30 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



days ; wlio enjoyed his dinner at the hotel yesterday, though 

 the port Avas fruity ; enjoyed his breakfast this morning ; 

 and now, having read the paper, is sniffing the breezes for an 

 appetite, and is aglow with the pleasant sensation compounded 

 of present vigour and boyish associations. He is too old for 

 the circulating library ; has outlived straw-hats and coloured 

 shirts ; and is supremely indifferent about telescopes. He 

 is happy. He gives a genial glance of interest to everj'thing. 

 He stops us, and politely inquires about the contents of our 

 baskets, listenin£c to the brief details with " dear me ! bless 

 me ! w'ell, how very singular ! " and even thinks he should 

 like to go out collecting himself, — if he were younger. 



If the promenaders are not supremely interesting, the scene 

 itself is worth a visit. The Capstone Parade, a -walk cut round 

 the Capstone at great expense, offers many pictures. We are 

 at the farther end, nearest the quay, and look back upon old 

 Hillsborough jutting out far into the water, while behind him 

 looms the giant Hangman, grim as his name, and beyond that 

 the purple line of another headland. Between us and Hills- 

 borough stands Lantern Hill, a picturesque mass of green 

 and grey, surmounted by an old bit of building which was 

 once a convent, and which looks as if it were the habitation 

 of some huge mollusc that had secreted its shell from the 

 material of the rock. Indeed the houses all about naturally 

 recall the curious shells and habitats with which our hunting 

 has made us familiar. In these mountainous districts, where 

 houses and clusters of houses look so tiny in comparison with 

 the huge limbs of Mother Earth, one is apt to think of man 

 as a parasitic animal living on a grander creature — an epizoon 



