176 A WALK TO LEE. 



was unintentionally torn off, in its efforts to grasp 

 some hold when resisting my tugs in dragging him 

 out. 



LEE. 



A three miles' walk to the westward brings the 

 pedestrian to a romantic little spot called Lee. The 

 road lies over the downs, along the margins of those 

 very precipitous cliffs that so characterize the coast 

 hereabout. It does not present any unusual features, 

 to be sure, in a country where grandeur and variety of 

 scenery are the rule, but even if these were wanting, 

 green lanes and downs, hedges covered with flowers, 

 the glittering insects and the singing birds, the surge 

 of the sea far below, the sun, and the breeze, would 

 make any walk enjoyable at this season. Hither 

 then, basket in hand, I strolled, to discover what the 

 shore might afford me of the minuter works of God, 

 which are so eminently worthy of being studied, so 

 eminently calculated to afford the contemplative mind 

 food for wonder, delight, and meditation, though nine 

 hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of 

 mankind never bestow a thought upon them, and even 

 the great bulk of those who seek recreation by the sea 

 side, tread them beneath their feet in the most abso- 

 lute unconsciousness of their very existence. 



Lee is the opening of a beautiful valley, which 

 bends to the right as you look at it from the sea. 

 The bottom is chiefly occupied by meadows, to whose 

 carpeted surface the late rains had imparted the 

 most brilliant verdure. The hedge-rows are profusely 



