
For the Literary Magazine.
connecticut scenery.
From a Traveller's Journal.
higby's mountain.
ON Wednesday, Mr. D—— and
myself on horseback, and my friend
and A—— in a chaise, visited two
lofty points in the neighbourhood of
this city (Middletown), called
Higby's mountain and Powder hill.
The first is ascended by a winding
and craggy road, leading through a
forest of shrub-oaks and cedars.
The opposite side is a steep and
rugged cliff, the height of which it
is difficult to ascertain. This cliff,
whose descent is, in many places,
perpendicular, forms a kind of wall,
from the foot of which there stretches
a scene of magnificent extent, and
delicious variety.
The prospect was obscured by
woods, till we reached the verge.
The farther we advanced, the decli-
vity became more steep and rugged.
It is usual to leave carriages and
horses at the bottom, and ascend on
foot. Unwillingness to leave our
horses at a distance made us per-
sist in pushing them forward, till
we brought them within sixty or
eighty yards of the precipice, over
rocks and steeps, which a calm
view would have deemed wholly
impracticable.
We traversed this brink for some
time, chusing different stations to
diversify the view. I feel an eleva-
tion and expansion of soul on these
occasions, difficult to be described.
These emotions were heightened, in
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the present instance, by their novelty.
Scenery so ample and stupendous,
I never before beheld. A plain,
broken up into luxuriant undula-
tions, chequered by sunshine and
shade, divided into regular enclo-
sures of grove, corn-field, and mea-
dow, and forming a circle, whose
diameter was hardly less than forty
miles, was diffused before us. The
cliff on which we stood formed part
of the circumference of this circle.
The Sound and the shadowy ridges
of Long Island formed another part.
The remainder was shut out by a
smooth and gradually swelling ridge,
covered with wood, which advanced
into the midst of the circle, and then
sinking suddenly to the level of the
adjacent spaces, left an abrupt knoll,
which we conjectured to be ten miles
distant.
Nothing is more deceitful than
the common estimate of heights.
That which we occupied appeared
the greater by being so abrupt, and
by contrast with that wide spread
and billowy surface which it bound-
ed. The fields appeared like the
plots of a garden. In one of them,
immediately beneath us, were kine
grazing, which my companions, for
a time, mistook for sheep. Viewed
from so high a pinnacle, their out-
lines were indistinct, and peculiari-
ties of shape and motion were not
to be distinguished.
My friends dared not to approach
the verge. Dizziness and a dispo-
sition to spring forward seized them
when they caught a glance at the
abyss. I gave them much disquiet,
and brought upon me the reproach
of fool-hardiness and temerity, by
venturing to sit upon the utmost
brink, and look steadfastly on the
gloomy and profound dell, in which
the cliff terminated. I took plea-
sure in following with my eye the
rocks which they rolled down the
precipice, and which carried down
with them the stony fragments
which they encountered in their
passage, and bounded over rocks
and chasms with a noise that had in
it no small portion of sublimity.
Satiated with this amusement, we
at length prepared to return. This
was more difficult than the ascent
had been. It cost us much trouble
to find a practicable path for our
horses. D—— and I, taking the
way which we had already tra-
versed, arrived, after much stum-
bling and sliding, at more footable
spaces. A—— and W——, who
had charge of the chaise-horse,
made their way, with extreme diffi-
culty, and some injury to the poor
animal whom they conducted, over
a more dangerous track.
We carried refreshments along
with us; and stopping at a farm at
the mountain's foot, enjoyed the
luxury of coolness, and shade, and
pleasant viands. Lemonade and
cold ham formed an agreeable re-
past, in the midst of new made hay,
and beneath an apple-tree, in an
orchard, whence the neighbouring
mountain could be advantageously
seen.
powder hill.
After our refreshment, much of
the day being unconsumed, we pro-
ceeded, over a pleasant road, to
Powder hill. I had much talk with
D—— as we trotted side by side.
We found colonel Lyman, a far-
mer who lives near the hill, busy in
his hay field. He led us to an ex-
cellent spring, where we once more
regaled ourselves on lemonade, and
leaving our horses in the meadow,
ascended the hill. Like the former,
this hill consists of a gradual ascent
on one side, and a towering preci-
pice upon the other. The cliff was
not so high, nor the landscape so
extensive, as the former, but it was
an enchanting scene. The atmo-
sphere was, in a high degree, serene
and luminous, and the sun promised
to set with uncommon splendour.
The cliff looked towards the west,
and the harbour of Newhaven and
the Sound were distinctly visible. I
was willing to sit here till the sun
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had disappeared, but my friends
did not concur.
The artifices of description would
give as much dignity and splendour
to these scenes, as if they had oc-
curred in the bosom of the Alps.
All mountains and mountainous ex-
cursions agree in essential particu-
lars. The difference is unimportant,
and would not be discovered in the
hands of an eloquent describer.
job's pool.
Yesterday afternoon, A——,
W——, and I crossed the river,
half a mile wide in this place, in a
kind of boat, which I cannot better
describe than by calling it a batteau,
both whose ends are stern-fashion,
that is, broad and square. It was
impelled forward, not by rowing,
but by sculling. We were provided
with a half dozen limes and a glass
tumbler, which we produced at the
edge of a spring, and refreshed our-
selves after a fatiguing walk.
This lake was made to embellish
a poetical description. Fancy, in
her pictures, is ingenious in omit-
ting all harsh and untoward fea-
tures. All is chrystaline, and cool,
and flowery, in the abode which she
selects for the nymphs. Here, how-
ever, the truth is so graceful and
enchanting as to require no omis-
sions, and be scarcely susceptible of
any embellishments.
This lake is called Job's Pool.
It lies in the midst of cultivated
lawns and wooded dales. Its sur-
face is unbroken by shoals or islets,
and is spread over some hundreds
of acres. Its sides constitute waving
and corresponding lines, whose cur-
vature is the smoothest and most
luxuriant imaginable. Its supplies
are drawn from subterranean or
secret sources, as no stream either
enters it or issues from it, and its
height is said to be equally unaffec-
ted by winter's torrents or sum-
mer's droughts.
Its depth, in the middle, has not
hitherto been fathomed. The bot-
tom ascends on all sides, and by
equable degrees, to the margin, which
is smooth, unembarrassed by stocks
or stones, and covered with white
clover, whose blossom is exceeded
by few plants in its fragrance and
beauty. This embroidery extends
to the very skirts of the lake, and
ends only where its liquid murmurs
and transparent refluence begin.
Its waters abound with perch and
other fish, whose sports are seldom
or never interrupted by the fisher-
man. The temperature, as we ex-
perienced by bathing in it, was, in
the highest degree, mild and salu-
brious. We lingered here for some
time, and returned to Middletown
at the close of a delightful day.