4 



INTRODUCTION. 



dog-rose^ with the blue-bloomed sloe and the 

 prolific blackberry, shew that the flowering 

 season is indeed over, but that more substan- 

 tial blessings have succeeded. Stores of win- 

 ter food are thus provided for the birds, when 

 the corn-seeds are all picked up, and when the 

 insect tribes have retired to their hidden re- 

 cesses, or lie not less secure in their aurelise en- 

 velopements. The gossamer lingers and throws 

 its fine and wavy lines across our path ; frail, 

 and almost viewless threads, they impede no 

 irore than do the shades in which they lie 

 unseen, or the sunbeams in which anon they 

 glisten. 



And Winter, stern and severe as its charac- 

 ter is, has an elegance and beauty peculiar to 

 itself. Many an evergreen dots the wood with 

 its dark foliage ; the brow^n leaves of the ilex 

 oak, shew but sad remains of former orna- 



