SOENEBy AFEECTED BY THE WEATHBE. 323 



atmosphere. Among lakes and mountains, tliis 

 happy accompaniment often forms the most asto- 

 nishing visions ; and yet, in the forest, it is nearly 

 as great. With what delightful effect do we 

 sometimes see the sun's disc just appear above a 

 woody hill ; or, in Shakespeare's language, — 



'Stand tiptoe on the misty mountain's top/ 



and dart his diverging rays through the rising 

 vapour. The radiance, catching the tops of the 

 trees as they hang midway upon the shaggy 

 steep, and touching, here and there, a few other 

 prominent objects, imperceptibly mixes its ruddy 

 tint with the surrounding mists, setting on fire, 

 as it were, their upper parts, while their lower 

 sku-ts are lost in a dark mass of varied confusion, 

 in which trees, and ground, and radiance, and 

 obscurity are all blended together. When the 

 eye is fortunate enough to catch the glowing 

 instant (for it is always a vanishing scene), it 

 furnishes an idea worth treasuring among the 

 choicest appearances of Nature. Mistiness alone, 

 we have observed, occasions a confusion in 

 objects which is often picturesque ; but the glory 



