SIR WALTER SCOTT 45 



The Cliffs of Scotland -c> <:> 



(From The Pirate) 



T N front lay the sea, into which two headlands, 

 which formed the extremities of the bay, pro- 

 jected their gigantic causeways of dark and sable 

 rocks, on the ledges of which the gulls, scouries, 

 and other sea-fowl appeared like flakes of snow ; 

 while, upon the lower ranges of the cliff, stood 

 whole lines of cormorants, drawn up alongside of 

 each other, like soldiers in their battle array, and 

 other living thing was there none to see. The sea, 

 although not in a tempestuous state, was disturbed 

 enough to rush on these capes with a sound like 

 distant thunder, and the billows, which rose in 

 sheets of foam half-way up these sable rocks, 

 formed a contrast of colouring equally striking and 

 awful. 



Betwixt the extremities, or capes, of these pro- 

 jecting headlands there rolled, on the day when 

 Mertoun visited the scene, a deep and dense 

 aggregation of clouds, through which no human 

 eye could penetrate, and which, bounding the 

 vision, and excluding all view of the distant ocean, 

 rendered it no unapt representation of the sea in 

 the Vision of Mirza, whose extent was concealed 

 by vapours, and clouds, and storms. The ground, 

 rising stee])ly from the sea-beach, permitting no 

 view into the interior of the country, appeared 



