AND THE JURA. 29 



is exposed to view with the most perfect distinctness. Every little 

 bay and inlet, every spire of a village church on either side of its 

 banks, every one of the numerous villages and towns modestly retir- 

 ing under the rich woodland scenery, which at once overshadows and 

 discloses the works of man — every object, in fact, that the eye can 

 rest on with pleasure, is here seen clearly and sharply defined, in 

 harmonious contrast with the blue sky and bluer water. Just oppo- 

 site the signal the lake attains its greatest breadth, nearly ten miles ; 

 and the mountains on the opposite or Savoy side are seen to recede, 

 leaving a narrow opening, which discovers not only the lofty summit of 

 the giant monarch of mountains, but also a considerable portion of the 

 eternal mantle of snow which envelopes his shoulders, and which the 

 comparatively insignificant but much nearer elevations effectually hide 

 from view in almost every other spot in the vicinity of the Lake of 

 Geneva. 



And if, leaving these glories, we turn to contemplate the scene to 

 the east and north, there is a new set of beauties, a new species of 

 loveliness, not so striking, but scarcely less interesting than the other. 

 The frowning mass of Mont Tendre, already in deep shade — for, the 

 sun setting behind this mountain, the intervening valley is the first 

 darkened — ^the rich but sombre forests which clothe the sides of that 

 as of most of the Jura mountains, the contrast of bright green corn- 

 fields, which nothing can make to look gloomy, the multitude of 

 patches of vineyard, and the occasional appearance of a naked sandy 

 waste, all these, in their way, add to the effect, which is completed by 

 distant glimpses of pretty villages, here and there peeping out from 

 their green hiding-places. 



Amid all these elements of beauty, and commanding a prospect of 

 much that is most lovely in Switzerland, did we stand to watch the 

 gradual but too rapid disappearance of the sun, as he approached the 

 western horizon. At Tfirst the rich golden tint was predominant, and 

 there was a degree of pain in the very intensity of the efi"ulgence ; but 

 this soon mellowed down into a softer brilliancy, and tinted all dis- 

 tant objects with a lovely rose colour, which in its turn became paler 

 and paler, as it died away upon the mountain tops, and left the snowy 

 summits in their clear cold reality. There is something deeply im- 

 pressive in thus watching the gradual departure of brilliancy, rich- 

 ness, and loveliness, first, from the nearest objects, where we seem 

 as if able to grasp and detain the beauty, and then successively from 

 those farther and farther from us, just touching the distant prospect, 

 and giving it the vividness of reality, only to pass away the more 



