30
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Thus, his characteristic description of forest trees, may be compared with that of Gisborne in his Walks in a Forest:
Chief of the glade, the oak, its foliage stained
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 secured, the ash puts forth
Its winged leaf; the hawthorn wraps its boughs
In snowy mantle; from the vivid greens
That shine around, the holly, winter's pride,
Recedes abashed; the willow, in yon vale,
Its silver lining to the breeze upturns;
And rustling aspens shiver by the brook.
Gisborne
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 secured, the ash puts forth
Its winged leaf; the hawthorn wraps its boughs
In snowy mantle; from the vivid greens
That shine around, the holly, winter's pride,
Recedes abashed; the willow, in yon vale,
Its silver lining to the breeze upturns;
And rustling aspens shiver by the brook.
Gisborne
How wide his arms the stately ash extends;
The plane's thick head mid burning day suspends
Impenetrable shade; bees humming pour
O'er the broad balmy leaves, and suck the flower.
Green shoots the fir his spiry point on high;
And fluttering leaves on trembling aspens sigh.
With haughtier air behold the oak ascend,
Too proud before an angry heaven to bend;
His leaves unshaken, winter's force defy;
He shades a field, and heaves a wood on high;
Glories in stubborn strength when tempests roar,
And scorns to yield, save to the thunder's power.
Wilson.
The plane's thick head mid burning day suspends
Impenetrable shade; bees humming pour
O'er the broad balmy leaves, and suck the flower.
Green shoots the fir his spiry point on high;
And fluttering leaves on trembling aspens sigh.
With haughtier air behold the oak ascend,
Too proud before an angry heaven to bend;
His leaves unshaken, winter's force defy;
He shades a field, and heaves a wood on high;
Glories in stubborn strength when tempests roar,
And scorns to yield, save to the thunder's power.
Wilson.
In the localities of description, where the subject admits of vivid contrast or picturesque delineation,
