A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, 1777 - Volume 1 (of 2) by Philip Thicknesse
page 97 of 146 (66%)
page 97 of 146 (66%)
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"For faults there beene in busye life From which these peaceful glennes are free." LETTER XXII. I know you will not like to leave _St. Catherine_'s harmonious cell so soon;--nor should I, but that I intend to visit it again. I will therefore conduct you to _St. Juan_, about four hundred paces distant from it, on the east side of which, you look down a most horrid and frightful precipice,--a precipice, so very tremendous, that I am persuaded there are many people whose imagination would be so intoxicated by looking at it, that they might be in danger of throwing themselves over: I do not know whether you will understand my meaning by saying so; but I have more than once been so bewildered with such alarming _coup d'oeil_ on this mountain, that I began to doubt whether my own powers were sufficient to protect me:--Horses, from sudden fright, will often run into the fire; and man too, may be forced upon his own destruction, to avoid those sensations of danger he has not been accustomed to look upon. Perhaps I am talking non-sense; and you will attribute what I say to lowness of spirits; on the contrary, I had those feelings about me only during the time my eyes were employed upon such frightful objects; for my spirits were enlivened by pure air, exercise, and temperance:--nay, I remember to have been struck in the same manner, when the grand explosion of the fireworks was played off, many years ago, upon the conclusion of peace! The blast was so great, that it |
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