50 A CONTINENTAL TOUR. 



the valley, and mid-way upon the hills ; but higher up, and 

 gray with the moss of years, with here and there a solitary 

 pine, endeavouring to maintain the empire of vegetation, 

 the summits lifted their venerable tops clear and unob- 

 scured to heaven. Ere long these snowy vapours, ' into 

 their airy elements resolved, were gone,' and we beheld a 

 road tortuously winding up the sides of a mountain among 

 crags and torrents, by winch we were to ascend to the head 

 of an adjoining valley. We here left the carriage, and 

 pursuing a nearer and more direct route, after a pretty 

 arduous ascent, gained the summit of the mountain. 

 What a glorious view was now before our eyes! never 

 shall I forget the valley of St Marie. 



" The mountain air usually acts upon me like the famous 

 elixir. I feel as if I were inhaling life, and strength, and 

 immortality at every breath. The higher I ascend the 

 happier I become ; and when I reach the toprnost summit, 

 a singular feeling prompts me to spring upwards and leave 

 the earth. It was this which made me inquire so anxiously 

 when in Paris concerning the possibility of ascending with 

 some of the aeronauts, and I greatly deplored the dis- 

 appointment, when I learned that my hopes were frus- 

 trated. In the present case, the change in my state of 

 mind was sudden and remarkable, and when I contrasted 

 my feelings, while breathing with pain and difficulty the 

 tainted air of a corrupted city, with those which I ex- 



