154 REVIEWS, [M^Vy 



adequate sample of the stock he had for disposal, but it might 

 have been a fair specimen of the material of which the house 

 was built. We have no room for samples of the ware here re- 

 commended, and, even if we had ample space for quotations, 

 none of the quotable passages would suit our pages. 



Our readers are assured that the work has been tried on the 

 crede experto principle, and it is confidently asserted that the 

 buyer will not be disappointed when he either sits down to its 

 perusal, or when, on his walks about this lovely tract, he takes 

 it out of his pocket and dips iuto it while he may be resting his 

 tired limbs. We would not commend a useless book ; but, as 

 " seeing is believing/' let those who wish to know the exuberancy 

 of this portion of the South of England judge for themselves. 

 Here they will meet with accounts of the fowls of the air, the 

 fishes of the sea and of the fresh-water streams and ponds, the 

 reptiles, the insects, the plants of the land, and the vegetable 

 and animal produce of the sea and rivers. 



Our journal is botanical ; but if it were ornithological, or 

 even entomological, many interesting extracts might be taken 

 from Mrs. Merritield's work. The story of the Cornish baronet 

 who danced a joas seul to the music of his own terrific screams 

 among a dozen lobsters, crabs, and crawfish, disenthralled, in 

 the dead of night, from the hampers in which they were stowed 

 away, might be quoted. The story of the coastguardsmau's dog 

 and the fox is a short one, and is a good illustration of the saga- 

 city of the canine race. This dog disturbed and hunted a fox, 

 which ran to the clifi", threw himself partly over, hanging by his 

 fore-paws to the margin of the precipice, in expectation that the 

 dog would rush upon him, lose his balance, topple over, and be 

 killed. The dog however was aware of the dangerous nature of 

 the place, and instead of heedlessly flying on his victim, advanced 

 carefully, and commenced biting the fox's paws, till at last Rey- 

 nard let go his hold of the brink, fell to the bottom, and was 

 killed. 



The botany of the downs and that of the coast are separately 

 treated. The most attractive plants of the downs are the fol- 

 lowing : — Adonis autumnalis, Myosurus minimus, Helleborus fceti- 

 dus, Papaver hybridum, Arabis hirsuta, Medicago maculata and 

 M. denticulata, Trifolium ornithopodioides, T. subterraneum, Hip- 

 pocrepis comosa, Asperula cynanchica, Campanula {Specularia) 



