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William
Edward Mead writes in "The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century,"
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As
is well known, the taste of travelers before the middle of the
eighteenth century did not much incline toward rough and precipitous
scenery, but toward the softer beauties of the verdant plain,
the quiet lake, and the mossy dell (Mead
255). |
| Gradually,
tastes changed. In the closing years of the eighteenth century
English tourists, encouraged by the descriptions of fellow tourists
who had defied popular tastes and traveled through the Alps
merely for the sake of the scenery, and influenced by the evolving
attitude toward nature, flocked to the Alps to appreciate its
beauty. |
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And
so the perception of the Alps changed in the eighteenth century
from that of a "gloomy, frowning, oppressive, and
a disfigurement of the landscape" (mead
256), to one more attune to the wonder and beauty of
nature.
Subsequently,
the Alps were included in the itinerary of the Grand Tour.
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