----On the broad sky is seen “A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow Conspicuous, with seven listed colours gay Betokening peace with God and covenant new.-- He gives a promise never to destroy The earth again by flood, nor let the sea Surpass his bounds, nor rain to drown the world.” _Milton. Par. Lost, Book XI._
SECT. 4.--REFLECTIONS ON THE BEAUTY AND UTILITY OF COLOURS.
Colour is one of the properties of light which constitutes, chiefly, the beauty and sublimity of the universe. It is colour, in all its diversified shades, which presents to our view that almost infinite variety of aspect which appears on the scene of nature, which gives delight to the eye and the imagination, and which adds a fresh pleasure to every new landscape we behold. Every flower which decks our fields and gardens is compounded of different hues; every plain is covered with shrubs and trees of different degrees of verdure; and almost every mountain is clothed with herbs and grass of different shade from those which appear on the hills and landscape with which it is surrounded. In the country, during summer, nature is every day, and almost every hour, varying her appearance, by the multitude and variety of her hues and decorations, so that the eye wanders with pleasure over objects continually diversified, and extending as far as the sight can reach. In the flowers with which every landscape is adorned, what a lovely assemblage of colours, and what a wonderful art in the disposition of their shades! Here, a light pencil seems to have laid on the delicate tints; there, they are blended according to the nicest rules of art. Although green is the general colour which prevails over the scene of sublunary nature, yet it is diversified by a thousand different shades, so that every species of tree, shrub and herb, is clothed with its own peculiar verdure. The dark green of the forests is thus easily distinguished from the lighter shades of cornfields and the verdure of the lawns. The system of animated nature likewise, displays a diversified assemblage of beautiful colours. The plumage of birds, the brilliant feathers of the peacock, the ruby and emerald hues which adorn the little humming-bird, and the various embellishments of many species of the insect tribe, present to the eye, in every region of the globe, a scene of diversified beauty and embellishment. Nor is the mineral kingdom destitute of such embellishments. For some of the darkest and most unshapely stones and pebbles, when polished by the hand of art, display a mixture of the most delicate and variegated colours. All which beauties and varieties in the scene around us are entirely owing to that property, in every ray of light, by which it is capable of being separated into the primitive colours.