beams descend on the scene, and illuminate it with her broad sheet of silver light, another transformation may be witnessed. The tops of the trees

appear to be embossed with pure gold; pearls and amethysts seem strewed about in the greatest profusion; the green-sward, with the skill of a cameleon, is arrayed in virgin whiteness, and, when contrasted with the sober gloom of the shadow of the trees, and associated with the other beauties which surround it, produces one of the most delightful specimens of Winter-scenery that imagination can conceive.

In Summer the Meteorological phenomena of this country are no less brilliant and wonderful. During the months of June, July and August, the Aurora Borealis illumines our skies, our woods, our fields, our dwellings, and, I think I might say, our very souls: For no man, who is not insensible to the last degree, can possibly resist the influence which such a phenomenon is calculated to exercise over the mind of the enchanted spectator. We are generally apprised of its appearance by the crackling, hissing noise which it makes. The clouds which rest on the Eastern horizon, begin to explode, first from the North and then from the South; they flash from one extremity of the heavens to the other; and, spreading wide their blazes, meet in the centre, where they appear to rest for a moment, and then suddenly dart from each other with the swiftness of lightning. They exhibit every variety of shade, from the deepest crimson to the palest yellow.

Although the flashes have at first a trifling appearance, they generally increase in size till the whole sky from the North, East and South, to the vertical centre of the concave, is covered as with the blaze of fire-works. I have frequently sat in the open fields, to watch the ever-varying motions of this singular phenomenon. Its appearance is grandly sublime; and, in the absence of the different orbs of light which hang in the firmament of Heaven, conveys to my imagination some faint idea of the glory that shall be revealed, when

Sun, and moon, and stars decay,

And time this earth itself removes ;

and when those who, by the mercy of God, have escaped from destruction, shall live in that place of which St. John has given this beautiful description: "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine on it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb was the light thereof."

The remarkable meteorological phenomena, of which I subjoin an interesting account from the Montreal Herald, occurred at a period when I did not reside in that city:

"The astonishing appearances which the past week has exhibited, will make it long remembered by the inhabitants of this district; and Tuesday last will be classed by after ages with the celebrated dark Sunday which happened in 1785. A series of awful events have occurred, equally impressive to the mind of the illi

terate and the learned. While the former viewed these events as they passed, and with a mixture of dread and veneration, saw in them the immediate interposition of Him who rides on the whirlwind and directs the storm;' the latter felt his mind recoil back in itself, and tremble at its own nothingness. All his best-established facts, his first principles, and his long train of causes and effects were totally inadequate to explain the aberrations from the usual course of nature which he saw passing before him.

"The first unusual appearance which attracted general notice, happened on Sunday last. The morning was remarkably dark for the season; and about eight o'clock A. M. the whole atmosphere appeared covered with a thick cloud or haze of a dingy orange colour. The wind was light from N. N. W. and seemed incapable of dispelling the heavy yapour which floated in the sky. A little before nine o'clock, a shower of rain fell, of a dark inky colour, and apparently much impregnated with some black substance resembling soot or fine ashes. This, for the time, seemed to account for the singular appearance of the heavens. It was conjectured, a voleano had broke out in in some distant quarter, and the ashes from the eruption floating in the cloud gave it the unnatural colour. During the day the weather cleared, the sky assumed its natural aspect, and the afternoon became seasonably pleasant.

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Tuesday was a day that set anxiety on the rack,

and put conjecture at defiance. The morning opened with a clear serene sky; a gentle breeze from the North-west, and a smart frost during the night, led us to anticipate a day fitted for business or amusement. About ten o'clock A. M. the wind became variable, veering round to the Westward, and again becoming more Northerly. A heavy damp vapour seemed to envelope the whole city, and the appearance of the atmosphere indicated rain. As the forenoon advanced, the sky became more and more surcharged with dense clouds: the darkness increased to such a degree, that by twelve and one o'clock it became necessary to light candles in all the public offices in town; and even in the butchers' stalls in the market-place, they were found indispensably necessary. The darkness still continued to increase, and, with it, there appeared a general dread, as to what might be the result, pervading every countenance. But although the darkness went on augmenting, it was not uniform in its progress. At times a white silver-coloured stream of light seemed for the moment to penetrate the dense atmosphere, and for a few seconds appeared as if clearing away.

"It was during these periods, the aspect of the heavens was most striking to an attentive observer. The deadly pale light which came for the instant, as if to cheat our hopes and mock our feelings, seemed, by being refracted through the cloud, to proceed from a stratum between it and the earth; and the blackened colour of the air, viewed through VOL. I.

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this luminous sub-stratum presented a spectacle awful and grand in the extreme. The general

dread seemed now to have reached its climax ; all ; viewed the phenomenon as connected with some great convulsion of nature, but whether the precursor or follower of such an event, none could tell. A little before two o'clock there was a slight shock of an earthquake distinctly félt in different parts of the city, accompanied with a noise resembling the discharge of a distant piece of artillery. As the attention of all classes was closely rivetted on the more impressive aspect of the sky, but little notice was paid to the shock. The increasing gloom engrossed the attention of all, and every thing else gave way to the awful expectation of what might be the conclusion. About twenty minutes past three o'clock, after the darkness had gradually increased and seemed at that moment to have attained its greatest depth, the whole city was instantaneously illuminated by one of the most vivid flashes of lightning ever witnessed in Montreal. This was suddenly followed by an awful peal of thunder, so loud and near as to shake the strongest buildings to their foundation.

"The proximity of the thunder, and the violence of the concussion, impressed many people with the belief that a second earthquake had happened. If this was the case, it must have been at the same instant with the thunder and not distinguishable from it; but we are of opinion that the vibratory motion felt was altogether owing to the vicinity of