54 Gilpin's poeest scenery. 



brandies, instead of hanging loosely, often start 

 away in disagreeable forms. In short, the Ash 

 often loses that grandeur and beauty in old age, 

 ■which the generality of trees, and particularly the 

 Oak, preserve till a late period of their existence. 

 The Ash also, on another account, falls under 

 the displeasure of the picturesque eye. Its leaf 

 is much tenderer than that of the Oak, and 

 sooner receives impression from the winds, and 

 frost. Instead of contributing its tint, therefore, 

 in the wane of the year, among the many-coloured 

 offspring of the woods, it shrinks from the blast, 

 drops its leaf, and in each scene where it pre- 

 dominates, leaves wide blanks of desolated boughs, 

 amidst foliage yet fresh and verdant. Before its 

 decay, we sometimes see its leaf tinged with a 

 fine yellow, well contrasted with the neighbour- 

 ing greens. But this is one of Nature's casual 

 beauties. Much oftener its leaf decays in a dark, 

 muddy, unpleasing tint. And yet sometimes, 

 notwithstanding tliis early loss of its foliage, we 

 see the Ash, in a sheltered situation, when the 

 rains have been abundant and the season mild, 

 retain its green (a light pleasant green), when 



