Evening Mists 35 



the beams that may be seen in churches of a sunny after- 

 noon, falling from the upper windows on the tiled floor o^ 

 the chancel, and made visible by motes in the air. So 

 through such slits in the cloudy roof of the sky the rays of 

 the sun shoot downwards, made visible on their passage 

 by the moisture or the motes floating in the atmosphere. 

 They seem to linger in their place as the clouds drift with 

 scarcely perceptible motion ; and the labourers say that 

 the sun is sucking up water there. 



In the evening of a fine day the mists may be seen from 

 hence as they rise in the meadows far beneath : beginning 

 first over the brooks, a long white winding vapour marking 

 their course, next extending over the moist places and 

 hollows. Higher in the air darker bars of mist, separate 

 and distinct from the white sheet beneath them, perhaps 

 a hundred feet above it, gradually come into sight as they 

 grow thicker and blacker, one here one yonder long and 

 narrow in shape. These seem to approach more nearly in 

 character to the true cloud than the mist which hardly 

 rises higher than the hedges. The latter will sometimes 

 move or draw across the meadows when there is no 

 apparent wind, not sufficient to sway a leaf, as if in 

 obedience to light and partial currents created by a 

 variation of temperature in different parts of the same 

 field. 



Once now and then, looking at this range of hills from 

 a distance of two or three miles on moonless nights, when 

 it has been sufficiently clear to distinguish them, I have 

 noticed that the particular down on which the earthwork 

 is situate shows more distinctly than the others. By day 

 no difference is apparent; but sometimes by night it seems 

 slightly lighter in hue, and stands out more plainly. 



D2 



