PREFACE. Vll 



been merely the cold research of the 

 understanding, in the explanation of her 

 properties, or the solution of her problems! 

 who, while he has interpreted her laws, has 

 adored her sublimity, and followed her 

 steps with passionate enthusiasm, amidst 

 that solemn and stupendous scenery, those 

 melancholy and sacred solitudes, where 

 she speaks in a voice so well understood by 

 the mysterious sympathy of the feeling 

 heart. With what soothing emotions, 

 what eager delight, do we follow the tra- 

 veller, who leads us from the cares, the 

 sorrows, the joys of ordinary life, to wan- 

 der in another hemisphere ! to mark un- 

 known forms of luxuriant beauty, and 

 unknown objects of majestic greatness— 

 to view a new earth, and even new skies ! 

 from which the stars known from child- 

 hood, the stars of home, have disappeared, 

 and are succeeded by a foreign firmament. 

 How often will posterity also turn from 

 the terrible page of our history, to repose 



