a mirror; and a mirror which gives a 

 peculiar freshness and tenderness to the 

 colours it reflects : it softens the stronger 

 lights, though the lucid veil it throws over 

 them seems hardly to diminish their brilli- 

 ancy ; and gives breadth, and often depth, 

 to the shadows, while from its glassy sur- 

 face they gain a peculiar look of transpa- 

 rency. These beautiful and varied effects, 

 however, are chiefly produced by the near 

 objects ; by trees and bushes immediately 

 on the banks; by those which hang over 

 the water, and form dark coves beneath 

 their branches ; by various tints of the soil 

 •where the ground is broken ; by roots, and 

 old trunks of trees; by tussucks of rushes*, 

 and by large stones that are partly whiten- 

 ed by the air, and partly covered with 

 mosses, lychens, and weather-stains ; while 

 the soft tufts of grass, and the smooth ver- 

 dure of meadows with which they are 

 intermixed, appear a thousand times more 

 sjoft, smooth, and verdant by such contrasts.. 



But to produce reflections there must* 

 be objects; for according to a maxim 1 



