246 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



tuft of the fenfitive plant, in order to put in mo- 

 tion the whole ftripe, which fometimes extends t<» 

 three furlongs. The European traveller Hands 

 Hill, and obferves, with aftonifhment, the air tran- 

 quil, but the herbage in motion. I myfelf have 

 fometimes miftaken, in our own woods, the mur- 

 mur of poplars and of afpins, for the bubbling of 

 brooks. Oftener than once, feared under their 

 ihade, on the fkirt of a meadow, whofe herbage 

 the winds put into an undulatory motion, this 

 multiplied tremuloufnefs has transfufed into my 

 blood the imaginary coolnefs of the ftream. 



Nature frequently employs the aerial vapours, 

 in order to give a greater extent to our landfcapes. 

 She diffufes them over the cavities of vallies, and 

 Hops them at the windings of rivers, giving you a 

 glimpfe, at intervals, of their long canals, illumi- 

 nated by the Sun. She thus multiplies their plans, 

 and prolongs their extent. She fometimes with- 

 draws this magic veil from the bottom of the val- 

 lies ; and rolling it over the adjacent mountains, 

 on which me tinges it with vermilion and azure, 

 (he confounds the circumference of the Earth with 

 the vault of Heaven. It is thus, that (he employs 

 clouds as evanefcent as the illufions of human life, 

 to raife us to Heaven ; it is thus that fhe expands 

 over her mod profound myfteries, the ineffable 



fenfations 



