an American forest. When I was a youth, I remarked that 

 Thomson had entirely omitted, in his Seasons, this fine part 

 of autumnal imagery. Upon inquiring of an English gentle- 

 man the probable cause of the omission, he informed me, that 

 no such scenery existed in Great Britain. In this country 

 it is often among the most splendid beauties of nature. All 

 the leaves of trees, which are not evergreens, are by the first 

 severe frost changed from their verdure towards the perfec- 

 tion of that colour which they are capable of ultimately assum- 

 ing, through yellow, orange, and red, to a pretty deep brown. 

 As the frost affects different trees, and the different leaves of 

 the same tree, in very different degrees, a vast multitude of 

 tinctures are commonly found on those of a single tree, and 

 always on those of a grove or forest. These colours, also, in 

 all their varieties are generally full ; and in many instances are 

 among the most exquisite which are found in the regions of 

 nature. Different sorts of trees are susceptible of different 

 degrees of this beauty. Among them the maple is pre-eminently 

 distinguishd by the prodigious varieties, the finished beauty, 

 and the intense lustre of its hues; varying through all the 

 dyes, between a rich green and the most perfect crimson, or, 

 more definitely, the red of the prismatic image. 



I have remarked that the annual foliage on these mountains 

 had been already changed by the frost. Of course, the dark- 

 ness of the evergreens was finely illumined by the brilliant 

 yellow of the birch, the beech, and the cherry, and the more 

 brilliant orange and crimson of the maple. The effect of this 

 universal diffusion of gay and splendid light was to render the 

 preponderating deep green more solemn. The dark was the 

 gloom of evening, approximating to night. Over the whole, 

 the azure of the sky cast a deep, misty blue, blending toward 

 the summits every other hue, and predominating over all. 



As the eye ascended these steeps, the light decayed, and 

 gradually ceased. On the inferior summits rose crowns of 

 conical firs and spruces. On the superior eminences, the 

 trees, growing less and less, yielded to the chilling atmosphere, 

 and marked the limit of forest vegetation. Above, the sur- 



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