THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 31 



cliffs of clink-stone across the downs, in a clanging 

 stream of fire, damming np rivulets, and blasting 

 its path through forests, far away toward the valley 

 of the Moselle — the sight of an object for which 

 was forgotten for the moment that battle-field of 

 the Titans at our feet, and the glorious panorama, 

 Hundsruck and Taunus, Siebengebirge and Ar- 

 dennes, and all the crater peaks around ; and which 

 was — smile not, reader — our first yellow foxglove. 



But what is even this to the delight of finding 

 a new species ? — of rescuing (as it seems to you) 

 one more thought of the divine mind from Hela, 

 and the realms of the unknown, unclassified, un- 

 comprehended ? As it seems to you : though in 

 reality it only seems so, in a world wherein not 

 a sparrow falls to the ground unnoticed by our 

 Father who is in heaven. 



The truth is, the pleasure of finding new species 

 is too great ; it is morally dangerous ; for it brings 

 with it the temptation to look on the thing found as 

 your own possession, all but your own creation ; to 

 pride yourself on it, as if God had not known it for 



