412 STUDIES OF NATURE, 



iummit, agitated by the winds, the majeftic mur- 

 murs of which feem to fympathize with our.di- 

 ftrefs. A tree, with all thefe harmonies, feems to 

 infpirean inexpreffible religious awe. Pliny fays, in 

 conformity to this idea, that the trees were the firft 

 temples of the Gods. 



The fublime impreffion which they produce, be- 

 comes ftill more profound, when they recal to us 

 fome fentiment of virtue, fuch as the recollection 

 of the great men who planted them, or of thofe 

 whofe tombs they (hade. Of this kind were the 

 oaks of lulus at Troy. It is from an effect of 

 this fentiment, that the mountains of Greece and 

 Italy appear to us more refpectable than thofe of 

 the reft of Europe, though they are of no higher 

 antiquity on the Globe, becaufe their monuments, 

 in ruins as they are, call to our remembrance the 

 virtues of the peifons who inhabited them. But 

 this fubject belongs not to the prefent article. 



In general, the different fenfations of infinity 

 increafe by the contrafts of the phyfical objects 

 which produce them. Our Painters are not fuffi- 

 ciently attentive to the choice of thofe which they 

 introduce into the fore-ground of their pictures. 

 They would give a much more powerful effect to 

 their back-ground fcenery, if they oppofed to it 

 the frontifpiece, not only in colours and forms, as 



they 



