SNOW-COVERED FOEBST. 91 



branches of an Apple-tree, on the upper side of 

 which — on every limb, bough, and twig — was 

 strewn the crystal whiteness. The air was 

 motionless, no wind having stirred to shake the 

 marvellous fabric. . And hence the reason why ; 

 the clustered snow-flakes had poised themselves 

 upon the highest, upright points of twigs, gathering 

 there into small white balls. 



But now, lifting our eyes forest-wards, we take 

 in, as the vision ranges over the distant stretch of 

 spreading woods, a scene of gathering splendour. 

 The foreground forms of Oak and Beech for a 

 moment attract attention to the rimy beauty of 

 their wintry boughs and twigs ; but looking on- 

 wards and outwards, where the woods rise one 

 over the other, our admiration culminates in the 

 magnificent prospect which is afforded by the mass 

 of snow*covered branches, presenting — ^though so 

 distant — not a confused glare of white, but an 

 appearance as of a vast sheet of fairy-like fret- 

 work, like that which would be produced if a 

 mist which had been hanging in the air and 

 obscuring the tree-heads from view had suddenly 

 been condensed and precipitated on the forest, 



