26 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



charm. The more violent the rain, if its violence be 

 not sufficient to cause alarm, the more profound is the 

 emotion that springs from it. There are few persons 

 who do not recollect, with a most agreeable sense of 

 past delight, some adventure of a shower that obliged 

 them, on a journey, to take shelter under a rustic roof 

 by the way-side. The pleasure produced by the sight 

 and sound of the rain, under this retreat, often comes 

 more delightfully to our remembrance than all the sun 

 shiny adventures of the day. But in order to be 

 affected in the most agreeable manner by the sound of 

 rain, it is necessary to be in the company of those whom 

 we love, and to know at the same time that the objects 

 of our care are within doors, and to be ignorant of any 

 one's exposure to its violence. From this consciousness 

 of security comes perhaps half the pleasure awakened 

 by the sound of rain ; but this I am confident would 

 not account for the whole effect. 



The question has often been argued, why we delight 

 in witnessing from a place of security, a ship buffeting 

 the waves in a storm. This pleasure can arise only 

 from the excitement of hoping for the final deliverance 

 of the vessel and her crew, and of watching the progress 

 of the sufferers while they are striving to reach the 

 harbor. It does not arise from contrasting our own 

 safety with the dangers to which they are exposed. 

 On the contrary, should we behold a certain prospect 

 of their destruction, we should no longer take any 

 pleasure in the sight. But the view of a storm is pleas 

 ing, when we are ourselves, and believe others to be, in a 

 place of safety. Then do we listen with intense de 

 light to the voice of winds and waters as they contend 

 with the demon of tfae storm, and the awful warring 

 of the elements excites the most sublime sensations, 



