THE HUDSON.

21:

steamer Thomas Poicell, and at that hour the deep green of the foreground was fading higher up into a mingled colour of olive and pink, and softening into delicate purple, while the rocky summit of the Storm King cast over the whole the reflected effulgence of a brilliant evening sunlight. In this isolated spot among the mountains, Joseph Eodman Drake, whilst rambling alone many years ago, wrote con amore his beautiful poem.

"The Culprit Fay, dance : --

in which he thus summoned the fairies to a

' Ouphe and goblin ! imp and sprite !

Elf of eve and stan-y fay ! Ye that love the moon's soft light,

Hither, hither, wend your way. Twine ye in a jocund ring ;

Sing and trip it mereily ; Hand to hand, and wing to wing.

Round the wild witch-hazel tree,'

Whilst at the landing-place at Mr. Lambertson's, one of those black

THE HUDSON.

electrical clouds, which frequently gather suddenly among the Highlands during the heats of July and August, came up from the west, obscured the sun, hovered upon the summit of the Storm King a few minutes, and then passed eastward, giving out only a few drops of rain where I stood, but casting down torrents in Newburgh Bay, accompanied by shafts of forked lightning and heavy peals of thunder. There was a perfect calm while the darkness brooded. Not a vessel was in sight, and no living thing was visible, except the white sea-gulls, which seem to be always on the