128 SYLVAN WINTER. 



as it seems to do to our vision through a 

 sea of silver-tipped clouds, or standing out un- 

 relieved against the clear blue vault of the sky. 

 But of all the aspects under which moonlight can 

 be seen, there is none, we think, which has the 

 especial splendour of display in the same degree 

 as that which is produced by the moon in a spot- 

 less sky, with atmospheric conditions of absolute 

 clearness and purity. Such conditions exist in 

 many seasons of the year, but perhaps seldom does 

 the moon shine with such exceptional brilliancy as 

 into the clear, frosty atmosphere of a Winter 

 night. It is probably the greater steadfastness of 

 the light in Winter that gives the impression of 

 greater beauty or of a greater extreme of inten- 

 sity. In the summer woodlands there is always 

 more or less of motion ; for breezes, imperceptible 

 to the keenest sense of touch, move the fragile, 

 mobile leaves of deciduous trees. If we do not 

 see the leaves move, we can see the motion of 

 their shadows, whether cast by sun or moon ; and 

 with motion there is sound it may be barely 

 audible, but there is sound. If the nightingale is 

 not pouring forth his melody into the woods, there 



