“It was a wide stretchy sweep” [essay]
62
It was a wide stretchy sweep of lovely blue champaign,
a
richly
cultivated, and beautifully wooded, and bounded by magnificent
mountain ranges, here fading away, faint and blue & cloudlike
toward the south, 1 there distinct and near and lofty, with the
green cultivation climbing up their broad flanks. I had read, that
the snowy summit of the Mont Titlis, was visible from Strasburg,
the consequence of which marvellous information was, that I metamor‐
phosed every cloud I saw into a mountain, strained my eyes
with looking for that which was out of sight, 2 and had at last,
very nearly argued myself into a conviction, that blue hills
were white ones until our entrance into the narrow dell above
mentioned, precluded all farther observations upon the clouds.—
cultivated, and beautifully wooded, and bounded by magnificent
mountain ranges, here fading away, faint and blue & cloudlike
toward the south, 1 there distinct and near and lofty, with the
green cultivation climbing up their broad flanks. I had read, that
the snowy summit of the Mont Titlis, was visible from Strasburg,
the consequence of which marvellous information was, that I metamor‐
phosed every cloud I saw into a mountain, strained my eyes
with looking for that which was out of sight, 2 and had at last,
very nearly argued myself into a conviction, that blue hills
were white ones until our entrance into the narrow dell above
mentioned, precluded all farther observations upon the clouds.—
A swiss Cottage is a celebrated thing, celebrated far and wide—
it has modelled the Tivolian villas of—Highgate and Hamp
stead, 3 the mock waterfalls of and crocodile stools of the Coliseum 4
have extended its fame, and much it delighted me when first
the wide projecting wooden roof and carved galleries and external
stairs looked out to greet us from among the dark pines— What
a host of associations and recollections tumbled in upon me.
Mountains avalanches, glaciers, cottages, Hannibal, vinegar, 5 Tell, Alps
apples, tyrants and crossbows, came crowding into my brain jumbled
together in most admired disorder, I thought of nothing connected
the whole day
it has modelled the Tivolian villas of—Highgate and Hamp
stead, 3 the mock waterfalls of and crocodile stools of the Coliseum 4
have extended its fame, and much it delighted me when first
the wide projecting wooden roof and carved galleries and external
stairs looked out to greet us from among the dark pines— What
a host of associations and recollections tumbled in upon me.
Mountains avalanches, glaciers, cottages, Hannibal, vinegar, 5 Tell, Alps
apples, tyrants and crossbows, came crowding into my brain jumbled
together in most admired disorder, I thought of nothing connected
the whole day