64 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



which Margaret had given her, now fucceeded by 

 the hope of a happy union between their children, 

 could not refrain from tears ; and this blended re- 

 colledion of good and evil, drew from the eyes of 

 us all, the tears of forrow and of joy. 



Thefe dramas were exhibited with fuch a truth 

 of expreffion, that we aftually imagined ourfelves 

 tranfported to the plains of Syria, or of Paleftine. 

 There was no want of decorations, of illumina- 

 tions, and of orcheflras, fuitable to this fpedacle. 

 The place of the fcene ufually was at the crofs- 

 paths of a foreft, the openings of which formed 

 around us feveral arcades of foliage. We were at 

 their centre fheltered from the heat, all the day 

 long ; but when the Sun had defcended to the 

 horizon, his rays broken by the trunks of the trees, 

 diverged into the fhades of the foreft, in long, lu- 

 minous emanations, which produced the moft ma- 

 jeftic effe(ft. Sometimes, his complete difk ap- 

 peared at the extremity of an avenue, and rendered 

 it quite dazzling with a tide of light. The foliage 

 of the trees, illumined on the under fide with his 

 faffron-coloured rays, fparkled with the fires of the 

 topaz, and of the emerald. Their mofly and brown 

 •trunks feemed to be transformed into columns of 

 antique bronze, and the birds, already retired in 

 lilence, under the dark foliage, for the night, fur- 

 prized 



