fect crimson, or, more definitely, the red of the prismatic image.

There is, however, a sensible difference in the beauty of this appearance of nature in different parts of the country, even when the forest-trees are the same. I have seen no tract where its splendor was so highly finished, as in the region which surrounds Lancaster for a distance of thirty miles. The colors are more varied and more intense; and the numerous evergreens furnish, in their deep hues, the best groundwork of the picture.

I have remarked, that the annual foliage on these mountains had been already changed by the frost. Of course, the darkness 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 effects of this universal diffusion of gay and splendid light was, to render the preponderating deep-green more solemn. The mind, encircled by this scenery, irresistibly remembered that the light was the light of decay, autumnal and melancholy. The dark was the gloom of evening, approximating to night. Over the whole, the azure of the sky cast a deep, misty blue; blending, towards the summit, every other hue, and predominating over all.

As the eye ascended these steeps, the light diminished, 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 surface was covered with a mass of shrubs, terminating, at a still higher elevation, in a shroud of dark-colored moss.

As we passed onward through this singular valley, occasional torrents, formed by the rains and dissolving snows at the close of winter, had left behind them, in many places, perpetual monuments of their progress, in perpendicular, narrow, and irregular paths of immense length, where they had washed the precipices naked and white, from the summit of

the mountain to the base. Wide and deep chasms also met the eye, both on the summits and the sides, and strongly impressed the imagination with the thought, that a hand of immeasurable power had rent asunder the solid rocks, and tumbled them into the subjacent valley. Over all, hoary cliffs, rising with proud supremacy, frowned awfully on the world below, and finished the landscape.

By our side, the Saco was alternately seen and lost, and increased, almost at every step, by the junction of tributary streams. Its course was a perpetual cascade, and with its sprightly murmurs furnished the only contrast to the scenery around us.

LESSON CXIV.

The Garden of Eden. MILTON.

SOUTHWARD through Eden went a river large,
Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill
Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown
That mountain as his garden-mound high raised
Upon the rapid current, which, through veins
Of porous earth with kindly thirst updrawn,
Rose a fresh mountain, and with many a rill
Watered the garden; thence united fell
Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
Which from his darksome passage now appears;
And now, divided into four main streams,
Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
And country, whereof here needs no account;
But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
How from that sapphire fount the crispéd brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold

With mazy error under pendent shades
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice Art
In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon
Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the unpierced shade
Imbrowned the noontide bowers: thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view;

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others, whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,

*

If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap

Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose :
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grapes, and gently creeps
Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
That to the fringéd bank with myrtle crowned
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,t
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring.

*Hesperian fables, fables respecting the gardens of the Hesperides, in which the apples were said to be of gold.

+ Pan, the god of the country, or of nature, in the ancient mythologies.

LESSON CXV.

The Sage. BEATTIE

Ar early dawn a youth his journey took,

And many a mountain passed and valley wide,
Then reached the wild, where, in a flowery nook,
And seated on a mossy stone, he spied

An ancient man; his harp lay him beside:
A stag sprang from the pasture at his call,
And, kneeling, licked the withered hand that tied
A wreath of woodbine round his antlers tall,
And hung his lofty neck with many a floweret small.

And now the hoary sage arose, and saw

The wanderer approaching; innocence

Smiled on his glowing cheek, but modest awe Depressed his eye, that feared to give offence. "Who art thou, courteous stranger? and from whence ? Why roam thy steps to this sequestered dale?" "A shepherd boy," the youth replied, "far hence My habitation; hear my artless tale,

Nor levity nor falsehood shall thine ear assail.

"Late as I roamed, intent on Nature's charms,
I reached at eve this wilderness profound,
And, leaning where yon oak expands her arms,
Heard these rude cliffs thine awful voice rebound,
(For in thy speech I recognized the sound.)

You mourned for ruined man, and virtue lost,
And seemed to feel of keen remorse the wound,
Pondering on former days by guilt engrossed,
in the giddy storm of dissipation tossed.

"But say, in courtly life can craft be learned, Where knowledge opens and exalts the soul? Where Fortune lavishes her gifts unearned,

Can selfishness the liberal heart control ?
Is glory there achieved by arts as foul

As those that felons, fiends, and furies plan?
Spiders insnare, snakes poison, tigers prowl:
Love is the godlike attribute of man!
O, teach a simple youth this mystery to scan.

"Or else the lamentable strain disclaim,

And give me back the calm, contented mind, Which, late, exulting, viewed in Nature's frame, Goodness untainted, wisdom unconfined, Grace, grandeur, and utility combined;

Restore those tranquil days, that saw me still Well pleased with all, but most with human kind; When fancy roamed through Nature's works at will, Unchecked by cold distrust, and uninformed of ill."

"Wouldst thou," the sage replied, "in peace return
To the gay dreams of fond, romantic youth,
Leave me to hide, in this remote sojourn,
From every gentle ear the dreadful truth:
For if my desultory strain with ruth

And indignation made thine eyes o'erflow,
Alas! what comfort could thy anguish soothe,

Shouldst thou th' extent of human folly know! Be ignorance thy choice, where knowledge leads to woe.

“But let untender thoughts afar be driven,

Nor venture to arraign the dread decree; For know, to man, as candidate for heaven,

The voice of the Eternal said, ' Be free;' And this divine prerogative to thee