There Was A Solemn Silence In This Scene Which Made Itself Be Felt.
The Sunbeams That Played On The Ocean,
Scarcely ruffled by the
lightest breeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked
like the rude materials of creation
Forming the barrier of unwrought
space, forcibly struck me, but I should not have been sorry if the
cottage had not appeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat
where strangers, especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered
that curiosity did not bring the beings who inhabited it to the
windows or door. I did not immediately recollect that men who
remain so near the brute creation, as only to exert themselves to
find the food necessary to sustain life, have little or no
imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary to fructify the
faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank as lords of the
creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remain rooted
in the clods they so indolently cultivate.
Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, these
conclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness
which the Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity
appeared to me a proof of the progress they had made in refinement.
Yes, in the art of living - in the art of escaping from the cares
which embarrass the first steps towards the attainment of the
pleasures of social life.
The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction
of a lieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding
that they could do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of
money could hardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to
accompany us to his dwelling.
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