308 DECEMBER. 



thusiasm of composition, the glow of fancied 

 achievement. And all is not lost ; 



The following year another race supplies, 

 They fall successive, and successive rise. 



The heavens present one of the most pro- 

 minent and splendid beauties of winter. The 

 long and total absence of the sun's light, and 

 the transparent purity of a frosty atmosphere, 

 give an apparent elevation to the celestial con- 

 cave, and a rich depth and intensity of azure, in 

 which the stars burn with resplendent beauty ; 

 the galaxy stretches its albescent glow athwart 

 the northern sky, and the moon in her monthly 

 track sails amongst the glittering constellations 

 with a more queenly grace; sometimes without 

 the visitation of a single cloud, and, at others, 

 sc uning to catch from their wind-winged speed 

 an accelerated motion of her own. It is a spec- 

 tacle of which the contemplative eye is never 

 weaiy ; though it is one, of all others, which fills 

 the mind with feelings of the immensity of the 

 universe, of the tremendous power of its Creator, 

 and of the insignificance of self. A breathing 

 atom, a speck even, upon the surface of a world 

 which is itself a speck in the universal world, we 

 send our imagination forth amongst innumerable 

 orbs, all stupendous in magnitude, all swarming 

 with existence, vainly striving to reach the 

 boundaries of space, till, astonished and con- 



