CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 149 



much obliged to you. We shall depend on seeing you 

 and Mrs. J. White the beginning of March ; and I hope 

 the weather will continue mild and favourable for your 

 journey. 



We are much obliged to you Sir for your rainbow ; and as 

 we are no poets I beg leave to send you in return two ready 

 made. " The fancy is infinitely more struck with the view of 

 the open air and sky that passes through an arch than what 

 comes through a square or any other figure. The figure of 

 the Rainbow does not contribute less to its magnificence than 

 the colours to its beauty, as it is very poetically described by 

 the son of Sirach : " Look upon the Rainbow and praise him 

 that made it ; very beautiful it is in its brightness : it en- 

 compasses the heavens with a glorious circle, and the hands of 

 the most High have bended it." 



* * * * Refracted from yon eastern cloud, 

 Bestriding earth, the grand etherial bow 

 Shoots up immense ; and every hue unfolds 

 In fair proportion, running from the red 

 To where the violet fades into the sky. 

 Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds 

 Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism ; 

 And to the sage-instructed eye unfold 

 The various twine of light by thee disclosed 

 From the white mingling maze. Not so the boy ; 

 He wondering views the bright enchantment bend 

 Delightful o'er the radiant fields ; and runs 

 To catch the fading glory : but amazed 

 Beholds th' amusive arch before him fly, 

 Then vanish quite away." * 



* [The following charming lines from James Montgomery, embody 

 perhaps the most beautiful and touching figure suggested by the subject, 

 to be found in our language : 



11 But, see, on Death's bewildering wave, 



The rainbow Hope arise ; 

 A bridge of glory o'er the grave 

 That bends beyond the skies. 



