48 CRAB-RACE. 



remained blew light as zephyr off shore. The sea was 

 without a ripple; and the chalk cliffs, the two rocks in the 

 bay, and the distant St. Catherine's, were mirrored on the 

 bosom of the ocean so completely, that every straggling 

 sheep, browsing the turf above the cliffs, was as distinctly 

 to be seen in the reflection as the reality. I shall never 

 forget the quiet beauty of the scene : ' there was nothing 

 wild or grand in nature ; nothing wonderful in art ; there 

 was neither church, house, tree, nor shrub, nor aught to 

 excite the beholder to exclamation ; quiet sea unro- 

 mantic, un variegated, perpendicular, white cliff mono- 

 tonous downs. Nature seemed to be at rest ; man seemed 

 to be a stranger ; he was no where disturbing her repose ; 

 he had no where distorted her figure ; the distant tower 

 of St. Catherine's was the only visible proof that he had 

 existed. 



The tide being out, we walked below the cliff, and 

 amused ourselves with the vagaries of the little crabs, 

 which, like the generality of mankind, appear to be look- 

 ing one way while they go another ; the smooth sand was 

 curiously mapped out by the infinity of their tracks. We 

 established a crab-race ; and gallantly did the little urchins 

 perform. A little direction was required now and then to 

 keep them from bolting off the course ; but in the main 

 they behaved very well, and temperately ; and their side- 

 ling gait had the air of circumspection and calculation. 

 You smile, good Sir, at our childishness ; you are wel- 

 come. We laughed outright. Under the sea-wrack were 

 shoals of that little jumping shrimp* with a large head, 

 which is found on nearly every coast. On lifting up a 



* Talitrus Locusta. E. N. 



