370 INFLUENCES OF 



a better or more significant one, of " fairy rings," 

 we will leave as we find them, an odium phy- 

 siologicum. 



1827.- The winds of this autumn have been vio- 

 lent and distressing, but of all variable things, we 

 know of none more so than our seasons and tem- 

 peratures, produced probably by causes and com- 

 binations of which we have no comprehension, or 

 power of foreseeing, " for these things come not by 

 observation ; we cannot say, Lo here ! or Lo there !" 

 What can be more extraordinary, or inexplicable 

 by table or computation, than the sudden visitation, 

 in the midst of storms and frosts, of such a day 

 of brightness and warmth as we sometimes witness, 

 cheering the aspect of all things, a portrait of 

 summer, brought from we know not what region, 

 in a frame-work of winter. All these things as- 

 suredly have their effects upon the products of the 

 earth, and by their means upon the creatures that 

 are nourished by them, carrying on that impercep- 

 tible line of influences and intelligences that is 

 maintained throughout nature. We know that 

 vegetation and the atmosphere are in a constant 

 state of barter and exchange, receiving and modi- 

 fying ; and possibly, from the unseen effects of a 

 frosty morning, a fall of snow, or a few hours 

 temperature of the air, a fruitful or an unproduc- 

 tive season may arise. We notice the effects of 

 spring changes, because vegetation has so far ad- 



