332 Gilpin's forest scenery. 



lengthened gleam amidst the gloom of the woods 

 which surround it : but this can only be had in 

 the outskirts of the forest. Sometimes, also, we 

 find in its internal parts, though hardly in its 

 deep recesses, splendid lights, here and there, 

 catching the foliage, and running among the 

 branches which, though in Nature generally too 

 scattered to produce an effect, yet if judiciously 

 collected, may be beautiful on canvas. 



We sometimes, also, see in a woody scene, co- 

 ruscations, like a bright star, occasioned by a sun- 

 beam darting through an eyelet-hole among the 

 leaves. Many painters, and especially Eubens, 

 have been fond of introducing this radiant spot 

 in their landscapes. But, in painting, it is one of 

 those trifles, which produces no effect. In poetry, 

 indeed, it may produce a pleasing image. Shake- 

 speare has introduced it beautifully, where, speak- 

 ing of the force of truth entering a guilty 

 conscience, he compares it to the sun, which 



' Eires the proud tops of the eastern Pines, 

 And darts his light through every guilty hole.' 



It is one of those circumstances, which poetry 



