are blended harmonioufly, as is generally the 

 cafe, the rough and furrowed trunk of an 

 old oak, adorned with thefe pleafing appen- 

 dages, is an objedt which will long detain the 

 pifturefque eye. 



But befides the appearance of mofs upon 

 the trunks of trees, it creeps among the 

 branches, and fometimes takes pofTeflion not 

 only of the larger boughs ; but even of the 

 fmaller fpray. In winter this has often a fine 

 effecl:, when the whole tree, turned into a 

 beautiful piece of ftraw-coloured coral, appears 

 againft a dark wood, or fome other back- 

 ground, which gives it relief. In a ftrong 

 funfhine too it is beautiful; when the light 

 ftraw-coloured tints contraft with the fhadows 

 formed by the twitting of the boughs ; which 

 are fometimes ftill farther deepened by fome 

 of the darker mofles. 



Thus the maladies of trees are greatly fub- 

 fervient to the ufes of the pencil. The foliage 

 is the drefs ; and thefe are the ornaments.-*- 

 Even the poet will fometimes deign to array 

 his tree with thefe picturefque ornaments. I 

 am always glad of his authority, when I can 

 have it : and I have feen a poetical oak gar- 

 nifhed in a way, that the painter might copy 



from. 



