or more deeply stained by time and
weather; nor is this to be wondered at, for it is in the very eye of
sea-storms and land-storms, of mountain winds and water winds. It is of
all colours, but a rusty yellow predominates. As we walked along, we
could not but look up continually, and the mass above being on every side
so huge, it appeared more wonderful than when we saw the whole together.

We sat down on one of the large stones which lie scattered near the base
of the rock, with sea-weed growing amongst them. Above our heads the
rock was perpendicular for a considerable height, nay, as it seemed, to
the very top, and on the brink of the precipice a few sheep, two of them
rams with twisted horns, stood, as if on the look-out over the wide
country. At the same time we saw a sentinel in his red coat, walking
backwards and forwards between us and the sky, with his firelock over his
shoulder. The sheep, I suppose owing to our being accustomed to see them
in similar situations, appeared to retain their real size, while, on the
contrary, the soldier seemed to be diminished by the distance till he
almost looked like a puppet moved with wires for the pleasure of
children, or an eight years' old drummer in his stiff, manly dress beside
a company of grenadiers. I had never before, perhaps, thought of sheep
and men in soldiers' dresses at the same time, and here they were brought
together in a strange fantastic way. As will be easily conceived, the
fearlessness and stillness of those quiet creatures, on the brow of the
rock, pursuing their natural occupations, contrasted with the restless
and apparently unmeaning motions of the dwarf soldier, added not a little
to the general effect of this place, which is that of wild singularity,
and the whole was aided by a blustering wind and a gloomy sky. Coleridge
joined us, and we went up to the top of the rock.

The road to a considerable height is through a narrow cleft, in which a
flight of steps is hewn; the steps nearly fill the cleft, and on each
side the rocks form a high and irregular wall; it is almost like a long
sloping cavern, only that it is roofed by the sky. We came to the
barracks; soldiers' wives were hanging out linen upon the rails, while
the wind beat about them furiously--there was nothing which it could set
in motion but the garments of the women and the linen upon the rails; the
grass--for we had now come to green grass--was close and smooth, and not
one pile