New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-09-11


nj I,alv STRAIGHT at the eternal snow peaks OF
Swl,zerland-as if on the diyinest midsummer
day your thought could cleave the year ana
behold December a. distinctly As June.
Lake Como i the finest combination OF naiura!
sublInlty and beauty with The artistic results
which that sublimity and beauty have inspired.
This Is the combination essential 20 perfect and
permanently satisfactory enjoyment IN landscape
We modern men cannot be satisfied with the
satisfaction Of the savage. nor with that OF any
partial nature and education. The landscape
must he lovely as well as lonely, II II would be
greatly praised We have a night 10 require IN
scenery the pesence OF the improvement when
Nature there suggested. In the Alps. IN Niagara,
in the Sea. Nature suggests nothing more. They
are foregone conclusions. No colossal statue
carved from a cliff or palace hewn from glacier
are more than curious Nor can you 10 any
manner improve or deepen by Art the essential
impression Of natural features so sublime But
It is different when Nature gives US landscape
material Graceful groves and gardens follow
the going of men into the wilderness, and are
the shapey statue which was concealed IN the
rude, natural mass of the Forest, and although
we may feel the grandeur Of the block, we must
reserve our praises for the statue.
So when the Empress said to me- e" Is 1t not
more beautiful than Como sand No. lett
Is impossible not to percelva the great capaolli-
ties of Lake George The CLEAN OF marble pal
aces, or Of Summer retreats Of any genuine
beauty, even a margin of graln-go.dened shore,
or ranges OF whispering PUSHES beneath stately
:erraces-indeed any ameloratlon of Nature by
Art, would perfect the loneliness Of Lake George,
and legitimate the Empress's praises. A. pre-
sent il is invested with none of that enchanted
atmosphere of romance in which every landscape
is more allurng Its interest and charm Is the
difference setween an Indian and Greek be-
tween pigments and picture.
Do not suppose dear Editor. that am ma
hgnIng so fair an object as the lake. even while
regard II as good type OF the quality OF our
landscape, compared with the European. Space
and w,ldness are the proper praises OF American
scenery The American IN Europe, with the
blood Of a new race and the hope Of proper
toned Future tinglng IN ms VEINS, with pro-
found conviction that Niagara annlhllates all
other scenery IN the world, and with decided
disposition to assert that Niagara Is the type of
the country, proclaims the extent of the country
as the final argument IN the discussion OF scenery
and bears down with inland seas and the Father
of Waters. and primeval forests and pralres and
Andes, to conclude his triumph. In the general
vague vastness of the impression produced, this
Is genuine triumph. But II Is superiority that
appeals more to the mind than to the eve. The
moment YOU travel IN America the victory OF
Europe Is sure. FOrpurpoSeS OF practical pleas
ure we have no mountains OF an Alpine subilmi-
tv no lakes of the natural and artistic loneliness
of the European, although one OF ours may be
large enough To supply all the European lakes.
We have no rivers OF any romantic association,
no quaint cities. no picturesque costumes and
customs. no pictures or buildmgs-we have none
of the charms that follow long history. We have
only vast and unlmproycd extent, and the inter
est with which the possible grandeur OF mys-
ferrous Future may nyestlt. One would he 10Th
to exhort European to visit America for other
reasons than social and political observation, or
buffalo hunting We have nothing so grand and
accessible as Switzerland, nothing 50 beautiful
as Italy, nothing so civilized as Paris, nothing
so comfortable as England The idea OF the
great western rivers OF lakes as shoreleSS to the
eve as the sea, OF magnificent monotony OF
grass or OF forest, as Impressive and much less
weanSome than the actual experience. But
charm which is IN the variety and the detail as
much as in the general character, Is only appre-
ciable by the eve The green valleys of Swltzer-
land that relieve and hlghten by contrast the
snowy sublimity OF the mountams-the Madonna
shrines In vineyards and the pretty parapharnalla
OF religion m italy, the cultivated comfort of the
English landscape, m whose parks each tree
stands as If II knew itself to be the ornament and
pride of ancestral acres, and the artificial gro
tesoueness OF the French cha,eaux-all these
YOU must see If YOU would know, and your final
impression Is OF fine aggregate with beautiful
and characteristic details.
Then we have no coast scenery. The Medi-
terranean coast has a character which Is une-
quaed. The sea loves Italy and laveS It with
beauty Ii has an eternal feud with us. Our
shores stretch, shrinking, IN long, low flats to
the ocean or recoll IN bare, grey, melancholy
rocks Our coast Is monOtonous aud tame IN
form. and sandy and dreary III substance. Trees
reluct to grow fruit yeamS for the interior
sad dry moss smooths the rocks and solitary
spires of grass shiver IN the wind But the ltal
ian sea Is mountain shored and all over the
mountan-sides the oranges grow, and the tropi-
cal cactus and vines wave. and a various foliage
innges the sea You float at evening ormormng
IN the Gulf of Salemo OF on the Bay Of Naples
and breathe an orange-odored air The vesper
bell Of the conyen, on the steep side OF the Sa
lemo mountains showers with plous sound The
mariners below. They watch the campanile as
they sail, and sweetness, OF which their own
gardens make part. follows their flight You
can fancy nothing more alluung than those