CHAPTER X
I spent the following day roaming through the valley. I stood
beside the sources of the Arveiron, which take their rise in a
glacier, that with slow pace is advancing down from the summit
of the hills, to barricade the valley. The abrupt sides of vast
mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung
me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn
silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was
broken only by the brawling waves, or the fall of some vast
fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche, or the cracking,
reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which,
through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon
rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their
hands. These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the
greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They
elevated me from all littleness of feeling; and although they
did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquillized it. In
some degree, also, they diverted my mind from the thoughts over
which it had brooded for the last month. I retired to rest at
night; my slumbers, as it were, waited on and ministered to by
the assemblance of grand shapes which I had contemplated during
the day. They congregated round me; the unstained snowy
mountain-top, the glittering pinnacle, the pine woods, and
ragged bare ravine; the eagle, soaring amidst the clouds -- they
all gathered round me, and bade me be at peace.
Where had they fled when the next morning I awoke? All of
soul-inspiriting fled with sleep, and dark melancholy clouded
every thought. The rain was pouring in torrents, and thick mists
hid the summits of the mountains, so that I even saw not the
faces of those mighty friends. Still I would penetrate their
misty veil, and seek them in their cloudy retreats. What were
rain and storm to me? My mule was brought to the door, and I
resolved to ascend to the summit of Montanvert. I remembered the
effect that the view of the tremendous and ever-moving glacier
had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. It had then
filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul,
and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy.
The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always
the effect of solemnizing my mind, and causing me to forget the
passing cares of life. I determined to go without a guide, for I
was well acquainted with the path, and the presence of another
would destroy the solitary grandeur of the scene.