We saw
many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices, surrounded by
black woods, high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed,
presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view
rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices, with
the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden turn of a promontory,
flourishing vineyards with green sloping banks and a meandering river
and populous towns occupy the scene.
We travelled at the time of the vintage and heard the song of the
labourers as we glided down the stream. Even I, depressed in mind, and
my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was
pleased. I lay at the bottom of the boat, and as I gazed on the
cloudless blue sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquillity to which I had
long been a stranger. And if these were my sensations, who can
describe those of Henry? He felt as if he had been transported to
fairy-land and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by man. "I have
seen," he said, "the most beautiful scenes of my own country; I have
visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend
almost perpendicularly to the water, casting black and impenetrable
shades, which would cause a gloomy and mournful appearance were it not
for the most verdant islands that believe the eye by their gay
appearance; I have seen this lake agitated by a tempest, when the wind
tore up whirlwinds of water and gave you an idea of what the
water-spout must be on the great ocean; and the waves dash with fury
the base of the mountain, where the priest and his mistress were
overwhelmed by an avalanche and where their dying voices are still said
to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind; I have seen the
mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud; but this country, Victor,
pleases me more than all those wonders.
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