OCTOBER. 353 



and that pleasantest of all mischief-makers, 

 ineffable Puck, the noble spirits of the immor- 

 tal Comus. With such company, woods are to 

 us any thing but solitudes they are populous 

 and inexhaustible worlds, where creatures that 

 mock the grasp but not the mind, a matchless 

 phantasmagoria, flit before us ; alternately make 

 us merry with their pleasant follies, delight us 

 with their romantic grandeur and beauty, and 

 elevate our hearts with their sublime senti- 

 ments. What wisdom do we learn in the world 

 that they do not teach us better ? What music 

 do we hear like that which bursts from the 

 pipes of the universal Pan, or comes from some 

 viewless source with the .ZEolian melodies of 

 Faery-land ? Whatever woods have been to 

 all ages, to all descriptions of superior mind, 

 to all the sages and poets of the past world, 

 they are to us. We have the varied whole of 

 their sentiments, feelings and fancies, bequeath- 

 ed as an immortal legacy, and combined and 

 concentrated for our gratification and advan- 

 tage ; besides the innumerable pleasures which 

 modern art has thrown to the accumulated 

 wealth of all antiquity. Botany has introduced 

 us to a more intimate acquaintance with the 

 2 A 



