TORBAY. 295 



denly spreads its blue wings just beneath my feet, and 

 shoots away, calling vociferously as it flies, the sound 

 becoming more and more faint and mellowed, till the 

 bird reaches a distant wooded hill. I never before 

 had an opportunity of seeing a cuckoo to the same 

 advantage ; it is always an interesting bird to my 

 mind, and its elegant shape, and beautiful though 

 sober colouring, were well set off under the favouring 

 circumstances. 



I sat down to rest on the brow of the steep seaward 

 slope. The sea lay in its vast expanse, magnificently 

 spread out below and before and around, recalling, as 

 it generally does, in its calmness, the sacred simile, 

 " like a molten looking-glass." Hope's Nose, on the 

 left, bordered the view. Berry Head, stretching far out 

 into the bright plain, Eke a vast breakwater, was on 

 the right. The ships and small craft, coasters, fish- 

 ing smacks, yachts, and pleasure-skiffs, were speck- 

 ling the glittering bay with their white sails, creeping 

 along under the light air which blew in soft gushes 

 off the land. A couple of war-steamers, black and 

 huge, with their grim rows of grinning teeth, were at 

 anchor off the Head 



" Like leviathans afloat, 

 Lay their bulwarks on the brine." 



A shingle-beach, merging into some rugged, weed- 

 clad points of rock, stretched along at my feet, from 

 which the sibilant whisperings of the ripple came up 

 to the ear ; and two or three rocky islets, rising in 



