AUTUMN. 
329 
more poetical word, dcr Lenz, for spring ; but the Germans, 
as we all know, have peculiar notions on the subject of gen- 
der, for they have made the sun feminine, and the moon 
masculine. The Spaniards have adopted the same words as 
the Italians, with the same genders — la 'prhnavera, el vermio 
or el estio, el otono, el invicino, spring alone being feminine. 
In French, we have them all masculine, strictly speaking, le loiin- 
temps, Vete, Vautomne, Vhiver ; but by one of the very few licenses 
permitted in French grammar, autumn occasionally becomes femi- 
nine, in a sense half poetical, half euphonical. Strictly speaking, we 
are taught that, with an adjective preceding it, autumn, in French, 
is always masculine. 
" Ou quand sur les coteaux le vigoureux Automne 
Etalait ses raisins dont Bacchus se couronne ;" 
while with the adjective coming after, it is feminine : " une 
automne delicieuse," says Madame de Sevignt-. But this rule is 
often neglected in verse, by the same writers who are quoted as 
authority for it, as we have seen in "la pale automne" of Delille ; 
the feeling and tact of the individual seem to decide the question ; 
and this is one of the very few instances in which such liberty is 
allowed to the French poet. As might be supposed, the variation 
becomes a grace ; and probably if something more of the same 
freedom were generally diffused through the language, the poetry 
of France would have more of that life and spirit Avhich is now 
chiefly confined to her greater writers in verse. In that case, we 
should have had more than one Lafontaine to delight us. 
In English, thanks to our neuter gender, ^oets are allowed to do 
as they choose in this matter ; and in many cases they have chosen 
to represent all three of the earlier seasons in a feminine form — 
