lsion that opened
this chasm. It was along through this obscure dell that the road, with
which my reader is acquainted, found place between the margin of the
stream and the foot of the rocks. The general aspect of the country was
diversified by high knolls and broken masses of mountain land, and the
Dove Cote itself occupied a station sufficiently above the surrounding
district to give it a prospect, eastward, of several miles in extent.
From this point the eye might trace the valley of the Rockfish, by the
abrupt hill-sides that hemmed it in, and by the growth of sombre pines
that coated the steeps where nothing else could find a foot-hold. Not
far below, in this direction, was to be seen the Fawn's tower, a
singular pinnacle of rock, which had acquired its name from the
protection it was said to have afforded to a young deer against the
assault of the hounds; the hard-pressed animal, as the tradition
relates, having gained this insulated point by a bound that baffled the
most adventurous of his pursuers, and admiration of the successful
boldness of the leap having won from the huntsman the favor that spared
his life.

With the exception of a large chestnut near the edge of the cliff, and
of some venerable oaks, that had counted centuries before the white man
rested his limbs beneath their shade, the native growth of the forest
had been removed by Lindsay from the summit I have described, and he had
substituted for the wild garniture of nature a few of the choicest trees
of the neighboring woods. Here he had planted the elm, the holly and the
linden tree, the cedar and the arbor vitae. This platform was
semicircular, and was bounded by a terrace or walk of gravel that swept
around its circumference. The space inclosed was covered with a natural
grass, which the frequent use of the scythe had brought to the
resemblance of velvet; and the lower side of the terrace was guarded by
a hedge-row of cedar. Over this green wall, as the spectator walked
forth in fair summer time, might he look out upon the distant woods and
meadows; and there he might behold the high-road showing itself, at
distant intervals, upon the hill-sides; and in the bottom lands, that
lay open to the sun through the forest-bound valleys, might he see herds
of grazing cattle, or fields of yellow grain, or, perchance, the slow
moving wain burdened with hay, or slower moving plough.

The mansion itself partook of the character of the place. It was
perched