Ailsa Craig from Turnbery Castle - Scotland
Artist: Bartlett, Engraver: Cousen

In front of this castellated promontory, the basaltic rock of Ailsa-floating like a vast iceberg in the sea-presents a most singular  imposing feature. It is the " Bass" of the  western coast; and, towering in isolated grandeur to the height of nearly a thousand feet above the waves, forms the great object of attraction from the Carrick shore. If Staffa may point " the finger of contempt at the puny imitation of her temples on Iona, Ailsa may well smile in pity on the pyramids of Egypt!" It produces a powerful effect upon the senses. It unites the sublime and the beautiful, by combining vastness of dimensions, simplicity of form, and variety of features-all under the control of an almost architectural regularity-and all comprehended in one grasp of the eye. There is nothing which we are obliged to infer or conjecture-no unattainable point to wish for, whence   it might appear to the greatest advantage ; at one view we are overwhelmed with its magnitude, and struck by its sublimity and elegance.
 
 


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