HARMONIES OF THE TEMPERATE ZONE. 



209 



I have lived in climates where the olive and the orange preserve 

 an eternal bloom. Without ignoring the beauty of these favoured 

 trees, and their special distinction, I could never accustom myself to 

 the monotonous permanency of their unchangeable garb, whose ver- 

 dure responded to the heaven's unchangeable sapphire. I was ever in 

 a state of expectancy, waiting for a renewal which never came. The 

 days passed by, but were always identical. Not a leaf the less on 

 the ground, not a cloudlet in the sky. Mercy, I exclaimed, O ever- 

 lasting Nature ! To the changeful heart which thou hast given me, 

 grant a little change. Rain, mire, storm, I accept them all ; so that 

 from sky or earth the idea of movement may return to me the idea 

 of renovation ; that every year the spectacle of a new creation may 

 refresh my heart, may restore to me the hope that my soul shall 

 enjoy a similar resurrection, and, by the alternations of sleep, of death, 

 or of winter, create for itself a new spring ! 



Man, bird, all nature, utter the same desire. We exist through 

 change. 



To these forcible alternations of heat, cold, fog, and sun, melau- 

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