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148 M E L A N C H O L Y D E A T H O F
lashing the rocks, before it unites again
into one stream, to bound into the abyss below.*
The sides of the surrounding rocks
are richly clothed with wood, and other
streams, which fall from the heights above,
greatly increase the picturesque effect. Over
the chasms it is the custom to lay planks
to enable the spectators to pass, and observe
the fantastic shapes into which the rocks
are cut by the water. As la Baronne
de Broc was passing over one of these
planks, her foot slipped, she fell into the
deep chasm, and was impetuously carried
down the stream to meet her fate. Before
* On the floor of the rock in which these deep channels
or chasms are excavated, there are numerous round
cavities, bellying out like caldrons, with stones lying at
the bottom of them. These stones are brought down
by the current, and wear holes in the surface of the
rock ; and as the stones sink deeper and deeper, the
cavities are enlarged by eddies formed within them.
Fresh stones and debris occasionally fall into these cavities,
and serve as instruments for their further excavation,
until the sides of the neighbouring cavities are worn
away and they unite, forming still larger cavities or
cauldrons. I am inclined to believe that this is the
most speedy process which nature employs in the excavation
of hard rocks, to enlarge the beds of rivers, where
the passage is confined. At the fall of the Valteline at
Belgarde, the same process is going on, and I have seen
similar cauldrons at the fall of the Wharfe, called the
Strid, in Bolton Park, Yorkshire.
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L A B A R O N N E D U B R O C . 149
arriving at the great fall, she must have
been stunned and rendered insensible to
the horrors of her situation, by the force of
the current, and the collision against the
rocks on each side. The body was immediately
found, and every means tried to
restore animation, but without success.
On one of the rocks, near where the
accident happened, the Queen of Holland
has had a small monument erected,on which
is the following inscription :
“ Madame la Baronne de Broc, agee de
25 ans, a peri sous les yeux de son amie,
lOme. de Juin, 1813.
“ O vous qui visitez ces lieux, n’avancez
qu’avec précaution sur ces abymes,
Songez à ceux qui vous aiment.
It is possible that some persons may
consider this inscription as tainted with
French affectation; but to me it appears
simple and pathetic. Had precisely the
same sentiment written in Latin, been
found on an ancient sepulchral urn, I am
very sure we should have extolled it as
a specimen of genuine pathos, in the purest
style of good taste.
Having now completed my douches at
Aix, of which, to say the truth, I was most
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