WIMTEY OUTLOOKS. ii 



Yet in the same poem lie conveys the idea of 

 Winter as presented to the intellectual mind : — 



' All !N"ature feels tte renovating force, 

 Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye 

 In min seen. The'frost-cofitracted glebe 

 Draws in abundant vegetable soul, 

 And gathers vigour for the coming year. 

 A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek 

 Of ruddy fire ; and luculent along 

 The purer rivers flow : their sullen deeps, 

 Transparent,, open to the shepherd's gaze 

 And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost.' 



But even here it is the phj'sical benefits con- 

 ferred by Winter, and not its scenic bfiautyj that 

 stress is laid upon : and our poets have mostly 

 waxed eloquent upon the ' dread ' and ' chill ' 

 aspect of the dead season, Oowper paints a 

 terrible picture, yet fringes it with silvef in 

 the last two of the following lines : — 



' Oh, Winter ! ruler of the inverted year, 

 Thy scatter'd hair with sleet-like ashes fill'd, 

 Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks 

 Fringed with a beard made white with other snows 

 Than those of age ; thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds, 

 A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne 

 A sliding car indebted to' no wheels. 



