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productions of nature, to which winter is rather favourable
than unkindly, scattered over the walls, banks of earth,
rocks, and stones, and upon the trunks of trees, with the
intermixture of several species of small fern, now green and
fresh; and, to the observing passenger, their forms and
colours are a source of inexhaustible admiration. Add to
this the hoar-frost and snow, with all the varieties they
create, and which volumes would not be sufficient to
describe. I will content myself with one instance of the
colouring produced by snow, which may not be uninteresting
to painters. It is extracted from the memorandum-book of a
friend; and for its accuracy I can speak, having been an
eye-witness of the appearance. "I observed," says he, "the
beautiful effect of the drifted snow upon the mountains, and
the perfect tone of colour. From the top of the
mountains downwards a rich olive was produced by the powdery
snow and the grass, which olive was warmed with a little
brown, and in this way harmoniously combined, by insensible
gradations, with the white. The drifting took away the
monotony snow; and the whole vale of Grasmere, seen from the
terrace walk in Easedale, was as varied, perhaps more so,
than even in the pomp of autumn. In the distance was
Loughrigg-Fell, the basin-wall of the lake: this, from the
summit downward, was a rich orange-olive; then the lake of a
bright olive-green, nearly the same tint as the
snow-powdered mountain
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