coursing like a racehorse over the
scene--and a goodly scene it was! Before me, across the water, on an
eminence, stood a white old city, surrounded with lofty walls, above
which rose the tops of tall houses, with here and there a church or
steeple. To my right hand was a long and massive bridge, with many
arches and of antique architecture, which traversed the river. The river
was a noble one; the broadest that I had hitherto seen. Its waters, of a
greenish tinge, poured with impetuosity beneath the narrow arches to meet
the sea, close at hand, as the boom of the billows breaking distinctly
upon a beach declared. There were songs upon the river from the
fisher-barks; and occasionally a chorus, plaintive and wild, such as I
had never heard before, the words of which I did not understand, but
which at the present time, down the long avenue of years, seem in
memory's ear to sound like "Horam, coram, dago." Several robust fellows
were near me, some knee-deep in water, employed in hauling the seine upon
the strand. Huge fish were struggling amidst the meshes--princely
salmon--their brilliant mail of blue and silver flashing in the morning
beam; so goodly and gay a scene, in truth, had never greeted my boyish
eye.

And, as I gazed upon the prospect, my bosom began to heave, and my tears
to trickle. Was it the beauty of the scene which gave rise to these
emotions? Possibly; for though a poor ignorant child--a half-wild
creature--I was not insensible to the loveliness of nature, and took
pleasure in the happiness and handiworks of my fellow-creatures. Yet,
perhaps, in something more deep and mysterious the feelings which then
pervaded me might originate. Who can lie down on Elvir Hill without
experiencing something of the sorcery of the place? Flee from Elvir
Hill, young swain, or the maids of Elle will have power over you, and you
will go elf-wild!--so say the Danes. I had unconsciously laid myself
down on haunted ground; and I am willing to imagine that what I then
experienced was rather connected with the world of spirits and dreams
than with what I actually saw and heard around me. Surely the elves and
genii of the place were conversing, by some inscrutable means, with the
principle of intelligence lurking within the poor uncultivated clod!
Perhaps to that ethereal principle the wonders of the past, as connected
with that stream, the glories of the present, and even the history of the
future, were at that mom