Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/115

76 of his white horse with a rosette of cherry-coloured ribbons.

Everything is rich, luxuriant, and promising, in nature. The banks are crowded with the glossy, black-spotted leaves of the Wake-robin, and the young fronds of the Hart's tongue Fern. The Germander Speedwell, that loveliest and most constant of spring flowers, peeps out with its laughing blue eyes every where from the rank herbage. Remembrances of last spring, and of its pleasant walks about dear Ilfracombe, come crowding over our hearts, like gushes of fragrance, or like the associations of some well remembered melody. We see the same flowers again, hear the same music, bask in the same sunshine. It is one advantage of the interchange of the seasons, that these associations are continually refreshed; we could not go on enjoying so vividly the delightfulness of summer, if it were not interrupted by winter. Every beauty bursts upon us with the charm of novelty, and yet with the peculiar claim of old acquaintance.

A lovely view suddenly opened seaward, which I could not resist the temptation of sketching as I sat on a gate. In front was a dell, chequered and parted into fields by hedge-rows, and merging at length into