66 66 66 valley, or basin, on our right hand, into which we looked down, is called the Wald Rauschenbach, that is, the Valley of the Roaring Brook; "and roar it did, indeed, most solemnly! The "road on which we walked was weedy with 66 66 66 66 66 infant fir-trees, an inch or two high; and now, "on our left hand, came before us a most "tremendous precipice of yellow and black rock, called the Rehberg, that is, the Moun"tain of the Roe. Now again is nothing but "firs and pines, above, below, around us! How "awful is the deep unison of their undividable "murmur; what a one thing it is-it is a sound "that impresses the dim notion of the Omnipresent! In various parts of the deep vale "below us, we beheld little dancing waterfalls gleaming through the branches, and now, on our left hand, from the very summit of the hill "above us, a powerful stream flung itself down, leaping and foaming, and now concealed, and now not concealed, and now half concealed by the fir-trees, till, towards the road, it "became a visible sheet of water, within whose "immediate neighbourhood no pine could have "permanent abiding place. The snow lay every "where on the sides of the roads, and glim"mered in company with the waterfall foam, snow patches and waterbreaks glimmering through the branches in the hill above, the deep basin below, and the hill opposite. 66 66 66 66 66 "Over the high opposite hills, so dark in their pine forests, a far higher round barren stony "mountain looked in upon the prospect from a distant country. Through this scenery we passed on, till our road was crossed by a "second waterfall, or rather, aggregation of little "dancing waterfalls, one by the side of the "other for a considerable breadth, and all came "at once out of the dark wood above, and rolled "over the mossy rock fragments, little firs, 66 growing in islets, scattered among them. The "same scenery continued till we came to the "Oder Seich, a lake, half made by man, and "half by nature. It is two miles in length, and "but a few hundred yards in breadth, and winds "between banks, or rather through walls, of "pine trees. It has the appearance of a most "calm and majestic river. It crosses the road, 66 goes into a wood, and there at once plunges "itself down into a most magnificent cascade, "and runs into the vale, to which it gives the "name of the Vale of the Roaring Brook.' "We descended into the vale, and stood at "the bottom of the cascade, and climbed up 66 66 again by its side. The rocks over which it plunged were unusually wild in their shape, giving fantastic' resemblances of men and animals, and the fir-boughs by the side were 'kept almost in a swing, which unruly motion "contrasted well with the stern quietness of the huge forest-sea every where else. 66 * "In nature all things are individual, but a "word is but an arbitrary character for a whole "class of things; so that the same description 66 66 may in almost all cases be applied to twenty "different appearances; and in addition to the "difficulty of the thing. itself, I neither am, nor ever was, a good hand at description. I see "what I write, but, alas! I cannot write what "I see. From the Oder Seich we entered a "second wood; and now the snow met us in large masses, and we walked for two miles knee-deep in it, with an inexpressible fatigue, "till we came to the mount called Little "Brocken; here even the firs deserted us, or only now and then a patch of them, windshorn, no higher than one's knee, matted and 66 66 66 66 66 cowering to the ground, like our thorn bushes "on the highest sea-hills. The soil was plashy "and boggy; we descended and came to the foot of the Great Brocken without a river-the 86 highest mountain in all the north of Germany, “and the seat of innumerable superstitions. On "the first of May all the witches dance here at midnight; and those who go may see their "own ghosts walking up and down, with a little "billet on the back, giving the names of those "who had wished them there; for I wish you 66 66 on the top of the Brocken,' is a common "curse throughout the whole empire. Well, we "ascended-the soil boggy-and at last reached the height, which is 573 toises above the level "of the sea. We visited the Blocksberg, a sort "of bowling-green, inclosed by huge stones, something like those at Stonehenge, and this "is the witches' ball-room; thence proceeded to "the house on the hill, where we dined; and now we descended. In the evening about "seven we arrived at Elbingerode. At the inn they brought us an album, or stamm-buch, requesting that we would write our names, and something or other as a remembrance that we "had been there. I wrote the following lines, "which contain a true account of my journey "from the Brocken to Elbingerode. 66 66 "I stood on Brocken's sovran height, and saw "By the blue distance. Wearily my way "Where bright green moss moved in sepulchral forms, Speckled with sunshine; and, but seldom heard, "The sweet bird's song become a hollow sound; "And the gale murmuring indivisibly, "Reserved its solemn murmur, more distinct "And the brook's chatter; on whose islet stones "Sat, his white beard slow waving. I moved on 66 Holy remembrances of child or friend, "Or gentle maid, our first and early love, "Or father, or the venerable name "O' dear, dear' England! how my longing eyes "Turned westward, shaping in the steady clouds 66 Thy sands and high white cliffs ! Sweet native isle, "We left Elbingerode, May 14th, and travelled "for half a mile through a wild country, of "bleak stony hills by our side, with several "caverns, or rather mouths of caverns, visible "in their breasts; and now we came to Rubil 66 66 land,-Oh, it was a lovely scene! Our road was at the foot of low hills, and here were a "few neat cottages; behind us were high hills, "with a few scattered firs, and flocks of goats "visible on the topmost crags. On our right |