For
such is the loveliness of nature in these secluded reservoirs, that
the accomplished poet, when depicting the gorgeous scenes of
Eastern mythology - scenes the wildest and most extravagant that
imagination could paint - drew not upon the resources of his
prolific fancy for imagery here, but was well content to jot down
the simple lineaments of Nature as he saw her in plain, homely
England.
"It is a beautiful and fascinating sight for those who have never
seen it before, to see the little shrubberies of pink coralline -
'the arborets of jointed stone' - that fringe those pretty pools.
It is a charming sight to see the crimson banana-like leaves of the
Delesseria waving in their darkest corners; and the purple fibrous
tufts of Polysiphonia and Ceramia, 'fine as silkworm's thread.'
But there are many others which give variety and impart beauty to
these tide-pools. The broad leaves of the Ulva, finer than the
finest cambric, and of the brightest emerald-green, adorn the
hollows at the highest level, while, at the lowest, wave tiny
forests of the feathery Ptilota and Dasya, and large leaves, cut
into fringes and furbelows, of rosy Rhodymeniae. All these are
lovely to behold; but I think I admire as much as any of them, one
of the commonest of our marine plants, Chondrus crispus.
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