describe this scene? It seemed as if the Deity had once taken the chain from His wildest laws, to see what awful strength they could put forth, and what a chaos of mountains they could tumble together. High over all, with its smooth round top, stood Mont Blanc, like a monarch with his mountain guard around him. Yet how silent and motionless were they all, as if in their holy Sabbath rest." The tourist now plucks a few flowers, which rise from the margin of the snow, for God makes the light of beauty to cheer the most lonely places,— and, standing in that great solitude, exclaims, "Hark! a low rumbling sound rises on the air, swelling to the full-voiced thunder. I turned, and lo! a precipice of ice had loosed itself from the mountain, and, falling over, plunged, with a crash that shook the hills, into the plain below. I stood awe-struck and silent. It was the first avalanche I had heard; and its deep voice echoing amid those mountain solitudes awoke strange feelings within me. The mass from which it had split was of a pale blue, contrasting beautifully with the dull white of the surrounding glacier.' دو A transient cloud had gathered over the kingly mountain, when suddenly the guide shouted, the tourist looked up, and saw Mont Blanc covered with a pale rose-coloured light, deepening into pink, until the surrounding peaks were bathed in the same ruddy glow. The sun had set to the traveller; but the whole range of majestic mountains were coloured by reflected light, and seemed transparent as a rose-tinted shell, and the fit home of spiritual beings. It was a combination of beauty and sublimity, and therefore sublimely beautiful. Professor Forbes, speaking of the extraordinary grandeur of Alpine scenery, says in his work on the Tour of Mont Blanc and of Monte Rosa:-"New peaks began to rise before us, and especially the Mont Cervin, or Matterhorn, and the Dent d'Erin; whilst to the westward, the summits of Mont Collon, and the neighbouring chains, peeped over the wilderness of snow and ice. The col, or pass, lay considerably to the right; but seeing just before us a snowy summit, which alone concealed from us the view of Monte Rosa and the great chain of Alps in that direction, I proposed, as we had gained the heights at a very early hour, and with far less difficulty than I expected, to climb to the top of it to enjoy the view. Accordingly, we walked right over towards the precipice stretching from the Dent Blanche to the Stockhorn. As we approached it, I caught one of those glorious bursts of scenery of which all description must ever fail to realize the incommunicable grandeur, and one sight of which and at once instantly repays the traveller for days of toil and sleepless nights."-P. 222. It was the vision of Mont Blanc which awakened such deep and powerful emotions in the soul of Coleridge, and which called forth his magnificent Hymn-one of the grandest ever written by human pen. It will furnish an illustration of a sublime composition. "HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI."* " Hast thou a charm to stay the morning star O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee Till thou, still present to the bodily sense, Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer Yet like some sweet, beguiling melody, So sweet, we know not we are listening to it, Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my thought, As in her natural form, swelled vast to heaven! Awake, my soul! not only passive praise * Besides the rivers Arvé and Arveiron, which have their sources in the foot of Mont Blanc, five conspicuous torrents rush down its sides; and within a few paces of the glaciers the Gentiana Major grows in immense numbers, with its "flowers of loveliest blue." Thou first and chief, sole Sovereign of the Vale! Or when they climb the sky, or when they sink; Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, And who commanded (and the silence came) Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow, Who made you glorious as the Gates of Heaven Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm! Utter forth God! and fill the hills with praise! Thou, too, hoar mount, with thy sky-pointing peaks, Slow travelling with dim eyes suffused with tears, To rise before me,—Rise, O ever rise! Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth! Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God!" There is always more or less of terror as we realize the presence of the supernatural. A supposed spirit walking on stormy waters awakens a powerful feeling in the mind; as for example, the fishermen of Galilee, who were afraid when they saw Jesus alone on the sea. Men fear to enter gloomy caverns, not so much from the apprehension of robbers, smugglers, or wild beasts, as from a fear of ghosts. Not only children, but men and women fear to cross a churchyard when alone at midnight, or to walk by ruined castles or haunted chambers. This feeling of fear depends very much on training and the state of the conscience; but man has a natural fear of the supernatural. |