S. 



Description of the Yannonth Coast, and 

 its Plar.ts. 

 The sea-coast of Yarmouth, for about 

 tno miles each way, is nearly a level 

 common, elevated between two and 

 three yards above high-water mark. 

 From the verdart edge of this common 

 to the sea, is a gentle slope, composed 

 of a deep fine sand, intermijied with 

 great quantities of loose p-bbles, called 

 shingle. As the tides arc here uncom- 

 monly low, — the highest not rising six 

 feet, — the distance from high to low wa- 

 ter mark is but a few jards. From high 

 water to the turf of the common is 

 somewiiat farther ; and it is this appa- 

 rently desert slip of ground to which 

 ihe present botanical observations are 

 confined. The beach to the southward 

 of the town is principally our field, as 

 being the most regularly formed. 



