126

THE GRIGNA.

wilder plunge of the Grigna upon the Lago di Lecco.But for the plain and the great range I unhesitatinglygive the palm to the higher mountain.

The last spurs of the Alps are here singularly pic-turescpie. The bold forms of the Corno di Canzo andMonte Baro break down to display the shining pools ofthe Laglii di Pusiano and d’ Annone, and the hills andtowns of the Brianza, a fair garden country full ofwell-to-do towns and bright villas, the country seats ofthe Milanese. Hither Leonardo may have come, andlooking across the narrow Jake or from beside somesmaller pool or stream at the stiff upright rocks of theGrigna and the Resegone, have conceived the strangebackgrounds with which we are all familiar.

From mountains of middle height the general aspectof the range is ordinarily one of wild disorder. It isbut rarely any distant group is completely seen; only,wherever the nearer ridges subside, one or two peakscome into view disconnectedly and as it were by chance.From more commanding summits the contrary effect isproduced; intervening and miner masses sink into theirproper place; they no longer produce the impression ofa hopeless labyrinth, but combine with the great peaksto form well-defined groups.

In most Alpine districts the Grigna (7,909 feet)would rank among minor heights; on the shores ofLago di Como and at the edge of the Lombard plain itis a giant. Its extra 2,000 feet enable it to look notonly over neighbouring hills but into the hollows whichseparate them—hollows filled with an air like a meltedjewel in its mingled depth and transparency of colour.The snowy Alps , raised now, not merely head, but head