VICINITY OP THE CAVE AT KIKDALE. & 



amazement at (he scenery which presents itself 

 on the opposite slope ; it may remind him of a 

 part of the circumference of a vast amphitheatre, 

 winding gradually, and rising behind the Church 

 to the left, until it retires from his view, by the 

 bend of the Hill, from the summit of which he 

 beholds the interesting prospect. If it be the 

 season of autumn, when he first beholds it, its beau- 

 ties are heightened by the richness of the foliage ; 

 the leaves assume various tints, red, brown, yellow, 

 and greens of every shade, which association can 

 possibly produce : this, with the trees rising one 

 above another from the gradual declivity of the Hill, 

 furnish scenery indescribably beautiful and majestic. 

 The beholder's enjoyment is not lessened by the 

 chilling feelings of fear ; for, whatever may have 

 b^en the dangers connected with this situation in 

 ancient times, from ferocious animals ; those times 

 are glided away, and here security has erected her 

 pavilion. How great are the advantages of culti- 

 vation ! how vast the privileges which are enjoyed 

 by a country, in the introduction of those principles 

 which have power to soften the brutalized mind into 

 reflection, and to impose industry on the energies of 

 the indolent Savage ! There was a period, when 

 this now beautiful retreat, was the residence of car- 

 nivorous Animals, unexplored by human beings, and 

 unknown by history and enterprise. After certain 

 ages, the mist of darkness which had long hung over 

 this now beautiful Country, began to be removed, 

 by the inroads made into it by enterprising foreign- 

 ers; through whose labours religion wus propagated, 



Ao 

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