292 OCTOBER. 



ground, the highest pictorial beauty ; but they are 

 speedily past, and rains and mists wrap the face 

 of the earth in gloom. Yet the glooms and ob- 

 scurity of autumnal fogs, however dreary to the 

 common eye, are not unwelcome to the lover of 

 Nature. They give an air of wildness to the most 

 ordinary scenery; but to mountains, to forests, to 

 solitary sea-coasts, they add a sombre sublimity 

 that at once soothes and excites the imagination ; 

 and even when not pleasant themselves, they minis- 

 ter to our pleasures by turning the heart to our 

 bright firesides, to the warmth and perpetual sum- 

 mer of home. 



Orchards are now finally cleared of fruit, at least 

 the trees, for in the cider counties they still lie in 

 large heaps in the orchards in all their glory of gold 

 and crimson, and many will lie there till frosty 

 nights set in ; the frost being supposed to improve 

 their quality by increasing the quantity of saccha- 

 rine matter in them, though they are apt to become 

 decayed by too long lying, and to injure the flavour 

 of the cider. Gardens have lost the chief of their 

 attractions ; farmers are busy ploughing, and getting 

 in their wheat. Swallows generally disappear this 

 month. 



WOODS. The glory of this month, however, is 

 the gorgeous splendour of wood-scenery. Woods 

 have in all ages vividly impressed the human mind ; 

 they possess a majesty and sublimity which strike 

 and charm the eye. Their silence and obscurity 

 affect the imagination with a meditative awe. They 



