Xi 
SONNET, 
Written at Houghton Chalk-pit, Sussex, on a visit with the Marquis of Northamp- 
ton, Professor Owen, and John Edward Gray, Esq., June 15th, 1849. 
Strangers or friends, who may in distant years 
Be led by love of Nature to the spot 
Where Houghton’s cliff in awful grandeur rears 
Its chalky head ; once seen—and ne’er forgot. 
There Time has cast his checker’d mantle round 
Th’ impending rocks, tinting with various hues 
The scene: and rarest, sweetest flowers are found 
Where Arun’s stream its silent course pursues. 
Or if by Science led you should behold 
This ancient tomb of Lizards, Birds and Fish, 
Such spoils, with smaller forms of every mould, 
Their flinty shroud removed, will meet your wish. 
These lines, to mark a happy day, were writ, 
With wisdom’s stores enrich’d, and keen Northampton’s wit. 
