34 FEBRUARY. 



and expanding it to the delicious hope of future 

 delights. So precious a boon, however, is not 

 exclusively permitted to March : February is 

 often allowed to be a liberal partaker ere its 

 close, and we have known the winds lift up 

 their voices this month with all their triumph- 

 ant and sonorous energy. Nothing can perhaps 

 illustrate so livingly our idea of a spirit, as a 

 mighty wind — present in its amazing power and 

 sublimity, yet seen only in its effects. We are 

 whirled along with its careering torrent with 

 irresistible power ; we are driven before it, as 

 Miss Mitford says, as by a steam-engine. How 

 it comes rushing and roaring over the house, 

 like the billows of a mighty ocean ! Then for 

 the banging of doors, the screaming and creak- 

 ing of signs, the clatter of falling shutters in the 

 street ! Then for the crash of chimneys, the 

 down-toppling of crazy gables, the showering of 

 tiles upon the pavement, as if the bomb-shells 

 of a besieging army were demolishing the roofs, 

 and rendering it even death to walk the streets ! 

 Then for a scene of awful grandeur upon the 

 glorious ocean ! That which, but an hour be- 

 fore, was calm and sun-bright, a variety of ves- 

 sels lying at anchor, or sailing to and fro in 

 serene beauty, then is a scene of sublime and 

 chaotic uproar ! — the waves rolling and foaming, 

 and dashing their spray over rocks, pier-heads, 



