It resembles one of those pictures in which the effect is gained by contrasted masses of light and shade, but each is more nicely mellowed and interfused with the qualities of the other than it lies within the resources of pictorial skill to effect.

Mirth has an undertone of gravity, and melancholy of cheerfulness.

There is no antagonism between the states of mind depicted; and no rational lover, whether of contemplation or of recreation, would find any difficulty in combining the two.

The limpidity of the diction is even more striking than its beauty.

Never were ideas of such dignity embodied in verse so easy and familiar, and with such apparent absence of effort.