( '3 ) 



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 

 picture fque eye. 



But befides the appearance of mofs upon 

 the trunks of trees, it creeps among the 

 branches* and fometimes takes pofleflion not 

 only of the larger boughs ; but even of the 

 fmaller fpray. In winter this has often a fine 

 effecT:, when the whole tree, turned into a 

 beautiful piece of flraw-coloured coral, appears 

 again ft 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 contrail with the fhadows 

 formed by the twifting 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 drcjs ; and thefe are the ornaments. 

 Even the poet will fometimes deign to array 

 his tree with thefe pifturefque ornaments. I 

 am always glad of his authority, when I can 

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

 niihed in a way, that the painter might copy 



from. 



