82 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



day, have not yet begun their labours. The wave- 

 lets, for the tide is full, are gently breaking on the 

 pebbly shore with a soothing murmur, and a 

 narrow fringe of white foam, extending far away 

 on each hand, marks the line where they break 

 upon the shingle. Seated on a rock let us observe 

 the gradual birth of the day. 



A long line of light marks the edge of the 

 eastern horizon. The few clouds hanging over it 

 are suffused with a roseate hue suggesting the 

 poet's beautiful idea of the rosy-fingered Eos. Now 

 the colour brightens into a golden tint, the line 

 of light passes into a broad general refulgence, 

 and the sun emerges as if out of the deep. How 

 glorious that long radiant path of light along the 

 surface of the water between the eye and the sun ! 

 Now turn toward the shores. How brightly the 

 little billows are glancing as they fall upon the 

 pebbles ! How much of all this splendour is due, 

 not merely to the direct rays of light which enter 

 the eye, but to those that are reflected from the 

 water, or refracted as they pass through the clouds 

 and appear on the various tints of gold and purple ! 

 While the laws of material nature are adapted to 

 produce these effects, and the eye fitted to perceive 

 them, we must also admit that in the mind to 

 which the scene communicates pleasure, there must 

 likewise be such an adaptation as renders the pros- 

 pect capable of eliciting the emotions of the soul. 



From our western shores the view of the ocean 

 at sunset is no less magnificent, touched although 

 it is with a certain sadness that seems to a thought- 



