“And a wreath of mist curled faint and far, / Where the cataract drove his dreadful war”
(MS VIII; Poems [1891];
Works [1903])—The distant cataract is the
Rhine Falls, which in his
1838 guidebook
John Murray III
calculated to lie “about 3 miles below
Schaffhausen”
(
Murray, Hand‐book for Travellers in Switzerland, 19).
The family viewed the falls before breakfast on the morning of
June 10, the day after their Sabbath sighting of the
Alps
described in this poem.
Mary Richardson declared the view “second only to the
Alps in grandeur”
(
Diary of Mary Richardson, 1833, 37).
In their guidebooks, both
Murray and
J. G. Ebel note that early morning, the time chosen by the Ruskins,
was among the most advantageous—“when the Iris floats within the spray”, as
Murray rhapsodizes—and
Ebel
urging that the spectacle also “must be seen at the fall of day, or even by moon‐light . . . when the whole country around is involved in darkness, and the cascade alone is illumined”.
The most dramatic vantage point for viewing the falls when traveling from from
Schaffhausen,
Murray goes on,
was to “to hire a boat from thence . . . , and descend the river, which already forms a succession of rapids, by no means dangerous under the guidance of a boatman accustomed
to the river. When the increased celerity of the current and the audible roar announce that the skiff is approaching the falls, the steersman makes for the l. [left]
bank, and lands his passengers under the picturesque castle of
Lauffen, situated on a high rock
overlooking the fall, within the
Canton of Zurich. It is occupied and rented by an artist who speaks English, and charges 1 franc admission
for each person. The advantage of approaching the fall on this side is, that nothing is seen of it until it is at once presented in its most magnificent point of view,
from the little pavilion perched on the edge of the cliff immediately above it [the
Fischetz]. Its appearance from the opposite side of the river is tame in comparison, and the first impression from thence,
made by the finest cataract in Europe, will most probably prove disappointing”.
Ebel agrees, but adds that, “as the cataract should be seen on every side,
it is advisable to take a boat at Fischetz, and to go to the castle of Im-Wart”, since, despite its prospect on the cascade presenting “the greatest disadvantage”, “the passage
is by no means dangerous, notwithstanding the waves are agitated” and “the tourist will be pleased
at seeing the miniature representation of the cataract in the
camera obscura that is placed in the boat”
(
Murray, Hand‐book for Travellers in Switzerland, 19;
Ebel, Travellerʼs Guide through Switzerland, 222–24).
The Ruskins followed this advice,
Mary commenting that, after viewing the falls “from a gallery
that projects over the river”, they crossed to the opposite side of the river and below the falls for another but “inferior” prospect that lost “grandeur”,
but that they did investigate a “miniature representation . . . in camera obscura” (
Diary of Mary Richardson, 1833, 37).