[1] “Crœsus, therefore, having heard these things, sent word to the people of Lampsacus that they should let Miltiades go; and, if not, he would cut them down like a pine-tree.”—Herod. vi. 37.
[2] Keats (as is his way) puts nearly all that may be said of the pine into one verse, though they are only figurative pines of which he is speaking. I have come to that pass of admiration for him now, that I dare not read him, so discontented he makes me with my own work: but others must not leave unread, in considering the influence of trees upon the human soul, that marvellous ode to Psyche. Here is the piece about pines:—
| “Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane In some untrodden region of my mind, Where branchéd thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain, Instead of pines, shall murmur in the wind: Far, far around shall those dark-clustered trees Fledge the wild-ridged mountains, steep by steep; And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees, The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull’d to sleep; And in the midst of this wide quietness A rosy sanctuary will I dress With the wreath’d trellis of a working brain, With buds, and bells, and stars without a name, With all the Gardener Fancy e’er could feign, Who, breeding flowers, will never breed the same. And there shall be for thee all soft delight That shadowy thought can win; A bright torch, and a casement ope, at night, To let the warm Love in.” |
[3] There has been much cottage-building about the hills lately, with very pretty carving, the skill in which has been encouraged by travellers; and the fresh-cut larch is splendid in color under rosy sunlight.
[4] This valley is on the pass of the Gemmi in Canton Berne, but the people are the same in temper as those of the Waldstetten.
[5] The cliff immediately bordering the lake is in Canton Uri: the green hills of Unterwalden rise above. This is the grandest piece of the shore of Lake Lucerne; the rocks near Tell’s Chapel are neither so lofty nor so precipitous.
CHAPTER X.