WATER SCENERY. 265 



Many writers have eulogized an ocean prospect, as 

 beheld from a point where we can see no land. The 

 views presented by the ocean, from different points on 

 the shore, which is broken and intersected by frequent 

 inlets of water, we can never cease to admire ; but I 

 have little sympathy with these lovers of boundless 

 space. The eye soon tires of gazing upon a scene that 

 awakens no other emotion but that of infinity, and pre 

 sents no point as a resting-place for the imagination. 

 To the sublimity of an ocean voyage, with its moun 

 tainous waves and its interminable azure, I prefer a 

 boat excursion on a narrow stream, where the trees on 

 the opposite banks frequently interlace their branches 

 over the middle of the current, and the plashing of the 

 oar often startles the little twittering sandpiper that is 

 feeding upon the edge of the stream. The sight of a 

 small lake surrounded by woods, and dotted all round 

 its borders with full-blown water-lilies, over whose 

 broadspread leaves the little plover glides, without im 

 pressing a ripple on the glossy brink, gives me more 

 pleasure than I could derive from any view of the ocean, 

 bounded only by the horizon. 



Water needs the accompaniment of field and wood 

 to form a picture that is agreeable to the eye. With 

 out such adjuncts, it is like the sky when it has no 

 clouds, and is void of all pleasing suggestions. The 

 pleasure of angling on the banks of a river or a lake, 

 is greatly magnified by the prospect of the agreeable 

 combination of wood and water scenery that sur 

 rounds us. The beauty of an island is like that of a 

 lake ; and it is hard to say which of the two affects the 

 spectator with the most delight, though I am inclined 

 to believe that the majority would decide in favor of 

 the island. The island, especially if there be a little 

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