220 MENTIONED BY SHAKSPEARE AND HOGG. 



he accosts his father, after his supposed leap from 

 that 



" Cliff, whose hig:h and bending head 

 Looks fearfully on the confined deep." — 



" Had'st thou been aught but gossamer, feather, air. 

 So many fathom down precipitating. 

 Thou had'st shiver'd like an egg." 



Lear, Act IV. So. VI. 



In both instances, it is expressive of extreme light- 

 ness. In the same manner, is is used by Hogg, in 

 the " Queen's Wake :" — 



"Light as the fumes of fervid wine, 

 Or foam belts floating on the brine, 

 The gossamers in air that sail. 

 Or down that dances in the gale." 



And the same poet has introduced it as a vehicle fit 

 for the fairy bands, which he describes as 



" sailing mid the golden air 



In skiffs of yielding gossamer." 



Thus, beautiful in its appearance, and rich in poetic 

 associations, the " restless gossamer"* comes recom- 

 mended to our notice, and courting our inquiry. 

 But the subject is still involved in obscurity, and is 

 one of those in which your own personal observation 

 might solve many doubts, and explain many diffi- 

 culties. Two opposite opinions respecting it have 

 been ably advocated by authors, both of whom are 

 * Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner." 



