The mountains of Switzerland
are more majestic and strange, but there is a charm in the banks of
this divine river that I never before saw equalled. Look at that
castle which overhangs yon precipice; and that also on the island,
almost concealed amongst the foliage of those lovely trees; and now
that group of labourers coming from among their vines; and that village
half hid in the recess of the mountain. Oh, surely the spirit that
inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man than
those who pile the glacier or retire to the inaccessible peaks of the
mountains of our own country." Clerval! Beloved friend! Even now it
delights me to record your words and to dwell on the praise of which
you are so eminently deserving. He was a being formed in the "very
poetry of nature." His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened
by the sensibility of his heart. His soul overflowed with ardent
affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and wondrous nature
that the world-minded teach us to look for only in the imagination. But
even human sympathies were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind.
The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with
admiration, he loved with ardour:--
-----The sounding cataract
Haunted him like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to him
An appetite; a feeling, and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrow'd from the eye.
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