VIEW FROM THE DOWNS. 173 



tints of the autumnal foliage are blended into that 

 beautiful harmony of colours which Nature alone 

 can combine. 



Looking towards the south, the sea, although at 

 the distance of several miles, is spread before you 

 like a mirror, studded with coasting vessels and 

 fishing smacks, and perhaps now and then an 

 Indiaman, or ship of war, beating up Channel for 

 the Thames. On the extreme right is a cloud- 

 like, but well-defined object standing out from 

 the distant horizon. This is the Isle of Wight. 

 In the middle distance the tall spire of Chichester 

 cathedral shoots up from the plain, and the long, 

 winding creeks and estuaries in its neighbourhood 

 are all distinctly visible, as the rays of the sun are 

 brightly reflected from their waters ; while stretched 

 below, between you and the sea, the flat cultivated 

 tract, which extends from the south-western bor- 

 ders of the county as far as Brighton, spreads to 

 the right and left, and as your eye wanders along 

 the dark line of the coast, you may, if the weather 

 be clear, take in, almost at one view, more than 

 fifty miles of its extent, including the Isle of 

 Wight on the west and the dimly-seen cliffs of 

 Newhaven on the east. 



Nothing is so fatal to the breed of partridges 

 on the hills as a cold, wet spring and summer. 

 These birds pair early, and the nest is frequently 



