A Hill apparently Enlarged. | 39 
few yards further, somehow it seemed singular that 
the great elevation of this down should never previously 
have been so apparent. In short, growing curious in 
the matter, I returned to the gap and looked again. 
There was no mistake : there was the down rising 
up against the sky—a huge dusky mountainous hill, 
exactly the same in outline as I remembered it, quite 
familiar, and yet entirely strange. There was the old 
barn near the foot of the slope ; above it the black 
line of a low hedge and mound; on the summit the 
same old clump of trees ; and lastly, a tall column of 
black smoke rising upwards, as if from a steam plough 
at work. It was all just the same, but lifted up into 
the air—the hill grown into a mountain. A second 
and longer gaze failed to discover the explanation of 
the apparition: the eye was completely deceived, and 
yet the mind was not satisfied. But upon getting up 
into the gap of the hedge, so as to obtain a better view 
from the mound, the cause of the illusion was at once 
visible. ° 
Looking through the gap was like looking through 
a narrow window, only a short section of the hill 
being within sight ; from the elevation of the mound 
the whole range of hills could be seen at the same 
time. Then it became immediately apparent.that on 
either side of this great mountain the continuation of 
the down right and left remained still at its former 
level. Upon the central hill a cloud was resting, and 
had for the time taken its exact shape. The ridge 
