THE "WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 97 



and the metaphysician know, has nothing to do 

 with the wonder,) whereof each separate joist, 

 girder, and pane grows continually without alter- 

 ing the shape of the whole ; and you have con- 

 ceived only one of the miracles embodied in that 

 little sea-egg, which The Divine Word has, as it 

 were to justify to man His own immutability, 

 furnished witli a shell capable of enduring fossil 

 for countless ages, that we may confess Him to 

 have been as great wlien first His spirit brooded 

 on the deep, as He is now, and will be through 

 all worlds to come. 



But we must make haste ; for the tide is rising 

 fast, and our stone will be restored to its eleven 

 hours' bath, long before wc have talked over half 

 the wonders which it holds. Look though, ere 

 you retreat, at one or two more. 



"What is that little brown fellow whom you 

 have just taken off the rock to wliich he adhered 

 so stoutly by his sucking-foot ? A limpet ? Not 

 at all : he is of quite a difierent family and 

 filructuro ; Ijut, on the whole, a limpet-like shell 

 would suit him well cnougli, so he Iiad (inc given 

 him : nevertheless, owing to certain anatomical 

 peculiarities, he needed one aperture more than 

 a limpet ; so one, if you will examine, has been 

 7 



