For two or three leagues it continued much in the same style; cliffs,
nearly perpendicular, on both sides, and the Brenta foaming and
thundering below. Beyond, the rocks began to be mantled with vines
and gardens. Here and there a cottage shaded with mulberries made
its appearance, and we often discovered, on the banks of the river,
ranges of white buildings, with courts and awnings, beneath which
vast numbers were employed in manufacturing silk. As we advanced,
the stream gradually widened, and the rocks receded; woods were more
frequent and cottages thicker strown.

About five in the evening, we had left the country of crags and
precipices, of mists and cataracts, and were entering the fertile
territory of the Bassanese. It was now I beheld groves of olives,
and vines clustering the summits of the tallest elms; pomegranates in
every garden, and vases of citron and orange before almost every
door. The softness and transparency of the air soon told me I was
arrived in happier climates; and I felt sensations of joy and novelty
run through my veins, upon beholding this smiling land of groves and
verdure stretched out before me. A few glooming vapours, I can
hardly call them clouds, rested upon the extremities of the
landscape; and, through their medium, the sun cast an oblique and
dewy ray. Peasants were returning homeward from the cultivated
hillocks and corn-fields, singing as they went, and calling to each
other over the hills; whilst the women were milking goats before the
wickets of the cottages, and preparing their country fare.

I left them enjoying it, and soon beheld the ancient ramparts and
cypresses of Bassano; whose classic appearance recalled the memory of
former times, and answered exactly the ideas I had pictured to myself