08 nAMBLING BEFLECTIOiVa AMIDST SNOW AND IliOST. 



from Ilim witli gratitude. He has regenerated the Earth, aud given it new 

 life, — charming proofs of which are becoming daily visible : — 



All Natui'e feels the renovating force 

 Of WiNTEB, only to the thoughtless eye 

 In ruin seen. 



We have kept company with him to the last, aud pronounce him, though 

 very rough withal, to have " that within which passeth show." 



In the little rural episode I sent you some time since, and which appeared 

 in the February No. of The Naturalist, I recorded the appearance of 

 Nature in the first half of the month of January. My observations extended, 

 you will remember, to the first fifteen days, and told of a remarkably mild 

 season, the budding of trees, the gi-owth of flowers, and the singing of birds, 

 — ^in fact of a premature Sjoring. I was just able to discern, Avhilst closing 

 my despatch to you, (on the 16th,) that a marked change was about to take 

 place all over the country. Indeed I hinted at it. 



Snow began to fall soon after mid-day, on the 16th of January ; and it con- 

 tinued to fall daily from that time until long after the end of the month. 

 The 30th of January was the scene of a heavy snow storm. So was the 31st. 

 The streets were ail-but impassable on both days. Then the bitter howling 

 winds ! It was better than a play, to see how men, women, and children tried 

 to escape from their irresistible violence. To I'un was impossible. Neither 

 could they face the enemy. Crab-like, they were compelled to sidle along ! 

 All this time. Nature had deeply buried in her chaste embraces everything 

 that she loved and cared for in the fields and lanes, gardens and shrubberies, 

 woods and forests. Oh, what a lovely snow-white mantle-i= did she wear dur- 

 ing this month ! 



Nor was hoar-frost wanting, to gem with its lustrous pearls and sparkling 

 diamonds, (heightened in splendour by the beams of the glorious sun,) 

 the arms and arteries of the lofty oak and other stately trees. Brilliant, 

 too, were the spangles pendant from the more retiring bushes, twigs, and 

 sprays. How they glistened in the sun ! Then the fantastic embodiments 

 that everywhere met the eye, — all modelled in snow and ice ; there is no 

 possibility of describing them. Fancy might liken them to eveijthing that 

 can be imagined of fairy-land. There were fat little cherubs, trees, birds, 

 palaces, balloons, sprites, elves, and what beside ? — all suspended in air, 

 crystallised ! And as you gazed on them, they appeared animated ! The 

 window-panes, too, — what excruciatingly-droll objects, in endless variety, did 

 they not exhibit ! Old Winter is assuredly a waggish artist. 



• Have yovir readers ever seen " Snow Pictures," lighted up by the full moon ? I have gazed on such, 

 not long since. It was from an eminence, during the holy stillness of Nature. Night rendered the charm 

 complete. Fleecy clouds floated around the fair moon. In the remote distance, were gigantic moun- 

 tains of misty vapour. In the midst, shone out the starry ftrmameut. What a boundless prospect of iudea- 

 cribable beauty did the eye comprehend I 



