FROM this hill we descended by a zig-zag path on the west side, and having traversed some beautiful avenues on the banks of the Tay, we came to Inver Ferry, where we crossed the river, and passed through the village of Inver; we soon afterwards entered a path which conducted us along the banks of the Bran, a very turbulent stream, that falls into the Tay nearly opposite Dunkeld; pursuing this path, the sides of which are decorated with shrubs and flowers, ornaments quite out of their place, we were amused by the hoarse murmuring of the Bran, dashing along its rocky channel. After having walked near a mile, we came to a neat parterre, ornamented in the style of ground before a citizen's box; at the end of this stands a building, which has the appearance of a small temple, and which purposely hides, from the present view, one of the most charming scenes in na

ture..

On entering this temple, directly opposite is seen a picture of the aged OSSIAN, singing, and some female figures listening to the tales" of the days that are past;" his hunting spear, bow and arrows, are beside him, as well as his faithful dog. This picture, which is well designed and well painted, is the production of the late Mr. STEWART.

On the picture being removed, by sliding into the wainscot, you perceive that what before appeared to be the temple, is only a vestibule, leading to an elegant apartment, ornamented with exquisite taste. This building is called Ossian's Hall, or The

68

A PICTURESQUE SCENE.

Hermitage, but the ideas annexed to either of these names are by no means applicable to it.

FROM the windows of this apartment, one of the most beautiful and sublime views bursts on the sight, that the most vivid imagination can conceive. The water of the Bran, after murmuring along the rugged rocks that fill its channel, precipitates itself down a craggy steep, forming one of the most beautiful cascades in nature, the water being broken into a thousand different streams by the abrupt points of the rocks opposing its passage. Indeed, nothing can be more picturesque than the whole scene; the water appearing above the cascade, fretting and foaming among huge fragments of rock, and then dashing down in different directions, stunning the ears with its noise, while the spray which rises from it gives which rises from it gives a misty obscurity to

the surrounding woods, and an air of magic to the whole, such as words cannot describe. A faithful representation is however given by my friend Mr. WATTS, from which the reader will form a tolerable idea of the scene. Mr. GILPIN, whose taste must be admired by all lovers of picturesque beauty, speaks of this scene as one of the most interesting of the kind he ever saw.. "The whole scene and its accompaniments," he observes, "are not only grand, but picturesquely beautiful in the highest degree. The composition is perfect, but yet the parts are so intricate, so various, and so complicated, that I never found any piece. of nature less obvious to imitation. It would cost the readiest pencil a summer's day to bring off a good resemblance. My poor

STRICTURES ON LANDSCAPE PAINTING.

69

tool was so totally disheartened, that I could not bring it even to make the attempt. The broad features of a mountain, the shape of a country, or the line of a lake, are matters of easy execution. A trifling error escapes notice. But these high finished pieces of Nature's more complicated workmanship, in which the beauty, in a great degree, consists in the finishing, and in which every touch is expressive, especially of the spirit, activity, clearness, and variety of the agitated water, are among the most difficult efforts of the pencil." *

WITHOUT intending any disparagement to Mr. Gilpin, whose powers as an artist I have frequently admired, particularly in his representations of the simple scenes to which he has alluded; I will venture to say, that if the accompanying representation of this scene should ever fall in his way, it will not fail to remind him strongly of the original which gave him so much pleasure, though it did not cost my companion one-sixteenth part of a summer's day. But to a person accustomed to trace all the varieties of the human face, every other part of nature, however complicated, is easy; and though a landscape painter may give an admirable softness to his distant hills, and charm the eye by his disposition of light and shade, yet in the correct representation of scenes like this, he will be excelled by the portrait painter..

THE sides and ceiling of the room are embossed with mirrors, in which the cascade is seen by reflexion, sometimes running, * Observations relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, vol. i. p. 122.