206 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



elasticity of the mass ; for the accumulated leaves, 

 in a Beech wood, are, whilst foliage hangs upon 

 the tree, singularly well protected from the rain. 

 The author of Forest Scenery thinks that in the 

 beechen grove ' you seek in vain ' for the variety 

 which characterizes the Oak in Autumn ; but in 

 this respect, as in others, he is, we think, som'e- 

 what unjust to the Beech. Gilpin does admit 

 that this variety is sometimes present in the 

 wane of the year. He says : ' In the early Autumn, 

 indeed, you see it, when the extremities only 

 of the tree are just tinged with ochre ; but, as the 

 year advances, the eye is generally fatigued with 

 one deep monotony of orange ; though, among all 

 the hues of Autumn, it is, in itself, perhaps the 

 most beautiful. The painter imitates it the most 

 happily by a touch of terra de Sienna. But the 

 eye is palled even with beauty in profusion and 

 calls for contrast.' ' The same uniformity reigns,' 

 Gilpin continues, * though of a different hue, 

 when Ash, or Elm, prevails. No fading foliage, 

 indeed, of any one kind that I know, produces 

 harmony, except that of the Oak. The hues, 

 however, of the distant forest, when most dis- 



