THE GLEN. 271 



througli it may run along tlie upper part, or the 

 lower. Or, lastly, the rivulet may foam among 

 rocks ; or it may murmur among pebbles ; or it 

 may form transparent pools, overhung with 

 wood; or, which is often the case, it may be 

 totally invisible, and an object only of the ear. 



The most beautiful circumstances that attend 

 the internal parts of a glen are the glades, or 

 openings, which are found in it. If the whole 

 were a thicket, like the full-grown copse, little 

 beauty would result. An agreeable shade alone, 

 in that case, must satisfy our expectations. But 

 the glen, whose furniture is commonly of more 

 fortuitous growth than that of the copse, and not 

 so subject to periodical defalcations, exhibits, 

 generally, more beautiful scenery. Particularly it 

 abounds with frequent openings. The eye is 

 carried down, from the higher grounds, to a sweep 

 of the river — or to a little gushing cascade — or to 

 the face of a fractured rock, garnished with 

 hanging wood — or perhaps to a cottage, with its 

 scanty area of lawn falling to the river, on one 

 side, and sheltered by a clump of Oaks on the 

 other; while the smoke, wreathing behind the 



