Circuitous immensities, where broods of frozen waves by suns unwaken'd sleep, "Tis the sublime of desolation! far Spread wreck of the elements' primæval war. Vineyards on vineyards rising in due grades, "Le repos et le profond silence qui regnaient dans cette vaste étendue, agrandie encore par l'imagination, m'inspiraient une sorte de terreur ; il me semblait que j'avais survécu seul à l'univers, et que je voyais son cadavre étendu sous mes pieds."-Tentatives pour parvenir à la Cime de Mont Blanc. Euvres de SAUSSURE, tome iii., p. 478. The whole description of the setting sun, as beheld by the author from an immense rock on one side of Mont Blanc, and of the subsequent closing in of night, a simple narration of phenomena, is very sublime. There is a very fine passage, descriptive of the scenery of the North Cape, in Acerbi's Travels, that has some resemblance to the above description of Saussure-" There everything is solitary, everything is sterile, everything Sails through mid air a solitary cloud, Above the silent shadowy vale of death; War-ravaged lands and cities desolate, The spoiler man, his gewgaws spoil'd by time. sad and despondent. The shadowy forest no longer adorns the brow of the mountain. The singing of the birds, which enlivened even the woods of Lapland, is no longer heard in this scene of desolation. The ruggedness of the dark grey rock is not covered by a single shrub. The only music is the hoarse murmuring of the waves ever and anon renewing their assaults on the huge masses that oppose them. The northern sun creeping at midnight, at the distance of five diameters, along the horizon, and the immeasurable ocean in apparent contact with the skies, form the grand outlines in the sublime picture presented to the astonished spectator. The incessant cares and pursuits of anxious mortals are recollected as a dream; the various forms and energies of animated nature are forgotten; the earth is contemplated only in its elements, and as constituting a part of the solar system." Acerbi's Travels, vol. ii., page 111. Where wild goats leap from crag to crag on high, Turn we to lake-o'ershadowing mountains nigh, Or jagged or columnar, what a mass ! Frown others, lengthening in their liquid glass. Towering o'er the magnificent array Of clouds that stream along their sides mid-way, Peaks, that the spirit of light seems to subdue Far, far around, the Heaven-raised barriers, grand Sunbows o'erarching waterfalls, with prone What a mere toy is chivalry's pomp among GENEVA, August 1837. THE TRAVELLER. "Voir, c'est avoir! Allons courir. Vie errante Est chose enivrante. Voir c'est avoir! Allons courir; Car tout voir, c'est tout conquérir." BERANGER. Les Bohémiens. BRIGHTEN the terraced walks of Nice Magnificent the Corniche road: Here, rock-built cities, there, the ocean; And giant cliffs, their aspect proud We cannot view without emotion. Ascending there hill after hill, We joyful reach each winding turn; Burst on our sight new prospects, still For others we impatient burn: |