WOOD-SCENERY IN WINTER. 355 



landscape, when it is mapped out with groves and frag- 

 ments of forest, resembling wooded islets rising out of a 

 white sea. 



The charm of winter scenery is greatly heightened by 

 the clearing of the forest, which hides the surface of the 

 snow and causes the scene to wear less of the aspect of 

 grandeur than of desolation. Grandeur characterizes the 

 view wherever an almost uninterrupted expanse of some 

 miles of surface is completely whitened with snow. The 

 buoyancy we feel when rambling over such a landscape 

 resembles that produced by great altitude. Our greater 

 physical vigor in clear winter weather prepares us to be 

 agreeably affected by surrounding views, because our 

 thoughts are not diverted by any sense of uncomfortable 

 exertion, as in the languid heat of summer. Our con- 

 stant transition from valley to open plain, from plain to 

 hill, and from hill to wood, keeps the mind constantly 

 amused with new views. We are also inspired by the 

 grandeur of the whole scene, and do not, as in summer, 

 give ourselves up to voluptuous sensations, but to en- 

 joyments more purely intellectual. 



Our attention is not so often directed to the beauty of 

 trees in their denuded state, as when they are dressed in 

 foliage and adorned with flowers and fruit. But when we 

 consider that for six months of the year all the, deciduous 

 trees, constituting the greater part of the woods, are leaf- 

 less, we cannot regard their appearance at this time as an 

 unimportant study. When trees are in leaf their primary 

 qualities as objects in landscape are apparent ; but many 

 secondary points of beauty are almost entirely hidden 

 under this mass of foliage. In winter, when the whole 

 frame of the tree is exposed to view, the delicate sculpture, 

 the forms, the angles, and the divergences of their branches, 

 present to sight an infinite variety of picturesque ap- 

 pearances. 



