INTRODUCTION 13 



" You are not going to give us everything found 

 here ? " said one. 



" Oh clear, no ! Nothing is further from my 

 thoughts." 



A few typical forms in a natural setting, 

 livened by some incident or course of events in 

 which I shared, or stood by to witness ; and that 

 is all. 



Among others, the wild flowers of these benty 

 sea-coast stretches, known in their natural state as 

 links ; and that for a certain reason, which I shall 

 proceed to give. 



No pleasanter way can there be of spending the 

 hot hours of a summer day than on some royal 

 mantle of purple thyme, or some humbler couch of 

 yellow bed-straw, looking away over the lit and 

 shaded grasses ; and, yielding to the drowsy influ- 

 ence, to tilt the cap over the face, and to go to 

 sleep to the whispering of the sea within the shell 

 of the ear. 



Of seaside thyme, or humbler bed-straw, there 

 will soon be none. As these scenes are being 

 invaded and re-turfed, this sketch may come to 

 be interesting as a picture of what used to be. 



