176 



JULY. 



and maturity : the eye roves over brown pas- 

 tures, corn-fields already white to harvest, dark 

 lines of intersecting hedge-rows, and darker 

 trees, lifting their heavy heads above them. 

 The foliage at this period is rich, full, and 

 vigorous ; there is a fine haze cast over dis- 

 tant woods and bosky slopes, and every lofty 

 and majestic tree is filled with a soft shadowy 

 twilight, which adds infinitely to their beauty, 

 a circumstance that has never been sufficiently 

 noticed by either poet or painter. Willows are 

 now beautiful objects in the landscape : they 

 are like rich masses of arborescent silver, espe- 

 cially if stirred by the breeze, their light and 

 fluent forms contrasting finely with the still and 

 sombre aspect of the other trees. 



Now is the general season of haymaking. 

 Bands of mowers, in their light dresses and 

 broad straw hats, are astir long before the fiery 

 eye of the sun glances above the horizon, that 

 fliey may toil in the freshness of the morning, 

 and stretch themselves at noon in luxurious 

 ease by trickling waters, and beneath the shade 

 of trees. Till then, with regular strokes, and 

 a sweeping sound, the sweet and flowery grass 

 falls before them, revealing, at almost every 

 step, nests of young birds, mice in their cozy 

 domes, and the mossy cells of the humble-bee 

 streaming with liquid honey : anon, troops of 



