|
|
|
Page 67:-
[be]hind a small hill, that you might come at once upon the view)
till you almost gain the top, when you will be struck with
astonishment at the prospect spread at your feet, which, if not
the most superlative view that nature can exhibit, she is more
fertile in beauties than the reach of my imagination will allow
me to conceive. It would be mere vanity to attempt to describe a
scene which beggars all description; but that you may have some
faint idea of the outlines of this wonderful picture, I will just
give the particulars of which it consists.
'The point on which you stand is the side of a large ridge of
hills that form the eastern boundary of the lake, and the
situation high enough to look down upon all the objects; a
circumstance of great importance, which painting cannot imitate.
In landscapes, you are either on a level with the objects, or
look up to them; the painter cannot give the declivity at your
feet, which lessens the object as much in the perpendicular line,
as in the horizontal one. You look down upon a noble winding
valley, of about twelve miles long, every where inclosed with
grounds, which rise in a very bold and various manner; in some
places bulging into mountains, abrupt, wild, and cultivated; in
others breaking into rocks, craggy, pointed, and
|
