I T h e cavern and grotto, by nature fitted for the fafe retreat
and habitation o f man, has in itfelf many advantages : in particular,
a folidity and durability, which art has never been able
fuccefsfully toimitate: its. impenetrable fides. and external form
are the mountain itfelf*
When airyv fipacio^s, and lofty within, on a^rifing-ground,,
commanding an extenfive profpe<d and a fpring, on the banks
o f rivers, or in the cliffs on the fea fliore, how defirable in a
burning climate ! impenetrable to wind and, weather, how acceptable
in cold climates i which are deprived o f timber ! Let
us have .a nearer view o f its gloomy recedes.
T hey are indifcriminately foimd in every climate; but in
mountainous countries, only,, in which*, as the Swifs.philofo-
phers tell us, with a particular: complacency to themfelvesv
fagacity fooner ripens into genius, and in which the. materials
for building artificial mountains and! caves are obvious, at every
dep. Violence and fuperior force would foon take polïèfiion
o f thofe which are fitted: for habitation arid fafety. The
bones and remains o f the larged and fierced wild beads, fuch
as the elephant, rhinoceros, lion, tiger, bear, and w olf, for-»
merly the lords, o f the wildemefs, are d ill found in many o f
them, and conditute fo many proofs o f their exclufive poflèf*
fion. Is it to be wondered at, that the douted, fierced, and
craftied, amongd the.lords o f the whole creation, diould alfo.
have laid hold and kept fimilar poflèdión; of them from the
remoted antiquity ?
A g o o d cavern Was theh a" fuperb' palace : tinder cértaSÉt
circumdances it is fo dill.“ T f thefe great men, or üfurhers',
became afterwards objedrs of fuperditiotfs- adoration,■ or i f
they have themfelves been the framers of any fyftem of fupér-
dition, then we {hall no longer be at a lofs: to account for the
almod univerfal tradition which charaóterlffeé rocks : and ëaï'
verns as the haunts and facred habitations of the Gods and
in conlequence of which the form and gloom of füdh cavèms
have been univerfally imitated in the olded temples. Their
external form and appearance is the ipixy rock, thé toweririg
cliff, and the mountain in'its- immenfe extent : How varioûs P
how grand ! Their inner form, their breaks, and maffes,jhow
infinitely more various, grand, and majedic, than any thing
which the poor wigwam, and; its mod ingenious imitations,
can fugged or boad of, which, compared to them, dwindle
into nothing ; their wonderful variety, their diape, their druc-
ture, combination of parts, and natural ornaments, depend
partly btt the difference of the caufes and circumdances under,
which they have been formed, dxid on the nature of the mountains
in which they are foundi The Granite, which’ forms
the highed maffes of the olded mountains, affed particular
forms, and difplays a mixture of parts, which are either not
found, or are lefs difoernible ill other rocks, fiich as glittering
or gold-coloured mica, chrydal, and a more of lefs hardened