16 



It is not a little amusing to obtain a parcel of oysters be- 

 fore they are washed : how many pretty objects we may 

 see ! and these have a very beautiful appearance when spread 

 out, (which they will if they are put into water with a small 

 quantity of salt.) It is pleasant, on seeing these little spe- 

 cimens in a dish of water, to feed our imaginations with 

 the beauty and grandeur that exist in some parts of the 

 sea, where there are myriads of such, some of them the 

 most splendid of beings. As Gray observes, 



" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 

 The dark unfathom'd caves of Ocean bear ; 



Full many a flower is born to blush unseen. 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



I can conceive the bottom of the ocean in some parts to 

 exhibit the most wonderful products of the world. 



