JULY. 311 



heavens, and of the trees and shrubbery on its banks, is pleas- 

 ing to the eye, independently of any suggestion that may 

 occur to a fanciful mind. The eye requires to be practised, 

 or rather the mind must be educated in a certain manner, be- 

 fore it can enjoy and appreciate moral or picturesque beauty. 

 But the beauty of a smooth surface of water, of waves trem- 

 bling in the moonlight, of a spouting fountain, or a sparkling 

 rill, is obvious and attractive even to a child. In water have 

 color and form and motion intimately combined their charms, 

 assuming the loveliest tints in the dews of heaven and the 

 spray of the ocean, and every imaginable form of picturesque 

 beauty in the lake and its sinuosities, and the river in its va- 

 rious windings through vale and mountain. 



Water is not only beautiful in itself: but it is one of the 

 chief sources of pleasing variety in the expression of land- 

 scape, whether we view it as spread out on the silver bosom 

 of a lake, the serpentine course of a river, or by its outlines 

 forming those endless changes that delight the voyager by 

 the seashore. Every one must have observed, when riding 

 through an unattractive country, how it seems overspread 

 with a sudden charm, when we come in sight of a lake or a 

 stream. What was before monotonous is now agreeably 

 varied : what before was spiritless is now animated and cheer- 

 ing. A similar effect is produced by the sight of a little cot- 

 tage in a desert or uninhabited region, or in the midst of an 

 uncultivated plain. The eye wanders about unsatisfied, until 

 it sees this human dwelling, where it rests contented, because 

 it has found something to fix the attention and to awaken a 

 sympathetic interest. We are not always aware how greatly 

 the beauty of landscape is founded on our habitual associa- 

 tions. At the sight of water we think at once of the numer- 

 ous delights, bounties and luxuries that flow from its benefi- 

 cent streams ; and perhaps nothing in a prospect so instanta- 

 neously awakens the idea of plenty and of the beneficence 

 of nature. Water is, therefore, the very picture of benevo- 

 lence, without which the face of the country would seem 

 cold, ungenerous and barren. 



A feeling of seclusion is one of the agreeable emotions 



