HINTS of OCCURRENCES, &c.

21

fcene, in which beauty and grandeur are fo united, as to produce the moft pleafmg and aftonifhing effe6h An irre-gular range of buildings, which commence at the foot of the rock and are continued to its fummit, form a communi-cation with the citadel. Some of thefe buildings are handfome; but their importance to the pi&urefque beauty ofthe view, is owing to the infinite variety of their figures, and the diverfity of colouring they exhibit from the differentmaterials made ufe of in conftru£ting or embellifhing them. Every fpot unoccupied by buildings being laid out inorchards, vineyards, or other plantations, a luxuriance of foliage, foftens and enriches the whole fcene; and corrects,or, at leaft, reconciles the formality of art, by giving a degree of beauty to the angular forms of a fortification, whichwhen abftra&edly viewed, are, of all others, the moft offenfive to the eye of an artift.

The barracks, confifting of a regular and handfome row of buildings, fituated at the foot of the rock, which fervesas their back-ground, make a pleafmg contraft to the multiform irregularity of the buildings, and other obje&s, compre-hended in this view of the caftle. The middle ground is compofed of a rock, which feems to be abruptly intruded.Its effeft, however, is admirable; for, by contra&ing the fcene, it forces the eye upon objeCls, which the more theyare contemplated, the more they delight. To compleat the beauty and grandeur of the view, the fecond river inEurope flowing rapidly beneath the walls of the fortrefs, animates and enlivens the whole.

The eighth view applies rather as a fpecimen of the country than a reprefentation of the caftle; though fuch partsof it as are reprefented, are highly piurefque.

I cannot take leave of Rhinfels caftle without remarking on the views I have given of it, that the different timesof the day at which the drawings were made, afforded a light and fhadow peculiarly adapted to the refpeCtive fubjeCls.A noon day fun was neceffary in the firft, to point out and difplay the numerous objects of which it is compofed; inthe latter, the fun having nearly finifhed its daily courfe, the caftle, and the fummit only of the rock on which it ftands,were illumined; the reft of the landfcape, confifting of fmaller rocks, vineyards, and other objefts, not in themfelvesvery interefting, were involved in one grand mafs of fhade; an effeCl which muft often occur in mountainous coun-tries, but hath not always been attended to by artifts. A thin vapour, that commonly rifes among the mountainswith the fetting fun, fpread a dufkinefs over the landfcape, which blended and foftened thofe objects from which itsrays were withdrawn; the fore-ground only being, in fome degree, enlivened by refleCled lights.

It will not require a fcientific eye to difcern, that thefe fubjeds, with many others which appear in this collec-tion, receive great advantage from having the drawings of them highly finifhed on the fpot ; a circumftance whichI think very important to a juft reprefentation of the natural beauties of any landfcape. For thofe artifts who con-tent themfelves with a flight fketch or outline of a fubjeft, muft often be inaccurate in finifhing the minutiae of

L their