ellation of village--some of
these ornamented about and upon the roofs with round patches of the
yellow stone-crop and house-leek, that never-failing protection
against lightning and tempest, according to indubitable testimony set
forth by Master Nicholas Culpepper in his _Herbal_.

The strong marine odour, so well known to all lovers of sea-side
enjoyments, may here be sensibly appreciated; for the pent-up effluvia
from the curing of fish, marine algae, and other products of the coast,
abundantly strengthen the reminiscences connected with this solitary
and secluded spot.

It was on a cold, grey morning in October that two individuals were
loitering up a narrow path from the hamlet which led to the high main
road, passing from village to village along the coast; branches from
which, at irregular intervals, penetrated the cliffs to the different
fishing stations along the beach. The road, on rising from the
village, runs along the summit, a considerable height above the sea;
terrific bursts through some rocky cleft reveal the wide ocean rolling
on from the dim horizon to the shore. Here and there may be seen the
white sail, or the hull of some distant bark, gliding on so smooth and
silently as to suggest the idea of volition obeyed without any visible
effort. Rising from the ravine, the road passes diagonally up the
steep. At the period of which we speak, ere it reached the main line
of communication through the country, a reft or chasm in the steep
wall towards the sea--a nearly perpendicular rent--left the mountain
path without protection, save by a slender paling for the space of a
few yards only. Nothing could be more dreary and terrific. Through
this dizzy cleft--the sides bare and abrupt, without ledge or
projection--the walls, like gigantic buttresses, presenting their
inaccessible barriers to the deep--the distant horizon, raised to an
unusual height by the point of sight and position of the spectator,
seemed to mingle so softly and imperceptibly with the sky that it
appeared one wide sea of cloud stretching to the foot of the cliff.
From that fearful summit the billows were but as the waving of a
summer cloud, undulating on the quiet atmosphere. The fishing bark,
with its dun, squat, picturesque sail, looked as though floating in
the sky--a fairy boat poised on the calm ether.

As we before noticed, two persons were loitering up this path. They
paused at the brink of the chasm. It might be for the purpose of