234 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



suddenly finds freedom in the sun and the sky. 

 Straight, as if sawn down from turf to beach, 

 the cliff shuts off the human world, for the sea 

 knows no time and no era ; you cannot tell 

 what century it is from the face of the sea. 

 A Roman trireme suddenly rounding the white 

 edge-line of chalk, borne on wind and oar from 

 the Isle of Wight towards the gray castle at 

 Pevensey (already old in olden days), would 

 not seem strange. What wonder could sur- 

 prise us coming from the wonderful sea ?" 



Here, again, is a specimen of what has been 

 called his " cataloguing." He describes a 

 hedge-row. Cataloguing! Yes. But was 

 ever observation more minute ? 



" A wild ' plum/ or bullace, grew in one 

 place ; the plum about twice the size of a sloe, 

 with a bloom upon the skin like the cultivated 

 fruit, but lacking its sweetness. Yet there 

 was a distinct difference of taste : the ' plum ' 

 had not got the extreme harshness of the sloe. 

 A quantity of dogwood occupied a corner ; in 

 summer it bore a pleasing flower ; in the 



