96 APRIL. 



variegated gleams. The bladed soil was em- 

 broidered with various hues. Both wood and 

 forest were darkened with boughs, which re- 

 flected from the ground gave a shadowy lustre 

 to the red rocks. Towns, turrets, battlements, 

 and high pinnacles of churches, castles and of 

 every fair city, seemed to be painted; and, to- 

 gether with every bastion and story, expressed 

 their own shapes on the plains. The glebe, 

 fearless of the northern blasts, spread her broad 

 bosom. The corn crops and the new-sprung 

 barley reclothed the earth with a gladsome gar- 

 ment. The variegated vesture of the valley 

 clothed the cloven furrow, and the barley-lands 

 were diversified with flowery weeds. The mea- 

 dow was besprinkled with rivulets, and the 

 fresh moisture of the dewy night restored the 

 herbage which the cattle had cropped in the 

 day. The blossoms in the blowing garden 

 trusted their heads to the protection of the 

 young sun. Rank ivy leaves overspread the 

 walls of the rampart. The blooming hawthorn 

 clothed all the thorns in flowers. The budding 

 clusters of the tender grapes hung end-long, by 

 their tendrils from the trellices. The germs of 

 the trees unlocking, expanded themselves into 



