234 BABBICOMBE TO HOPE'S NOSE. 



mare, for it heaves and tosses in its dreams like a free- 

 booter with murder on his conscience. "Tis Anstey's 

 Cove that expands below us ; another combe of most 

 romantic beauty, whose accessories are of more than 

 wonted grandeur, even on this magnificent coast. But 

 we shah 1 have a better sight of it presently, and there- 

 fore we cross this rude stile on the left, and mount the 

 steep slope, threading a narrow path that winds through 

 the luxuriant furze. The eye is almost dazzled with 

 the golden radiance of its sheeted blossom, which is so 

 profuse and so gorgeous, that, if Linnaeus could awake 

 again and behold it, he would go down on his knees 

 and worship it as he did of yore. The air, too, is redo- 

 lent with its peculiar fragrance, and scores of alder- 

 manic humble-bees are rifling its nectaries. But let 

 us walk cautiously ; for on this hill the treacherous 

 adder lurks, and a careless foot is very apt to come 

 down upon the baleful serpent, as it suns itself on the 

 path, especially the gravid female, which, as if aware 

 of the advantage that the warm ray gives to the ma- 

 turing ova, is reluctant to move from the genial spot. 

 The early purple orchis is shooting up its beautiful 

 spikes of compact blossom in every nook ; and, as we 

 rise to a higher elevation, other plants appear, so 

 minute as to be scarcely able to thrust their blossom 

 above the grass of the turf, short and low as this is. 



I always like the tiny flowers of lofty downs ; so 

 meek and unobtrusive, yet, withal, generally so pretty. 

 There are not many kinds yet abroad ; but here is the 

 little dove's-foot cranebill, with its notched leaves and 



