344 



found more delight the ear \ X had Mened 

 each night, with rapture, to the folemn rever- 

 berations of the evening gun, and was quite 

 prepared to watch the effe£t of a more heavy 

 firing. It was fublime, and wanted only the 

 ftillnefs of evening, and the timid rays of the 

 moon to render it celeftial. Ifluing from the 

 cannon, it hung in murmurs among the 

 woods ; and being foftened by the water, 

 echoed in notes which thrilled the frame with 

 fenfations of delight ; indeed fo grand was the 

 eflfed, that one might almoft pardon the en- 

 thufiaft who fhould figh for an adion by 

 moonlight, in order to enjoy the foul-tranf- 

 porting echo of thefe wild and endlefs forefts. 

 On efcaping from the fort, the found feems 

 firft to crofs a part of the water, and rolls 

 Foftly through the ifland of trees, at the river's 

 mouth : from thence it traverfes the remain- 

 der of the wide ftream, and on reaching the 

 thick woods of the oppofite ftiore, it fuddenly 

 echoes, as if abruptly repulfed into the water. 

 Afterwards it breaks through the forefts, and 

 is heard in rumbling undulation, as if inter- 

 rupted in its courfe, till at length its awful 

 reverberations fteal their hollow way through 

 the diftant woods in heavy-rolling thunder* 



