LITERARY STRUGGLES. 177 



"whiteness ; and yonder sun-fish seems like a great 



" globe of living fire." 



The composition of the book of which this little essay- 

 was intended to be a specimen was the principal occupation 

 of 1844. He was paid £120 for the copyright of The 

 Ocean, which was published early in 1845, while the author 

 was away in Jamaica. The success of this volume was 

 surprising, and first opened the eyes of Philip Gosse to the 

 fact that he had in him the making of a popular author- 

 Edition after edition was sold out, and of all his subsequent 

 works few showed a more steady vitality than The Ocean. 

 It was the popularity of this book, and regret that he had 

 parted with the copyright, which set him meditating on 

 schemes of publication which should be more lastingly, if 

 less immediately, lucrative ; but some years passed before 

 Philip Gosse took the management of his books into his 

 own hands. 



The Ocean is a volume which has probably reached a 

 more varied circle of readers than any of my father's 

 books. It is not the most read or best liked of them, but 

 is the one which has perhaps enjoyed the w^idest cir- 

 culation. It is eloquently written, and in freedom of 

 style marks an immense advance on The Canadian 

 Naturalist. The opening chapter deals with the general 

 features of ocean, treated poetically and sentimentally ; the 

 writer then turns to the subject of which he as yet knew 

 little at first hand, but which was presently to absorb 

 him entirely, the fauna and flora of the shores of Great 

 Britain. The succeeding chapters deal successively with 

 the Arctic seas, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian 

 Oceans. The book is copiously illustrated by Whymper 

 and by the naturalist himself; the natural history subjects 

 being drawn on the block by Gosse and cut by Whymper 

 in a way which often does great credit to each artist. The 



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