A REMARKABLE SCENE. 289 



not one of the mysteriously moved masses of 

 distant origin, only a vast fragment of rock, 

 that has fallen from the cliff above, as its 

 quality and fractured surface clearly prove. 

 Let us rest here for a moment, and look around. 

 I am sure you will admire the grandeur, beauty, 

 and wildness, so singularly combined in this 

 assemblage of mountain, rock, and wood, all 

 in a state of nature, and wanting only to be 

 perfect a full stream, which it sometimes has, 

 rushing in force through its rocky and winding 

 channel. 



AMICTJS. It is, indeed, a remarkable scene, 

 and admirable of its kind ! Surely there must 

 be a special cause to which it is referrible. 



PISCATOR. That cause, I believe, is to be 

 found in the nature of the rock. Here it is 

 of the eruptive kind, little differing from basalt; 

 and, in its outbreak, projected from beneath, 

 it is easy to account for the broken and irre- 

 gular ground in all its boldness; and in the 

 elements of which the rock is formed, yielding 

 by its disintegration and decomposition a fer- 

 tile soil, for the luxuriancy of the wild vege- 

 tation clothing the ruggedness and softening 

 it into beauty. 



u 



