The Mysteries of Udolpho

To this spot he had been attached from his infancy. He had often made

excursions to it when a boy, and the impressions of delight given to his

mind by the homely kindness of the grey-headed peasant, to whom it

was intrusted, and whose fruit and cream never failed, had not been

obliterated by succeeding circumstances. The green pastures along

which he had so often bounded in the exultation of health, and youthful

freedom--the woods, under whose refreshing shade he had first indulged

that pensive melancholy, which afterwards made a strong feature of his

character--the wild walks of the mountains, the river, on whose waves he

had floated, and the distant plains, which seemed boundless as his early

hopes--were never after remembered by St. Aubert but with enthusiasm

and regret. At length he disengaged himself from the world, and retired

hither, to realize the wishes of many years.

The building, as it then stood, was merely a summer cottage, rendered

interesting to a stranger by its neat simplicity, or the beauty of the

surrounding scene; and considerable additions were necessary to make it

a comfortable family residence. St. Aubert felt a kind of affection for

every part of the fabric, which he remembered in his youth, and would

not suffer a stone of it to be removed, so that the new building,

adapted to the style of the old one, formed with it only a simple and

elegant residence. The taste of Madame St. Aubert was conspicuous in its

internal finishing, where the same chaste simplicity was observable

in the furniture, and in the few ornaments of the apartments, that

characterized the manners of its inhabitants.

The library occupied the west side of the chateau, and was enriched by

a collection of the best books in the ancient and modern languages. This

room opened upon a grove, which stood on the brow of a gentle declivity,

that fell towards the river, and the tall trees gave it a melancholy

and pleasing shade; while from the windows the eye caught, beneath the

spreading branches, the gay and luxuriant landscape stretching to the

west, and overlooked on the left by the bold precipices of the Pyrenees.

Adjoining the library was a green-house, stored with scarce and

beautiful plants; for one of the amusements of St. Aubert was the

study of botany, and among the neighbouring mountains, which afforded a

luxurious feast to the mind of the naturalist, he often passed the day

in the pursuit of his favourite science. He was sometimes accompanied

in these little excursions by Madame St. Aubert, and frequently by his

daughter; when, with a small osier basket to receive plants, and another

filled with cold refreshments, such as the cabin of the shepherd did

not afford, they wandered away among the most romantic and magnificent

scenes, nor suffered the charms of Nature's lowly children to abstract

them from the observance of her stupendous works. When weary of

sauntering among cliffs that seemed scarcely accessible but to the steps

of the enthusiast, and where no track appeared on the vegetation, but

what the foot of the izard had left; they would seek one of those green

recesses, which so beautifully adorn the bosom of these mountains,

where, under the shade of the lofty larch, or cedar, they enjoyed their

simple repast, made sweeter by the waters of the cool stream, that crept

along the turf, and by the breath of wild flowers and aromatic plants,

that fringed the rocks, and inlaid the grass.