FOREST SCENERY. 221 



Sometimes a little group of thorns or hollies may 

 be seen growing round their trunks, or a patch of 

 fern or fox-glove adds to the scenery. Indeed, 

 my walks and drives in the recesses of woods 

 are always agreeable. All is quiet repose, or 

 nothing but pleasing sounds are heard ; and these 

 afford a gratification of no ordinary kind. During 

 the heat of summer there is a delightful shade; 

 and I never think of those charming lines of 

 Virgil- 



O quis me gelidis in vallibus Haemi 

 Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra 



without fanpying that they must have been uttered 

 by many a thoughtful moralist, " as he lay along 

 under an oak,'* beholding " the sobbing deer/' and 

 enjoying the shade, while the " brawling brook' 5 

 glided onward at his feet. 



The human mind is, perhaps, in its happiest 

 state of enjoyment when the works of nature are 

 spreading forth their charms for wonder and con- 

 sideration. No one can feel solitary when so em- 

 ployed, even on the hilPs side, or in the deepest 

 recesses of our woodlands. 



Sic ego secretis possim bene vivere sylvis 

 Qua nulla humano sit via trita pede 



