were
making a new road, or what. They laughed, and told me that, if I went
on my way, I should find, outside the trees, upon a little rising
ground, a little gentleman who would answer my questions, and,
accordingly, I came there upon a little elderly gentleman, of pale
complexion, in a great-coat, and with a travelling-cap on his head and
a game-bag at his back, who was gazing fixedly through a telescope in
the direction of the men who were cutting down the trees. When he saw
me he shut up his telescope in a hurry, and said, eagerly, 'You have
come through the wood, sir? Have you observed how the work is getting
on?' I told him what I had seen. 'That's right, that's right,' he said;
'I've been here ever since three in the morning, and I was beginning to
be afraid that those asses (and I pay them well, too) were leaving me
in the lurch. But I have some hopes, now, that the view will come into
sight at the expected time.' He drew out his telescope again, and gazed
through it towards the wood. After a few minutes, some large branches
came rustling down, and, as at the stroke of a magic wand, there opened
up a prospect of distant mountains, a beautiful prospect, with the
ruins of an old castle glowing in the beams of the setting sun. The
gentleman gave expression to his extreme delight and gratification in
one or two detached broken phrases; but when he had enjoyed the
prospect for a good quarter of an hour, he put away his telescope and
set off as fast as he could, without bidding me goodbye or taking the
slightest notice of me. I afterwards heard that he was the Baron von
B----, one of the most extraordinary fellows in existence, who, like
the well-known Baron Grotthus, has been on a continual walking tour for
several years, and has a mania for hunting after beautiful views. When
he arrives at a place where, to get at a view, he thinks it is
necessary to have trees cut down, or openings made in woodlands, he
spares no cost to arrange matters with the proprietors, or to employ
labourers. In fact, it is said that he once tried his utmost to have a
set of farm buildings burned down, because he thought they interfered
with the beauty of a prospect, and interrupted the view of the
distance. He did not succeed in this particular undertaking. But
whenever he did attain his object, he would gaze at his newly-arranged
view for half an hour or so, at the outside, and then set off at such a
pace that nothing could stop him, never c