agic, to diffuse a different charm over the scene. Now would the jovial
sun break gloriously from the east, blazing from the summits of the hills,
and sparkling the landscape with a thousand dewy gems; while along the
borders of the river were seen heavy masses of mist, which, like midnight
caitiffs, disturbed at his reproach, made a sluggish retreat, rolling in
sullen reluctance upon the mountains. As such times all was brightness,
and life, and gayety; the atmosphere was of an indescribable pureness and
transparency; the birds broke forth in wanton madrigals, and the
freshening breezes wafted the vessel merrily on her course. But when the
sun sunk amid a flood of glory in the west, mantling the heavens and the
earth with a thousand gorgeous dyes, then all was calm, and silent, and
magnificent. The late swelling sail hung lifelessly against the mast; the
seamen, with folded arms, leaned against the shrouds, lost in that
involuntary musing which the sober grandeur of nature commands in the
rudest of her children. The vast bosom of the Hudson was like an unruffled
mirror, reflecting the golden splendor of the heavens; excepting that now
and then a bark canoe would steal across its surface, filled with painted
savages, whose gay feathers glared brightly, as perchance a lingering ray
of the setting sun gleamed upon them from the western mountains.

But when the hour of twilight spread its majestic mists around, then did
the face of nature assume a thousand fugitive charms, which to the worthy
heart that seeks enjoyment in the glorious works of its Maker are
inexpressibly captivating. The mellow dubious light that prevailed just
served to tinge with illusive colors the softened features of the scenery.
The deceived but delighted eye sought vainly to discern, in the broad
masses of shade, the separating line between the land and water, or to
distinguish the fading objects that seemed sinking into chaos. Now did the
busy fancy supply the feebleness of vision, producing with industrious
craft a fairy creation of her own. Under her plastic wand the barren rocks
frowned upon the watery waste, in the semblance of lofty towers, and high
embattled castles; trees assumed the direful forms of mighty giants, and
the inaccessible summits of the mountains seemed peopled with a thousand
shadowy beings.

Now broke forth from the shores the notes of an innumerable variety of
insects, which filled the air with a strange but not inharmonious