374 EVENINGS AT THE jaCEOSCOPE. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 



ZOOPHYTES. 



It is pleasant to go down to the shore on a bright 

 autumnal morning at low water, when the tide has 

 receded far, exposing great areas of wet sand and 

 wildernesses of rugged rocks draped with black and 

 red weed. It is pleasant to make our way on cautious 

 foot round some frowning point whose base is usually 

 beaten by the billows ; to travel among the slippery 

 boulders, now leaping from one to another, now wind- 

 ing between them, now creeping under their beetling 

 roofs : to penetrate where we have never ventured 

 before, and to explore with a feeling of undefined awe 

 the wild solitudes where the hollow sea growls, and 

 the grey gull wails. It is pleasant to get under the 

 shadow of the tall cliffs of limestone, to creep into low 

 arching caves, and there to stoop and peer into the 

 dark pools, which lie filled to the brim with water as 

 clear as crystal, and as unrufiied as a well. What 

 microcosms are these rugged basins ! How full of life 

 all unsuspected by the rude stone-cutter that daily 

 trudges by them to and from his work in the marble 

 quarry of the cliff above ! What arts, and wiles, and 

 stratagems are being practised there ! what struggles 

 for mastery, for food, for life ! what pursuits and 

 flights! what pleasant gambols! what conjugal and 

 parental affections ! what varied enjoyments ! what 



