Page images
PDF
EPUB

to her relations, particularly to Argyle; and, after a decent time, went to Inverary in deep mourning, where, with the greatest show of grief, he lamented to his brother-in-law the irreparable loss he had sustained. Argyle said little, but sent for his sister, whose unexpected appearance in life and health, proved an electric shock to her tender husband. Argyle was a mild and amiable man, and took no other revenge of M'Lean but commanding him to depart instantly, at the same time advising him to be cautious not to meet his brother Donald, who would certainly take away his life for ha ving intended to destroy that of his sister. Sir Donald Campbell did meet him many years afterwards in a street at Edinburgh, and there stabbed him for his crime towards his sister, when M'Lean was eighty years of age.

PROSPECT FROM THE SUMMIT OF TABLE MOUNTAIN

-Deum namque ire per omnes

Terrasque, tractus que maris cœlumque profundum.

For God the whole created mass inspires;

VIRGIL.

Through heaven, and earth, and ocean's depths he throws
His influence round, and kindles as he goes.

DRYDEN,

WHENCE arises this pleasure which I feel in my breast when I call to my remembrance what I have seen? Why does the current of my blood glide so swiftly

At the Cape of Good Hope.

through my heart from the recollection of material objects? I have enjoyed an extensive prospect from a lofty mountain; I have seen beneath my feet earth, and sea, and clouds; I have seen the moon loose her pale light in the impetuous beams of a majestic globe of fire, which arose in the east, and spread his light over the world. I have seen all this; but had I seen ncthing more than earth, and sea, and clouds, the moon's waning light, or the sun's rising beam, why do I recal them to my mind with delight? or, why did I prostrate myself before the Great Being who made them ail, and adore, in silence, his wisdom and his power?

No-it was the sentiment of an infinitely-wise mind, directing the worlds which I saw moving around me, that touched my heart, and still delights to linger in my remembrance. Unhappy is he who binds himself to material objects around him, without endeavouring to rise from them to their Great Author.

I have been contemplating huge mountains, whose cloud-covered tops seemed to raise me nearer to heaven, and I admired his power; but on their loftier summits a patch of flowers, or a mantle of green, recalled the idea of his benevolence. In a word, from the top of Table Mountain I discovered ten thousand objects to excite my gratitude and reverence towards God, and his constant concomitant good-will towards men. If my reader has a heart any way susceptible of these impressions, let him accompany me, and enjoy with me the prospect of Table Mountain.

..... Arrived at the top of it, the eastern horizon was marked by a body of pure white light, which seemed to break from behind the dark hills of Hotten

tot Holland, and spread itself on all sides. The waning moon seemed gradually to be absorbed, and every moment shone fainter and fainter. The stars in the west still sparkled brightly, but those in the zenith and to the eastward, shared the fate of the queen of night; and were, with her, gradually lost in the mild splendour of dawning day. By degrees the light shot up towards the zenith, and there melted into pale blue. The dark mountains of Hottentot Holland, whose craggy outlines were now clearly distinguishable, bounded the view to the east; but far below our feet, to the westward, the sea spread out its vast watery floor, over which the mists of night still rolled, and, collecting into great clouds, seemed to linger in the extreme boundaries of the west. Moving our eyes round towards the north, and still looking downwards, beneath us lay the town, with its gardens, its terrace, and white, flat-roofed houses; the Table Bay, with a surface smooth, and unruffled by the slightest breeze, bearing on its glassy bosom numerous vessels of every nation, riding together peaceably at anchor. On the opposite side of the bay, the high hills, somewhat inland, presented their tops covered with snow; and continuing to move ourselves slowly round, we observed, in succession, once more the dark mountains of Hottentot Holland; the flat, sandy space between the Table and False Bays, the False Bay opening outwards to the Indian Ocean; the mountainous, south-eastern peninsula of Africa, on whose highest pinnacle we seemed to stand, stretching from north-west to south-east, and presenting a broken scene of mountains, precipices, and chasms. Beyond it appeared the Indian Ocean, now faintly enlightened by

the beams of the morning; and round again, nothing but sea, sea, sea, till we once more came to the Lion Hills, the town with its white houses, Table Bay with its numerous vessels, and, a little farther out, Robin Island, in the mouth of the bay.

To this outline might be added some little particulars: the vulture rising from his aerie amongst the rocks, and soaring above our heads till lost to our sight; the buzzard sailing in mid-air, with out-stretched wing, and steering towards its distant prey; the faint roar of the water breaking along the rocky coast, scarcely heard so high; the refreshing coolness of the morning air; and lastly, two young friends standing on the summit of a craggy rock, forming the centre of this great circle, with minds not incapable of perceiving its magnificence, and hearts not cold enough to perceive it with insensibility.

Perhaps, likewise, the moral views which the different quarters of the prospect presented, had their share in increasing the interest of it. In looking towards the mountains of Hottentot Holland, by means of that intellectual power which God bestowed on man, we winged our way to their highest summits, and from thence discovered, with astonishment, in the inmost recesses of Africa, hordes of undiscovered and undescribed savages, prostrate before the light of newborn day. Beyond the waves of the Indian Ocean, the nations of Asia with their pagodas, their white-robed Bramins, their inoffensive manners, and their antique superstitions. In the distant bosom of the Southern Ocean we beheld clusters of peaceful islands, defended by reefs of coral, over which the waves slowly broke,

and the friendly inhabitants asleep under the shade of their cocoa-nut trees. With rapid thoughts we passed the shores of the Brazils and Spanish America, stained with innocent blood; and where the murmur of the waves upon the shore was mingled with the crack of the task-master's lash-the cries of the feeble Indian-and the noise of his mattock as he dug for gold. On the banks of the majestic rivers and lakes, and in the bosom of the forests of the western world, we beheld, with pardonable pride, English laws and institutions; English manners, and men firmly rooted; and pleased ourselves with the thought, that our language would become the most extended that has, perhaps, been spoken upon the face of the globe. Then, reverting towards the north, we lingered amidst the various cities, the polished arts, and the domineering policy of enlightened Europe; and fixing upon our own happy island, we forgot, for a short moment, all ideas of grandeur and sublimity, and melted at the recollection of the ties by which we felt connected with it.

With hearts thus attuned, and in the midst of a scene so interesting and so magnificent, we long remained in silent wonder and gratitude. But as nature began to assume more animation, from every bush and every cleft in the rock issued up a matin hymn to Heaven finally, when the sun broke in unclouded majesty over the top of the highest eastern hill-then it was that Charles, in a moment of enthusiam, grasped my hand, and raised his right towards heaven!-then it was, perhaps, that these wild solitudes were first taught to re-echo the sacred name of God to the sound of the human voice. They had before been trodden by the

« PreviousContinue »