258 SEPTEMBER. 



breaks ; those openings, those sudden emergings 

 from shadow and silence to light and liberty; 

 those unexpected comings out to the skirts of 

 the forest, or to some wild and heathy tract in 

 the very depth of the woodlands ! How plea- 

 sant is the thought of it ! I feel the fresh- 

 blowing breeze of autumn, I scent the fresh 

 odour of the turf which never was cultivated, 

 I feel its elasticity beneath my tread, and re- 

 joice as I behold on its lonely bosom a few 

 loiterers which remain of all summer's flowery 

 tribes; a solitary honeysuckle on some young 

 birch; a few hare-bells, bright and blue as sum- 

 mer skies. The rich crimson flush of forest 

 ground, 



Where myriad heath-flowers congregated bloom, 



is fast fading away ; the fern is assuming its rus- 

 set hue ; docks lift their ruddy and full-seeded 

 heads ; thistles stand covered with down, like a 

 foam, ready at the lightest breeze to float away 

 to a thousand places ; and the grass of Parnassus 

 crowns the silent waste with its pure and classic 

 beauty. And who that has lived or sojourned 

 any part of his youth in the country has not 

 some delicious remembrances connected with 

 nutting? For me, those dim and vast woods, 

 whither our good schoolmaster conducted his 

 jolly troop of boys once in the season — those 

 rustling boughs amongst which we rushed and 



