54 HOW THE AUTHOR WAS LED TO 
colossal staircase which, without surprises, in the full sunlight, and 
always facing the mighty sea, leads by three flights to the summit, 
each flight covering upwards of a hundred feet. You cannot accom- 
plish this ascent at one breath ; at the second stage, you breathe, you 
seat yourself for a few moments by the monument which the widow 
of one of France’s greatest soldiers has raised to his memory, in the 
hope that its pyramid might prove a beacon to the mariner, and 
guard him from shipwreck. 
This cliff, of a very sandy soil, loses a little every winter.* It is 
not, however, the sea which gnaws at it; the heavy rains wash it 
away, carrying off the débris, which, at first bare and shapeless, bear 
eloquent witness to their downfall. But tender and gracious Nature 
does not long suffer this. She speedily attires them, bestows upon 
them greensward, herbs, shrubs, briers, which in due time become 
miniature oases on the declivity, Liliput landscapes suspended on 
the vast cliff, consoling its gloomy barrenness with their sweet youth. 
Thus the Beautiful and the Sublime here embrace, a thing of rarity. 
* La Heéveis the ancient Caletorum Promontorium, and situated about three miles north- 
west of Havre.— Translator. 
