CHARM OF THE DOWNS 27 



interested motive in studying water or sky. " I cannot 

 stand all day on a naked beach watchiag the capricious 

 hues of the sea," pathetically wrote Charles Lamb from 

 some spot on the south coast, " I would fain retire into 

 the interior of my cage. While I gaze on the sea I 

 want to be on it, over it, across it. There is no home 

 for me here." I have read that in convents and harems 

 there is an arrangement of the windows which prevents 

 the inmates from looking out or down upon the earth ; 

 they are constrained to look up, presumably because 

 there is no male form, nor shadow nor reflection of one, 

 in the void above. Those who have been fenced in 

 from harm in this fashion must have hated the blue 

 sky as much as Tennyson's worn-out mariners hated 

 the dark blue wave. I have noticed that birds when 

 perched do, even when they appear to be reposing, 

 gaze a good deal at the sky. They are aerial, of the 

 sky, and are accustomed to travel and dwell there 

 with spread wings; and their fellows and enemies 

 are there. 



The sea and the sky in their ordinary aspects do not 

 hold the attention, because we are not of them, and do 

 not feel them, and the sensation of moving in or on 

 them is consequently not here associated with seeing. 

 The sight dwells with pleasure on the downs, because 

 they are, in appearance, easy to walk upon, and in a 

 sense are being walked upon when looked at. 



Here, it may be remarked, that a surface which 

 appears easy to the feet is also easy to the sight. The 



