THE SEA-SERPENT. 
COIL I. 
“ I fear these stubborn lines lack power to move; 
These numbers will I tear, and write in prose.” 
Love’s Labor *s Lost , Act IV., Scene 3. 
This Coil introduces the Ichthyosaurus: from this introduc¬ 
tion, the reader, if he dislikes the want of straightforwardness 
in the character of his new acquaintance, may easily recoil. 
I. 
In serpentine mazes this story will stray, to 
scare you by night, and alarm you by day ; if 
you read it at eve when the bat slowly flits, it 
may possibly frighten you out of your wits, 
and unless you ? ve strong nerves, just throw 
down the book, and never once dare in its 
pages to look. 
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