as it was too heavy for a whip, and the horse was stupid, and stood
with every other peal. Got in, not very wet, the cloak being stanch.
Hobhouse wet through; Hobhouse took refuge in cottage; sent man,
umbrella, and cloak (from the curate's when I arrived) after him. Swiss
curate's house very good indeed--much better than most English
vicarages. It is immediately opposite the torrent I spoke of. The
torrent is in shape curving over the rock, like the _tail_ of a white
horse streaming in the wind, such as it might be conceived would be that
of the 'pale horse' on which Death is mounted in the Apocalypse.[112] It
is neither mist nor water, but a something between both; its immense
height (nine hundred feet) gives it a wave or curve, a spreading here or
condensation there, wonderful and indescribable. I think, upon the
whole, that this day has been better than any of this present excursion.

[Footnote 112: It is interesting to observe the use to which he
afterwards converted these hasty memorandums in his sublime drama of
Manfred.

"It is not noon--the sunbow's rays still arch
The torrent with the many hues of heaven,
And roll the sheeted silver's waving column
O'er the crag's headlong perpendicular,
And fling its lines of foaming light along,
_And to and fro, like the pale coursers tail,
The Giant steed, to be bestrode by Death
As told in the Apocalypse._"
]

"September 23.

"Before ascending the mountain, went to the torrent (seven in the
morning) again; the sun upon it, forming a _rainbow_ of the lower part
of all colours, but principally purple and gold; the bow moving as you
move; I never saw any thing like this; it is only in the sunshine.
Ascended the Wengen mountain; at noon reached a valley on the summit;
left the horses, took off my coat, and went to the summit, seven
thousand feet (English feet) above the level of the _sea_, and about
five thousand above the valley we left in the morning. On one side, our
view comprised the Jungfrau, with all her glaciers; then the Dent
d'Argent, shining like truth; then the Little Giant (the Kleine Eigher);
and the Great Giant (the Grosse Eigher), and last, not least, the
Wetterhorn. The height of Jungfrau is 13,000 feet above the sea, 11,000
above the valley; she is the highest of this range. Heard the avalanches
falling every five minutes nearly. From whence we stood, on the Wengen
Alp, we had all these in view on one side; on the othe