]
114. Now, the first question is, is this very pale color desirable? It
is to be hoped so, or else the whole of Italy must be pronounced full of
impropriety. The first circumstance in its favor is one which, though
connected only with lake scenery, we shall notice at length, as it is a
point of high importance in our own country. When a small piece of quiet
water reposes in a valley, or lies embosomed among crags, its chief
beauty is derived from our perception of crystalline depth, united with
excessive slumber. In its limited surface we cannot get the sublimity of
extent, but we may have the beauty of peace, and the majesty of depth.
The object must therefore be, to get the eye off its surface, and to
draw it down, to beguile it into that fairy land underneath, which is
more beautiful than what it repeats, because it is all full of dreams
unattainable, and illimitable. This can only be done by keeping its edge
out of sight, and guiding the eye off the land into the reflection, as
if it were passing into a mist, until it finds itself swimming into the
blue sky, with a thrill of unfathomable falling. (If there be not a
touch of sky at the bottom, the water will be disagreeably black, and
the clearer the more fearful.) Now, one touch of _white_ reflection of
an object at the edge will destroy the whole illusion, for it will come
like the flash of light on armor, and will show the surface, not the
depth: it will tell the eye whereabouts it is; will define the limit of
the edge; and will turn the dream of limitless depth into a small,
uninteresting, reposeless piece of water.
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