The Sun.
London, England, 1810-01-09 00:00:00

WINTER iN THE NORTH OF GERI:I4.I\Y.

The whole lake of Ratzeburgh is one mass of
thick transparent ice s ,a spotless mirror. of nine
miles in extent The lowness of the hills, .which
rise from the shores of the lake,.preclude the awful
sublimity of Alpine scenery, yet compensate for the
Avant of it by beauties; of which this very lowness is
a necessary condition. , Yesterday morning 1 saw
the lesser lake completely hidden by mist ; but the
moment the sum peeped over the hill, the, mist
broke in the Middle, and in a tew seconds stond.dis
vided, leaving a broad road ail across the lake; and
between theSe two walls of mist the.sun light burnt
upon the ice, fnining a road of golden fire, intoler-
ably bright, and the Mist wails themselves partook
of the blaze, in a multitude of shining colours.
This is our second frost. About a month ago, be-
f;sre the thaw came on, there was astorm of wind; ,
during the whole night, such were the thunders and
howlings of the breaking, ice, that they have left. a
convietion'on my mind, that there.are, sounds more
sublime than any tight can be, more absolutely sus-
pending the power of comparison, and more utter-
ly absorbing the mind's self consciousness in its total
attention to the objedt working upon it. ~Part-`'Of
the ice which the vehernenCe of the wind had shat-
tered, was-driven shore-ward, and froi'e anew. On
the evening of :he next day, at sun-set, the fraEtur7
ed ice thus frozen, appeared of a deep blue, and in
shape like an agitated sea; beyond this, the water,
,that ran up between the great islands of ice which
hall preserred their masses entire arc' smooth„lshone
°fa yellow green ;• hut all these shattered ice islanda
themselves were of an intensely bright bloisd co-
lour; they seemed-blood and light in un'on ! -On
some of the largest of these islands, the fishermen
stood pulling out their immense, nets throtigh
the holes made in the ice for this purpose,
and the 'men, their net poles, and their huge
,nets were a part of the glory; say rather, it ap-
peared as
,if elle rich crimson light had shaped
itself into these forms, figures, and attitudes, .to
make a glorious vision in mbekery Of earthly things.
The lower lake is now all alive with'skaiters, and
with , ladies driven onward by them in their ice
cars: Mercury surely was the first Maker of skaits,
and the wings at his feet are symbols of the inven-
tion. In skaiting, there are duce' pleasing circum-
stances; the infinitely subtle particles of ice Which
the skaits cuts up, and which. Creep and run before
the skait like a low mist, and in sun-rise or sun-
set , become colOured ;, second, the shadow of the
skaiter in the water, seen through the transparent ice;
and, 'third, the melancholy undulating sound from
the skait, not without variety; and when
.very
many are skaiting together, the sounds and the.
noises give .an impulse to the icy trees, and the
woods all around the lake trinkle !—(Coittriage's
Friend.)

Saturday as two persons belonging to the, suite, of
the Persian Ambassador were walking down Hol-
born-hill, habited in the costume of Persia; a crowd
assembled, and one man behaved in a most indecent
way, by smacking a large cart-whip. over the heads,
of the foreigners. The ofi-ender was instantly at-
tacked by a coachman, and alter a fight of some du-
ration,, was severely beaten.