194 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 



But for thee, the immortal, no winter may throw 

 Eternal repose on thy joy, and thy woe ; 

 Thou must live — live for ever — in glory, or gloom, 

 Beyond the world's precincts — beyond the dark tomb ; 

 Look to thyself then, ere past in hope's reign, 

 And looking and longing alike are in vain ; 

 Lest thou deem it a bliss to have been, or to be. 

 But a fluttering leaf on yon blasted tree.*— Jewsbury . 



DECEMBER. 



WINTER. 



* O Winter ! ruler of th' inverted year, 

 I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st, 

 And dreaded as thou art I' 



Thus sung a Poet of the last century, whose harp 

 genius strung, and religion tuned in so noble and de- 

 lightful a manner, as to make us forget, while we listen 

 to his sweet and pious strains, the dreariness of the 

 present season. So enamoured was Cowper with 

 Winter, that he composed no less than three separate 

 poems upon this subject. If any therefore of our 



