But the more powerful brooks, encroaching upon the level of the
lake, have, in course of time, given birth to ample promontories
of sweeping outline, that contrast boldly with the longitudinal
base of the steeps on the opposite shore; while their flat or
gently-sloping surfaces never fail to introduce, into the midst of
desolation and barrenness, the elements of fertility, even where
the habitations of men may not have been raised."
With this we may contrast, as a companion picture, the poet's
description of the tarns, or lonely bodies of water, which lie here
and there among the hills:
"They are difficult of access and naked; yet some of them
are, in their permanent forms, very grand, and there are accidents
of things which would make the meanest of them interesting.
At all events, one of these pools is an acceptable sight to
the mountain wanderer, not merely as an incident that diversifies
the prospect, but as forming in his mind a centre or conspicuous
point to which objects, otherwise disconnected or insubordinated,
may be referred. Some few have a varied outline,
with bold heath-clad promontories; and as they mostly lie at the
foot of a steep precipice, the water, where the sun is not shining
upon it, appears black and sullen, and round the margin huge
stones and masses of rock are scattered, some defying conjecture
as to the means by which they came thither, and others
obviously fallen from on high, the contribution of ages! A not
unpleasing sadness is induced by this perplexity, and these
images of decay; while the prospect of a body of pure water,
unattended with groves and other cheerful rural images by
which fresh water is usually accompanied, and unable to give
furtherance to the meagre vegetation around it, excites a sense
of some repulsive power strongly put forth, and thus deepens
the melancholy natural to such scenes.
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