326 STUDIES OF NATURE, 



OF CONSONANCES. 



Confonances are repetitions of the fame harmo- 

 nies. They increafe our pleafures by multiplying 

 them, and by transferring the enjoyment of them 

 to new fcenes. They farther communicate plea- 

 fure, by rendering it perceptible to us, that the 

 fame Intelligence has prefided over the different 

 plans of Nature, as it prefents to us, throughout, 

 fimilar harmonies. Confonances, accordingly, con» 

 fer more pleafure than fimple harmonies, becaufe 

 they convey to us the fentimentsof extenfion, and 

 of Divinity, fo congenial to the nature of the hu- 

 man Soul. Natural objects excite in us a certain 

 degree of fatisfadion, only in fo far as they awaken 

 and difplay an intelledlual feeling. 



We find frequent examples of confonances in 

 Nature. The clouds of the Horizon frequently 

 imitate, on the Sea, the forms of mountains, and 

 the afpedls of land, and this fo exadly, as often to 

 deceive the moft experienced mariners. The waters 

 refleét from their heaving bofom, the heavens, the 

 hills, the forefts. The echoing rocks, in their turn, 

 repeat the murmuring of the waters. As I v/as 

 walking one day, in the Pais de Caux, along the 

 fe^-fide, and coi^fidering the reflexes of the Ihore 



in 



