CELESTIAL SCENERY. 443 



whirling of the clouds, the falling of the rain, the flashes 

 of lightning, and the roar of thunder. In the other case, 

 the sunshine makes an agreeable picture. It affords a 

 view that cannot so well be seen in shadow or where the 

 sunlight is equalized over the whole prospect. It is set 

 apart from the remainder like an island in a lake. But, 

 above all, the tract of country thus illuminated, while our 

 standing-place is shaded, becomes to the imagination a 

 celestial view. The scene in sunshine is made a part of 

 the heavens ; and the mind is exhilarated on beholding 

 a scene in our earthly landscape exalted as it were to the 

 skies. 



The moon has always been a favorite theme of the 

 poets. Her course in the heavens has in all ages been 

 marked with interest, and her form and phases watched 

 with 'delight. We associate her beams with serenity and 

 peace. Her very aspect breathes of purity and holiness. 

 How gloomy and lonely would be the night without her 

 presence, except with the knowledge that she will soon 

 reappear to bless the earth with her beams. Nature 

 seems to have regarded this luminary as indispensable to 

 the moral wants of rational beings ; but in this, as in 

 other cases, she has been cautious of prodigality. I have 

 often thought that two or three moons would be less de- 

 lightful than the solitary orb that guards our night. As 

 the moon is not needful, like the sun, for the existence of 

 light and life, but is rather one of the luxuries of Nature, 

 her light is more beautiful than useful, while we do not 

 suffer from her occasional absence. 



Lovers have always been charmed by moonlight, that 

 accords so well with seclusion and tender sentiment. 

 " A fair face looks yet fairer under the light of the moon, 

 and a sweet voice is sweeter among the whispering sounds 

 of a summer night." This remark of Walter Scott de- 

 scribes what almost all persons have felt. The beauty 



