BEN-NEVIS. 335 



or at least exceeded in majesty and grandeur . it 

 presents a scene on which the imagination may 

 dwell with delight, but of which it is difficult by 

 mere description to convey a just idea. — The feel- 

 ings excited at this commanding elevation* are 

 not, however, entirely unmingled with sensations 

 of a different kind, when we take our atten- 

 tion from the objects at a distance, to the spot 

 on which we stand. On looking beneath us, a 

 few paces from the summit, we see the edge of a 

 frightful precipice, which cannot be approached 

 without caution, and from which the boldest must 

 shrink with terror. What adds to the danger of 

 the trembling spectator, the edge itself is wholly 

 composed of loose fragments, which a little pres- 

 sure is often sufficient to displace, and, when of 

 any considerable size, their own weight soon 

 urges down the precipice, with a rushing noise 

 and tremendous crash. This sound, produced by 

 the rattling of the stone, as it impinges successive- 

 ly during its fall, on the projecting points of the 

 perpendicular rock, is reverberated among the 

 surrounding cliffs, and filling the vast adjacent 

 cavity, thunders along the valley below. The 

 effect accordingly on the ear, is grand and im- 

 pressive ; and has occasioned the common but 

 perilous amusement, of heaving stones from the 

 top of the precipice into the dreadful abyss. 



It is evident, that in the course of being re- 

 duced to its present fragmented state, the heigh* 

 of the rock which forms the summit, and conse- 



