Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 6.djvu/526

492 ancestral castle for your inspection, to show how the old walls and battlements were calculated to afford defence and protection during stormy seasons in years long passed; though they have tottered in some places, and in others have covered the plain with their ruins. Our efforts have been unceasing to render the place accessible, since few spots offer more beauty or sublimity to the eye of the astonished traveller."

The prince continued, as he opened the portfolio containing the different views, "Here, as you ascend the hollow way, through the outer fortifications, you meet the principal tower; and a rock forbids all farther progress. It is the firmest of the mountain range. A castle has been erected upon it, so constructed that it is difficult to say where the work of nature ceases and that of art begins. At a little distance side walls and buttresses have been raised, the whole forming a sort of terrace. The height is surrounded by a wood. For upwards of a century and a half no sound of an axe has been heard within these precincts, and giant trunks of trees appear on all sides. Close to the very walls spring the glossy maple, the rough oak, and the tall pine. They oppose our progress with their boughs and roots, and compel us to make a circuit to secure our advance. See how admirably our artist has sketched all this upon paper; how accurately he has represented the trees as they become entwined amid the masonry of the castle, and thrust their boughs through the opening in the walls. It is a solitude which possesses the indescribable charm of displaying the traces of human power, long since passed away, contending with perpetual and still reviving nature."

Opening a second picture, he continued his discourse, "What say you to this representation of the castle court, which has been rendered impassable for countless years by the falling of the principal tower? We