SEPTEMBER. 



331 



be heard in copses, essaying their first powers 

 of song. Hops are gathered in this month as 

 well as in the last. Nuts are perfectly ripe in 

 the woods ; and of all the pleasures of rural life 

 few can'surpass the enjoyment of nutting. Plea- 

 sant is it at all times to wander in woods, 



Where there 's neither suit nor plea, 

 But only the wild creatures and many a spreading tree : 



especially pleasant is it at this season,, their 

 tempered gloom, their silence, the wild cries 

 that flit ever and anon through them, the 

 leaves which already rustle to the tread, all is 

 full of a thoughtful pleasantness. And then 

 those breaks; those openings, those sudden 

 emergings from shadow and silence, to light 

 and liberty ; " those unexpected comings out to 

 the skirts of the forest, or to some wild and 

 heathy tract in the very depth of the wood- 

 lands ! How pleasant is the thought of it ! I 

 feel the fresh-blowing breeze of autumn, I 

 scent the fresh odour of the turf which never 

 was cultivated, I feel its elasticity beneath my 

 tread, and rejoice as I behold on its lonely 

 bosom a few loiterers which remain of all sum- 

 mer's flowery tribes ; a solitary honey-suckle 



