There was
however one spot, in particular, around which a closer inspection than
that which the distance of the houses in the settlement offered, might
have detected far more plausible signs of the agency of human hands, than
any that were afforded by the fancied resemblances of fantastic angles and
accidental formations.
Precisely at that point where a sweep of the mountain permitted the best
view of the valley, did the rocks assume the wildest, the most confused,
and consequently the most favorable appearance for the construction of any
residence which it was desirable should escape the curious eyes of the
settlers, at the same time that it possessed the advantage of overlooking
their proceedings. A hermit would have chosen the place as a spot suited
to distant and calm observation of the world, while it was every way
adapted to solitary reflection and ascetic devotion. All who have
journeyed through the narrow and water-worn vineyards and meadows which
are washed by the Rhone, ere that river pours its tribute into the Lake of
Leman, have seen some such site, occupied by one who has devoted his life
to seclusion and the altar, overhanging the village of St.
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