RUINS. 297 



to bring before the mind the possible history of its in- 

 mates ? There we perceive the completion of a domestic 

 romance. A series of adventures has been there com- 

 menced, continued, and brought to an end. Imagination 

 is free to indulge itself in making up the history of the 

 human beings who have lived and died there, and of 

 the romantic adventures which have been connected with 

 it. We do not always endeavor to read this history ; but 

 there is a shadowy conception of something associated 

 with the old crumbling walls that would be striking and 

 romantic. To this pleasing occupation of the fancy may 

 undoubtedly be ascribed a portion of the interest always 

 excited by a view of a ruined or deserted house. A still 

 deeper effect is produced by the sight of a mouldering 

 temple or a ruined castle, which are allied with deeds 

 and events of greater magnitude. 



I am disposed to attribute the pleasure arising from 

 the contemplation of ruins to an exalted affection of 

 the human soul, to a veneration of the past, and a 

 longing to recover the story of bygone ages. A ruin is 

 delightful as the scene of some old tradition, a specimen 

 of ancient art and magnificence, and as evidence of the 

 truth of history. Nothing, indeed, serves to place so 

 vividly before the mind the picture of any historic event 

 as the ivied and dilapidated walls of the building in which 

 it occurred. There is likewise an emotion of cheerful 

 melancholy which is awakened by viewing a pile of ruins, 

 an old house, or an old church, venerable with the mosses 

 of time and decay. There are other objects, scenes, and 

 situations that produce similar effects upon the mind, 

 such as a sight of the ocean when agitated by a tempest, 

 from a place of security. A beacon and a lighthouse 

 belong to the same class of objects ; and above all, a mon- 

 ument by the sea-shore, erected to commemorate some 

 remarkable shipwreck, awakens a train of melancholy 



