THE AVONDERS OF THE SHORE. 35 



jVlbe they endless seem in estimation, 

 Than to recount the sea's posterity; 

 So fertile be the flouds in generation, 

 So huge their numbers, and so numberless their nation." 



But these few examples will be sufficient to 

 account both for the slow pace at which the 

 knowledge of sea-animals has progressed, and 

 for the allurement which men of the highest at- 

 tainments have found, and still find, in it. And 

 when to this we add the marvels which meet 

 us at every step in the anatomy and the repro- 

 duction of these creatures, and in the chemical 

 and mechanical functions which they fulfil in 

 the great economy of our planet, we cannot 

 wonder at finding that books which treat of 

 them carry with them a certain charm of ro- 

 mance, and feed the play of fancy, and tliat 

 love ol" the marvellous whicli is inherent in man, 

 at the same time that they lead the reader to 

 more solemn and lofty (rains of tliought, which 

 cnu find their full satisfaction only in self-forgetful 

 worship, and tliat hymn of [)raise which goes up 

 ever from land and sea, as well as from saints and 

 martyrs and the lieavcnly host, " O, all ye works 

 of the Lord, and ye, too, spirits and souls of the 

 righteous, prai<f Flim, ami magnify Ilim for 

 ever ! " 



