EEi''ECT 01' THJi: SEASONS ON SCENERY. 343 



it is botli too vivid and too uniform for the 

 pencil. 



The reign of Summer scarcely endures three 

 months. The leaves, within that period, begin to 

 change their hue, and give way to Autumn, which 

 presents an appearance much more picturesque, 

 and, indeed, the most replete with incidental heauty 

 of any season of the year. This is so evident, 

 that painters have chosen the Autumn, with almost 

 universal predilection, as the season of landscape. 

 The leafy surface of the forest is, at that time, so 

 varied, and the masses of foliage are yet so full, 

 that they allow the artist great latitude in pro- 

 ducing his tints, without injuring the breadth of 



his lights. 



' The fading, many-coloured woods, 

 Shade deepening over shade, the country round 

 Imbrown ; a varied umhrage, dusk and dun. 

 Of every hue, from wan, declining green, 

 To sooty dark.' 



Yet the Autumn, in its wane, is not so pleasing. 

 It has too forlorn an aspect. The leaves are 

 withered, and their tufts shrivelled and shapeless. 

 This remark, however, affects trees only at hand. 

 The home plantation suffers where you walk so 



