PASSION FOE MOUNTAINS. 49 



and constant ray, it might have been deemed a beacon 

 light among the mountain tops. 



" I was much delighted at the prospect of so soon breath- 

 ing the mountain air. I retired to bed when the moon 

 had sunk behind the cliffs, anticipating much pleasure 

 from crossing the mountain-chain on the ensuing morn. 

 Indeed, my passion for ascending to the tops of hills would 

 almost induce me to believe in the transmigration of the 

 human soul, and that, having been at some former period 

 a chamois-hunter, or shepherd among the Alps, I still 

 retain, in the debased spirit of an attorney's clerk, a 

 fellowship with those sublime impressions which, in 

 another state, probably constituted the very essence of 

 my existence. 



" 11th. — With this day's journey I was not disappointed, 

 though, from the accounts of a fellow-traveller, my expec- 

 tations had been much excited. Leaving St Die at four 

 in the morning, we, ere long, entered a narrow valley 

 between two high and precipitous mountains, at the base 

 of which were many romantic cottages. The sides of 

 these mountains were well clothed with pines, and the 

 summits composed of gray and castellated rocks, tenanted 

 by the eagle alone. On arriving at the head of the valley 

 all exit seems impossible. Rocks on rocks arise, as if to 

 bid defiance to the power and ingenuity of man. The 



mists of the morning were still resting on the bosom of 



D 



