Gaston de Blondeville, vol. 1 of 4 : $b or the court of Henry III. keeping festival in Ardenne, a romance. St. Alban's abbey, a metrical tale; with some poetical piecesRadcliffe, Ann Ward
History
Gaston de Blondeville, vol. 1 of 4 : $b or the court of Henry III. keeping festival in Ardenne, a romance. St. Alban's abbey, a metrical tale; with some poetical pieces
Radcliffe, Ann Ward
Gothic fiction; Great Britain -- History -- Henry III, 1216-1272 -- Fiction; Historical fiction
“July 23. Walked to the shore and along it, with a hope of having some
sight of the sea—front of Beachy Head from beneath it, though four or
five miles off. The beach impassable by any sort of carriage. A shore of
ruins under the cliffs, which gradually rise from what is called the
Wish-House, a small white building standing sweetly near the beach, to
the summit of the Cape. Large blocks of granite imbedded on the shore,
and extending to the waves, which rage and foam over them, giving one
dreadful ideas of shipwreck. Sometimes, patches of gravelly sand, or
pebbles, soon ending against masses of granite, or chalk, between which
it is difficult, and not always possible to walk; some of them must be
stepped upon. Within half a mile of the great front, unable to proceed
farther; sat down on a block, wearied out, desiring William to go on; he
was soon hid by a turn of the cliffs. Almost frightened at the solitude
and vastness of the scene, though _Chance_[1] was with me. Tide almost
out; only sea in front; white cliffs rising over me, but not impending;
strand all around a chaos of rocks and fallen cliffs, far out into the
waves; sea-fowl wheeling and screaming; all disappeared behind the
point, beyond which, is the great cliff; but we had doubled point after
point, in the hope that this would be the next, and had been much
deceived in the distances by these great objects; after one remote point
gained, another and another succeeded, and still the great cliff was
unattained; the white precipices beautifully varied with plants, green,
blue, yellow and poppy. Wheat-ears flew up often from the beach:
_Chance_ pursued them. At length, William returned, having been nearly,
but not quite, in front of the great promontory. Slowly and laboriously
we made our way back along the beach, greatly fatigued, the day
exceedingly hot, the horizon sulphurous, with lowering clouds; thunder
rolled faintly at a distance.”
Footnote 1:
Her favourite Dog.
The same afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe continued their tour to
Hastings. The following is the picturesque view of their journey from
Bexhill to Hastings, in the evening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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