INTRODUCTION. 51 



to be nothing else than so much space, filled with young 

 shrimps, in the act of bounding into the air, from the 

 shallow margin of the water, or from the wet sand. If any 

 motion of a mute animal could express delight, it was this : 

 if they had meant to make signs of their happiness, they 

 could not have done it more intelligibly. Suppose then, 

 what I have no doubt of, each individual of this number 

 to be in a state of positive enjoyment, what a sum, collec- 

 tively, of gratification and pleasure have we here, before our 

 view !" 



In a delightful excursion which I greatly enjoyed many 

 years ago in the yacht of Mr. Smith of Jordanhills, along 

 with that great and good and most loveable man, the late 

 Dr. Chalmers, who was so alive to the beauties of nature, I 

 remember that looking around on a grand and beautiful 

 scene at the junction of Loch Long and Loch-goil, he said, 

 with deep emotion, " How wonderful that the Lord should 

 make this sinful world so exceedingly beautiful I" I think 

 it must have been the feeling that they were so worthy of 

 being admired, that led our forefathers to people many beau- 

 tiful secluded spots with fairies, as the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans made their Dryads the inmates of the woods, and 

 their Naiads, of the glens and streams. Well do I remember, 



