ind a great company gathered, looking down
on the still greater company which is gathered on the yellow sands.
Children are climbing and rolling on the soft greensward of the
terraces, and adults are sprawling at full length, completely at their
ease. Men and women lounge to and fro on the sea-wall promenade, a
miniature of the Hyde Park throng at mid-season. Others sit reading or
chatting or looking out over the sparkling sea. The grass and crags
are dotted with azure and purple flowers, and cushions of pink and
white stone-crop abound. Higher up the hill stand the ivied ruins of
the Norman castle, and the white memorial monument to Prince Albert,
with its sculptured panels bearing the arms of Llewellyn the Great,
the red dragon of Cadwalader, the symbolical leek and the motto,
_Anorchfygol Ddraig Cymru_ ("The dragon of Wales is invincible"). The
air is very cool and bracing on this hill. But the greatest crowd is
on the sands and on the rocks of the cliff immediately backing the
beach. It is difficult for one who is familiar only with the beach at
Long Branch or Cape May to comprehend such a scene as this which I
am trying to picture. In the first place, the field is so entirely
different from that at home; and in the second place, the bathing
population of the town is not broken up into a number of hotel
communities and cottage communities, but is all gathered at one spot.
It is true some residents on the north cliff bathe on the north sands,
but they come to the south sands after they have had their dip, to
meet _le monde_. There is room here for _le monde_ too; and the groups
not only sprinkle the wide yellow plain, but they are perched about
on the face of the cliff in grottos and on jutting crags; they are
grouped in the cool shade of rocky caverns at the precipice's base;
they are leaning on the battlemented walls that crown its summit. The
water is a considerable distance from where the people sit, and minute
by minute, as the time passes, it recedes farther and farther, until
at last it is a long walk away. The gay hues of red-coated soldiers
assist feminine attire in enlivening the scene with color. Children in
great numbers are scampering about, and busying themselves, much as
they do at home, with toy pails and spades; but if you take notice
you will find that their sand-structures differ widely from those of
children in America: you may even see a perfect model of a feudal
castle grow into shape, with barba