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The surface of the lake offers itself last to
observation. The several incidents, which arise here, are
all owing to the sky, and the disposition of the water to
receive it's impression.
That the sky is the great regulator of the colour of
the water, is known to all artists.
Olli caeruleus supra caput astitit imber,
Noctem hyememque ferens: et inhorruit unda
tenebris.
And again
Jamque rubesebat radiis mare, et athere ab alto
Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis.
The effect indeed holds universally; as water in all cases,
exposed to the sky, will act as a mirror to it.
In the darkness of a brooding storm, we have just seen, the
whole body of the water will be dark: inhorruit
unda tenebris.
In clear, in windy weather, the breezy ruffled lake,
as Thomson calls it, is a shattered mirror: It reflects the
serenity; but reflects it partially. the hollow of each wave
is commonly in shadow, the summit is tipped with light. The
light or shadow therefore prevails, according to the
position of the waves to the
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