Ô 



s STUDIES OF NATURE. 



appearirg in the air like a head-drefs of thick 

 and bufhy locks. You perceive here and there, 

 through the manthng of the ivy which clothes the 

 fides of the caille, Gothic windows, embiafures, 

 and breaches which give a glimpfe of ftair-cafes, 

 and refemble the entrance into a cavern. No bird 

 is feen fl3^ing around this habitation of defolation, 

 except the buzzard hovering over it in filence; 

 and if the voice of any of the feathered race makes 

 itfelf fometimes heard there, it is that of fome foli- 

 tary owl which has retired hither to build her neft. 

 This caftle is fituated on a rifing ground, in the 

 middle of a narrow valley, formed by mountains 

 crowned with forefts. When I recolleft, at fight 

 of this m.anfion, that it was formerly the refidence 

 of petty tyrants, who, before the royal authority 

 was fufficiently eftabliflied over the kingdom, 

 from thence cxercifed their felf- created right of 

 pillage, over their miferable vaflals, and even over 

 jnofîenfive paflengers who fell into their hands, I 

 imagine to myfelf that I am contemplating the car- 

 cafe, or the Ikeleton, of fome huge, ferocious beaft 

 of prey. 



'T^be Pleafure of Tombs. 



But there are no monuments more intereftlng 

 than the tombs of men, and efpecially thofe of our 

 own anceftors. It is remarkable, th^t every Na- 



tioHj 



