SEA-SIDE PLANTS. 9 



(whence I have received numerous specimens), 

 and at Aberlady, Haddingtonshire." He adds, 

 that when the process of drying this plant for the 

 Herbarium is aided by immersion in hot water, 

 a number of opaque white dots make their appear- 

 ance on the surface. 



The samphire is always found on rocks or stone 

 walls beyond the reach of the tide. The chalk 

 hills of Dovor, which gave its old name to that 

 ancient town, the Dwyr of the Saxons, from their 

 " Dwfyrrha," a "steep place," have long been 

 celebrated for the growth of samphire. Michael 

 Drayton refers to it in his Poly-Olbion : 



" Some, his ill-season'd mouth that rightly understood, 

 Bob Dover's neighbouring cleeves of samphyre, to excite 

 His dull and sickly taste, and stir up appetite." 



And the very name of the Shakspeare Cliff was 

 derived from its connexion with the passage in 

 which the great dramatist refers to this plant. 

 That cliff has recently suffered from the long- 

 continued action of rain and sunshine upon it ; 

 but as long as it exists, the samphire will probably 

 continue to thrive there. We must quote again 

 the oft-quoted lines on this subject, and which, 

 indeed, well describe the scene from the summit 

 of the cliff: 



" How fearful, 



And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! 

 The crows and choughs that wing the mid-way air 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles ; halfway down 

 Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade ; 

 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head ; 

 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 

 Appear like mice, and yon tall anchoring bark 

 Diminish'd to her cock, her cock a buoy, 

 Almost too small for sight : the murm'ring surge, 

 That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 



