WINTER MOONLIGHT. 129 



are other sounds of bird or insect. Night moths, 

 too, though their flitting be noiseless, attract 

 attention by their motion, and distract the eye 

 sensibly, though it may be unconsciously, from the 

 brilliancy of light. But in Winter the birds are 

 silent ; no insect form flits between the eye and 

 the landscape ; leaves, even of evergreens, in the 

 stillness of the frosty air, make no audible sound ; 

 even the shadows of boughs and spray move not, 

 and the brilliant moon, shining in full-orbed 

 splendour in a cloudless sky, sheds a brilliancy 

 which absorbs attention. Hence it is that Winter 

 moonlight gives impressions of exceptional beauty 

 when the orb of night rules in silent majesty. 



But clouds, sound, and motion as incidents 

 give their varying interest to Winter moonlight. 

 Perhaps a railway journey affords one of the 

 most rapid means of estimating the changes of 

 moonlight, and the variety of the circumstances 

 which promote or are promoted by these changes. 

 Here is a typical scene. 



The journey is commenced in darkness, relieved 

 only by lights twinkling amongst trees from cot- 

 tages by the way. Then the full moon first pefcps 



K 



