THE AUTHOR OF " DARTMOOR." 141 



Is not for him : but he who loves to pay 



His silent adorations where, supreme 



In beauty, Nature sits, may spend the hour 



Of holiest rapture here. The eternal rocks, 



Up-piled to the mid-sky, come sweeping round 



Her pious votary ; and she has hung 



With green undying wreaths the mountain-walls, 



And sprinkled them with mountain-flowers that bud 



And bloom inviolate. So high the cliffs 



Ascend into the sunny air, that he 



Who walks below sees heaven its azure bend 



Above him like a dome. The turf is soft 



And fair, and wears an eye-refreshing hue ; 



'And from its virgin emerald thickly rise 



Bright flowers, in glorious rivalry ; the gay 



And glossy king-cup and its ^neighbour sweet' 



The daisy, silver-rayed ; and, blue as heaven, 



The lowly violet." p. 81. 



The following passage shows that Carrington was not 

 only an enthusiastic and a^ powerful observer of nature 

 but that he had also a beautiful sense of the requisites 

 for a delightful picture. 



"And here 

 The waters sleep, — in a cool lake, where flits 

 The shadow of each cloud that sails in heaven ; 

 And in it, too, the tall rock, rising near 

 From base to brow with verdurous tresses decked, 

 Is clearly pictured. Nought disturbs the calm 

 Of the fair mirror, but the startling rush 

 Of crimson-spotted trout to seize that gay 

 Adventurous voyager, — the fly. 



An oak. 

 The patriarch of the vale, bends o'er that sheet 

 Of liquid silver. Haply has the spring 

 With silent power renewed his bud and leaf 

 A thousand years ; yet still he lives, and owns 

 Its gentle influence. His scalp is bald 

 Through age, and one enormous arm is stretched 

 To heaven, scathed by the lightning stroke ; — a pale 

 And blighted thing amid its brethren boughs 

 So green and vigorous ; and still the bird 

 Builds in them, — His the Home of Love, — the seat 

 Of raptured song.'' p.p. 83 84. 



The two following passages are no less beautiful : in 

 the latter a glowing landscape is laid before us with a 

 single touch of the master pencil ; what lengthened 



