. The bird . he close of thebook crowned the work. These divers impressions blended and melted together, on our returnto France, and especially here, in the presence of the ocean. At thepromontory of La Heve, under the venerable elms which overshadowit, this revelation completed itself The gulls, gannets, and guillemotsof the coast, the small birds of the groves, could say nothing whichwas not understood. All things found an echo in our hearts, like somany internal voices. The Pharos, the huge cliff, from three to four hundred feet inheight,* which from so lofty an elevation overlooks the vast
. The bird . he close of thebook crowned the work. These divers impressions blended and melted together, on our returnto France, and especially here, in the presence of the ocean. At thepromontory of La Heve, under the venerable elms which overshadowit, this revelation completed itself The gulls, gannets, and guillemotsof the coast, the small birds of the groves, could say nothing whichwas not understood. All things found an echo in our hearts, like somany internal voices. The Pharos, the huge cliff, from three to four hundred feet inheight,* which from so lofty an elevation overlooks the vast embouchureof the Seine, the Calvados, and the ocean, was the customary goal ofour promenades, and our resting-poiat. We usually climbed to it bya deep covered road, full of freshness and shadow, which suddenlyopened upon this immense lighthouse. Sometimes we ascended the * There are two lights, of whicli the more elevated is 39G feet above the sea-level.—Translator. 54 now THE AUTHOR WAS LEU TO r& -f4-. -^^^ coli^ssal staircase which, without surprises, in the full sunlight, andalways facing the mighty sea, leads by three flights to the summit,each flight covering upwards of a hundred feet. You cannot accom-plish this ascent at one breath ; at the second stage, you breathe, youseat yourself for a few moments by the monument which the widowof one of Frances gi-eatest soldiers has raised to his memory, in thehope that its pyramid might prove a beacon to the mariner, andguard him from shipwreck. This cUif, of a very sandy soil, loses a little every winter.* It isnot, however, the sea which gnaws at it; the heavy rains wash itaway, carrying off the debris, which, at fii-st bare and shapeless, beareloquent witness to their downfall. But tender and gi-acious Naturedoes not long suffer this. She speedily attires them, bestows uponthem greensward, herbs, shrubs, briers, which in due time becomeminiature oases on the declivity, Liliput landscapes suspended onthe vast clitf, consoling
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Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
