27*2 SEPTEMBER. 



Now it is delightful among mountains. Moun- 

 tains ! how one's heart leaps at the very word ! 

 There is a charm connected with mountains so 

 powerful, that the merest mention of them, the 

 merest sketch of their magnificent features, kindles 

 the imagination, and carries the spirit at once into 

 the bosom of their enchanted regions. How the 

 mind is filled with their vast solitude ! how the 

 inward eye is fixed on their silent, their sublime, 

 their everlasting peaks ! How our heart bounds to 

 the music of their solitary cries, to the tinkle of their 

 gushing rills, to the sound of their cataracts ! How 

 inspiriting are the odours that breathe from the 

 upland turf, from the rock-hung flower, from the 

 hoary and solemn pine ! how beautiful are those 

 lights and shadows thrown abroad, and that fine 

 transparent haze which is diffused over the valleys 

 and lower slopes, as over a vast, inimitable picture ! 



At this season of the year the ascents of our own 

 mountains are become most practicable. The heat 

 of summer has dried up the moisture with which 

 winter rains saturate the spongy turf of the hollows ; 

 and the atmosphere, clear and settled, admits of 

 the most extensive prospects. Whoever has not 

 ascended our mountains, knows little of the beauties 

 of this beautiful island. Whoever has not climbed 

 their long and heathy ascents, and seen the trembling 

 mountain-flowers, the glowing moss, the richly tinted 

 lichens at his feet ; and scented the fresh aroma of 

 the uncultivated sod, and of the spicy shrubs ; and 



