266 A LAND-SLIP. 



Silent and steadfast as the vaulted sky 

 The boundless plain of waters seems to lie : — 

 Comes that low sound from breezes rustling o'er 

 The grass-crowned headland that conceals the shore ? 

 No ; 'tis the earth-voice of the mighty sea. 

 Whispering how meek and gentle he can be ! — 



i Wordsworth. 



These views are very diverse from each other. I 

 know not which most to admire, the wild magnificence 

 of the iron-bound coast, the soft luxuriance of the 

 fields and woods, or the busy scenes of activity and 

 industr}^, the occupations and homes of human life. 



This hill affords an instructive example of the for- 

 mation of a shingle-beach. About two years ago, one 

 winter's night, the inhabitants of the town were 

 affrighted by a tremendous and unaccountable noise, 

 and in the morning perceived that a large portion of 

 old Hillsborough had fallen. It had before presented 

 an uneven and broken slope, covered with bushes and 

 herbage nearly to the water; but now they saw all 

 this gone, and an abrupt precipice in its stead, as if a 

 giant had taken a rick-knife of suitable dimensions, 

 and had cut off a huge slice from the top to the bot- 

 tom. The fallen mass of debris formed a vast heap 

 piled against the side to nearly half the height. Up to 

 this time there had been no beach at the foot ; the 

 water had been deep to the cliff, and bristled with pro- 

 jecting masses and points of rock. 



The action of the waves and the weather soon took 

 down the piled heap of rubbish ; and in a very few 

 months the whole had assumed its present state. A 

 wide beach was formed by the debris settling itself 

 into the sea ; the projecting rocks are quite covered 



