VIEW FROM THE DOWNS. 173 



into that beautiful harmony of colours which 

 Nature alone can combine. 



Looking towards the south, the sea, although at 

 the distance of several miles, is spread before you 

 like a mirror, studded with coasting vessels and 

 fishing smacks, and perhaps now and then an 

 Indiaman, or ship of war beating up Channel for 

 the Thames. On the extreme right is a cloud- 

 like, but well-defined object standing out from 

 the distant horizon. This is the Isle of Wight. 

 In the middle distance the tall spire of Chichester 

 cathedral shoots up from the plain, and the long, 

 winding creeks and estuaries in its neighbourhood 

 are all distinctly visible, as the rays of the sun are 

 brightly reflected from their waters ; while stretch- 

 ed below, between you and the sea, the flat culti- 

 vated tract, which extends from the south-western 

 borders of the county as far as Brighton, spreads 

 to the right and left, and as your eye wanders 

 along the dark line of the coast, you may, if the 

 weather be clear, take in, almost at one view, 

 more than fifty miles of its extent, including the 

 Isle of Wight on the west and the dimly-seen 

 cliffs of Newhaven on the east. 



Nothing is so fatal to the breed of partridges 

 on the hills as a cold, wet spring and summer. 

 These birds pair early, and the nest is frequently 

 placed in a bleak and exposed situation. Here, 



