4 SYLVAN WIJSTER. 



an idea of the dead season is conveyed in a manner 

 whicli suggests the simpler notion of desolation 

 in its abstract form. Barnard admirably conveys 

 the general idea in the lines : — 



' The dead leaves strew the forest-walk, 



' And wither'd are the pale wild flowers ; 

 The frost hangs hlackening on the stalk, 

 The dew-drops fall in frozen showers ; 

 Gone are the spring's green sprouting bovvers, 



Gone, summer's rich and mantling ^•ines ; 

 And autumn, with her yellow hours, 

 On hill and plain no longer shines.' 



To those who view Nature from a distant 

 outlook, and regard her with cold and unsympa- 

 thetic eyes, Winter is doubtless presented under 

 an aspect like that of a desert, or of a barren 

 moorland held under the chill grip of all-per- 

 vading cold^a region given up to hfelessness 

 and gloom. 



Thomson, in his ' Winter,' expresses the same 

 idea when he says ;— 



' Dread Winter spreads his latest glooms, 

 And rpigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year. 

 How dread the vegetable kingdom lies : 

 ^ How dumb the tuneful : Horror wide extends 



His desolate domain.' 



