the perfection of natural beauty as of the highest
class of intellectual beings; it is that mysterious hymen of
the land and the sea, surprised, as it were, in their most
secret and hidden union. It is the image of perfect calm and
inaccessible solitude, close to the theatre of tumultuous
tempests, where their near roar is heard with such terror,
where their foaming but lessened waves yet break upon the
shore. It is one of those numerous _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of
creation which God has scattered over the earth, as if to sport
with contrasts, but which he conceals so frequently on the
summit of naked rocks, in the depth of inaccessible ravines, on
the unapproachable shores of the ocean, like jewels which he
unveils rarely, and that only to simple beings, to children, to
shepherds or fishermen, or the devout worshippers of
nature."--(I. 73--74.)

This style of description of scenery is peculiar to this age, and in it
Lamartine may safely be pronounced without a rival in the whole range of
literature. It was with Scott and Chateaubriand that the _graphic_
style of description arose in England and France; but he has pushed the
art further than either of his great predecessors. Milton and Thompson
had long ago indeed, in poetry, painted nature in the most enchanting,
as well as the truest colours; but in prose little was to be found
except a general and vague description of a class of objects, as lakes,
mountains, and rivers, without any specification of features and
details, so as to convey a definite and distinct impression to the mind
of the reader. Even the classical mind and refined taste of Addison
could not attain this graphic style; his descriptions of scenery, like
that of all prose writers down to the close of the eighteenth century,
are lost in vague generalities. Like almost all descriptions of battles
in modern times, they are so like each other that you cannot distinguish
one from the other. Scott and Chateaubriand, when they did apply their
great powers to the delineation of nature, were incomparably faithful,
as well as powerfully imaginative; but such descriptions were, for the
most part, but a secondary object with them. The human heart was their
great study; the vicissitudes of life the inexhaustible theme of their
genius. With Lamartine, again, the description of nature is the primary
object. It is to convey a vivid impression of the scenes