The reverberation of the snow increases the pale daylight, and brings all objects nearer the eye.

The Pentlands are smooth and glittering, with here and there the black ribbon of a dry-stone dyke, and here and there, if there be wind, a cloud of blowing snow upon a shoulder.

The Firth seems a leaden creek, that a man might almost jump across, between well-powdered Lothian and well-powdered Fife.

And the effect is not, as in other cities, a thing of half a day; the streets are soon trodden black, but the country keeps its virgin white; and you have only to lift your eyes and look over miles of country snow.

An indescribable cheerfulness breathes about the city; and the well-fed heart sits lightly and beats gaily in the--bosom.