JULY. 313 



river goddess, as she is wafted up and down the stream in 

 her shallop of reeds ! Now coursing along under banks 

 sprinkled all over with honeysuckles, while their fragrance 

 follows the current of the stream, to entice the bees and other 

 insects to their fragrant flower-cups ; then passing through a 

 pleasant forest where she is regaled by the terebinthine odor 

 of pines mingled with that of flowering lindens, Avhose 

 branches resound all day with the hum of insects and the 

 warbling of birds. Every green bank offers to her hand a 

 profusion of wild strawberries, and every rocky declivity 

 hangs its brambles over the stream and tempts her with end- 

 less clusters of raspberries, and other delicious fruits. How, 

 if she takes pleasure in the happiness of human beings, must 

 she be charmed by witnessing the plenty which is every- 

 where diffused by the crystal waters of her own stream ; the 

 countless farms rendered fertile and productive through its 

 agency ; the numerous mill seats that derive their power from 

 its falls and rapids, and gather the industrious inhabitants in 

 smiling hamlets upon its banks ! A river, when pursuing its 

 winding course along the plain, alternately appearing and dis- 

 appearing among the hills and woods, suggests the idea of a 

 pleasant journey, and is peculiarly emblematical of human 

 progress. It always seems to me that it must conduct one 

 to some happier region, and that if I traced it to its source, I 

 should be led into the very temple of the Naiads ! 



With the different forms of water are associated nearly all 

 the pleasant images of rural life. To one who is tired of his busy 

 employments in the city, a rural retreat is like a cool breeze 

 to the traveller in a sultry desert. A little arbor, that over- 

 looks a river, a lake or an arm of the sea, derives its charms 

 almost wholly from the water, which is at the same time the 

 symbol of peace and plenty, and the mirror of heaven. A 

 hermitage by the side of a stream aff"ords a secret retreat, still 

 more delightful from its fancied association with pious seclu- 

 sion from the world. Every flower that looks up to us from 

 the green mossy turf ; every bird that warbles in the neigh- 

 boring copse, and every insect that hums in the herbage at 

 our feet, has a soothing influence, that for a season dispels 



VOL. XXI. NO. VII. 40 



