2G4: SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



thousrlit, which flood the mind anew with a sense of man's 

 gi'oatness, and the gi-eatness of his aspirations. It is not 

 wise to dwarf Man by comparisons with Nature ; only when 

 he grows presumptuous, may we teach him modesty by 

 pointing to her grandem-. At other times it is well to keep 

 before us our high calling and our high estate. Litei-atm-e, 

 in its finest moods, does this. And when I think of the 

 delight given by every true book to generations after genera- 

 tions, moidding souls and humanising savage impetuosities, 

 exalting hopes and prompting noblest deeds, I vary the jjoet's 

 phrase, and exclaim — 



" An honest book's the noblest work of man ! " 



