204 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 



Even now as I write comes back to me the 

 bright vision of an Alpine valley blue sky 

 above, glittering snow, bare grey or rich red 

 rock, dark pines here and there, mixed with 

 bright green larches, then patches of smooth 

 alp, with clumps of birch and beech, and dotted 

 with brown chalets ; then below them rock again, 

 and 'wood, but this time with more deciduous 

 trees ; and then the valley itself, with emer- 

 ald meadows, interspersed with alder copses, 

 threaded together by a silver stream ; and I 

 almost fancy I can hear the tinkling of distant 

 cowbells coming down from the alp, and the 

 delicious murmur of the rushing water. The 

 endless variety, the sense of repose and yet of 

 power, the dignity of age, the energy of youth, 

 the play of colour, the beauty of form, the 

 mystery of their origin, all combine to invest 

 mountains with a solemn beauty. 



I feel with Ruskin that " mountains are the 

 beginning and the end of all natural scenery ; 

 in them, and in the forms of inferior landscape 

 that lead to them, my affections are wholly 

 bound up ; and though I can look with happy 

 admiration at the lowland flowers, and woods, 



