I. Culbert Sot

ELEN STALKER CASTLE.

MAJ

has endeavoured to delineate a feries of fcenes and incidents characteristic of a foreft, at different seasons of the year, intermingling a variety of moral reflections which the fubje& fuggefted. In this work, numerous defcriptions occur which poffefs all the beauties of this fpecies of compofition; in which indiftinct delineation and fatiguing minutenefs are equally avoided, and the living graces of the fcene pictured in glowing colours to the mind.

FOREST fcenery, which combines
in various proportions, the beau-
ty, the picturefque effect, the fub-
lime and melancholy grandeur of na-
tural objects, has always been con-
genial to the characters which dif-
play the most vivid traits of enthu-
fiafm, to the lover, the poet, and the
devotee. The union of the awful
ftillness with the weak murmuring
found of the fhivering leaves, the fhrill
finging of the breeze, the ftern mo-
tionless trunk rough with mofs, the
It confifts of fix Cantos.
wavering branches, and the varying The firit delineates the appearance
fhade, cherish the ftrongeft emotions, of a foreft in May, and characterizes
confine the current of thought, and in appropriate terms the different fpe-
prevent the mind from diffipating its cies of forest trees, of forest flowers,
attention on variety unconfined. I and of forest birds, and introduces a
was led to thefe reflections by the scene of charcoal burners employed in
perufal of Gisborne's Walks in a Fo- the foreft. In the following verfes
reft, in which the ingenious author the foreft trees are thus characterized:

Chief of the glade, the oak its foliage ftain'd,
With tender olive and pale brown protrudes.-
Even yet with ruddy spoils from autumn won,
Loaded, the beech its lengthened buds untwines.
Its knotted bloom fecur'd, the ash puts forth
Its winged leaf; the hawthorn wraps its boughs
In fnowy mantle, from the vivid greens

X 2
Thomas Gisborne, M. A.

That

That fhine around: the holly, Winter's pride,
Recedes abashed; the willow in yon vale,
Its filver lining to the breeze upturns ; 50
And ruftling afpens fhiver by the brook.-

In terms equally appropriate, the most remarkable species of forest flowers are defcribed.

Beneath the filver canopy, the ground

Glitters with flowery dyes; the primrose firft
Glitters with

In moffy dell returning fpring to greet:
Pilewort, that o'er her roots of old renown
Expands the radiance of her ftarry bloom:
Arum, that in a mantling hood conceals

Her fanguine club, and fpreads her fpotted leaf,
Arm'd with keen tortures for th' unwary tongue;
› Anemone, now rob'd in virgin white, oligolon

Now blufhing with faint crimson; fraudful fpurge,
£. That feeks in beauty's garb her fnares to hide,
In milky ftream her poifon veils ; her ftem
beIn ruddy man le wraps, and from a zone
Of dufky foliage elevates more bright
Her creft of gold: forrel, that hangs her cups,
Ere their frail form and streaky veins decay,
O'er her pale verdure, till parental care,
Inclines the fhort'ning ftems, and to the fhade
Of clofing leaves her infant race withdraws:
Orchis with crowded pyramids the bank
Purpling the harebell, as with grief depreft,
Bowing her fragrance: and the fcentlefs plant,
That with the violet's borrow'd form and hue
The unfkilful wanderer in the fhade deceives.

The e fecond Canto defcribes the affect of a fummer noon, upon the fcenery of a foreft, the blue haze tinging the diftant woods, the burners of fern engaged in their occupa. tions, and a foreft pool frequented by cattle.

སྙ ་ ེ་ ོང

"

In the third Canto, the effect of of evening and moonlight in the fame fcenery is delineated, and the hum of infects, the cries of nocturnal birds, and the prowling of the wild-cat in a British wood, contrafted with the horrors of an African foreft.

O wretched he, whom Senegambian fhades
Inclofe at eve! he, while a vault of fire

Smote on his brow, and scorched his gasping throat,
Day after day, through fandy oceans toiled,
Where death-like filence brooded o'er the wafte,]
And boundless space feem'd but a larger grave:
No fign that ever foot the burning earth
Had track'd, or life inhaled the vapoury fire,
Save when fome camel's bleaching ribs he past,
Or corfe of long-loft pilgrim parch'd to stone.
If to a bordering foreft, when the fun W
Kindles the well, his weary courfe draw nigh
Soon as the orb its last red crefcent dips,
At once the lion's desert shaking war,

The