OCTOBER. 277 



them become to him as superb temples, filling 

 him with a desire 



To contemplate and worship him whose mind 



Stirs in the stilly night-like solitude, 



Or breathes in whispers, on the gentle wind, 



Through vast cathedral groves and leaves a calm behind. 



MlLLHOUSE. 



And what author, ancient or modern, has not 

 expressed his sense of their beauty by employ- 

 ing them as figures of whatever is rich, flourish- 

 ing and pleasant ? In spring when they are in 

 the delicacy of their pride, in summer when 

 they are shadowy and aromatic, in the last 

 splendour of autumn, or when winter robs them 

 of their foliage, but brings to light what summer 

 has concealed, the under-work and tracery of 

 their branches ; in each and all, are tree? and 

 woods inspiring and delightful. 



It is in this month, however, that woods may 

 be pronounced most beautiful. Towards the 

 end of it, what is called the fading of the leaf 

 but what might more fitly be termed the kin- 

 dling, or tinting of the leaf, presents a magni- 

 ficent spectacle. Every species of tree, so beau- 

 tifully varied in its general character, the sil- 

 ver-stemmed and pensile-branched birch, the 

 tall smooth beech, the wide-spreading oak and 

 chesnut, each developes its own florid hue of 



