y than others, remind us of the
power of the elements, as manifested in winds, snows, and torrents, and
accordingly make the notion of exposure very unpleasing; while shelter
and comfort are in proportion necessary and acceptable. Far-winding
vallies difficult of access, and the feelings of simplicity habitually
connected with mountain retirements, prompt us to turn from ostentation
as a thing there eminently unnatural and out of place. A mansion, amid
such scenes, can never have sufficient dignity or interest to become
principal in the landscape, and to render the mountains, lakes, or
torrents, by which it may be surrounded, a subordinate part of the
view. It is, I grant, easy to conceive, that an ancient castellated
building, hanging over a precipice or raised upon an island, or the
peninsula of a lake, like that of Kilchurn Castle, upon Loch Awe, may
not want, whether deserted or inhabited, sufficient majesty to preside
for a moment in the spectator's thoughts over the high mountains among
which it is embosomed; but its titles are from antiquity--a power
readily submitted to upon occasion as the vicegerent of Nature: it is
respected, as having owed its existence to the necessities of things, as
a monument of security in times of disturbance and danger long passed
away,--as a record of the pomp and violence of passion, and a symbol of
the wisdom of law; it bears a countenance of authority, which is not
impaired by decay.

Child of loud-throated War, the mountain stream
Roars in thy hearing; but thy hour of rest
Is come, and thou art silent in thy age!

To such honours a modern edifice can lay no claim; and the puny efforts
of elegance appear contemptible, when, in such situations, they are
obtruded in rivalship with the sublimities of Nature. But, towards the
verge of a district like this of which we are treating, where the
mountains subside into hills of moderate elevation, or in an undulating
or flat country, a gentleman's mansion may, with propriety, become a
principal feature in the landscape; and, itself being a work of art,
works and traces of artificial ornament may, without censure, be
extended around it, as they will be referred to the common centre, the
house; the right of which to impress within certain limits a character
of obvious ornament will not be denied, where no commanding forms of
Nature dispute it, or set it aside. Now, to a want of the perception of
this difference, and to the cause