56 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



and regulated its development. We therefore see 

 nothing extraordinary in the cry of adoration which 

 escapes from Linnaaus at the very introduction of 

 his immortal Systema Natures *; while we can as 

 easily comprehend the feeling which actuated an 

 illustrious naturalist, when he began and ended one 

 of his last works with the exclamation, " Glory be 

 to God ! " 



After spending the day in the toilsome labour of 

 digging up sand and rolling over large masses of rock, 

 I returned to the farm to recruit my strength with a 

 frugal meal, and then prepared for my night work 

 by ascending to Mont de Bretagne to watch the 

 evening mist gradually descend upon the neighbour- 

 ing islands. For some time after I had regained my 

 solitary den, I could hear Master Lecam's songs 

 repeated in full chorus by his companions ; on some 

 occasions too, sounds reached me which told of dis- 

 putes which were waxing high under the influence 

 of the cyder-cup ; but these noises soon died away in 

 the direction of the village of the St. Malo men, 

 leaving the silence of the night unbroken by any 

 sound save the crash of the waves as they beat 

 against the point of Port Marie, or the blast of the 

 west wind as it swept across the surf at Epails. My 

 table, whose area of four feet square was crowded 

 with the products of my explorations, now became a 

 source of enjoyment, far more attractive than any of 

 the numerous splendid spectacles which were being 



* [A notice of the Life and Labours of Linnaeus is transferred to 

 the Appendix, Note VII.] 



