We all clambered to the top of the rock, which
affords grazing for sheep and cattle, and is said to yield a rent of L20
per annum to the proprietor. Nothing but the wide surface of the ocean
was visible from our mountain eminence, and after a few minutes' survey
we descended, returned to the boat, and after regaining the
steam-vessel, took our farewell look of Staffa, and steered on for
Tobermory.
_Highland Note-Book_.
[Illustration: FINGAL'S CAVE, STAFFA.]
* * * * *
ON CHEERFULNESS.
[Illustration: Letter I.]
I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as
an act, the former as a habit of the mind. Mirth is short and transient,
cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the
greatest transports of mirth, who are subject to the greatest
depressions of melancholy: on the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does
not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling
into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that
breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment;
cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with
a steady and perpetual serenity.
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