BREEZE ON BEACHY 



from around them long since, and waiting for it 

 to fall again ; partridges, too, corn-ricks, and the 

 roof of a farmhouse by them. Lit with sunlight 

 are the fields, warm autumn garnering all that is 

 dear to the heart of man, blue heaven above how 

 sweet the wind comes from these! the sweeter 

 for the knowledge of the profound abyss behind. 



Here, reclining on the grass the verge of the 

 cliff rising a little, shuts out the actual sea the 

 glance goes forth into the hollow unsupported. 

 It is sweeter towards the corn-ricks, and yet the 

 mind will not be satisfied, but ever turns to the 

 unknown. The edge and the abyss recall us; 

 the boundless plain, for it appears solid as the 

 waves are levelled by distance, demands the gaze. 

 But with use it becomes easier, and the eye labours 

 less. There is a promontory standing out from 

 the main wall, whence you can see the side of the 

 cliff, getting a flank view, as from a tower. 



The jackdaws occasionally floating out from 

 the ledge are as mere specks from above, as they 

 were from below. The reef running out from the 

 beach, though now covered by the tide, is visible 

 as you look down on it through the water ; the 

 seaweed, which lay matted and half dry on the 

 rocks, is now under the wave. Boats have come 

 round, and are beached ; how helplessly little they 

 seem beneath the cliff by the sea ! 

 -283- 



