FEBRUARY. 



WHEN we consider the general sameness of winter's 

 aspects, we need not marvel that among the works of 

 landscape-painters there are but few pictures of winter. 

 These few have generally represented some domestic 

 scene, a cottage with its roof covered with snow ; cat- 

 tle standing in a warm shelter in the barnyard ; poultry 

 huddled in a sunny corner; and children hastening toward 

 their homes. Among the designs of Thomas Bewick 

 there is only one winter scene, and this has served as 

 the original from which all later ones have been copied 

 or imitated. It represents a traveller with a pack on his 

 shoulders, trudging over a trackless region of snow-cov- 

 ered ground, accompanied by his dog. He makes his way, 

 not like a man who is enjoying his walk, but as one beset 

 with dangers and thinking only of gaining his journey's 

 end. The sun shines coldly upon him, and the wind 

 causes him to bend to its blast. The naked trees frown 

 upon him, his lengthened shadow seems like the ghost of 

 Winter forever haunting his sight, and his dog looks up to 

 him piteously and seemingly anxious to know his master's 

 thoughts. 



Whenever we ramble in winter we can readily under- 

 stand why the naturalist, who studies individual objects, 

 should find but few attractions in a winter's walk ; but it 

 is not so clear why the painter, whose principal purpose 

 is to observe aspects, should be uninterested. If we are 

 inclined to indulge in meditation, no other season is so 

 favorable to it. In the agreeable monotony of a snow- 



