132 THE PICTURESQUE 



little appurtenance of trees and shrubbery, of garden and 

 flower-beds, and of domestic animals, would heighten 

 this interest. The perilous character of the situation pre- 

 pares the mind to sympathize with the inhabitants thus 

 isolated from the world and exposed to the dangers of 

 the sea. The rudeness of the rock increases our interest 

 by suggesting the simple habits of the occupants. Kude- 

 ness, indeed, is commonly a heightening of the picturesque, 

 implying the absence of that sort of cultivation which is 

 associated with the extremely unpicturesque objects of 

 fashion and pride. 



All great paintings appeal to the affections of the hu- 

 man heart by representing a single scene that powerfully 

 affects the sympathy or the imagination. A solitary 

 traveller seeking protection in a cave or a ruin from some 

 besetting danger, and a group of sailors exposed on a raft 

 in mid-ocean, are sympathetic pictures; while a ruined 

 temple or castle appeals to the imagination and to our 

 reverence for antiquity. A weary pilgrim by the way- 

 side, leaning on his staff, is a scene for the canvas, while 

 a king on his throne is adapted only to the dry page of 

 the historian. But let this king be dethroned, and seek 

 protection in a woodman's hut, and he becomes in that 

 situation one of the most affecting subjects for painting 

 or romance. As soon as the great have fallen into ad- 

 versity, they are candidates for our sympathy ; and we 

 feel the more interest in them in proportion as they have 

 fallen from a lofty eminence. They are now reduced to 

 the common level of fortune, while their former greatness 

 seems to render them worthy of a better fate. 



Those scenes in real landscape, as well as in paintings, 

 yield us the most pleasure which are comprised within 

 narrow limits. Panoramas are seldom very interesting. 

 As our vision is extended beyond certain bounds, we ap- 

 proach more nearly to views that awaken a sense of 



