WINTER AND SUMMER COMPARED. 159 



you will be surprised when I say, I hardly 

 know which here to give the preference to. In 

 the full-blown summer in this district there is 

 almost an excess of verdure ; all is beautiful 

 of its kind, but there is comparatively little 

 variety ; the eye becomes tired for want of 

 variety ; it ranges from hill to valley, and the 

 same hue, or nearly the same, the unfailing 

 green, is the one predominating colour. In the 

 winter, on the contrary, especially in a mild 

 winter, the more common one here, in 

 place of such monotony there is an endless 

 diversity of colouring and effect. We have the 

 dark evergreens, the pines, and yews, and 

 hollies, imparting solemnity, the silver-barked 

 birch, and the golden-trunked Scotch fir giving 

 brightness to the woodland; then, there are 

 the cryptogamous plants, mosses, lichens, 

 and some ferns, and in addition, the ivy in 

 full strength of vegetation, clothing the rocks 

 and the more venerable trees with a rich 

 embroidery of many hues, the finest green 

 and silvery white the prevailing colours. Then, 

 moreover, what we witness in the atmosphere 

 do not charge me with exaggeration if I say, 

 more than compensates as regards beauty for 



