THE DEEAET AND DESOLATE. 



It may be thouglit somewliat inconsistent witli the 

 purpose of these essays to describe the charms of scenery 

 which many regard as disagreeable ; for it would hardly 

 be supposed that, while praising a beautiful face, we should 

 dwell with pleasure on its plain or unpleasant features. 

 Yet an expression of sadness, which is not a genuine in- 

 gredient of beauty, may excite love by awakening oui 

 sympathies ; and, to pursue this analogy a little further, 

 we know there is something in the face of certain per- 

 sons which is superior to beauty, and is the cause why 

 some women, who were not considered beautiful, have in- 

 spired the most exalted passion. The pleasure afforded to 

 all imaginative minds by dreary and desolate scenery has 

 its origin in the sentiment of melancholy. This kind of 

 scenery is not identical with simple rudeness ; it is more 

 like that which in poetical language is termed weird. 

 We feel the force of the sentiment it awakens when wan- 

 dering over extensive bald hills, sparsely covered with 

 vegetation, and interspersed with a few trees of gaunt and 

 shaggy appearance, or when traversing wide moorlands, 

 half covered with stagnant waters, and with trees and 

 shrubs blackened by a subsided stream or lake. 



We are not always aware how nearly allied are our 

 thoughts and sensations, and may often suppose that the 

 mind is pondering on some intellectual theme or follow- 

 ing a metaphysical train of thought, when we are only 

 indulging in the luxury of emotion. And this may ex- 

 plain why a certain vague style of writing, like that of 



