THE BIRCH AND THE ALDER. 79 



with the grandeurs of the Highlands. Here too, like the Osmunda, 

 they often creep down to the edge of the loch. 



The common or silver birch, Betula alba, is known even to the most 

 incurious observer, being distinguished from every other tree by the 

 shining and silvery whiteness of the bark ; it is remarkable also for the 

 extreme tenuity of its twigs, which in the variety called pendula, droop 

 so elegantly, and give an air of such charming grace and modesty to the 

 tree, combined with the expression of a tender and high-souled melan- 

 choly, that it has been well named the "lady of the woods." Certainly 

 no tree familiar to the eye in northern temperate latitudes presents a 

 spectacle more consummately soft and delicate. The mimosas and 

 jacarandas of the tropics may rival it perhaps in lace-like transparency; 

 and there are many glorious trees of silvered foliage, the Heritiera or 

 looking-glass tree for example, which stand on a par with it as regards 

 gloss, when illuminated by the sunshine. But take it all in all, even in the 

 presence of these illustrious rivals from the tropics, to the birch, wherever 

 it may be, will probably be awarded the foremost place in admiration. 

 The marvellous beauty of the tree is, after all, seen better in winter 

 than in summer. Not until the branches have denuded themselves, 

 and the various denizens of the woodlands stand like the goddesses 

 before Paris on Mount Ida, are the matchless symmetry and proportions, 

 the whiteness and the queenly figure, brought out in their incomparable 

 perfection. So viewing them, we cannot but feel how great fin auxiliary 

 in the promotion of human delight is this self-same winter, which, by 

 thus constraining the woods to disrobe themselves, shows lines and 

 attitudes of beauty which in summer are totally lost in the maze of 

 foliage. Clothing, that makes so beautiful, how often is it the veil of 

 a beauty still more transcending ! 



Induitur, formosa est : exuilur, ipsa forma ! 



In the depth of winter, wherever birches have been liberally mingled 

 with other trees in hillside plantations, the effect from the valley below 

 is often unique. Far aloft, they lift up their white and shining fabric, 

 not so much like the bleached skeletons some have compared them to, 

 as after the manner of the constellations, speaking not of death but of 

 life ; not of darkness and desolation, but of that welcome lull in the 

 too-vivid brightness which* by day prevents the beholding, and gives to 

 night a greater glory than belongs even to bright noon. Very beautiful, 

 too, is the spectacle of the birches when, by reason of advancing 

 autumn, they begin to reveal themselves in the recesses of the glen. 

 Let us look for them. The sun shines bright and kindly, and glows in 



