its of the
mountains. They often paused to contemplate these stupendous scenes,
and, seated on some wild cliff, where only the ilex or the larch could
flourish, looked over dark forests of fir, and precipices where human
foot had never wandered, into the glen--so deep, that the thunder of the
torrent, which was seen to foam along the bottom, was scarcely heard to
murmur. Over these crags rose others of stupendous height, and fantastic
shape; some shooting into cones; others impending far over their base,
in huge masses of granite, along whose broken ridges was often lodged
a weight of snow, that, trembling even to the vibration of a sound,
threatened to bear destruction in its course to the vale. Around, on
every side, far as the eye could penetrate, were seen only forms of
grandeur--the long perspective of mountain-tops, tinged with ethereal
blue, or white with snow; vallies of ice, and forests of gloomy fir.
The serenity and clearness of the air in these high regions were
particularly delightful to the travellers; it seemed to inspire them
with a finer spirit, and diffused an indescribable complacency over
their minds. They had no words to express the sublime emotions they
felt. A solemn expression characterized the feelings of St. Aubert;
tears often came to his eyes, and he frequently walked away from his
companions. Valancourt now and then spoke, to point to Emily's notice
some feature of the scene. The thinness of the atmosphere, through which
every object came so distinctly to the eye, surprised and deluded her;
who could scarcely believe that objects, which appeared so near, were,
in reality, so distant. The deep silence of these solitudes was broken
only at intervals by the scream of the vultures, seen cowering round
some cliff below, or by the cry of the eagle sailing high in the air;
except when the travellers listened to the hollow thunder that sometimes
muttered at their feet. While, above, the deep blue of the heavens was
unobscured by the lightest cloud, half way down the mountains, long
billows of vapour were frequently seen rolling, now wholly excluding the
country below, and now opening, and partially revealing its features.
Emily delighted to observe the grandeur of these clouds as they changed
in shape and tints, and to watch their various effect on the lower
world, whose features, partly veiled, were continually assuming new
forms of sublimity.

After traversing these regions for many leagues, they