I have seen that it is possible for the stranger to pass through this great chapel, with its font of waters, and mountain pillars, and vaults of cloud, without being touched by one noble thought, or stirred by any sacred passion; but for those who received from its waves the baptism of their youth, and learned beneath its rocks the fidelity of their manhood, and watched amidst its clouds the likeness of the dream of life, with the eyes of age--for these I will not believe that the mountain shrine was built, or the calm of its forest-shadows guarded by their God, in vain. FOOTNOTES: [1] "Croesus, therefore, having heard these things, sent word to the people of Lampsacus that they should let Miltiades go; and, if not, he would cut them down like a pine-tree."--_Herod._ vi. 37. [2] Keats (as is his way) puts nearly all that may be said of the pine into one verse, though they are only figurative pines of which he is speaking. I have come to that pass of admiration for him now, that I dare not read him, so discontented he makes me with my own work: but others must not leave unread, in considering the influence of trees upon the human soul, that marvellous ode to Psyche. Here is the piece about pines:-- "Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane In some untrodden region of my mind, Where branchéd thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain, Instead of pines, shall murmur in the wind: Far, far around shall those dark-clustered trees _Fledge the wild-ridged mountains_, steep by steep; And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees, The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull'd to sleep; And in the midst of this wide quietness A rosy sanctuary will I dress With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain, With buds, and bells, and stars without a name, With all the Gardener Fancy e'er could feign, Who, breeding flowers, will never breed the same. And there shall be for thee all soft delight That shadowy thought can win; A bright torch, and a casement ope, at night, To let the warm Love in." [3] There has been much cottage-building about the hills lately, with very pretty carving, the skill in which has been encouraged by travellers; and the fresh-cut larch is splendid in color under rosy sunlight. [4] This valley is on the pass of the Gemmi in Canton Berne, but the people are the same in temper as those of the Waldstetten. [5] The cliff immediately bordering the lake is in Canton Uri: the green hills of Unterwalden rise above. This is the grandest piece of the shore of Lake Lucerne; the rocks near Tell's Chapel are neither so lofty nor so precipitous. CHAPTER X. LEAVES MOTIONLESS.