208 CAVES AND PRECIPICES. 



of the Northern ocean dashed by the black north wind 

 against the ragged brows of Caithness and Sutherland ; 

 those that especially are situations in which, if it 

 can be viewed in these islands, the majesty of the deep 

 may be seen. Upon the last, in the acme of its sub- 

 limity, one dares hardly look. The wind blows ice ; 

 and the spray, which dashes thick over five hundred 

 feet of perpendicular cliffs, falls in torrents of chilling 

 rain ; while the vollied stones which the surges batter 

 against the cliffs, the hissing of the imprisoned air in 

 the unperforated caves, and the spouting water through 

 those that are perforated, and the dashing and regurgi- 

 tation of the latter, as it falls in the pauses of the com- 

 motion, produce a combination of the terrible, which 

 the nerves of those who are unaccustomed to such 

 scenes can hardly bear. 



And yet there is an enchantment a fascination 

 almost to madness in those terrible scenes. Mere 

 height often has this singular effect, which is alluded 

 to by the Philosopher of Poets in his admirable de- 

 scription of Dover cliff: 



" I'll look no more ; 



Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 



Topple down headlong." 



But when the elements are in fury, when the earth 

 is rocking, and the sea and the sky reeling and con- 

 founding their distinctive characters in one tremendous 

 chaos, when, in all that is seen, the common laws of 

 nature seem to be abrogated, and her productions of 

 peace cast aside, in order that there may be an end of 

 her works, and that the sway of " the Anarch old" 

 may again be universal the heroism of desperation 



