X ;V 1 Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN FIRST IMPRESSIONS A TOUR UPON THE CONTINENT IN THE SUMMER OF 1818, THROUGH FARTS Or FRANCE, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, THE BORDERS OF GERMANY, AND A PART OF FRENCH FLANDERS. BY MARIANNE BAILLIE. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 1819. LONDON: TKINTII) BV THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS. TO ONE OF THE MOST VALUED FRIENDS OF HER EARLIEST YEARS, THE RIGHT HON. JOHN TREVOR, THE AUTHOR INSCRIBES THE FOLLOWING LITTLE WORK, WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF AFFECTIONATE RESPECT AND ESTEEM. 2G17C. DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. Swiss Cottage to face the title. View of Turin 164 Passage of the Simplon 212 Colossal Figure 218 Hermitage of St. Frene 312 PREFACE. IN perusing the following pages, it will I hope be believed, that they were not originally written with any view to publica- tion: circumstances have since occurred, which induce me to alter my first inten- tion, and to submit them to a more en- larged circle, than that of a few intimate friends, to whose eye alone I had once thought of presenting them. In committing my First Impressions to so fearful an ordeal as the opinion of the Public, I feel oppressed by a sense of their various imperfections, and by the convic- tion of their trifling value as a work of the sort ; yet I still flatter myself they will Vi PREFACE. be received with forbearance. I had much amusement in attempting this little sketch, and I most sincerely entreat that it may be considered as what it is, a sketch only. My friends will not, and readers in general must not, look for fine writing from the pen of such a novice as myself; nor ought they to expect me (labouring under the twofold disadvantage of sex and inexpe- rience) to narrate with the accuracy and precision of a regular tourist, the history (natural, moral, political, literary and com- mercial) of all the places we visited : still less, that (in compliment to the lovers of the gastronomic art) I should undertake to give the bill of fare of every table d'hote or traiteur that we met with in our progress. Among the many fears which assail me, there is one that recurs to my mind with more pertinacity than the rest: that I may be taxed with having bestowed too PREFACE. Vll warm and glowing a colouring upon some objects of natural beauty and sublimity. Formerly, indeed, I believe I was in danger of leaning towards romance in describing scenes which had particularly impressed my imagination or interested my feelings, and of attempting to imitate, with too rash and unadvised a pencil, the fervour of a Mrs. Radcliffe, although to catch the peculiar charm and spirit of her style I felt to be (for me) impossible. But notwithstanding that I still remember with complacence the time when the vivid imagination of very early youth procured me the enjoyment of a thousand bright and lovely illusions, and cast a sort of fairy splendour over existence which was certainly more bewitching than many realities that I have since met with, I at present feel (as better becomes me) more inclined to worship at the sober shrine of reason and judgment. This, it will be easily conceived, was likely to render Vlll PREFACE. my Tour a more faithful picture, than if it had been undertaken some years ago, and I can safely affirm, that I commenced it with a determination to observe all things without prejudice of any sort, not even that of nationality; for prejudice is still the same irrational and unworthy feeling, in every shape and under every name. I was much hurried at the time of writing this Journal ; but a greater degree of subsequent leisure has enabled me to add some few notes which may, I hope, amuse and interest my readers. In these I acknowledge with gratitude the occasional assistance of a partial friend. April, 1819. FIRST IMPRESSIONS. ON Monday, August 9th, we embark- ed from the Ship inn at Dover, for Calais, on board the Princess Augusta packet. The passage was dreadful, the usual miseries attended us, and at the time I am now writing this, viz. August 13th, we are still suffering from the effects of our voyage. I will not make my readers ill by recalling the disgusting scenes which we there en- countered, suffice it to say, that the bare re- membrance of them is sufficient to over- whelm my still sick fancy, and to render the very name of the sea appalling to my ears. Upon landing at Calais, however, we contrived to raise our heavy eyes, with a lively feeling of curiosity and interest, to the motley crowd assembled on the beach to view us come on shore. I was pleased with CALAIS. what we are taught to call the habitual politeness of even the lowest order of French people, evinced in the alacrity with which twenty hands were held out to sup- port me in descending from the packet, and in the commiseration which I plainly dis- covered in many a sun-burnt countenance for my evident indisposition. The hotel (Quillacq's) is excellent, and the attendants remarkably civil and active. The style of furniture is superior to that of the best English hotels ; and for a dinner and dessert of the most superior quality, we did not pay more than we should have done at an ordinary inn in our own country for very common farei The dress of the lower classes here is rather pretty ; the circumstance of the women wearing caps, neatly plaited, and tolerably clean, together with the body and petticoat of different colours, gives them a picturesque air : the long gold ear- rings, also (universally worn at this place, consisting of two drops, one suspended at the end of the other), contribute greatly to their graceful effect. The men do not differ much in their appearance from those of I CALAIS. 3 the same rank in England, but I think the animation universally displayed in the countenances of the fairer sex particularly striking, and certainly preferable to that want of expression so often to be found among my countrywomen. When we first started from Calais for Paris, with post-horses, I could not help a little national feeling of complacency upon ob- serving the slovenly, shabby appearance of their harness and accoutrements, compared with those of England. From London to Dover, we had bowled away with ease and rapidity; the carriage seemed to cut through the air with a swift and even motion. Now we crawled and jumbled along, as it pleased the fancy of the horses and driver, upon the latter of which no remonstrance of ours would have had any effect. The costume of the post-boy (who drives three horses abreast, a fat, full-sized beast in the middle, his own rather smaller, and the off horse always a ragged flap-eared pony, looking as if he had just been caught up from a common) is whimsical enough ; it is universally the royal livery : a shabby, 4 CALAIS. dirty, short- waisted blue jacket, turned up with crimson, and laced sometimes with silver ; boots resembling those of our heavy cavalry, and a thick clubbed pigtail, swing- ing like a pendulum from beneath a rusty japan hat. It was not till we had reached the distance of Abbeville that we met with the celebrated genuine grosses bottes. whose enormous size put me in mind of my nursery days, when I used to listen to the wonderous tale of the giant-killer and his seven-leagued boots. The lash of the post-boy's whip is thick and knotted, and they have a curious method of cracking it upon passing other carriages, to give notice of their approach: this saves their lungs, and has not an unpleasant effect, the crack- ing sound being of a peculiar nature, double, as if it said " crac-crac" at each stroke. . It is not every post-boy, however, who manages this little implement in the true style. They all carry the badge of their profession upon the left arm (like our watermen), being a silver or metal plate with the arms of France upon it. From Calais to Haut- buisson the country is extremely flat, barren. BEAUPRES. 5 and uninteresting, like the ugliest parts of Wiltshire and Sussex ; and the straight line in which all the French roads are cut is tiresome and monotonous to a great degree. The case is not mended even when you advance as far as Marquise, and I began to yawn in melancholy anticipation of a similar prospect for nearly a hundred and eighty miles, which yet remained to be passed ere we reached Paris; but upon coming near Beaupres, we were agreeably disappointed, finding the surface of the country more undulated, and patches of woodlands thinly strewn here and there it is amazing how greatly the eye is relieved by this change. The hamlets between Haut- buisson and Boulogne much resemble those in the west of England ; we were per- petually fancying ourselves in a Somerset- shire village as we passed through them. On the road-side it is very common to see large crucifixes, raised to a considerable height, with the figure of our Saviour the size of life. We remarked one in particular, painted black, and the image flesh-colour, with the drapery about the middle gilt : another was 6 BOULOGNE. inclosed in a small railed space (like a village pound), surrounded by four or five clumsy stone images, which I rather imagine were meant to represent the holy women who assembled round the cross during our Saviour's last moments. As we approached Boulogne, we met several old peasants : they all wore cocked hats, and a suit of decent, sad-coloured clothes, not unlike the dress of our villagers on a Sunday. The entrance to Boulogne is very pic- turesque : the fortifications are crumbling a little beneath the touch of time, and the walls are partly overgrown by trees and lichens ; but a very little exertion would render it formidable enough, I imagine, to besiegers. We dined here at an inn, where they thought they could not do us a greater favour than by sending up a meal in what they believed to be the English style of cookery ; consequently it was neither one thing nor the other, and extremely dis- agreeable: amongst various delicacies, we had melted salt butter swimming in oil, and quite rancid, brought to table in a tea- cup, and a large dish of tough spongy BOULOGNE, 7 lumps of veal, which they called veal cutlets. As I sat at the window, which opened upon the principal street, I had an oppor- tunity of remarking a specimen of true French flattery, but I was not quite so per- vious to its benign influence as Sterne describes his ladies to have been in the Sentimental Journey. A little ragged ur- chin of about ten years old rather annoyed me, by jumping up and grinning repeatedly in my face : " Allez, allez, que faites vous la ?" said I. " C'est que je veux dire bon jour a Madame !" " Eh, bien done, vous 1'avez dit & present allez !" " Ah ! mais que Ma- dame est jolie ! Mon Dieu ! eUe est very prit. Elle me donnera un sous, n'est ce pas ?" It was at Poix that we accidentally met a woman of Normandy upon the road. She was weU looking, and the costume both singular and becoming : the snow white cap with a deep plaited border, and a crown half a yard in height, fastened on the fore- head by a gold pin, the long drop ear-rings and gold cross in a heavy worked setting, suspended round the throat by a narrow black riband, white handkerchief crossed 8 BOULOGNE. over the bosom, and a body and petticoat of opposite colours, with full white shift sleeves coming over the elbows, formed a remarkably pretty dress. I ought to have mentioned before now, that on the road between Marquise and Beaupres we were amused by observing an unfinished tower, erected by Bonaparte some years since, designed to commemorate his intended victory over the English, by invasion a true chateau en Espagne. Wish- ing to refresh ourselves by leaving the carriage while the horses were changed, I entered a sort of rustic public-house, where I observed with much interest the interior of a French cottage kitchen and its inhabitants. A group of peasants sat round a wood fire, apparently waiting for their dinner, which, as a brisk lively paysanne took it off the embers to pour into a dish, looked and smelt most temptingly ; it con- sisted of a mess of bread, herbs, and vege- tables, stewed in broth : there was a mem- ber of this little circle who seemed to watch the progress of the cooking with peculiar delight ; I mean a large, powerful, BOULOGNE. 9 yet playful dog, whose exact breed we did not discover, but we were informed he was English doubtless he recognized his coun- trymen ! The plates and dishes, utensils, &c. were ranged upon shelves from the top to the bottom of the little kitchen, and equally distributed on all sides, instead of being confined to the vicinity of the dresser, as is generally the case in England ; they were chiefly of a coarse white clay, painted in a gaudy and sprawling pattern of red flowers : the old woman of the house apologized for their not being quite so bright as they ought to have been, but said the flies dirtied them sadly ; however, every thing looked clean and comfortable. The costume of the men is not becoming ; they all wear white coarse cotton night-caps, and smock- frocks dyed with indigo ; their features and countenances much resemble those of a simi- lar rank in England. It appears to me that the old peasants alone wear the cocked hat in this part of France: perhaps it is a remnant of the national dress in the time of the ancicn regime. The young children, from one to five or six years of age, are 10 SAMEll. (generally speaking) very pretty, and some of them have the drollest little faces I ever saw, dark eyes and marked eyebrows and lashes, full of smiles and roguery ; their hair is always allowed to hang at full length upon their shoulders, never being shorn and cropt. Having dined at Boulogne, we pro- ceeded on our journey as far as Samer, in- tending to sleep the first night at Mon- treuil ; but a direct stop was put to any such project, by the circumstance of a total ab- sence of post-horses ; they were all too much fatigued to carry us farther, or were em- ployed in the service of other travellers. Evening was now closing rapidly in, and we were really glad to comply with the urgent solicitations of a rural fille de chambre, who ran out of the little inn at that place (Samer), and assured us we should meet with very comfortable accommodations and be treated with every attention at the Tete de Boeuf, to which she belonged: " Mafoi, messieurs," said the postilion, " vous trouverez que cette demoiselle est bien engageante." When we entered the house (through the kitchen, which much resembled that of a large SAMER. 11 cottage), we found a neat little parlour, the water ready boiling in the tea-kettle, ex- cellent tea, bread, butter, and cream. The demoiselle or fille de la maison (being the daughter of the hostess), and her assist- ant (the before-mentioned fdle de chambre, in her country costume), flew about, seem- ing to anticipate aU our wishes and wants ; every thing was ready in an instant, and all was done, not by the wand of an en- chanter, but by the magical influence of good humour and activity, void of pertness, and free from bustle or awkwardness of any sort. La jeune demoiselle was a pretty, modest, well-behaved girl, of sixteen or seventeen, and the maid a merry, good-looking, sprightly lass, some few years older. She appeared to enjoy a joke to her heart, and returned a neat answer to our laughing questions more than once, and this without being at all immodest or impertinent. Mr. B. asked her if she was married: " Pas encore, Monsieur," (said she, looking comically naive), " mais j'espere toujours !" In short, her manner was something quite peculiar to the French in that class of society. An English maid servant 12 HAM Kit. who had kept up this sort of badinage would most probably have been a girl of light character ; but servants in France are indulged in a playful familiarity of speech and manner which is amusing to witness, and seldom (if ever) prevents them from treating you with every essential respect and attention. When we started the next morning, the demoiselle earnestly entreated us to breakfast at the Hotel de 1'Europe, at Montreuil, which was kept by her sister, a young woman only two years older than herself, who was just married ; and both she and her little maid added many a remem- brance upon their parts to la chere saeur. Whether this was genuine sisterly affection, or the policy of two innkeepers playing into each other's hands, I really cannot take upon me to determine. The country between Samer and Mon- treuil becomes far more agreeable than hitherto ; one here sees hills and vales, and waving woods : we passed the forest of Tingri, but did not remark any large trees ; they were chiefly of beech, with a great profusion of low underwood. We met .AR12GNE9. 13 many waggons and carts upon the road which are all very different from those used in England, being much narrower, and lighter for the horses : they are usually open at the ends, and the sides resemble two long ladders. The wheat harvest in this part of the country was remarkably fine ; oats were plentifully planted, but the crops were thin ; the hay, clover, &c. were scarce also, and of inferior quality, owing to the long drought. We observed the women reaping quite as much as the men, and their complexions, poor creatures ! were absolutely baked black by the sun. The road now led us though the heart of the forest of Aregnes : it is of large extent, but we observed the same want of fine timber as in that of Tingri ; the reason of this is, that the trees are always cut down before they attain their full growth, for the purpose of fuel, as wood fires are universal in France. We admired, however, several " dingles green,*' and " tangled wood walks wild," which looked very cool and inviting, but I remembered with pride the " giant oaks and twilight glades beneath" of our 14 MONTREUIL. own New Forest, and this coppice made but a trifling appearance in the comparison. Emerging once more from hence upon the open country, we beheld in the distance a troop of English dragoons (probably from Boulogne) exercising their horses. What a singular spectacle in the midst of a people who so lately ruled the world, but who now are trampled beneath the feet of the stranger ! The sight of the English, thus proudly paramount, must necessarily be re- volting and galling to them in the highest degree: we should feel quite as bitterly, were it our own fate more so, perhaps. Let us therefore be just, and make allowance for their natural disgust, while we con- demn the vanity and mad ambition which has thus reduced them. x The approach to Montreuil is pretty ; the character of the landscape changes, in a sudden and agreeable manner : in place of an uninclosed tract of land, resembling a vast ocean of waving corn, you now see ver- dant meadows and green pastures, refreshing the tired eye, and wearing the livery of early spring ; this effect is produced by the fields MONTRKUIL. 15 lying low, and by the practice of irrigation, which is an admirable substitute for rain. Montreuil is a fortified town ; we passed over drawbridges upon entering and leav- ing it: the houses are aU very ancient, and the whole appearance is picturesqtie. Here we had a mental struggle between sentiment and good nature, for we wished to breakfast at the same inn where Sterne met with La Fleur, and yet were unwilling to disappoint the hopes of our little demoi- selle at Samer, who had recommended her sister's hotel. Good nature carried the day, and we drove to 1'Hotel de 1'Europe, where we met with most comfortable accommoda- tion, and were pleased by the young hostess's resemblance to her pretty sister, and by her civil, lively manner of receiving us. She sat during our breakfast in a neighbour- ing apartment, by the kitchen (like the mistress of the mansion in times of yore), working at her needle, surrounded by her hand-maidens, who were occupied in the same employment. They all seemed to be fond of her, and the light laugh of genuine hilarity rang from one to the other as they 16 MONTREUIL,. cKatted at their ease. The room in which we breakfasted had (in common with most of the French apartments, which are not paved with brick), a handsome oak floor, waxed and dry rubbed till it was nearly as highly polished as a dining-table ; the walls were wainscoted in part, and partly hung with a very amusing paper, having groups of really superior figures stamped upon it, in the manner of black and w r hite chalk drawings upon a blue ground ; one space, which had been intended for a looking-glass, was filled up in this style, with a scene from the loves of Cupid and Psyche, executed in a classical manner. You would never see such a thing in any English country inn, and I consider the French in these sort of deco- rations to possess far better taste than our- selves. As we passed through the corn- fields on our way from Montreuil to Xam- pont, we were saluted by the ramasseurs (gleaners), with a bouquet or two, formed of wheat, platted in a neat and ingenious way, which they threw into the carriage, begging a sous in return, which we be- stowed with much good will ! Some chil- CKECY. 17 dren also began to sing and dance on tiie pathway by the road side, and I was sur- prised by observing that the tune was that of a quadrille, and that 4he steps were correct. I plainly recognized the en avant. m and the rigadon. Did this nation come into the world under the influence of a dancing star ? I should say yes. When the horses were changed at Nam- pont we disturbed the postillion at his dinner, who made his appearance devouring an indescribable something, which we after- wards discovered to be an omelette aux herbes : he deposited this occasionally on the saddle, while adjusting his harness. The ricks of corn and hay here are con- structed rather in a slovenly manner : the French farmers seem to have no idea of the neat method of the Engh'sh, in this respect. The road now led us by the celebrated Forest of Crecy, and the image of our gallant Black Prince rose vividly before my mind's eye. At Bernay we entered another peasant's cottage, where we (for the first time since our landing in this country) beheld real and positive beauty. Two lovely 18 BERN AY. girls with clear brown skins (through which glowed a pure and animated carnation), long, dark blue eyes, black fringed lashes, and oval faces, came out with their mother, (a hale, well-looking country woman), and a younger sister of six years old, whose infantine charms were full as great in their way. I asked if the latter was the cadet i e of the family ? Upon which the rural dame, with infinite good humour and readiness, corrected what she termed my mistaken appellation, by informing me that it was only the second child which they called the cadet or cadette* : the youngest was le dernier, or la derniere. We had much pleasure in remarking this beautiful trio, and the mother seemed not a little gratified at our evident admiration of her progeny. The face of the country here again changed for the worse, relapsing into the same flat and monotonous appearance as at first, and it continued thus until within a mile of Abbeville, which is a very fine old * I had reason, however, afterwards to doubt the accuracy of the rural darnels assertion. ABBEVILLE. 19 town, with a cathedral dedicated to Saint Villefrond. The architecture is very striking, and the interior replete with the usual ornaments of superstition and idolatry : it was built by the English. My companions visited it, while I was resting quietly at the hotel, and saw several precious relics of saints departed. They found three very young devotees there, before a Salvator Mundi, who were much too merry to be very religious ! I however met with quite an affect- ing spectacle when I went in my turn. Two poor paysannes, in the usual picturesque costume, were prostrate before the image of a dead Christ supported by the Virgin. They were praying with an expression of much earnest and sorrowful devotion : one of them had a sick child in her arms, for whom she appeared to invoke the divine com- passion : poor little thing, the impression of approaching death was stamped upon its pale face, as it lay motionless, hardly seeming to breathe. The group struck my imagination so forcibly, that I after- wards attempted to sketch it from memory. Surely this religion, with all its faults, is 20 ABBEVILLE. very consolatory ; and the faith and piety of these poor women must be confessed to be respectable and praiseworthy, however mingled with the alloy of superstition and ignorance : Calvin himself might have thought as I did, had he seen them. It was market-day at Abbeville the morning after our arrival, and we were much amused with the various costumes and faces assembled there. We did not, however, see one pretty woman during the whole of our stay, which was two nights and a day. We went one evening to the theatre, and observed the same dearth of beauty among the audience, which chiefly consisted of pe- tites bourgeoises, and officers of the national guards. This theatre is a very inferior one, and full of bad smells. We were assured by our hostess that the company (from Amiens) was very good, and that the piece they were to act (Les Templiers) was thought highly of. We all found it ex- tremely difficult to follow the actors, owing to their unnatural declamatory tones, and the mouthing manner of pronouncing their words : this I believe, however, is universally ABBEVILLE. the case, even with the first tragedians at Paris, Talma not executed. How brightly do nature's favourite children, O'Neil and Kean, shine in comparison ! The inn at Abbeville, in which we took up our quarters (1'hotel de 1'Europe), is most excellent : it is very large and roomy, and must once have been a handsome cha- teau. There is a delightful garden, which belonged formerly to a convent adjacent: the high walls covered with a profusion of delicious fruit. The trees in other parts of the garden also were bending beneath the weight of the apples and pears, plums, &c. Myrtles and rododendrons (the latter very large and fine) were placed here and there in tubs; and the fig-tree and vine overshadowed our bed-room windows, which looked upon this agreeable scene: the grapes were nearly ripe. The furniture of our bed-rooms was in a very superior style, though I have seen the same sort of things even in the most shabby looking little inns throughout France. Marble must be very common, and of a reasonable price, for we met with it every where, in chimney-pieces, slabs, 22 ABBEVILLE. tables, the tops of drawers, &c. The little washing stand, in our room at Abbeville, was of fine carved mahogany, in the form of an antique altar or tripod ; and the bason and ewer, of an equally pure and classic form, were of fine French porcelain. As I have a great passion for seeing the manners of all ranks of people, I went down into a little room next the kitchen, to chat with the hostess, while she was shelling some haricots blancs for dinner. I found this lady very communicative and civil ; and I won her heart I believe, by taking some notice of her daughter, about six years old (her farewel performance in the maternal line), a pretty, gentle, timid little creature, who was busily occupied in putting her doll to bed in a cradle. Several peasants came into the inn-yard as I sat on a bench there : I observed that all the women wore large crosses, of clumsy workmanship, chiefly of white crystal, or glass, and coloured ear-rings, but not so long as those at Calais. We went into a little jeweUer's shop, and bought a couple of the silver rings, with curious ornaments, which the peasants ABBEVILLE. 23 usually wear; their sentimental devices were very amusing. Leaving Abbeville, we saw the common people employed in making ropes by the road-side, and remarked several large fields of hemp, and one or two of flax : the hemp, when cut, is piled up in sheaves, like corn. The country here is verdant, and rather woody : it lies low, and the river Somme winds through it, whose course may be plainly traced to a great distance by the willows which grow upon its banks, re- minding me of parts of Berkshire. I ought not to omit mentioning the profusion of apple-trees which grow by the road-side, almost all the way to Paris : the trees were absolutely sinking beneath the weight of the fruit, and one or two of them had quite given way, and lay prostrate, training their rosy burthen in the dust. I am almost ashamed to say that my appetite was so much stronger than my honesty, that I could not be satisfied without tasting them ; when I discovered that these fair apples were like those mentioned in the Scriptures, 24 AI RAINES. bright and tempting to the eye, but bitter as ashes within ! In short, they were not eatable, but entirely of the cider kind, which, as every body knows, are good for nothing in a natural state. There are quantities, how- ever, of eating apples besides, in every cot- tage garden ; and the favourite food of the peasant children appears to be coarse, brown, heavy bread, with these roasted and spread upon it, instead of butter. We saw large piles of roasted apples in the market at AbbeviUe for this purpose. The country near Airaines again be- comes tiresome, from its barren sameness. Passing a little public house, we observed the following somewhat selfish inscription over the door : " Messieurs ! nous sommes quatres hussards, et nous disons, que pour conservir nos amis, il ne faut pas faire de credit." The weather was invariably de- lightful: a bright sun, with a refreshing cool breeze, and an elasticity and lightness in the air, gave animation and cheerfulness to us all. The sky was generally of a cloud- less azure, and the nights almost as light GRANVILLIERS. 25 and as free from damps as the days : I never beheld the moon in greater majesty. Airaines is an uninteresting little town, not worth mentioning. Our postillion here was a most ruffian-like, cut-throat looking crea- ture, all over dirt, and having a true Jaco- binical air. He cast several glances full of sullenness aad malignity at my companions ; so much so, that I felt very thankful we were in the cheerful haunts of men, and not in the solitary Alps, or the black forests of Germany, with such a conductor. We dined at Granvilliers, where we were waited upon by a little girl of thirteen, fair and lively enough, with an English bloom. She spoke our language remarkably well, although she had only been six months en pension at Amiens, in order to acquire it ! Her instructress was a French woman, which is singular, for she seemed to have given her little pupil a perfect knowledge of our idiom, and an excellent accent. From Granvilliers to Marseille, the country rapidly improves in beauty. Just beyond the latter place we remarked a very fine old chateau, embosomed in extensive 26 BEAUVAIS. woods: it must formerly have belonged to some of the rich noblesse, and perhaps does so still. Xear Marseille, vineyards ap- peared for the first time. We now ap- proached the town of Beauvais, which had a very pretty effect, surrounded by woods, with the cathedral standing proudly con- spicuous over all. It just now occurs to me to mention (though not immediately d-propos to Beauvais), that the houses, in most of the French towns and villages we have yet seen, are numbered, and in a sin- gular method; for the several streets are not allowed their numbers, separately reckoned, but they go on counting from the first house in the place to the last, so that it sometimes happens you might be directed to call upon a friend at number 1000, or 2000, and so on. In Paris they have another peculiarity, for the even numbers, such as 2, 4, 6, 8, &c. are all on one side of the street, and the odd ones, 7, 9, 11, &c. on the other. Beauvais is a filthy town ; the streets narrow and dark, and the houses very ordi- nary. The diversity of intolerable smells BEAUVAIS. 27 here nearly overset me, and made me wish almost to lose the power of my olfactory nerves. The inn was miserable, dirty, inconvenient, badly attended, and noisy. The only good things we met with were beds ; indeed we have been fortunate in that respect every where, and the linen through- out France is excellent and plentiful. We had (with some difficulty) prevailed upon the awkward Maritornes of a fille, de chambre to set a tea-board before us in the little chair-lumbered closet dignified by the name of a mile, a manger, and into which three or four doors were perpetually opened sans ceremonic, when our Swiss travelling valet, Christian, came in to tell us of the hard fate of an English family who were just arrived, and whose fatigue obliged them to sleep here ; but as the sitting-rooms were all occupied, they were under the necessity of taking their tea in the kitchen, which did not, alas ! boast the cheerful and clean appearance of the cottage kitchens I have formerly described. Common politeness, therefore, laid us under the necessity of sending an invitation to these unfortunates, 28 BEAUVAIS. to share our sitting-room, and join us at our tea. Accordingly, in came two ladies ; one a fat, comely, masculine dame, of a certain age; the other lean, tall, plain, and some few years younger. In a few minutes they were joined by a large, gruff, sour-looking old gentleman (the husband of the elder lady), who, without attempting any saluta- tion or apology to us, began to express his dissatisfaction at finding tea going forward, * when you know (said he) I never drink any.' He then settled himself at a smah 1 table, and ordered a pate for his supper. The style of the ladies may easily be guessed by the sort of language in which they described every thing they had seen. The younger, mentioning a tempestuous passage which they had encountered, from Dover to Boulogne, told us that the air smelt quite sulphuruS) and the lightning tizzed in the water very frightfully. The old gentleman grumbled himself by degrees into conversation, and we soon discovered that he was a genuine Squire Sullen, and that his companions were fully aware of it. These poor people seemed to dislike almost BEAUVAlS. 2jj all they had met with in France ; persons, places, travelling, &c. They beheld every thing en noir, and appeared to make moun- tains of mole-hills. Peace be with them ! and a speedy release from each other's society. We went (although the day was sinking into twilight) to view the magnificent cathe- dral, which for beauty of architecture I have seldom seen equalled. It is not finished. The different chapels of the saints, and the high altar, were very striking, seen through the solemn gloom of the fine old stained glass windows. Lights were burning before the shrine of one single saint, the patron of the town ; they twinkled dimly through the Gothic pillars and tracery, and had a highly picturesque and singular effect*. Many peasants were kneeling round the altar at this shrine, and the old woman (our guide) informed us they were praying for rain, now the harvest w r as got safely in : we asked her if she thought the saint would * The principal beauty of this cathedral is the choir, and it is also famous for Gobelin tapestry. SO BEAUVAIS. grant their prayers, and she replied she had no doubt but that he would. Prostrate on the steps of the altars, in the different small chapels of this cathedral, half lost in shadow, were several other devotees, who had come there for the purpose of con- fessing themselves previous to the great and solemn festival of the assomption de la Sainte Vierge, which was to take place on the morrow. Altogether the spectacle was interesting and imposing, nor could I find any disposition in my heart to ridicule a religion which seemed to be carried on with so much sacred solemnity, and in so awe inspiring a temple. Certainly the ab- sence of pews in the body of a place of public worship is a great advantage, both in a religious and a picturesque point of view. There is something soothing and elevating to the imagination in the idea of so grand a building being open equally, and at all times, to the noble and the peasant, who, it might easily happen, may be seen side by side kneeling on the same steps of the magnificent altar, wrapt in devout adoration of that Being, in whose sight all men are BEAUMONT. 31 equal. In my opinion (and I have ever since I can remember thought the same) a Gothic cathedral is the most appropriate style of building for a place dedicated to the worship of the Almighty, nor can I look upon the magnificent style in which the Roman catholics adorn their altars, and array their officiating priests, without some feelings of approbation and reverence. We were right glad to quit Beauvais early the next morning ; and, as we advanced towards Beaumont, were delighted with the beauty of its environs. The river Seine has a fine appearance here, although vastly inferior to our Thames ; and we re- marked a great number of chateaus rising among the woods, on every side : many of them, with their parks and domains, were really superb. Some peasants here attempted to impose upon us as foreigners, in a very dis- gusting manner, asking a franc for a couple of green gages, and three sous a-piece for pears, which they offered at the windows of our carriage. Our servant w r as very in- dignant at their impudence, and sent them off in a hurry, saying, " Dey ought to be 32 BEAUMONT. shamed of demselves." Upon entering Beaumont, we met the population of the place returning from mass, in their cos- tumes des fetes. Nothing can well be more sweetly pretty, and delicately neat, than the dress of the women ! snowy caps, with deep lace or thin linon borders plaited, white cotton gowns and stockings, gay coloured cotton handkerchiefs crossed smartly over the bosom so as to display the shape to advantage, a large gold cross suspended from the neck by a black narrow riband, or gold chain, with ear-rings, and pin for the forehead of the same material. Some few wore a crimson apron and bib, over the white gown, and others crimson gowTis, with aprons of a bright antique sort of blue a mixture of colours which is for ever to be remarked in the paintings of the old masters, and which has a singularly becoming effect upon the skin. A little worked muslin jfischu, with a vandyke bordering, is some- times added, as a finish to the dress, worn over all. We now came to St. Denis, and at length beheld Paris ! We did not pass the heights PARIS. 33 of Montmartre, &c. without emotion, when we recollected the memorable contest which so lately took place there between the ve- teran Blucher and the French ! The country in the immediate vicinity of Paris is flat and ugly ; but we thought not of nature upon entering this celebrated work and wonder of art. Covered with dust, and followed by the eyes of the multitude, who easily discovered our English physiognomies, we drove up to several hotels, at every one of which we were refused admittance for want of room to accommodate us, there being at this moment no less than thirty thousand English at Paris. At last, we were com- fortably housed at the hotel Rivoli (near the jar dins des Tuileries), one of the best in the city, where we found abundant civility and attention, and every convenience. Why should I attempt to describe Paris ? It has already and so often been done by abler pens than mine, that the very school girl in a country town in England is per- fectly acquainted with all its lions ; I shall only say, that we spent so short a time there, and I was so afraid of exhausting my 34 PARIS. stock of strength, which was fully wanted for the journey to Geneva, &c. that I did not even attempt to see every thing that might have been seen. The extreme height of the houses, and narrowness of the streets, together with the inconceivable variety of horrible smells in all parts of the town, and the want of pavements for pedestrians, made an ex- tremely unpleasant impression upon me. The gaiety and fancy displayed in the signs over the shops (every one of which has an emblematic device peculiar to itself) \vere very striking, however, as well as their mar- kets, where Pomona seemed to have lavished the choicest treasures of her horn : indeed I never beheld such a profusion of exqui- site fruits and vegetables, the cheapness of which astonished us natives of a more niggard clime not a little. The quantities of cooling and refreshing beverages, sold in every corner of the streets, were also quite a novel thing to us, as well as the circumstance of all the world sitting on hired chairs out of doors, sipping lemonade, or eating ices. PARIS. 35 I did not remark, I must confess, that appearance of excessive animation and en- joyment, which I had been led to expect among the Parisians ; on the contrary, I saw full as many grave faces as in notre triste pays, as they call it. The Palais Royal I thought a very amusing place; and the fountain in the midst is most beau- tiful and refreshing, throwing up a stream of water, which in its descent resembles a weeping willow. The fountain of the Lions, also, is still superior, and I think them among the most agreeable objects in Paris. The Boulevards are an airy, cheerful situa- tion, and the moving scene constantly going on there put me in mind of a perpetual fair. The gentlemen went to the Opera Fran- coise, where the splendour of the ballet, and the superiority of the dancing, struck them with astonishment and admiration. They visited Tivoli (which did not appear to them to be so good a thing of the sort as our Vauxhall) ; and I went one evening to the Beaujon, and les Montaignes Russes, in les Champs Elysees. Both the latter, 36 PARIS. however, were shut ; that is, Ho sliding in the cars was going on, for there had been so many fatal accidents lately, that the rage for this amusement was over. I did not like les Champs Eli/sees so well as our Ken- sington Gardens ; the want of turf was unpardonable in our English eyes. La place de Louis XV., opposite the Tuileries, where the unfortunate Louis XVI. was executed, is very superb in itself, as well as interesting from its melancholy legends. I was rather disappointed in les jar dins dcs Tuileries, admiring the fine orange-trees in tubs there more than the gardens them- selves. We saw the remains of that horrible monument of cruelty, injustice, and des- potism, the Bastile ; and drove past the en- trance to the celebrated Jar din des plantes, which we did not enter, as I had already seen a very fine botanical collection at Kew, and a much superior set of wild beasts at Exeter Change. To the Louvre, however, even in its present state of diminished splendour, no words of mine can do justice ; its superb gallery far exceeded even my expectations, PARIS. S7 which had been highly excited by all I had ever heard upon the subject : to see the paintings properly, one ought to go there every day for a week. We had only time particularly to distinguish several land- scapes of Claude Lorraine, beautiful beyond all idea, and the set of historical pictures illustrative of the life of Henri qua Ire, by Eubens: I was much struck with the fine countenance and person of the gallant monarch. A Saint Sebastian also, by Guido, rivetted my delighted attention. A friend of ours has painted an exquisite miniature copy of it, with which I remember being greatly struck in England, but it was not until I had seen the original that I was fully aware of its extraordinary merit. The gallery itself is a most magnificent thing ; it really is quite a long fatiguing walk from one end of it to the other; and the crowds of people of all ranks who are constantly to be met with there render it altogether one of the most curious and interesting spec- tacles in Europe. I was much amused with the shops, par- ticularly the confectioners ; the ingenious 38 PARIS. and endless devices into which they form their delicious bon bons and dried fruits are really surprising, and we purchased speci- mens of their different fancies, to astonish our English friends upon our return home. The vendeurs des tisannes (cooling be- verages, something like eau de groseilles, or lemonade), going about with their stock in trade strapped to their backs like walking tea-urns, were curious figures. The vessel which holds the tisanne is not unlike a long violin case in shape, with a spout to it ; it finishes at the top like a Chinese pagoda, and is sometimes covered with little jingling bells, and hung round with pretty silver mugs. The dress of the petites bourgeoises is quite distinct from that of every other rank of person ; it is rather smart and neat than otherwise, but not at all picturesque. I do not remember to have heard a single note of agreeable music while I was in Paris, except that which regaled our ears in an opposite hotel (belonging to Count S.) the second evening of our arrival. This nobleman (of an Irish family, but now a naturalized Frenchman) gave a grand PARIS. ner (in a temporary banqueting-room, built out upon the leads of the house a la troisieme Stage) to the English ; and, during the entertainment, his band of musicians played several pieces, amongst others the celebrated national air, still dear to the French, of Vive Henri quatre ; they then attempted God save the King, but made a dreadful business of it, which I attribute less to professional ignorance than to the impossibility of their being able to feel it, or to enter into the spirit of it con amore / The ballad singers (at least all of them that we had an opportunity of hearing) have harsh wiry voices and nasal tones ; the latter cir- cumstance, however, is almost inseparable from their language. I could not but be diverted with the espieglerie of the filh de chambre who attended me at the hotel de Kivoli : she was ugly, but shrewd, and very active and civil. I asked her if Count S. was a young man ; upon which she hopped round the room in the most ridiculous manner possible, imitating the action of a decrepit old person. Jeune ! (said she) oh mon Dieu, que non ! c'est tin vieux Monsieur 40 PARIS. qui va toitjours comme cela ! I inquired if she knew why he gave this fete. Oh,je rien sais rien, mats, le pauvre homme, il na que tres peu de temps encore d restre dans ce monde ci, etje crois quil aime dfaire parler de lui, avant de partir pour I'autre. As to the personal charms of the women here, they appeared to me to be very mediocre ; we remarked three or four pretty- faces, but not one that had any claim to superior beauty. The people were all civil to us, except one woman, who kept a little shop for bijouterie in le Palais Royal: nothing could be more pert and sulky than her language and manner ; she looked as if she hated us and our nation altogether, We heard reports from other English people residing here, that it was very common for the lower orders of French to treat us with marked incivility and dislike ; indeed that they should do so, under the present cir- cumstances, ought not to be wondered at. The bronze statue of Henri quatre was erecting during our stay ; we passed by the spot (close to the Pont Neuf), and beheld a niob assembled around it, with gens d'armes PARIS. 41 on duty : we did not see the statue itself, it being at that moment covered with a purple mantle, studded with golden fleurs de Its. The various political parties speak differently of this affair: some say the brass of the statue will soon be converted into mortars, and others, that it is built upon a rock, and will stand for ever ! The bridges appeared to us all vastly inferior to ours in London ; that of Waterloo, in the Strand, makes them shrink into utter insignificance in comparison ! but the pa- laces and public buildings are, on the con- trary, infinitely finer than our own. Nothing can be more magnificent, or in a more noble taste ! I was very much amused by the novelty (totally unknown to ladies in England) of dining at a restaurateur's. Curiosity induced me to accompany Mr. Baillie, and our friend, to V6ry's, and the next day to Beauvilliers', two of the most distinguished in the profession in Paris; and the excellence of the cookery almost awakened (or rather I should say created) in me a spirit of gourmandise. There were a few other ladies present, which was a sort 42 PARIS. of sanction for me. A Russian or Prussian officer (by his appearance) sat at one of the little tables next to us, at Beauvilliers', and very nearly made me sick by the sight of his long, thick, greasy moustaches, and his disgusting habit of spitting every in- stant upon the floor. I observed that the French people eat their vegetables (always dressed with white sauce) after the meat, &c. and as a sort of dessert or bonne louche even after they have finished their sweet dishes: to us this seems an odd custom. We took our coffee and liqueurs at a Cafe near the Tuileries, and then, while the gentlemen went to the opera, I returned to the hotel, to go on with my journal. One morning we devoted to an expedition to the interesting cemetery of Pere de la Chaise,the celebrated confessor of Louis qua- torze. The house in which he resided stands in the midst, and is preserved as a sacred ruin. Nothing can be more striking, and affecting to the imagination, than this place of burial ; it is of considerable extent, with a well managed relief of shade and inequality of ground. The tombs and graves are kept PARIS. 48 in the highest order and repair, and almost all of them are planted with shrubs and fragrant flowers, mingled with the mournful cypress and yew : the acacia tree also is planted here in great abundance, and the wild vine trails its broad leaves and graceful clusters over many of the monuments. We remarked several beautiful tombs ; amongst others, a light Gothic temple, which contains the mouldering remains of Abelard and Eloise, brought from the former place of their interment to the present ap- propriate and lovely situation : their statues lie side by side carved in stone, in their religious habits, their heads resting on cushions, and his feet upon a dog. All this did him too much honour ; as he was the most selfish tyrannical lover in the world, and quite unworthy, in my opinion, of the attachment of the unfortunate Eloise. Several of the inscriptions on humbler tombs were affecting from their brevity and sim- plicity ; upon that of a man in the prime of life we read the foUowing short sen- tence: A la memoire de mon meilleur ami cctoit mon frere ! On another, Ci 44 PARIS. git P N ; son epouse perd en ltd Ic plus tendre de scs amis, et ses enfans un modele de vertu. And upon one raised by its parents to the memory of a child, ci git jiotre Jils cheri ; a little crown of artificial orange blossoms, half blown, was in a glass- case at his head. We observed many gar- lands of fresh and sweet flowers, hung upon the graves; every tiling marked the ex- istence of tender remembrance and regret : it appears to me as if in this place, alone, the dead were never forgotten. I ought, however, to make honourable mention of a similar custom in Wales, A woman was kneeling upon one of the tombs (which was overgrown by fragrant shrubs), weeping bitterly, and I felt a great inclination to bear her company : the last roses of sum- mer were still lingering here, and she was gathering one as we passed. There is a remarkably fine view of Paris from the mount on which the house of Pere de la Chaise stands. I said it was preserved as a sacred ruin, but I, as a protestant, could not look with much veneration upon it, as the residence of the instigator of the re- PARIS. 45 vocation of the edict of Nantes ; that foul stain upon the character, and disgrace to the understanding of le grand Louis, which will ever be remembered with indignation by every candid and liberal Christian. But Protestantism has likewise its bigots, almost as remorseless, and equally blind ! witness some sentiments discovered in the dis- courses of furious Calvin, and John Knox ; witness the actions of Cromwell, and his fanatical roundheads ; witness (alas ! in our own days), the uncharitable and horribly pre- sumptuous principles and tenets of the Me- thodists and Saints ! But this is another di- gression : I return to the view of Paris. It is, as I said before, extremely fine ; you have a bird's eye prospect of the whole city, with the proud towers of Notre Dame eminently conspicuous, and the gilded dome of I'ho- pital des Invalides, glittering in the sun. A word (only one word) relative to the French custom of gilding so much and so gaudily ; it quite spoils the dignified effect of some of their noblest works of architec- ture, and puts one in mind of a child who prefers the showy ostentation of gold leaf 46 PARIS. upon his gingerbread to the more whole- some taste of its own plain and unorna- mented excellence. I have met with English people, however, who are vastly delighted with this false style of decoration. Before I take leave of Paris, I ought in justice to acknowledge that I have not had an opportunity of enjoying its chief and proudest attraction ; I mean its hest society. Our time did not allow of any intercourse of this nature, and I regretted it much, because I have always heard (and from those most capable of judging rightly) that the tone of conversation in the upper circles here is remarkably attractive and delight- ful; and that lovers of good taste, high breeding, social enjoyment, and literary pur- suits, would find themselves in Paris en pays de connoissance. Deprived of this gratifica- tion, we felt (at least Mr. B. and myself) no sort of reluctance or regret when the day of our departure arrived : for our friend Mr. W. I will not so confidently answer ; he had been in Paris twice before, had met with many agreeable people there, and consequently felt more at home among them. PARIS. 47 As for me in particular, I can only say that Paris made no great impression upon my fancy, and none at all upon my feelings ; (always excepting the Louvre, the cimetiere of Pcre de la Chaise^ and one or two other interesting spectacles) : and that I was, as I before observed, so overpowered by its in- conceivably filthy effluvia, and the wretched inconvenience of its streets (both for walk- ing and going in a carriage), that I rather felt an exhilaration of spirits than otherwise when we finally bade it adieu. On the morning of our departure it rained a good deal, and our postilh'on had taken care to fence himself against the weather ; for he had disguised himself in a long shaggy dress of goats' skins, bearing a very accurate resemblance to the prints of Robinson Crusoe. We observed this done by others, more than once. The horses had little bells fastened to their harness; which practice is very common, we were told, both in France and Italy. All the roads in the former, and most of them in the latter country, are good ; wide, smooth, and generally paved in the middle, which 48 FROMENTEAU. has a noisy effect, but it renders the draught for horses much easier than the road, in wet weather, or when they work in very heavy carriages, Avenues are general ; they improve the face of the country when seen at a distance, but are monotonous and tire- some in themselves. I used formerly to admire roads leading though avenues, but it is possible to have too much of this. Between Villejuif and Fromenteau we ob- served a pillar on the left with the following chivalrous inscription ; Dieu, h Roi, les Dames ! I was going to rejoice in this ap- parent proof of the gallant spirit of the na- tion, but I recollected the celebrated words of Burke, in his letter upon the French re- volution, and sighed as I involuntarily re- peated, "The age of chivalry is no more." Just beyond Fromenteau, the country is really fine : woods, villages, chateaus were in abundance, and the river Seine ap- peared to much advantage; we remarked two stone fountains, one on each side of the road, with the fleurs de Us engraved upon them, built by Louis XV. The French mile-stones here have quite a clas- ESSONE. 49 sical air, resembling broken columns ; they are not properly mile-stones, but serve to mark the half leagues. At Essone, where we changed horses, the postillion came out in a white night-cap (or rather a cap which once had boasted that title of purity), loose blue trowsers reaching scantily below the knee, and sans shoes or stockings of any sort : upon seeing that his services were wanted, he threw on an old japan hat, jumped into his jack boots, and clawing up the reins, drove off with an air of as much importance and self satisfaction as the smartest-clad post-boy on the Epsom road during the race week. In the stubble fields near Fontainbleau, we observed great quantities of partridges. The shepherds here sleep in li ttle moveable houses or huts, upon wheels, somewhat in- ferior to a good English dog-kennel. At Chailly, we saw the Virgin Mary looking out of a round hole in the wall, and not at all more dignified in her appearance than the well-known hero of Coventry. We now ex- changed our driver for a spirited old gentle- man, who frolicked alongbeneaththe burthen 50 FONTAINBLEAU. of threescore or more, seeming to bid de- fiance to the whole collection of pains and HH's (vide Kemble's classical pronuncia- tion). Perhaps, reader, I do not make my meaning perfectly clear ; but that does not signify, the first authors write in this way ; and besides, I know what I mean myself, which is not always the case even with them. We remarked in the course of our journey a great number of similar merry Nestors, and found, almost invariably, that they drove us faster, better, and in a superior style altogether to their younger com- petitors. I suppose they have a sort of pride in thus displaying their activity, which a middle-aged man does not feel. We entered the superb forest of Fon- tainbleau just as the day began to decline ; the sombre gloom and peculiar smell of the leaves were very agreeable. I have ever loved forest scenery, and would prefer a constant residence in its vicinity to that of mountain, lake, or plain: the trees here were chiefly beech, mixed with silver pop- lars, birch, and a few oaks. How was it possible to thread these mazes without FONTAINBLEAU, 51 thinking of Henri quatre, and his famous hunting adventure in the miller's hut? I almost expected to see the stately shade of the noble monarch start from each shadowy dell. Methought the sullen, yet faithful Sully, emerged from the dark glades on the opposite side, seeking in vain for the be- nighted sovereign ; and venting his affec- tionate inquietudes in the language of ap- parent severity and ill humour. I thought but it does not matter what more I thought, in which opinion I dare say my reader will fully agree with me. We arrived at our inn (la Galere), and well did it deserve that name, for never poor slave chained to the bench and oar suffered more severely from the merciless lash of his task-master than I did from the tormenting tyranny of the bugs, which swarmed in this detestable place. There was no sitting-room imme- diately ready for our reception, so we sat down in the old, lofty, smoke-stained kitchen, and amused ourselves with observing the progress of our supper, in company with a very sociable little dog, (who took a great fancy to me,) and Monsieur le Chef, an i: 2 52 FONTAINBLEAU. appropriate name, invariably given to the cook in most parts of the Continent. When we retired to rest for the night, no words can express the disgust which assailed us: finding it impossible to re- main in bed, I was obliged to He in the middle of the room, upon six hard, worm- eaten, wooden chairs, whose ruthless angles ran into my wearied frame, and rendered every bone sore before morning ; but even this did not save me, for the vermin as- cended by the legs of the chairs, and really almost eat me up, as the rats did Southey's Bishop Hatto*. My imagination for several days after this adventure was so deeply saturated with their nauseous idea, that every object brought them in some way or other before me*. Upon quitting Fontainbleau, we first observed the sabots (or wooden shoes) worn by the peasantry ; they are of enormous size, and must, I should think, be very heavy and inconvenient to the wearer. A piece of sheep-skin, with the woolly side in- * Vide Southey's Miscellaneous Poems. MORET. 53 wards, is often slipt between the sabot and the foot, to prevent the former from ex- coriating the instep. At Moret, a dirty little town, we saw a whole row of women washing linen in the river ; they were in a kneeling position, and beat the clothes with a wooden mallet; they ought all to be provided with hus- bands from among the linen drapers, as they are such admirable helps to the trade. We met several donkeys here, carrying rushes, piled up like moving houses, so high, that only the heads and hoofs of the animals were visible. Vast tracts of land, covered with vineyards, extended on every side, and the eternal straight road, where one could see for three or four miles the track one was to follow, began to be ex- cessively tedious and wearing to the spirits : how different from the winding, undulating, graceful roads in England! Country near Pont sur Yonne open, bald, and monotonous. The French vineyards when seen closely have a formal effect, being planted in stiff rows, like scarlet runners in a kitchen garden, but they much enrich 54 SENS. the landscape at a distance. The river Yonne is a pretty little stream, but the nymphs on its banks are not at all pic- turesque in their costume, which is by no means particularly marked, being dirty and unbecoming, and very much (I am ashamed to say) in the style of our common country- women about Brentford, Hammersmith, &c. Sens is an ancient town : it has a handsome cathedral and gateway. The bread made here (as weh 1 as in most parts of France, ex- cept partiaUy in Paris) is mixed with leaven instead of yeast, and is sour and disagreeable in consequence. We remarked many gar- dens richly cultivated, full of choice vege- tables and fruit, by the side of the high- road, without the smallest inclosure ; a proof, I should imagine, of the honesty of the country people. There are several English families resident here, as the envi- rons are very pretty, and the town itself an agreeable one. We stopped to take our breakfast at la Poste, and bought excellent grapes for four-pence a pound English money. The late Dauphin, father of the present king, is buried in the cathedral of SENS. 55 this place, and the duke and duchess d'An- gouleme, &c. come once a year to pray for his soul'& repose. Pursuing our route, we met many Bur- gundy waggons, loaded with wine; the horses were ornamented with enormous collars of sheep-skin^ dyed of a bright blue colour : the tout cjisemble had a picturesque appearance, and the waggons were the first we had seen in France which had four wheels, the weight being usually balanced between a pair. A sudden storm of rain now coming on, had a beautiful effect; the retreating sunbeams played in catching lights (to use the expression of an artist) upon the abrupt points of the distant hills, and par- tially illuminated their soft and verdant tapestry of vines. We particularly enjoyed it after the long season of heat and drought. Here are whole groves of walnut-trees, be- neath which we met a group of five women belonging to the vineyards ; they were every one handsome, with ruddy, whole- some, yet sun-burnt complexions, lively smiles, and long bright dark eyes and shadowy lashes. 56 JOIGNY. Entered Villeneuve sur Yonne ; saw loads of charcoal on the river, going to replenish the kitchens of many a Parisian Helioga- balus ! this is also an ancient town, with two curious old gateways, but it appeared very dull. I admired some fine hedges of acacia, and four pretty, sleek, grey donkeys, who were drawing the plough. The road is winding here, like those of our own country, for which we were solely indebted to the turns of the river, whose course it accompanied. Joigny; A handsome stone bridge seems its most remarkable ornament: the river is broad and fine; flowing through steep banks fringed with wood. We dined and slept at les Cinq Mineurs, and this in the same room. A most obliging, intelligent, young woman waited upon us, whose name was Veronique. After dinner we walked on the promenade by the side of the river, and saw the barracks, &c. My friends met with a little adventure in their rambles, while I was resting myself at the inn. Seeing a pretty little boy and his sister at play near the chateau, (belonging to the JOIGNY. 57 ancient counts of Joigny,) they entered into conversation with them, upon which they were joined by the father of the children, a French country gentleman, who resided in a small house opposite the chateau : he insisted upon their coming in with him, and as the dinner was ready, much wished to tempt them to partake the meal : this they declined, and their new acquaintance proceeded to shew them his collection of pictures, de tres bons morcdaux^ as he called them, but which did not rank quite so high in the estimation of his visitors. He uninten- tionally displayed, however, a much more pleasing possession ; I mean that of an amiable and grateful disposition, for he said in the course of conversation, that he was always on the watch for an opportunity of shewing hospitality and attention to the English, as some little return for the kind- ness he had experienced from their na- tion, during a visit he had formerly made to his brother in Dorsetshire ; this brother was one of the monks of the order of La Trappe, a small number of whom had been collected together, and who lived, in their 58 JOIGNV. former habits of monastic gloom and aus- terity, at Lulworth castle in that county, under the protection of an English catholic (Mr. Weld), during the French revolution. He related some interesting anecdotes of this severe establishment ; in particular, that of an Austrian general of high rank, who after enrolling himself a member of the community, and living some .years in the practice of incredible hardships and privations, at length permitted his tongue to reveal his name and family, about ten minutes previous to his dissolution ; faith- ful to the vow which is common to them all, of not speaking until the moment of death. I was not aware that such an in- stitution existed in England, till this French gentleman related the circumstance, and it strengthened the sensations of mixed horror and pity, which I have ever felt for the victims of fanaticism, in every shape and in every degree. How incredible does it appear, (in the judgment of reasonable beings) that mortals should imagine the benevolent Author of Mature can possibly take pleasure in a mode of worship which JOIGNY. 59 restricts his creatures from the enjoyment of those comforts and innocent pleasures with which life abounds, and for which he has so peculiarly adapted their faculties ! Shall all created beings express their sense of existence in bursts of involuntary cheer- fulness and hilarity of spirit, and man alone offer up his adorations with a brow of gloom, and a heart withered by slavish sensations of fear and alarm ? but enough upon so sacred a subject. On returning to their inn, the gentlemen met several teams of oxen, decorated with pretty high bonnets (d la cauchoise) made of straw: the natives here seem to take great pride and pleasure in the accoutrements of their cattle. An English family arrived at the Cinq Mineurs at the same time with ourselves ; they were weh 1 known in Lori- don as people of some consequence and property. Their sensations on passing through France were widely different from ours, as they described themselves to have been thoroughly disgusted with every body and every thing they saw ; had met with nothing but cheating and imposition among 60 AUXERRE. the people ; and had not been able to ob- serve any pretty country, or interesting objects en route yet they had gone over exactly the same ground that we had done. As they sometimes traveUed all night, I conclude they slept the whole or greater part of the time ; but there are more ways than one of going through the world with the eyes shut. In the neighbourhood of Joigny, (on the other side of the town,) there is a great quantity of hemp grown ; and all the trees are stripped up to the tops, like those in many parts of Berkshire, where the graceful is frequently sacrificed to the useful : they had a very ugly effect. Approaching Auxerre, the cathedral looks handsome ; there are three churches besides. The first view of Burgundy is not pre- possessing ; nothing but tame-looking hills, with casual patches of vines ; the river, however, is a pretty object, and continues to bestow a little life upon the landscape. The same absence of costume continues. At Auxerre, we breakfasted at I'hotcl du Leo- pard ; the vines were trained over the AUXERRE. 61 house with some degree of taste, and took off from the air of forlorn discomfort which the foreign inns so frequently ex- hibit. I was rather surprised at being ushered into the same room with a fine haughty-looking peacock, a pea-hen, and their young broood ; they did not seem at all disconcerted at my entrance, but con- tinued stalking gravely about, as if doing the honors of the apartment. The salle d manger was in a better go&t (although not hah so comfortable) than most of our English parlours ; the walls were papered with graceful figures from stories of the pagan mythology and bold, spirited land- scapes in the back ground, coloured in imitation of old bistre drawings ; the crazy sopha and arm chair were covered with rich tapestry, of prodigiously fine colours, yet somewhat the worse for wear. This was our first Burgundy breakfast, and it evinced the luxuriance of the country, for it consisted (as a thing of course) of black and white grapes, melons, peaches, greengages, and pears, to which were added fresh eggs by the dozen, good cafe an lait, and creaming 62 AUXERRE. butter just from the churn, with the cruci- fix stamped upon it. At all French de- je lines they ask if you do not choose fruit, and at dinner it is in variably brought to table in the last course, with a slice of cheese as part of the dessert. Mr. Baillie was not well, and starved like Tantalus in the midst of plenty, which was very unlucky. Bonaparte on his return from Elba oc- cupied this apartment; and the postillion who drove us was one of those who ren- dered the same service to him : we had also a pair of the same horses which aided in conveying him on towards Paris. He passed two days here, waiting for his small army of five thousand men to come up with him, as his speed greatly outran theirs. He had six horses to his travelling carriage, and gave each postillion ten francs a piece ; " Mafoi /" (said ours in relating the circum- stance) " nous avons bien galoppe ! quand on nous paye si bien, les chevaux ne sefatiguent jamais /" There was some honesty as well as wit in this avowal. Quitting Auxerre, we passed a large stone cistern, with a cross on the top; several VERMANTOX. 68 loaded donkeys were drinking here, and some women washing clothes ; it was altoge- ther a picturesque group, and singular to an English eye. Vineyards, vineyards, vine- yards ! toujours perdrix ! I was quite tired of them at last. The country, however, now became much more hilly, and we used the drag-chain, for the first time, between Saint Bris and Vermanton ; these hills were richly covered with vines, and woods began to appear, in the form of thick dwarfish oak. Vermanton. This place is famed for wood and wine. We saw the paysannes here in deep gipsy straw hats, the first we had beheld in France among this class of people ; for even in Paris, the petites bour- geoises, as weh 1 as the countrywomen, all walk about in caps, or the French handker- chief tied carelessly round the head. The country from hence again changed much for the worse, barren hills extended for several miles, now and then covered with partial spots of vegetation. Close to the town of Avalon, we re- marked a range of hills, one of which is of 64 AVALON. great height, called Montmartre. We here bid adieu for some time to vine- yards. Large extensive woods surround Avalon, from which the greater part of the fuel burnt in Paris is taken. Flocks of sheep were continually passing, numbers of black ones, and some goats always among them. There seemed to be few pigs any where, and all of them were frightfully lean : " as fat as a pig" is a term of reproach for which I have ever entertained a parti- cular aversion, but I am now convinced that these beasts are much more disgusting when deprived of their natural embonpoint. I fancy the French people make too good a use themselves of what we should call the refuse of the kitchen, to have any to spare for the necessities of these their four- footed brethren. We now came into the neighbourhood of widely extended corn- fields fields I ought not to call them, for there are no inclosures. We saw an old woman at a cottage door, with a distaff in her hand ; the first I had ever seen except in a picture. She was a withered, grim-looking crone, but not quite sublime enough for ROUVRAY. 65 one of Gray's " fatal sisters." Scene the next, a pretty, green, tranquil glen, (where cattle were making the most of the un- usually rich pasturage,) bounded by a steep bank, and copse wood; not unlike some spots in Surrey. We drove on, through a shady wood, to Rouvray, passing on the road crowds of wag- gons drawn by oxen, loaded with empty wine casks, preparatory to the vintage, which was expected to be very fine this season : the waggoners almost ah 1 wore cocked hats, and we remarked that the oxen were yoked by the head. We met a diligence drawn by four mules, and observed many beautiful trees of mountain ash, with their bright clusters of scarlet berries, by the side of the highway. Stopping for a few moments at la Roche en Berney, we joined a group of the most respectable bourgeoisie, (men and women,) sitting with the hostess on a bench at her door. They all rose up to salute us, and the men stood sans chapeau as we passed, with an agreeable expression of civil good will upon every countenance. Some of the ladies had little French dogs under their 66 SAULIEU. arms. The country near this place is covered with wood, yet has notwithstand- ing a monotonous character; these woods however are worthy of remark, from their extent and duration, continuing on all sides without interruption for many miles. We now arrived at Saulieu, where we supped and slept at la Poste. It was quite in the cottage style, which we all rather liked than not : we had a cheerful little wood fire at night (as the weather felt chilly), and sat round it talking of the adventures of the day, until the hour of repose. This town stands upon the highest ground in France; the snow was never entirely off the neighbouring woods during the whole of the last winter : vineyards will not flourish in so bleak a situation, and other fruits are very scarce. The hostess was a most loyal personage, for upon my observing a bust of Henri quatre over the chimney, and saying he was truly the father of his people, she ex- claimed, Oui, Madame ! mais a present nous avons aussi des rois qui font le bonhenr de leurs sujets. The costume here still con- tinues undecided, and devoid of taste. SAULIEU. 67 Two very pretty, modest, rustic lasses waited upon us, named Marie and Lodine. Lodine was a brunette, with an arch, dimpled, comical little face, (round as an apple, and equally glowing,) teeth white as snow, and regular as a set of pearls ; but I rather preferred the opposite style of Marie, who was slighter in her person, graver, and whose long dark eyes and penciled brows alone gave lustre and expression to an oval face, and a pale yet clear and fine grained skin : these eyes, however, were not so often illu- minated by bright flashes of innocent gaiety as those of Lodine, but they made amends by the length and beauty of their soft black lashes. Lodine's admiration was prodigiously excited by my English ear-rings, and rings, &c. She took them up one by one to ex- amine, and exclaimed frequently that she had never seen such beautiful things in her life. Poor little rustic ! I hope no unprin- cipled traveller will ever take advantage of thy simplicity and love of finery, and per- suade thee to exchange for toys of a similar description the precious jewels of inno- cence and good fame. Mr. W. went into SAULIEU. the market the next morning, before either Mr. Baillie or myself were up, and remarked that almost every woman there was well looking ; he ( also saw some really beautiful girls among them. There are two neat churches here. The swarms of beggars which assailed us at every town, in this part of the country, were positively quite annoying; their bold and sturdy importu- nity made me recollect, with regret, the sensitive delicacy of Sterne's poor " Monk," and wish that they were as easily repulsed ! Had this been the case, I dare say we should have given them every sous in our possession ; but, as it was, I never felt less difficulty in steeling my ears and my heart. The face of nature seemed like a map, the road was upon such elevated ground. But leaving Saulieu, our route was agree- ably varied by a continual alternation of hill and dale; the foreground rocky, en- livened with purple heath and furze. We frequently made the remark, that we had not yet seen a single cottage which could be called pretty since we landed at Calais ; and the lovely and picturesque hamlets of PIERRE ECRITE. 69 the Isle of Wight, the neighbourhood of the Xew Forest, and of parts of Surrey, returned upon my imagination in all their force. There are woods of dwarf oak near this place, beyond which we caught, for the first time during our tour, the view of a mountain in the horizon. We changed horses at Pierre Ecrite, where we met with a postil- lion who was a living image of Don Quixote. I, who am such an enthusiastic admirer of the latter, could willingly have given a double fee for the pleasure I took in con- templating his faithful resemblance; the loose shamoy leather doublet, brown beaver Spanish-looking flapped hat; long, black, greasy hair, hanging in strings about his scraggy neck and doleful visage ; the wild, eager, prominent, dark eyes, &c. all was complete ! The French drivers differ in many particulars from ours ; in one respect alone there is a wide line of demarcation. The former talk a good deal (en route) to their horses, while the latter confine them- selves to the mute eloquence of the whip and spur. The country now assumes a totally new 70 AUTUN. character. The hills rise into the dignity of mountains, and are entirely barren, save in the immediate vicinity of a li ttle valley or two which smiles between them, when their rough granite sides are clothed with partial underwood ; these valleys have a ver- dant and cultivated effect, from being well wooded, and also from the unusual practice of inclosing the fields with hedges. In- deed the whole scene for three or four miles before you come to Autun is bold, rich, and beautiful. We were told that the people here and in the South of France were (generally speaking) extremely well- disposed towards the Bourbon government, disliking the remembrance of Bonaparte. Autun, an ugly town, yet most roman- tically situated at the foot of three moun- tains covered with superb woods. Here are some fine gateways of Corinthian archi- tecture, baths, and a cathedral. We went to look at the latter, and saw several women there telling their beads, who cast an eye of curiosity upon us in the midst of their devotions, while their fingers and lips con- tinued to move with great rapidity. I AUTUN. 71 peeped into several vacant confessionals, which resembled little sentry-boxes, par- titioned into two apartments, in one of which there is a seat for the priest, and in the other a grated aperture through which the penitent breathes his communications. The tomb of the president Jennin and his wife is shewn here. It was, I believe, concealed during the fury of the revolution, in common with many similar and sacred curiosities. He was one of Henri quatres ministers, and a man much esteemed by that sovereign. He cannot have a higher professional eulogium. The costume both of the president and his dame is quaint in the extreme, and the length of her waist is quite ridiculous. Our inn (la poste) was comfortable and reasonable. For five francs a-head, they sent us up for dinner (I will for once say what we had for dinner) some capital soup au ris, a magnificent jack, a duck stewed with pickles, a fowl, white and delicate as those of Dorking, a ragout of sweetbreads in brown sauce, a large dish of craw-fish, potatoes drest d la maitre d'hotel, Guyere cheese, and four baskets of fruit, 72 AUTUN. The latter evinced the coldness of the climate here, for the peaches were diminu- tive, crude, and colourless^ the grapes rather sour, and the cherries hard, tough, and not bigger than black currants. Leaving Autun, we passed over a very steep granite mountain of that name, covered in the most luxuriant profusion with trees of every sort, but chiefly oak : the road wound round the sides till it reached nearly the summit of this mountain in graceful sweeps. It rained during our ascent, and the groups of women emerging at intervals from the woody recesses in the steeps above us, with their gay coloured cotton handkerchiefs held over their white caps, to shelter them from the scudding shower, looked highly picturesque. The male costume here becomes marked ; it con- sists of a very large black hat, (with a low crown and an enormous breadth of brim,) round which is sometimes worn a string of red and white beads; a dark blue linen jacket and trowsers, coloured waistcoat, white shirt, with a square deep collar thrown open at the throat, and sabots. We could AUTUJT. 73 plainly hear the babbling of the brook which runs among these sylvan retreats. My husband gathered me some blackber- ries in the woods, and I longed to accom- pany him in his rambles, instead of remain- ing in the carriage. Altogether it was the most romantic scene I had ever beheld, and my exclamations of admiration reaching the ears of the postillion, (who was easing his horses by walking by their side) he came up to the window, to ask me if I had ever seen such a beautiful thing in my own country? I assured him I had not, and he graciously added that he would shew me sL very grand plain also in a few minutes. Our Swiss attendant, however, (Christian) did not seem to approve of all these com- mendations, and could not refrain from throwing out a hint, that we should see much finer things in his country. This mountain is covered with wild strawberries in the season. Bonaparte intended to have made a wider road through it, had not the Fates thought proper to cut short his plans when he least expected it. The view of the pro- mised plain was fertile as that of Canaan ; 74 AUTUN. the glimpses of it caught occasionally through the openings of the rocks were charming. I liked the national pride of the postillion ; applied thus to the beauties of nature, it had almost a character of re- finement : he was a good-humoured, merry- looking, ugly fellow, who seemed as if he had never known a care in his life ; but (the truth must be told) he was a great ad- mirer of Bonaparte, and said he should live and die in the hope of his return. He had laid by his green jacket and badge in his box, thinking it not impossible that he might want to wear it again one day ; at all events he trusted to see the young son upon the throne, and spoke of him with much affectionate emotion. Bonaparte had been driven by this man (upon his flight from Elba,) and this puts me in mind, that I omitted to mention the circumstance of my having slept in the same bed which he then occupied at Autun ; I think he must have left his troubled spirit behind him, for my dreams were perturbed and melan- choly in the greatest degree! There are plenty of wolves and wild boars in this ST. EMILAN. 75 neighbourhood ; five of the latter were killed the week before. I expected to have met with gipsies, but neither here, nor in any other part of the continent, had we yet en- countered one of the race. At St. Emilan, (a small village) we stopt to breakfast: it was a merry, cheerful meal. We sat round the blazing faggots in the cottage kitchen of la Poste, and boiled our eggs in a vessel which I believe was an old iron shaving pot ; the milk (for our coffee) was served up in a large earthen tureen, with a pewter ladle ; and the cups were of a dirty yeUow cracked ware, that I am sure my cook would not suffer to be exhibited in her scullery. The bread was sour, and so was the fruit, but I never re- member to have enjoyed a breakfast more thoroughly ; so true is it, that hunger is the best sauce. The host (seeing that we were English) asked if we would not choose our pain to be grilU? and was proceeding to broil it accordingly, instead of toasting it, if we had not preferred the loaf in its na- tural state. We were somewhat surprised at seeing a print over the chimney of Dr. 76 ST. EMILAN. Nicholas Saunderson, Professor of Astro- nomy at Cambridge. An obscure village kitchen in the heart of France was the last place where one would have expected to have found such a thing. The hostess had bought it many years since at a sale of the property of the celebrated Buffon. Seeing some cows ploughing in the fields here, which was what we had never before witnessed, our servant Christian gave us an account of the manner of conducting that operation in Switzerland ; " de only dif- ference is (said he) dat dere de cows be all oxes" The costume of the paysannes is very picturesque ; a straw hat, of the gipsy form, and large as an umbrella, rather short petticoat, gay coloured handkerchief, deep bordered white cap, and sabots. The land- scape was rather pretty for some distance beyond St. Emilan. We now began to meet with vineyards again, as we descended from these bleak and elevated regions. A brook wound through the lowlands, fringed with willows, by means of which we could as usual trace its course for miles. I forgot to mention ST. EMILAN. 77 the cajoleries made use of by a set of little beggar children, the preceding day. The white beaver hats worn by my husband and Mr. W. struck their fancy not a little, and they ran after the carriage with incredible perseverance, calling out, Vivent les chapeaux blancs ! Vivent lesjolis messieurs ! vive lajolie dame ! vive le joli carrosse / vive le roi, et vive le bon Dieu ! We were engaged in lamenting the drawback of a goitre (or swelling in the throat) to the beauty of a very pretty woman, whom we had just seen, when in going down a steep hill we met with an accident, which might have been serious. The harness (made of old ropes) suddenly broke, one of the horses fell down, the postillion was thrown off, and the other horses continuing to trot on without stopping, we felt the carriage go over some soft substance, which we con- cluded to be the person of their unfortu- nate driver. Both the gentlemen invo- luntarily exclaimed " he is killed !" when we were relieved by seeing him running by the side of the animals, very little the worse 78 ST. EMILAN. for his fall. The poor horse was the greatest sufferer, as the wheels went twice over his neck ! however, even he was not much hurt, and was able to rise and go on with his work in a few seconds. The great creature in the middle was an old, scrambling, wilful beast, who liked his own way, and I believe he would never have stopt, had not his bridle been seized by a man in the road. I was very much alarmed for the moment, and so I rather suspect was our trusty valet, who presented himself at the door to inquire if " Madame was frighted," with a face as white as his own neckcloth. This con tret ems would not have occurred had we not changed our horses and postillion a few moments before it happened, with those belonging to another carriage which we met on the way. The country con- tinued rather pretty, and was also inclosed ; were it not for the vineyards, it wculd be like many parts of England. We saw a little insignificant chateau or two, and that reminds me of the very dull effect of all the houses in France when seen from a distance CHALONS. 79 they have universally the air of being shut up, owing to the jalousies being painted white instead of green. Chalons sur Saone ; rather a pretty town : there is a stone fountain here, with a statue of Neptune, well executed. We stopt at the hotel du Pare, a reasonable and tolerably well appointed inn, though by no means deserving of the pompous commendation bestowed upon it in the printed Tourist's Guide, where it is mentioned as being the best in France. Mr. W. suffered some annoyance from bugs, which I must ever consider as great drawbacks to comfort. We were attended at dinner by the first male waiter we had seen since leaving Paris, from which Chalons is about two hundred miles distant. The people in the town stared at and followed us about in rather a troublesome manner; I believe they were attracted by the white hats, and my travelling cap, so different from any of their own costumes. People talk a great deal about the warmth of the South of France, but all I can say is, that as soon as we approached it, we ordered 80 CHALONS. fires, while we had left our countrymen in frigid England fainting with heat ! I may as well indulge myself in a few more de- sultory remarks while I am about it, par- ticularly as our narrative just now is rather bare of incident. The first is, the great inferiority of the French cutlery to ours : all their knives are extremely coarse and bad; and with regard to the forks and spoons (both of which, to do them justice, are almost always of silver), they do not seem ever to have come in contact with a bit of whiting or a leather rubber since they were made ! Plate-powder of course is an unknown invention here. How would our butlers at home (so scrupulously nice in the arrangement of their sideboard) have stared, could they have beheld these shabby appurtenances of a foreign dinner table ! They are not less behind-hand also with re- spect to the locks of their doors, all of which are wretchedly finished, even in their best houses. Their carriages are generally ugly, shabby, badly built, and inelegant; and they have some domestic customs (existing even in the midst of the utmost splendor TOURNUS. 81 and refinement,) which are absolutely re- volting to the imagination of an English person, and to which no person who knows what real cleanliness and comfort means, could ever be reconciled ; but the French are, beyond all doubt, an innately filthy race, with them I'apparenee is all in all. Leaving Chalons sur Saone, we observed large fields planted with Turkey wheat, called here Turquie ; they mix it with other flour in their bread. There is nothing but barren stubble for a length of way, and we should have found the prospect ex- cessively wearying and tiresome, had not a bold hill or two in the distance afforded a slight degree of relief. We saw a man sowing among the stubble, which they plough up after the seed is sown, thereby saving the labour of the harrow ; the prac- tice-is not general, however. About three miles from Tournus, we ascended a very steep hill, covered with underwood and vines, and were refreshed by the sight of a little pasture land. From the summit a surprisingly fine country burst upon us the river Saone leading its 82 TOURNUS. tranquil waters through a rich plain, the town of Tournus with its bridge and spires, and the chain of Alpine mountains bounding the distant horizon, were altogether charm- ing; the latter appeared like a continued ridge of gray clouds, Mont Blanc tower- ing far above them all. We formed some idea of the magnitude of this hoary giant from the circumstance of our being able thus to see him at the distance of a hun- dred and fifty miles ! He looked, however, like a thin white vapour, rising amid the lovely blue of the summer sky. At Tournus, where we stopt to break- fast, the maitresse de la maison was a very pretty woman, but I cannot praise her taste in china ware ; the cups she set before us were of a most disgusting shape and material, and of enormous proportions ; they resembled our coarse red flowerpots glazed, and it was with difficulty that I could prevail upon myself to taste the tea or coffee (I forget which) that they con- tained. The women in this neighbourhood wear a singular head-dress, a black beaver hat, of the size and form of a small soup MACON. 83 plate, placed flat upon the crown of the head, with three long knots of broad black riband, hanging down, one behind, and one on each side the face. They have a little white cap, called la coquette, under this, with a coarse open lace border, stand- ing stiff off the temples, something like that of Mary, Queen of Scots. This place is cele- brated for its pretty women, and we re- marked many ourselves. I took a hasty sketch of one as we changed horses. There is a great quantity of hemp grown here. The weather now began to be intensely hot ; and we did not wonder at this, as we were in the same latitude as that of Verona and Venice. The former chill, which I mentioned upon first approaching the south of France, was quite an accidental circum- stance, partly induced by our being at that time upon extremely high ground, whereas the temperature of the valleys is very dif- ferent. We saw the peasants making ropes by the side of the road ; one man carried a distaff in his hand, much bigger than a large stable broom. I bought of a villa geoise at Macon 84 MACOX. one of the little hats and caps before men- tioned. She attempted to impose upon me as to the price ; but I do not consider this at all as a national trait. I am afraid an English countrywoman would have been equally anxious to make the best bargain she could, fairly or otherwise ! The cap was really very becoming, even to my Bri- tish features. I saw in one of the cottages a loaf of their bread: it was extremely coarse, and as flat, round, and large as a table. There is a grand chain of moun- tains on the right, called the Charolais. We again observed cows ploughing in the fields : they had aU a curious head-dress, a sort of veil or network, to preserve them from the flies, like the military bridles of our dragoon horses. Most of the cattle hereabouts (and we had seen quantities) were of a cream colour. The country is luxuriant, full of chateaux, fertile, and cul- tivated, more so than any we had yet ob- served, and it is allowed to be the finest part of France. Mr. W. examined the nature of the soil, and found it fat and rich in the highest degree. I must once more repeat MACON. 85 my admiration of the frequent and great beauty of the young children in this coun- try, more particularly in these parts. I saw several with cheeks like the sunny side of a peach ; little, round, plump faces, and delicately chiselled features, with a profu- sion of luxuriant hair hanging in natural ringlets upon their shoulders : the mere babies also are very interesting. The pa- rents throughout France are remarkable for love of offspring*. About three or four miles from Macon you enter the department of the Macon- nais, and afterwards that of the Jura (so called from the mountains of the same name), but formerly known by that of the Lyonnais. We saw at St. George de Ro- gnains a most beautiful woman, a mllageoise; her proportions were fine, and rather full ; her face very much in the style of our well- known English belles, Lady O. and Mrs. L. ; but she was not so large as either of them. She wore the usual costume of her native place, which was more peculiarly * Vide Spurzhuim's Craniology. 86 VILLEFRANCHE. marked in the cap. It is extremely be- coming, and pretty in itself. I know not how to describe it exactly; but it is flat upon the crown, with a good deal of coarse transparent lace, like wings, full every where but on the brow, across which it is laid low and plain, in the style of some an- tique pictures I remember to have seen. This superb woman's fine features set it off amazingly* She also wore a flowered cot- ton gown (of gay colours upon a dark ground), a crimson apron and bib, with a white handkerchief. What a charming portrait would Sir Thomas Lawrence have made of her, and how she would astonish the amateurs of beauty in England, were she suddenly to appear among them ! I am thus particular in describing costume^ to please the readers of my own sex. We met here some religieuses walking in the road, belonging to a convent in the di- stance. Their habit was not very remark^ able, except that they wore black veils, with high peaks on the front of the head, and long rosaries by their sides. Villefranche ; a populous old town. It LYONS. 87 was market day ; yet not one instance of intoxication did we see, neither here nor in any other part of France through which we had passed. Certainly drunkenness is not the vice of the nation, although they have a due admiration for strong beer, which is sold under the name of bonnd bierre de Mars. There is a fine church here, of Gothic architecture. We did not reach Lyons until late at night; and, as I was very much fatigued, and longed to get into the hotel, I thought the length of the environs and suburbs end- less. However, we arrived at last, and after a refreshing sleep, were awakened the next morning by the firing of cannon close under our windows. It was the fete of St. Louis, which is always celebrated with particular pomp and splendour. It was also the great jubilee of the Lyonese peruquiers, who went in procession to high mass, and from thence to an entertainment prepared for them. Thejouteurs (or plungers in water) likewise made a very magnificent appearance. They walked two and two round the town, and after a famous dinner (laid out for them in a 88 LYONS. lower apartment of our hotel) proceeded to exhibit a sort of aquatic tournament, in boats, upon the river. This is a very ancient festival, and is mentioned (if I re- collect right) by Rousseau. The dress of the combatants (among whom were several young boys of eight and five years old) was very handsome and fanciful, entirely com- posed of white linen, ornamented with knots of dark-blue riband. They had white kid leather shoes, tied with the same co- lours, caps richly ornamented with gold, and finished with gold tassels. In their hands they carried blue and gold oars, and long poles, and upon their breasts a wooden sort of shield or breastplate, divided into square compartments, and strapped firmly on like armour, or that peculiar ornament, the ephod, worn by the ancient Jewish high priests. Against this they pushed with the poles as hard as possible, endeavouring to jostle and overturn their opponents; the vanquished, falling into the water, save themselves by swimming, while the victors carry off a prize. We went down stairs to see these heroes at dinner, and one of them LYONS. 89 civilly invited us into the room, to observe every particular at our ease. The military were all drawn out this morning, and I thought there never would be an end of their firing, trumpeting, &c. ; the whole town resounded with noise, bustle, and gay confusion. We distin- guished the Swiss guards, who wore a red uniform, like the English troops; a fine regiment of chasseurs, green, faced with red ; a troop of lancers, on beautiful spi- rited black horses, uniform green and orange ; the national guards, dark blue and red, with cocked hats ; and, lastly, the foot guards, in white : the officers of the latter really looked like London footmen ; nothing could be more ugly and ungentlemanly than their costume. AU these were re- viewed in la Grande Place, built by Bona- parte, who laid the first stone. The houses there are very handsome, and some of them rise to the height of seven stories. A steep hill, covered with vines, and crowned by buildings like castles, forms the background of this fine place, at the bottom of which rolls the grand and magnificent Rhone. 90 LYONS. Our inn (Vhotel de Provence) stood here. It is a very comfortable, excellent, well- ordered establishment : the apartments as- signed for our particular use put me in mind of the old state-rooms in our shabby palace of St. James. The furniture was of crimson and white satin damask, and the beds of rich crimson damask ; Lyons, as all the world knows, being famous for its rich silks. The ancient arm-chairs were studded with gilt nails, and the brick-floors care- fully rubbed and polished till they resem- bled marble. That of the salle d manger was of curiously inlaid oak. The attend- ants were all men : one of them made my bed, and was perpetually frisking in and out (in his department of housemaid), ra- ther to my annoyance and surprise. The first night of our arrival, I was shut up (as I thought) in my own room, unpacking my sac de nuit, when, upon turning suddenly round, I saw the great rough figure of our postillion, who had entered without knock- ing, and was standing much at his ease, ex- pecting to be paid. The garcon who waited at dinner was a fine specimen of the honest, LYONS. 91 cheerful French peasant lad, his counte- nance and manner the perfection of good humour and simplicity. The promenade of the town (a walk of shady trees in the midst of la Grande Place) being filled with gay groups in every possible variety of costume, offered a most amusing spectacle to a stranger's eye. We sat there some time upon the hired chairs, which are in as great request as at Paris. Here we found booths, kept by venders of tisanne, lemonade, &c. who were, some of them, niched in little covered tubs, like Diogenes. We were much stared at ; but not with any rude- ness or incivility. We even imagined that we saw a more favourable expression of counte- nance in the people of Lyons (while gazing upon the English) than in those of Paris. In the latter we certainly did now and then discover the signs of unequivocal hatred and dislike ; and although they never gave vent (in our hearing at least) to their ill-will in words, there was a mute eloquence of eye, which it is difficult to mistake. But to return to the promenade, &c. my petticoat of moravian work seemed to catch 92 LYONS. the admiring observation of all the females .who passed ; and indeed 1 ought, in justice to our British needlewomen, to remark, that their performance is rarely equalled, and assuredly never surpassed, by their continental rivals, however highly French work may be praised and sought after by our capricious leaders of ton. The confluence of the rivers Rhone and Saone here is reckoned to be one of the finest things of the kind in Europe. We went to see it, but were rather disappointed in its effect ; for the late uncommonly dry season had greatly diminished the pride of both these celebrated streams. It takes place at a spot about half a mile distant from the town, and we drove thither in a ridiculous hired vehicle, called a carriole, very like a long four-posted bedstead, on wheels, with coarse linen curtains for sum- mer weather, and black shabby leather ones for winter. A seat, resembling a mattrass, was slung on the inside, upon which the people sit back to back, like those in an Irish jaunting car. The driver is upon a seat in front, and manages two horses, which LYONS. 93 are generally ornamented with frontlets, and knots of gay riband and bells. Our coachman was quite a coxcomb, sporting smart nankeen trowsers, gaiters, and yellow shoes of washed leather. The women at Lyons struck us as remark- ably ugly, and we actually were unable to discover a single pretty face among them. We met a country dame, stumping into town to partake in the gaieties of the fete, dressed in a bright yellow gown, tucked up at the pocket-holes, so as to display a full rose-coloured petticoat beneath, white stockings, black slippers, a deep gipsy hat of Leghorn straw, and a white handkerchief with the usual flow r ered border. Nothing can be handsomer than this town : it much resembles Eath, particu- larly in its environs, which are built upon hanging hills, and embosomed in woods and vineyards. The convent of St. Michael, rising among them, is very ugly, however, reminding one of a large Birmingham ma- nufactory. Here dwell les Sceurs de la Charite, and we were informed that they really are of great use, and do much good 94 LYONS. in their generation, which cannot, alas ! be said of the regular nuns, poor victims ! At night we went to the comedie. The theatre was dirty, and somewhat shabby; all the light thrown exclusively upon the stage, as usual in foreign theatres. The actors were really extremely good, and the audience seemed a loyal one upon the whole, which was discoverable by their seizing and duly applauding the several claptraps which occurred in the piece they were exhibiting. It was La par tie de Chasse de Henri quatre the first scene a beautiful part of the fo- rest of Fontainbleau. The story, though familiar to every body, seemed to interest all hearts, ours among the rest. I confess that, for my own part, I was surprised by feeling the tears coursing each other down my face, when I least expected it ; and yet I was a stranger and a foreigner! How must the French, then, feel in the recollec- tion of this and all the other thousand acts of benevolence and magnanimity of their glo- rious monarch, whose now beatified spirit seems to shed a guardian glory around the heads of his descendants ! We returned LYONS. 95 home immediately after the representation of this piece, not staying the farce ; and after taking coffee, once more sallied forth to view the beautiful illuminations which were displayed in honour of the day. The night was clear, warm, and balmy, and the whole population of the city (a hundred and nine thousand persons) seemed to be walking about, enjoying themselves com- pletely. The effect of the lights reflected upon the distant vine-clad hills was singu- larly beautiful. I admired the costume of many of the children here ; they wore large shepherdess-sort of Leghorn hats with very low crowns, wreathed with pretty roses, which harmonized with their little inno- cent round faces remarkably well. The soldiers, paysannes, and some of the bour- geoises, were dancing quadrilles under the trees of the promenade, which was lighted much in the manner of Vauxhall. There was a busy hum of voices in the air, swell- ing upon the breeze, mixed with notes of animating music, and occasional bursts of mirth and laughter, which, I believe, might have been heard for miles. In short, the 96 LYONS. scene was a perfect carnival. On reaching our inn, we saw the officers of the foot guards (who had been dining together in the same apartment occupied by the jou- teurs in the morning) dancing waltzes to the loud music of their own band, in which the brazen tones of the trumpet were pain- fully pre-eminent. For want of female part- ners, they had, some of them, taken off their coats, and dressed themselves up in mob caps, shawls, and petticoats made of the dinner napkins. In this strange cos- tume they tore about the room, swinging each other in a manner that disgusted while it made us smile. The master of the house, who seemed to think all this very fine, wanted to know if Madame would not join in the merry dance ? (meaning me) ; but Mr. B. quietly declined the obliging proposal, say- ing, " I was not quite strong enough for such an attempt just now." Upon which Monsieur came behind me, and, supporting me under both the elbows, almost carried me up the stairs to the door of our apartment ; so obsequious are the French to all women. There is a proverb relative to our sex, LYONS. * 97 which observes, that Paris est le paradis des fannies^ le purgatoire des maris, et I'enfor des chevaux. I, as an English wife, how- ever, can imagine no place to be a paradise for me, which is at the same time a punish- ment to my husband ; neither could I taste perfect felicity, if it was purchased at the expense of my brute fellow-creatures. But I do not mean tediously to moralize upon a little jeu d' esprit, which has some wit and truth in it, after all. Determined to make the most of our short time, we went the next day to see the cathedral, which is of Moorish archi- tecture. Within we found a singular mix- ture of orders ; the Corinthian, composite, Gothic, Saxon, and a sort of nondescript, which (as we were none of us particularly learned on the subject) we concluded to be the regular Moorish. The whole body of this fine building appeared glowing with the rose and purple tints of sunset, and the gold ornaments upon the high altar actually flamed resplendent in this lovely light, as if they had been formed of solid fire ! The effect was produced by the stained glass of the u 98 LYONS. windows, of every possible variety of colour, magnificent beyond all idea, and far differ- ent from any which we had ever seen before ; indeed, in attempting to describe their pe- culiarity, I feel that I have done foolishly, as it is impossible to give my readers any adequate notion of their extraordinary splendour and beauty. We did not so much admire another curiosity exhibited here, which is a clock, from a niche in the front of which, when it strikes the hours, a figure of the Virgin suddenly protrudes, and makes a gracious inclination of the body ; while in another recess above there is a very paltry and shocking representa- tive of the Father, who also leans forward in the act of giving his benediction. The attempt thus to embody the inconceiv- able glories of person belonging to the unseen God is both absurd and impious; yet surely not so much so, as the wish and endeavour of some fanatics to shroud the ineffable mercy and benevolence of the same being beneath a dark, chilling, and repulsively gloomy veil of severity, wrath, and implacability. In both cases, the true ST. LAURENT. 99 features of the Divinity are shamefully and ridiculously misrepresented. We also saw two fine white marble statues of St. Stephen and St. John, both spoilt by crowns of trumpery artificial flowers and tinsel, which gave them the air of our " Jacks in the green" on May-day. We returned to our hotel, when, after an excellent dinner, we tasted for the first time fresh almonds, brought up in their outside rinds ; they resemble small withered peaches in a green state, and I believe, speaking scientifically, that they are in fact a species of that fruit, and are classed accordingly; we found them very good, resembling filberts in flavour, and they are eaten with salt, in the same manner. The next morning we bade adieu to Lyons ; on the road from thence, at a place called St. Laurent des Mures, we saw the women as well as the men threshing corn, and this in the open air a strong proof of fine climate : we afterwards remarked the practice universally. There are many wal- nut trees about here, but the country was flat and dull for some miles. We now 100 ST. LAURENT. however passed over a heath, (where, as Shakespeare expresses it, " the air smelt wooingly,") enriched by wood, and banks of waving fern, bounded by some near mountains; there was a picturesque view of a castle, upon the summit of a hill, em- bosomed in trees. These objects were a great relief to the eye, after the eternal stubble fields near Lyons. Here we observed ploughing performed by mules, which I approved of much, when compared with the use of cows for these sort of labours ; the latter, poor things, are of such inestimable value in other respects, that surely it is very unfair to require their services as beasts of burthen. The roofs of the buildings in this neighbourhood now first began to assume an Italian character, and to harmonize with the ideas I had formed of the vicinity of the Alps, which were visible in the distance ; but the latter did not improve the landscape so much as my hitherto untravelled eyes had expected, for they were so far off, that they resembled clouds, for which I should certainly have mistaken them,had I not been told what they really were. We here en- ST. LAURENT. 101 countered a peasant, who was thin enough to have passed for the Death in Burgher's " Leonora :" his face was a mere skull, with a sallow skin strained over it; his black eager eyes deep sunk in their immense sockets. I was quite afraid of dreaming of him. For several days past, we had taken leave of the peculiar costume of the postil- lions, which is not much retained on this side of Paris. Cattle now were seen of all colours ; the country became more undu- lating and woody, and the vineyards wore a very different and much more graceful ap- pearance, being trained far higher, not for- mally planted, (as I have before described) but frequently twined around standard apple and other trees, from which they hung in light and careless festoons, forming altogether a singular effect of blended foliage. They are universally trained in this manner in Italy ; the French pretend that the pro- duce is thereby rendered less plentiful, and that what is gained in beauty is lost in value : I cannot pronounce upon the truth of the assertion. The walnut-tree grew here in increased profusion, mixed frequently 102 BOURGOIN. with the mulberry, forming an agreeable shade to the road. We breakfasted at Bourgoin, where they gave us good provisions, but charged in a most extravagant way. There is a great deal of marshy land, and the inhabitants look unhealthy : some of them have goitres (or glandular swellings) in consequence of ex- treme relaxation from the moisture of the air. Two filthy girls waited upon us at breakfast : they wore no caps, and their hair was in a most disgusting condition. We afterwards remarked numbers of women, equally devoid of coifs and cleanliness. Apropos to the former, I certainly greatly incline to prefer them to the more classical and simple fashion of wearing the head wholly uncovered : there is something very feminine and pretty in a white, neat, well- plaited cap, set off by a bright coloured riband and smart knot ; and I really think the French paysannes knew what they were about, when they so universally adopted that costume. The country shortly changed to a scene of wonderful richness and beauty, resembling BEAUVOISIN. 103 the finest parts of Devonshire; but the view of an immense crucifix rising pic- turesquely amid the woods gave it a foreign character at once. Nothing can exceed the loveliness of this part of France ; it is indeed exquisite, and doubly pleasing from its rarity. The unusual heat of the late summer (felt as sensibly as in England) had dried up most of the smaller rivers and brooks hereabouts, and the dust was actually flying in their sandy channels. We were now in Dauphiny. A few miles before we entered Beau- voisin (which divides Dauphiny from Sa- voy), a very grand amphitheatre of the Savoy mountains rose suddenly upon us. The sight was peculiarly striking to me, as I had never yet seen the effect of this sort of scenery. We frequently observed buildings here of the pise or mud, very neatly finished ; indeed we were surprised to perceive how much they had contrived to make of so base and common a material. We met some countrywomen riding astride, which had a very odd appearance odd is a vague term, and rather an unclassical one : 104 BEAUVOISIN. I am perfectly aware of its defectSj but I cannot at this moment think of any other which would so well express my meaning ; yet confound me not, kind reader, with that mass of ignorant and conceited persons, who always call every thing odd which they themselves either cannot understand, or to which they happen to be unaccus- tomed. Such, for instance, whom I have heard designating Byron's grand poetical conceptions as odd fancies, or the exquisite sketches of Westall's imaginative pencil as odd things, or calling the truly enlightened and liberal theological sentiments of Paley, Watson, Fellows, &c. odd opinions. But I have rambled strangely from the point ; the little countrywomen and their nags com- pletely ran away with me ! In spite of the oddity of their position, I am ready candidly to allow that there is a great deal of safety in it. Beauvoisin is in the near vicinity of pro digiously fine scenery. We passed through groves of the grandest chestnut trees, loaded with a profusion of fruit, and the whole face of nature afforded such a superb union 105 of the beautiful and sublime, that we. thought all we had previously seen in France paltry in the comparison. The silkworm is much cultivated here, and we saw many of the peasants employed in spinning both silk and flax with distaffs and wheels; multi- tudes of women and girls were seated at their doors, as we passed through Beau- voisin, all busied in this occupation : they seemed to be chatting together very happily, their tongues going as fast as their fingers. I thought of Shakspeare's " spinners and knitters in the sun" telling " their tales." We dined at the horrid little hole of an inn at this place, dirty, dark, and full of the usual bad odours so prevalent in continental habitations. The meal was served, as might be expected, in a slovenly manner, and we were glad to proceed on our journey as soon as it was despatched ; previously sub- mitting our luggage, &c. to the inspection of the custom-house officers, having now entered the Sardinian territories. We had not advanced far, ere the country opened, if possible, into an increased blaze of beauty. Close to us were well-wooded mountains ; on the left, vineyards trained in 106 BEAUVOISIN. the graceful Italian fashion I have lately mentioned ; far below us, on the right, was a limpid river, sweetly winding though a vaUey, and on ah 1 sides villas (beautiful in themselves and most romantically situated) lent an additional grace and charm to the scene. The road was a perfect bower of walnut trees ; and the attractions of some of the peasant children, whom we now and then met, with their large black eyes, and peculiar style of beauty, told us that we were fast approaching the confines of Italy. We now ascended a steep winding road, which leads to the summit of a mountain called La Montagne de I'Eschelles. I find it more than ever impossible to give any just and proportionate idea of the enchant- ing prospects which every moment rose upon our delighted eyes! to conceive them properly, they must be seen. We distin- guished paths amid the woody sides of the opposite heights, which looked as lovely as if they led to Paradise ; and I longed to spring from the confinement of the carriage, and to explore their wild and exquisitely ro- mantic terminations, although the shades of BEAUVOISIN. 107 evening, fast closing upon us, might have ren- dered such an attempt most perilous. The low parapet wall, erected within the last eight years by that mighty enchanter Napoleon, (who seemed, w r hile his " star was lord of the ascendant," to do ah 1 he wished with un coup de baguette), preserved us from the danger of falling down the precipice which yawned by the side of our road ; and also completely obviated the sort of nervous sensation which travellers are so apt to feel wliile gazing upon the awful depths which surround them ! Upon turning a sharp angle, the rocks, in vast and stupendous masses, rose perpendicularly above our heads, amidst which we were amazed to perceive several cottages " perched like the eagle's nest, on high." Rousseau has ably painted this incomparable scene, in his Nouvelle Heloise, and I was gratified in thus convincing myself of the accuracy and truth of his pencil. As we passed near these lonely habitations, the breath of the cows belonging to the rustic inmates, mingled sweetly with the scent of the leaves and aromatic herbs, and added new fragrance 108 ECHELLES. to the soft and refreshing winds of evening. This wild ravine was succeeded by the milder beauties of a green and mossy bank, rising above smiling meadows ; the contrast was striking. These are sights indeed, which might arouse the dullest of mortals, and which make the hearts of those gifted with sensibility and imagination swell high within them ! Echelles, a small town, standing in a valley, completely hemmed in with majestic mountains. We drank our tea and slept here at La Poste, and I sat out, as long as it was prudent, in an open wooden gallery, (which ran round the outside of the house, and commanded a view of the superb scene), talking with the hostess, a cheerful, well- looking young woman, who was overwhelmed by the number of her progeny. The youngest of the children, a little girl of three years old, came up to me and laid her head upon my knees, with the happy ease of innocent confidence, chattering bad French with all her might; the mother also introduced two of her sons to us (boys of five and seven), who ran in to bid her good night before they ECIIELLLES. 109 went to bed, and to hug and kiss her. The youngest (a fine sturdy rogue) told me that he always said his prayers, and that after le bon Dieu, he loved " Maman." This woman, in the midst of her rustic simplicity, had had the true good sense of presenting the Deity to the infant imaginations of her children, under the attractive image of an indulgent parent, thus fulfilling the sacred command of "Give me thine heart." A convent of the Chartreuse still exists in the neighbourhood ; I believe it is the famous convent of La Grande Chartreuse, a most interesting spot, but inaccessible to women. I made inquiries about some of the natural productions of these mountains, and learnt that so many superior simples and aromatic plants (note A) grew there, as to induce the apothecaries and chemists who lived within reach, to come in search of them very frequently. We left Echelles early the next morning (our common hour of rising being five o'clock), and proceeded through a solitary road, winding at the feet of some desolate- looking mountains. Passing by several deep 110 SAVOY. quarries of limestone, we soon arrived at the tremendous ascent, known under the very appropriate name of Les Esche/les de Savoy. Here we stopped at a lone hovel, to add a couple of oxen to our usual three horses ; but these animals being at work at the plough, we were obliged to be satisfied with the as- sistance of another horse. A girl accordingly brought him out, helped to arrange the traces, &c., and ran by his side halfway up the mountain, till we had attained the most arduous pass, and then returned with him to her cottage. She wore her hair gathered in a knot at the back of the head, in the true Italian style. As we toiled along, we observed a paysanne, with a load upon her head (most probably on her early way to some village market), stop to pay her morn- ing devotions at a shrine of the Virgin, rudely carved in wood, and placed in a niche by the road-side. How shah 1 I de- scribe the wonderful manner in which we climbed these frightful eschelles? We seemed to be drawn up by our straining, labouring horses almost in a perpendicu- lar direction, and at a foot's pace. On SAVOY. Ill our left was a yawning chasm of immense magnitude, among a gloomy pile of frown- ing rocks, which might well be the abode of some ancient giant or geni ; while fur- ther on, these same rocks, extending their mighty barriers on every side, seemed to hang tremulously over head, threatening to crush the hapless traveller, should sudden wind or storm arise to shake them from their precarious-looking base. The blue heaven above us was nearly shut from our sight by their dark and shadowy projections. Our guides (three or four in number, and resembling, in their wild, strange attire and features, a group of Salvator Rosa's banditti) pointed out to us the ancient road, pass- able, even in its best days, by mules alone. It was a narrow ledge, with no defence whatever from the precipice on one side, winding in serpentine mazes through deep grottos, or chasms, in the bowels of the mountain. We saw a prodigious monu- ment of Bonaparte's daring genius in a tunnel, which had been cut through the heart of these solid rocks, and beneath which a fine road was to have been made ; 112 SAVOY. but his career of power having been so sud- denly and awfully checked, the work remains unfinished. After shuddering amid the sublimity of these scenes for some time, their rugged character gradually softened upon us, and the tender green of the fern, mingling richly with the tangled under- wood, began to make its welcome appear- ance. Far above our heads, also, dark fo- rests of lofty pine were occasionally visible, although the lower crags of overhanging rock generally hid them from our view. At length the prospect expanded into ver- dant pastures (where cows and goats were peacefully browsing), shaded by beech, elm, chestnut, and apple trees, and skirted by softly-swelling banks, covered with a rich and mossy vegetation. The blue smoke wreath, frequently rising above the tufted foliage, marked the vicinity of hamlets, and the little orchards and inclosed patches of well-cultivated garden ground (seen here and there), and the groups of women spin- ning at their cottage doors, gave the whole an indescribable air of pastoral comfort and beauty. In the midst of this serene en- SAVOY. 113 joyment, my nerves were suddenly discom- posed, by the fall of our postillion from his horse, who had stumbled, and now took the opportunity (during his short interval of emancipation) of looking in at the side window of the carriage ; the last place cer- tainly in which I either wished or expected to have seen him. However, no harm en- sued, and we again proceeded quietly on our way. We could not but remark the extraordinary luxuriance of the hedges here, rich in nut trees, brilliant scarlet berries, convolvulus, blue bells, and other wild plants. The master of the post-house in the midst of these mountains seemed a great admirer of the magnificent genius of Napoleon, and said (speaking of the tunnel we had lately passed), que cet homme la avoit brave la nature : he added, " that if he had reigned only two years longer, he would have completed this grand undertaking ; but now all was at an end ; for the king of Sardinia was not the sort of person to carry on the daring plans of his great predecessor." The manner in which this man described Bonaparte to have first conceived and de- i 114 SAVOY. termined upon the work in question was strongly characteristic of the decision pecu- liar to the latter. He was passing through the ancient horrible road, with his engineer, stopped, and pointing to the mountains, said, " Is it not possible to cut a tunnel through the entrails of yonder rock, and to form a more safe and commodious route be- neath it ?" " It is possible, certainly, sire," replied the scientific companion. " Then let it be done, and immediately," rejoined the emperor. I was romantic enough to mourn over the fate of the mountain stream here, which (in common with many others we had seen) was so weakened by long drought, that it had scarcely force sufficient to pour its scanty waters over their rugged channel, and seemed to vent its complaint in weak mur- murs, as it flowed feebly along. The grand cascade, which feeds its urn so nobly dur- ing winter, had now lost all strength and magnificence of character. We felt the air very sharp, even in this sultry season; and in the bleak months of the year I can easily conceive that the severity of the cold must SAVOY. 115 be intolerable. The grapes in such regions are always small and sour ; they were not half ripe at the present time, and, indeed, never arrive at any perfection. We breakfasted at La Poste at Cham- berry, a picturesque town, and capital of Savoy, situated in the bosom of the fine scenery I have just described. The tops of its surrounding mountains (which form part of the endless chain of Alps) are hoary with eternal snows : they had a very strik- ing effect. It was at Chamberry that that strange, inconsistent, wonderful creature, Rousseau, lived for some time with Ma- dame de Varennes : his house is still shewn. The charm which, while he lived, he contrived to throw around the vices and frailties of his character, and the produc- tions of his bewitching pen, is now broken, the speU is dissolved ; but there are, never- theless, immortal excellencies in many parts of his writings which must make their due and deep impression upon the hearts and imaginations of every successive reader, till time itself shall be no more. To return to Chamberry. There is no i 2 116 SAVOY. peculiarity of costume here, except that the paysannes all wear gold hearts and crosses ; the poorer classes of silver, lead, or mixed metal. We changed horses at Mont- meillant, and saw the fine river Isere, formed by the melting of the snows. The same sort of grand scenery continued. There were several charming campagnes (or gentlemen's houses) amid the moun- tains, half concealed by luxuriant woods. We longed to be invited (and able to ac- cept such invitation) to spend a fortnight at one or other of them, in tranquillity and ease, in the society of agreeable, sensible people, who would sometimes allow us lei- sure to indulge in the luxury of solitude, and our own thoughts ; for, without this latter privilege, one might just as well be in a fashionable drawing-room, in all the sophistication of Paris or London. It is among these scenes that Marmontel has chosen to place his heroine in the graceful little tale of the Shepherdess of the Alps." But, alas ! the poorer inhabitants of these fairy regions ! how unworthy of such lovely Arcadian retreats ! Almost all we met were SAVOY. 117 squalid, filthy, listless, and indolent: a blighted, blasted, wretched race, hardly de- serving the name of human. Most of them were (in addition to their universal hide- ousness) afflicted with the disgusting dis- ease of goitres, to say nothing of total idiotcy, which is equally common amongst them. Leaving M armontel's lovely fanciful creations in the clouds, from whence they came, these, these we found to be the " dull realities of life ;" and such realities ! my imagination actually sickened at their idea. I will not hazard farther detail, lest I should equally shock the feelings of my readers. The mountains, as we approached Aigue- belle, became yet more lofty and stupend- ous than any we had before seen ; but they continued to wear the same fea- tures of luxuriant beauty, even in the midst of the sublimity of a grander scale of proportion. From their airy summits we could now and then descry the fall of a narrow perpendicular streamlet, sparkling in the sun like a line of melted silver. We reached Aiguebelle at four o'clock, dined, and slept. The entrance to the inn was 118 SAVOY. like that of a cow-house, or large old rustic stable, and the accommodations within were uncomfortable enough : not worse, however, than many which we afterwards encoun- tered in various places on the continent. An evening walk, which we took here after tea, at the foot of the Alps, I shall never forget; romantic, beautiful, and wild be- yond even the dreams of a poetical ima- gination. Passing through enormous masses of rock, consisting of argillaceous slate, called schist, in the foreground (at the en- trance of a shadowy glade), we gradually ascended a winding path, by which we traced an opening through the richly- wooded recesses of one of the nearer moun- tains. Thick shady bowers of walnut trees (the largest our eyes had ever beheld) formed an agreeable sort of twilight, shed- ding a flickering gloom around, that well accorded with the pensive tone of our minds, as we stole silently along, wrapt in unfeigned and warm admiration of Nature and her wonderful creations, while a rip- pling spring, murmuring softly amid the mossy grass, assisted the dreamy sort of SAVOY. 119 reverie that hung like a spell upon us ! A fair green meadow lay smiling at our feet ; where notwithstanding the burning heat of the season, the cattle were feeding on as rich a pasturage, as that which skirts the Thames at Richmond. Far above (tower- ing over our heads) were the snowy peaks of the highest Alps, half veiled in clouds of floating mist. I sat down upon a mossy stone, my companions stretched on the turf beside me ; the silent, deep, and soothing tranquillity was broken only by the chirp of the cricket, the distant bark of a cottage cur, or the whirring flight of the bats who now were beginning their evening pas- times ; one of them, in his airy wheel, almost brushed Mr. W.'s face with his wings, as he flew fearlessly past. As the night advanced, we were struck by the beautiful effect of the blazing weeds, which were burning on some of the surrounding heights. At length we unwillingly bade adieu to the enchanting spot, and returned to our inn. We left Aiguebelle the next morning, rising at four o'clock, and proceeded to St. Jean de Maurienne, through a narrow valley, 1 20 SAVOY. inclosed by a chain of the same mountains, which rose to the height of about two or three thousand metres. A river, formed of melted snows, ran constantly by our side, now brawling and foaming over the rugged stones, now stealing silently along, in an almost imperceptible current, and often seeming wholly exhausted, forming merely a narrow runnel in the middle of its vast, sandy, rocky channel. Cottages were fre- quently dotted about here, some of them perched at such an incredible height, and apparently so inaccessible to human foot, that we could hardly conceive them to be the habitations of our fellow creatures ! How the inmates continue to procure the necessaries of life from the adjacent hamlets in the valleys below, I cannot imagine, unless they are drawn up and down by ropes, in the manner which is so awfully described, in his " scene on the sands," by that bold painter from nature, the author of " the Antiquary." The singular and beautiful appearance of the opposite rocks told us the moment when the sun had risen to a certain height, but the first burst SAVOY. 121 of glory from that divine orb, it was not our lot to witness, as the east was hid from our sight by the overwhelming moun- tains that surrounded us. I confess I was disappointed at this circumstance, as the idea of beholding a perfect sun-rise had been the chief inducement to me to quit my warm bed at such a preposterously early hour, and to undergo with cheerful- ness the disagreeable ceremony of hurrying on my clothes by candlelight ! However, I was in some measure consoled by the lovely effect of the partial gleams, which played occasionally upon the distant objects; finely contrasting with the gloomy shadows of the dark ravines, and lighting up the spots of verdure upon which they brightly fell, they seemed almost kindling into a blaze of unearthly splendour. We passed here a small but romantic fall of water; and soon afterwards encountered (in one of those narrow passes so frequent among the Alps), and upon the brow of an abrupt descent, a waggon, drawn by restive mules. These animals flew about the road in every possible direction, rearing till they stood SAVOY. on end, kicking and plunging in the most astonishing manner. The driver emulated their fury, and I know not which of the parties was in the right, they were all in such a passion together ; we expected every instant to see their heels dash against the glass of our windows, but our postillion managed with so much skill and discretion, that we soon found ourselves safely hors de I'embarras. We were somewhat surprised at his admirable coolness and dexterity, as he was no experienced old stager, but on the contrary a mere boy. Solomon, how- ever, justly observes that wisdom does not exclusively reside with white heads, as some veteran worthies have fondly flattered themselves, and this will account for the sagesse of our little driver, which might otherwise have been discredited, perhaps, by those, who constantly associate the ideas of youth and imprudence. I believe that the same author goes so far as to assert, that " wisdom giveth hoary hairs." I am not quite certain as to the accuracy of my quotation, or I should at once feel sure that I had discovered the reason why so SAVOY. 123 many of our beaux and belles evince such a horror of mental attainments. Talking of beaux and belles, we were now quite among their antipodes ; for never did I behold such a set of dirty, slovenly, squalid, frightful creatures, as were per- petually crossing our path ! I can only say, that (like Sancho Panza and his goblins) having once seen two or three of them, I shut my eyes for the rest of the journey, although I could not stop my ears against the horrid guttural idiotical croak (re- sembling that of a choked raven) which they constantly maintained, as they ran begging by the side of the carriage. Mr. B. hoping to get rid of them, often threw out money from the windows, but this only attracted a larger flock, and we soon found our sole refuge was in puUing up the blinds the moment they appeared in sight. We breakfasted at St. Jean de Mau- rienne, situated at the base of the higher Alps : it was dirty, as all the inns in Savoy are; and they gave us sour bread and butter, and muddled coffee, rather a mor- tification to travellers, who (however re- 124 SAVOY. mantic and enthusiastic) could not help feeling that they should have better re- lished better fare, after having gone three and twenty miles before breakfast ! We met an Italian lady here, just come from Turin ; who assured us, upon our expressing our admiration of Savoy, that we should think the scenery of Italy far more beauti- ful : I could not at the moment believe in the possibility of her assertion, and felt a presentiment that after having seen and compared some of the most striking features in these countries, I should not coincide with her in opinion; Italy (from all I had heard on the subject) possessing a dif- ferent character of beauty ; but difference does not constitute superiority : I should as soon think of comparing an apple and an orange both are good in their way. If any body takes offence at the lowliness of my simile, I beg leave to refer him or her to that delightful writer (at all times, and upon such various subjects), Marmontel, who avails himself of the very same, and applies it in the still prouder instance of human intellect. SAVOY. 25 The river Arque rushes impetuously through this part of Savoy ; we passed by a voiture overturned upon its stony banks, the wheels in the air, and front nearly touching the brink of the foaming torrent. The accident did not seem to be a very recent one, as no people were assembled about or near it. The Savoyards (those who are happily free from goitres, &c.) are seldom brought up to any other trade than stone masonry ; wandering about, following this metier in an itinerant manner. Many of the rustics appear well acquainted with the scientific terms of mineralogy and chemistry. We conversed with a common cottager in particular, who discoursed most intelligently upon the different substances of which these mountains are composed. We suffered a good deal of inconvenience from the dust, which flew here in such overwhelming eddies, that it completely filled the carriage, and more than once im- peded my respiration most painfully. I could feel it gritting between my teeth, and irritating the windpipe ; and when we attempted to close the windows against it, 126 SAVOY. the heat thereby increased became equally insupportable; the sun in these regions being so fierce that it absolutely burnt us when we drew up the blinds: still, the peculiar sensation of weight in the atmo- sphere, from which we experience so much oppression in England, seemed to be un- known in this climate ; there was an elas- ticity in the air, superior to any of which we foggy islanders can boast, and the sky was perfectly Italian, *of a deep blue cloud- less ether. At St. Michel, a neat village (comparar lively speaking), the peasantry become more human ; the goitre begins to dis- appear, and the countenance to assume a more intellectual expression. Again the sub- lime effect of the river Arque attracted our attention. It is a regular mountain torrent, flashing and raving over tremendous rocks, with a rapidity and fury difficult to de- scribe. If it was thus mighty during the present parching season, what must it not be in winter ! The imagination shudders at the idea of its desolating force. I could scarcely trace the affinity of this SAVOY. element with the tame, slow, glassy, silent waters to which I had been accustomed in my own country. It was like the sublime insanity of a superb human genius, when compared with the almost vegetable exist- ence of a mere common plodding mortal. The little narrow alpine bridges, occa- sionally thrown across this terrific stream, were highly romantic and beautiful. At this particular spot, dark forests of pine began to succeed to the more pleasing ver- dure of the tufted beech. They extended tp the remotest pinnacles of the mountains, from whose brown sides, lower down, a num- ber of sparkling springs were seen to gush dancing and flashing in the sun. Great quantities of barberry trees, and of the plant coltsfoot, were growing wild here. Crossing a majestic mountain beyond Mo- dena, we were shewn the Devil's Bridge (note B.), three hundred feet above the river. We ourselves looked proudly down upon it, from our eagle height, where we enjoyed the benefit of a noble and easy road, made (as usual) by order of Bona- parte ; for which all travellers ought to feel 128 SAVOY. deeply indebted to him. Not that I attri- bute his works of this sort to benevolence rather than ambitious policy : but what- ever the cause, we voyageurs have great reason to bless the effect ! The postillion seriously assured us, as we gazed upon the abovementioned bridge, that it was ori- ginally built by the arch fiend, although he added, that " this had happened a great while ago." Mr. W. attempted to laugh him out of so ridiculous a belief; but he adhered to his point with immoveable gravity. I had always heard that the na- tives of mountainous countries were pecu- liarly liable to the impressions of supersti- tion, and in this instance I had an oppor- tunity of proving personally the truth of the remark. We regretted that time did not allow of our making a few more ex- perimental researches into these matters : it might have been very interesting to have collected a set of legends from the mouths of the simple inhabitants ; and I should have had considerable amusement in tracing their similarity to those of the Scotch Highlanders, the German, Swedish, SAVOY. 129 and other fond believers in romance. The king of Sardinia was at that time build- ing fortresses upon this mountain, and two thousand men were employed in the work. We met some Italian officers at Modena ; they were fine men, and had a far more dis- tinguished and gentlemanly tournure than, the French. It is astonishing how vulgar and gross in appearance and manner all the latter were, whom we had yet had an op- portunity of remarking. I had ever thought the subalterns and captains in some of our marching and militia regiments bad enough, but they were certainly much superior to the French officers. This reminds me, that in our apartment at the inn at Aiguebelle, we saw scrawled upon the walls a fierce tirade (written by some Frenchman) against that interesting work, " Eustace's Italy." We, of course, were not much surprised at the wrath therein expressed ; and I myself think that Eustace bears evident marks of being under the dominion of prejudice, in speaking of the French as a nation. Crossing another mountain, not far from Lans le Bourg, we were made doubly sen- 130 SAVOY. sible of the prodigious altitude of our road, by comparing the different proportions of the objects around : for instance, a water- mill at work in the valley below us ap- peared like a baby-house, and the stream which fell from the wheel not much more important than what might have issued from a large garden watering-pot. The rocks here were all wild, gloomy, and bar- ren. Arriving at Lans le Bourg, where we slept, we found the inn (Le Grand Hotel des Voyageurs) clean and comfortable, which was a delightful change to us, after the dirt and misery of those we had lately seen. It stood a short distance beyond the little town, on the brink of a roaring tor- rent. The host and his wife appeared flat- tered at our observation of their neat esta- blishment, &c.j and told us that it was not the first time their house had been compli- mented as being very like rthose in Eng- land. The next morning we pursued our route through the same magnificent scenes, and here we first saw a giant glacier, clad in his spotless mantle of everlasting SAVOY. 131 purity. At his feet (to give the reader some idea of his stupendous height and magnitude) lay a town ; the steeple of its church did not appear taller than the ex- tinguisher of a candle, which it also resem- bled in shape. Amid these solitary wilds the greatest variety of plants, flowers, &c. are to be found, and violets in profusion during the spring. We ate some strawberries, ga- thered here by the peasant children, for a large basket of which our host at Lans le Eourg paid a sum in value rather less than three English halfpence. The postillion and Christian gathered me large bunches of very fine wild raspberries, as they walked up the steep ascent. We were now upon Mont Cenis (note C.), of celebrated fame. My husband collected for me a few speci- mens of the lovely flowers which bloomed there, and which I have since put by as relics. One plant in particular (wholly un- known to any^of us)' I must mention. It is a poisonous but exquisitely graceful shrub, with spiral leaves, jagged at the edges, and clusters of brilliant scarlet berries, growing in the form of miniature bunches of grapes. 1 3% SAVOY. The postillion called it la tourse ; but we did not feel quite sure of the accuracy of his botanical knowledge. Near the sum- mit of this mountain we were shewn the spot where adventurous travellers some- times descend to the town of Lans le Bourg upon a sledge, in the short space of seven minutes ; whereas it takes two hours and a half to ascend in a carriage, or on a mule. The precipice looked horrible be- yond description; yet the English fre- quently adopt this mode of conveyance during the winter : it is called la ramasse, and the amusement of sliding in cars at the Beaujon and Les Montagues Russes, in Paris, was taken from this. As we continued to climb, the effect of the sheep feeding amid the rocky ledges, upon the grassy patches of land far below us, was curious enough. They appeared diminished to the size of those little round, white, fat inhabitants of a nutshell, which sometimes run races upon a china plate, or a polished mahogany ta- ble, after dinner. I believe their names are not mentioned in the Newmarket Ca- lender ; but my readers will know what I SAVOY. 133 mean. We here beheld a fatigued pedes- trian, drawn up the steep path with much comparative ease to himself, by clinging to the long tail of a strong mule, upon which another traveller was riding. The road over Mont Cenis is most su- perb : there are small houses at set dis- tances, where dwell a regularly organized body of men, called cantonniers, whose busi- ness it is to keep the highway in repair, and to shelter and assist all voyageurs who may stand in need of their services. This was first ordered and arranged by Bona- parte. Upon reaching level ground, near the utmost summit, we were agreeably sur- prised by the sight of a small lake, of the most heavenly blue (the real ultramarine colour well kno\vn to artists), situated in the midst of a little plain of verdant turf : it was quite a scene of peace and repose, all view of the surrounding precipices being shut out. From this quiet haven we de- scended with rapidity and ease, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, with only two horses ; while in going up on the other 134 SAVOY. side of the mountain, we found four unequal to drag us along at more than a foot's pace. We passed by the Hospice, originally built by Charlemagne, and re-established by Bonaparte, who really put us in mind of the Marquis of Carrabas, in the fairy tale of " Puss in Boots ;" for if we saw any road better than another, any house particularly well calculated for the relief of travellers, any set of guides whose attendance was un- usually convenient and well ordered, or any striking improvement, in short, of whatever nature, and were induced to inquire, " by whom all had been done ?" the answer was invariably, " Napoleon ! Napoleon ! Napo- leon !" At this Hospice there is a set of monks, who bear a high reputation for be- nevolence and attention to travellers. A very lofty and majestic waterfall shortly afterwards greeted our eyes, grandly beau- tiful, though bearing no character of terror. It was the " roar of waters," not the " hell of waters," so admirably described by Lord Byron, in the fourth canto of his Childe Harold. The road here perpetually re- PIEDMONT. 135 turned upon itself, in zigzag windings, re- sembling the principle of a corkscrew stair- case, and was, in the midst of grandeur and sublimity, both easy and safe. The Alps, on the Piedmontese side of Mont Cenis, and to whose firm bases we were now fast descending, were infinitely more stupendous, more overwhelming in their proportions, and displayed stronger features of actual sublimity, perhaps, than those we had seen in Savoy ; but we all thought them less rich in sylvan beauty, and far less enchantingly romantic in their general character. Our wonder was not, as formerly, mingled with delight ; on the contrary, a shuddering sensation of horror took possession of our minds, as we invo- luntarily turned our eyes upon the vari- ous dark gulfs, and tremendous abysses, which yawned on every side. Jt was im- possible not to feel, at every turn, that there were but a few inches between us and destruction. At length we reached the foot of the celebrated Rocca Melone, or Roche Melon, which is allowed to be the highest of the chain, and is nine thou- 13f) PIEDMONT. sand feet from the base to the summit. We could now perceive a visible alteration in the costumes of the peasantry ; the men came forth in coloured silk or cotton caps, with a long net bag hanging down behind, ending in a tassel : the women, in flat straw hats, lined with pink sarsenet, and jackets laced in front; exactly resembling those Italian groups of figures which I had for- merly seen in the drawings of Mr. W ^m L k. I recognised them instantly as my old acquaintance, and felt myself in some measure en pays de connoissance. Our postillion had the true features of the Ve- netian Punchinello, and I almost expected to hear him squeak. We dined at Susa (inn la Posta), and found it cleanly and comfortable ; the peo- ple excessively attentive and civil : in short, we looked upon it as a most auspicious entrance into Italy. From Susa to San Giorgio our driver was a regular Italian wag, and I suspected he had got a little too much of the juice of the grape in his head, by the way in which he tore along the road, to the amazement of every quiet PIEDMONT. 137 passenger. At last we called to him, to in- quire the reason of his violent proceedings. " I thought I was doing just what you liked best," was his answer; and it was with difficulty we could persuade him that we w r ere not among the number of those English travellers who take delight in risk- ing their own necks, and the lives of their horses, merely for the sake of " astonishing the natives !" This was the first and only instance of intoxication which we had wit- nessed upon the continent. The dress of the women near San Gior- gio is picturesque ; a short blue petticoat, with several narrow, coloured tucks at the bottom, a high laced cap (something in the style of the French cauchoises), and bright necklaces, formed of boxwood beads, turned in an oval shape, and highly gilt, so as to resemble massy gold. The men all wore cocked hats. The verdure of the fields and trees here (the latter chiefly beech, olive, and lime) was delightful, owing partly to the late rains, which the people told us had fallen to the great refreshment of the long-parched earth; the whole air was em- PIEDMONT. balmed with the fragrance of the limes : we had a strong sun, but at the same time, so reviving a breeze, so soft, pure, and elastic, that I never remember to have enjoyed any thing more, nor ever felt a greater degree of physical animation. This sweetly-breathing wind might (by poets) have been supposed the same which blew through the groves of Elysium. We now passed by a fine ruin of a castle, built upon a rocky eminence, and overhanging a brawl- ing river. The peasantry in general were well looking, but we still observed several goitres among them. Nothing struck us at this time with higher astonishment than the convent of Benedictines, an enormous, massive, dark pile of building, reared upon the topmost height of one of the grandest mountains here, and frowning over the valley below. I in particular remem- ber this with the strongest impression of wonder and admiration ; it perfectly seized upon my imagination, and involun- tarily brought Mrs. KadclifFe's, and other tales of romance, to the recollection of us all. PIEDMONT. 19 At St. Antonine, (I sometimes avail my- self of the French names of these places, as both French and Italian are equally used in this country), we first saw two paysannes with their hair twisted up d I' antique, and in long transparent veils of black gauze, which admirably suited their handsome dark eyes and eyebrows ; this costume is sometimes worn over the high cap, but it then loses half its graceful effect. It struck me that if women in general were aware of the peculiar advantage and charm of a long floating veil, which thus shades, without concealing, the features, there would be but one style of head-dress in the world. In addition to these bewitching veils, the country girls at this place (St. Antonine) generally carry fans ; we met several with them, made of bright pink paper, covered with gold spangles, and it appeared to us rather an incongruous implement in the hands of a village belle. Mass was perform- ing as we passed, at a church of true Grecian architecture ; upon the outside steps of which the people were kneeling with every symptom of devotion. In going through 140 PIEDMONT. a low valley beyond this town, narrow and extremely confined by the tall hedge-rows, where the circulation of air is in conse- quence impeded, we felt the heat almost intolerable ; and the atmosphere exactly of that heavy nature from which we have often suffered during the summers of our own country. I must tell the truth (as it is fit ah 1 respectable travellers should do), and therefore am compelled to confess, that in passing over the continent, I was perpetually and forcibly struck with the defects of our English climate when com- pared with others. Condemn me not, ye red-hot John Bulls ! remember that when the noble animal you resemble makes his fiercest attacks, he always shuts his eyes, in common with every prejudiced person. At Eivoli, they were celebrating the fete of St. Bartholomew ; many pretty women and fine spirited-looking men were among the groups of gay figures assembled there. The caps of the former were very re- markable, being composed of lace in the form of a high Eoman casque or helmet; and worn over another of pink silk. The TURIN. 141 church was ornamented with flowers and green wreaths ; guns were firing, and a military procession going by as we passed : some of the girls wore pea-green jackets and red petticoats, some blue petticoats and white shift sleeves, and ah 1 had a bouquet of natural flowers in their bosoms. From Rivoli, we emerged into the fertile and widely extended plains of Piedmont ; the distant hiUs, richly tufted with woods, were studded thick with white villas (or vignes as they are called here), and we now entirely lost sight of those hideous goitres, which had hitherto every now and then made their appearance, even in the midst of a generally handsome peasantry. The approach to Turin was highly beau- tiful, through a long avenue of the finest trees ; the town itself embosomed among gently rising hills, and adorned by the river Po, glassy and smooth as a mirror, and so transparent, that the banks and sky were reflected upon its breast, unbroken by a single wave or ripple. The buildings are very high, many of them extremely hand- some, with white or coloured striped awnings TURIN. to every window, as a shelter from the noon- day sun. Our hotel (Albergo del Universo) stood in the middle of La Place du Chateau, immediately fronting the royal palace. The streets are clean, which indeed they ought to be, since through almost all of them a stream of the purest crystal water is per- petually flowing, contributing not a little, I should think, to the health and comfort of the inhabitants. We found apartments allotted to us in the Albergo of great height and size, with cove ceilings, and en suite; furnished with a curious mixture of poverty and magnificence, and ornamented by some exquisite and well chosen prints, from the designs of Poussin and other old masters ; rather in better style, it must be allowed, than those of most English inns, where you find " Going out to hunt," " In at the death," " Matrimony and courtship," and such things, hanging over every chimney piece. But we found one annoyance here that almost disgusted me with Italy, in spite of her miracles of nature and art, and brought back the remembrance of En- glish neatness and purity in a very forcible TURIN. 14S manner : I allude to the circumstance of the vermin, which infest even some of their most expensive establishments, and quite destroy the sensation of comfort. There are other sins also in their household arrangements, which this nation share in common with the French : suffice it to say, that both one and the other are certainly the dirtiest race of beings I ever encountered. I did not much like the smell of garlic, on en- tering our hotel, where the host, waiters, and assistants, all puffed their vile rocam- bole breath* in our face, as they bustled about, preparing for our accommodation. Neither could I relish their method of cookery, and, after the first trial, begged to have our future dinners drest a la Fran- caise. I know not what my friend Mr. T. would say to this, who I have heard vaunt his Piedmontese garlic truffles as one of the greatest delicacies of the table. To do the people of this hotel justice, I ought, how- ever, to acknowledge that they seemed most anxious to please, and appeared delighted * Vide Bath Guide, page 100. 144 TURIN* when they succeeded. Nor did they attempt to impose upon us in their charges, although they formed exceptions, in this instance, to some other Italian innkeepers, by whom we were considerably annoyed and dis- gusted ; the system of cheating and over- rating on their parts, and of shameless begging from the lower classes, being in general carried to an astonishing excess : I must say, that we found the French far preferable in these respects. The royal residence here is a very magnificent and classical building, and Laplace deSt. Charles is also very fine. The shops are universally built beneath the refreshing shade of piazzas, which is a very necessary circumstance, for the heat of the sun at noon would other- wise overpower their inhabitants. No busi- ness seems to be done at that time, at the public-offices, banking-houses, &c. Indeed the Italians say, il riy a que les cliiens et les Anglois qui sortent d ces heures. We pro- ceeded to view the principal lions the next day, and, amongst others, the cathedral, which is a regular Grecian temple. The king's seat in a gallery above the high TURIN. 145 altar, very splendidly adorned, but we agreed in thinking that this style of architecture (although beautiful in itself), was far less appropriate to a place of religious worship than the gothic. In this opinion (which I remember to have expressed before, in the beginning of my tour), I am not sure however, that we are not a little tinged with the ideas of gloomy solemnity (as con- nected with religion) peculiar to most of the northern nations; and I own (at all events) that I am guilty of an inconsistency in taste, because I have ever been a warm admirer of the bright, soft, and smiling type under which a different mythology has re- presented death. The poetical butterfly, bursting from its chrysalis, and soaring on triumphant wings to heaven, strikes me as infinitely more rational than the horrible (and low) taste which we have shown in selecting the skeleton as the most proper symbol of the same great and glorious mystery ! a sort of rawhead and Uoodybone plan, unworthy of so enlightened a people as ourselves, and which seems to answer no one purpose of religion or morality, 146 TURIN. if impartially considered ; but on the con- trary to be well calculated to poison the innocent minds of youth with aggravated and unnecessary terrors, and to divert their attention from the nobler truths of immor- tality! In the evening we drove upon the Corso in a caleche, the same sort of vehicle which we used while at Paris. The Corso is a pretty, cool, shady promenade, by the side of the river Po. The upper classes of Turin take the cool air of the evening here, every day, in their different carriages ; we observed no pedestrians above the rank of the bourgeoisie. We met the king of Sardinia on horseback, not forming (as is usual for sovereigns in England) the centre of a galaxy of stars and ribands, but riding first, by ~ himself, followed by an escort of five gentlemen, among whom was his bro- ther. He looked very earnestly into our carriage, and returned our salutation by taking off his hat in a graceful and cour- teous manner. He is a little thin man, apparently about fifty-five, with a coun- tenance expressive of good nature. The TURIN. 147 queen next rolled by, attended by all her suite, in an old-fashioned heavy coach and six, her coachman (big, fat, and important, sunk in his ample box) and her footmen in gay scarlet liveries, gaudily laced. The equipage altogether put me strongly in mind of that raised by the fairy for her god-daughter Cinderella, where the coach was originally a pumpkin, the coachman a fat hen, and the lackeys lizards ! We saw shortly afterwards, during this brilliant promenade, the prince and princess of Carignano (who are adored by all ranks, and are continually active in every bene- volent duty), and the Spanish, Dutch, and other ambassadors. The king shows himself to the populace in this manner every evening. We attended the Opera at night ; the price of one of the best private boxes did not exceed twelve shillings, and the tickets of admission (being a separate concern) were about fifteen-pence. In London one thinks a box cheap at five guineas ! The prince and princess de Ca- rignano were present : the theatre is called by their name, but it is not the principal 148 TURIN. one at Turin ; there being another upon a larger scale, which was shut up during our sejour at that place : it is never used but during the carnival, or on some great occa- sion, in compliment to some foreign prince. TheCarignano theatre is, notwithstanding, a handsome, spacious edifice, about the size of Drury Lane, and the scenery and machinery carried on in far better style than with us in the Haymarket. The drop curtain in particular caught my attention; it is an exquisite painting, representing the Judg- ment of Paris, his figure beautiful and graceful in the highest degree, and the drapery remarkably fine. The Opera (II Rivale di se stesso, by Veigi) was well got up, but we were not much struck with the music, from the whole of which we could only select one or two morceaux to admire : there was a clever buffo (Signor Nicola Taci), and a very agreeable prima donna, whose style of singing and flexibility of voice sometimes reminded us of Catalani ; her name was Emilia Bonini. The ballet was extremely superior to ours in numbers, and in minute attention to the accuracy of TURIN. 149 costume ; but there were no French dancers among them, and it is well known how in- ferior in the comparison are all others. Thegrofes^weSjhowever^a species of dancers peculiar to Italy) were wonderful for ac- tivity and strength : they consisted of four men and two women, who really appeared to think the air their proper element rather than the earth; they flew about in every possible strange attitude, but were totally devoid of grace, to which, indeed, I believe they do not pretend. I found that I had by some means formed a very erroneous idea of the usual conduct of an Italian audience. I had expected to find a sort of breathless silence, and a refinement of ap- plause, wholly different from the character of an English set of listeners ; but on the contrary, they clapped as loudly as any John Bulls in the world, and even hissed one of the singers, who did not happen to please. I have subsequently mentioned this circumstance to those who are better acquainted with the customs of Italy, and learn that I have been quite mistaken all my life in this respect. The house (as well as those in France) was dark as Erebus, 150 TURIN. which I cannot approve, for it evidently does not answer the purpose of increasing the brilliancy and the illusion of the stage. Thenext morning we drove to Moncallier, about six miles from Turin, to call upon Madame N , (an old acquaintance of our friend Mr. T.'s,) for whom we had letters. The coachman was an insufferable gossip, and we dreaded to ask him a question, sure that it would bring down upon us at least a dozen long answers. We did not go to the English minister's ; that gentleman (Mr. Hill) being then absent for a fortnight at Genoa. We therefore had not the pleasure of presenting him with those letters of in- troduction to himself and other families at Turin, with which we were furnished by the kindness of Mr. T. who was also formerly minister here, and of whom the people still speak in those terms of enthu- siastic gratitude, which his benevolence richly deserves. It was highly pleasing to me to listen to these details, nor were they imparted to us by one person alone; his reputation appeared to be in the hearts and upon the lips of every one who re- membered him at all! But to return to TURIN. 151 our visit to Madame N : the vast ex- panse of fertile, fresh, and woody country seen from the heights of Moncallier, with the Po winding in graceful sweeps through the richest banks, is wonderfully like the prospect boasted by Kichmond Hill. I was national enough to admire it the more upon this account, although I confess its superiority in the sublime back ground of the distant Alps and glaciers. When arrived at the termination of the carriage road here, we were informed of the necessity of alight- ing, and of walking a short distance to the garden gate that belonged to Madame N.'s vigne. This short distance proved to be upwards of half a league (a mile and half), leading through a stony lane of hot sand, (in which our weary feet sunk deep at every step), upon a very long and steep ascent. The hour of noon (which I have already mentioned to be intolerable in this country) rapidly approached, and the scorch- ing influence of the sun caused the drops to start from our foreheads, and our hearts to sink within us, as we proceeded on our way; to make the matter worse, I had 159, TURIN. attired myself that morning (little dreaming of such a walk) in a smart Parisian costume, with a triple flounce at the bottom of the petticoat, which by the time I had reached the end of this lane, formed a very pretty receptacle of dust and sand, scattering its' contents most liberally upon my already blistered feet and ancles; a pair of thin, small slippers, also, (which I unfortunately wore) cut my insteps with their tight binding, and admitted at each step the sharp points of flint with which our path abounded ! The guide (a bareheaded Pied- montese boy) did not understand above one word in ten of what was said to him, either in French or Italian, speaking a wretched and indistinct patois himself, which was equally unintelligible to us. He was a lively, arch little fellow, how- ever, and made some amends for having seduced us into attempting the walk, by his encouraging signs that we should soon arrive at its termination. Indeed it would have been useless to have gone back, as we had already advanced so far upon our way ; and there was no possibility of reaching the TURIN. 153 house but on foot. I reproached him se- veral times for replying only " No, Signora" when I asked if such and such gates be- longed to the vigne we were seeking ; and could not help smiling at his desiring me to take courage, for that in a few minutes he should leave off saying " No, Signora," and be able to please me better by " Eccola, Signora :" at length we reached the goal, and upon ringing, were ushered by two servant girls in their paysanne costumes, amid the barking of wondering dogs, into a romantic garden, where flowers, fruit, vege- tables, and grapes, all flourished together without any attempt at regularity, forming a singular and most agreeable melange. This vigne commanded an exquisite and extensive prospect of the plains of Pied- mont, and the distant mountains. A grave, respectable femme de chambre now made her appearance, and speaking in English, conducted us into the house, where in a few minutes Madame N. herself received us with a degree of frank politeness, and a warm and unaffected hospitality of manner, which was extremely pleasant to 154 TURIN. meet with, and quite a novelty to those who like ourselves had been accustomed to the reserve (I may say ultra-reserve) of many Englishwomen. Both mistress and maid (the latter personage above-men- tioned having lived with Madame N. ever since she was a girl) had a foreign accent and idiom, in speaking our language, al- though they were really of English birth, and had passed their youth in the county of Suffolk or Norfolk, I forget which. We were much struck with the difference of this little country house from those to which we had been used in England, it bore so completely the Italian character; all the rooms were in demijour, having the jalousies closed, to shield them from the sun at this sultry time of the day : marble in profusion rendered their appearance doubly cool, brick floors and light green stucco walls, still preserving the air of a cottage residence, in which an English eye is surprised at meeting the former costly material. A few beautiful frescos, and water- coloured drawings of mountain scenery, evidently from the hand of a master, a TURIN. 155 gaily painted ceiling, and a guitar thrown carelessly upon a pianoforte, told us we were in the land of the arts. Passing into the small dining-room, opening upon the garden, through a porch thickly shaded with vines, we saw the table ready laid for dinner, to which we were cordially in- treated to remain : it was entirely covered with large vine leaves, spread upon the white cloth, and amid which we perceived wooden spoons and forks, in a true Arca- dian style. Nothing could have a cooler or more refreshing effect than this verdant board prepared for " all those rural messes, Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses." We were not, however, at liberty to accept Madame N.'s invitation to share her simple meal, having left our friend waiting dinner for us at Turin. She told us of a late visit she had been making to the mountains: their party consisted of a few intimate friends, who, joining in a sort of gipseying scheme, hired lodgings for three weeks, at the humble cottage of one of the 156 TURIN. poor inhabitants of these remote and soli- tary regions. They carried their own cook- ing utensils, some provisions, and a com- plete set of common earthen-ware dishes, plates, wooden spoons, knives and forks, &c. These they presented to their host at parting, whose gratitude and delight at the splendid gift, she said, were un- bounded. He repeatedly exclaimed, " too much ! this is too much ! what beautiful things ! they are far too good for me !" Their value in toto was about five English shillings ; but this unsophisticated child of nature, used to every sort of privation, knowing but few wants, and totally igno- rant of the customs and habits of the rest of the world, really imagined that it was a princely donation. The manners of the people in these wild mountains are primi- tive beyond all conception, and their morals so pure, their affections so warm, and their language so artless and unrestrained, that they seemed as if just fresh from the hand of the Creator in the beginning of the world ! Altogether they had made such a strong and touching impression on Madame TURIN. 157 N.'s mind (who is herself the purest and most romantic child of nature), that she said she should regret their society, and remember their singular virtues and inno- cence as long as she lived. The advocates for the doctrine of original depravity, and who deny that man is rendered vicious chiefly by circumstances, might have been somewhat staggered in this " plain tale," so truly calculated to " put them down." Speaking of the Italian character, and more particularly of their excellence in the fine arts, she confirmed the truth of what so many accurate and enlightened observers have remarked, namely, " that the genius of an Italian is so peculiarly indigenous to his native soil, so intimately and vitally de- pendant upon the favouring and animating breath of his own ardent clime, as to faint, droop, and often wholly to wither, in the chilling atmosphere of foreign lands !" Like the giant son of the earth, who wrestled with Hercules, his power, his very existence, is drawn wholly from thence. Madame de Stae'l, in her Corinne (that work, whose kindling eloquence, depth of feeling, in- 158 TURIN. imitable powers of language, and historical truth, as a portrait of Italy, is so univer- sally admired by the best judges of excel- lence, and so clamoured against by the tasteless and ignorant cavillers of the day), has forcibly illustrated this truth ; as has also Canova, in his own. person. Madame N. related an answer which the latter made to Bonaparte (who had sense and elevation enough to appreciate this modern Praxiteles as he deserved), upon being reproached for indolence, and want of professional exer- tion while at Paris : " Emperor ! Canova cannot be Canova but in his native Italy ; she is the source of his inspiration ; his powers are palsied in the separation !" We walked in the garden of this pretty vigne, after having partaken of the refresh- ment of fruit and wine and water within, and were surprised at the bruised and bat- tered appearance of the grapes ; they had been all nearly destroyed a short time before, by a violent storm of hail ; the congealed drops of this destructive element being larger than a small bird's egg, or a goose- berry ! What a scourge to the poorer TURIN. 159 classes, whose only wealth frequently con- sists in their vineyards ! (note D). We now took leave of our friendly, though new, acquaintance ; who, not satisfied with having pressed us to pass a few days with her here, also offered us the use of her win- ter residence in Turin, if we had staid longer, assuring us we should find it more comfortable than a hotel. Before I quit her, however, I should mention the curious difference which she pointed out to us, in the necessary expenses of an Italian and an English domestic establishment: the comforts, and even luxuries, of the former clime being obtained at so much more reasonable a price than those of the latter, as to seem almost incredible. She told me, that for five or six hundred a year a person might keep two houses (one in Turin, and one in the country), a carriage, a box at the Opera, an appropriate table, and be able to receive friends under his roof with perfect ease. Further up, among the more retired mountains, and relinquishing the accommodation of a carriage, you might live most comfortably (although, of course, upon a very small scale 160 TURIN". of establishment) for fifty pounds per an- num. She added, that in her own case, an income which gave her the reputation of a " rich widow" in Turin, would not purchase her a decent roof, and bread and cheese, in London. I have no means of ascertaining that this statement is correct, or exag- gerated ; I merely relate the circumstance. We found our friend, Mr. W., in expecta- tion of our return, at the hotel : " We entered, And dinner was served as we came ;"* for which we had a better appetite than could have been imagined, after all our fa- tigues. The heat of the weather would not admit of our going out till the evening had considerably advanced, when we again drove about the town. The waiter (who, by the way, was one of the best looking of his kind we had seen, being particularly remarkable for the elegant expression of his countenance (if I may apply that word to one in his rank of life), as well as the regularity of his truly Grecian features), told us, that the late summer had been the * Goldsmith. TURIN. 161 most sultry that the people of Turin were able to remember ; and that he himself had found the heat so unusually oppressive, that he had hardly been able to taste food during the time of its continuance. Hav- ing occasion to write letters this evening, we sent for materials, and by the appear- ance of the golden sand which was brought to us, thought the river Pactolus ran through the town instead of the Po. Ice is used in profusion here, in the prepara- tion of almost every beverage ; and there are large meadows overflowing with the clearest streams of water, kept solely for this purpose. We went into a bookseller's shop during our stay, where we were agree- ably surprised by seeing a translation of Rob Roy upon the table, which we were assured was much relished in Italy, and was extremely popular. A proof (if any were wanting) of the intrinsic exceUence of the work, even considered without refer- ence to its merits as a mere national pic- ture. We observed also a sermon, which had been preached upon the death of our lamented Princess Charlotte ; the style, as M 162 TURIN. I slightly turned over the leaves, appeared highly pathetic, and the expressions of pity and regret very forcible and natural. It was altogether a tender and soothing gra- tification to our feelings as natives of Eng- land. Priestcraft struck us to be the staple trade of the place ; the swarms of dismal, sly-looking, vulgar figures, in their black formal costume, were beyond all belief, and the idea of a flight of ravens came into my head every time I saw them. Pass- ing by the market, we were astonished at the quantities of peaches exposed for sale. They are as common in Italy as potatoes with us. Some small ones of an inferior sort were then selling at the price of four or five English halfpence for three pounds weight of fruit. We went the next day, in the cool of the evening, to drive, as usual, about the environs, and intended to have called upon the Marquise d'A (nte d'A.), for whom we had letters of introduction ; but were prevented by a vio- lent and sudden storm of rain, thunder, and lightning. The effect of its coming on was TURIN. 163 wonderfully grand and beautiful ; a painter would have been in ecstasies ; and we were highly interested in the sight. Looking back upon Turin, we beheld the town, and the conspicuous convent of Capucins, their white walls starting luminously forth from a background of lowering clouds of a pur- ple hue, indicative of the gathering tem- pest, which in a few moments darkened into the most awful gloom that can be ima- gined. We put up the hood and leather apron of the carriage, and drove rapidly homewards, while the clouds burst over our heads, and the rain descended in absolute sheets of water. We could not help being delighted with the refreshing change. If Pythagoras's doctrine is true, I am convinced I must formerly have been a duck ; for never creature of that nature enjoyed the sort of thing more than myself. The lightning continued for nearly an hour, accompanied by tremendous bursts of thunder, louder than the loudest artillery, the wind howl- ing at the same moment as if in the depth of winter, which, joined to the constant rushing sound of the rain falling from the M 2 164 TURIN. projecting roofs and broad water-spouts of the surrounding buildings, formed the most sublime concert of wild sounds that I ever heard. We were told that storms are al- most always thus violent in the near neigh- bourhood of the Alps. Before I quit the subject of Turin, there are a few more observations, which, how- ever desultory, I will not withhold, although they sometimes may relate to things which we did not ourselves see, owing to the ex- treme heat of the weather, and the short- ness of our stay. Among these is the church of the Superga, which I advise every tra- veller to visit, knowing how amply his trouble would be repaid by the very noble view that it affords, and the peculiar inte- rest and magnificence of the structure itself. In a clear day the spire of the cathedral of Milan may be discerned from thence, at the distance of eighty miles. To inspect the convent, in all its details, it is neces- sary for ladies to procure previously an order from the archbishop of Turin. The Colline de Turin, in addition to its natural beauties, presents two other objects TURIN. 165 worthy of being seen : the Vigne de la Reine (a very elegant little summer re- treat), and the picturesque and romantic convent, which is the burying-place of the knights of the supreme order of the Annun- ciade, in the neighbourhood of which are found considerable masses of that fibrous schist, called asbestos. Bonaparte, it must be allowed, has made considerable amends for the mischief which his army occasioned at Turin, by the hand- some bridge he caused to be built in place of a miserable wooden one, and by weeding the country of its too numerous monastic insti- tutions, a few of which only have been re- i stored by the present government. As the seeds of revolutionary principles are apt to retain their vital heat, even when appa- rently crushed beneath the foot of power, one cannot be surprised that a good deal of unpopularity attends the present sovereign among certain classes. But his truly paternal government is nevertheless cherished with affection by many, as the following fact clearly proves, which I learned from the most in- disputable authority. There existed an im~ pot, highly profitable to the revenue, but 166 TURIN. ~ / which the king believed to be vexatious and unpopular. He was accordingly taking measures to repeal it, when, unexpectedly, he received addresses from different parts of the country, expressive of their conviction that this resource to the revenue was neces- sary ; and such was their confidence in the certainty of his majesty's relinquishment of it, the moment the situation of the finances would allow him to do so without inconve- nience, that they were content willingly to submit to it until that period arrived. We regretted not being able to visit Genoa, the magnificence of which city, and its beautiful bay (the latter hardly inferior to that of Naples), is much talked of. With respect to this portion of his Sardinian ma- jesty's new subjects, we were told that a considerable time will be necessary to re- concile them to the loss of their inde- pendence. We should have been glad to have availed ourselves (as I said before) of our letters of introduction to Mr. Hill, had he been at Turin, as we had heard much of the affable and amiable manners of the Piedmontese nobility. I have, indeed, always under- TURIN. 167 stood that they were remarkable for quick- ness and penetration. These latter quali- ties distinguish their diplomacy at the se- veral courts of Europe. From the abo- minable patois which they speak, I should think both gentlemen and ladies must be singularly clever and engaging, to rise su- perior to such a disadvantage : it seems to be a corruption of French and Italian, and to spoil both. They say, however, that it is very expressive : all ranks are much at- tached to it, and (strange to relate) it is spoken at court, French being only adopted when foreigners are present. In this threshold of Italy, one expects to find a considerable progress in the arts, nor were we disappointed. Painting, sculpture, orfevrerie, music, &c. have attained to a very fair and reasonable height, and some of their manufactures are particularly good; especiaUy where silk (the great riches of the country) is employed. Their damasks for hangings are beautiful, both for patterns and colour. They are the common furni- ture of all their best apartments, and ex- ceedingly cheap; one third perhaps of what they could be manufactured for in 168 TURIN. England, whither their raw silk is sent every year to an immense amount, and under a no less immense duty ; a certain proportion of it is requisite to mix up with our Bengal silks. The light gauzes manu- factured at Chamberry are a very elegant and favourite article of dress. Several of the English nobility have been educated at the university of Turin, which used to be the most considerable in Italy ; the system of education having been carried on in a most liberal and gentlemanly style. There is a remarkable and interesting little protestant colony, which also deserves mention, the Vau- dois, who, surviving the cruel persecutions of the dark ages of the church, have for many centuries (certainly before the twelfth) preserved their existence in the midst of this catholic country, and within thirty miles of its capital. They are a very quiet, moral, and industrious people. They owe their ease and safety to the protection of some of the protestant powers, and especially that of Great Britain, whose minister is particularly instructed to attend to their interests, and to their enjoyment of the TURIN. 169 toleration that is allowed them ; they are, like our catholics, deprived of many privi- leges; but lately his present majesty has consented to allow a salary to their priests. Cromwell supported these people with pecu- liar energy. We left Turin the next morning. The fresh and balmy spirit of the air was de- lightful, and we had a glorious view of the glaciers which hem in this fair city, the new-risen sun shining brightly upon their snowy and fantastic summits : the host went by, in early procession ; all the people as it passed dropped on their knees, in the dirt of the street, and devoutly made the sign of the cross. We met two friars, whose picturesque and really dignified ap- pearance formed a great contrast to the demure, fanatical, formal-looking priests, whom we had hitherto seen in all quar- ters of the town. These friars were com- plete models for a painter ; their bare feet in sandals, rosary and gold cross by their side, superb grey polls and beards ; the lat- ter " streaming like meteors to the troubled air." We now paid toll at the first turn- 170 SETTIMO. pike we had seen during the last seven hundred miles. I believe I have before men- tioned that it was Bonaparte who abolished this troublesome system, and who really seems to have favoured the interests of tra- vellers in every respect. The cottages in this neighbourhood were pretty, and many of the little porches and doors were overgrown with the broad verdant leaves of the pump- kin, whose orange-coloured blossoms had a remarkably gay and rich effect. At Settimo we saw a beautiful girl, with the true Grecian line of feature, long oval cheek, dark pale skin (fine and smooth as marble or ivory), curled red lips, with long cut black eyes and straight eyebrows ; her profile was not unlike that of Mrs. E., so celebrated in her day for regularity of out- line. Between Settimo and Chivasco we passed over a curious bridge, formed of planks, thrown across four boats, which were fixed immoveably in the river, by strong cords fastened to posts. The shape of these boats, and also of many we observed upon the Po, resembled that of an Indian canoe. SETTIMO. 171 The turnpike was a little thatched hut, erected upon the middle of this bridge. Eefusing to comply with the importunities of an old Italian beggar woman here, she poured forth a volume of various maledic- tions upon us ; being not at all inferior in this sort of eloquence to the amazons of our St. Giles's or Billingsgate. The money (gold coins, I mean) of Italy are of very pure metal, without alloy ; you may (as a proof of it) bend them into any shape with the fingers. An accident happened to us near Rondiz- zone, which was rather alarming, but hap- pily passed over without any serious conse- quences. The bridle of the centre horse breaking, we were violently run away with by the hot-headed animals ; nor could the postillion stop them by any effort. This was rendered more distressing by the cir- cumstance of our going down a steep hill at the moment. We called out repeatedly, and waved our hands for assistance to one or two peasants who were passing, making signs for them to catch the bridle, if pos- sible ; but they seemed to turn a deaf ear 172 CIGLIANO. to our entreaties, never offering to make the smallest attempt to relieve us. By the time we reached the bottom of the hill, however, which was fortunately a long one, the creatures felt tired, and stopped of themselves. At Cigliano we took a dtjeunk at L'Al- bergo Reale, and while it was preparing, stood in the open gallery on the out- side of the house, gathering from a vine, which overshadowed it, the most deli- cious Frontigniac grapes that I ever remem- ber to have tasted : indeed their flavour was exquisite, but the people did not ap- pear to think them of any particular value, leaving them freely to the attacks of every traveller. Here we first drank the vino d'Asti, a light wine of the country, which we thought extremely pleasant, tasting like the best sweet cyder. I formerly thought that the flies of this country would pro- bably be much of the same sort as those in England; but they turned out far more impertinently troublesome, inflicting their tiny torments without mercy, being equally obnoxious to man and beast ; a true impu- SAN GERMANO. 178 dent, blood-sucking race ! This reminds me, that under the head of vermin, I ought to have recorded a disagreeable surprise felt by v Mr. B. at the Opera at Turin : feeling something tickle his forehead, he put up his hand, and caught hold of a monstrous black spider, at least four inches in circumference. The people at the hotel, to whom we related the circumstance, said it was rather an uncommon thing, but which sometimes occurred. The country, since we turned our backs upon Turin, was monotonous, and only relieved by the chain of Alps in the distance. At San Germano we observed a very graceful costume among the peasant girls, and women of all ages ; those who w r ere advanced to extreme old age still con- tinuing it without any variation. I allude to the wearing silver pins or bodkins in the hair behind, the long tresses of which are tied together with a narrow black ri- band, and divided into two braids. These are then coiled into a round shape at the back of the head, and fastened to the roots of the hair by these ornamental pins, which 174 VERCELLI. are about a finger in length, and have large heads, like beads. Their points form the radii of a circle, and are plainly discovered amid the shadowy locks which they thus support. The landscape here was flat and uninteresting; but we remarked a great deal of pasture land. The trees chiefly consisted of stunted willows, planted in straight lines. There were no viUas, or even hamlets, to be seen, and the tout en- semble was almost as tame and as ugly as that of the Netherlands. The first dulcet notes of true Italian music, we heard at Vercelli: a baker's wife, who lived next door to the Albergo della Posta (where -we stopped to change horses), sat working and singing in her shop. It was the most ele- gant, yet simple, air imaginable, and her voice possessed the soft mellifluous tones of a faint but mellow flute. She had a pe- culiar ease and flexibility also in the execu- tion of several charming and brilliant little graces, which delighted me. I thought it was extremely improbable that this woman could have had the advantage of a master in the art ; and yet her style was finished in VERCELLI. 175 the most perfect sense of the word ; being simple, yet refined ; pathetic, yet chastely ornamented. She was plain in face and per- son ; but her lips half open looked almost pretty, as she emitted these sweet sounds, without discomposing a muscle. An effect was thus produced, without effort or instruc- tion, which is frequently denied in our country to the pupils of the most cele- brated teachers, although every exertion has been cheerfully and indefatigably made, both by master and scholar. Eut there is no convincing some people that there are things which are not to be taught. Had I a daughter, I would never aUow her the assist- ance of a music master until I perceived, by unequivocal tokens, that nature had quali- fied her to do credit to his instructions; and hence waste of time, patience, temper, and money, would be avoided. My baker's wife I shall never forget; and if her ex- ample would have opened the eyes of half the world in England (who really seem to- be music-mad in the present age), I wish that she had had an opportunity of exhibit- ing her gift, and of mortifying the silly am- 176 VERCELLI. bition, while she soothed the ears of them all. How have I smiled to see people toiling to acquire the knowledge of com- position and thorough base, when I have been certain that they have not possessed a spark of native genius to enable them to make any use of these rules after all. Pro- metheus formed an image, but it was only fire from heaven that could make that image man ! The costume of the women at Vercelli became still more picturesque than those of San Germano, as the bodkins which the former wore were much handsomer, some being of silver filligree, and others of silver gilt, the heads worked and embossed with great taste and richness. We saw large fields of rice here ; this grain has a singular appearance, something between the barley and oat : when viewed closely, it has about twelve ears upon each stalk. , The hedges by the road side were of a species of acacia, forming a very graceful foliage, but not growing to any height or size. I got out of the carriage to examine the manner in which the women inserted the pretty orna- NOVABA. 177 ments I have just described into their hair. I found them (like the French paysannes) extremely courteous and frank in their manners, and they seemed flattered by the attention their costume had excited. An old man stood by, holding the hands of his two little grand-children ; he observed (in the usual patois) that they were beautiful rogues, and he was right, for I have seldom seen sweeter children ; very dark, with the bright yet soft black eye peculiar to Italians, and which both Sir W. Jones and Lord Byron, catching the poetical idea of the eastern writers, have 'so happily defined, (or rather painted) by a comparison with that of the roe or gazelle. One of these dar- lings had wavy curls of the darkest auburn hair. What a pity that such lovely cherubim faces and silken locks should not have been kept free from dirt and worse than dirt ! but it is always the case here, the poorer classes are invariably filthy. The same tiresome and tame style of country continued until we reached Novara ; where we dined and slept at I'Albergo d' It ali a. The latter was a horrible-looking N ' 178 NOVARA. place; my heart sank within me, as we drove into the court, for if I was so bitten by the bugs, &c. at the superb albergo of Turin, I naturally conceived I should have been quite devoured here! This was a striking proof, however, of the truth of that moral axiom, which tells us, " it is not good to judge of tilings at first sight," and also that it is absurd to consider them on the dark side, since at this same inn we found every comfort: the dinner was served in a cleanly manner (the knives, forks, and spoons were really washed), and we enjoyed a night of calm repose, undisturbed by ver- min of any sort. The gentlemen went in the evening to an Italian comedy, at the theatre here, which was a neat building, entirely fitted up with private boxes and a parterre, the scenery and costumes far above mediocrity, and the orchestra very tolerable; but the length of the Italian dialogues, and the unnatural bombast of the actor's delivery, soon fatigued their attention and exhausted their patience, and they were glad to return home to indulge unrestrained an overwhelming propensity NO V AH A. 179 to sleep. The women at Novara were much better looking than any we had yet seen in this country ; the custom of gently parting the hair upon the forehead, d la Madonna, finishing with a soft ringlet be- hind each ear, and the longer tresses con- fined in an antique knot, gave an air of infinite grace to the head and throat, and appeared to us to be in far better taste than that of the French, which strains up the long hair to the crown of the head, rendering the forehead quite bald, save at the temples, where a lank straggling greasy curl always is left hanging down upon the cheek, which has a formal and unbe- coming effect. Apropos to personal charm. I was assured before our departure from England (by an amateur artist of high genius and feeling, and who had lived for years in different parts of Italy), that we should find there a small number of what are generally called " pretty women," in com- parison with what we had been used to see in our own country ; but that when real Ita- lian beauty was occasionally encountered, it was of that decided and exquisite nature, ISO NOVARA. as to be infinitely superior to any which Eng- land's daughters can boast. Even my slight experience has perfectly convinced me of the truth of the remark. I am national enough to be sorry for it, but it cannot be helped; we must submit to this mortification of our vanity, and if we do it with a good grace, may probably find that quality plus belle encore que la beaut e of power to capti- vate, where regularity of feature has failed. The first stage of our journey the next day did not afford us any relief from the insipidity of country of which we had com- plained since leaving Turin. We saw here (as in most parts of the continent) large tracts planted with corn, here called melliga, and remarked a good deal of meadow land ; but we did not once taste cream either in Italy or France (except at Samer, and afterwards at Quillacq's hotel at Calais, when we were treated with a few spoonfuls in our tea of a rich sort of milk which boasted that name), nor was Paris itself exempt from the want of it. This weary- ing sameness in the landscape was at length agreeably broken by the prospect of a vast NOVARA. 181 common, where the purple heath-flower, with which it was entirely covered, wet with dew, gleamed like an amethyst in the morning sun. Yet even here, I missed the gay variety of the bright golden broom, which invariably is found upon our commons at home- Home ! the term always makes my heart throb with pleasure and pride ; I know not why, but at that moment its idea rose in vivid strength before me, softened and beautified by the colours with which memory never fails to adorn a beloved object in absence. I felt (and my com- panions warmly participated in my senti- ments) that our dear little island had charms of a different nature, but in no way inferior, to those even of this favoured land, .so celebrated, so enthusiastically vaunted, by the poet and the painter. I felt (and what Englishwoman ought not to feel?) that I could truly ^exclaim in apostrophizing my native country, " Where'er I go, whatever realms I see, " My heart, untravelTd, fondly turns to thee." And yet, reader, we were no bigots in the .cause, for we could discern foreign ex- 182 NOVARA. cellence and deeply feel it, and we could perceive where England's faults lay, could acknowledge those faults, and wish that they were rectified ; and this, I am sorry to say, is not always the case with our country- men, many of whom have listened to all commendations of other nations, as if they were so many insults offered to our own. It seems wonderful that such feelings should in these enlightened days exist among persons who are not actually fools, nor of that class of society in which a want of education necessarily induces ignorance and prejudice ; yet so it is, unfortunately, as it has more than once been my lot to witness. We now passed the river Tessin, by means of a bridge of boats. It was much impaired in beauty and force, by the heat of the late season, but we could easily ima- gine that in general its portion of both must be extreme. Bonaparte had begun to build a fine and permanent bridge across it, but fate intervened, and it is left un- finished, like his own eventful history. At Buffalore, the douaniers were tire- MILAN. 183 some enough, according to custom (pardon the pun), but we conducted ourselves to- wards them with great patience and civility, which (together with a little silver eloquence) soon touched their stony hearts. Indeed it would have been useless to have done otherwise, as I never yet heard of any body being able to soften rocks with vinegar, except Hannibal ; and I consider even that instance to be apocryphal. We arrived at the grand city of Milan early, and proceeded immediately to visit the cathedral, that mighty duorno, of which Italy is so justly proud. We were abso- lutely silent with admiration and wonder, upon first seeing this stupendous work of art, and I really despair of doing it justice in description ; like many other things, it must be seen to be fully comprehended and appreciated. St. Peter's at Rome is generally accounted the superior miracle of genius ; but I believe there are many imaginations which have been more forcibly impressed with the effect of this. In the first place, the material claims pre-eminence, being entirely of white marble, brought from the 184 MILAN. Lago Maggiore. It is of gothic architec- ture, and was begun in the year 1386 : the plan of the choir and the two grand organs were given by the celebrated Pellegrini, and the facade, which had remained for so many years unfinished, was completed by Bona- parte, from the simple and superior designs of the architect Amati. Various statues and bas reliefs, with other costly ornaments in spotless marble, ornament the outside ; and the interior has no less than five naves, supported by one hundred and sixty superb columns of the same magnificent material. Immediately beneath the dome or cupola (which is by Brunellesco) is a subterranean chapel, where sleeps the embalmed body of Saint Carlo Borromeo, (the Howard of his age, and an ancient archbishop of Milan), en- shrined in a coffin of the purest rock crystal, inclosed in a tomb of solid silver, splendidly embossed, and of enormous size and value. The pillars which support this chapel are alternately of silver and of the most ex- quisite coloured marble, highly polished. The wax tapers, which were lighted by the guides, to enable us to thread the dark MILAN. 185 mazes of this magnificent dungeon (for I can call it by no other name, debarred as it is from the sweet air and light of heaven), cast a stream of gloomy radiance upon our some- what lengthened visages, and dimly illu- minated the buried treasures of the tomb. Never, surely, since the days of Aladdin, has there existed so imposing a scene of sepul- chral wealth and grandeur ! Having ex- pressed a wish to see the saint (who I ought to mention has now been dead for nearly three hundred years), the priest (first putting on a sort of cloak of old point lace, and crossing himself with an air of profound respect and reverence), assisted by the guide, began to set some mechanical pro- cess at \vork ; by means of which, as though by a stroke of magic, the silver tomb appeared to sink into the earth, the lid flew up as if to the roof of the chapel, and the body in- closed in its transparent coffin was suddenly exhibited to our wondering gaze. It was habited in a long robe of cloth of gold, fresh as if just from the loom ; on the head was a mitre of solid gold (presented by one of the former kings of Spain), and by 186 MILAN. the lifeless side, as if just released from the powerless hands which were crossed upon its breast, lay a crosier, of massy chased gold, studded with jewels of extraordinary richness and beauty ; the price of which was scarcely to be reckoned, and whose magni- tude and lustre were wonderful ! They sparkled brightly in the rays of the taper, as if in mockery of the ghastly spectacle of mortality which they were meant to honour and adorn. Nothing certainly could well be imagined more alarmingly hideous than St. Carlo Borromeo ; and why the humiliating exhibition of his corporeal remains should thus be produced to the eyes of the careless multitude, when the qualities of his noble and benignant soul should alone be re- membered and dwelt upon, I cannot possi- bly conjecture. What a strange perversion of taste, and what a ludicrous method of evincing gratitude and admiration ! A very brief account of the virtues of this good archbishop may not be unwelcome to my readers. He was the head of the noble family of Borromeo, and equally distin- guished for his extraordinary benevolence MILAN. 187 towards mankind, and his elevated senti- ments of piety towards God. Not satisfied with possessing the respect and homage of his fellow creatures, he placed his happiness in soothing their griefs, relieving their wants, and in gaining their warmest affec- tions : he rather wished to be considered as a father than a superior, and the superb head of the clergy was merged in the benevo- lent friend of the people. His whole for- tune was devoted to their service, and during a year of famine he had so com- pletely exhausted his annual income in feeding others, that he literally was left totally destitute either of food or ready money, one evening when he returned to his episcopal residence, fatigued and ex- hausted with the charitable labours of the day. This benign enthusiasm, kindled in early life, never relaxed to the hour of his dissolution, and he was after death canonized as a saint by the universal con- sent of all ranks of persons, as might reason- ably be expected ; and with far more justice than many of his calendared brethren. I am afraid, never theless, that he does not quite 188 MILAN. come up to the ideas of moral and religious perfection, entertained by a Faquir of In- dia, or a strict Calvinist of our country ; for he certainly never stuck any nails into his own sides, or planted the thorns of terror in the agonised bosom of all, whose notions of duty happened not exactly to agree with those he himself entertained. He perse- cuted, he despised, he denounced no one ; and he considered all mankind, whether protestant or catholic, as equally entitled to his good will and benevolence ! To re^ turn to the narrative of our individual pro- ceedings, we retired from the cathedral, with our imaginations rather disagreeably impressed by the splendid yet disgusting spectacle we had there witnessed ; and in- stead of remaining at home all the evening, to brood over the idea of coffins and cross- bones, and to " dream of the night-mare, and wake in a fright*," we were wicked enough to shake oif our melancholy, by going to the theatre of the Marionetti (or puppets), for which Milan is famous. The * Vide Bath Giiide. MILAN*. 189 scenery and figures (the latter of which were nearly four feet in height) quite sur- prised us by their correct imitation of na- ture. I assure the reader, that I have often seen actors of flesh and blood far less animated, and much more wooden. We could now and then discern the strings by which they were worked, and we found it easy to follow the Italian dialogue, as the judicious speaker (concealed behind the curtain), did not indulge in the rant or mouthing of high tragedy, but gave every speech a natural degree of emphasis, and possessed in addition, an articulation sin- gularly clear and distinct. The orchestra was capital, the selection of music extremely agreeable, and I never heard a tout en- semble better attended to, even at the Opera. Milan is a large city, and has the con- venience of excellent pavements both for foot passengers and those in carriages. There are four trottoirs in each street, two of them in the middle of the road, which is a great advantage to all the draught horses of the place, as it considerably lessens and 190 MILAN. facilitates their exertions: I should not wonder if this improvement had been sug- gested by the guardian spirit of the amiable Borromeo, since we are told that " a righteous man is merciful unto his beast." The bourgeoises of Milan generally wear black or white transparent veils, thrown carelessly over the hair, and carry fans in the hand. Some have thin muslin mob caps with flat crowns under the veil, but the use of a bonnet is quite unknown. Both the peasantry and bourgeoisie are generally well-looking, and we saw two or three lovely women : one in particular, a true Madonna of Coreggio, who if seen in a London circle, would, I am sure, have created an immense sensation; we had no opportunity of judg- ing whether she was fully aware or not of her own extraordinary beauty, but taking the thing in the most rational point of view, I should think it impossible that she should be ignorant of the personal ad- vantages so liberally bestowed upon her. Nothing has ever appeared to me more sickening than the pretty innocence some MILAN. 191 women (who have been highly favoured by nature) think it amiable to affect. That it is genuine, no one will believe who is truly acquainted with human nature and the customs of society; nor will any female, who is not weak in intellect, or of very de- fective judgment, condescend to adopt so paltry an artifice. A woman of sense must know when she is handsome, and she will also know how to enjoy this species of superiority without abusing it. There is nothing, however, more common than the mistaking ignorance for virtue, amongst persons of a certain calibre of intellect, who yet at the same time pique themselves upon a reputation for solidity. The fruit sold in the markets here is in the most luxuriant profusion that can be imagined. We saw grapes piled up in large wicker baskets, like those used for holding linen ; peaches in tubs and wheel- barrows, and innumerable quantities of ripe figs. We had the pleasure of hearing se- veral ballad-singers of a very superior stamp to those of London or Paris. This is giving them small praise ; but I mean to 192 MILAN. say, that they were really excellent, differ- ing widely from some to whom we had listened at Turin (who said they came from Rome), and whose harshness of voice was unpleasant, although their style, and the music they selected, was very good. But these people gratified us extremely : they sang a buffo duet (accompanied by a vio- loncello, violin, and guitar), with full as much spirit and correctness as either Signers N. or A. And we afterwards heard a man (who came under our windows with his guitar) execute one of Rossini's refined and difficult serious arias in an equally finished manner. The next day we took a caleche, and drove to see many lions, amongst others the arena (i. e. amphitheatre), and the tri- umphal arch, begun, but not finished, by Napoleon. It was at Milan that this won- derful man was crowned king of Italy, in 1805 ; and the arch in question was in- tended to be at once a monument of his fame, and a gate to the grand road of the Simplon, which commences here. When finished, it must have proved the admira- MILAN. 193 tion of posterity ; even now it is very strik- ing to the imagination, and not the less so (in my opinion) for being left thus awfully in- complete. The groups of figures, prepared as ornamental friezes, lie piled together in a shed or outhouse hard by, scarcely se- cured from the injuries of weather. No- thing can be more chastely classical than their designs, and the figure of Xapoleon, for ever prominent among them, in the costume of the ancient Roman conquerors, is a very correct personal likeness. A sta- tue of him also is shewn here (with some little affectation of mystery), as large, or larger, than the life, and is equally marked as an accurate resemblance. The amphitheatre (lately built by Coe- nonica) is highly magnificent, and of im- mense proportions, chiefly appropriated to the celebration of the naumachia, or naval tournament. We found the city full of En- glish ; our attorney-general and Lord K., &c. were in the same hotel with ourselves (Al- bergo Rcale) ; and I should in justice men- tion, that the master of this inn is one of the most attentive, civil, and obliging per- 194 MILAN. sons in the world : I hope all our country- men will patronise him. In the evening we drove upon the promenade, which is a very fine one, and situated in the best part of the city. We were much struck by the width of the streets adjacent, and by the beauty and dignity of the buildings. Here we met a crowd of equipages, of every denomination and description; yet how mean did they all appear, in comparison with those which throng Hyde Park ! I am certain that any English chariot and horses (however plain and unpretending) would have been gazed at, and followed here as a miracle of elegance and beauty. At night we took a box at the Opera (La Scala), which is universally allowed to be the largest and most superb in Europe. It was built by Pierre Marini, in 1778, and did indeed amaze us at the first coup d'ail, as a stupendous miracle of art: but we found the same want of brilliancy and cheerfulness as in all other foreign theatres, and the performance (to say nothing of the performers) was exe- crable. Many of the boxes were shut up ; but, by the lights which twinkled through MILAN. 195 the green latticed blinds, we perceived that persons were in them ; and once, upon this sullen screen being casually opened for a few moments, we saw them playing at cards, and eating ices, without the slightest idea of attending to what was passing upon the stage. The latter refreshment is quite in- dispensable in this hot climate, and it was brought to us in the course of the evening: Camporese was the prima donna here ; but we did not see her, as she was unwell during the time of our stay at Milan. A Signora Gioja appeared in her stead, who made us all triste enough by her tame and stupid per- formance. The ballet was ennuyant a la mort : its strength lay in its numbers, and the manner of grouping them ; for as to the dancing it was in short, there was no such thing which properly merited that name. The theatre is far too large for the purposes of hearing (much less of enjoying) music ; and there was such a stunning echo, that the noise of the enormous band of mu- sicians in the orchestra was almost rendered insupportable to a delicate and refined ear. They played also (to my indignant asto- 196 MILAN. nishment) so loud as to drown the voices of the singers, instead of keeping the in- struments under, and subservient to them; which I had imagined was a rule so firmly established, as to render all deviation impos- sible in a country which boasts itself to be the veritable land of harmony. In short, we infinitely preferred the opera at Turin, and were completely disappointed with La Scala. Indeed, I consider our own Opera in the Haymarket (however fastidiously abused by soi-disant connoisseurs, and al- though it appears like a nutshell in point of size, when compared with this overgrown rival), to be indisputably superior in every real advantage. The whole of Italy (as I afterwards learned from some good judges at Geneva) is at present lamentably de- ficient in talent, both vocal and instrumental; and whatever it affords of any celebrity is sure to come over to England, where a richer harvest is to be reaped than can be found in any other country. I mean not, how- ever, ignorantly to deny the superior ex- cellence of the Italian school of music su- perior (as all real judges must allow) to LOMBARDY. 197 ours or any other. It is the original pa- rent of excellence, the nursing mother of true genius. Whatever has charmed us in the art has sprung from the principles it inculcates ; and when, even in the national melodies of Ireland and Scotland, I have heard a finished singer enchant and touch the feelings of their enthusiastic sons, I have been perfectly aware that what they have blindly insisted upon as being preferable to the Italian school, has in reality been formed upon its rules ; and when I hear a contrary doctrine asserted, I look upon it as nonsense, unworthy even the trouble of contradiction. I only mean to say, that the present singers, performers, and composers of Italy are anxious to transplant them- selves to the fostering protection of British taste and munificence. We left Milan at an early hour the next morning, and found the country beyond, both flat and ugly for some distance. We saw great quantities of white mulberry trees (for the benefit of the silk-worms) in every direction, and many poplars (be- ing now in Lombardy). The leaf of the 198 RHO. latter we observed to be much larger than those in England : perhaps the tree dege- nerates in some measure in our climate. The maple also springs in abundance, and I suppose there must be a proportionate number of nightingales in consequence, if the old saying is true, that these birds love the maple better than any other tree. The postillion wore the usual Austrian costume, common to his profession : it bore some re- blance to that of an old English jester, being a yellow jacket with black worsted lace, and a red waistcoat. At Rho we passed by a church, called Notre Dame des Miracles ; where signs and wonders are believed to be displayed even in these philosophical days. All the pea- sants and bourgeoises wore beautiful coral necklaces, brought from the Mediterranean, of the true light pink colour, which is so ex- pensive in England. The infants here were cramped up in swaddling-clothes, and had no caps upon their heads ; while the want of hair, peculiar to their tender age, gave them the air of little unfledged birds. But now the period approached when we were to GALLARATE. 199 encounter a more serious and hair-breadth scape than any whichhad occurred during our tour. Passing through the town of Gallarate, near the foot of the Alps, we were stopped by a gentleman in an open travelling car- riage, whose rueful visage, scared air, and animated gesticulations, awakened our most lively curiosity and attention. He was a merchant of Neufchatel, and perceiving that we were proceeding upon the same route which he had just passed, desired us most earnestly to stop at Gallarate, and furnish ourselves with a couple of gens d'armes, unless we wished to encounter the same fate from which he had just escaped. He then went on to relate a most terrific account of his having been robbed (he might have added, frightened) by three hor- rible-looking banditti, masked, and armed with carabines, pistols, and stilettos ! They had forced his postillion to dismount, and throwing him under the carriage, with his head beneath the wheel (to prevent his offer- ing any interruption to their plunder), pro- ceeded to attack him ; and, finally, spared his life, only by his consenting to part with 200 GALLARATK. every thing valuable in his possession. They not only took his watch and all his money, but a chain of his wife's hair, which they discovered around his neck; but their iU humour was great, and vehemently ex- pressed, upon finding this poor man's pro- perty a less considerable booty than they had expected. All this had passed within a quarter of an hour from the time at which we met him at Gallarate. Of course, we felt ourselves much indebted for the warn- ing; and as my courage had completely sunk under the recital, and I found it (like that of Bob Acres, in the Eivals) " oozing out at my fingers' ends," at every word this gentleman spoke, my husband took com- passion upon me, and accordingly de- spatched messengers to summon the at- tendance of a couple of well-mounted and completely armed Austrian soldiers, with long moustaches, and fierce martial-looking countenances. These men afterwards rode with us (one on each side the carriage) until we had completely passed the borders, and had entered the king of Sardinia's domi- nions; where we were assured of finding per- GALLARATE. 201 feet safety. No event of the kind had occurred for the last twelve months ; but we were astonished and indignant at the supine apathy of the police, who did not appear to have the smaUest intention of sending any soldiers after the robbers, or of making exertions to secure them. These Austrian states have a bad reputation, as we were told by our host at Lans le Bourg, and were warned by him of the possibility of a similar adventure. Mr. W., who was so good as to undertake to order the guards for me at Gallarate, found that not a single person he encountered in the town under- stood French, and he was obliged to be con- ducted to the schoolmaster (the only man capable of conversing in the language), be- fore he could make our wishes compre- hended and attended to. My husband re- mained in the carriage to scold me into better spirits; for, I confess, I never re- member to have been more frightened in my life. The country beyond this place began to improve in picturesque beauty; the Alps (to 202 GALLARATE. which we had approached very close), and woody hills in the distance, forming very imposing features in the landscape. Here we were met by several English carriages, protected, as we were, by the attendance of gens d'armes; which proved that fear had not been confined to my bosom alone, and that other people felt the same necessity of pre- caution : a black servant upon the box, grimly leaning upon a monstrous sabre, formed an additional guard. We now en- tered an irregular forest, where the postil- lion (who was the same person that had driven Monsieur Bovet) shewed us the spot where the ruffians had issued forth. It was a fine place for a romantic adventure of this sort ; and never did I feel so thankful as when I cast my eyes upon the spirited horsemen, who continued to keep close by the side of our vehicle, giving me now and then looks of mirthful encouragement : in- deed they seemed to consider the business as a party of pleasure, and we heard them laughing more than once as they rode along. LAGO MAGGIORE. 203 At Sesto a mob gathered round the car- riage, as it stopped at the post-house ; and I am not sure that they did not at first mistake us for state prisoners. Our postil- lion was now truly a great man ! the centre of an open-mouthed, staring circle, wild with curiosity, to whom he held forth at length upon the danger he had undergone. Here we crossed a ferry over the river Tessin, which divides the dominions of Austria from those of Sardinia. The rich- ness and grace of the wooded banks, which fringed this fine stream, delighted us ; and the face of the whole country gradually smiled and brightened, till it at last ex- panded into the most glorious burst of ex- quisite loveliness that the imagination can conceive : for now we first beheld the Lago Maggiore, embosomed in romantic hills, with the superb Alps rising beyond them, and its shores studded with innu- merable hamlets, villas, and cottages. The declining sun shed a warm colouring of inexpressible beauty upon the calm sur- face of this celebrated lake, whose wa- ters, smooth and glassy, pure and tranquil, 204 ARONA. seemed indeed, in the words of Byron, to be a fit " Mirror and a bath " For Beauty's youngest daughters." It was impossible not to kindle into enthu- siasm as we gazed upon a scene of such Armida-like fascination. Why should I at- tempt a description of the Borromean Isles, the Isola Madre, Isola Bella, and other fairy- green gems, which adorned the bosom of this queen of waters ? They have been al- ready so celebrated by the pencil and the lyre, that my efforts would be those of pre- sumption. I find it quite too much even to relate the effect they produced upon our minds ; for no words can adequately express our feelings of admiration and surprise ! We were now once more in Piedmont, and the road led us through the town of Arona, built upon the shores of the lake, which is full forty miles in length. We saw a picturesque figure of a peasant girl kneeling upon the banks, and laving (like a young naiad) her long tresses in the stream. There is a fine grey ruin of a castle upon the left, as you enter Arona, and a chain of bold cliffs ARONA. 205 covered with vineyards, with several cottages, peeping out from amid bowers of fragrance, near their craggy summits. A refreshing breeze tempered the still ardent heat of day : it seemed to rise upon us, in a gale of balmy softness, from the water, whose placid waves are sometimes, however, ruffled into sudden anger, by storms of wind from the surrounding Alps ; and many unfortunate accidents to boatmen, &c. arise in conse- quence. It would be difficult to imagine any thing in nature more luxuriantly beautiful than the hanging gardens belonging to the little villas in this neighbourhood; where standard peach-trees, olives, filberts, grapes, figs, Turkey wheat, orange blossoms, carna- tions, and all the tribe of vegetables, are mingled together in rich confusion, and the vines trained upon low trellises slope down to the water's edge ; while, among the grass at the feet of the taller trees, the pumpkin trails her golden globes and flowers. We remarked several pretty faces, in a style neither wholly Italian nor French, but which formed an agreeable and happy mix- ture of both. The ever odious goitre, 206 FERIOLA. nevertheless, sometimes obtruded its horrid deformity among them ; and it was an equal mortification to our dreams of perfection to observe, that even in the little towns, built in the very heart of all this sweetness and purity, the most disgusting smells (in- dicative of innately filthy habits) perpetu- ally issued forth, poisoning every street, and mingling their pollutions with the fra- grant breath of the mountain gale. But now the fanciful crags on the opposite side of the lake began to assume a purplish blue tint, deeply influenced by, and half lost in, the shadow of lowering clouds, which (fast gathering round their summits in dark and misty volumes) foreboded an approaching storm. Bright and catching lights, how- ever, still lingered upon the bright sails of distant boats, and upon the no less white walls of the little villages ; which were built so close upon the shore as to seem as if they sprung from the bosom of the waves. We arrived at Feriola (inn La Posta), a small town, washed by the same trans- parent waters, and sheltered by granite mountains (covered with a mossy vegeta- FERIOLA. 207 tion mixed with vineyards), which rose abruptly and immediately above the walls of the house : here we passed the night ; the storm was just beginning, as we drove up to this welcome refuge : flashes of red and forked lightning shot fiercely down from the Alpine heights, and were quenched in the dark lake below ; while peals of hollow thunder reverberating from the adjacent caverns, increased the awful effect of the whole. Torrents of rain soon followed, and lasted without intermission for many hours. We slept well, our beds being free from vermin, although of the humblest sort, without curtain or canopy, and co- vered with quilts which were very like stable rugs. They had been occupied before us, by dukes and duchesses ; who, although not used to more comforts than those which surround me in my own happy home, had certainly reason to expect more stateliness of accommodation ; necessity, however, has no law, and I dare say they were as glad as I was to avail themselves of clean sheets, and a substantial roof over head, after the fatigues of travelling. The 208 FERIOLA. whole of this little inn was built of granite* from the neighbouring quarries. We rose the next morning at four, and as I drest by the yet imperfect light, which streamed into the room through the lowly casement, I was interested in observing the different appearances of nature, in the midst of such wild scenery, and at so early an hour. The dewy mists were slowly rising from the valley, which smiled in all the fresh loveliness of morning, as they gradually rolled off, and settled round the brows of the higher mountains like a shadowy veil. The grass smelt strongly of thyme and balm, after the late rain, and seemed to be eagerly relished by a flock of sheep, which two shepherdess figures were leading up the winding path. This fair prospect did not last long; a heavy rain re-commenced ; and as we proceeded upon our journey we could hardly see our route amid the mountains, from the dense and heavy fog which obscured every object. All nature truly appeared to be weeping; this is no merely poetical term, but the truth : there are some things which cannot be adequately described in MONTE ROSA. 209 the common expressions of prose, and this is one of them. We passed Monte Kosa, which is fifteen thousand feet in height : a beautiful little church hung upon its shelving side, built in a style that gave it much the air of the Sybil's temple. In all parts of the country through which we had gone, we observed numerous shrines of the Virgin; but instead of a simple and appropriate statue, which good taste might reasonably have hoped to find within, they were constantly disgraced by a paltry gaudy painting, in distemper. The outside walls of houses, also, were generally daubed in the same ridiculous manner, and afforded us perpetual cause of exclamation against the melange of real and false taste, which Italy thus exhibits. We were sorry to have missed seeing (near Arona, in our preceding day's journey) the celebrated colossal statue of St. Carlo Borro- meo in bronze; which, rearing its proud height far above the surrounding woods, forms a very grand and noble spectacle : a man (in speaking of its proportions to Mr. B.) told him that the head alone held three 210 DOMO D'OSSOLA, persons, and that he himself had stood within the cavity of the nose ! I believe it is seventy feet from the ground. We passed over a bridge on the river Toscia, a graceful serpentine stream, whose waters were of a milky hue, owing to the heavy rains. Here we met a peasant, wear- ing a singular sort of cloak, made of long dry silky rushes, admirably adapted to re- sist and throw off the wet ; he looked at a distance like a moving thatched hut, his hat forming the chimney, and we afterwards saw several women and children in the same costume. The common people also use a rude kind of umbrella of divers gaudy colours, the frame and spokes being made of clumsy wood. At Domo d'Ossola we stopped to take re- freshment at la Posta, a most comfortable and cleanly inn ; every thing was sent up neatly, and really tempted the fastidious traveller to " eat without fear :" a degree of heroism which I confess I could not always command, not feeling sure that I might not be poisoned by some of the dishes ; although it would have been by dirt, 8IMPLON. not arsenic. This is almost the last town in the Sardinian dominions, for as soon as you have crossed the Simplon, you enter Switzerland. This arduous task we now commenced, taking four horses instead of the usual three. We ascended in a zigzag direction, which seems to be the plan upon which all roads cut through very high mountains are formed; the present much resembled those by which we had descended Mont Cenis. Here we had the leisure and opportunity of contemplating nature in her grandest forms ! The wild fig-tree sprung from the sides of the most profound ravines, overhanging gulfs from which the affrighted eye recoiled; and at the base of the most stupendous mountains lay val- leys of inimitable verdure and luxuriance. An Alpine foot bridge, like a slight dark line, crossed a rapid river here, and was dimly discovered at intervals, amid the snowy foam of the waves ; there were also frequent waterfalls, pouring their sounding floods from immense heights above us. At this spot, Mr. B. tied a handkerchief over my eyes, for three or four minutes : I SIMPLON. thought I heard the noise of water in my ears, louder and more hollow than usual ; when he suddenly removed the handker- chief, and I beheld myself in the first of those astonishing galleries of the Simplon, of which so much has justly been said by all travellers. They were half cut, half blasted by gunpowder, through the solid rock, and have the appearance of long grottos, with rude windows, or rather chasms in the sides, to admit light, and through which we discovered, with a shuddering sensation of admiring wonder, the awful precipices and steeps around. It was delight- ful to contemplate them while thus in a situ- ation of perfect security ; a species of feeling analogous to that which I have sometimes experienced, when comfortably housed be- neath the domestic roof, during the raving of a wintry storm ! How different was the as- pect of the ancient road ; the view of which, as it dangerously wound along the opposite mountains, nearly blocked up by fallen masses of rock, overgrown with tangled shrubs and weeds, and undefended by even the slight- est wall from the yawning abysses, which SCENE OB the SIMPLON. SIMPLON. 213 frowned horribly beneath, really made my heart quake with terror! There are rude crosses by the way side, erected here, at long intervals ; sad monuments of the tra- gical end of former unfortunate travellers. Nothing can be more terrific than the showers of stony fragments from the over- hanging rocks, which frequently fall here during stormy weather ; at particular sea- sons it is certain destruction to attempt to pass. We observed the lower and more level ground to be strewn so thickly with these formidable masses, that .it brought to my mind the ancient story of Jupiter's w r ars with the giants ; the place indeed truly re- sembled the state of a field of battle after one of those mighty engagements. The parish church of Trasqueras is an object of high astonishment ; we passed it, not without adding our individual tribute of wonder. It is built upon the topmost verge of a barren mountain, at a frightful height. Apparently no human power could have conveyed thither the materials for its erection ; we could only reconcile the ex- istence of the fact, by supposing that there 214 SIMPSON. must have been a quarry upon the spot. The priest who does duty there, and the congregation whose zeal leads them to scale the dreadful precipice to attend public worship, are in some danger, I should think, of being canonized for martyrs ! But to speak more seriously, there is something infinitely impressive in the idea of a little band of humble and obscure mortals thus meeting together to worship the Creator in, such a spot of wild and solitary sublimity. These scenes most certainly tend to ele- vate the imagination, and to fill the heart, with strong feelings of devotional adoration and awful respect. It is not only " those who go down to the great waters," who see " the wonders of the Lord !" We remarked a cottage here, in the style of the most ro- mantic hermitage, close to a raving flood, in the frightful strait of Yselle. The living rock formed its roof, and the sides were of flat uncemented stones ; a rude door of pine wood shut in its inhabitants, for inhabited it certainly must have been, as a little pile of faggots for winter firing evidently evinced. Gold dust is sometimes SIMI'LON. 215 found in the beds of the surrounding tor- rents. There is no end to the varieties of the Simplon : we sometimes crossed from one mountain to another ; then dived into the dark entrails of the rocks ; now wound along narrow valleys at their feet, and at last rose (by a gentle ascent) to the proud summit of the loftiest glaciers, far above the rolling clouds. In some places our eye "rested with delight upon the rich green of the chestnut and beech, in others all vegeta- tion seemed wholly to cease. The rhodo- dendron (note P.) flourishes here in perfec- tion ; it grows where few other shrubs or plants are able to exist, braves the severity of the keeriest blasts of winter, and affords firing to those cottagers who cannot easily procure other wood. Its blossoms are of a lovely pink, and from this circumstance it is called the " rose of the Alps." These regions are subject to perpetual avalanches ; the top of every stone post that marked the boundary of our road, at about three yards distance one from the other, was in many places knocked off, by the continual falling of masses from the rocks above, and 216 SIMPLON. now and then, the whole of the posts had given way, as well as large fir-trees, which commonly grow out of the shelving sides of the precipices. Just at the entrance of one of the grand galleries, we crossed over a stone bridge, hanging in mid air above a tre- mendous gulf; the river Doveria boiling far below, fed by a cataract from the heights, near the source of which we passed : so near, indeed, that its foaming spray seemed almost to dash against the glass of our carriage windows. Bonaparte had established here (as well as upon Mont Cenis), a sort of tavernettes, or houses of relief for way- worn or distressed travellers. A few mili- tary now occasionally inhabit them, and the appropriate word refuge is frequently in- scribed over the doors. (Note Q.) A piece of writing paper inserted in the cleft of a stick, by the road-side, here attracted our attention. We examined it, and found written thereon, Viva Napoleone ! Our pos- tillions appeared delighted, and exclaimed in a half-checked voice, bravo, bravo ! Candidly speaking, one must be indeed fastidious not to be forcibly struck with SIMPLON. 217 the various noble works of that wonderful man. At all events we could not be sur- prised at his still existing popularity in the north of Italy, a part of the world where he has really done great good, and far less harm than any where else ; and in so short a space of time also so young a man from so obscure an origin ! It will not do to indulge in reflections upon what might have been, or I could not refrain, I am afraid, from wishing that (for the sake of the arts and sciences) he had known how to set bounds to his ambition. This pass- age of the Simplon alone is sufficient to immortalize his name, and as long as the mountains themselves exist, so must the memory of Bonaparte. It is quite the eighth wonder of the world. If he is a fiend, he is not less than " Arch-angel ruined P But I have done, lest those readers who have never crossed the Simplon, or gazed upon the other numerous monuments of his grand genius, should imagine that I am 218 SIMPLON. still (in the words of Pitt, as applied to Sheridan's speech upon Warren Hastings), " Under the influence of the wand of the Enchanter !" Now I am on the subject of this stupen- dous passage of the Simplon, I am fortunate enough to present my readers with an engraving made by a friend, of a curious medal, struck in France, representing an immense colossal figure, which some modern Dinocrates had suggested to Bonaparte to have cut from the mountain of the Simplon, as a sort of Genius of the Alps. This was to have been of such enormous size, that all passengers should have passed between its legs and arms in zigzag directions : I do not know whether any attention was ever given to the proposal, but that the idea was not a new one, every schoolboy may learn, by looking into Lempriere's Dictionary, where he will find that a stiU more hyperbolical project was suggested to Alexander the Great, by one Dinocrates, an architect, who wished to cut Mount Athos into a gigantic figure of the monarch, that should hold a city in one hand, and a SIMPLOK. 219 vast bason of water in the other. Alexan- der's reply was a fine piece of irony ; " that he thought the idea magnificent, but he did not imagine the neighbouring country sufficiently fertile to feed the inhabitants of the said city." We observed quantities of timber felled, and lying scattered about the dark forests ; they consisted of a species of larch fir, I believe, straight, taper, and of a yellowish red. At length we reached the village of the Simplon, where we dined and slept. It is only three or four and thirty miles from Domo d'Ossola, yet we were seven hours or more in accomplishing the distance, and had never stopped by the way for more than ten minutes. It was a continual ascent, but very gradual, and our inn here (I'Etoile) was four thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea. We found other tra- vellers before us assembled in the only sitting-room. Lord F , his tutor, and another young gentleman: they appeared all to be sensible, well-bred people, and we rejoiced that accident had riot thrown us 220 SIMPLON. among less agreeable companions. The next morning, we left our auberge, after breakfast, with which we thought it prudent to fortify ourselves, on account of the se- verity of the cold. All the rooms were obliged to be heated by stoves, as it was (to all outward appearance and feeling) the depth of winter, in its most rigid form ; the day before, we had been almost fainting with heat in the valleys, yet when we rose this morning, the mountains around us were entirely covered with snow, which had fallen during the night, accompanied by a rushing blast of wind and a heavy rain. We were now truly in the " land of the mountain and the flood," in the regions of mist and storm. I shuddered at the sight, having been rendered miserable from want of sleep by the vermin, whose unremitting attacks completely broke my rest, and made me less able to encounter with proper for- titude the fatigues of our still arduous journey. I learned upon this tour to feel a great horror at the expression of soyez tranquille, which deceitful words were con- stantly used by every fille de chambre, SIMPLON. when I inquired if there were any of these disagreeable inhabitants in the beds, and I remarked that the more vehemently this soyez tranquille was uttered, the more certain was I of being bit into a fever. We got into the carriage here in a gust of keen wind, so strong and impetuous that I could not stand with- out support. The women in these parts wear a black platter hat (sometimes ornamented with gold ribands), and the men a russet- brown suit of clothes with a scarlet waist- coat. A mixture of German and bad French is spoken amongst them. We passed by (during the continuation of our journey) the enormous glacier of - I know not exactly the proper name ; but it sounded like Roschbaktn in the guttural pronunciation of the postillion. Higher up, there was a gallery cut through the masses of frozen snow, but it is only used as a foot-way for passengers during the winter. We shortly afterwards saw the Hospice of the Simplon, built in a com- paratively sheltered spot; yet by its outward appearance (resembling a sordid gloomy prison), I should think nothing but the last 222 SIMPLON. necessity would induce travellers to seek for refreshment within its walls. Mass had been performed there that morning, and we met several peasants returning from it: all persons journeying this way are entertained here gratis, but those whose circumstances can afford it are expected to make some little present to the monks. We observed some dogs about the en- trance, which we concluded were those kept for the purpose of finding benighted travellers. The colour of the rocks in those places which were not covered with snow was singular, being of a light aqua marine, occasioned by the lichens which grew upon them. Large eagles, formidable from their strength and boldness, are fre- quently seen amidst these dreary wastes. I was soon quite wearied by the bleak spectacle of such wide desolation, my eyes ached with the dazzling brightness of the snows, and I began sincerely to wish the passage over. The ascent and descent altogether is forty-two miles; coming down from a height of seven thousand feet, we could not see three yards before SIMPLOX. us, being completely enveloped in a thick dense fog. It seemed like plunging into a (earful gulf of vapours ! Such a mist I never could have imagined. The road now led us though tall forests of pine, darkly magnificent, which grew upon the shelving sides of the precipitous descent. Upon the jutting crags, we occasionally be- held the fearless goat, bounding about, en- joying the sense of liberty, and snuffing the keen air of his native mountains ; a child or two, also, sometimes appeared in almost equally dangerous situations, at the door of a wooden hut, called a chalet, built of timber (of a reddish tint), and much in the form of an ark. A little thinly scat- tered underwood of birch, &c. with colts- foot twining round the roots, now began to evince our approach to more hospitable regions, and the sensation of piercing cold in some measure abated. The sun made several felicitous attempts to struggle through the heavy and obscuring clouds; and a pro- spect (of which we caught a transient glimpse between two enormous rocks) seemed to open like an enchanted vision 224 SIMPLON. of ineffable brightness and beauty. During this interval of a moment, we beheld a narrow but fertile valley, a river, with hills of vivid green rising beyond, bounded in the distant horizon by mountains of glowing purple, and smiled upon by a summer sky of the clearest blue. Suddenly it was brilliantly illuminated by a partial gleam of sun, and thus discovered, (sparkling through a thin veil of stiU lingering mist) it seemed to break upon us like a lovely dream. I could have fancied it Voltaire's Eldorado, or the gay, unreal show of fairy land, seen by Thomas the Rhymer, in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Border. Indeed sober language has no words or terms to describe its singular effect. Apropos to sobriety of language: Although there is nothing so wearing as hyperbolical and exaggerated expressions, applied on com- mon or insignificant occasions, and although I consider them in that case to be the re- source of a weak capacity, which is in- capable of judicious restraint and discrimi- nation, it is equally insupportable to hear the real wonders and charms of nature or VALAIS. 225 art spoken of with tame and tasteless apathy. Those persons who have soul enough to feel and appreciate them must either vent their just enthusiasm, in terms which to common minds sound romantic and poetical, or else resolve to be wholly silent. We reached the end of the Simplon, and changed our tired horses at Brieg. We were now in Switzerland. Nothing can be more suddenly and ac- curately marked than the difference of fea- ture, as well as costume, between the Ita- lian and Swiss peasants, (I more particu- larly allude to the women), and it would be impossible for any person of the least ob- servation to mistake one for the other. The latter are frequently hale, clean, and fresh- looking, with cheerful open countenances ; but adieu to grace, to expression, to beauty! We left all these perfections on the other side of the Alps. The children, too, struck us (in general) as plain and uninteresting. We were not greatly impressed by the en- trance to the Pays du Valais, having al- ready passed through scenery of the same nature so much superior in Savoy and Italy ; 226 VALAIS. but it is certainly romantic and pretty in some parts. How naturally one falls into judging by comparison ! Had it been pos- sible to have immediately entered the Va- lais upon leaving the monotonous plains of France, we should have thought the former highly sublime and beautiful. The barberry and elder flourish here in every hedge ; also great quantities of the wild clematis. The rocky banks are fringed with birch, hazle, heath, and juniper, and between them is the deep rolling turgid Rhone, skirted with tall reeds and willows. The climate still continued to be chilly and disagreeable. Although it was only the 8th of September, the weather rather resembled that during the last days of November, or commencement of the next dreary month; and in the midst of this picturesque and romantic scenery, I found my imagination dwelling with great per- tinacity and satisfaction upon the charms of a blazing fire and a comfortable inn. I did my utmost to shake off such vulgar and unsentimental ideas, but they would recur again and again. VALAIS. 227 We here passed a fall of the Khone, but were rather disappointed in its force and magnitude. Our road lay through wild fir woods for a considerable length of way, the snowy tops of the glaciers peeping above them, forming quite a scene for the pencil of Salvator Rosa. We journeyed on, almost in total silence, the little bells at the horses' heads alone disturbing the breathless still- ness of these solitary glades, emerging from which, we now crossed a bridge upon the Rhone, which here assumes a character of strength and grandeur, flowing with ra- pidity, and emulating in its width an arm of the sea. Night and her shadows drew near, and we began to wish for the comforts of the friendly auberge ; but, owing to continual delays of horses, postillions, &c., we did not reach the town of Sierre until eight o'clock, where we intended to have slept ; but found upon our arrival that no beds were to be had, and the place itself wore so forlorn, dismal, and dirty an appearance, that we hardly regretted the circumstance, and submitted with a good grace to the inevitable neces- 228 VALAIS. sity of pursuing our route even at that late hour. But ere this could be accomplished we were obliged to wait (in the carriage) till nine, for horses to carry us on ; for there was at that time an immense run upon the road. In this melancholy interval our lamps were lit, and the moon arose ; the latter (faintly glimmering amid dark rolling clouds) feebly illuminated a road which led us by the side of a terrible pre- cipice, where part of the guardian wall was broken down. The pass was accounted perilous on that account ; but there was no possible remedy. I had overheard my hus- band and Mr. W. talking of it at Sierre, and trying whether it was not practicable to avoid it by securing any sort of accom- modation at the wretched auberge : this, however, being totally out of the question, they did not acquaint me with the terrors of the road by which we were in con- sequence obliged to pass ere we could attain shelter for the night at the next habitable place : I felt their kindness, and did not undeceive them as to my per- fect information upon the subject until we VALAI8. had safely reached the end of our day's journey ; but I was truly thankful and re- lieved when that happy goal appeared, in the shape of the town of Sion, capital of the Valais. Lord F. and party (having gone on first) had politely undertaken to order dinner for us at the Lion d'Or, and to that house we accordingly drove up, half dead with fatigue. Here another mortification awaited us ; for so many English had pre- viously arrived, and filled the rooms, beds, &c., that accommodation for us was impos- sible. We, therefore, went to an inferior inn (called Le Croix Blanc), where we knocked the people up, and in spite of their being forced from their beds to receive us, we found the utmost celerity, civility, and comfort in every respect. The beds were excellent (their linen furniture fresh wash- ed, and looking inviting to enter), the floors (oh ! prodigy of cleanliness) were neatly swept, and our refreshments cooked in a wonder- fully short space of time, served with cheer- ful readiness, and in a clean manner. The next morning we opened our eyes 230 VALAIS. upon a beautifully picturesque landscape. A great delay, however, again took place with regard to horses, as an English fa- mily had arrived during the night, and taken away eight. They intended to have slept at Le Croix Blanc, as we had done, but were fastidiously disgusted by the look of the inn. Unhappy novices ! they little knew what a paradise of comfort it af- forded, when compared with those \vhieh they would afterwards necessarily encoun- ter, and for the shelter of which they would soon learn to be thankful ! The waiter here was remarkably attentive, and appeared a truly simple, good-tempered, artless creature. Mr. B. was so much satisfied with his beha- viour, that he increased the usual fee; for which small gratuity the poor fellow thanked us again and again. We found our bills par- ticularly reasonable, and the host a most amusing and obliging person : he was one of the richest bourgeois in Sion, and quite a cha- racter. We asked him, amongst other ques- tions, " what was the chief manufacture of the place?" and he replied, with a ridiculous VALAIS. 231 shrug of the shoulders, " Des Enfans" This man possessed a vigne upon the mountains, and brought us a present of a fine basket of grapes from thence, much lamenting that we would not remain with him another day, as " he would then have put his own particular horses into a little vehicle of the country, kept for his use and that of his family, and would have had the pleasure of driving us to see his vineyards, and also two hermitages, in the neighbourhood, which were very curious." Mr. B. was taken extremely unwell this morning, and had a terrible attack of faint sickness, owing, as we then imagined, to hav- ing fasted so many hours the day before ; but we soon found that it was, in fact, the beginning of a sort of ague and fever. (Note E.) The country was lovely during our first two or three stages. We met the travel- ling equipage of a Russian princess (Po- temkin), and her people stopped to inquire of ours about accommodations at Sion. Christian had the honour of a personal 232 VALAIS. conference with her highness, who was ex- tremely gracious and affable. Indeed this man never lost any opportunity of gossip, let it be with whom it might ; and I be- lieve he loved chattering on all occasions better than any thing in existence. He was an honest creature ; but so idle, that he re- quired constant looking after : we found him, however, so useful, particularly where the different patois is spoken, that we have safely recommended him to our friend, LordG. The roads in this part of Switzerland were most execrable, and I thought the car- riage would have been overturned every moment : the postillions universally adopted a very disagreeable and awkward manner of driving their horses ; not three abreast (which is safe and rational), but harness- ing one before the other pair, with long reins, in the unicorn style ; the same postil- lion thus acting the part of a coachman also : the old rope traces were perpetually breaking ; and the fore horse scrambling all over the road, often running into a hedge VALAIS. 233 to crop what best pleased his appetite, or to drink at a fountain by the wayside. The driver seemed to have very little command over his lawless motions, and altogether, I confess that I was by no means delighted with this mode of travelling, although no coward in general. However, I recollected that it was customary here, and soon was able to reason myself into not caring for what I had no possible means of altering or pre- venting : in this instance, happily emulat- ing the example of the late venerable Mrs. H. who used to say, " that it was of little use to have powers of understanding, and the faculty of reason, if you could not avail yourself of them, when occasion required ; and that by a long and resolute habit of self-control, it was undoubtedly possible to bring the feelings nearly as much under command as the limbs." I have frequently proved the truth of her remark. At Riddez (a little village) we saw a christening procession pass by. The god- father (a young man) walked first, with a cockade of ribands, and a large bouquet of natural flowers in his hat, carrying the in- 234 VALAIS. fant in his arms, covered with a long trans- parent mantle of coarse white lace. He was followed by the godmother, and the sage femme, neither of the parents being present. The manners of the inhabitants here were remarkably gentle ; every pea- sant we met bowed, and often wished us the " good day" as we passed. Many horrible goitres, however, and idiots are to be found among them. The villages and hamlets we had as yet seen were even frightful: there was no such thing as a pretty cot- tage ; and the costumes of the people were gross and tasteless in the greatest degree. Mr. B.'s illness increased to a height of aguish shudderings and total exhaustion, which prevented our attempting to pro- ceed farther than Martigny, where we put up at an inn called Le Cigne, which, on its outside, was not of a much more promising appearance than the Hospice of the Sim- plon, which I formerly deprecated. How- ever, we had learned by this time not to judge of an auberge from its exterior, and upon entering this, found shelter, comfort, civility, and wholesome plain food, We VALAIS. * 235 procured the only good strong-bodied Bur- gundy we had seen during the whole of our tour, which was particularly fortunate, as it acted as a great relief to our invalid. The hostess was the widow of the poor inn- keeper, who was carried away in the terrible and memorable flood of last June (men- tioned with much affecting detail in the English newspapers), where a lake at nine leagues distance burst, and, flowing into the river Drance, the latter broke its usual boundaries, and destroyed more than half the viUage of Martigny, with many of the unfortunate inhabitants. Poor woman ! she was in mourning, as well as her children, who waited upon us, two modest, simple, young creatures. I never saw any thing like their kind-hearted attention, in avoid- ing the least noise which might have been likely to disturb an invalid, while they were preparing things for dinner in the same room. Nothing could be imagined more desolate and wretched than the present ap- pearance of Martigny; and, at the moment when the flood happened, the ruin was so 236 VALAIS. instantaneous and complete as to resem- ble an earthquake. This house was ten feet deep in water. The host might have been saved: he had already avoided the first horrible rush ; but venturing into dan- ger once more, in the hope of saving his cattle, he was borne down by the impetuous torrent, and perished miserably ! For a long tune he was plainly discovered with his head far above the stream, yet unable to stem its resistless tide : his body was afterwards found, in an erect position, supported against a tree, not in the least mangled or disfigured. It was supposed his respira- tion had been stopped by the weight and force of the current, which could hardly be called water, so thickly was it mingled with mud. The cook (who happened to be in the wine-cellar) was saved by his perfect knowledge of swimming, and presence of mind. The flood completely filled the cel- lar, staircase, and hall, in a moment, and he paddled and swam up the steps of the for- mer, till he reached the surface, and thus almost miraculously escaped. VALAIS. 237 The next day we quitted Martigny about nine o'clock, our spirits depressed by this wretched scene of desolation. The whole country appeared wildly melancholy, under the additional gloom of a very wet dark morning. The prieur of this village, who belonged also to some convent on Mont St. Bernard (note F.) had written a petition for the relief of his poor parishioners, which was pasted up in the sitting-room of the inn we had occupied. We did not, of course, shut our hearts against the appeal, and carrying our little subscription to the house of the prieur, found it a most humble primitive dwelling : it was built upon a hill behind the church, and at the time of the flood had been a foot deep in water, notwith- standing its elevated situation. The old man described the horrors of the scene, and said he should never forget the moment when he first heard the mighty roar of the waters, louder than a mountain cataract. I am proud to add, that our dear countrymen have been almost the only travellers who have had the humanity to bestow a farthing upon the necessities of the surviving suf- VALAIS. ferers. I should be narrow-minded indeed not to regret the want of generous feeling which those of other nations have thus evinced, or to rejoice (as some people would, I fear, do) at the foil they have af- forded to the merit of the English ; but surely it is impossible, as a British subject, not to delight in this additional proof of the liberali ty and compassion of our com- patriots ! We now passed a celebrated w T ater-fall (note G.), which descends from a vast height, between granite mountains, covered with rich green moss. It was highly majestic, yet not bearing the character of terror ; there- fore (according to Burke) we must not de- signate it by the term sublime, but rather class it under the head of the beautiful. Its feathery foam of spotless white, dashing over the craggy obstacles in its descent, af- forded a lovely contrast to the dark back- ground of the adjacent rocks. There are great numbers of chestnut, walnut, and apple trees in this neighbourhood. We met an English family in a coach and four here. We stopped to change horses with them, VALAIS. 239 and as they were going to Sesto, and from thence to Milan, we thought it but kind to warn them that they ought to take gens d'armes, on account of the banditti. The abigail (elevated upon the seat behind) seemed prodigiously discomposed at this intelligence ; and I should not wonder if she had given warning at the next stage, to avoid the horror of proceeding with the fa- mily. Her little round grey eyes almost started from their red sockets, and her nose assumed a purplish hue, w r hich was beauti- fully heightened by the cadaverous tint of her cheeks. Her master and mistress also appeared not a li ttle startled, but expressed themselves vastly obliged to us for our in- formation ; and we parted with much cour- tesy on both sides. A hearty fit of laughter, at the expense of Mrs. Abigail, seized us all at the moment of their departure ; but I am sure I had no business to triumph ; for never was there a more complete cow- ard than I shewed myself to be, when in my turn I first received a similar warning from our Neufchatel friend at Gallarate. 240 V ALA IS. We saw, shortly afterwards, an old pea- sant tending a few sheep, in a curious sort of costume : it consisted of a whole suit of clothes of a dingy yellowish brown ; his hat, as well as his face and hands (parched by summer's sun and winter's wind), being of the same tan-coloured hue. Indeed the costumes in this part of Switzerland ap- peared to us universally unbecoming, as well as singular. We now entered St. Maurice. Upon the rocks encircling the town was a small hut, inhabited by a hermit; built in such a craggy bleak situation, that we were led to suppose he had chosen it asaplace of painful penance. If he is an old man, I think he must have found it nearly impossible to descend, even for the means of subsistence : it would be a hard task for a young and active hunter of the chamois ; so I rather imagine he lives, like a genuine ascetic, upon berries, wild fruits, and roots, and quenches his thirst at the crystal spring. Part of the town of St. Maurice is actually built in the wild rocks that rise abruptly behind it, their ST. MAURICE. 241 rough rude sides forming the back wall, and now and then even the roof, of some of the humbler dwelling-houses. The inhabit- ants were plain and uninteresting in their persons, and we did not observe any taste or fancy displayed in their costumes. Here we changed horses, and passed the Ehone again, by means of a bridge, of so ancient a date, that it is said to have been built by Julius Caesar. The river is very magnificent. Our road led us through a charming bower of long-continued walnut and beech trees, the opposite banks of the stream being covered with rich vegetation, forming an agreeable relief to the imagination, after the desolate and melancholy scenes of the preceding stages. The meadows were enamelled with the autumnal crocus, of a delicate lilac co- lour, and had a remarkably gay and bril- liant appearance. We remarked a number of beehives in the cottage gardens ; but they were not of such a picturesque form and material as those in England, being made of wood, in the shape of small square boxes. The whole face of the country was R ST. MAURICE. really beautiful, the rocks being fringed with luxuriant copse wood, rich in every varied tint of the declining year, while the pasture-lands were verdant and fresh, as if in early spring. Wild boars, wolves, and bears, are common in the Valais ; very plea- sant personages to meet during a late even- ing ramble. Here we dimly descried the Chateau de Chillo?i, on the borders of the lake of Geneva ; but it was at too great a distance for us to judge of it accurately. I regretted this, as I did not then know that we should afterwards have had an opportunity of viewing it to greater advantage. The waters of this wonderfully fine lake were of the most brilliant pale blue, majestic moun- tains rising beyond it, clothed even to their summits with underwood, and mossy velvet turf. It is vastly more expansive than Lago Maggiore, but still we thought the en- chanting Italian lake much more beautiful. The roads now began to improve greatly, and after all the jolting we had undergone for the last two days, it was particularly acceptable to find them returning into a THONON. state of smoothness and regularity. We dined this day early, at St. Gingoulph, (sometimes spelt St. Gingo), on the borders of the lake : our vulgar expression of St. Jingo is a corruption of the name of this Saint. The inn was delightfully clean and comfortable, the people most attentive, civil and active, and we procured an excellent dinner at a very few minutes notice; a circumstance peculiarly agreeable to travellers who were quite exhausted with hunger, like ourselves. We slept at Thonon, the capital of the Chablais, and found comfortable accommo- dation. The woman who waited upon us was a native of Berne, as well as our ser- vant Christian, and they went on puffing off their canton, a I'envi I'un de I'autre. I ought to have mentioned that before we arrived at Thonon, we passed by the rocks of Meillerie, so well known through the medium of Rousseau's sentimental de- scriptions. The same style of country continued, by the side of the lake, for many miles, and the roads were very good. We were now once more in the King of Sardi- 244 GENEVA. nia's dominions, having entered upon them at St. Gingoulph, and we did not quit them until we reached Douvaine, not far from Geneva. As we proceeded, the country opened more, and the lake became re- strained between much narrower bounda- ries : the practice of enclosing fields with hedges, in the same manner as those in England, was general here. At length Geneva, rising grandly from the blue waters of her noble lake, and fenced on every side by her superb mountains (Mont Blanc dimly gleaming through a veil of clouds upon the left), burst upon us ; the coup d'czil was most electrifying. The morning w r as clear and bright, the air had a cheerful freshness which lent spirit and animation to us all, and our first entrance to this city was marked by a crowd of agreeable and enlivening sensations. We found, however, that it would be impossible for Monsieur De Jean to receive us at his well known and comfortable hotel at Seche- rons (about a mile out of town) ; and even at Geneva itself we had the mortification GENEVA. 245 of being turned away from every inn ex- cept one, owing to the swarms of our coun- trymen who had previously monopolized all accommodation. At this one (hotel des Balances) we at length gained admittance ; it was opposite the Ehone, a circumstance which to me made it the most desirable of all possible situations, for I never was^ sa- tiated with looking at and admiring the extraordinary beauty which this glorious river possessed. We had not before be- held any thing to equal its force, ra- pidity, depth, and exquisite transparency; but above all other perfections, its colour (in this particular part of Switzerland) ap- peared to us the most remarkable. I can compare it to nothing but the hue of liquid sapphires ; having all the brilliancy, purity, and vivid blue lustre, of those lovely gems. I never passed it without feeling the strongest wish to drink and at the same time to bathe in its tempting waters, and from the bridge we clearly discerned the bottom, at a depth of at least twenty feet. We sent our servant in the evening, to deliver 246 FERNEY. some letters of introduction to several families here; among others to Dr. and Mrs. M. to the former of whom our thanks are particularly due, for his kind atten- tion in prescribing for my husband, who had here a relapse of his complaint. We went the day afterwards to Ferney (the celebrated residence of Voltaire), and also to Sir F. d'l.'s beautiful country house in the same neighbourhood. We were highly interested by all we saw at Ferney. Voltaire's sitting-room, and bed-chamber, have been scrupulously preserved in the same state in which they were left at the time of his death : there was a bust of him in the former, and in the latter a smaller one, upon a mausoleum (which was erected to his memory, by his niece), bearing this in- scription : son esprit est partout, et son caur est id. The latter was literally the case for a considerable time, his heart having been embalmed and placed in a leaden box, within the mausoleum ; but it has since been removed to the Pantheon at Paris. We observed several prints framed FERNEY. 247 and glazed, hanging upon the walls of his bed-room; portraits of those celebrated characters he particularly esteemed, either for their talents or from motives of per- sonal regard. Among them we remarked those of Milton (notwithstanding Voltaire's unjust critiques upon the Paradise Lost), Newton, Washington, Franklin, Marmon- tel, Corneille, Kacine, Helvetius, and De~ lille. The last personage (remarkable as a poet, and as the translator of Virgil), had a line underneath his portrait (written in what many people have believed to be the hand of Voltaire himself), which was singu- lar enough, as it might be taken in a double sense, either as a compliment or a satire. Upon being made acquainted with its meaning in English, I saw the truth of the supposition in a moment. The words were these, " Nulli flebilior quam tibi Virgili." We saw Delille's tomb in the burying- ground of Perc de la Chaise, at Paris: a garland of flowers, evidently fresh gathered, 248 FERNEY. had been hung by some admirer of his works over the door of his sepulchre. In this same apartment at Ferney were also portraits of Voltaire, Frederic of Prus- sia, the Empress Catharine of Russia (pre- sented by herself), and some others. His own picture made a great impression upon us, not from any individual merit as a work of art, but as it so exactly expressed, in the countenance and air, the brilliant and lively genius, the arch satire, and acute penetration, of this celebrated wit. All the furniture of both rooms was drop- ping to pieces with age and decay. The garden was laid out in the ancient French mode, so abhorred by the purer taste of Rousseau at that time, and since, by every true judge of the grace and simplicity of nature. On one side was a grove of trees, and on the other a close embowered alley of hornbeam, cut into the shape of formal high walls, with gothic windows or openings in them, from whence the prospect of a rich vineyard in the fore- ground, a lovely smiling valley beyond, and FERNEY. 249 the magnificent glaciers, with Mont Blanc, in the distance, formed a most sublime and yet an enchanting spectacle. I should think it almost impossible to live in the midst of all these charms and wonders of creation, without lifting an admiring eye and grateful heart to Nature's God." That Voltaire was an atheist is thought now to be a calumny entirely void of foundation, al- though he was so miserably mistaken, so fatally deceived, in regard to the glorious truths of revealed religion. Living in an age when the pure doctrines and benignant spirit of Christianity were so atrociously misconstrued and misrepresented, when bigotry stalked abroad in all the horrors of her deformity, and ignorance blindly followed in the bloody traces of her foot- steps, it is less to be wondered at than regretted, that Voltaire's vigorous under- standing should have disdained their dis- graceful shackles; and that in his just ridicule and detestation of the conduct of some foUowers of Christianity, he should have been unfortunately induced to mistake 250 FEKNEY. and vilify Christianity itself: notwithstand- ing some impious expressions concerning it, at which I shudder in the recollection, he has in many parts of his works evidently looked with a more favourable eye upon the protestant doctrines of England. Certain it is, that he built at his own expense the church at Ferney. Xot that I mean to assert, that church-building, any more than church-going, is always an infallible proof of religious feeling; I only mention the fact. The church bears the following in- scription : ' Deo erexit Voltaire !" There is a pretty copse or bosquet, at the end of his garden, in which the present proprietor has erected two paltry monu- ments, to the memory of Voltaire and his cotemporary Rousseau. I cannot wonder at the dislike which subsisted between them, since the latter was such a warm admirer, and the former so declared an enemy, of overstrained sentiment and sickly sensibility. However, they neither of them KEKNEY. 251 did justice to the real merits of each other ; and proved individually how strong is the force of prejudice, in blinding the judg- ment even of the cleverest men. The village of Ferney was by far the prettiest we had seen since we left our own country ; the houses ah 1 had an air of neatness and comfort dear to an English eye, and nothing could be more gay and cheerful than their little gardens and orchards ; in the former, flowers and ve- getables flourished promiscuously, and in great luxuriance, and the latter were glowing with a profusion of rosy apples. We ob- served a species of this fruit among them, which we did not remember ever to have seen in any other country; it was quite white, and full of a sweet and spirited juice. From hence, we drove to call upon Sir F. d'L, who is a native of Switzerland, conseiller d'etat at Geneva, and well known in England as the intelligent author of several political works. We were much charmed by the grace- ful politeness and hospitable frankness with which both himself and Madame d'l. re- GENEVA. ceived us. We had been provided with letters of introduction to them, by friends in England, and Sir F. was personally acquainted with Mr. W. He shewed us the grounds of his truly beautiful little villa, which, from being laid out under his own eye, in the English taste, bore a pecu- liar character of grace and cultivated re- finement. I must say that our method of adorning shrubberies, lawns, gardens, &c. appeared in a very superior point of view, when compared with that of other countries. The prospect from the drawing-room win- dows, of the blue waters of the majestic kke, with Mont Blanc, surrounded by his attend- ant chain of humbler mountains, was grand beyond all idea! in short, this abode was far more like Paradise than any dwelling upon earth. Sir F. was in momentary ex- pectation of the arrival of the Duke of Gloucester, (then visiting Geneva, &c.) and who was desirous of viewing this enchant- ing epitome of perfection, before he left the neighbourhood. We returned to our inn, and my com- GENEVA. 253 panions, leaving me under the guard of our Swiss, immediately set off upon a three days' journey to Chamouni, Mont Blanc, the Mer de Glace, &c. I found it neither prudent nor reasonable to attempt join- ing them in this expedition, as the cold and fatigue inseparable from it would have been too much for my strength. I ex- pected to have been quite solitary until their return, but was agreeably disappointed; my new friends (whose polite attention to aU who bear the name of English is well known), being kind enough to engage my whole time in such a manner as com- pletely to banish ennui. Sir F., who passed many years of his life in our coun- try, respected for his integrity and abilities, and rewarded by the esteem of Majesty, has returned to his native land (now re- stored to its independence), in the bosom of which he enjoys the high consideration of its most distinguished members, among whom he is noted for liberality of senti- ment and a singular proportion of do- mestic felicity. V\ r e were told that the 254 GENEVA. people of and near Geneva are remark- able for honesty, and we found no reason to doubt the accuracy of this information. We heard also that the servants, as well as country people, were faithful and harm- less, and that such an offence as house- breaking, or breach of trust in pilfering personal property, was unknown : that every family in these environs went to bed without closing a shutter, and might safely leave cabinets and drawers unlocked, during any absence from home. There were twelve or more physicians in Geneva, eight out of the number having studied and taken their degrees at Edinburgh ; they are ah 1 accounted clever in tlreir profession. The apothecaries here are not allowed to practise as amongst us ; they are entirely restricted to the preparation of medicines, have a thorough knowledge of the proper- ties of drugs (which here are of the purest and finest quality always), are good chemists and botanists, and in other respects well educated men. This is a high advantage to invalids. While I was in the boutique, of GENEVA. $55 a little jeweller, the Princess Eariatinski came in, with one of her female attendants. She appeared a graceful unaffected young woman, was drest with extreme simplicity ? and addressed herself to the persons who waited upon her with great affability, and a benevolent wish of sparing them all un- necessary trouble. She is the second wife of the prince. In the course of the day I drove about the environs in a caleche, and returned the visits of several ladies, for whom we had letters from their friends in England. Madame C. was fortunately at home, and I was much pleased by her polite reception, and also by the sweet countenance and madonna features of her grandaughter, Madame P. Their house is upon the brow of a hill, commanding the most extensive and lovely prospect; but what place is not lovely in this part of the world ? I never could have imagined so delicious a sejaur as the neighbour- hood of Geneva affords, had I not seen and enjoyed it myself. In the grounds of Mons. de C. a singular natural phenome- non, takes place; I mean the confluence 256 GENEVA. of the Rhone and the Arve. They meet here, yet without mingling their cur- rents ; the clear blue pure waters of the former being scrupulously distinct from the thick turbid stream of the latter. Destiny has compelled them to run the same course, but the laws of sympathy (more powerful still) seem for ever to pre- vent them from assimilating. How fre- quently is this the case with mankind! no ties of affinity can cause two dispositions to unite and flow on together in a tranquil or felicitous course, where nature has placed a marked opposition of sentiment and character. Those moralists who endea- vour, from motives of mistaken principle, violently to force this native bent, do but ensure themselves the mortifying fate of Sisyphus. I returned to dinner at r hot el des Ba- lances, intending to accept Madame C.'s polite invitation to take tea with her, at eight o'clock; but first I accompanied Sir F. and Madame d'l. in a promenade round the environs, in a little open carriage called a char : I found this a very social although GENEVA. 257 somewhat rough conveyance, and it was so near the ground as to allow females to alight from or ascend it without assistance, and with perfect safety. Our drive was charming : they pointed out many glorious prospects to my observation, and I accom- panied them to the campagne (or country house) of Monsieur A., who possesses one of the most elegant places in that neigh- bourhood. Monsieur A. is an uncle of Madame d'l.'s. We met him at the en- trance of his grounds, driving in a low phaeton. It was a novelty to a curious contemplative English traveller, like my- self, to observe the manners here of near relations towards each other. Monsieur A. took off his hat, and remained un- covered the whole of the time during his conversation with his niece ; and, upon tak- ing leave, the expressions of " Adieu, mon oncle /" " Adieu, ma chere niece /" with another mutual bow, conveyed an idea of mixed cordiality and ceremony, which was far from unpleasing. I have often thought that family intercourse among us in Eng- land is too frequently carried on in a very 258 GENEVA. mistaken and (as it relates to eventual con- sequences) a very fatal manner. How many people think that it is needless to maintain a constant habit of good-breeding and polite- ness in their conduct towards immediate re- lations, and that the nearness of connexion gives them the liberty of wounding their self-love, and of venting unpleasant truths in the most coarse and unfeeling manner ; and all this under the pretence of sincere and unrestrained friendship ! How entirely do such persons forget that admirable Christian precept, " Be ye courteous one to another !" We found Madame and Mademoiselle A. at home : the former is somewhat advanced in years ; she has frequently been in Eng- land, and both of them speak our language fluently. The conversation this evening, however, was wholly carried on in French, which was an advantage to me, as it gave me an additional opportunity of con- quering a ridiculous degree of awkward shyness in speaking the latter, which is a complete bar to improvement, and yet is often dignified amongst very good sort of people in our country by the name of amia- GENEVA. 259 ble modesty. These ladies were highly well- bred and agreeable ; they knew several of my friends, the L. family in particular: Madame A. perfectly recollected the late Mr. L. many years since, at the time he was living at Geneva, and spoke of his vir- tues, his distinguished and noble manners, his various talents, and taste for the fine arts, in a way that brought tears of pleased remembrance into my eyes : indeed no one, who had (like myself) the honour and hap- piness of being intimate with this excellent and lamented man, can ever, I should think, forget him, and I shall always feel it as a source of great and flattering gratification, that I once was a favourite, and I may say, an eleve, of so venerable and superior a character. Mademoiselle A. shewed me some exqui- sitely fine casts from the antique, and co- pies of paintings (the originals of which are now in the Louvre at Paris), which formed the chief decorations of a charming saloon here, floored with walnut in so elaborate and ele- gant a manner, that it almost rivalled a tessel- lated pavement. The house and' grounds * 260 GENEVA. altogether are delightful, and the latter re- minded me of an English park. We enjoyed a promenade under some noble trees in front of the former, and then returned to take our tea, when we entered upon a very animated and (to me) a most interesting conversation upon Voltaire. Madame A. observed, that it was always a treat to her to hear the original remarks of persons who (judging for themselves) perused his works for the first time. I was sorry when the moment for taking leave arrived, and could have passed the whole of the evening here with much satisfaction. Sir F. and Madame d'l. had the goodness to deposit me safely at the hotel of Madame C., and made me promise to spend the next day with them at their lovely campagne. I found a very agreeable and intellectual so- ciety assembled at Madame C.'s. Among them were Monsieur and Madame de Saussure. He is a relation of the cele- brated philosopher, who was one of the first persons who ascended to the top of Mont Blanc, many years since, and whose observations taken there have been pub- GKNKVA. 261 lished. Madame P. (who is very young, arid almost a bride) sang like an angel : her husband also possesses no inconsiderable vocal talent, and they gave us several duets of Blangini's, which happened to be my own peculiar favourites. Le Baron de M. an intelligent gentlemanly man (a native of the Pays du Valais, I believe), and who has travelled a great deal in Italy, seemed per- fectly to feel and appreciate the superior merits of the Italian school of harmony, which surprised me at first, as I had taken him for a Frenchman, and knew how rarely pure taste of that sort was to be expected from his nation. He had the politeness to conduct me home at night, and left me at the door of my apartments, with many profound bows, en preux chevalier ! The next morning, presque a mon rtveil, I received a long visit from Madame P. and I afterwards drove to Sir F.'s, where I dined, and passed a very happy day. I met there the children of Count S. (minister for Russia at the approaching congress at Aix la Chapelle), and their goui'ernante. These two little countesses (for so they were GENEVA. always called), of eight and ten years of age, and their brother, a very fine boy of five or six, ran about amid the flowers and shrubs, much at their ease, and seemed to look upon Sir F. as a father. Indeed, he had, in a manner, the charge of them at this time. In the evening I accompanied my kind hosts to the house of another very pleasant family, which was also built in a spot that commanded a superb and roman- tic view, where we met a very large party, among which were several English. Some of the company were in full dress, having called to take tea, in their way to a grand ball, which was given that night by our countrymen to the inhabitants of Geneva, and the latter were to return the compliment in a similar manner in the space of a few days. I w r as invited by several of the Genevese families, to attend this ball; but declined doing so, for various reasons. This was not the only amusement at that time antici- pated; they were preparing to attend a very pretty, and I may say, chivalrous sort offSte (an alfresco breakfast), upon the bor- ders of the lake, given to the ladies by a party GENEVA. 5263 of gentlemen, who were called les chevaliers du lac. The day which the gallant enter- tainers had long destined for this gay ban- quet was unfortunately early overcast by lowering and envious clouds, which, before thecompany had been assembled half an hour, broke over their heads in torrents of rain. We had thus an opportunity of observing, that England was not the only country where the caprices of climate render fetes cliampetres rather hazardous. The costume of the rest of the ladies was very simple, being exactly that of the French, when not bien pare, and much resembling what we wear as a morning dress, all having their gowns made high in the neck, with long sleeves, and many of them wearing large bonnets. The profusion of rich needle- work in petticoats, ruffs, &c. was, however, very remarkable. The tone of general conversation here was easy, animated, lively, and full of bene- volently polite attention to the feelings of each other. In short, it was conversation ; of which we do not always understand the . 264 GENEVA. right meaning, or enter into the true spirit, in the circles of England, whatever is the reason. We had a discussion upon the drama, and the present state of the Italian opera, both with us and upon the continent. Those who had been in England praised Miss O'Neill very rapturously, but Kean did not appear to have struck them so forcibly as I thought his merits deserved. I was asked (as the conversation turned upon the marked taste for classical and studied tragic acting upon the French stage), whether I thought Miss O'Neill or Mrs. Siddons (in her day) would have been most applauded and understood by a Parisian audience ? I had no hesitation in replying that I thought the latter would have been more to their taste, as her style was rather the perfection of art than the wild and spontaneous effect of nature. They ah 1 agreed in this opinion, and seemed to pre- fer Miss O'Neill to her dignified and splen- did rival : those who consider acting as a science, however, will not coincide with them. At about eight o'clock we adjourned to GENEVA. 265 another apartment, where tea was served : the table was very long, and covered with a cloth, round which the company seated themselves as if at dinner. The lady of the house made tea herself, and the ser- vants waited behind her chair, to hand it about; her situation was no sinecure: There was a profusion of cakes, brioches, and fine fruit. This is always the custom at Geneva, where, as people dine at three o'clock, they of course are ready to make a sort of supper at tea-time. I never beheld any thing so resplendently beautiful as the moon during my drive home: I saw it rise like a globe of fire from behind the mountains, and throw a long track of glit- tering brightness upon the calm bosom of the lake. The effect was lovely, and the sky appeared to me to be of a far deeper and more decided blue colour than with us. I ought not to omit the mention of a very sin- gular and striking phenomenon (if I may so call it), which I had likewise this day wit- nessed at Sir F.'s : I mean the influence of the setting sun upon the glaciers. They first, as the orb declined, assumed a yellow tint, then 266 GENEVA. gradually warmed into pink, and kindled at length into a glow of rich crimson, of in- describable beauty. Mont Blanc's three fantastic peaks received it last of all, and immediately afterwards the whole snowy chain of mountains rapidly faded into their original hue of spotless (or, as my friend Mr. T. fancifully calls it, ghostly) white. Upon my return to the hotel, I had the unexpected pleasure of finding Mr. Baillie and Mr. W. safely arrived from their ex- pedition to Chamouni. The following is the former's account to me of the incidents of their journey. " As we could only allow ourselves two entire days in which to perform our jour- ney to Chamouni, it was quite necessary that we should make the most of our time ; the distance (if I recoUect right) being from fifteen to eighteen leagues from Geneva. We started from thence at about five o'clock in the afternoon, on the 13th of September, and slept that night at Bonne- ville, a small town about fifteen miles on our route. There was nothing particularly worthy of remark thus far, except the magni- GENEVA. 267 ficently beautiful tints of the setting sun upon the Mole and adjacent mountains, which we enjoyed in great perfection. The next morning we proceeded through the small town of Kluse to St. Martin, where we breakfasted, and hired mules for the re- mainder of our journey, the road being im- passable for any carriages except those of the country, called char-a-bancs, which are the most uncomfortable conveyances that can be imagined, being built without springs. " We passed this day two very beautiful waterfalls; but as you have already seen the P. V. (which is superior to both), I need not trouble you with an account of them. The aubergiste at St. Martin was philosopher enough to have a cabinet of the natural curiosities of the country, upon which he set no small value ; his prices for the minerals, &c. being absurdly high. The prospect became far more interesting as we advanced towards the base of that hoary mountain, whose summit we had distinctly seen at a hundred and fifty miles distance, some few weeks since. We observed and admired a singular piece of water, in whose 268 GENEVA. transparent bosom Mont Blanc was clearly reflected. This was the Lac de Chede, and though very small, is interesting, from its retired and solitary situation. It is infested by serpents, but I could not learn that they were venomous. " The valley of Servoz, into which we af- terwards entered, and which joins the vale of Chamouni, is romantic beyond any thing I have ever beheld. The road (cut out of the mountain's side) is in many places rough, and somewhat dangerous, a very abrupt precipice being on one hand, and the river Arve rolling below, whose waters are of great depth. I confess that I was a little disappointed with the first view of these glaciers (note H.), perhaps, as the imagination has no bounds, from having previously formed too magnificent an idea of them. They are situated in the valley, at the foot of the mountain, and are formed by the frozen snow, or rather snow-water. Their shape is irregularly pyramidical, and their colour a very light blue. " The Mer de Glace, which is the object most worthy of notice in this valley, is a GENEVA. 269 glacier of giant size, the pyramids of ice being in some places of prodigious altitude, and the chasms proportionably deep. From this place the Arve takes its source. It is quite impossible for me to give you an ade- quate idea of this stupendous sea of ice, so called from its constant, although imper- ceptible, movement towards the valley, the entrance of which, it is generally expected, it will in time effectually block up. We witnessed one or two avalanches, which our guide told us were inconsiderable; their noise, however, made the valley roar. " Our trusty mules deserve mention. We really thought we could not too much ad- mire them; although we had been pre- pared to find them sure-footed and steady, we had no conception that they could pos- sibly have led us with such perfect safety through such rugged and dangerous passes; the more particularly as we had no reason to reckon upon their complaisance, having urged them to a pace to which they were quite unaccustomed, from our desire of visiting the Mer de Glace the first day. " The inn at Chamouni was clean and 270 GENEVA. comfortable, and upon a far superior scale of accommodation than could have been supposed in so forlorn a situation. The Duke of G. arrived during the evening, and consequently must have travelled through Servoz when it was dark, thereby losing all the beauties of that wonderful scene. We set off the next morning very early, upon our return. It was a severe frost, the ground quite white with the hoary particles, and the weather feeling colder than I ever re- member to have experienced, although the season was but little advanced ; so much so, that my companion had to walk at a great pace for a considerable distance, to preserve any degree of animal warmth. About the middle of our route we observed a monu- ment, in the shape of a large mile-stone, which had been erected during the consul- ship of Bonaparte, to the memory of a young German philosopher, who was un- fortunately lost, from the ignorance of his guide, while traversing these mountains. He fell into the crevice of a glacier, and was not discovered until some time after- wards, when it appeared his nails were GENEVA. 271 worn off, and his fingers stripped to the bone, in his agonizing and desperate at- tempts to release himself from his horrible grave. The stone was erected (as it is stated in an inscription) first, as a warning to travellers in their choice of guides ; se- condly, to commemorate the loss of the un- happy youth ; and, thirdly, to inform the world that France encourages science, even in her enemies. "We found a variety of all the rarest Alp- ine plants and vegetables in this valley, and were assured that it contained also mines of gold, silver, and lead, (note I.) which the poverty of the state at present prevents being worked. We met at the little inn two Polish gentlemen, who had been making a pedestrian tour through Switzerland ; one of them had a few days before ascended the highest mountain (next to Mont Blanc) in the neighbourhood: he was the friend and companion of an en- terprising nobleman of the same nation, who some weeks since had gone up Mont Blanc, by a different route to that pursued by Monsieur de Saussure, who has written 272 GENEVA. voluminously on the subject. The Pole had endured great difficulty and fatigue, and had been three days in completing his journey, having slept two nights upon the mountain : he was attended by about twenty guides, ah 1 of whom were tied together, as a precaution against any one of them falling into the chasms which are so frequently met with in the ascent. The summit was found to be considerably changed since it had last been visited. This stupendous mountain is 15000 feet above the level of the sea, and rises about 9000 from the vaUey of Chamouni. It is hardly ne- cessary to teU you, that its brow is eternally crowned with frozen snow. " Travellers who are in delicate health, or otherwise not strong, are by no means ad- vised to undertake the journey from St. Martin to Chamouni on mules; especially if they are pressed for time, as that method of conveyance is both fatiguing and dila- tory. They will find the guides of the inn particularly intelligent and conversible, pos- sessing a knowledge of the mineral and vegetable kingdoms that is quite extraor- GENEVA. 273 dinary in men of their situation and rank in life. They are employed during the winter months in chamois hunting, and other dangerous and hardy exer- cises, and are frequently detained (as they told me themselves) by the snow, for weeks together, in the cheerless shelter of the most wretched chalets." The next day we devoted to the pur- chase of some of the curiosities for which this place is celebrated (note J.), and to taking leave of our friends, who had shewn us so much attention : we also visited the street in which Rousseau was born, and which is called after his name, the Rue de Jean Jaques Rousseau. We took leave of Sir F. and Madame d'l. with a degree of regret that was only softened by the hope of seeing them in England ere many ages should elapse. I believe I have not yet mentioned their children ; a fine boy and a very pro- mising little girl, both extremely young, and in whose welfare and happiness the parents seemed to be completely wrapped up. Yet Sir F. did not appear to have I 274 GENEVA. spoiled them by injudicious indulgence ; on the contrary, he expressed his conviction of the necessity and importance of early moral restraint, and I had one accidental oppor- tunity of witnessing that his practice per- fectly harmonized with his theory: this desirable union does not always take place, even among parents who pride themselves upon a superior system of education. On September 17th, we bade adieu to this delightful neighbourhood, arid pro- ceeded upon our route to Lausanne. We continued for a great length of way to wind along the borders of the lake, which sparkled like a diamond in the morning sun, and whose extensive surface was slightly rippled by a fresh and animating breeze from the mountains. With respect to the extraordi- nary exhilaration of mountain air, which first struck me in crossing Mont Cenis, and has been confirmed by subsequent expe- rience, I had heard and read a thousand times of its effect ; but a truth, when per- sonally proved for the first time, always seems like a discovery, rather than a sober COPPET. 275 confirmation of the words of other people. This pure atmosphere appears to me the finest remedy possible for every sort of nervous indisposition. It would even lighten (I should think) the heavy pressure of real affliction, acting as a perfect cordial to the spirits, as well as a tonic to the body but Eousseau has expressed this opinion so admirably in the first volume of his Nouvelle Heloise, that while I recal his magical description, any other seems power- less and inadequate. (Note K). We now passed though the village of Coppet. Necker's house is still shewn here, to which he retired upon being denounced by the French government as an enemy to his country, and where the adversity of this great and amiable character was soothed by the presence of his equally celebrated daughter, Madame de Stael. I feel an involuntary sensation of attendrissement, whenever I think of the singular degree of affection that subsisted between this ve- nerable parent and his daughter, and which breathes so touchingly in every line of her 276 COPPET. Memoires dt la Vit privet de Monsieur Necker, lately published in our own country. An affection so highly wrought, as to bear rather the character of passion, and which has therefore been objected to, by many people, as overstrained and unnatural. But let it be remembered that the great virtues, the attractive gentleness, the grand and expansive mind, and superior talents of Necker, were (in her eyes) unique, and might therefore well have the effect of creating a more than ordinary portion of admiration, respect, and love: nor, in judging of Madame de Stael, should it ever be forgotten, that her extraordinary depth of feeling, and her native enthusiasm of disposition, rendered it impossible for her to experience sensations of any sort, in a mediocre degree, or even in that rationally moderated force, which can alone secure the possession of real happiness. This peculiarity of feeling, which unfor- tunately induced some errors in her con- duct, has been admirably commented upon, by the Edinburgh Review, in its critique COPPET. 277 upon her works in general. It explains and apologizes, I think, for those wildly warm expressions in which she has in- dulged, when speaking of Necker's charac- ter, and which might perhaps sound strange, if uttered by a less energetic personage, or if applied to those sort of parents who are usually met with in common life. The woman who has been allowed by the general voice of her cotemporary judges to be " the greatest writer of a female, that any age, or any country, has produced ;" (nay even by one distinguished genius* has been called " the most powerful author, whether man or woman, of her day ;") has surely a high claim upon the forbearance of all who have been charmed by her transcendent talents. At the same time, let me not be mis- taken, as to my own particular sentiments upon the subject ; for I have no hesitation in avowing, that as a general principle, I extremely disapprove of the admission of A\hat is termed passion into the filial affec- * Lord Byron. 278 COPPET. tions, and vice versa. I believe it to answer no wise or rational end, but to be, on the contrary, in nine cases out of ten, a fruit- ful source of disquietude and disappoint- ment. I fear my earnestness in the cause of a writer whose abilities I so greatly admire, has led me into a dissertation which may prove tedious to some of my readers. Reveno?is d nos moutons. The country, the whole of the way to Lausanne, is one continued scene of beauty ; and the pastoral air of the verdant meadows, the rich cultivation of the hills (sprinkled with the prettiest little hamlets), the appearance of comfort and neatness in the cottages (each with a garden and orchard), and the grandeur of the lake and mountains beyond, altogether formed a scene of peace, loveliness and de- light, that is far more easily imagined than described. Were it possible for me to forget the charms of my dear native land, it is here that I could happily live, and tranquilly die. Not that it possesses the Armida-like fascination of the shores of the MORGES. 279 Lago Maggiore in Italy, or the high ro- mance of parts of Savoy : the imagination here is less excited, but the heart is more interested. I turned from one to the other, with the kind of sensation which the mind experiences, when comparing a brilliantly beautiful and accomplished, a highly enchanting and charming acquaint- ance, with a tender, cheerful, and amiable friend. We stopped to take breakfast at Eolle, a neat little town, where at the humble inn (la Couronne) we hailed with great sa- tisfaction the comforts of cleanliness and domestic order, so totally unknown to the natives of the other countries through which we had passed. Morges ; a remarkably pretty town. In this neighbourhood there were many vine- yards, which yielded the fruit of which the wine called mn de cote is made. The lake became much narrower here, and the moun- tains upon the opposite side seemed to rise abruptly from the water. Their dark purple hue contrasted finely with the light 280 LAUSANNE. aqua-marine tint of the latter, and the fresh verdure of the banks, where the peasants were mowing their second crop of hay. The beauty of some of the cottages also struck us with admiration, but we observed as yet no particular costume. We arrived at Lausanne to dinner. The entrance was cheerful and pretty, and the town itself is clean and gay, built upon the side of a very steep hill ; the grand street forming as precipitous an ascent as that of Lansdown in Bath. We found all the inns full, therefore took lodgings at a charming house upon a hill overhanging the lake, (the view of the Chateau de Chillon and mountains, in the distance) and to which there was a garden and terrace, ornamented with green-house plants and flowers. We could hardly have desired une plus jolie campagne even for our own permanent re- sidence and property. The restaurateur (who was an appendage to this establish- ment, and lived in part of the house) was a civil bustling personage, who extremely loved to hear himself talk : he told us that LAUSANNE. 281 these lodgings ought to stand high in re- putation, for they had been occupied suc- cessively by les plus grands seigneurs, who had all expressed themselves greatly pleased with their accommodations ; a fair hint this, how we were expected to behave. We found, however, upon parting, that the hostess had overcharged us for these wonderful accom- modations in a very preposterous manner, and she was so conscious of it, that she consented without much difficulty to take off part of her bill, and to allow us to pay for her apartments in French money, instead of the Swiss, which makes a very material dif- ference. We breakfasted the next morning upon honeycomb from the mountains; I believe I have mentioned this before. It is a very common article for breakfast in Switzerland, and always brings an agree- able association of ideas to my mind. I ought perhaps to have made earlier men- tion of the great opportunity afforded to the traveller of leisurely surveying and en- joying the beauties of scenery, from the cir- cumstance of his not being able to travel 282 LAUSANNE. post through Switzerland: the system of voituring is, however, rather tedious, and very expensive. The environs of Lausanne are almost equally attractive with those of Geneva, but the latter were impressed upon my memory in such bright and bewitching colours, that I could never think any other part of Switzerland quite so delightful. We quitted Lausanne, Sept. 19, for Berne. Our road still led us through beauties innu- merable. On the right was the lake, once more expanded into a breadth like the ocean, bounded, as usual, by mountains. On the left were vineyards, gardens, and hamlets. The grape ripens later here than in France, but is equally luxuriant and delicious in flavour. We frequently passed so near the glowing clusters of this tempting fruit, that we might easily have gathered as many as we chose from the windows of the carriage. There was a wonderfully fine growth of walnut trees also, stretching their long branches for many yards over the water. They are in such quantities that oil is MEILLERJE. 283 made from the nut, for purposes of the commonest use. We again saw part of the romantic rocks of Meillerie, so celebrated by Kousseau. We had been reading his Nouvelle Heloise for the last few days (as we were passing through the same scenes which are so beau- tifully depicted there), and felt as if these rocks were our old acquaintance. I always feel, in reading his works, ready to exclaim, " I love thee, and hate thee !" A literary friend (in a long conversation which we had upon the subject of this author) thought better of his Julie (as a single wo- man) than I did, or ever can ; but we per- fectly agreed in admiration of her conduct as a wife and mother, mistress of a family, &c. The lessons of morality (which she there exhibits) are beyond every thing beautiful and impressive ; but I never can forgive the disingenuousness of her conduct in con- senting to marry Monsieur de Wolmar, without having previously told him her past story. All the reasonings, the arguments, 284 VEVAY. the chain of entangling circumstances, which Kousseau has contrived to justify her for not doing so, I think false, perverted, and to- tally unsatisfactory. The costume of the peasants in this neighbourhood is not at all remarkable, ex- cept for their straw hats, which are univer- sally of the gipsy shape, with a very high crown, ending in a point like a Chinese pa- goda, or the top of a parasol. We took a dejeune at Vevay, and went in a boat upon the lake, to view the Chateau de Chil- lon somewhat nearer than we had hitherto been able to do. The beauty of Lord Byron's affecting Tale of its Prisoner returned strongly upon my imagination. I certainly prefer his picture of Captivity to that of Sterne in the Sentimental Journey. It ap- pears to me to be equally touching, and far more sublime. One or two of the minor incidents may probably have been founded upon the legends of the Bastile; but Byron's powerful genius stamps every line with the character of originality. A few miles beyond Vevay the country VEVAY. 285 assumed all the refined and cultivated beauties of an English park. Here (near a miniature lake) softly swelling hills of velvet turf, ornamented with the rich and fea- thery foliage of the beech, rose gently upon the admiring eye. There vast plantations of aspiring firs expanded their screen of darker green. Close to the road were mea- dows enamelled with the lilac crocus, and va- rious wild flowers, fringed by hedges, where the white convolvulus and scarlet hawthorn berry mingled gaily with the thick hazel and other native shrubs. A few ledges of rock now and then started from amid these mild beauties, as if to evince that we were still in the vicinity of wilder scenery. This change in the landscape was novel and delightful to us all. We had not seen any thing exactly in its style since leaving England, and I almost felt annoyed when a turning in the road displayed the snowy peaks of the eternal glaciers towering, as usual, in the distance. Forgive this honest confession, ye exclu- sive lovers of the sublime, and recollect, that the eye as well as the mind becomes 286 VEVAY. fatigued by being kept too long upon the stretch. Stopping at a little post-house, between Vevay and Moudon, we were surprised to see a large coarse loaf of bread brought out (instead of hay) for the refreshment of the horses. They eat it in slices, and appeared to relish this sophisticated food not a little. One of the animals, however, would not take the crust in his mouth, tossing it away in the most ridiculously disdainful manner, when he had carefully devoured all the crumb, and it was not until he had received two or three good cuffs on the ears from his driver that he condescended to sw r allow it. We met several prettyish w r omen in the course of this day's journey ; but the style of their beauty did not please us so much as that of France and Italy. It was mild without being soft, and fresh without being brilliant : they were, in short, neither jolie ni belle ; neither had they la grace plus belle encore que la beaut e ; but formed a class apart, which I cannot exactly define, but which certainly I did not like. MOUDON. 287 Dined and slept at Moudon (inn, au Cerf), where we experienced the comforts of warmth, cleanliness, and good beds ; no bad things after a long and cold journey. We were waited upon by a lively natural young creature, of the name of Josephine, who, together with several other girls, was staying at this inn, to learn the French language from the occasional guests. They were all of them German Swiss. We astonished them very much, by exhibiting a couple of musical snuff-boxes, which we had bought when at Geneva. The girls had never seen any thing of the kind, and were never tired of listening to them. We left Moudon the next morning at six o'clock : the country still continued to charm us with a pleasing succession of woods, mossy banks, and rich valleys, watered by little ser- pentine silver brooks, softly flowing through green meadows. We were still in the Pays du Vaud. Our servant Christian's national enthusiasm burst forth at every step. Our friend, who frequently took a share of his seat behind the carriage, amused us extremely 288 MOUDOX. with an account of his transports. " Ah ! there are de cows with bells round their necks! How I love those bells ! There be de neat cottages, all of wood : dey builds very pretty ones always in my country." At Lausanne (where he had been at school) it was no- thing but " shaking hands," and " greetings in the market-place." " There is a friend of mine ! I know dat man ! There lives such a one, a very honest person !" In short, the poor fellow was in a state of con- tinual ecstasy, and carried it so far as to think the very stones in the road were more than commonly valuable and beautiful ; for, knowing Mr. W. to have made a small col- lection of spars and fossils, &c. he drew his attention frequently, upon entering Swit- zerland, to the pebbles by the way-side, calling out every now and then, " There be a pretty stone now, Mr. V. ! .Very pretty stones all in my country !" A lady at Ge- neva, in describing the peculiar attachment of the Swiss to their native land, told me that her brother, upon being exiled to England for pecuniary reasons, actually MOUUON. died of tlie true maladie du pays, pining gradually away in hopeless longings after the dear scenes amid wliich his youth had been passed. We now entered the grandest and most luxuriant beech woods I ever be- held. I never had seen such magnificent trees, except in some parts of Norbury park, in Surrey ; indeed the whole view strongly reminded me of that exquisite spot, and brought a thousand agreeable re- collections and associations to my mind. Wherefore is it that the imagination feels a charm and a repose so delightful amid scenes of this nature ? My own peculiar feeling is now confirmed by long experi- ence, and I can consequently assert, with renewed confidence, that wood, assisted by a judicious inequality of ground, forms by far the most satisfactory and sooth- ing feature in a landscape. A visit to moun- tains, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, and im- petuous floods, gives great and animating sensations, but a constant residence among them I should never desire; though I have no doubt but that a Highlander or a Swiss 290 PAYERNE. mountaineer would extremely despise me for the homeliness of my taste. Payerne, a small town. The women here amazed us by their superb chevelures. We saw three in particular, who wore their hair (of a dark yet golden brown colour) twisted round the head, in a large braid, beneath an enormous flat straw hat. If these braids had been dishevelled, I am certain the hair would have swept the ground, and the thickness of its growth was even yet more remarkable than its length. We were afterwards informed of a circumstance which explained this appa- rent phenomenon, as I shall presently take occasion to mention. There was a large stone fountain here (with a statue of some warrior, armed from head to heel), which appeared to form the only ornament of the place. At Avenche we observed a very singular costume among the paysannes; in addi- tion to the full shift sleeve and becoming chemisette, confined beneath the bosom by a coloured boddice, they wore a head-dress AVENCHE. 291 of black gauze, lace, or thin horse-hair, transparent as a cobweb, stiffened with fine wire, and standing out widely from the temples, in the most extraordinary manner, resembling some representations I have seen of the cobra capella, or hooded serpent, the wings of a Patagonian butterfly, or the sort of bat-winged cap, which Fuseli, in the ex- travagance of his wild imagination, has given to his pictures of Queen Mab. The coarse, tame, insipid style of feature which accom- panied this attire, however, by no means suited its peculiar character. I looked in vain for the pale, delicate, oval visage, small red lip, and large gazelle sort of dark eye, with which it would have harmonized so exquisitely. This is the usual Bernoise costume. The country here became much more open, and was enlivened by the glittering waters of the lake of Morat (note L). In almost every house we passed, we remarked great quantities of green tobacco leaves, suspended from the projecting roofs, dry- ing in the sun. On the borders of the lake 292 -MORAT. of Morat was formerly a chapel, filled with the bones of the Bourguinons, who were killed in battle, in the year 1476, when Charles the Bold was defeated. It is now de- stroyed, but the bones are still left " bleach- ing in the wind." We got out of the car- riage, and discovered among them some very large thigh bones, &c. The size of the warriors to whom they belonged must have been wondrous. A small rise, upon which we stood, was entirely formed of the bodies of the slain. The fragrant wild thyme and nodding hare-bell grew thickly upon the fatal spot; and I observed a tuft of the latter wreathing its azure flowers (as if in mockery) around the fragment of a moulder- ing skull ! There are several beautiful little maisom de campagne near this place, with their surrounding vineyards, gardens, orchards, and fountains. They were a good deal in the style of what we are used to call cot- tages ornees, so few of which we had hitherto seen upon the continent, notwithstanding the adoption of a foreign title. There were GUMINEN. also many lovely dwellings belonging to the peasantry, built of tan-coloured wood (note M.), with stairs and galleries on the outside, and neatly thatched or tiled. The frontis- piece to this little volume, which has been kindly presented to me by an elegant amateur artist, is a most correct representa- tion of a Swiss cottage. We were now in the canton of Berne : passing through another wood of beech, scarcely less beautiful than the former, the tremulous light, flitting capriciously across the leaf-strewn paths, and the soft chirping of the birds above our heads, again gave us exquisite pleasure. I say we ; for my sensations were fully participated by my companions. We now crossed the river Sarine, by means of a large wooden bridge, covered overhead like a penthouse, and entered the village of Guminen, sunk between bold and rocky hills, fringed with rich trees and un- derwood. The females in this part of Switzerland all appeared to possess a quali- fication which Shakespeare has pronounced (and with truth) to be " a marvellous ex* 294 GUMINEN. cellent thing in woman." I allude to the soft musical tone of their voices in speak- ing : it was really remarkable, and we thought it almost made amends for the want of beauty. We dined at Guminen, in a cleanly little inn (FOurs), where, on looking out at the window, we were struck by the sight of a Lucerne paysanne in full cos- tume. She wore the usual tresses of braided hair hanging down at length behind, and the black gauze cap ; but her boddice was remarkably curious, being of black velvet, richly embossed with lilac and black beads (the latter coming from Venice, and ex- tremely small), in the manner of embroi- dery ; indeed such quantities had been expended, that her bust looked as if in ar- mour. This boddice was likewise orna- mented with silver filigree buttons, and long silver chains, ending in large tassels of the same material, gilt. She had also a black velvet collar, studded with Venetian beads and coloured foil, and a worked linen chemisette and full shift sleeves, white as snow. This dress must have been very ex- pensive for a woman in her rank of life ; GUMINEN. 295 and upon inquiry we found that she was, in fact, the wife of a rich miller. We were not annoyed here, as in Italy and France, by the clamours of beggars ; they very rarely made their appearance, and even when they did, were always modest and diffident. It gave us pleasure to pass through so large a tract of country without being able to discover any trace of abject poverty among the peasantry : they all wore an air of ease and content, and we found upon inquiry that they were in general enjoying the most comfortable and inde- pendent circumstances. From a lull near Berne we first caught the distant harmony of a number of mel- low-toned bells, which pastoral sounds, our Swiss informed us, were produced by the cattle (round whose necks the bells were suspended), and who were at that moment descending in large herds from the moun- tains, for the evening milking. At the same time we were struck by a glorious view of the Alps (note N.), their frozen peaks rosy from the reflection of departing 296 BERNE. light : one of the highest of them is called, from hence, Monte Kosa. I have never listened to church bells (when their clang has been mellowed by distance) without a feeling of melancholy ; but these seemed to breathe of innocent joy, and to tell a tale of peace, happiness, comfort, and do- mestic delight. This, I know, must have proceeded in both cases from early associa- tions, and in the latter from the influence of ideas connected with poetry. What an ever-springing source of exquisite enjoy- ment is that divine gift ! A susceptibility of its powers is like a sixth sense, for which it becomes all who possess it to be truly grateful to the benevolent Donor. We now entered Berne. This is a fine large town, with a remarkably handsome entrance. We obtained most excellent rooms, replete with every essential com- fort, and furnished with taste, at our inn (au Faucori), which was spacious enough to be taken for some ancient castle, when the feudal lords lodged a hundred or two of retainers, besides guests, beneath their am- BERNE. 297 pie roof. It was built in the form of an oblong square, with three galleries, one above another (each of which had inter- minable passages connected with it, all leading to different suites of apartments), looking down upon an open court or area in the midst. In this court a little army of washerwomen were assembled (belonging, I believe, to the establishment), carrying on the process of purification with great ac- tivity (in tubs almost large enough for brewing vats), and with hot water, which is an unusual thing upon the continent. Apropos to cleanliness, we all made the same observation in passing through Swit- zerland, namely, that the inhabitants (more especially in the protestant cantons) seemed to understand the comfort inseparable from this virtue, and that they certainly prac- tised it in a far higher degree than any people we had seen since leaving England. We have frequently met with better ac- commodations (because cleanliness has been scrupulously attended to) in the inferior inns of Switzerland than in the most su- 298 BERNE. perb hotels of Paris, Turin, Milan, &c. I am sorry to be obliged, however, to except those of Geneva, which are allowed by the inhabitants themselves to be all very dirty. We walked about Berne the next morn- ing, and gave audience to Christian's ve- nerable father and to his sister, who came over from their farm in the neighbourhood to fetch him to spend a day with them. They had not met for some years ; neither father nor daughter spoke a word of any language but German patois ; the latter was drest in the complete Bernoise costume, even to the little bouquet of natural flowers in the bosom. I forget what great author it is who says that " a man who has left his native place for years is generally anxious to make some figure in it, upon his re- turn," this was truly exemplified in our servant, who, the morning after our arrival, burst upon his town's folk, in all the glory of the most dandy English dress, appearing far more smart than his master, and forming a curious contrast to the rustic figures of his humble yet picturesque-looking rela- BERNE. 299 tions. We proceeded, after dinner, to view the bears, and stags, which have from time immemorial been kept in the deep fosse, which surrounds the town. There are tall fir-trees planted in this moat, for the bears to climb, and plenty of green cool turf for the refreshment of the stags. The animals are separated from each other, of course. The origin of this custom is singular. In ancient times, a rich seigneur of the country, and his sons, determined to found a town, which should transmit their memories to posterity, and should be called after the name of the first ani- mal that they might happen to kill in a grand hunting-match, which they as- sembled for the purpose. This animal turned out to be a bear ; accordingly the town was called Eerne, and the stone image of the creature was erected at the gates a custom which is continued to the present moment. When the founders died, they left a sum of money to be laid out for the sole benefit of this bear, which in process of time so greatly accumulated, 300 BERNE. as to form quite a little fortune ; so that all the successive bears have been persons of property, and accustomed to the enjoy- ment of those agremens, which an easy in- come can alone secure. Bonaparte pounced upon the senior bruin (called Monsieur Martin), and carried off both himself and his money to Paris, where he now lives in high reputation, and equal splendor, at the bottom of a deep pit, in le Jardiii des Plant es. The people of Berne have since obtained some other bears, which are the same that we now saw, and a proper sum for their support is awarded by the govern- ment, which also is increasing by occasional legacies from individuals. We passed the evening in company with an Englishman (an old friend of my hus- band's), who had spent many years upon the continent, and who had made it one of his chief objects to visit and inspect the different prisons there. We were glad (as far as nationality was concerned) to hear that those of England are (comparatively speaking) carried on upon a system of . BERNE. 301 benevolence superior to most others. This gentleman told us, that the prisons of Turin at this day, were a disgrace to humanity, being the most horrible dungeons that the imagination can picture. We saw several groups of the convicts at Berne, who wore an iron collar, and were chained by the leg, to a small light cart, which (like beasts of burden) they drew daily round the town, to collect and carry away the dirt of the streets. The prisoners of both sexes are also employed in sweeping the crossways, pavements, &c. and are drest in a peculiar uniform, their labour being pro- portioned to the degree of their guilt. All the culprits in the country, who are not condemned to death, are sent to Berne, and are employed in these and similar offices. The cathedral did not appear to us worth visiting ; our eyes had been satiated with buildings in this style, and after having seen the glories of the Duomo at Milan, we found all other cathedrals poor and uninteresting. Most of the shops here are built under stone arches, which renders them somewhat gloomy, but adds to their 302 BERNE. convenience in rainy weather. There are numerous stone fountains in all parts of the town, many of which have a martial figure on the top; we saw one, however, with a statue of Moses upon it, no inappro- priate patron, as he could make the solid rock gush out with water. Over one of the principal gateways, we remarked a colossal image of Goliah, grim and gaunt enough to frighten all the naughty boys in the place. Happening to mention the circumstance of the extraordinary growth of hair, among the women about Payerne, we were in- formed that it was almost all false. The pay- sannes have an ancient and invariable custom of mixing great quantities of borrowed tresses with their own, in order to form that singular braid round the head, which had so forcibly attracted our notice. I should imagine the toilette of these rural belles must be an operation of some skill, for the false is so very well mingled with the real hair, that it might defy the sharp eye of the most prying old spinster to detect the method in which it is done. We saw several girls at Berne working BERNE. 308 upon cushions (something in the manner of lace-makers), under the piazzas; they were embroidering the collars and sto- machers of the Bernoise paysannes, in small Venetian beads (called in England seed beads) of all colours, gold tinsel, foil, &c. upon a ground of black velvet. Their performance was really very neat and taste- ful. The prince Leopold of Coburg was here, at the same time with ourselves, looking very melancholy, and almost con- tinually alone: he was on a visit to his sister, the grand duchess Constantine, who resides in the neighbourhood. She is se- parated from her husband, who is brother to the emperor of Eussia. They were married, I believe (in pursuance of one of those horrible schemes of state policy, where every better feeling of the heart is cruelly sacrificed and overborne), at the age of fourteen, and the subsequent catastrophe is not to be wondered at. Of the society at Berne we could not judge, as our stay did not exceed three days and a half, but our English friend (lately mentioned, and who had been a great deal amongst the '304 BERNE. best families there) mentioned it to be par- ticularly agreeable. During the winter, there are concerts and balls, private par- ties, and a company of actors. The hos- pital is a fine establishment, with a garden full of choice flowers and shrubs, green- house plants, and a fountain, being sus- tained upon the most liberal plan; any poor person, passing through the town, may find food and lodging at the hospital for twenty-four hours, and is sent away at the expiration of that time with a dona- tion of one franc (value, in English money, tenpence). There is also an asylum for foundlings, where the children are main- tained till they attain the age of fifteen, and are then put out to service. It being one of the market days, we saw many different costumes (belonging to the various cantons) assembled. That of the women of Guggisberg is frightfully ugly; a napkin is folded flat across the forehead, and tied behind in a slouching manner; the dress is of black cotton, with a very long waist, and the petticoat does not reach to the knee; their legs are terribly thick, BEHNK. 305 but luckily this circumstance is reckoned amongst themselves as a beauty, and to in- crease it, they wear four or five pair of stockings at a time. Mr. B. observed a Tyrolese peasant, with whose manly beauty and elegant costume he was much struck. I did not see him myself; they are generally fine figures, strong and athletic, yet ex- tremely graceful, the dress being always par- ticularly becoming and highly picturesque. The women of Lucerne I have already described, in the specimen of the rich miller's wife that we saw at Guminen. Entering the shop of a famous picture- dealer here, he shewed us a collection of portraits, of the most celebrated rural belles of Switzerland, among which was that of the fair bateliere of the lake Brientz. I hoped to have beheld another " Ellen, Lady of the Lake," but was greatly dis- appointed, not being able to admire the character of her beauty, thinking it far too coarse ; but those persons who have really seen her assured us her picture by no means did her justice. We were also shewn a set of coloured prints from the 306 BERNE. original drawings of a poor wretch of the name of Mind* ; he died about two years ago, and his works are very much valued hi this country, not only for their intrinsic merit, but as being the performance of a cretin, which means an idiot, afflicted with a goitre. We were told by the picture- dealer, who had known him well, that this Mind was one of the most deformed and horrible objects of the sort, and was per- fectly imbecile and stupid in every thing that did not immediately relate to his art. He had (like some idiots who have fallen under my own personal observation) a pro- digiously retentive memory, from the im- pressions of which he alone was able to draw. If he met any group of men or animals in his daily rambles, he would in- stantly run home, lock himself up, and pro- duce shortly afterwards the most spirited and accurate drawing of the objects which had thus fired his fancy. The high finish of his colouring, also, was equally remarkable with the boldness of his outline ; he more * Some of the original productions of this person are in the possession of collectors in our own country. BERNE. 307 particularly excelled in drawing cats, and had completed a voluminous collection of these animals, in all their stages of existence and habits of life ; from which circumstance he has obtained the name of le Ra/aelle des Chats. At a first view of his works, we were inclined to doubt the truth of his having been so complete an idiot in all respects which were unconnected with his art ; but as vague arguments of conjecture and probability, cannot stand against the positive evidence of attested facts, of course we gave up our objections, and felt that to persevere in them would be obstinacy, rather than penetration. The history of this man would, I think, form an interesting subject of reflection to the philosopher and the physician, and I wish it were generally Jknown and published. This evening we went to see the exhibition of Mr. Kcenig, an excellent landscape painter ; it consisted of a set of transparent views (beautiful beyond any thing of the sort that we had ever previously beheld), taken from the most celebrated scenes in Switzerland; among them, we were most pleased with the chapel 308 BERNE. of William Tell (note 0.) by moonlight, on the lake of Zug, and with a cottage (also by moonlight) on the lakes of Bienne and Thun. The wonderful degree of na- ture and truth which these paintings dis- played, I shah 1 hardly forget; indeed I cannot say too much in praise of them, and would advise every traveller who visits Berne to go and see this enchanting little spectacle : I will venture to say his expecta- tions will be greatly exceeded. September 24th. I must in justice re- commend all our friends passing this way to take up their quarters au Faucon, as it is a most exceUent house, and the mistress a very attentive sensible person. I ought not to take leave of the place without also mentioning the promenade upon the ramparts, and the glorious view of woods, hamlets, and glaciers to be seen from thence*. We were much amused in watching the sports of the youth of the * The promenade also, near the cathedral, is remark- able for the beautiful prospect it discloses of the glaciers, particularly at sunset, when the rose-coloured tints upon their snowy summits are wonderfully fine. BERNE. 309 town there, who have a green inclosure, where various games and exercises (re- sembling the ancient gymnastic) are carried on every evening, at a certain hour ; they are admirably well calculated to cherish habits of activity and agility, and to pro- mote both health and strength. All the public offices here are served by persons who faithfully and zealously fulfil their functions, without emolument of any sort. Marriages through Switzerland are much encouraged by some of their political institu- tions ; in this canton, for instance, a bachelor cannot arrive at the honourable post of bailiff, or be admitted to the council, or become what they call a seigneur, which is an inferior office in the government; but at the same time so fearful are these govern- ments of any circumstance that might in process of time by the accumulation of fortunes infringe upon their liberties, that marriages between cousins german are for- bidden by law. In the best statistic account of the popu- lation of this country taken from the public registers, it is estimated inclusive of the 310 BERNE. allied provinces at about two millions. The protestant cantons are found to be the most populous, as they are the most active, industrious, and commercial, but they are not always the richest. The police is regulated with the most exemplary vigilance and good order; the canton is a protestant one. Upon quitting Berne, we found the country a lovely repetition of rich waving woods (chiefly of beech and pine) ; the brilliant autumnal tints of the former trees glowing beneath the bright blue of a cheerful morning sky, and the aromatic perfume of the latter, scenting the fresh- ness of the breeze. How weak and in- adequate are words to express certain feel- ings of delight ! How easy is it to mention woods and plains, rocks and lakes, and to expatiate upon the charm of each, in ap- propriate terms; yet how far are we all the time from conveying to the minds of our hearers or readers the sensation of en- joyment which thrilled through our own bosoms while actually beholding the scenes we attempt to describe. We passed through several villages which BERNE. 311 appeared to be the favourite haunts of peace, health, and humble happiness. The par- sonage-house in one of them was a charming picture of comfort, neatness, and picturesque taste; close to the cheerful little white- washed church, it reared its grey venerable roof. The walls were covered by the spread- ing branches of a fruitful pear-tree, and the green latticed windows were shaded by a vine, which wreathed its graceful foliage, and hung in luxuriant clusters, likewise, over a small bower, or recess, adjoining the sitting-room, where I could imagine a simple primitive pastor and his happy family as- sembled together, enjoying the social even- ing meal. La Fontaine's lovely descriptions of such scenes and such beings, in his Nou- veau Tableau de Famille, rushed upon my recollection, and I almost expected to see his sweet Augusta (in the days of her prime) come forth from the rustic porch, leaning on the arm of her valuable husband, and surrounded by their innocent and blooming race. When this same Augusta becomes a grandmother, I think La Fon- taine has painted her too selfishly forgetful of the happiness of her youthful days, and of 312 SOLEURE. the feelings natural to girls at that age ; it is not in character with the virtue and sentimental graces of her earlier years, and rather conduces to encourage in the bosom of the reader a sensation of indignant dis- gust at the rigid, frigid, and unamiable propensities sometimes found among the aged. This beautiful and affecting novel is so well known to ah 1 persons of good taste and discrimination, that my ah 1 usion to it will I hope be at once understood and forgiven. Beyond this neighbourhood, the country opened in the most striking manner, afford- ing a fine and heart-cheering prospect of cultivated plains, fresh pastures, peaceful flocks and herds, walnut groves and thatched cottages; the latter looked at a distance like large beehives, and the inhabitants seemed to evince a similarity to the bees in their habits of brisk and lively industry. I can easily understand the pre-eminent attachment of the Swiss to their native land; they must indeed be senseless were they less alive to the charms of scenes like this. We took an early dinner at Soleure (note R.), or Solothurne. We were now in a ca- tholic canton, and the difference of our ac- I SOLEURE. 313 commodations at the inn (la Couronne) from those we had experienced in the protestant governments was very apparent, for once more dirt, in various shapes, made its unwel- come appearance. The houses were, some of them, painted gaudily on the whitewashed outsides, in the Italian manner, and the ca- thedral, of Grecian architecture, was full of paltry paintings. The costume of the towns- people was both tasteless and dirty ; a white linen cap, with a border of muslin, half a yard in depth, flapping about in the most unbecoming way, increasing the general plainness of the women's features. Their per- sons, also, were awkward and ill made, parti- cularly about the legs and feet. The place itself was full of bad smells, but situated in a picturesque part of the country. As we proceeded, we found the cottages decrease in beauty ; nor did they exhibit the same degree of aisance and comfort as those near Berne. The fields likewise partook of this spirit of decline, appearing less culti- vated and productive. We could not help attributing this to the people having their time so perpetually broken in upon by the 314 BAL8TADT. necessity of going to mass, and by the too frequent recurrence ofjottrs de fetes. We passed a fine picturesque old castle upon the left, a few miles beyond Soleure, and arriving at Balstadt (a dirty-looking village), where we slept, found a most uncomfortable, slovenly inn, and bad at- tendance; and to heighten our miseries, our friend became so much worse, that we were obliged to send for what medical assistance the wretched place afforded. Ac- cordingly there arrived the " village leech," who had much the air of a farrier, or cow- doctor, and who applied various nostrums without success. His unfortunate patient made a vigorous effort to shake him off the next morning, and we went on, hoping to get as far as Basle. We started with two horses and three mules, having to ascend a steep mountain immediately upon quitting Balstadt (or rather Ballstall), in modern or- thography. The surrounding scenery was of a very different nature from that of the preceding day: the road (in some places nearly as perpendicular as any in the wild mountains of Savoy) led us through pale FALKENSTEIN. 315 grey rocks, scooped occasionally into quar- ries, and fringed on one side by an infinite variety of young trees of every sort, and on the other by extensive woods of pine, whose shades formed a beautiful contrast to the brighter verdure of the velvet turf, from which they sprung. We observed (as usual) great numbers of wild barberry trees, and juniper bushes, while the purple heath-bell, waving her fairy cups amid the moss and thyme, upon every bank, gave a smiling character to the foreground. Falkenstein Castle (a fantastic ruin, crown- ing the summit of a bold jutting mass of rock far above our heads) had a very im- posing effect. The battled waUs and nar- row round towers were so much of the same colour as the mountain from which they rose, as scarcely to be distinguished from it at a distance. It reminded us strongly of some of Mrs. Kadcliffe's de- scriptions, and our fancy easily peopled it with a terrific baron, a fair suffering heroine, a captive lover, and every other requisite et cetera of romance. As we 316 FALKENSTEIN. were now in German Switzerland, such visions were not inappropriate, and my readers will pardon them accordingly. We saw another castle, also, further on, situated upon an eminence in the midst of magni- ficent woods of beech, and looking down upon a pretty hamlet of white cottages, each with its neat little verger andpotager, some of them shaded by vines, and almost all fur- nished with a range of beehives. The in- habitants were gathering the walnuts, apples, and plums, from their loaded trees, as we passed : a clear little wimpling stream ran through the village, and the spire of the church rose among rich tufted foliage in perspective. We began to suspect, from this appearance of comfort and neatness, that we were once more in the neighbour- hood of a protestant government, which we found afterwards was really the case. The sweet stream I have just mentioned was so kind as to accompany us for a considerable way, pure, sparkling, and dashing its shal- low waters over the yellow pebbles, with a rippling murmur that was delightfully sooth- BASLE. 317 ing to the ear. The country again resumed the woody, cultivated appearance, which is so pleasing to behold, and gradually ex- panded into lovely meadows, which the li ttle brook kept for ever fresh and verdant. We stopped at Liestall, where we found a cleaner town, a better inn, and a more prepossessing hostess than at Ballstall. The people manufacture gloves here : they were good, but very dear. It is not to be told how disagreeably the German lan- guage grated upon our ears in passing through these cantons ; after the melli- fluous harmony of the Italian, and even when compared with the French, it was doubly intolerable. Our own is harsh enough, in the opinion of foreigners ; yet I can with difficulty imagine any thing so bad as German. We arrived to dinner at Basle. This is a very large town (under a protestant juris- diction), clean and gay. Its chief attrac- tion to us was the river Khine, which rolled ,its majestic waters beneath the windows of our auberge (les Trois Rois), which was spa- cious and convenient. We ascended to our 318 BASLE. apartments by a curious spiral staircase, in an old round tower, that formed part of the building. The Khine is a noble river, but inferior in beauty of colour to the Khone at Ge- neva. Indeed the latter I cannot at this moment recollect without a feeling of plea- sure and admiration impossible to describe. We left Basle, Sept. 26. The road as far as Bourglibre, and even considerably be- yond it, was flat and uninteresting; the cottages rather dirty than otherwise, and extremely ugly; the costume of the pea- santry very indistinctly marked, and by no means becoming, being a wretched imitation of the French. All this was accounted for, when we recollected that we had now once more entered the territories of that nation, leaving modern Germany on our right, and turning our backs upon the sweet simplicity and unequalled charms of Switzerland. The postillion also strongly evinced the national character, mounting his horse with a true gasconade flourish, and cracking his whip in the old well-remembered style. We dined and slept at Colmar. The inn COLMAR. 319 (aux Six Montagues Noirs) was dirty, and the attendance very mediocre ; but the beds were good, and free from vermin. Our host was the most hideous man I ever saw : he was absolutely strangling with fat; his bristly grizzled hair was strained off the forehead, and forced into a long thick queue, with so tight a hand, that the water in consequence was perpetually running from his little red eyes; his voice in speaking was most unpleasantly guttural, and ren- dered still more disagreeable by the ab- surd mixture of bad French and German, which he sputtered with great difficulty, in answering our necessary questions. His daughter usually sat in the bar, playing a French love ditty upon an old guitar. Of her I can only say, that she was the " soft- ened image" of her " honoured papa." The paysannes in the near neighbour- hood of Colmar wear a pretty little flat, round-eared cap, at the back of the head, made either of very gay coloured silk, or cotton, and sometimes of gold tissue with crimson spots; their neck handkerchiefs are likewise of the brightest dyes, thrown 320 C'OLMAR. carelessly over the gown, and the ends con- fined before, by a girdle. These women, generally speaking, are not at all handsome ; the men chiefly wear coats of coarse bright green cloth, without collars, enormously long waisted waistcoats (sometimes red, laced with gold, and large buttons), with cocked hats. The country upon first leaving Colmar was mountainous, but not very pleasing or interesting, in spite of the inequality of ground, the presence of verdure, the view of distant villages, and a very fine clear sky ; all of which are notwithstanding the materials for forming a beautiful landscape. This, to my mind, had an analogy with the persons of some women I had formerly seen ; who possessed fine hair and teeth, clear bright eyes, a good complexion, were sufficiently young, and not ill-made; yet with all these requisites to beauty, were plain, awkward, and totally wanting in agreeable effect. A strange caprice of nature, but not less true than strange. The face of things, however, rather im- proved, upon approaching Schelestat. The 8CHELE9TAT. 321 costume of the paysannes brightened into a degree of taste and neatness that we had not seen equalled since leaving St. Denis, near Paris. Some of their caps were wholly of white worked muslin, with a thin clear border, and bound neatly round the head by a light blue or rose-coloured riband: the gowns also sometimes varied, being not unfre- quently made of white cotton, with gay crimson sprigs upon them. We continually saw castles and churches upon the sur- rounding heights, and a great number of vineyards ; but the villages and small towns were invariably dirty, and very ugly. Since we had left Basle, we had been travelling through Alsace (ancient Ger- many), in the department of the Haut Rhin. A few miles farther, brought us into the vicinity of very fine fresh pasture lands, bordered by willows, and relieved by a magnificently rich back ground of high hills, clothed with young beech-trees, in- termingled with oak. Here vast herds of cattle were feeding ; close to the road, and forming a sort of border to the meadows, were extensive fields of potatoes, turnips, Y 322 8CHELESTAT. cabbages, and broccoli, &e. without any guard or inclosure: this (as I formerly mentioned) spoke well for the honesty of the poor people, and at all events proved them to be enjoying a degree of ease and plenty, as far as vegetable riches were concerned. I remarked, in the hedges here, the first honey-suckles I had seen since leaving England, The costume of the young infants in this part of the world is very singular ; they all wear lit- tle foundling-shaped caps of black velvet, studded with gold spots, or of white, with silver embroidery upon them, which has a very strange effect to an English eye; but among the French people there is such an infinite variety of fanciful attire, that nothing appears extraordinary or out of the common way. Passing through a small village, we saw several groups of the peasantry, mingled with the Austrian soldiery, all dressed in in their gayest costume (it being Sunday evening), and we caught the musical tones of the slow German waltz, to which national melody some of them were dancing. There SCHELESTAT. 323 was not the least appearance of riot or disorder; they were blamelessly rejoicing in the natural gaiety of their hearts, at the close of that day whose forenoon had been spent in the exercise of their religious duties ; that day which is devoted, in some parts of the world, to mere peaceful rest from labour, unattended with any demonstration of hilarity : in others, to a puritanical gloom, and rigid formality ; but in this, to cheerful, social intercourse, and the enjoy- ment of a harmless mode of exercise I say harmless, because the waltz is not looked upon by the natives here in at all the same light as it sometimes is, in the higher ranks of English society ; and it is the only dance with which they are acquainted. How weak and absurd, how really wicked is the intolerance which leads people to condemn or quarrel with their fellow crea- tures, for the different points of view under which they regard this same day! Al- though I cannot quote Sterne as a moralist in all cases, I certainly do most sincerely coincide with him in his sentiments relative to religious feeling, as expressed in that 324 SCHELESTAT. chapter of his " Sentimental Journey," called " The Grace." At the same time I am perfectly aware that a similar method of passing the Sunday evening, after the service of the day is fulfilled, would not be advisable (even were it possible to try the experiment), in our own country. It does not agree with the character and habits of the nation ; and the. lower orders of people, (in the present state of existing circum- stances), would assuredly debase it by every species of vice and immorality. They re- quire a strongly marked line to be laid down, as a rule of right, from which all deviation would probably be dangerous. Considering the subject in this light, I should therefore be concerned to behold any great change attempted in the manner of spending the Sunday evening, and would certainly not be the first person to put myself forward in the outward display of different opinions to the generality of individuals in the country, and under the government to which I belong. We all owe an ex- ample, which may be salutary to our in- feriors and dependents. ST. MARIE AUX MINES. 825 At St. Marie aux Mines we were obliged to take five horses to the carriage, as the road beyond that place was very moun- tainous. We had the mental refreshment of observing numbers of sweetly pretty women here, all dressed with native taste and neatness ; the children also were en- gaging in their appearance, and the men generally good-looking. French is almost universally spoken among them. Ascending les montagnes de St. Marie aux Mines, the scenery presented a beau- tiful melange of wood and rock ; the road likewise was excellent. We admired the way in which the postillions managed their horses, walking, the whole of the ascent, by their side, but obliging them to main- tain an unrelaxing steady pace, and this by words alone : the poor animals were almost as intelligent as their drivers, obeying them with the utmost readiness and alacrity. I must here indulge my- self in marvelling at that perversion of every generous and rational feeling, which leads man to torture and abuse these generous, noble creatures. I have before 326 ST. DIEZ. mentioned, that the conduct of the French drivers to their horses is highly praise- worthy. The sleek comely appearance of the post-horses throughout France, as well as the state of their feet, evinces that they are well fed and kindly treated, and during our whole tour, we met with no in- stance of brutality among the postillions. These roads have been greatly improved by the present king. We arrived to a late supper at St. Diez, where we slept. We were not disposed to quarrel with la Poste for being a true country inn : the host had not been spoiled by too many English travellers, those Milords Anglais, of whose proverbial riches every aubergiste imagines he has a right to take advantage, and who in consequence render humbler voyageurs of other nations ready to execrate their very names. We were taken for Germans, and found our bills reasonable and moderate in consequence. The maitresse de la maisoji was a kind- hearted, natural little bourgeoise, and very proud of her only child (a fine infant of nine or ten months), which she brought to ST. DIEZ. 327 shew us, in hopes of its being admired and praised. Mothers, in higher life than this poor woman, are deeply sensible to the charms of this species of flattery ; and, even when they know it to be flattery, are hardly ever able to resist feeling pleased and pro- pitiated thereby. For myself, I plead guilty at once. The amount of our charges at St. Diez it may perhaps be as well to mention : for supper (which was a good one), beds, apartments, wine, fruit, lemon- ade, and breakfast the next morning, we three persons did not pay more than twelve English shillings. We started from hence at eight o'clock the following day, and found the road for the first stage mountainous and woody. Most of the cottages were ugly (as usual), and the inhabitants appeared dirty and la- mentably poor. For the two or three fol- lowing stages the country grew perceptibly flatter, and more open ; the highway began to resume the old French line of undeviat- ing straightness, and avenues of puny seed- ling trees were planted by its side. Large (or rather vast) tracts of arable land, in all 328 MENILFLIN. the baldness of a recent harvest, spread their tawny surface around, and the whole pre- sented a picture of monotony that was far from agreeable. All the people in this part of France seemed attached to the memory of Bona- parte. The postmaster at Menilflin had a conversation with the gentlemen upon the subject. He said that " the nation enter- tained a good opinion of the private virtues of Louis XVIII., and wished him well ; but it was impossible not to renvember what vast improvements of various sorts Bona- parte had introduced, what noble works he had achieved, and to what a pitch of mili- tary glory he had raised the country." He then asked, with some appearance of re- proach, " Why the English kept him so bar- barously immured in a dreadful prison?'* All attempt to soften this representation of Napoleon's present circumstances seemed of no avail ; our host only shook his head, and seemed to entertain a very strong per- suasion of the needless cruelty of the Bri- tish nation. BeyondMenilflin the scene again changed LUNEVILLE. 329 to a view of pasture lands, with hills and woods in the distance ; and upon approach- ing the latter we found they were chiefly of oak. The potatoe was here generally cultivated, and in great quantities. For- merly the French despised this fine vege- table, but at present they are fully sensible of its importance. Just beyond the large town of Luneville there were many vineyards, and a profusion of walnut-trees. The vines were planted alternately with the potatoe, in patches, and the contrast of the two different shades of green was singular, and not unpleasing. Beggars at this time began to make their reappearance, clamouring, in the old cant, at the windows of the carriage. We now passed through a landscape of wonderful richness and verdure, and en- joyed a succession of woods and vineyards for many miles. It was the time of les ven- danges. Every waggon we met was loaded with grapes, and every peasant was reeling under the weight of a large wooden bucket (as long as himself) filled with the same luxuriant and picturesque burden. Groups 330 NANCY. of young children followed, each, like a little Bacchus, holding a ripe cluster in its hand, attended by several women carrying bas- kets of the fruit, and all of them singing, laughing, and warmly enjoying the cheer- ful scene. We reached Nancy to dinner. This is a large, clean, and very handsome town, and the streets are much broader than in most foreign ones. They resounded, as the even- ing advanced, with joyous songs in chorus, sung (often in parts with considerable ac- curacy) by the common people, in honour of les vendanges ; but their mirth soon be- came rather too loud for refined ears, as they shouted (men and women together) at ''the utmost pitch of their voices, a sort of recitative and chorus, dancing at the same time en ronde, and frequently min- gling shrill bursts of laughter and shrieks with this wild and extraordinary harmony. Every one of the garpons of our inn ran out in the street to join the peasantry in the maddening dance. Altogether it was a per- fect bacchanalian festival, strongly resem- bling those ancient rites in honour of the NANCY. 831 rosy god mentioned in the pagan mythology. We went iii the evening to the theatre, to see Baptiste (from Paris), who is reckoned one of the best French actors in comedy, and who performed here for one night only. The piece was a little comic pastoral, in- terspersed with music, butBaptiste's role was far too trifling for us to form any just idea of his talents but how extraordinary it is that this nation, from time immemorial to the present day, should have been so totally ignorant of the true genius of vocal music. Rousseau's well-known opinion (in his letter from St. Preux to Julie, upon the differ- ence of Italian and French taste in singing) came into my head more than once, and I most sincerely wished that the French wfjild always confine themselves to what they so particularly excel in, the dance : their songs make the same sort of impression upon my mind, when compared with the beautiful productions of the Italian school, that a Savoyard cretin would do, if placed by the side of an Apollo Belvidere. The theatre at Nancy was large, and the 332 THOUL. decorations and machinery tolerably good. It was the only one that we had seen illu- minated in the boxes as well as upon the stage, a lustre being suspended above the pit, which shed a very pleasant light over all the house. The next day, Sept. 30, we pursued our route. There is a beautiful Grecian gate- way at this end of the town, which is wor- thy of every traveller's observation. The road from hence was in a straight line with a tiresome avenue, as usual (note S.), and led us through a fine wood of beech and other trees (none of them of large growth); but it lost nearly all pic- turesque effect, from the vicinity of this artificial avenue, and the unbending line of the highway. The country for many miles is very open, bounded by hills, and bearing some resemblance to the county of Wilt- shire. Thoul, a pretty town, stands in the midst of wide plains, a small hill covered with vines sheltering it on one side. It is decorated with long rows of formal THOUL. 333 stiff poplars, above which tower the spires of its large cathedral. The river Moselle runs near this place, an inconsiderable tame little stream, whose banks can boast no kind of beauty. The town was adorned by several vine- yards and kitchen-gardens, fuU of well-cul- tivated vegetables and fruit ; but the coun- try beyond it was wide, flat, and insipid, for a considerable distance. At length we had the agreeable variety of entering a remarkably pretty, wild looking wood of young beech- trees, where we observed an ancient, lone, white mansion, greatly fallen to decay, yet evidently inhabited, and surrounded by gardens and walls for fruit, of large size and height: the latter also, as well as the house, much dilapidated. The wood, closing round on all sides, gave it an air of singularity and romance; nor could I restrain my fancy (during a subsequent uninteresting drive) from tracing the plan of a little novel sort of history, relative to the inhabitants of this solitude. How delightfully would the late Charlotte Smith have done the same thing ! All her novels 334 LIGNY. (putting on one side her passion for demo- cracy, and her blind prejudices in favour of the Americans) interest my feelings extremely. They have a tone of elegant pathos (far removed from the sickly whine of affected sensibility) peculiar to them- selves, and with many palpable faults are altogether bewitching. I am not singular in this taste, having, I believe, the honour of acquiescing hi the opinion of some of the best judges. We were now close upon the borders of Champaigne. Immense woods extended in every direction, yet they were not suf- ficiently near, to vary the landscape agree- ably. As far as the eye could distinctly reach, nothing but vast uninclosed stubble fields appeared in view. Ligny, a large tow r n (surrounded by vine- yards), dull and dead-looking, and unen- livened by any attempt at costume among the inhabitants. There are large manufac- tories of cotton here. We dined and slept at Bar le Due, a cheerful, neat town : inn (au Cigne), where we met with excellent accommodations. BAR LE DUC. 335 At dinner we were attended by a merry active paysanne : she brought us some of the wine to taste, of this year's vintage. It was then in its first state, previous to fermentation, and much resembled sweet cyder fresh from the press. When properly clarified, and ripened by age, it would turn out, we were told, to be a strong bodied red wine. This town, for the last few years, had been successively occupied by soldiers of all nations, French, Prussians, Kussians, Austrians, and Cossacks : the girl persisted in calling the latter Turques, and told us that during the time of their stjour here, all the young paysannes of the neigh- bourhood had been carefully concealed (herself among the number), by their mothers : she said that at that period she had not entered service, but was living at home with mam an. We observed maman to be the usual title of all mothers, even in the lowest class of people, and that it was used by the grown up daughters (in speak- ing of them), contrary to our English cus- tom, where the term is a refinement, and not much adopted, except by the little 336 BAR LE DUC. denisons of the nursery: the unlimited power of mamans of all classes now appears to be very happily moderated and reduced ; a great moral improvement which has taken place in France in consequence of the Revolution. The unprincipled system of parents arranging the marriages of the children, independent of their own choice or consent, which existed during the ajicien regime, being nearly abolished, and con- sequent crime and misery connected with it, much diminished. I was happy to learn, from one of the most enlightened and sensible persons at Geneva, that since that awful bouleversement, conjugal attachment and fidelity, together with a taste for do- mestic pleasures, had rapidly increased, and this even in Paris itself. I was assured that the English (judging of the whole from their experience of a part) have formed an erroneous idea of the general immo- rality of French families, particularly in fan- cying that their national and innate love of amusement (springing from climate, constitution, and other causes), interfered improperly with, or was preferred to the BAR LE DUC. 337 duties of husband and parent. This de- fence of the French nation (prompted by a benevolent love of truth and candour) appeared particularly amiable, coming as it did from persons, whose government, re- ligious opinions, and habits of life, were so very different. Leaving Bar le Due, October 1st, we proceeded through several woods, and found the face of the country more varied and agreeable than during the journey of yes- terday : there was an appearance of cleanli- ness and comfort in this town, not often met with in France : the dress of the in- habitants and the neatness of the shops bore a nearer resemblance to an English country town than any we had yet seen. It is situated on the river Ornaine, and is as generally called Bar sur Ornaine as Bar le Due. Being on the high road to Stras- burg, we met with many German travel- lers, and were ourselves now, as well as for- merly, frequently mistaken for natives of that country: the similarity of language, and perhaps of features and complexion, will naturally account for it. z 338 VITRI SUR MARNE. We soon entered Champagne, and con- tinually met bands of joyous peasants gathering the rich produce of the widely extended vineyards. This is the only pro- vince throughout France where the grape of which this wine is made will grow, and there must be, I should imagine, some great peculiarity of soil. The vintage, universally, was finer than had been known for years. It is generally remarked, that neither in Paris, nor in any other place upon the continent, is wine to be met with of that very superior quality, which it is usual to find in England; no other nation can afford so high a price. In the vicinity of Vitri sur Marne, the country can scarcely be said to be the coun- try, if trees, green fields, hiUs, and dales, give a right to that appellation. Nothing but one vast boundless uninclosed surface of stubble was to be seen. It reminded me (in point of monotonous effect) of the plain in the Palais de la Veriti (mentioned by Madame de Genlis), where a fairy con- demns the fickle-minded Azelie to remain for years, in order to cure her of a passion CHALONS SUR MARNK for variety. During this wearisome journey, I know not what we should have done without Moliere. Fortunately we had him in the carriage, and I need not say what an enlivening compagnon du voyage he was. Turning our eyes therefore from the " dull realities" of the scene around, we were soon lost in an imaginary world, full of bright creations and amusing conceptions. We dined and slept at Chalons sur Marne, where we met with tolerable ac- commodations, but were charged very ex- travagantly, at la Cloche d'Or. We left it at half past six the next morning, and found the road equally uninteresting: I could hardly have formed an accurate idea of the bald sort of ugliness of a great portion of France, had I not thus witnessed its effect. The usual absence of costume continued, and there was nothing to break the dulness, or to give a ray of animation to the scene. We now and then passed through vil- lages, built formally in a long street, with the high road running between the houses ; dirty, ugly, tasteless, and mean ! no gardens, 340 CHALONS SUR MARNE. consequently neither fruit nor vegetables to be seen, and as there was no appearance of trees for such an immense number of miles, we were at a loss to conceive how the wretched inhabitants warmed them- selves sufficiently, during the winter, ex- cept from the heaps of cinder dirt, at some of their doors, which proved that coals were burned there ; not a very common circumstance in France. Troops of beggar children now ran after us, bold, audacious, and filthy in the extreme ; all our charitable feelings froze in a moment. The farther we proceeded, the wider seemed to extend the vast and barren de- sert that surrounded us ; never can I forget the disgust and ennui which assailed us in consequence. We tried to awaken our powers of conversation, when wearied by long continued reading, but it was a vain attempt. Imagination seemed extinguished, and our minds experienced a degree of stagnation impossible to describe. After passing through this country, I must be allowed to differ, for the rest of my life, from those theoretical reasoners, who think CHALONS SUR MARNE. 341 it is even a point of morality to maintain, that the mental powers are not influenced by local impressions. I am convinced Madame de Genlis took her idea of the redoubted plain in her Palais de la Veriti before mentioned, from Jiaving travelled through this part of her native country; for surely she would never have discovered its parallel in any other: even in the deserts of Arabia the traveller finds a species of sublimity, and undergoes perils, which at all events prevent his suffering from ennui. In many of the villages (in all parts of France) we observed the sign of " Saint Nicholas." He is a very popular saint among this nation, and must have been a man of taste, as he stands forth the patron of all the young unmarried damsels, pre- siding over every noce, and fete de village. He has chosen a most amusing metier altogether, thereby proceeding upon a far more rational and sensible plan than some of his brethren, many of whom have made it their business to frown upon the enjoy- ments of mankind, and who pretend that 342 RHEIMS. the only way to merit heaven in the next world, is to make a purgatory of this. Fortunately their unhappy followers are but few, (comparatively speaking) ; for the great body of the people, in all ages, seem to be of Sir Toby Belch's opinion, when Shakespeare makes him indignantly exclaim to his formal censor Malvolio, " what ! dost think that because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale ?" These Roman catholic puritans, let it be remembered, have the honour of being imitated very closely by many a worthy English heretic. It was a great relief to us to enter Rheims, where we took a luncheon, and afterwards walked about the town, and saw the grand gothic cathedral. The facade of this build- ing is most superbly beautiful; the fret work, carving, and imagery, are in some re- spects superior to those of the Duomo at Milan ; although the edifice is of a less precious material, much smaller, and in a different taste altogether. The interior is grandly simple, the windows of the most magnificent old stained glass, in patterns of RHEIMS. 343 infinite variety, and of the most glowing colours. But the outside of this cathedral is by far more imposing than any other part, and I was rather discomposed upon being obliged to acknowledge that our Westminster Abbey is extremely inferior in every way. Here the ancient monarchs of France used to be crowned (as books of juvenile information have duly informed us), and we could scarcely^ imagine a finer place for such sort of spectacles. The portal was built in the thirteenth century, and the other parts as far back as about the seventh or eighth. We did not remark any thing particu- larly worth notice in the town (which is nevertheless very large), and the only thing which struck us forcibly was the general ugliness of the bourgeoises, and also the pay- sannes of the environs. The country be- yond was exactly in the same wearisome character with what we had already passed, and the road for many miles extremely bad. Owing to repeated delays about horses, we did not arrive at Laon until nine o'clock in the evening, by which means we lost the 344 LAON. view of the two last stages before reaching that place, where the country is said to im- prove in a very striking manner, swelling occasionally into lofty hills, enriched with wood. Laon is built upon an abrupt and rocky eminence, shaded by trees, and command- ing a very extensive bird's-eye prospect of the surrounding country. There was a high appearance of cultivation and fertility of soil, while the immediate vicinity of vine- yards, filled with cheerful groups of people, was very enlivening; but no costume was to be observed except the almost univer- sal cross worn round the necks of the wo- men*. Our inn (ci la Hure) was ex- tremely well appointed; the host an at- tentive, civil old man, and we were waited upon with celerity and good humour by * This town is memorable for the sanguinary contests between Blucher and the French army, during which it was taken and retaken several times. The epicure will here find the best grenouilles in France : we did not chance to meet with this delicacy, nor with another, which, however common here, does not exactly accord Wth the taste of John Bull, viz. snails. LAON. 345 two young paysannes, who appeared to think no exertion too much which could contribute in any way to the comfort of the guests. One of them (like most French servants) chatted in a natural intelligent manner, was full of frolic and glee, ready to laugh at every thing, carolling with the gaiety of a lark, in all parts of the house, and seeming with difficulty to re- strain herself from dancing at the same time : all this (as I once before mentioned) without the least degree of immodesty. What a wide difference exists between the ideas of a French and English woman in this situation of life, on the score of what is called propriety ; a vague term, and change- able as the chamelion in its nature, however some worthy folks may suppose it confined solely to one shape, and one definite mean- ing. The sense of female honour among the country girls of France, so far from being too lax, or but little regarded, seems, on the contrary, to be particularly correct, and I have taken some pains in my inquiries upon this point. The loss of fair fame is rare, and always accompanied by the ut- 346 LAON. most disgrace and ignominy ; so much so, that one young woman (whose heart was, I am sure, upon her lips) told me, " that if such a circumstance occurred, the unfor- tunate girl had much better be dead at once ; for she never would be looked upon again by her youthful companions." Let it, therefore, be remembered, to the credit of the French, that innocence is perfectly compatible with a lively freedom of man- ner, and that virtue can be firmly main- tained, although unshackled by the re- straints of primness and formality. I am now convinced that climate has a great deal more influence upon our feelings and con- duct than I was once inclined to think. The chilly fogs and heavy weight of atmosphere in England do certainly affect, in some measure, the mental faculties of her children, render- ing their ideas of morality needlessly gloomy and strict. I judge (in part) from my own occasional sensations. I never feel in so cheerful and happy a frame of mind, so willing to be candid, and to look upon per- sons and things in the most favourable light, as during a fine clear sunshiny day. LAON. 347 Au contraire, there have been .moments in the cold, humidity, and dark gloom of win- ter, when I have been shocked and ashamed at perceiving my sentiments involuntarily narrowing into prejudices, and my spirits saddening in proportion. It has required a strong exertion of reason to get the better of such feelings, and even to divest myself of an idea of their being in some degree meritorious. I now hasten to continue the narrative of our route from Laon to Cambray, which was a day's journey. The road for the first stage presented us with a welcome variety of landscape, hills, dales, copses, shady vil- lages, and fertile fields. Never did we see such a profusion of fine apples as were grow- ing here, on each side of the way. The pea- sants were gathering them as we passed, and heaps of this rosy, tempting fruit were piled up in hillocks beneath the trees from which they had just been taken. They were even strewed by thousands on the grass around, and were perpetually rolling into the road under the wheels of our carriage. Such a triumph of Pomona 348 LAON. it is really difficult to imagine without having seen its animating effect ! We stopt to purchase some, and found them truly delicious ; spirited, juicy, and pos- sessing all the acid sweetness of cham- paigne. We remarked the soil in which these trees so peculiarly flourished : it con- sisted of a loose, light, sandy earth, with a mixture of clay; but in those parts of Eng- land where they thrive best, I understand that the soil is of a redder earth, with not nearly so large a proportion of sand. For what are called common fruits and flowers I have ever entertained a preference, and for the latter I have almost a passion. The richest collection of rare exotics do not make the same agreeable and soothing im- pression upon my imagination as the un- pretending garden which my mother for- merly cultivated in Surrey, or that of a dear and excellent friend, in which from childhood I have ever delighted, and where the common flowers of each season, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and shrubs, flou- rish together, in defiance of the more re- fined arrangements of modern days. I recol- CAM BRAY. 349 lect the simple charms of her sitting-room windows (shadowed by the climbing honey- suckle and sweetbriar), and those of my mother's pretty doorway, half lost in a thick bower of clematis, with the liveliest feel- ings of pleasure, while I have totally for- gotten a hundred prouder boudoirs, rich in the odours of tuberose, cape jessamine, night- blowing geraniums, and other splendid ex- travagancies. The country for the last stage before we reached St. Quentin (a strong-built large town) was very fast relapsing into the bald- ness of that which had so lately annoyed us ; but the peasantry were generally much better looking, cleaner, and altogether gayer in their appearance. This place is in the direct road from Paris to Brussels. We arrived at Cambray to supper, slept, and breakfasted there the next morning, when we proceeded towards the coast. The inn was not very comfortable, although we had the best apartments in the house. It was a very striking and singular spectacle to be- hold, as we now did, English sentinels on duty at the drawbridges of this town, and 350 CAMBRAY. an encampment of the same troops just beneath its walls. How would John Bull have writhed and raged with shame and grief, if the scene had been exhibited vice versa in our own country ? Can we then (with any pretence to candour and justice) affect to wonder at the deep-felt disgust and dislike of the French towards us ? We saw the fine regiments of our foot guards, and the 95th. or sharpshooters, here. All the men looked clean, bright, and cheerful, and most of them were decorated with Waterloo medals. Our hearts sensibly warmed at sight of the well-remembered countenance of our countrymen, and (with- out any degree of unjust partiality) we could not but be forcibly struck with the superiority of appearance and deportment displayed by our English officers, when we compared them with all the French whom we had had an opportunity of observing. There is, I think (generally speaking), a greater suavity and benevolence in the manners of a Frenchman of birth and education ; there is a higher degree of polish in his address ; but in point of personal appearance I must CAM BRAY. 351 decidedly award the preference to our manly, graceful, dignified countrymen. An En- glish gentleman (in the true acceptation of the word) is the flower of the world. I do not mean to discuss at length, the different moral virtues and mental perfections of either nation. I have neither time nor sufficient experience and information for such a task ; but of this I am convinced, " that the head and heart of our country- men (taking their fairest specimens) may sustain a comparison with those of any other race of men upon this habitable globe, and fail not to come forth with ho- nour and credit from the investigation." Of the bourgeoisie of each country I cannot pretend to judge ; but with respect to the unsophisticated peasantry, I feel by no means clear that the superiority lies on our side. We were informed that a great many of the English soldiers at Cambray, and elsewhere, had taken wives from among the paysannes, but that the petit es bourgeoises did not listen so favourably to their vows. Every where we had the gratification of hearing praises of the orderly, quiet, and 352 DOtTAY. moderate behaviour of the British regi- ments. The country beyond this town, for a con- siderable distance, was uninteresting, and the lesser towns and villages were very ugly. What was wanting in trees seemed to be made up in windmills, which spread their long arms abroad in every direction. Had Don Quixote been alive, and travel- ling this road, he would have found himself in the predicament of poor Arlechino, dans Vembarras des richesses. We now passed through Douay, a clean, gay-looking, strong-built town. It was more than usually alive, from the circumstance of a fair which was going on in the market- place. Among the different articles ex- posed for sale, I was struck by the cotton handkerchiefs worn by the paysannes. Their richness and beauty of colour were very re- markable, the dyes being brilliant beyond any that we possess, and the patterns very fanciful and pretty. Here the women adopt the same picturesque double gold drops in the ears, as those of Calais ; wearing like- wise richly-worked heavy crosses upon the LILLE. 353 bosom, and long loose cloaks, made of co- loured linen or black silk, frilled round, with a very deep hood. Two pretty little girls, from twelve to thirteen years of age, had a highly graceful effect, as they passed through the crowd, in white gauze or muslin veils, extremely transparent, and reaching to the ground, thrown carelessly over their heads. They appeared like young sylphs, flitting in all their purity among the gayer, yet grosser, figures which surrounded them. We arrived in very good time at Lille (frequently spelt Lisle), and entered through a most beautiful gateway of Tuscan architecture. This town is extensive, well built, lively, and interesting: there are excellent shops, with signs of the most fan- ciful and ingenious devices, like those of Paris. This place is reckoned impregnable, and the citadel is of wonderful strength, being the masterpiece of Vauban, the cele- brated engineer. Our inn (I'hotel de Bour- bon) was very comfortable in every respect, except that we were bitten by bugs. They, however, are so common in various parts of the continent that the traveller must A A 354 LILLE. make up his mind to bear with them as things of course. We were amused by the humour of a valet de place here, who was also hair-dresser and barber : he was a true dis- ciple of the renowned Vicar of Bray, having squared his politics according to every change in the government, and contrived to thrive equally under all. He assured us (as if he had been enumerating his virtues) that Vive la liber 1 6 ! vive Napoleon ! or vwent les Bourbons ! was all the same thing to him ; and he had constantly held himself in readiness to call out for each, provided they left heads enough for him to find hair to friz, and beards to mow. His counte- nance made us laugh the moment he ap- peared, being the counterpart of Liston's, with that peculiar expression of niaiserie which is so irresistibly ludicrous in him. It was no wonder that we were amazed by the number of windmills in the environs of this town ; for we learnt that there were no less than two hundred used in making oil,&c. We quitted Lille the next morning, and in changing horses at Bailleul we dis- covered that the cap and linchpin of the CASSEL. 355 axletree had fallen off. They were found about a quarter of a mile behind us ; and it was very extraordinary that this acci- dent did not occasion our overturn, as the wheel had really no support. The coun- try now began to improve in point of trees and verdure, but still wore an air of formality. A disagreeable patois is spoken here. The approach to Cassel was very pretty; the trees gradually lost their prim re- gularity, and formed a rich wood, which entirely covered a high hill, called Mont Cassel. It is the only one in the Nether- lands, and commands a most extensive view : no less than twenty-two fortified towns may be discerned from it. Most of the cottages in these environs are thatched, and resemble those in England, each having a little garden (inclosed by neat hedges) full of vegetables. From the summit of the above-mentioned hill, we were much pleased by a prospect of great fertility, and some beauty. Seen from this distance, the arti- ficial mode of planting the trees was not dis- tinguished, and they had a very luxuriant A A 2 356 ST. OMER. woody effect altogether. Just at the en- trance of Cassel is a churchyard, in which we observed a tall crucifix, with a wooden image of our Saviour, larger than life, painted flesh colour, and having a stream of blood flowing from the side (made of a long strip of wire, standing far out in a curve from the body), and which was caught in a cup by another clumsy image (Dutch built) re- presenting a cherubim. The latter was sus- pended in the air, by some contrivance (not discoverable at that distance), so as to ap- pear flying. Nothing could well be more absurd, or in a worse taste ! We dined and slept at St. Omer, a large town. We found at the inn (fancienne Poste) very comfortable accommodations; but it was full of English officers, who had a mess there, and in consequence we could not get a morsel to eat, or a creature to attend upon us, till these messieurs were first served. They were assembled there in readiness for a ball, which was to take place somewhere in the town, at night. Suffering under the sharpest pangs of hunger, we felt the warmth of our feelings PICARDY. 357 towards our compatriots rather decreasing ; but we recovered our nationality after din- ner. .The next morning we went on to Calais. It was rather a pretty drive the first two stages ; the country woody, and the villages much neater than usual. No costume, however, made its appearance (except the long ear-ring and cross), neither could we observe any beauty. We breakfasted this morning at the small post-house of Ardres. The old dame there told us that the behaviour of the British troops had been most exemplary, and that they would be missed and regretted by some among the natives. We were now in Picardy, which we un- derstood was more infested with beggars than most other provinces. Some half starved children ran after the carriage, screaming the popular air of Vive Henri Quatre. We gave them a sous or two, purely for the sake of that pre de son peuple, whose memory is yet green in their hearts. It is in comparing his species of greatness with that of Napoleon, that I am most forcibly impressed with the 358 PICARDY. inferiority of the latter. The union of talent and benevolence in a sovereign (like that of judgment and imagination in an author) seems almost indispensable ; and, at all events, there can be no perfection of cha- racter without it. How awfully requisite are both these qualities in the head of an absolute monarchy, and how devoutly to be wished for, even under the less extensively important influence which (like our own) is limited by the laws of the constitution. Those persons, who, from a timid sort of morality, would exalt mere goodness, in opposition to superior talent, seem to me to be thereby counteracting the influence of the very principle upon which they pro- fess to act. Those, on the other hand, who adopt the contrary mode of reasoning are yet worse, for they assert an opinion which is in direct defiance of humanity, morality, and religion. Comparing Napoleon with some of his crowned cotemporaries, I must confess that my admiration of him alarm- ingly increases ; but place him by the side of Henri quatre, and he sinks at once. Madame de Stael has beautifully and justly CALAIS. 359 expressed my own sentiments ; I must in- dulge myself in quoting her eloquent lan- guage. Speaking of another political tyrant, (Cardinal Kichelieu) she remarks, " On a beaucoup vante le talent de ce ministre, parce qu'il a maintenu la grandeur politique de la France; et sous ce rapport, on ne scauroit lui refuser des talens superieurs! Mais Henri quatre atteignoit au meme but, en gouvernant par des principes de justice et de verite ! Le genie se manifeste non seulement dans le triomphe qu'on rem- porte, mais dans les moyens qu'on a pris pour Pobtenir." Upon approaching Calais, we felt our courage quail beneath the idea of the pass- age to Dover, which was now so near at hand ; but as it never answers any rational purpose to dwell upon disagreeables which are inevitable, and as this transient purga- tory was the only means of attaining the paradise of English comforts that awaited us on the other side of the water, we made up our minds, and prepared for our fate with becoming resolution. We were very fortunate in arriving at Quil- 360 CALAIS. liac's early in the day, as we had an op- portunity of taking possession of a most comfortable suite of apartments, which would not have fallen to our share, half an hour later ; for the concourse of equipages which soon followed ours into the inn-yard w r as quite astonishing. Quilliac's is a mag- nificent hotel, and seems to be organized in a manner that does credit to the head of the master. They make up from a hundred and fifty to a hundred and sixty beds, and the day of our arrival, they were serving up little separate dinners to a hun- dred and forty persons, exclusive of ser- vants. Yet the attendance was by no means hurried, or our comforts of any sort di- minished, upon that account : every waiter andjille de chambre seemed to know their particular walk, nor could we observe any awkward scrambling or jostling among them. Determined not again to encounter the annoyance of a crowded packet, we de- sired inquiries to be made for any family of respectability, who might wish to share a private one with us : fortune befriended DOVER. 361 us, for we soon beheld some English friends drive into the court, who agreed to join forces, and accordingly we took the An- tigone (Capitaine Margolle), between us. She was accounted the best sailer in the harbour, and we found the truth of her reputation confirmed the next morning, when at nine o'clock we all embarked. She brought us into Dover before several other packets, which had sailed from Calais three hours previous to ourselves ; but the winds were nevertheless against us, as we were becalmed for seven hours, and the passage lasted altogether ten. I was the only person on board who suffered much ; but I speedily forgot all my wretchedness, when I found myself happily landed at Dover, and seated by an English fireside. We left that place the next day (Octo- ber 8th), and felt that however we might justly admire foreign countries, our native land possessed a charm above all others, for the hearts of its children. We were de- lighted by the richness of the woods, and the smiling fertility of the landscape be- tween Canterbury and Sittingbourne, and 362 ROCHESTER. also by the peculiar air of neatness and cleanliness displayed in every cottage and house, both in the towns and villages: their superiority in these respects to those of France was very apparent ; but I could not help being struck by the different costume, countenance and air of the lower classes of my countrywomen, from what I had been used to behold for the last few weeks among the daughters of the continent. The former certainly did (since the truth must be told) appear what is called dowdy and heavy, and the general expression of face was somewhat sullen, in comparison. I also greatly missed the briUiant dark eye, and the charming shadowy eyelash, which is generally to be met with abroad. We were once more gratified by the pre-eminent swiftness, ease, and dexterity of our English mode of posting ; the horses reaUy seemed to fly, and their spruce effect, together with that of their drivers, con- trasted favourably with those we had left on the other side the channel. Passing through Rochester, to Dartford, the river Thames presented a most im- LONDON. 363 posing spectacle, being covered with innu- merable vessels in full sail, bound for Lon- don. A foreigner must have been im- pressed with a superb idea of our com- mercial wealth and glory. At length we reached home late in the evening, and, full of grateful pleasure for all we had enjoyed during our absence from it, returned to the worship of our Penates with all the fervour and sincerity of true hearted, though not wrong headed, Britons. NOTES. Note (A.) page 109, line 18. Aromatic plants. NEAR the summits of these mountains, and in the highest region of vegetation, is found the gennipi, a plant of the camomile genus, and which, next to the sang du bou- quetin, or wild^goat (which, as an inhabitant of these places, though now a very rare one, is worthy of men- tion), is the most powerful sudorific, and of high estima- tion in the treatment of pleurisy. Note (B.) page 127, line 21. The De-viTs Bridge P&nt du Diable. We cannot too much admire the boldness and skill with which this extraordinary work has been achieved in such a country, and one knows not in what age. The marvellous histories believed concerning it by the credu- lous peasantry are scarcely to be wondered at. Suffice it to say, that its dimensions are a single arch of twenty- four feet in the span, fourteen wide, and seventy-two above the surface of the stream ; but in this circumstance alone (considered without reference to the wild sublimity of the surrounding scenery), there is nothing extraor- dinary to English eyes, who may view the whole width 366 NOTES. of the Thames at London embraced by three arches of such stupendous dimensions. Note (C.) page 161, line 17. Mont Cents. Upon the plain of Mont Cenis are found large masses of the gypsum, or alabaster, from which the plaster of Paris is made. The more sheltered parts are bright with the flowers of the rhododendron ferrugineum, which I have in another part of my work described. Quantities of the beautiful little blue butterfly, called the argus, are seen here, and (though not so common) that fine fly, named TApollon des Alpes. Besides the great wild goat (le bouquetiri), there are in these mountains the chamois, with the marmottes, which require bold anil active chasseurs to be got at : they are shot by single ball. The whistling sort of cry of the marmotte resembles that of some birds of prey. It is the signal they give upon being alarmed. When fat, they are considered as rather deli- cate food. We saw one unfortunate little animal of this species in a tame state, belonging to a peasant boy, who had taught it to shoulder a stick like a firelock, and to twirl itself about in a manner difficult to describe, that he called dancing. He sung at the same time, to animate the poor creature's reluctant exertions, a little patois song, in which the words dansez a madama were fre- quently repeated. The tune haunted me for some time afterwards, and was really not inharmonious. Note (D.) page 159, line 2. Consists in their vineyards. There is something awfully striking in the sudden de- NOTES. 367 vastation occasioned by the summer storms, too frequent in these climates. In the same garden where at noon you had been walking under the shade of pergolas (i. e. latticed frames of wood, the roofs of which were fretted with innumerable and rich clusters of grapes) surrounded by fig and peach trees full of fruit, you would often find in the evening the whole ground strewed with broken branches, their fruit quite crushed, and hardly a leaf left upon them. Note (E.) page 231, line 19. Agiie and fever. We were induced, by the opinion of several persons to whom we related this indisposition, to believe that it was most probably brought on by the sudden transition from the intense heat of the shores of the Lago Maggiore to the equally intolerable cold of the Simplon. Mr. B. was not provided with that additional clothing which might have obviated the ill effects of the latter. The complaint, however, went off very quickly in the subsequent health- inspiring air of Switzerland. Note (F.) page 237, line 8. Mont St. Bernard. Before Bonaparte formed his magnificent passage across the Simplon, one of the principal roads from Swit- zerland into Italy lay over this grand mountain. Our line of road did not permit us to visit it, which we much regretted. It was always highly interesting, from the histories, both ancient and modern, which belong to it. By this route it is supposed that Hannibal led his army 368 NOTES. over the Alps ; not by softening the rocks with vinegar, but by refreshing his fatigued troops by a mixture of it with water. He is said also to have founded here a splen- did temple, dedicated to Jupiter. It is certain that se- veral remains of antiquity, medals, inscriptions, sacrificial instruments, &c. have been found here, and are pre- served in the museum at Turin. That the modern Han- nibal, with or without vinegar, led his army over the St. Bernard, we too well know. Of the baths of Loesche, in the Upper Valais, we also heard much ; but of these, as well as the Grand St. Bernard, I can only speak from the description of others. Notwithstanding the difficult roads which lead to the baths, they are much frequented, and are, we were told, justly celebrated for their salutary effects. It must be truly curious to see water too hot to bear the hand in, of the temperature of 43 degrees of Reaumur (boiling water being 80), springing from the earth in the midst of this icy country; a phenomenon, however, with which those travellers who have frequented still colder parts of the world are perfectly well ac- quainted. This water has the peculiar quality of restor- ing faded flowers to life and freshness, and of preserving them so for some time, when one would rather imagine that it would boil them. I do not here mean to offer a poetical allusion to female beauty, but merely to relate a literal fact. The mode of bathing is too singular not to men- tion, although I cannot say much of its delicacy. There are four square open divisions, in which twenty or thirty persons of both sexes (attired, as properly as may be, in flannel dresses) bathe all together. They sit very com- fortably for half an hour, with a small desk before each, upon which they have their books, and little planks are NOTES. 369 seen floating on the water, full of holes, in which fragrant flowers and branches of verdure are inserted. Note (G.) page 238, line 12. A celebrated ivaterfall Cascade of the Pisse Vache. There are several of the same name in Switzerland ; but this, I believe, is reckoned the most remarkable. In the neighbourhood of these mountains, one sees with plea- sure the industry of man repaid by considerable fertility. The cottages are comfortable, and surrounded with orchards of various fruit-trees. The natural and un- grafted cherry, called merise, is much cultivated in these parts. It is from this fruit that the famed Jcirschenwasser, or cherry- water, is made, and which is not only an agree- able cordial, but a valuable medicine among the pea- santry, subsisting, as they do, so much upon a crude and milky diet, not easy of digestion. It was offered to Mr. B. during his illness, by a rustic host, with strong com- mendations. Note (H.) page 268, line 17. Glaciers. The height of these glaciers, at their utmost point, is 9268 feet above the level of the sea. Voltaire might well say, " Ces monts soiucilleux, Qui pressent les enfers, et qui fendent Ics cieux." But there is another point of view in which the natural philosopher will contemplate these stupendous mountains with admiration and gratitude : I mean as being the im- B B 370 NOTES. mense and inexhaustible reservoirs of those springs and rivers which make so essential a part in the beautiful and beneficial economy of nature. IQ these particular regions will be found the sources of the Rhone, the Rhine, and the Tessin, with a multitude of other rivers ; and some idea of the enormous quantity of water that they produce may be formed from the known fact, that the magnifi- cent lake of Geneva (measuring above twenty-six square leagues) is raised ten feet and a half, by the mere melt- ing of the snows during the summer. Strawberries of the finest flavour may be gathered almost at the very edge of the ice, and the adjoining woods are full of wild flowers, Note (I.) page 271, line 14. Mines of gold, silver, and lead. It has been thought by some, that it is not so much from the poverty of the state as from a moral policy that the exploration of these dangerous productions has been purposely discouraged. This is the nobler reason of the two. Haller (the favourite poet of the Swiss) in his poem on the Alps, exclaims, " The shepherd of the Alps sees these treasures flow beneath his feet what an ex- ample to mankind ! he lets them flow on." And he feels a security in the rude simplicity of his country, that holds out nothing to tempt the invasion of avarice or ambition " Tout son front he'risse', n'offre aux desirs de 1'homme Ricn qui puisse tenter 1'avarice de Rome." Crebillon, dans Rhadamiste. NOTES. 371 Note(J.) page 273, line 11. For which this place is celebrated. Among other interesting objects to be seen here are the cabinets of natural history of Monsieur de Saussure, so well known for his scientific and enterprising researches, and of Monsieur de Luc. Petrifactions of the oursis, or sea hedgehog, and of the corni d'ammon, are preserved in this collection, which were found in the Alps of Savoy, 7844 feet above the level of the sea. Note (K.) page 275, line 12. Powerless and inadequate. It will not, I am sure, be unacceptable to the reader if I here transcribe part of the beautiful description to which I have alluded. Speaking (in Letter 23) of the exhilarating but soothing effect of the mountain air, he says " II semble qu'en s'elevant au-dessus du sejour des homines, on y laisse tous les" sentimens bas et ter- restres; et qu'a mesure qu'on approche des regions etherees, Tame contracte quelque chose de leur inalter- able purete : on y est grave sans melancholie, paisible sans indolence, content d'etre et de penser. Les jjaisirs y sont moins ardens, les passions plus moderees. Tous les desirs trop vifs, s'emoussent ; ils perdent cette point aigue qui les rendent douloureux ; il ne laissent au fond du comr qu'une emotion legere et douce, et c'est ainsi qu'un heureux climat, fait servir a la felicite de 1'hommc, les passions qui font ailleurs son tourment." Without being so unfortunate as to possess Rousseau's irritable temper and fiery passions, any person of sensibility must 372 NOTES. be forcibly struck by the truth of these remarks, in pass- ing through the same scenes. Note (L.) page 201, line 21. Lake of M or at. This lake in severe winters freezes sufficiently to bear the heaviest loads. There is a popular and vulgar idea in the country, that whoever falls into this lake can no more be recovered; but another quality attached to it (of rather superior probability) is, that its fish are of so excellent a nature, as to sell, in time of Lent, at two creutzers a pound dearer than those of any other. One cannot see without surprise, and even a degree of indig- nant concern, that the ancient chapel, containing the bones of the Bourguignons, slain by the Swiss (then the allies of Louis XI.) in 1476, should be no longer in existence. These remains of mortality were, when we beheld them, thrown upon the ground, totally unshel- tered from the air, in a most careless and irreverent manner. Formerly (I have heard) the inhabitants of Morat used to celebrate the anniversary of this national triumph with feast and song. Voltaire, in his " Melange de Poesies," alludes to this triumph of liberty in some truly elevated lines. Note (M.) page 293, line 2. Tan-coloured wood. This is the cleft fir of which the cottages here are con- structed. They have galleries running round the outsides, protected by the projecting roofs. Sometimes thatch is used ; but in the more mountainous parts of the country NOTES. 373 they are tiled (if I may be allowed the expression) with pieces of slit wood, which are kept firm by the weight of large stones lying upon them : the whole having a most picturesque appearance. The wide projection of these roofs not only secures their galleries from the snows, but affords convenient shelter for their fire-wood and various other articles. A granary is sometimes built over the dwelling-rooms at the top of these houses, which is ren- dered attainable by means of a sort of bridge (moveable, I rather think), upon which we ourselves witnessed the singular spectacle of a cart and horses conveying a load of grain to this exalted store-chamber. These wooden fabrics, although one would not suppose so, are warmer than those of brick or stone ; but then, in case of fire, its ravage is dreadful, from the quantity of turpentine con- tained in the fir planks. Note (N.) page 295, line 24. The Alps. The Alps of Switzerland are certainly the highest points of Europe. But however elevated these moun- tains may be, and removed as they now are, a hundred leagues from the sea, there can be no doubt of their having once been covered by its waters. This is clearly demonstrated by the fossile maritime remains which arc found in some of their highest parts, as well as by those of shells, fishes, and animals, now only existing in other quarters of the globe. What astonishing changes the surface of our earth has undergone in periods anterior to the Mosaic history, may be contemplated from the cir- 374 NOTES. cumstance of the petrified trunk of the palm-tree, and the bones of elephants, being found in Siberia. Note (O.) page 1308, line 1. William Tell. Although the limited time for our tour did not permit us to visit either the Lac de Thoun, or the village of Kussnacht, both of them consecrated in the eyes of the Swiss, by the chapels built there in memory of Guil- laume Tell, travellers must not leave Switzerland without some mention of this renowned patriot. It was at the latter place that the tyrant Ghessler fell by his hand. There is (we were told) a tolerably painted representa- tion of the occurrence on the walls of the chapel, and under it the following inscription in German verse, the French translation of which is this : " lei a etc tue par Tell, 1'orgueilleux Ghessler. Ici est le berceau de la noble liberte des Suisses, 1307. Com- bien durera t'elle ? Encore long terns, pourvu que nous ressemblions a nos ancetres." Note (P.) page 215, line 13. The rhododendron. This is the rhododendron ferruglneum, which is not much cultivated in our gardens. Note (Q.) page 216, line 18. Over the doors. What a stupendous conception must the reader form to himself of this range of mountains, when I tell him, NOTES. 375 that the ascent and descent make together forty-two miles. Note (R.) page 312, line 25. Soleure. Near Soleure is the hermitage of St. Frene. No tra- veller, I am assured, should miss seeing this beautiful and romantic spot. That we unfortunately did so was owing only to our not having been previously aware of its existence. Note (S.) page 332, line 12. Avenue as usual. I ought (in justice) to have recollected, when I ex- claimed so much against them, that hi forming these roads, convenience, not taste, was consulted. No one can be more grateful to the powers of convenience than myself; but it is difficult to reconcile a lover of the pic- turesque to so cruel a divorce between the utile et dolce. THE END. LONDON: PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRJARS. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. C/D LD-URl in MMI ii iiiiiiiiinpi A 000027964 6 r: ^^vi L