WATER SCENERY. 263 



perpetual delight must be led by the gentle river god- 

 dess, as she is wafted up and down the stream in her 

 shallop of reeds! Now coursing along under banks 

 sprinkled all over with honeysuckles, while their fra- 

 grance follows the current of the stream, to entice the 

 bees and other insects to their fragrant flower-cups ; 

 then passing through a pleasant forest where she is re- 

 galed by the terebinthine odor of pines mingled with 

 that of flowering lindens, whose branches resound all 

 day with the hum of insects and the warbling of birds ; 

 every green bank offers to her hand a profusion of wild 

 strawberries, and every rocky declivity hangs its bram- 

 bles over the stream, and tempts her with delicate clus- 

 ters of raspberries, and other delicious fruits. How, 

 if she takes pleasure in the happiness of human beings, 

 must she be charmed by witnessing the plenty which is 

 everywhere diffused by the crystal waters of her own 

 stream ; the countless farms rendered fertile and pro- 

 ductive though its agency; the numerous mill seats 

 that derive their power from its falls and rapids, and 

 gather the industrious inhabitants in smiling hamlets 

 upon its banks! A river, when pursuing its winding 

 course along the plain, alternately appearing and dis- 

 appearing among the hills and woods, suggests the idea 

 of a pleasant journey, and is peculiarly emblematical of 

 human progress. It always seems to me that it must 

 conduct one to some happier region, and that if I 

 traced it to its source, I should be led into the very 

 temple of the Naiads ! 



With the different forms of water are associated 

 nearly all the pleasant images of rural life. To one 

 who is tired of his busy employments in the city, a 

 rural retreat is like a cool breeze to the traveller in a 

 sultry desert. A little arbor, that overlooks a river, a 



