the coast, and appeared as if doubled by their undulating strip of
shadow, what might be deemed a dense hank of cloud lay sleeping in
the heavens, just where the upper and nether firmaments met; but
its presence rendered the illusion none the less complete: the
outline of the boat lay dark around us, like the fragment of some
broken planet suspended in middle space, far from the earth and
every star; and all around we saw extended the complete
sphere--unhidden above from Orion to the Pole, and visible beneath
from the Pole to Orion. Certainly sublime scenery possesses in
itself no virtue potent enough to develop the faculties, or the
mind of the fisherman would not have so long lain asleep. There is
no profession whose recollections should rise into purer poetry
than his; but if the mirror bear not its previous amalgam of taste
and genius, what does it matter though the scene which sheds upon
it its many-coloured light should be rich in grandeur and beauty?
There is no corresponding image produced: the susceptibility of
reflecting the landscape is never imparted by the landscape itself,
whether to the mind or to the glass. There is no class of
recollections more illusory than those which associate--as if they
existed in the relation of cause and effect--some piece of striking
scenery with some sudden development of the intellect or
imagination. The eyes open, and there is an external beauty seen;
but it is not the external beauty that has opened the eyes.

* * * * *

"It was still a dead calm--calm to blackness; when, in about an
hour after sunrise, what seemed light fitful airs began to play on
the surface, imparting to it, in irregular patches, a tint of grey.
First one patch would form, then a second beside it, then a third,
and then for miles around, the surface, else so silvery, would seem
frosted over with grey: the apparent breeze appeared as if
propagating itself from one central point. In a few seconds after,
all would be calm as at first; and then from some other centre the
patches of grey would again form and widen, till the whole Firth
seemed covered by them. A peculiar poppling noise, as if a
thunder-shower was beating the surface with its multitudinous
drops, rose around our boat; the water see