YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Wear III mnv0pti VOLUME I. YEAR IN EUROPE. COMPRISING A-^©is?3Bii^iL ©s* (Si'mm^wsi.^m'm^ r.XGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, FRANCE, SWITZERLANlx . THE NORTH OF ITALY, AND HOLLAND. In 1818 and 1819. BY JOHN GRISCOM, P»>.0FES30B OF CHEMISTRY AND NATUHAL PHILOSOPHY IN THH N. YORK IKSTITIJ. TIOK ; MEMBER OF THE LIT. AND PHIL. SOCIETY OF REW-YORK, &C. IJV TWO VOLUMES. VOL. L Seto=Porft: PUBLISHED Br COLLINS & CO. AND E. BLISS & E. WHITE, N. YORK; n. C.^CAREy & J. LEA, PHILADELPHIA; AND WELLS & LILLY, BOSTON. Printed hy A Paut. 72 JVaBBau-stretl. 1823. Southern Dutrlct of JVeio- Yoi-h, as. BE IT REMEMBERED, Ihat on the sixth day of August, in the forty-eighth year of Ihe Independence of the United States of America, John Oriscom, of the said district, hath depoEi- led in this office the title of a book, the nght whereof he claims as Author, ' in the words foi- [owing, to wit: " A Tear in Europe, ^comprising a Journal of Observations in England, Scotland, Ireland. France, Switzerland, the North of Italy, and Holland, in 1818 and 1819. By John Griscom, Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philoaophy in the New-York Institution ; Member of the Xjiterary and Philosophical Society of New-York, &;c. In Two Volumes." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the Uoited States, entitled " an Act for the en couragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act enti tled *• an Act, supplementaey to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learnioe bv securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of desiffnine- engraving, and etching historical and other prints." JAMES DILL, Clerk of the Southern District of JVev}- York. PREFACE. The relations between America and Europe are be coming every day more interesting and important. The unexampled rapidity with which the commerce, agriculture, and arts of the United States are extend ing and increasing ; the extraordinary facilities now given to the social intercourse between the new and the old world ; and the unabated spirit of enterprize and industry, which prevails in many parts of Europe ; conspire to render these relations a concern of the greatest moment, — as tending, in no inconsiderable degree, to influence the tranquillity and happiness of a large portion of the civilized globej Under such circumstances, it must be considered, by persons conversant with human nature, as ex- , tremely desirable, khat the people on each side of the Atlantic, should become more intimately and perfectly acquainted with each other ; for it may, perhaps, be stated as a political, as well as social axiom, that the greater the intimacy, the greater probability of a cor dial and pacific uniojgf; — that many of the rancorous jealousies and deep rooted prejudices, which are so apt to prevail between nations, as well as sects and neighbourhoods, would soften into kindness, were opportunities afforded of studying the bright as well as the dark sides of each other's character. And it re quires but little ingenuity to perceive, that were there between nations a pervading sense of each other's merits, and a just feeling for each other's prosperity, it wduld be infinitely more difficult for the disaffected Vol. I. A 2 VI PREFACE. to bring about that condition of things, which is the most disastrous to human improvement, a state of open warfare, — and infinitely more easy to suppress the evil when it did prevail. From these considerations it will be admitted, that books of travels, when written under the proper quali fications, are among the most useful kinds of literature ; • — that they furnish the principal means by which dis tant communities and nations become acquainted with each other's peculiarities, by which the useful arts are extended, and morals and manners are rendered more diffused and impressive. It will be admitted also, that however beaten the track over which travellers may have passed, it is impossible to exhaust the stores of useful illustration, or to overcharge the picture of national and local re presentation, as long as truth and feeling guide the hand and qualify the pencil. It can never be said of the descriher of nature, and more especially of hu man nature, as it may of the orator who confines him self to some particular topic, that he has left nothing to be desired. So vast is the field of humanity, and so in finite are the shades which diversify the moral condi tion of the human race, that it is scarcely possible for two individuals to follow each other in the same, pre cise track of description. Not only do different ob- gervers see the same thing in different points of view. but each one has his particular sphere of observation, and will almost unavoidably throw some new light upon the subjects he attempts to elucidate. Hence every person who visits a foreign country will at once perceive, that, how diligent soever he may have been in studying that country through the medium of books. «— there is a continual variety of untouched descrip- PREPACE. VH tion, and that a small part only of the whole has heen laid before him; « But notwithstanding these obvious truths, the Au thor cannot assure himself, that, even by the most re flecting and liberal-minded readers, he will be deemed to have acted wbely ia exposing his sheets to the public eye. His jowrney was by no means undeptaken with a fixed intention of exhibiting its occurrences beyond the circle of bis family and friewds. ' The mo tives to the voyage, were tbe renovation of impaired heklth, and the hope of spending a short time in Eu rope, both profitably and agreeably. The rapidity with which the journey was perfijrmed, and the mul tiplicity of objects which engaged his attention, pre vented him from doing little more, while travelling, than to bestow a faithful attention to his note book ; ^ and since his return, other unavoidable avocations have delayed the filling up of the outMne ; but this delay, he trusts, has not been without its benefit, in the further development which time has given to some features of the narrative. The writer is aware that " A Year in Europe," in two volumes, thick octavo, may possibly startle the cautious reader, and induce him to infer, that it either contains a great deal of fanciful speculation, upon things hastily seen ; or that it consists of a prosing detail of what most persons already know. He also recollects the jocose threat of a venerable philo sopher in Milan, who, in pleasantly reproaching him for staying so short a time in that city, and in advert ing to the superficial habits and statements of many travellers, said : " If you go home and make a book, I will publish in the journals of Italy, that you were in the city of Milan only three days!" But not- Vlll PREFACE.. withstanding the danger on both hands, — of being either too dull or too fanciful, — the Author would sug gest to those who think that the size of the work is disproportionate to the period of the journey, the re flection, that in nothing is it possible to avail one's self of the advantages of industry, to a greater extent, than in travelling : — that, as it is very easy to spend months, and even years, in a single place, without exhausting the subjects of inquiry, — so is it possible by activity and diligence, to see and learn much in a very limited time. ^The objects which primarily engaged the writer's attention, were literary and benevolent institutions, prisons, manufactories, and distinguished works of art ; and, as far as opportunities were afforded, cha racters connected with such labours of ut^Uty and philanthrojpg^ Morals and religion were topics at all times interesting, and were not overlooked, when occasions presented for observation and inquiry. On the subject^fjnstUu tions, the Author believes he has been more full than any preceding American traveller in Europe. This part of his desfcriptions may appear to some readers, to have introduced a tautoloev of narration that had better been avoided. iBut, regard ing public institutions, as among the most intelligible evidences of the genius and character of a people, he thought it right to omit nothing in the details to the reader, which he deemed it important to notice in order to satisfy his own inquiries^ He has only to express the hope, that the peculiarities both of sub ject and of style, which may be perceived to have arisen from the nature of his associations, will be readily excused by the candid reader. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. — <5ftft!V* — PAGE LETTER I.— Voyage to England 9 J 1/ LETTER II. — ^LivEKPooL. — Custom House — blind school — V£. Ros- coe— Nelson's monument — Liverpool Institution' — fund for pre- o^redting' impositions — society of Friends — expensive commerce — increase of population — Athenseum and Lyceiun — botanic garden — gas light — ^hour of dining — hospitality 25 LETTER III. — Journey to Manchester. — ^Appearance of the town — manufactures — glazing house — printing factory. Akdwick. — cutting velvets— y. Dalton — Dr. Henry— <;ounlerfeit products — infirmary and lunatic, asylum — hotels — public baths — Chetham's hospital — collegiate chiifcB^— public amusements — ^population — science and learning — philosophical socjety — Lancasterian school — Sunday schools — pecuBilriB^lirdiaiect. . "^"T'^~"^~~_'-" _.' _ gg LETTER IV. — Journey to Birmingham. — Litchfield — Dr. Darwin — Uttoxeter — stage company — arrival at Birmingham — factoi-ies — buttons^tea-trays — snufi'-boxes — literary institutions — top of the coach — Warwick — coachmen — Blenheim — Oxford — general ap pearance — beautiful walks — colleges — libraries — students' dress — immorality — chalk, ffiot-^s^ricul ture — population— Henley — suc cession of villages^V^arrival in LoNDoljr. t ...... . 53 ^LETTER V. — ^LondonT^— first^nnrg^sions — yearly meeting of the society of Friends — British and^'Foreign Bible Society — Lord Teignmouth — SirJgseg^.Banks — conversations — Sir Humphrey Davy — House oftJOTnmoQS — Westminster Abbey — court of chan cery — speakers in Parliament — W. Wilberforce — Sir S. Eomilly — H. Brougham — Lord Castlereagh — Canning, &c. — reporters — luncheons — king's birth day — anniversaj2jgfJBiiJiiih~and.Poreign Schoel-Socifity-r=aexhihitlba-^"i£M3hildreB — Duke of Sussex — dinner — ^Benjamin West — his galleries — bazaar in Soho square. 65 T/ETTER VI. — London — country seats — Chingford church — proro gation of Parliament — procession — state coach, aud other equipa ges — Seneca Indians — British Museum — its endowment and con tents — Royal Academy of painting — West — Trumbull — Alston — Leslie — Newton — annual exhibition — its academicians and lec tures — Day's coUection — Tottenham, mineralogy and meteorology — Rundle & Bridge — diamonds and jewels — menagerie at Exeter Change — British G'dJllery in PaU- Mall— Bullock's Museum— West minster gas factory — the Tower and its various contents — Bo rough road school — Josephjjancaster— -charity children iir^t. PauPTCaSiEdTsri-- ^Society of ArE7iV.delphi — panorama of Athens ^^ity election at Guildhall — British freedom — West and East In dia docks — Isle of Dogs — Surry Institution — Sowerby's Museum — Greenwich — the hospital for invalids — Royal Observatory — .1. Pond, — the apparatus — large camera obscura — deaf and dumb school — Dr. Watson — school for the blind — PlijJasihKtqjJfi. Society itsjsuildings and operations — Chelsea hospital — Chantrey, and his eleganficufpture — ^EiHWood coUection of pictures in jfsfireted — London institution — dinner of the Royal Society at Greenwich — Bond-street — Dubourg's models — P. Colquhoun — Dr. Fothergill's CONTENTS. PAGE country seat— Elizabeth Fry — chemical factory at Stratford-— Coade & Sealy's artificial marble — sprinting by steam— British and Foreign School Society— Duke of Sussex— visitto Newgate with Elizabeth -F-iy — Westminster election — hackney coaches — -Lonr don streets — pavements — female degradation — splendour of the shops — supply of water — drainage— populatiojijjf London — mar kets — meat shops — public squares — royal parks 86 LETTER VII.— Departure from London.— Weather— Hounslow— large wagons— Slough — Sir W. Herschell— large telescope — con versation—Windsor CasUe — the King — furniture — Windsor park —Eton college — Wiltshu-e- Whitehorse hill— Bow wood — bar rows. Bath. — population — ^buildings — pump room — iastitutions — sedan chairs — good roa4fe;:;Jicaa4»5«feeels. Bristol. — Bedcliff church— cathedral— feTSnties.ofJBjistffl-thatched cottage— fine views— hot wells— R. Reynolds- Dr. Pritchard— commerce- river Avon — improvements in navigation — Clifton 146 LETTER VIII.— Barley- Wood Cottage.— Hannah More—her conversation, &c. — Wrington — Langford inn— provincial dialect of Somersetshire— Bridgwater— its antiquity — Taunton — cob cot tages — potwallopers — Honiton. Exeter — cathedral — goal and bridewell— Haidon hUl— fine view — Totness— Ivy-Bridge— Ply mouth — large ships — cost — Leskard — emigration to America-— ComwaU. Truro. — Carpet manufactory — smelting of tin — tin ore — revenue — Bumcoose ^"^ LETTER IX.— Cornwall.— MiNiNG-unitedmines—miningxaptains — raising the ore — difierent ores — ^veins or loads — underlie. — depth of mines — mine under the sea — products of mines — profit and loss — structure of mines — steam engines — adits — support of the sides and roof — labour of mining — morality of the miners — Scorrier — mineralogical cabinet — geology of Cornwall — antiquity of the tin mines — statistics — quantity of metal and value of the mines — Falmouth. — B. W. Fox — Truro philosophical society — Redruth — Grampound' — St. Austel — Polgooth — antiquities of Cornwall — - manners. Plymouth dock yard — market — varieties of fish — Mount Edgecumbe — Breakwater — smuggling — Dartmoor. Exe ter — mine of manganese — literary and philosophical institution — hospital — insane hospital — antiquity — agriculture of Devon — cider — Honiton — Mere — Fonthill — W. Beckford. Salisbury — ca thedral. Southampton 186 LETTER X. — Southampton. — Canute's lesson of humiUty — passage to Cowes^Netley Abbey — Cowes — Newport — Carisbrook castle — southern coast of the Isle of Wight — picturesque scenery — Niton.^— smaU church — seat of Earl Dysart — Shanklm — Brading — Ryde. Portsmouth — dock yard — dry dock — block machinery — Brunei — circular saws — Chichester — CoUins' monument — Gothic cross — ingenious charity — Arundel — VV orthing. Brighton. — Population — sea-bathing — shampooing — use of donkeys — packets , .._ for France •'¦; 223 IjETTER XI. — Passage to Dieppe. — Alderman Wood — French sail ors and gens-d'armes — examination at custom house — beggars — church — Normandy, cap — female barber — journey to Rouen — suspended lamps — cathedral of Rouen — convent or nunnery — table d'hote — Mount St. Catherine — bridge of boats — French di ligence — route to Parish-chalk formation — vineyards — Marly wa.- ter works — attachment to Bonaparte — preference to Americans — entrance of Paris — Sabbath evening — Elysian fields — Meurice's hotel— garden of Thuilleries — female delicacy— museum of the Louvre— statuary— picture gaUery— pont des arts— ascent of Ma- CONTENTS. page dame Blanchard — fiacres and cabriolets — Abb^ Gaultier — Count I'Asteyrie — Gau^en of Plants — Dr. Gall's lectures — ^vill^e of St. Denys — Montmorency — Montmartre — attack of the AUies on Paris — telegraph — Institute, its sittings — Luxemburg— paintings and garden — meeting with Friends — plain dress — Adet — Four- croy's sisters — Abbe Haiiy — his cabinet — ride to St. Cloud — the palace and garden — VersaUles — palace and garden — play of the fountains^-the water works — Grand and Petit Trianon — Vauque- lin — fete of St. Louis — vast concourse — singular amusements — balloon — Uluminations — Bishop Gregoire — Gymnastic school — school of mines — museum of French monuments — fountain of the elephant — Charles' philosophical apparatus — cemetery of Pere la Chaise — Institut Academique — Pr^res de la religion Chretienne — Professor Berzelius — J. Owen — Gay Lussac — cafFes and restau rateurs — river Seine — sale of books — caricatures — Boulevards — various shows— crowded streets — manner of keeping the Sabbath — state of religion and morals 23§ JjETTER XII. — Departure frim Paris — Essorme. Fontainebleau — the forest — gardens and palace — Nemours — Montargis — the Loire — Cosne — cannon foundery — female influence — LaCharite— Nevers — mendicity — Mouhns — fine country — wooden shoes — nuts — agricultilse^JSe of oxen — St. Gerand — Roanne — mode of spin ning in the fields — Mount Tarare — Puy de Dome — Tarare — ex tortion at inns — mine of Chessy — La Tour — arrival at Lyons — Rhone and Soane — amusements — museum — ^La Fourvieres — hos pital Antiquailles — Notre Dame de Fourvieres — chapel of St. Just — Catholic procession — sUk manufactory — metropolitan ehurch — curious clock — a dinner — streets and appearance of Lyons — an cient mosaic — La Charite-^oundling hospital-general hospital — coUege of Lyons — ancient aqueduct — republican cruelties — road to Geneva — Nantua — opinions respecting Bonaparte — Perte du Rhone. Geneva. --Moulinier — sectarian divisions — table d'hote — Rans de Vache — iptofessor Pictet — Dr. Marcet 29'£ LETTER XIII. — Geneva. — Professor de CandoUe — Mad. Vernet— jaunt to Chamouny — Savoy — BonneviUe — valley of the Arve — su- bhme scenery — water falls — St. Martin — Salenche — evening, and distant view of Mount Blanc — Char-a-Banc — St. Gervais — Ser- voz — Roman chateau — Chamouny — Glacier de Bosson — tender ness of the guides — passage of the ice — the Priur^ — ^hotels — col lections of minerals and plants — ascent to La Flegere — Panoramic ¦view of Mount Blanc — Avalanches — Glaciere de Bois — icy cavern — disaster — Mount Blanc covered with ice — simphcity of manners — natural history of Mount Blanc— return to Geneva — president Vernet and famUy^professor Prevost — new literary institution — professor Jurine and his cabinet — academy of painting — models of the Alps — Mrs. Marcet — Alderman Wood — evening party at pro fessor Pictets — credulity-Mrrival of twoEnglish^cranpanjgps. . 334 LETTER XIV. — Geneva.— ffisane"^'ylurii— prison — pauperism — school of mutual instruction — departure — fine scenery on the laae — Coppet — Madame de Stae] — Rolle — Merges. Lausanne.— t Benevolent English lady — prison — support of the poor — education;, savings banks — road to Vevey — superior vineyards — Vevey — ex^¦ cursion on the lake — castle C billon — numerous clocks — dress of the peasants — agriculture — Bulle— convent of capuchins, unclean ly and idle — Gruyere. Friburg. — Chanoine Fontaine — interest ing conversation — Pere Girard — museum of paintings, &c. — edu cation — hospital of Friburg — cretins — Jesuits' College — oppositioij^ to Pere Girard — situation of Friburg— canton of Berne — cu.wotis CONTENTS. PASE costume. Berne — Female exercises — Dr. Wyttenbach — libra ry and museum — HaUer — hospital of Berne — road to Hofwyl — establislunent of Emmanuel de FeUenberg — Vehrly — importance of such a system of instruction— count de Villevielle — village of Biechenbach — beauties of Berne— -Arburg — lake Bienne and J. J. Rousseau — merriment of the vintage — manner of coUecting the grapes — St. Blaise — Neufchatel — secretary Montmollin — captain Courant — hospital — wine press — public spirited citizens — merce nary soldiers— ascent of the Jura — extensive watch factory — Chaux-de-fond — trade in watches — Locle — M. Houriet — charity -School — aqueduct cut thEQiigh-tMnoaotainsEEdsScent of the Jura — Yverdun — -fegstallozi^d his^institiitip.n L Jh? characj^^ — Lausanne — return to GerievlP^Simond de Sismondi. . .~ 361 T>ETTEB XV. — Geneva. — Public voitures — pledges of a bargain, or arrhes — laws and government of Switzerland — ^professor Pictet — bibliotheque universel — beauties of Geneva — mechanical ingenu ity — departure for Milan — Thonon — BipaiUe — Vivian — St. Ging- oulph — canton of La Valais — St. Maurice — a hermitage — credul ity — murder of the Theban legion — cascade of the Pissevache — Martigny — great devastation by a. sudden flood — Goitre. Sion. — Hospital — companions in the Voiture — Glis — church and char nel-house — Brieg — ascent of the Simplon — Napoleon route — Geo logy — village of Simplon — gaUeries-^excellence of the road — Domo D'Ossola — Catholic superstition — Fariola— ^ake Mag giore — Borromean islands — Isola Bella — colossal statue of Borro- meus — Sesto— GaUei'ate — church and ceremony at Rho — arrival at Milaui — superb view from the cathedral 425 LETTER XVI.— Milan The great hospital— surgeon Moriji— the foundling hospital — the grand Duomo, its dimensions — statuary — tomb of St. Charles — his character — Monti, the poet — the nauma- chia — -"the echo — triumphal arch — picture^pf the Lord's Supper — the Zecca, or mint — count Moscati — the Brera — astronomical observatory — library — Acerbi — thte prison — ^^school of Mines — hospital of Trivulzi — ^Ambrosian- lihrairy- — Angelo Mai, his disco veries — Petrarch's copy of Virgil — dress of the Milanese — mendi city — populatioH— departure for Pavia — canal — church of Certusa — Pavia^the university, professors, and course of instruction — the hospital — towers — river Ticino — the Po — stage company — a Ci- cisbeo — Vo^i«« — out-door work of women — poor peasantry- plain of Ma^engd — Tortona — cultivation — fine .effect of the Italian language— piorais — passage of the App§pines — Voltagg^o — the Bochetta.^Campoma.rone — fast day — a^cjuaijrel — arrival at Genoa — ^beauty of the country and prospect/^ . / . . .- . . . . 459 IjETTER xvii.— Genoa.— The w"eatl^r— English f^Uy— a steam boat — the university — its classes— teadiri^ room — light house — palace of Doria — ^the great hospital--i*mniacs— ^oUfce of Genoa — church of St. Andrews — San Stopharib — a dinn^r^-monks and priests — small-pox — streets of GenoaV/schools for deaf and dumb — palaces — Albergo de Poveri — statue of Michael Angelo — cli mate of Genoa — markets — arbutus nnido — departure for Marseil les in a steam-boat — the crew — beautiful scenery of the coast , curiosity excited — *mbarrassment — saline d'hyere — the sabbath isles d'hyeres — orangeries — fig-trees — entrance of Marseilles — surprise at seeing a steam-boat . .406 A YEAR IN EUROPE. -*>-'&«- LETTER I. ^hip Pacific, at sea, ith month {April) 1th, 1818. My dear ***** AND ****, BY the pilot, who left us about 10, a. m. yester day, I transmitted a short account of our progress from the time of leaving you, on the preceding after noon. We had just finished our breakfast, and were beginning to experience that agitation of the ship, which generally proves so distressing to novices at sea. We took our dinner, however, at 4 o'clock, (the regular hour on board our ship) and remained nearly all the afternoon on deck. The wind was easterly, but not so much ahead as to prevent us from proceeding directly on our track. Sandy-Hook and the adjacent shores of New-Jersey and Long Island, were gradually vanishing from the sight ; but the high land of Navesink still continued within our horizon when night closed upon us. The wind, you may recollect, had blown strongly from the east for several days before our departure. The ocean had been wrought by it, into an irregular bro ken kind of movement, the effects of which, upon my Vol. I. 1 10 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. system, I at length found it impossible to resist. I sought repose in my state-room at an early hour, and passed a tolerably comfortable night. Upon coming on deck this morning, I found that we were fairly launched on the rotund surface of the mighty deep. The wind had veered so much to the northward, as to enable us to lay our course, and to advance at a rapid rate. Several vessels left the Hook nearly at the same time with ourselves; one of them was bound to the same port ; but the superior sailing of our ship, especially during a steady and strong breeze, was soon observable. The painful and most distressing sensation of sea sickness continued throughout this day, so as to de prive me of all real enjoyment of the majestic scenery of sky and ocean. The night was to me restless, feverish, and trying in the extreme. 8th. I was confined to my birth most of the day. The wind was strong, and the weather cloudy. Tbe motion of the ship was very great ; pitching some times with tremendous force downwards, as if plun ging directly into the bosom of a mountain wave ; and then darting upwards with the celerity of a bird, and rearing her bowsprit to the skies. The force of habit upon the body is wonderful. So novel were these sensations to me, and so distressing to my whole frame, that as I lay in my birth to-day, under the effect of constant and irremediable nausea, I felt dis posed to condemn commerce altogether, as a revolt against nature and Providence, and almost to wish I could have it in my power, on getting ashore, to put a stop to navigation, and to confine people on terra firma, where they might enjoy their appetites. But VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 1 I while I was thus harassed and enfeebled by a most debilitating sickness, our sailors were not only alert on the deck, but, when occasion required it, even when the ship vi^as most violently tossed, would run to the topmast, spring out upon the yards, reef or Hnreef, without experiencing any emotion of the stomach, except, perhaps, that which sharpens the desire for food and drink. 9th. The wind continues fair, and our motion rapid; but the weather' still cloudy. I was unable to enjoy the society of my fellow passengers, from continued and unabated sickness. I spent much of the day on deck, sitting wrapped in a thick coat and fur cap,indul- ging the almost forlorn hope that things would mend. 10th. Still proceeding with a fine breeze. A bet ter night; though not much relief has been obtained from the still predominating distress of the stomach. Its digestive power seems to be lost ; and whatever is taken, appears to ferment, filling the mouth with a taste like that of impure vinegar. This afternoon we spoke a French brig from Havre de Grace, sixty-one days out, bound to New- York. This was the first incident of the kind, and it served in some measure to relieve the monotony of sick days and nights. II th. The wind not quite so high as it has been. The ship has rather less motion; but food has little, or no relish. We have been floating for two or three days in the gulf-stream, in which the temperature of the water, as we have proved by trial, is 30° higher than it is just beyond its limits. That sucb avast current of water should perpetually flow bom. the ^ulf of Mexico, and spread itself so far toward the north and east, appears accountable only on the posi- 12 VOYAGE TO ENGLANC tion, that the trade winds are as constantly driving into that immense basin a body of warm water from the equatorial region of the Atlantic ; which, there accumulating, finds an outlet round Cape Florida, and sets to the northward until it mixes with the water of the Arctic Sea. The warmth of the air over this stream, corresponds with that of the water. Our thermometer has been at 70°. This heat in creases the unpleasant effluvium of the ship, relaxes the system, and retards recovery. 12th. We had a fierce gale of wind in the night,. accompanied with vivid lightning and heavy rain. The sea broke over the ship with prodigious force, and appeared as a continued shower, or rather storm, of fire; as if sparks and burning cinders from a neigh bouring chimney or house on fire, had blown directly across the deck. This was owing to that quality in the water of the sea called phosphorescence ; which, it is^ known, is produced by various marine insects of dif ferent sizes and species, affording light of various degrees of intensity and colour. In the midst of the- storm a phenomenon occurred, which drew the atten tion of all on deck ; and which is so seldom seen, that our captain does not distinctly remember, that he had ever before fairly witnessed it, though he has been a seaman more than twenty years. This was the ap pearance of balls of fire, resting on the top of one of the masts, and on the ends of one or two of the yards. The sailors call them corposants.* They exploded, shortly after their first appearance, with a most vivid splendour. This is doubtless an electrical effect, analogous to what is produced in a small way, by fixing * Cor-po SoMto. Ital. A holy body; from their being formerly consjdered as an omen of a prosperous voyage. voyage to ENGLAND. 13 points to the prime conductor of a machine well ex cited ; or, by presenting a pointed body to the con» ductor, when the machine is at work in a dark room. On such occasions as this, it demonstrates a highly electrical condition of the atmosphere. Notwithstanding the violence of the storm and wind, the motion of the ship was not so much in creased as I should have expected; but this was owing to her being kept steadily before the wind, which happened to come from a quarter favourable to our direct progress. All the sails were taken in before the storm arrived at its height; but not until one of them, (an eld sail,) had been split to pieces. Being myself too ill and enfeebled to leave my birth, to witness the sublime appearances of this storm, I am indebted to my very intelligent friend and fellow- passenger Dr. F. who remained on deck during the whole of it, for an account of the principal pheno mena. I was awake while it lasted : but felt, as it regards personal danger, a calmness and confidence for which I desire to be thankful. The storm blew over, and the sails were again set before sun-rise. This being the first day of the week, and the weather having cleared up pleasantly, it was proposed to the passengers assembled oh the deck, that one should read aloud for the benefit of the rest. This being readily assented to, the last of Dr. Chalmers's discourses was read by a Scotch gentleman, who informed us he was present when they were delivered. We were proceeding to read a recent sermon by the same author, when a man at the mast-head cried out, " An island of ice on the lee bow." From the great change we had experi- 2 * 14 VOYAGE TO ENGLANP. enced in the temperature of the air and water, we, had reason to expect the existence of floating ice at no great distance; and a good look out was maintained for it. Mounted on the windlass, I could distinctly see this island, like a white mass in the horizon. In a short time we approached it within a few miles. Its apparent height was forty or fifty feet, and its base on the water, perhaps three-hundred feet in length. It resembled a beautiful hill or prominence, covered with snow. Its sides appeared to be perpendicular, so that the imagination could easily transform it into a castle of white marble, with its towers and turrets on the summit. It appeared, as far as we could judge by the eye, to be immoveable, but it 'was no doubt subject to the agitation of the waves. The breaking of the sea against it, produced a spray, which rose to a great height, and exhibited a splen did appearance. In the course of a few hours, five or six other masses appeared, some of which we approached, much nearer than the first. There was something of the terrific mixed with the grand, in the emotion produced by the sight of these prodigious piles of moving ice, the greater portion of Avhich must lie beneath the surface and out of sight. Se veral vessels have been destroyed by running against them in the night. As the moon shone till midnight. and the wind was not high, the captain thought it safe to keep on his course. Under different circumstan ces, he would have taken in sail and lain to. If pro per attention were always paid by navigators to the indications of the thermometer, it is probable that all danger from floating ice, at least in the passage between Europe and America, would be entirely VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 1 5 avoided. The diminution of temperature, both df the sea and air, in approaching those large masses, afibrds a sufficient warning oftheir proximity. About '2 o'clock to-day we met and spoke the ship Jane of Philadelphia, out sixteen days from Liver pool. I do not know that I was ever more surprised at my own involuntary emotions, than at the moment when the name and destination of this ship were an nounced to us, from the trumpet of her captain. Cut off, as we were, by a waste of waters, from the social endearments of country and homcj and all the tender sympathies of friends and children; wandering in a soUtary and trackless way, where all around us was an utter blank in relation to human beings ; and with sensibilities unusually excited by the novelty of our situation, and uncertain of the extent of its duration— to meet with others in the same circumstances^ and they our countrymen! I can only appeal to those whom experience has instructed, whether the sympa thetic tear, which I found it almost impossible to re strain, was nature or mere weakness. The secret hope, too, that you would hear of us by this ship was not without its effect, in the impressiveness of the moment. 13th. The wind has been very high most of the day, but directly in our favour. At 12 ©''clock we had made, by our log, 250 miles in the last 24 hours. The sea has been very rough, and the pitching and tossing of our frail vehicle excessively great ; but I have so far recruited as to enjoy the magnificence of this grand conflict of winds and waters. We have but one female in the cabin, and she, like myself, was never at sea before. Her illness has been of longer IS VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. continuance than mine. She is not yet able to sit up. There are five women in the steerage, one with two children, and another with three, two of the lat ter being twins about seven months old. This poor woman left Europe with a husband, whom she had married against the advice of her parents, to try their fortunes in America. In New- York, under pretence of seeking employment in Canada, he left her a short time before the birth of her twin children, and, asso ciating himself with worthless and dissolute company, abandoned her to the world. She is returning to her parents ; and, as if a life of trouble and hardship were a guarantee against temporary and incidental evils, she takes care of her children, and appears to be less affected with the confinement and agitation of the ship, than many of the other passengers, 14th. We have been at sea eight days; and, ac cording to our reckoning, we have accomplished more than half our journey ! The variety of the table begins to have its attractions, and we have an abundant sup ply of live fowl and other fresh provisions. One of our hogs one day jumped out of his pen, (the long^ boat fixed in the middle of the deck, serving both as a pigsty and sheepfold,) and ran about the deck. One of the men endeavoured to drive him back; but, with blind perverseness, he aimed for a port hole, and plunged into the sea. The poor animal continued swimming on the tossing waves as long as we could see him^ 1 6th. We were accosted this morning by a French brig from Cherbourg, and requested to wait ten mi nutes. The sails were backed, and the French cap tain came on board in his boat. The object was to VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 17 sencl two letters to France ; to which we had no ob jection. He was bound to the banks of Newfound land after fish. 17th and 18th. The wind for these last two days has been ahead, and has blown with much force. Time would pass tediously, but fijr the inexhaustible entertainment which books aflford. 19th. In the course of this forenoon, the captain on deck cried out to the passengers below — " Fish ! thousands of fish !" As I had not seen even the gleam of a fish during the passage, I hastened on deck. It was a shoal of porpoises. The sea ran in lofty bil lows, and, as far as the eye could distinguish objects, they were seen sporting on the tops of the waves, and chasing one another as playfully as kittens on the hearth. They played thickly around the ship. Their glossy brown skins, (appearing green just be low the surface of the sea,) their graceful and rapid movements, and their great numbers, rendered the sight truly pleasing, They were, at a medium, about 5 feet long. It has rained most of the day, the wea ther is cold, and the tossing of the ship very great. We are steering in the direction of the western islands, rather than for England. 20th and 2 lst. Weather and winds still unfavour able. The confinement even of a dungeon might be endured, if the night could be uniformly spent' in refreshing sleep. But how could a person be ex pected to sleep, if constantly rocked in a great cra dle, the top of which swept over one third of a cir cle ? Wakeful in one's birth at the midnight hour, when nothing is heard but the raging of the storm above, the creaking of the masts and joints of the ship, and the. hollow groanings of the surge as it 18 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. dashes and rolls along the sides within a few inches of the pillow on which one's head reposes — there is a solemnity in this which is not merely poetical. It would never fail to awe the boldest mind into an hum ble sense of human frailty and of the benignity of that Providence, which, at such an hour, supports and preserves him, had reason and feeling their due em pire in the soul. 22d. No material alteration in the winds and weather. Had the gales continued with which we were fevoured during the first week, we should doubtless have been in sight of the green fields of Erin before now. But with our present winds ano ther week, and perhaps another, must elapse before we hail the sight of land. 23d and 24th. It is almost impossible to remain on deck on account of rain, and the violent agitation of our vessel. What sympathy is not due to the poor sailors ! Wet or dry, through storm and tempest, they must be at their post, at least one half of them at a time, and occasionally the whole. The very great exposure which they have to sustain, and the absolute necessity of their being on the alert, ready to ascend to the topmast, or to run out upon the rig ging to the extremity of the yards, let the ship be pitching or rolling ever so furiously ; make it neces sary that they should be kept in good spirits : hence a resort to the stimulus of ^ro^ is conceived to be requisite. They have their regular allowance granted them by the captain, beyond which they cannot go while on board the ship : but is it a matter of sur prise that so many sea-faring men should become addicted to strong drink, and confirmed in habits of intemperance ? It is really a melancholy considera» VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 1 0 tkm, that of the thousands of this class, that devote their lives to so arduous and important a service, there should be so small a proportion that preserve a character of moral respectability. I speak of com mon sailors. The number I fear is very small, who save from their wages a sufficient sum to enable them to spend much time on shore, in a situation of com fort and improvement, or to secure a decent compe tency in sickness and declining age. The demora lizing tendency of a sailor's life is truly to be de plored. That they who occupy the most exposed, the most toilsome and dangerous situation, in the wide range of human pursuits, and who have therefore the greatest reason to recognise and invoke the protec tion of an overruling Providence, should be in effect the most regardless of that Providence, and by the immorality of their lives, so generally bring upon themselves the reproach and neglect of the world, is a consideration painful to humanity. There are two causes which powerfully operate in this pro cess of degradation, — the free indulgence in intox icating liquors, and the habitual use of bad language. Is it not morally impossible, that the sentiment of veneration for the Deity should be cherished by him, who perpetually associates the name of his Maker with the most frivolous, as well as the most passion ate impulses of his mind .-* The practice of swear ing, I cannot but consider as inevitably demoralizing. Greatly is it to be desired, that the benevolent spirit of improvement, which is so conspicuous a feature of the present times, should be directed to this class of the community. If a moral debt be due from one part of society to another, I cannot but believe that they who enjoy the blessings of ease and knowledge, 20 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. and a due sense of the benefits of religious cultiva tion, ought to consider themselves bound, as far as practicable, to alleviate the condition of sailors, more especially in relation to their moral and reli gious improvement. It is a great mistake to suppose that a ship cannot be conducted and governed with out an habitual violation of the third commandment. Experience has amply proved the reverse. Many of the whale ships which annually sail from Nan tucket, are commanded by members of the society of Friends, who will suffer no harsh and vulgar lan guage to be used. Captain Allen, who was gone thirty-two months on one of these perilous voyages, stated on his return, that he had not heard an oath on board of his ship. Marine Bible Societies may do much good ; but associations for conferring the advantages of a virtuous and enlightened education, on young men destined to become mates and cap tains of ships, would, in my opinion, be productive of the greatest benefits. 25th and 26th. The wind still blows heavily from the same opposing quarter, with frequent squalls of rain. I have tried to console myself with the reflec tion that, though adverse to us, this wind is as much in favour of our New-York friends as against them. Our captain thinks the Amity has arrived by this time at New-York. How frequently does it happen in the voyage of life, that the same course of events which seems to thwart our purposes, promotes the pros perity of others, and advances the general good. This reflection ought to soften the edge of our com plaining. 27th. We have had a blustering nigHt ; very high wind, accompanied with hail. The motion of the ship VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 21 snore violent than ever. On ascending the deck before breakfast, I found the wind had shifted to the northward, and that we were steering pretty directly for the Channel. We indulge the hope of getting into soundings to-morrow. The sea, "curling its mon strous waves" nearly half mast high, and splashing across the ship at mid-decks, involves, in the comforts of a cold salt water shower-bath, all who happen to be in that part of the vessel. 28th. After sailing for weeks under reefed main sail and topsail, and frequently no canvass at all at the mizzen-mast, and the wind hlow'mg from England, it was cheering to learn this morning, that we were going directly forward with a fair wind, and with top-gallant and studding sails spread to the breeze. The sun sometimes appeared, and gladdened us with his beams. I do not think he has risen once with out clouds during the passage. At 4 p. m. sounded and struck the bottom at 85 fathoms ! 29th. A fair wind all night — Weather hazy, with showers of rain. 10 a. m. — No sign of land, though by our reckoning we must have passed Cork : but the weather is too misty to see far ahead — 55 fathoms of water this morning. JYoon. — Spoke a small sloop bound to Waterford : they tell us we are but a few miles from the Irish coast — Very misty with showers, 1 p, M. — The mountains of Ireland are now in full view through the haze. Our reckoning has been surprisingly correct, con sidering that we have been obliged to depend almost entirely on the log. There have been very few op portunities for observation. Vol. I. 2 22 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. Half past 2.-— Came up with and spoke a ship from New- York, bound to Dublin, which left her port as the Pacific entered it. The captain spoke her at Sandy-Hook, going out as he was going in. In order to clear the rocks on the Irish coast, we have been obliged to steer out into the Channel, and have lost sight of the land. Half past 5. — Abreast of the Sal- tees, large masses of rock, like islands, several hun dred feet in length, at some distance from the shore. We passed within gunshot of a rock, which appeared just ^bove the surface, like a large porpoise. The dashing of the waves against it, raised a prodigious spray discernible for miles. It is extremely danger ous, but it is well laid down in the charts. 7 o'clock. — In sight of the lighthouse on the Tuscar rock. This rock is about 5 miles from Carnsore Point, on the Irish coast, and opposite St. David's-Head in-Wales. The Channel is here about 40 miles wide. 30th. The mountains of Wales were distinctly seen skirting our eastern horizon this morning, while the high hills of Wicklow in Ireland, were still more conspicuous in the west. 9 A. M. — We are now between Dublin and Holy head, the two principal places between which the packets ply to and from Ireland, A land bird, fatiguejl in its passage, has just alighted on the deck. Considering the weather, we have really made an extraordinary passage; twenty-two days fi-om landv to land, and twenty-five on board the ship. There have been nine passengers in the cabin. My young friend and room mate, J. B. S. has, like myself, fully sWed in the distresses incident to a first sea voyage, VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 23 but has borne up under their depressing effects with much patience and firmness. Dr. F. has proved an interesting companion. We have an English captain returning with his wife from Canada. He is good-na tured, but savours too strongly of the camp. F. a Scotch passenger is an intelligent man, and evinces in his deportment the influence of a Scotch education. G. a young Englishman from Canada is a modest and decent young man. The other two are Irishmen, one a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the other a traveller, trader, or Je ne sais quoi. 9 p. M. — The wind has been «o much ahead and so strong, we have done little more than double the Island of Anglesea, The day closes with mist and rain. 5th month 1st. 8 a. m. — Hard rain in the night, and still cloudy. No land in sight, but the wind has changed in our favour, and we are going on briskly. We have just taken a pilot on board, and as he is the first person we have seen immediately from the "land of promise," he has to undergo the keen inspection of our sea-beaten company, and to submit to a multi tude of questions. The Courier is to sail this day; we hope to meet her and forward our letters. The tide will not serve to pass up the river Mersey, till towards dark. As the hour of debarkation ap proaches, our mental excitement becomes more vivid. The land we are to set our feet upon, — is it difierent from our own in appearance ?' Do the customs and manners of the inhabitants resemble those of our own country ? Shall we meet with a kind or a cool recep* tion.-^ While curiosity was thus excited, we could not but feel the impulse of joy and gladness in the 24 VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. anticipation of being so soon relieved from the dull monotony of the sea, and confinement of the ship, and left to the free exercise of our limbs, in a coun try where variety and novelty would conspire to interest us. 12 o'clock.— The clouds are dispersed, and the sun shines as it does in America. The scenery along the coast is very fine. The hills rise into mountains. Penmanmaur exhibits its bold and rug ged front fully to our view, the snow covering its top and lodging in numerous hollows on its sides. Cul tivation has spread its charms to the very summits of the hills. Houses thickly scattered, hedges, fences, and green fields, are distinctly seen. Thus have%e^f within the same grasp of the eye, the di-eariness of winter and the smiling verdure of spring. The mouth of the river Dee is before us. We are under good way, expecting to reach the town about 8 or 9 o'clock. 5 p. M. — We are informed by a pilot-boat, that the Courier tried to get out, but was arrested in the river by the tide. We shall probably soon meet her; and therefore I can add but little more. We are going in with the ship of Philadelphia, after a passage of^^rty'-six days ; nearly double the time that we have been out. We have been remarkably favoured, by that hand which guides the movements of the winds and waters; and while the Atlantic rolls between us, I desire that the feelings of sincere gra titude may pervade my inmost bosom. LIVERPOOL. 25 LETTER n, Liverpool, 5th month UHayy Sth, IBl'S) My DEAR ***** AND ****, Our arrival at this port, on the 1st, seemed to be welcomed by vernal smiles and a serene sky, .The mild gleamings of a May-day evening, floated around us, as we doubled the rock and ascended the Mersey. The captain of the Courier boarded us in his boat, took our letters, and shortly after hoisted his sails' and pursued his voyage. We anchored abreast of the town before it was dark. Ten or a dozen large windmills in motion, and the movement of a number of sloops, or lighters, with large red sails, struck us as features of peculiarity. We were boarded by seve ral boats, in which were the head servants of some of the inns, who presented us with cards, and solicit ed our company. The captain took us ashore in his boat, and abandoned us to the use of our legs on the soil of old England. But to walk with rectitude in our new situation, was an affair of greater difficulty than we had anticipated. So habituated were we to the vacillating movement of the ship, we could hardly avoid thinking that the gronnd ought to move up and down and sideways, as we placed our feet upon it. We reeled as if intoxicated with wine. Our progress was soon stopped by a large canal, which connects one dock with another. The bridge was hoisted to admit the passage of a vessel ; but the officer, with singular politeness, had it lowered for our accommo dation, and immediately raised it again. We took 2* 26 LIVERPOOL. lodgings at the Star and Garter, in Paradise-street, an inn, which, though not the most fashionable, was re commended to us as inferior to none in comfort,* In vain, during the first night, did we court the fa vours of Morpheus, The watchman called hour after hour, till he sounded three, and then it was broad day light, _ The rest of the passengers were quartered in the same house, and we found upon mutual inquiry in the morning, that not one of us had slept a wink the whole night. Like children, it will take us some time to get used to the absence of our cradle. Every American who has never before been in Europe, must be struck, on landing at Liverpool, with its sombre streets, its dark looking houses, its smo ky atmosphere — in short, with its great inferiority, in point of pleasantness, to most of our sea-port towns. These repulsive sensations by degrees subside, and entirely lose their influence, as the society, the institu tions, the public improvements, the wealth, and the taste of some parts of the town, become known. My letters introduced me to C. B. & Co. and R. H. & Co. whose houses are among the first, in commercial influ ence and respectabihty,^ in this place; the wealth and trade of which are inferior, I believe, to none in the kingdom, except the metropolis. Business is con ducted here, by some of the merchants, on a scale which, with us, would be called gigantic, C. B. & Co. have about forty persons regularly attached to the counting-room, and ten or a dozen more engaged in out door work. Sometimes the concerns of the house, require one or two hundred men to be em- *The Waterloo is now the best inn in liiverpool, and inferior to few in England. LIVERPOOL, 27 ployed about the ships and docks. In the second story, they appropriate a room to the purpose of treating their friends occasionally to a good dinner; though there is no one that sleeps in the house. They do it too in a very genteel style. It gave me plea sure to be. introduced, the next day after my arrival, to * ***** the son of our venerable New-Bedford friend, who was accidentally here. He has been long settled in England, and is well known in the higher circles of society. His manners possess that frank ness and kindness which characterize the family, with the ease and polish, that result from an acquaintance with the world. He accompanied me to the custom house, where I was on the point of being subjected to much difficulty and expense. My friends had fur nished me with a good stock of letters, mostly intro ductions, and many of them sealed. These the officer seized with the avidity of a harpy, listening to no re monstrance, and informing me, that I should have £5 to pay for every sealed letter. 1 followed him into the custom-house, quite indisposed to yield to his de mands, or to give up my letters. After a long expos tulation, he resigned to ine those that happened to have my name on the outside, and carried the others to the post-office. Thither we followed him, and on explaining the case to the postmaster, he restored to me all those that I assured him were of consequence to me personally, and let the others go into the mail. One of the clerks of R. H, & Co, who assisted me in obtaining my clearances, said he had never known the officers so severe in their scrutiny as on this oc casion ; but my friend * ***** who is intimately ac quainted with the collector, explained the mystery. 28 LrV^ERPOOL, An inspector had just arrived here from London, to inquire into the ship accounts of this toWh, and had found that one of the officers was a defaulter to a great amount, and that a considerable number of ships were altogether unaccounted for by his regis ter. The officer would no doubt be displaced and prosecuted for the deficiency. This had produced a great stir among them, and fully explained the rigour with which our trunks were examined. Ha ving got through this first and unpleasant part of a foreigner's concern, * ***** accompanied my two shipmates, (J. B. S. and Dr. F.) and myself to the asylum for the blind. We were conducted through the different apartments of that interesting charity. About one-hundred pupils, or patients, are here fed and instructed. They consist mostly of children and women, with but few men. In the first apart ment, the women were spinning and sewing. We asked one of the girls if she could thread her needle ; she answered, "Yes, I will show you,'^ — and put ting the head of the needle with the thread into her mouth, she brought it out immediately, com pletely threaded. She guided the end of the thread to the eye of the needle with her tongue, and pushed it through. In the other apartments they were ma king ropes, cords of silk, as well as window cords, weaving carpets and rugs, making baskets of willow, sacking, list and knit shoes, packthread, sail clothj tarred mats, &c. &c. Many of their articles are ma nufactured with great neatness. But the musical performances surprised us as much as any part of their exercises. A dozen pupils are taught to play together ; one on an organ, and each of the others on LIVERPOOL. 29 a piano. The perfect agreement with which their fingers flew over the keys, and the exact concord of tunes produced by so many blind musicians, were tru ly surprising. I asked one of the boys what they had been playing. He replied, " A hallelujah chorus." The whole number of pupils admitted into this asy lum, from its establishment in 179], to the termination of the year 1816, is 465; of whom 134 had been de prived of their sight by small-pox, 120 by inflamma tion, 57 by cataract, and only 7 by imperfect orga nization. Thirty-nine had been born blind. The other cases were from various accidents and dis eases. Forty pupils were discharged in the course of 1816; of whom more than one half were capable of maintaining themselves by the skill they had ac quired in the school. Two thousand pounds worth of goods manufactured in the institution, was disposed of during the same year. Having a letter to W^^Qscpe, Esq., a gentleman well known in the literary world, and deservedly es teemed here and every where for his learning and philanthropy, * ***** accompanied me to his office. He received me with great urbanity. He is a bank;^r. and a man of business. The coldness and reserve of the mere scholar, are completely worn off by his business habits, while the contracted "single aim" of the merchant, is softened, dignified, and ex panded by letters and an extensive intercourse with literary men. He has been a memberof parliament, and as such was an active and enlightened promoter of measures cailculated to advance the interests of general humanity. His person is tall, his figure manly and prepossessing, and beginning to assume 30 LIVERPOOL, the aspect of venerable from the influence of age. We had but little time for conversation in this our first intervie^Oi We thence went to the Exchange, a spacious range of buildings appropriated to the con cerns of trade. In the centre of the open area where the merchants assemble, is a monument erected to Lord Nelson. It is a costly and finely executed piece of work, but the style^ or rather the design of it, really appeared to me to deserve the epithet of bar barous. Nelson is leaning back in an uneasy posture, with one foot trampling on the carcass of a dead man. Death is seen with his marrow bones peeping from behind a shroud, and, reaching out his arm^ is grasp ing at Nelson's heart ! Beneath are four figures re presenting different powers of Europe, sitting round the monument in a forlorn posture, with their hands chained to the stone near the feet of the conqueror. There are many other figures in the group indicative of the triumph of victory, and grief for the loss of the victor. In short, this group of statues, of recent exe cution, and which displays exquisite skill in the artist, appeared to me to breathe a spirit, which would better befit the capital of a nation of which a Cortes or a Te- cumseh was the ruling chief The triumph of a Chris tian nation ought surely to be differently exhibited. On the 3d, 1 accepted the invitation of my friends R. to dine at^reenBaSk, the residence of their mother, about four miles from the town. The vehicle in which we rode, is called a car. It is managed by one horscj but will easily accommodate four persons besides the driver. The latter has an elevated seat in front : the body of the car is ascended from behind, and contains two side seatSj.the passengers sitting with their backs LIVERPOOL. 31 to the wheels. At dinner we were joined by Dr. T. a gentleman who holds a high rank in Liverpool as a physician, and equally so among the learned for his scientific attainments. After dinner, W. Roscoe came in, and we spent the afternoon and evening in a lively and interesting conversation ; the first which I had partaken of, in genuine English society. We were all willing to listen to R. and Dr. T. The sub-^ jects were various, but among them, the probability and utility of a north-west passage to the Pacific Oceanfine means of ameliorating the penal code ; asylums for the insane, &c. were prominent topics. The opportunity was to me highly interesting, and I have seldom spent a day more pleasantly. The mother of our friend is the daughter of the late Richard Reynolds, of Bristol, so distinguished for his benevolence. To our regret, she was not at home. Her husband was a gentleman of education and wealth, and of great respectability and influence in the mercantile affairs of the town. Their country residence at Green Bank gave us a very favourable impression of the rural taste of the English, A man sion with something of the Gothic in its structure, and very neat ; a lawn in front, sloping gradually to a fish pond, and ornamented with a variety of shrubbery ; a fine garden, containing a small but pretty conservato ry ; gravelled walks, verdant grass-plots, and borders of flowers, all gave a smiling air to the exterior of this abode, while the neatness of its interior arrange ment, evinced an equal share of enlightened taste, \We met by appointment, the next day, Roscoe and Dr, T. at the Liverpool Institution : a fine establish ment for the promofioiToiTGterature, arts, and science. 32 LIVERPOOL. It was opened about a year ago, by an eloquent dig- course from the former of these gentlemen, who is justly considered as the presiding genius of the place. It comprehends a spacious lecture room, a library, or reading room, a collection of natural history, a gallery of paintings, a laboratory, &c. It is liberally supported by subscriptions and donations.* The institution had just received an accession of fine casts from ancient sculpture, recently taken from the ruins of Phygalia, in Greece, They were deposited in the institution by Foster, Esq, of Liverpool, who is one of those that brought the original sculp ture from Greece. I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Dr. T, in this institution. He has been engaged during the winter in giving a course on natu ral history, to an audience of both sexes, a large proportion of whom are females. The number which usually attend is nearly three hundred : such is the taste here for literature and science, ^any of them are proprietors in the institution. Dr. T. is a plea sing lecturer, and quite a favourite with his female au ditors. His style is clear and plain, his manners open and modest, and he evinces an extensive acquaint ance with the different departments of natural history. It gave me pleasure to find in a conversation with W. Roscoe, at his office, that the subject of an ameli- * The origin and progress of this institution affords an incontestible evi dence of the liberality which here prevails in the promotion of literature and science. A prospectus of it was first laid before the citizens at a public meeting at the Liverpool Arms, in March, 1814. A committee was appoiiited to collect subscriptions, and in June foUowmg, they reported to another meeting that £20,200 had been subscribed. An appropriation "of £lOOO was al5o jaaAc by the corporation in furtherance of this interesting object. LIVERPOOL. 0^eix', and" the evening being pleasant, I immediately engaged a a guide, and spent two hours and a half in explc- ring the wonders, the curiosities, and the beauties^ of this ancient and renowned seat of learning. If any thing in art and antiquity, in Great Britain, can strike an American eye with delight and surprise, it will here be met with, probably, in its greatest per fection. The exterior of the colleges, presents an imposing aspect of antique greatness. The massy structure of the buildings, the number of statues, and the quantity of carved work within and with out, would seem to require the labour of ages. Every thing I saw was in a style of neatness. The yards, the gard^is, the interior of all the apartmetotSf. ^ JOURNEY TO LONDON. are kept in the greatest cleanliness and order. The walks are highly beautiful. A broad, gravelled pathway, with rows of high and majestic elms on each side, extends, in some cases, a mile in length, winding along the margin of a river or canal, and surrounding a beautiful meadow. The rooks build their nests on the tops of the trees, and fly about the college buildings, in great numbers, unmolested.. The painted or stained glass in the chapels, the tesselated pavethents, the carved ceilings, and the numerous fine paintings with which they have been ornamented, hold the eye and the mind long in ad miration. I was in the theatre, or rather amphithe atre, in which, the emperor of Russia, and king of Prussiia, received their honorary degrees, sitting on each side of the prince regent. In the~ library the sovereigns dined. On the table of this room, was an engraved figure, exhibiting the arrangement of the Escats atrtbe dinofir. _FromJhe_top of this build ings r had' a. fine panoramic view of the^ity. The students were seen walking every where. Their dress, to a stranger, appears very singular. It con sists of a black gown, worn over their other gar ments, and a cap of black cloth fitting the head closely, and to the top of which is fastened a flat square board, which they call a treneher, covered with the same substance as the cap, and resting horizontally on the head, with one corner in front, to which is suspended a few tassels. Its appear ance is rather picturesque and tasteful. Of the morality of some of the collegians, I had a most unfavourable specimen. Four or five of tbem came in the evening to the inn where I had JOURNEY TO LONDON'. €1 taken up my quarters, in the principal street in the town. They entered the coffee room, where two or three travellers and myself were sitting, enga ged in conversation. After surveying us and the room for some time, they went out, but shortly afte» ' returned, seated themselves in one of the recesses', into which one side of the room is divided, and or dered supper and drink. Their conversation soon assumed a very free cast, and' eventually took such a latitude, as I should' suppose would set all Billings gate at defiance. They abused the waiter, broke a number of things, tore the curtains that enclose the recesses — staid till near twelve o'clock, and then went off^ thoroughly soaked with wine, brandy, and hot-toddy^ I was told the next morning that two of them were noblemen ! Alas! for such an education as this. What can Latin and Greek, and all the store of learning and science have, to make amends, in an hour of retribution, for a depraved heart, and an understanding debased by such vicious indul gence.'* -I cannot but cherish the hope, that this incident does not furnish a fair specimen of the mo rals of the students* It will doubtless happen, that in so large a number as that here collected in the various' colleges, many will bring with them habits extremely unfavourable to morality and* subordina tion. But from the information derived from my guide, who was a moderate man, and certainly well informed with respect to the habits of the place, and from the observations which' forced themselves upon me, in my walk through the streets and gardens this evening, I am obliged to deduce the lamentable conclusion, that the morals of the nation are not 5* 62 JOURNEY TO LONDON, much benefited by the direct influence of this splen^- did seat of learnihg. 16th. Breakfasted at the inn, and took the Lon don coach at 9 a. m. The day was fine. I found - myself seated on the coach with a person of very genteel manners and address, whose profession, tl;iough very common in England, is scarcely known in the United States, They are called travellers. Their employihent is to be constantly journeying in the service of commercial houses, selling goods, re* ceiving and taking orders, collecting debts, &c. A large portion of the commercial business of the na tion, is done through their agency. My stage com panion informed me, that he had not remained more than a week at a time, at any one place, for ten^^ years. They are under great responsibility from the nature of their charge, and this secures theiy fidelity. They are generally communicative, and very intelligent with respect to subjects which natu- tion by Sir Humphrey Davy. I gladly accepted an invitation of two of my friends, both fellows of the R S., to go with them to day to a meeting of a committee of the society, which assembles annually at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, for the purpose of inspecting the in struments at that place, and reporting upon their condition. We met there about thirty persons, com* prehending the most active and learned members of that body. Among them were Sir Joseph Banks^ Earl Morton, Dr. Wollaston, Dr. Herschel, -Jame* Watt, Dr. Young, Sir E, Home, W, Allen, W. H. Pepys, C, Hatchett, W. Brande, Sir H. Englefield, Sir B, Hobhouse, and several other distinguished members of the society, with a few other persons ot note in the republic of science. After proceeding through the several apartments of the observatory, and examining the instruments, the company ad journed to an inn on the banks of the river, and par took of an exceUent dinner. The graver features of 126 LONDON. philosophy softened into the ease of social familiarity, and conversation flowed without restraint. It waaa union of men of the highest order of intellectual acquirements, and under circumstances favourable to the sympathies of the heart. It would be impossible perhaps to assemble an equal number of men, of any one nation, in which should be comprised a greatef amount of profound knowledge in every departmeii of science and learning. The conversation naturally turned upon subjects relative to. the arts.. Rennre, the celebrated engineer, happened to sit near me at table, and by his inteUigent and instructive conveiv sation, increased the respect which his tall, fine£gure is calculated to inspire. He was inquisitive, with respect to the arts in America, and appeared to be influenced by a candid and liberal judgment. The various public works, at present under the direction of this great engineer, involve an expenditure, I was told, of r,ot less than £6.000,000 sterling ! From the age and growing infirmities of the Presi dent of the Royal Society, it is scarcely probable that he will again officiate on this annual occasion; I know not whether it was a sentiment of this kind^ which induced the committee to propose his health, at the table, and to drink it standing, with nine cheers. He endeavoured, with great modesty and firmness, but ineffectually, to prevent.it.; and afterwards joeosei ly said, that he feared the Royal Society was going crazy.* The noise of this cheering, and of the ge* * On adverting to the circumstances of this n^eeting, at Sir Joseph Banks^ six or eight months afterwards, he told me that the noise of the dining room, occasioned the people about the inn to inquire what company it was, and that they were answered by some persons who pretended to be very wise, that it wa^ the Royat Insurance Companff. fcONDON. 12T neral hilarity subsequent to it, did not, it is true, ex actly comport with the character of this learned so ciety, and cert^nly formed a curious contrast with tiie grave formality ol their meetings in Somerset House. 27th. After an agreeable call this morning on R. R. Esq. our minister at this cOurt, I rambled through Bond-street; formerly celebrated as a lounge for those fashionable idlers, whose object is to display their figures, and to derive an ephemeral consequence from the skill and adroitness of their taylors. There is nothing at present in this street, except the glitter of the shops, that can render it desirable as a public promenade. It is greatly inferior to Broad-way, in New- York, in width and pleasmtness, and has ceased toequal it in fashionable and luxurious display. In the neighbourhood of this street is Dubourg's exhibition of models of the most celebrnted remains of ancient amphitheatres, temples, mausoleums, catar c The London clay constitutes the soil of Middlesex. and, in a large proportion, that of the adjoining coun ties. When wet, it adheres to the shoes, and produces a singular d^ree of tenacity in the black mud of the streets of the city. Barren as this clay naturally is. it is converted into rich garden mould, by abundant and judicious manuring. It requires chalking or liming before it becomes well adapted to grain. It is, how ever, productive of very fine elm, oak, and ash timber. The mineral contents of this remarkable stratum, are sulphuret of iron, selehite, and occasionally phos phate of irOn. Common copperas, is, in several places, manufactured from the decomposed pyrites which the clay affords. Another curious mineral, which the clay produces,is argiUaceous limestone,in ovate spheroidal LONDON. 141 masses. They are traversed in various directions. by cracks, which have become filled, partially or wholly, by calcareous spar, or sulphate of barytes, and hence have obtained the name of septaria. This material, when calcined and ground, affords that excellent mor tar for building under water, and for stucco, known by the name of Parker's cement. Since I have fallen, rather accidentally, into the deeps below this great city, I will also remark, that few formations claim a greater interest than this, from the organic remains preserved in them. Among them are those of the crocodile and turtle ; several species of vertebral, and many of crustaceous fish ; of testaceoue moUuscse,; most of the genera of recent shells, or im pressions of them; masses of wood, either charred or fibrous; fossil copal; amber; and in one locality, the Isle of Sheppy, there has been found such an astonishing quantity of fruit or ligneous seed vessels, as to have enabled one gentleman to select 700 speci mens, none of which are duplicates, and very few of which agree with any seed vessels, at present known. Some of them appear to belong to tropical climates ; such as a species of cocoa nut, and some varieties of spices. London is thoroughly drained by sewers, notwith standing the general level of the city, and its moderate elevation above the river. This has been effected by preserving the natural water courses, and converting them into main sewers. Not only is the cleanliness ot the town thus secured, but a most valuable conve nience is obtained in the private accommodations that are indispensable to every house. It appears t© me, to be highly incumbent on the police of our Ame- VOL. I. 12 142 LONDON. rican cities, to pay more attention, than has yet been done, to the very important object of good draining, by subterranean passages, and to supplying the houses with an ample quantity of water. The absence of those very requisite provisions, is productive of great domestic inconvenience, and extremely detri mental to general health. New-York is, perhaps, more deficient in those regulations than most other towns in the United States. It is generally admitted, that the population of Lon don exceeds one million This result is deduced, chiefly from the official returns ; but it comprehends such of the adjoining villages, as form nearly a con tinuous series of houses with the streets of the me tropolis. Exclusive of those villages, the population is about 898,000. The Duke of Sussex, in his speech at the British and Foreign School Society, stated, that within a circle of ten miles diameter, there were 1,500,000 souls; an assertion, for which he doubtless had sufficient authority. To furnish an ample supply of fresh provisions, daily, to such a prodigious mass of inhabitants, would seem to be physically impossi ble, did not the markets of London sufficiently attest the contrary. Vegetables are plentiful and good, ex cept potatoes, which are very inferior to those in the north of England. Peas are a delicacy; but cauli flowers and broccoli are abundant and excellent. The strawberries and gooseberries, I have found, in gene ral, to be preferable to ours, at least in size. More pains are taken in the cultivation of them. London is not very liberally supplied with fish ; but the fish markets, or more properly the fish shops, display a fine variety, and are kept in a degree of neatness, LONDON. 143 well worthy of imitation. The salmon is very fine, and apparently in abundance. The price of it varies from 1*. to 2*. sterling per lb. The turbot is an ex cellent fish, rather exceeding in size our sheepshead, and nearly equal to it in flavour. They sell from lOf. 6d. to 15s. each. The soal, also a good fish, costs from Is. to Is. 6d. per pair. Of meat, the supply is, per haps, always adequate to the demand ; but the prices are considerably higher than in our most populous towns. Beef sells from 9d. to 1*., veal lOd. to Is. 2d., mutton Id. to lOd. Poultry is still more costly. Com mon fowls are from 8.y. to 15s. per p-sir; turkeys each .10s. and upwards; and geese 6s, Rabbits, of which there is an abundance in market, are 1.?. each. But ter costs from Is. to Is. 8d:; and eggs from 20^/. to 3s. per dozen. These are the prices in the west end, but in the city they are not quite so high. . One custom I have observed in London, and in most of the English towns, through which I have passed, in relation to the markets, which appears to be exceedt ingly commodious to the citizens ; namely, the esta blishment of meat-shops, in various parts of the town. It is certainly very inconvenient for a person in busi ness, to be under the necessity of going every day, half a mile or a mile, to market. The sacrifice of time thus required, is a tax upon industry of no small moment. The convenience therefore of a neigh bourhood, may be much iijcreased, by permitting a butcher or dealer, to open a shop and expose for sale a variety of meats. These shops are kept perfectly clean. I know of no objection, that could Ue against the introduction of this custom into our large towns, excepting, perhaps, that during the heat of 144 LONDON. our summers, there might be some danger of unplea sant effects from the neglect of cleanliness. It would be very easy, however, to guard against this, by the appointment of an inspector. Notwithstanding the high price of butcher's meat in London, and its necessary exclusion, on that ac count, from the tables of the poor, at least in com parison with some other countries, the annual con sumption of the metropolis, as stated in the registers, appears to be enormous. The number of bullocks is estimated at 1 10,000 ; of sheep and lambs more than a million ; and of calves and hogs, in proportion. The total value of butcher's meat sold in Smithfield mar ket alone, is estimated at £8,000,000 per annum. The surprising improvements which have taken place in the breeding and fattening of stock, may be judged of from the fact, that in the year 1700, the average weight of oxen, killed for the London market, was 370lbs. ; of calves 50lbs. ; andof sheep 281 bs.; while at present, that of oxen is SOOlbs. ; of calves 140lbs.; and of sheep 801 bs. The beauty of the public squares, and the wide streets which open into them, in the western and northern parts of the town, give an ornament and dig nity to this metropoUs, which, I fear, our cities will never be able to boast of, if the policy with which they have been planned, and in conformity to which they are now rapidly extending, should be persisted in. It is, certainly, a narrow minded interest, which converts every twenty-five feet of ground into a build ing lot ; and makes no provision for free air, for trees, shrubbery, and flowers ; for spaces, into which the vivifying light of the sun can easily penetrate, and LONDON. 145 irenew the springs of life, health, and pleasure. When I consider the pleritifulness and cheapness of land, in New-York and Pennsylvania, in connexion with the plans upon which the chief cities of those two great states are built, 1 blush at the parsimony with which the ground was so entirely appropriated to streets and lanes, as not to leave even a suitable provision for markets. The Dutch were, perhaps, excusable in laying out the city of New-York as they did ; accustomed as they were, to consider every foot of land as valuable, only in proportion to its converti bility into a street, a canal, or a cabbage ground. But in the foundation of Philadelphia, it is surprising that William Penn should have been so regardless of the healthiness and beauty of the city, and the conve nience of its future inhabitants, as to ordain so small a portion of ground to public use. It is not perhaps too late, for the municipal authorities, in a great de gree, to remedy this obvious and serious defect in those two cities ; destined as they are, for ages, to contend in generous rivalship, for the commerce, arts, and elegancies, of the western world. London contains about seventy squares or open areas, more than twenty of which, include from five to ten acres each. In the centre is a large space, enclosed with iron palisades, planted with shrubbery, and ornamented with gravel walks. Equestrian sta tues in bronze are, in several of the squares, placed in the centre or side of the enclosure. A wide pave ment connects this enclosure with the foot-walks, which are very broad, and flagged with large smooth stones. The houses around some of the squares, are nearly uniform. Those of the nobility, are, in some 12* 148 LONDON. instances, magnificent ; but in general^ the architec ture struck me, as being remarkable only for its sim plicity and neatness. The Royal Parks add greatly to the pleasure of an excursion through the British metropolis. The bright ness of the verdure, the neat training of the trees and shrubbery, and the canals and bridges, which are in troduced for the sake of freshness and ornament, render them the chosen promenades of almost every class. Their extent too, is sufficient for a ride of pleasure. The Regent's Park contains about 450 acres, and Hyde Park nearly 400. In the latter is a fine sheet of water, called the Serpentine River. This park is the favourite resort of horsemen and pleasure carriages. Hackney coaches are not allowed to. @nter it. LETTER VIL Bristol, 1th month {July) 12th, 1818, Mv DEAR ****, Having devoted a day or two, in the city and vici nity of London, to the pleasing duties of friendship, I left it on the 6th, with my friend H ***** of Tot tenham, who kindly offered to accomjpany me on my journey as far as Windsor, a distance of twenty miles, «n his carriage. Stopping at the French ambassa dor's to procure my passports for the continent, we proceeded through Kensington, Hammersmith, Turn- bam Green, and Brentford, and rested at Hounslow JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. 1 47 to dine. We were supplied with a cold, but uncut rib of good roast-beef, bread, cauliflower, currant pie, cheese, and beer ; for which, with the horses' feed, the charge was but six shillings. The road to Hounslew, (ten miles,) may be con sidered almost as a continuation of Piccadilly. One village succeeds another with but a very short inter val between them. The roads are dusty, and the grass is parched for want of rain. There has not been, according to the register of my friend H., (whose merit as a meteorologist I have before noticed,) more than a quarter of an inch of rain, in the last six weeks. I have been, hitherto, much disappointed in the cli mate of England. Instead of almost daily rains, fogs, and clouds, we have had nearly a constant succession of fine weather. There has been more sun since my arrival, than 1 expected to enjoy in twelve months. The thermometer, in London, has occasionally risen to 80°, and great complaints have been made of the heat. But a breeze has generally been felt, which has much alleviated the oppressiveness of this elevated temperature. It is admitted on all hands, however, that the season, thus far, has been unusually warm and dry. Leaving Hounslow, we passed along the northern side of the heath, so famous for the exploits of gentle men of the turf It is an extensive barren, without tree or shrub, producing only a coarse grass. The surface is very rough ; rising into coarse knobs, which it re quires much labour to level. The upper stratum of this heath appears to be gravel to the very top, with little or no loam or mould. Very large portions of it have, within a few years, been enclosed, enriched, and 148 JOURNEY, TO BRISTOL. cultivated, and are now, as we pass along, under good grain, peas, beans, &c. But, of the expediency of en closing the whole of these wastes, notwithstanding the redundancy of population in England, there are, I think, just doubts. An act of Parliament must first be obtained, for leave to make an enclosure, even of the smallest quantity. This, it is said, would not cost less than 5 or £600. The expense of levelling, putting in order, manuring, fencing, &c. would be so great, as, in many instances, to render it an unprofitable and losing speculation. To Colnbrook, a considerable village, sixteen miles. Hay-making is going on briskly. In almost every field there are women at work with the men. Out-door female work is much more common, throughout the country, than with us ; except perhaps in the German settlements. Vast quantities of goods are transported from one part of the country to another, in large wa gons, exceeding in size the Conestoga wagons in Penn- «ylvania. They are drawn, generally, by eight horses, two abreast. Women and children are sometimes seen on the top of the goods. Were they in America, we should say they were going to the new countries. The wheat is beginning to change its colour, and to show signs of approaching harvest, which, it is pro bable, will be much earlier than usual. We reached Slough (21 miles) about 7, and drove to the door of Sir William Herschel. His house is of plain appearance, standing immediately on the road between Slough and Eton. He received us very po litely, recollecting our interview at Greenwich. The conversation soon turned upon astronomy. He invited us to stay to tea, to which we assented, and sent the JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. 1 49 carriage to the inn. The appearance of the great telescope quickly drew our attention. It is erected in the yard, immediately back of the house ; the coun try all around, for many miles, being nearly an entire level. The large and ponderous frame, by which the telescope is suspended and moved, rests upon wooden rollers, on a circular wooden beam, or railed way; and, although its whole weight (including the instru ment) is thirty tons, the mechanism of its movement is such, as to enable a man to turn it easily. Sir W. told us, that his son moved it when only eight years old, A stage, or gallery, is adjusted to the object end of the instrument, and moves up and down with it. The ascent is by steps to a platform, and thence by a lad der. The tube of the great instrument is of sheet iron, surrounded by bands of metal, and painted, as is the whole frame, of a leaden colour. A tube is attached to the under side of the telescope, about one inch and a half in diameter, extending along its whole length, open at the object end, and at the other, uniting with a larger tube, which is conducted along, under the frame many feet, and then branches off into two small houses, which stand, one on each side of the mirror end. This tube is for the conveyance of sound. It is the speaking trumpet, through which this veteran as tronomer has so often conveyed the result of his ob servations to his sister, who, seated in one of those houses called the observatory, has registered his an gles and distances, with so much benefit to science. The other branch of the tube conveys directions to the manager of the wheels and puUies which move the instrument. This great telescope has been erected thirty-two years, and is still in good condition. The 150 JOURNEY TO BRISTOL, mirror is four feet in diameter, and weighs 2500 Ibs^ It is an alloy of copper and tin. The Doctor informed us, it was then in the instrument, but we did not see it. He introduced us to his sister, a nimble old German lady, of plain, unaffected manners, and much alive to astronomical improvements. She went with us into the observatory ; showed us her seat, and said that the Queen had once occupied it. Her brother told us, that Sir Joseph Banks once ascended to the top of the frame, which must be at least thirty feet high, and laid himself flat on his back, on the beam which con nects the two main supports; and that, as he lay there, the Queen happened to ride by and saw him. The great telescope weighs 8500 lbs. It is now, I apprehend, from the advanced age of its inventor, but seldom used. His son, whom I had also met at Greenwich, was from home, or we might probably have had an opportunity of looking into it. But Sir WiUiam told us that the atmosphere was in a very pnfavourable state, on account of the dry weather. In the same yard is another telescope of twenty feet fo cus, and about eighteen inches aperture. The tube is of wood. It is not in order. The machinery by which it is moved, is very similar to that of the large one, but less strong and bulky. In adverting to his theories of the sun, of lunar vol canoes, of nebulous matter, comet making and planet forming processes. Sir W. said, that he had stated appearances as they were actually presented to him, and drawn his conclusions from them ; but if any one could explain the appearances better, they were very welcome to do so. He had not seen the objections to his theory of the sun in Dr. Brewster's Encyclopedia. JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. 151 He is entirely of opinion, that the asteroids Were once united, and said, that if the original planet, prior to the explosion, was as large as Mercury, there must be 30,000 pieces each as large as the asteroids themselves, still unseen. He thinks some of the stars may have parallax, and probably those of the second magnitude. His opinion that there are volcanoes in the moon, is founded on an appearance of a bright light equal, to a star of the fourth magnitude, on the dark side of the moon, where it is known that there is a cavity. He has seen this light several times, and also an appearance like lava. Showing it once to a gentleman of Bath, the latter exclaimed with vehe mence, that he saw not only the fire but the smoke. He thinks the satellites of the Georgium Sidus can be seen with no instruments but his own, for there is an essential difference between the magnifying pow er of an instrument, and the space penetrating power. The latter requires the condensation of light, and of course a large aperture. In examining small and indistinct objects, such as the nebulae, he tries first his 7 feet telescope, then his 10 feet, if that will not do, he resorts to the 20 feet, and then to the 40 feet instrument. He has one in his yard of about 5 feet in length, with a large aperture, which he calls his comet hunter. Sir W. Herschel must now be nearly 80 years of age. There are about seventy papers of his in the Philosophical transactions. We left this worthy couple much pleased and well satisfied with our visit.* '^' This great astronomer died at his house at Slough, on the 26 th of Au gust, 1822, in the 84th year of his age. His father was a musician. SiF William, was fhe second son, knd was placed at the age of 14 in the hand of 152 JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. , 7th month (July) 7th. We passed this morning through Eton and over the Thames to Windsor. These two places, the former celebrated for its school, a large Gothic building, and the latter for the royal castle, which has been the favourite residence of the present king, and in which he has remained during his affliction, are on opposite sides of the Thames. Windsor is a pretty large town ; Eton is of less size. The castle is on a hill, which overlooks the two towns and the country around to a great extent. Our coachman understanding his business, drove directly through the castle gate, (the armed centinels making no opposition,) and stopped in the spacious yard, where it was suffered to stand. A porter opened the way for us into the castle, and conducted us to a large hall, where a servant soon appeared to escort us through the rooms and explain the pictures. This is done almost every where, and serves a valuable purpose. By repeated practice, they can explain the the Hanoverian foot guards. He came to England when he was 19, and ob tained a livelihood, during many years, by his musical talents ; but also de voted himself, from the bent of a strong inclination, to mathematics and astronomy. Unable to purchase a telescope, he succeeded, after encoun tering numerous diiSculties, in constructing one for himself; and in 1774 first saw Saturn in a five feet reflector, made by his own hands. He then attempted larger instruments, and succeeded in completing a seven, a ten, a twenty, and finally a forty feet reflector. He laboured at one time witb such perseverance as to have actually finished 200 object mirrors, before'he could satisfy himself with the performance of one. In 1781 he discovered the new planet, which he named Oeorgium Sidits, and in consquence of his great merit as an observer, the king settled upon him a handsome salary. His large telescope at Slough was completed in 1787. His namerous disco veries, and the bold and sublime inferences he has drawn from them, are well known in the scientific w'orld. He married the widow of John Pitt, Esq. and with her enjoyed great domestic happiness. He has left one son, wbosii talents and acquirements snrpasB even those of his father. JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. 153 subject of each picture, tell its age and' the name of the painter, with great volubility and correctness, al ways calculating on a suitable douceur for saying their fessons so Well, We were conducted through a great number of rooms, the walls of which were ornament ed with pictures, mostly from the old masters of the Italian and Flemish schools. There were two which particularly pleased me in this fine collection. One, of the present queen, with two of her children, the Prince of Wales and Duke of York, both very small standing beside her ; and the Misers, by Quintin Mat- sys, the blacksmith of Antwerp. In one of the apart ments is a great number of fire arms of the reign of Edward VI. tastefully displayed on the wall. This room is at present used as a chapel! In another apartment, our guide told us that the room, immediate ly under the adjoining one, was the king's chamber, whor© he was at that moment. A sight of his majes ty would probably have been preferred by the com? pany to that of all the pictures ; but it Would doubt less have been the most unpleasant and melancholy picture in the castle ; and it is, of course, for the best «f reasons, excluded from the eye of all but those who are engaged about his person. I learned after wards that the king is quite blind ; that his beard has extended to his breast ; that his constant delight is playing on the piano ; that he is seldom spoken to, ex cept on subjects relative to his personal comfort, as conversation, more than any thing else, excites and disturbs him. He is said to be particularly averse to the Prince Regent, and will not suffer him to be in his room. The prince lately went in to look at him : the king said he was in the room ; and ordered him ?o&, I 13 154 JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. out. The prince stepped just without the door, and the waiter said : " Your Majesty is mistaken, the prince is not in the room :" the king insisted that he was, for, said he, 1 rate// him. This was probably the truth, in consequence of the perfume of the prince's dress. Does it not afford an additional proof that the loss of one sense, is followed by an increased acuteness of eome other ? We walked round the court, in which is an eques trian statue of Charles II, and ascended to the top of the western tower, whence, according to a statement on a board, can be seen 12 counties. The perspective is very fine for a country so extremely flat as is that in the neighbourhood of London, From this tower, it is asserted, the bell of St. Paul's cathedral is sometimes heard to strike, though at the distance of twenty miles; a circumstance which is repocted to have once saved the life of a sentinel. He was accused oriraTing fal len asleep at his post ; but alleged that he was not asleep, but listening to St. Paul's clock, and that he heard it strike 13 times. This, upon his trial, was proved to be the fact, and it saved his life. A con siderable body of the king's life guards were on pa- -rade at the gate as we passed out. I remarked that many of the musicians were black, and dressed like Turks. The whole length of Windsor castle, from -east to west, is 1480 feet, and the area which it covers, exclusive of terrace walks, is about 12 acres. The terrace on the north side, one of the most beautiful walks in the kingdom, is 1870 feet long. It was made by Queen EUzabeth. Parting here with my kind friend H. I passed through a beautiful avenue, with double rows of ma- JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. 155 jestic elms, to the park; and made a circuit, of about four miles through it. The number of deer which appeared in the course of this ride, could not be esti mated at less than 300. They are very tame, and by long domestication, lose much of that delicacy and beauty of form, which are possessed by the same ani mal in a wild state. But their colours here are very various, brown, spotted, and some quite white. They grow to a large size. The park of Windsor is very extensive, containing, it is said, 3800 acres; and a little park, on the north and east side of the town, contains 500 acres. Eton college stands by the way-side, in the village of the same name. We had not time to look into it ; and excepting its air of antiquity, there was nothing in the exterior to recommend it to our particular attention. I left Slough about half past six p. m., in the Bath coach. At Hungerford we entered Wiltshire, re markable for the extent of its downs. These are barren tracts, rather hilly, and too sterile to produce any thing but grass for sheep and geese. The upper stratum is chalk; the white surface of which is co vered only by the green turf. An evidence of this is exhibited, rather curiously, to the passenger, a Httle to the west of Marlborough, a handsome town through which we passed at four a. m. The figure of a horse of gigantic size, was marked out on the side of a hill, facing the road, and about a quarter of a mile distant. The grassy surface being taken off within these out lines, so as to expose the chalky stratum, there remain ed the whole figure, perfectly while, and in such an attitude, as to appear erect ; and, at tlie dis- 156 JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. lance we viewed it, quite in relief, as if almost de tached from the hill. I saw two of these figures. The day opened upon us almost without a cloudy and in a part of the country cultivated to the highest perfection. As the sun first rose above the horizon, I thought the freshness and beauty of the landscape^ supierior to any thing 1 had witnessed. The hills, on each side of the road, were verdant with a shower in the night. Their contour had a regularity and sym metry, which art had impressed upon them. The hedges were unusually neat ; and beyond them, the " timid hare," was seen leaping over the field, " And frequent Turning, stopp'd to gaze at early passenger." It was a scene which only the pen of a Thomson could justly describe. The horse bean is cultivated in large quantities in this part of England, for cattle and horses. Potatoes are seen growing, as if planted at random, over the field. Their blossoms, in the morning, give to the fields a richness and gayety not witnessed on our farms. In one field, we observed some of the rye in shock. Between Marlborough and Chippenham, the road passes through a park, called Bow Wood, be longing, as I was told, to the Marquis of Landsdown. The deer were grazing in the park ; a turnpike gate on each side, securing them within its bounds. The fields, with fine crops upon them, are in many places, entirely exposed to the road, without hedge or fence of any kind. In the course of this morning's ride, we passed several of those prodigious conical eleva tions, called barrows. One of them, I should judge to be 200 feet in diameter, with an elevation of 150. JOURNEY TO 5BISTOL. 167 They are generally supposed, I believe, to be mounds erected over the slain, in a very early period of Eng lish history : in this respect, therefore, they corres pond with the ancient mounds, which still exist, in some of our western and northern states; and re? specting which, the present race of aborigines, are quite as ignorant as the newest settlers. One of these mounds, near Wheeling, on the river Ohio, is 250 yards in circumference, with a perpendicular height of about 70 feet. Trees of very large size, are grow ing thickly upon it. We arrived at Bath, about eight a. m. After break fast, I spent several hours in walking through the town, having no letters, and intending to make but little stay in it. This city contains about 40,000 inhabitants. Its appearance must strike every stranger, both as more modern, and more elegant, than English towns in ge neral : 1 have seen none to equal it. The material of the houses is a free-stone, quarried in the vicinity, and which, when first used, is of a fine cream-colour. It is that kind of lime-stone, called by mineralogists, oolite or roe-stone. The greater part of the city is of modern structure ; and much pains have been taken to pro duce an architectural effect. The town is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills ; the buildings in some parts extending considerably up their sides. A fashionable mode of building here, as well as in other parts of England, is to erect a considerable number of houses together, in the form of a crescent. Several of these are built upon the sides of the hills, and make a noble appearance. Great-Pultney-street, about a quarter of a mile in length, appeared to me to be the handsomest 1 had ever seen any where. 13* 158 JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. Sydney Garden and Hotel, at its extremity, is a fa shionable resort. They were making preparations for an illumination of the garden, with fire-works, &c. this being the day of the public races at Bath. The garden is laid out with, much taste. The trees were hung with lamps, in a variety qf fantastical figures; The extent and improvement of this city, have been chiefly produced by the celebrity of its waters. These are thermal springs, arising near the river Avon, ¦which runs around the south and eastern sides of the town. Extensive baths are erected, for tbe conveni ence of visiters. The company that resort to the springs, as well as the citizens of the town, have the liberty of assembling in the great pump-room ; a spa cious building eighty-five feet long and forty-six wide. Over the door of this room, upon the architrave, is a Greek inscription, from the opening of the first ode of Pindar, — APIXTON MEN TAiiP — "Water! of ele ments the best !" The warm water of the spring is here constantly ready, for all that choose to drink it. The public season at Bath, is during the winter. It is a hot place in summer, and is very much deserted. The streets, at this time, appeared to me, after esca ping from the bustle of London, to be silent and soli tary. The cathedral or abbey church, in Bath, is a famous specimen of that style of architecture, (vene rable for its age, and for the time and labour expended on it,) which distinguishes the ancient churches of this country. It was founded in the year 676, by king Osric ; and is supposed to be built on the spot where stood the Roman temple of Minerva. The present pile was begun in the year 1495. Dissenters are numerous in Bath ; as are also its charitable in- JOURNEY TO BRISTOL. 159 stitutions. A literary and philosophical society was instituted in 1815; and a bank for savings was established in the same year. In lieu of hackney coaches, the citizens and visiters of Bath are trans ported from place to place in sedan chairs. The chairmen have regular stands, and their prices are fixed by law. - ; In>the afternoon I took the coach for Bristol. The distance between these towns is about 12 miles, over one of the best roads I ever travelled. It is quite smooth and so hard, as in some places to have re ceived a real polish from the iron of the wheels. It is formed of a hard lime stone, which is broken into small pieces by hammers, and ground into powder graduaUy by the wheels. The superior excellency of the English roads is doubtless owing to the broad wheels of their large wagons. These are generally hooped with double tire, and are from 8, to 10 or 12 inches broad. Being heavily loaded, they grind the stones finely, and at the same time prevent the for mation of those routes or gutters, which so much dis figure and injure some of our United States turnpikes. The approach to Bristol is announced by clouds of smoke, issuing not only from the houses, but in heavy volumes from the tall cones of numerous glass factories. We crossed a wide canal, or new riverj, and entered the town by a narrow and uncomforta ble street, the houses being old, the floors lower than the surface of the street, and the second story pro jecting over the first. The coach drove to the Bush, a large inn, and said to be one of the best in the town ; but Bristol, 1 be lieve, is not remarkable for good inns. 160 BRISTOL. At the house of * ****** in Queen Square, to whom I had a letter, I met with a truly hospitable re ception, and found, in the kindness and intelligence of this family, and of other friends, a happiness which rendered a stay of five days in Bristol exceedingly interesting. This town contains many edifices and institutions, well worthy the attention of a stranger. Several of the churches are very ancient, and exhi bit some of the finest specimens of Gothic architec ture. The most striking of these is Redcliff church, the foundation of which was laid in 1274. Having been damaged by lightning, it was completely re paired in 1456; prior, of course, to the discovery of America, Its dimensions are 239 by 117 feet. The interior makes a forcible impression, by its loftiness,f its pointed architecture, and its various ornaments. Over the altar is a large painting by Hogarth. The subjects are the ascension, the sealing of the tomb, and the visit to the sepulchre. The monuments are numerous. Among those which most attracted my attention, was one of Admiral Penn, father of the founder of Pennsylvania, It is surrounded with ban ners and trophies. One of the flags which he had taken from his opponents, still hangs in tatters over the monument. I have observed this in several of the churches, particularly in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. What a strange perversion of the design of a place of worship ! as if a Christian, instead of resorting to the temple of devotion to learn humility, stood in need of having his thirst for glory, or his passion for revenge constantly fed by external ex citements ! In ascending the turret of this edifice, I was shown the loft and the boxes, in which Chatter- BRISTOL. 161 ton is said to have discovered the manuscripts which he published under the name of Rowley. Poor Chatterton was the posthumous son of the Rector of this church. His genius and his fate are too well known, to need a description in this place. The College Church or Cathedral, is a large struc ture, . originally the church of a monastery of St» Augustine, founded by Robert Fitzharding, a descen dant of the kings of Denmark. Nothing remains of the ancient monastery but a gate way, which, as a specimen of Saxon architecture, cannot be viewed without emotions of pleasure. It is a finely carved arch, and richly ornamented with sculpture. Bishop Warburtpn was once a dean of this church and resi ded nea.r the arch. This church is kept in very neat order. The monumental stones are numerous, the sculpture of many of them, very fine, and the inscrip tions, in general, appeared to me more tasteful and elegant than ordinary. The celebrated epitaph of Mason on his wife, " Take holy earth," &c. soon claims the notice of a .stranger, and how fre» quently soever he may have read, and repeated it, he will scarcely fail again to peruse it, with renewed inte rest, on its original marble. The admirers of Cowper will also notice, with peculiar feelings, an inscription to lady Hesketh, who died in 1807, An elegant mu ral monument, erected by a husband to the memory of his wife, aged nineteen, I thought wortliy of par ticular regard. , 162 BRISTOL. " Formed by nature To attract obervation,.and invite respect, Lovely in her person, graceful in her manners, Amiable in her disposition, Happy to rieceive pleasure, and more happy to impart it ; Every one was conscious of her merits But herself. The disease to which she fell a victim Added lustre to the virtues of her mind ; And the submissive piety which prepared her way To heaven, Taught the duty of resignation To her afflicted husband.'.' The infirmary of this town is a very large building, erected and supported as a hospital by public con tribution. We were shown through the wards by the matron, a very respectable woman, who conducts the numerous domestic concerns of this charitable insti tution, without the aid of any other person than the governors, physicians, and servants, ^ The charities of Bristol are very numerous. There is. probably no place in Great Britain, where greater eflforts have, been made to relieve every kind of distress by gratuitious assistance than in this city. An impulse was given to feelings of this kind, by the extraordinary benevolence of the late Richard Rey nolds, whose character seems to be venerated by all. But that poverty is not subdued by these efforts, is obvious to every one who walks the streets. Men dicants are more numerous, and their appearance is, in general, more squalid here than in London, The opinion of several intelligent individuals, with whom I conversed on this subject, was, that the evil is rather increased by these extraordinary exertions, than per manently diminished by them. A vast amount of im* BRISTOL, 163 mediate suffering is doubtless thus prevented : but how desirable is it that the institutions of society should be so wisely established upon the basis of an enlight ened humanity, as to prevent the accumulation of so much poverty. The Lancasterian school here does much credit to its patrons and supporters. It occu pies a new and very commodious building. The female apartment is above that of the boys, and is conducted by a mistress. I spent one night at the summer residence of a friend, about four miles from the town, and for the first time in my life, slept under a roof of straw. But let it not be imagined, that on that account, I was badly accommodated, or that the cottage of my kind host was a mean habitation. It was in reality one of the neatest places I have seen in England ; and England, is certainly superior to most countries in its style of rural architecture and improvement, All that a summer residence could demand of com fort and convenience, was to be found in this cot- rds, espe cially of such as are unknown in those of the United States, excited my surprise. I desired my companion to give me the names of the different kinds which were then on the stalls. The foUowing is the Ust : — Cod, Whiting, Whiting Pollock, Bream, Turbot, Solcj (of which there were three kinds,) Hake, Red Gurnet, Grey Gurnet, Place, John Dory, Red Mullet, Ling, Ray, Longnoses, Conger Eel, Fresh Water Eel, Mack- arel, Horse Mackarel, Piper, Tub, Dab, Scollop, Smelt, Crabs, Lobsters, Crawfish, Cockles, Prills, and Muscles. These, of course, were only the fish of the season. The size of the crabs is much greater than PLYMOUTH. 209 any I have ever seen in New-York. One of them, with only one claw, weighed seven pounds. The Conger Eel grows to an enormous size. There were several in the market five or six feet in length, and seven or eight inches in diameter. My conductor bought the half of one which weighed fifty-six pounds ; the price, three**halfpence per pound. The flesh is very white, and when properly cooked, extremely savoury, especially in a pie, as I afterwards ascer tained at the dinner table. The market at the dock, aflfbrded the same variety. The market-house, at that place, for the purpose of economising room, has been made two stories high ; and the plan appeared to be really convenient. The steps to the upper floor are wide and easy, and the articles exposed for sale, in that part of the market, are of light carriage. Poultry and butter, are sold there, and no where else. My friend endeavoured to procure me an admission to the Dock Yard, by a spe cial request, contained in a letter to the Commissioner; but, finding I was an American, he replied by a note that he had no authority to admit me. Thus was I disappointed in one of the most interesting objects of a visit to Plymouth — an inspection of the vast opera tions carried on within the Dock Yard, conducted, as they are, by the concentrated skill and science of the nation. This yard is very extensive, but not more so than that at Portsmouth, at which place I hope to be more successful. The whole area of the yard, except on the water side, is surrounded by a high wall. The gate is fortified, and armed centries are constantly stationed at it. The workmen were going to dinner 210 MOUNT-EDGECUMBE. while we were there. They poured through the gate in a dense stream, which continued a great length of time. The number generally employed in the yard, I was told, is from 2500 to 3000. Taking a boat, we crossed the river to Mount-Edge- cumbe, to view the seat and grounds of the Earl of Mount-Edgecumbe. The natural advantages of this ancient residence of nobility, in point of prospect, and beauty of situation, cannot be too highly praised. The towns of Plymouth, Stonehouse, and Plymouth Dock — the villages of Tofr-Point and Saltash — the fleet riding in the river — the busy scenes in the Dock Yard — the high hills, and the cultivated fields of Cornwall and Devonshire — the Break Water, Eddy- Stone Light-House, and the wide expanse of the sea, are all presented to the eye, from various points of this delightful eminence. Art has not been wanting to embellish the fieatures of nature. The mansion- house, however, has nothing remarkable in its ap pearance. The park is very extensive, and contains an abundance of deer. In a retired spot, in these grounds, a favourite pig of the Dutchess was buried, and a monument erected to its memory. The coat of arms of the family, hap pen also to contain a pig. The King and Queen once visited Mount-Edgecumbe, and on coming to the pig's grave and monument, the Queen asked the King what it was. " A family vault, Charlotte, a family vault," was the witty answer of his Majesty. Having engaged the boatman who brought us over, we left Mount-Edgecumbe to visit the Break-Water. This is a stupendous undertaking, commenced about seven years ago, for the purpose of checking the vio- BREAK-WATER. 211 lent incursions of the sea, upon the town and harbour, during the prevalence of storms. It was no less a scheme, than that of erecting a barrier of stones, in the middle of the Bay, which at that place is five miles wide, and at a distance from the town of about three miles. They have already thrown in a quantity sufficient to raise a ridge a mile long, and have brought it, the greater part of that distance, above high water mark. This pile is 2 or 300 feet wide at the base, and 30 feet at top. The stones are quarried about five miles off, brought in very large blocks, and placed, by means of machinery, in the position desired. The cost of this undertaking, which is the business of government, is usually estimated at a million sterling ; but one of the best engineers in the country, told me it might more properly be stated at £1200,000. About 200 men are constantly employed upon it, and such is their expe dition, that 22,000 tons of stone, have been removed to the spot in one fortnight. The appropriation, by government, to this object, is 60 or £80,000 a year. We ascended the top of this pile, by regular steps, and walked upon a broad and smooth surface to a considerable distance. The whole mass is of lime stone, and although no cement is used, it is believed it will become sufficiently soUd, by the penetration of small shell fish into the cavities. Its effects upon the water were very obvious. The bay, on the side of our approach, was calm ; while on the other side, the sea was raging boisterously. It costs the British government a vast sum of money, annually, to prevent smuggling ; and yet great num bers, both on the English and Irish coast, depend up on it for a livelihood. The crime, it would seem, does 212 DEVONSHIRE. not consist so much in the commission of a clandestine act, as in being caught at it ; for I was informed, that a noble Admiral, now in high favour, when he was simply Sir *. ******, and commander of a frigate, once sent on shore in the night, on his arrival from the East Indies, twenty-seven boat loads of valuables. The last boat, and only the last, was seized, and this happened to contain some things which he had pro mised to get on shore, if he could, for some of the young officers in India, as presents to their sisters, &c. It is not very uncommon either, as I was credibly in formed, when a revenue cutter approaches a ship in the evening, to invite the captain on board of the ship, take him into the cabin, and by dint of kindness, and excellent liquor, to put him hors de combat, for the night. The sailors of the cutter can then be managed in a certain way, and the business of " watering the ship,^'' settled to the satisfaction of the regular trader. 26th. I took a seat in the Balloon Coach for Exeter. We passed through Ridgeway, and Ivey Bridge, and diverging from the road along which I had before travelled, stopped at Ashburton to dine. This is said to be one of the neatest towns in Devonshire. The river Dart, runs within a few miles of the town ; and at the distance of two or three miles from the road, is Dartmoor Prison, of so much celebrity as a place of strong confinement for prisoners of war. The moor, or waste land, called Dartmoor forest, comprises up wards of 80,000 acres. It affords only a scanty pas turage for a few thousand sheep and cattle. Efforts are making, in some places, to bring this barren into cultivation. Considerable quantities of peat, for fuel, are obtained from different tracts of this moor. EXETER. 213 Exeter, Being joined, soon after my arrival here, by my former obliging cicerone, we employed the time industriously in walkihg, and viewing some of the exterior attractions of this ancient city. Some parts of it are delightfully pleasant A high hill, called JVorth-Hay, covered with majestic trees, and quite within the town, affords a beautiful promenade and retreat in warm weather, and is quite a romantic place, on account of its height, the steepness of the hill, and the walks along its declivity. On visiting the house of *. *****, a gentleman who resides a short distance from the town, I was invited with so much kindness to remain with them, as to in duce me to accept their hospitality. We had before met each other in London, 27 th, We rode this morning to a mine of manga nese, about three miles distant, and examined the manner of working the ore. The process, which is very simple, is performed by common labourers, a number of whom are women. The ore is assorted by the hand, washed, sifted, and reduced by pounding, to different degrees of fineness, according to the purpose intended. The neighbourhood of Exeter affords large quantities of this mineral, which, from its more exten sive use in manufactories, has so much increased in value, that the workmen are now going over the for mer rubbish of the mine, and selecting portions which were before rejected. Returning to town, we visited the Literary and Philosophical Institution. A very good building has been provided, one apartment of which contains a handsome library. Another is fitted for a lecture room ; but not much has yet been done to communicate instruction in that way. A founda- yoL. I. 18 214 EXETER. tion is laid for a cabinet of minerals, and a few cu riosities have been collected, by way of museum. An excellent reading room is also included. We proceeded thence to the hospital, and went through the different wards, under the guidance of a clergyman, who was one of the managers. This hos pital has been in operation 71 years. It contains ac commodations for 140 patients, and is generally full. Great attention is paid in this house to bathing ; and for the greater convenience of using water freely, there is a well in the cellar, with a forcing pump in the basement story, by which water is easily driven through pipes into reservoirs fixed in the upper rooms. This kind of accommodation, which, in warm weather at least, may be considered as a domestic luxury, I have found to be rather common in gentlemen's houses. In a small recess, in the entry or hall of the first floor, and sometimes in each of the principal chambers, or perhaps in a passage into which the chambers open, a basin is fixed, in masonry, with an opening in the bottom, closed by a cork or other stopper, and over the basin a stop-cock. By the side of the basin hangs a towel. By turning the cock fresh water runs into the basin, and by taking out the stopper the soiled water runs away. The forcing pump below, which drives the water into the upper apartments, can easily be worked by one person. , After dinner we visited the asylum for the insane. The house, not having been erected for the purpose, is rather inconvenient. The gardens are spacious, and contain a fine variety of fruit and vegetables. The number pf patients is between 40 and 50, and the ex penses oftheir maintenance, upon an average, is 19.y. EXETER. 215 per week. The shower bath is used to coerce the refractory ; and one of the means taken tb rouse the melancholy, is to put them in an arm chair, which, by machinery, is made to revolve round its axis with an easy motion. Exeter does not contain many persons of distinction in literature. Dr. Lempriere, the author of the Clas sical Dictionary, is the head teacher of its principal Grammar school ; and L. Carpenter, one of the au thors of a late work on education, and the writer of the essays on moral and physical education in Rees' Cyclopoedia, lately resided in this town. Exeter is a very ancient city. Its early history is involved in all the mystery of remote tradition. It has been the seat of many severe conflicts, especially be tween tho Danes and Britons. It was surrounded by a wall at a very early period, a considerable proportion of which is still remaining, within the present town; as are also some relics of Rougemont Castle, once the seat of the West Saxon kings. There are here ten esta blishments for the education of the poor, and a great number of charitable societies. Poverty, however, is by no means banished from the town. '* Both in bar barous and more civilized times (says a short and spi rited account of the city, which my friend and guide drew up at ray request) Exeter appears to have fur nished her share of eminent persons ; and can show a copious list of the swift and the strong, the brave and the learned, the sage and the beautiful. Among these is Sir Walter Raleigh. It is at present chiefly known for its toryism, its bigotry, its intolerance, its gaiety, its dissipation, and its infidelity ; for its politeness, the 216 DEVONSHIRE. beauty of its women, its numerous charities, and its liberality to tbe distressed at home and abroad, 28th. After an early breakfast, I left Exeter, in the subscription coach, for Salisbury. In leaving the counties of Cornwall and Devon, I cannot but acknowledge, that the state of society, upon the whole, in those counties, appeared to me as de sirable, and as favourable to human nature, as in any considerable district of country I have ever visited- There is rather an unusual degree of intelligence, among the middle ranks. The climate is, in general, very mild, which, in connexion with the moisture of the atmosphere, greatly favours that clearness and trans parency of the skin so commonly observed. The agri culture of this part of England, as far as 1 could judge, by passing rapidly through it, is not superior to that of the middle states of America. The plough, in com mon use, is extremely heavy, requiringTour horses to move it with facility ; at least that number was mostly employed in the instances which I observed. Devonshire is, perhaps, more famous for its cider than any other county in England. But the very best that I tasted would be considered as inferior to that which we call tolerably good in the United States. It is harsh, and ill tasted. Honiton, sixteen miles from Exeter, is a pleasant and ancient town, consisting of one long street. It is said the first manufactory of serges in Devonshire, was established in this place, llchester, a town on our road, is the place which gave birth to Roger Ba con, in 1214, and to Elizabeth Singer, afterward Eli zabeth Rowe, author of the Letters from the Dead to FONTHILL. 217 the Living. Shortly after passing through Mere, an ill built and uncomfortable looking place, we came in sight of Fonthill, the celebrated seat of W, Beckford, Esq, This seat is admitted to be one of the most re markable abodes of wealth and grandeur in the whole kingdom. It occupies an eminence, which overlooks the adjacent country, and, at a distance, appears like a forest, out of which, and near the summit, rises a tower, called Fonthill Abbey, which the uninformed traveller would take to be a noble Gothic church, but which is, in reality, a part of the extraordinary mansion of its possessor. The grounds of Fonthill are enclosed by a stone wall and chevaux de frize of seven miles in circumference. The space within this enclo sure is said to exhibit the most astonishing variety of all that is grand, picturesque, and beautiful in nature and art. In the bottom of the wood is a fine pellucid lake, in some parts of great depth, stretching and meandering so as to give an idea of greater magnitude than it possesses. This lake is plentifully supplied with wild fowl. Every animal sports undisturbed ; and conscious of security, the hares will feed at the horse's feet, from the hands of the rider, and frequently asso ciate in great numbers within a few paces of the win dows. In one part of the enclosure is an American plantation, containing the woods and shrubs peculiar to that quarter of the globe. The Abbey is supplied with water, forced through pipes by a wheel 24 feet in diameter, which is put in motion by a stream, con ducted from the lake, through a wooden trough. At another place is a space, surrounded by a light iron fence, which is caUed the Chinese garden, particularly appropriated to the culture of the rarest flowers. The 18* 218 PONTHIifc. kitchen garden contains eight or nine acres, and i« screened on the northern side by a wood of lofty pines. The abbey is described as being one of the richest and most magnificent structures in the kingdom. The great tower is 270 feet in height. The doors of the hall are thirty-five feet high and highly ornamented. The hinges of these doors weigh more than a ton; and yet they are so exactly poised, that the valves can be put in motion with the slightest effort. The architecture, the statuary, the paintings, the tapestry, and the furniture of this mansion, all conspire to render it one of the most wonderful specimens of skill, of expense, and of folly, which the island of Great Britain can produce. Of folly, because, not withstanding the curiosity which the building of it excited in the country around, the proprietor has chosen to keep it entirely concealed from the public ; and according to report, he lives a solitary and a de praved life ; taking no pains to secure the esteem of his neighbours, and being despised by most of them. The grandfather of the present owner, was considered as the richest subject in Europe. We passed through Hindon near Fonthill, and Wilton once celebrated for its manufactory of car pets, and arrived in the evening at Salisbury. The ride, during the greater part of this day, has been highly pleasant; the company which 1 met in the coach, were very civil, and some of them well in formed and agreeable men. It has been the longest day's ride (ninety-six mUes) 1 have ever had on the top of a coach, and from this trial of it, I think it decidedly preferable in good weather, to an inside seat. The coach stopped at the Antelope inn, which SALISBURY.- 219 1 found to be a good house. This is the day of the Salisbury races, which were held a few miles off; and a gi-eat deal of company, male and female, ap peared to be preparing for the scene of merriment and dissipation. The town of Salisbury has been laid out with much greater regularity than most of the Eng lish towns which 1 have seen. There is a small canal or ditch, on one side of almost every street, through which runs a rapid stream of fine clear water. The names of streets as well as of persons, in strange pla ces, are not altogether uninteresting to a traveller. In this town I saw the termination of Endless street; and found, that if 1 were so disposed, 1 could lay out not a little of my cash in Penny-farthing street. A name which appeared to me very appropriate to the man's profession, and written in very conspicuous charac ters on his sign, was "Cheater, Dealer in Foreign Spirits." The Cathedral of this town is one of the most ad mired in the kingdom. Its exterior accords better with my notions of taste and beauty than any of the ancient buildings of this kind I have hitherto seen. Although it was finished in the year 1258, it is in ex cellent preservation. The spire, it is supposed, was newly erected in 1423, and the lapse of five centuries seems to have made but little change in its exterior workmanship. The outside is decorated with much carving, but so much simplicity prevails in the style of it, as to add greatly to its elegance. The length of the cathedral, from east to west, is 478 feet, including the choir, and the whole breadth of the cross aisle, 210 feet. The top of the spire is 410 feet from the ground, being nearly seventy feet higher 220 SALISBURY. than St. Pa'ul's in London, and double the height of the Monument. A singularity in the internal arrange ment of the cathedral, is expressed in the following lines by Rogers, author of the Pleasures of Memory. As many windows you may here behold. As days in the revolving year are told. Compute the hours that one fuU year compose, As many marble shafts these walls inclose ; Nor numbers Phosbus in his annual round, More months than doors within this fabric found. The space surrounding the cathedral was formerly a grave yard, filled with tomb-stones, and enclosed by a ditch. The tomb-stones have been removed, or levelled, the ditch filled up, and the space converted into a beautiful green lawn, by the direction of one of the bishops. The interior contains a number of paintings, some of which are on glass. Two of the large windows are finely ornamented in this way, one of which is twenty-three feet in height, and the other twenty-one, by seventeen and a half feet wide. The monuments are numerous, both ancient and modern, and many of them are admitted to be good specimens of sculpture. Among the most remarkable is one of Bennet, a per son who attempted, from religious enthusiasm, to fast forty days and nights. In this attempt he persisted until he perished. A sculptured figure of a man, emaciated almost to a skeleton, is placed over his tomb. Harris, the author of " Hermes," was born in this town. His monument, by Bacon, is perhaps the finest in the cathedral. The classical conception and execution of the whole piece, chaUenges the liveliest admiration. I ascended to the top of the SALISBURY* 221 tower, whence a view was obtained of the whole town and neighbourhood. The height of this steeple is so great as to be visible at the distance of eighteen miles a fact which was verified in our approach to Salisbury. The plains, so much celebrated in this part of Wiltshire, as the resort of shepherds with their flocks, were not directly in our road ; but the vast flocks of sheep which we saw on the downs, over which we did pass, gave me an extended idea of the pastoral life. Salisbury contains between 8 and 9000 inha bitants. It is noted for the manufactory of cutlery and steel goods. Notwithstanding that the celebrated piece of anti quity, called Stonehenge, is but seven miles from Sa lisbury, yet as it lay directly away from my road, and has been often and accurately delineated and de scribed, particularly in the valuable journal of my friend Professor Silliman, I concluded to leave it un seen, and to proceed immediately to Southampton. About three miles from Salisbury, we passed Cla rendon Park and House, which in 1 603 gave the title of Earl to the famous Edward Hyde, whose two granddaughters sat upon the English throne. The road was very fine. Men and women were busy at the harvest. We changed horses at Romsey, a plea sant town surrounded by beautiful meadows. There is an ancient abbey in this place, in the church of which several of the Saxon kings were buried. This church yet remains one of the finest specimens of Saxon architecture. An apple tree was growing, some years ago, on the top of its tower, which pro duced two different kinds of fruit, red-streaks and 222 SOUTHAMPTON. golden pippins. The tree probably sprang from a seed, which accidentally lodged in a crevice of the wall. We arrived at Southampton before night, twenty- four miles from Salisbury. The best inn in the place being entirely full, I went to the Commercial Inn, and as in former cases, took my station in the traveller's room ; a particular apartment, which, in most inns in England, is appropriated to that class of commercial agents who are almost constantly on the road. In the course of conversation with these people, I have frequently been asked how I found business, and whether the times were not rather difficult for col lectors. Upon informing my company this evening, that I was not an English traveUer, but an American, they expressed the greatest surprise ; one of the company asserted, that if I had not undeceived him, he should have been willing to declare that he had met me before as a traveller, and that my face was familiar to him. It is thus that I have been able, when I pleased, to pass for an Englishman ; and as to being taken for a traveUer, 1 consider it no discredit, for most of these men dress like gentlemen, and some of them possess much literary as well as commercial information. The travellers' room is furnished at a little more than half the price which those who have separate apartments are obliged to pay, and their table, moreover, is generally better served ; because they know what good living is, and the landlord knows well, that it is his interest to oblige them. Isle of wight. 223 LETTER X. Brighton, Sth month, {Aug.) 6, 1818. My DEAR *****, Southampton is situated at the head of a bay about a mile wide, and fifteen miles from the sound which separates the Isle of Wight from the main island. The town is supposed to have arisen out of the ruins of a Roman settlement. It was here that Canute, the Da nish invader, obtained the British sceptre ; and it was on the shore of this bay that he taught the memorable lesson of humility to his flatterers, by commanding the waves not to approach his feet. The town con tains about 10,000 inhabitants ; but the number is greatly increased during the summer months, by visiters from the interior, on account of health and bathing. The town itself is pleasant, and the envi rons particularly agreeable. At 10 I embarked in the packet for Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, distant eighteen miles. The wind was favourable, and the morning delightful. The borders of the river are ornamented by diligent cultivation, while the seats of wealthy individuals occur at inter vals, and give variety and interest to the passage. But there was one object on the shore, which pecu liarly claimed our attention, as we passed along. I mean the ruins of Netley Abbey. The foundation of this abbey is ascribed to Henry III., in 1232. It has Ipng been a heap of ruins, covered with ivy, and em bosomed in woods, but they are so picturesque and interesting, as to have frequently furnished a theme 224 ISLE OP WIGHT. for poetical description, and moral precept. Super stition has lent its wizard powers to embellish the history of these ruins, and to give a sort of sanctity t© the spot. One of the purchasers, it is reported, had his skull fractured, in attempting to take down part of the wall, of which melancholy consequence his wife had been forewarned by a dream, of which her in credulous husband was too regardless ! We could not obtain a good view of the abbey from the river, but the ruins of Netley Castle, built by Henry VIII., were very conspicuous on the water edge, immediately be low the Abbey. We landed at CoweSi, after a passage of an hour and thirty-five minutes. This is a small town, built on the side of a hill, and having a pleasant appear ance from the water ; but on landing, the principal street was narrow, and very uninviting. I proceeded immediately to Newport, the capital of the Island, five miles from Cowes. The harvest was less advanced here, than in Devonshire and Cornwall. The vege tation of the Island, has been almost destroyed by drought. Newport is a town of 6000 inhabitants, on a small river, navigable for large boats. It is pleasant ly situated, and much more regular than common country towns. Very extensive barracks, newly and handsomely built, near the town, have an imposing effect upon the eye. The tricks of mountebanks, and other allurements more licentious, were evidently not wanting, even in this insulated town ; but as far as my observations extended, I have reason to conclude, that there is, upon the whole, less depravity of the grosser kind here, than in any other town in England. of equal size, which I have visited. bey, me ruins 01 wmclii Su: iJartlet Lacy once sold to a speculating tailor, of! SouAaiBiUon. His des WIGHT. 225 cendants, who are still residenfiiu tliat place, relate it as follows : The tailor lay awake one night,, fljiuking how he could turn his purchase to tlie best advantage; gra dually he fell into a dose. At length he fan cied he was walking about the rains,; the moon had lighted up the walls of the old\ abbey, and the trees spread a dark shadow, all round' it. After a little time he saw a number of twinkling lights approaching him. As they came nearer, there appeared a long procession' of the ancient inhabi- tahts of the abbey. He could plainly distinguish the abbot by his crozier and splendid robes. The lights which he saw were wax-torches, which light ed them onlheir way. Tbey came nearer; at length the abbot walked straight up to, him^ and looked him full in the face. His countenance was pale and sad; he shook his head .solemnly three' times^aus- iiig between each shake, lie tiien said^ "-Mr. Tailor, beware! Mr. Tailor, beware ! Mr. Tailor, beware!" Tlw procession then retired, and he thought that a monrnful chaunting of psalms fell upon his ear. Well, he got up in the moniing, aiut said to him self, ^ It's only a dream, and' it's of no consequence at all." Tlie next night again he was thinfking how he miglit best dispose of his materials, when he fell asleep, and his dream again took him to the ruins of the old abbey. He was wamlering through its roof- _ • .* /¦ less aisles, calculating the value of his purchase, jde mark, and COUSlSting 01 He was looking up to take a guess at the height of , , , . . the building, when he caught sight of a ridiculous caricature head carved in stone, poking out from the wall. The face suddertly relaxed horn the fixed .-grin that had marked its countenance for the last six centuries. It shook its head three times, and then opened its mouth, and said, " Master Tailor, beware ! beware! beware!" Well, the tailor awoke in the morning, and said to himself, " What does it sig'nifv, it was only a dream?" He went to bed the thij-d night. He thought of 1 his purchase again, and fell asreep. He was walk- g (Jown ing round the rains again. Suddenly an old man stepped from behuid a wall: his Icg.s were bare; but a cloak lined with foxes' fur covered his shoulders. His beard was long and grey, reaching to his vviiisi, i mllprl Innrl tslints and and his lanky white hair Hoated round his head like U are CdlieU idlJU blipSs, dllU a mist. He was very tall, and his countenance was deadly pale. In a melancholy rumbling voice, he said, " My name is Ambrosius. I am the guardian spirit of Netley. In a fine clear night I love to see the pale beams of the moon light up its mouldering walls ; and, when the storm comes up from the sea, I listen to hear it rustling among the ivy, and moan ing through the empty walls and ruined windows. While these thing remain they remind me of the past, and I hover round them — I am a thing of days long gone by, and the past is my present , and shall a tailor come and destroy the illusion! Ha! halV" and with a loud shriek it disappeared. [¦ " Well, he awoke in the morning, and said to him- i self, " Never mind, it is only a dream." , His wife afterwards said to him. It is very odd, John.but the last three nights I dreamt every night, '' that the moment you tried to pull out a »i>gle stone, the whole abbey would fa 1 upon you. " Never mmjl, my dear, it is only a dwam. What | "'ioliSafning.to attend to warnings *at ^»'"fi 1 this Islaud. in io questionable a shape, he ^etts work WpM l the building down; but, no W;^„M;''=f^, out the iirst stone, that the whole W'n^ow »n l the top of a wall fell, part of which struck his head, land he died, a few days afterwards. 7g, and a boy to drive it, I I was well accommodated, eastern tour of the Island, ly right, about a mile from rook Castle, situated on a e. This Castle is remark- itiquity, and for its having I., and the place where his is execution. The Princess »hter, died in this Castle. he side next the sea, exhi- icturesque and romantic in y bluff", in some places 700 de mark, and consisi reen sandstone and chert marie. By the action of tter stratum, the marie be- f mud. runs out, and leaves port, which, being deprived In this way are d violent movements of the iilar progress, have produ- ious places, on the southern iking feature of the Isle of s been the decay of this a space of half a mile be- )luff^ and the sea below ; a antastic irregularities of its s, by rocks and woods, cot- e luxury of cultivation. A on, constitutes the princi- 226 ISLE OP WIGHT. These land slips are ascribed, by the author of " Vectiana," to the expansion of subterraneous water during congelation, thus " forcing the rocks in a loose soapy soil, from their position, on a declivity, and leaving them to find a settlement nearer the sea." But I think it very questionable, whether the cold is ever suflSciently intense, on this southern shore, to freeze the water to any considerable distance below the surface. The theory which ascribes the pheno mena, to the gradual influence of subterranean streams, percolating through a loose substratum, appears to me much the most philosophical. We entered upon this singular tract, just below Niton, a village of about 300 inhabitants. It consists of two irregular streets, of thatched cottages, the walls being of freestone. St. Lawrence, a small parish through which we passed, contains only 76 inhabitants. The church, which stands by the road, is acknowledged to be the smallest in England, its dimensions being not more than 20 feet in length, and ] 2 in breadth. A person in the yard, who appeared to be the sexton, told me it would not accommodate more than ninety persons, with any convenience. ] \l could not but contrast this number, with the 10,000 whom I had recently seen assembled in St. Paul's Cathedral, in London. Among the cottages, and summer residences of gentlemen, which adorn this romantic road, is one be longing to Earl Dysart. It is a plain, but neat and comfortable little mansion. The rooms are hung with pictures, and the grounds around the cottage, can hardly be better described, than by imagining a small farm, to consist, like a house, of several ISLE OF WIGHT. 227 stories, one over another, each receding from the per pendicular, and the whole suspended between the level surface of the ocean, and the summit of a high and abrupt hill in the rear. The prospect, from va rious points of these romantic grounds, is singularly fine. Arbours and seats are erected in situations the most favourable for viewing the variegated prospect of sea and land ; of gardens, groves, and water falls ; the wildness of nature, and the exquisite culture of art. The furniture and rooms of the cottage, were kept in the nicest order, though I was informed by the inmates, that the Earl had not occupied it for a long time past. I dined at Shanklin, a very pleasant village, near which is a deep cavity, produced by the constant rushing of a stream of water, from the upland to the sea. 1 was amply repaid for descending to the bottom of this cavity, and viewing, from the sea shore, the high and abrupt bluff, which borders it in this place. About two miles beyond " Steep Hill," the name of the seat last mentioned, is the parish of St. Boniface, the church of which is of Saxon antiquity. The en trance to it is through a perfect Saxon arch. The town of Brading has about 500 inhabitants. The church here is supposed to be the oldest in the Island. The foUowing epitaph, on a stone in the yard, must be admired by every one, for the beauty of its composition. Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear, That mourns thy exit from a Trorld like this : Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here, And stay'd thy progress to the seats of bliss. ' Ko more confin'd to grov'ling scenes of night, No more a tenant pent in mortal clay ; Now should we rather hail thy glorious ffight. And trace thy journey to the realms of day. 228 PORTSMOUTH. My excursion on the Island terminated at Ryde, a pleasant and newly built town, opposite to Ports mouth, from which it is distant about five miles. A fiiivourable wind took us across in about thirty-five minutes. A letter to the collector of the customs, procured me a very polite reception, from him and his family, with whom I took tea, and spent the evening. He is a man of acknowledged ingenuity in mechanics, his talents having placed him at the head of an impor tant canal concern, designed to benefit the town of Portsmouth. His knowledge of the principles of sound, was exhibited rather curiouslv in his common sitting room. A tube, opening by an ear-piece, into the room, by the side of the fire-place, passed through Ihe partition into the kitchen, and terminated at the ceiling. By speaking in a low voice, in the mouth of this tube, orders were easily given to the servants; and by applying an ear to the tube, the common con versation of the kitchen could be understood. Sth month. 1st. The town of Portsmouth is very strongly fortified. The Battery, or side next the sea, presents an agreeable promenade; Gosport, on the opposite side of the harbour, the Isle of Wight, and the ocean, being comprehended in the perspective. The population is about 50,000, and that of Gosport, nearly 10,000. The son of the collector called this morning to conduct me to the Dock-Yard, his father having en gaged the attention of one of the officers of the yard, in favour of my admission. I was also provided with a letter from London, to another of the officers. Thus favourably introduced, I spent several hours in viewing the very extensive and ingenious operations, PORTSMOUTH. 229 here carried on. The Dock Yard contains 1 10 acres, surrounded by a high wall, and strongly defended on the land side. Within these limits, almost every opera tion, connected with ship-building, is conducted with a surprising degree of energy and perfection. About 2500 men are constantly employed, and in time of war 3000. Six dry docks are included, in each of which vessels of the largest size, can be built under cover; and, when finished, the water is let in, they float, and are towed into the stream. The main canal, or open ing into the yard, instead of being closed by gates, is shut and opened in an extremely ingenious manner, by means of a boat, constructed on purpose. This boat is placed transversely, in the opening of the ca nal, and having a strait keel, and perpendicular ends, she moves up and down in grooves, in the walls of the canal, and the keel fits a groove, adjusted to the bottom. When this boat is empty, it swims, and can then be loosened and moved out of the way. When brought back, it is filled with water, and then it sinks to the bottom, and stops the passage. The bottom of the dry docks, is about fourteen feet below low water mark ; and as it is almost impossible to prevent leakage from the gates, a steam engine is employed to keep them dry. Two engines are used in the yard, one of the power of 56, and the other of 30 horses. Either of them is sufficient, not only to keep the docks empty, but to drive the block-making machinery, the rollers and presses for making sheet copper, and sheet iron, bolts, blowing the bellows for the furnace, &c. But by far the most ingenious part of the machinery in the yard, is that by which the blocks are manufac- 19* ^^^ PORTSMOUTH. tured. This is the invention of Brunei, a Frenchman, whose surprising talent, in practical mechanics, has been patronised by the British government, and great ly to its advantage. Such is the nature of the block machinery, that the saws, the augers, the chisels, the planes, the gouges, the polishing tools, in short all the instruments by which a large beam, or tree, of ash or other wood, a hard stick of Ugnumvitae, and a rough bolt of iron, are converted into a block and pulley, move by steam, and with such velocity and precision, that it is believed, this single manufactory, might sup ply the whole world with blocks, and at a cheaper rate than they can be made any where else. The saws are mostly circular. That which is used for dividing a stock or tree of Ugnumvitae, into flat sections for the wheels or pulleys of the block, is surprisingly ingenious, in its adjustment and move ment. The saw is placed horizontally in an up right iron frame ; which frame itself, has a circu lar movement round a vertical axis. To this axis or centre, a stick of Ugnumvitae, cut from the natural stock, of two and a half feet in length, (a little more or less,) is firmly fixed, and is raised or lowered by a ratchet, so as to place that spot precisely against the saw, which will enable it to take off" a piece of the requisite thickness. The saw, revolving with extreme rapidity, is then pressed against the wood by a hand lever, and at the same time, by the slow revolution of its frame, it moves round the stick and cuts into it in every part of its circumference. By this means the saw will cut through a tree of nearly twice its own radius, and separate from it a section perfectly flat, and of the same thickness in all its parts. Trees or PORTSMOUTH. 231 stocks of different thickness, can be adjusted to the same saw, by the varying grasp of the clamp or chuck which holds it. The saw which cuts out the pulley to a true circle, is shaped like a surgeon's trephine, or the crown wheel of a watch. They all move with extreme velocity. I was witness to the motion of a plank, about eighteen feet in length, by which it passed under a saw and had a sUt cut half way through it, from end to end, in ten seconds. A necessary part of the operation, is to turn the blocks in a sort of lathe, so as to give them the requisite oval shape and smooth surface. For this purpose, ten oblong blocks, having the corners roughly sawed off, are rapidly adjusted to the hollow circumference of a large wheel, which being put into geer, the blocks move round very swiftly, and are brought at pleasure against a tool, which, pressed by the hand, moves at discretion round the corner and sides of the blocks, and turns them down, M'ith the utmost precision, to the form re quired. Copper and iron are taken from the pig in this fac tory, melted, recast, and rolled into sheets. Bolts are also fashioned by the roller, both of copper and iron. I observed that when the sheets of copper come from the rolling press, they are covered with a hard coat of oxide. To get clear of this, they are heated again to redness, and then plunged into water. This increases so rapidly the coat of oxide, as to loosen it from the plate. It is then simply rinsed off, leaving a bright metallic surface. The oxide of cop per thus collected, is afterward reduced in the furnace. The apartment in which anchors are forged, is vastly 232 PORTSMOrTH. extensive^ and so highly charged with smoke, fire, steam, and noise, as forcibly to remind one of the fa bled caves of the Cyclops. Many of the anchors which are wrought here, weigh from 70 to 90 cwt. eacfa^ I left tins yard, (certainly the most gigantic manu factory which sin and death have ever erected,) with more exalted opinions of the intellectual power of man, and more humiliating sentiments of the depra vity of his naturei If the same reach of intellect, the same persevering application of talent, the same nation^ zeal, and a hundredth part of the expenditure, were employed in devices for preventing war, saving life, and promoting the comfort and happiness of na tions ; how very few years would elapse before the face of the whole habitable globe would be changed, and the general aspect of human affairs be radically and substantially improved. Is it folly to think that the time may arrive, when national strength will be directed to this grand object, to the exclusion of war like preparation ? And is it presumption to believe, that through the combined efforts of good men, under the blessing of Providence, this benign change in the feelings and enjoyments of mankind, will in time be effected ? Convinced from my own observations, and from the information I received, that the state of public morals in the town of Portsmouth and its neighbourhood, is none the better for its being the key of England, and the great depot of its naval concerns ; I left it in the coach for Chichester, where I arrived in the even ing. The country through which we passed is fertile, the grain large, in good condition, and rapidly yield ing to the sickle. Gleaners are seen in almost every CHICHESTER. 233 field from which the grain has been gathered. In one field, probably often or twelve acres, I counted thirty- five gleaners. This indicates poverty far greater than any that afflicts our poor. The country is generally flat, between Portsmouth and Chichester ; the upper stratum is of chalk. I availed myself of a remnant of daylight to walk through the town : and findhig the church open, 1 entered it, and was guided by the sexton through its aisles and among its tombs. The most interesting of the monuments, is that erected to the memory of Collins the poet, executed by Flaxman. The workmanship is exquisite, representing the poet recovering from a fit of phrensy, and seeking refuge from his misfortunes in the consolations of the Gos pel. The epitaph, it is said, is the joint produc tion of Hayley and Sargent. Collins was a native of this town. This church contains a great number of paintings. In the centre of the principal street is a remarka bly fine Gothic cross, erected in 1478. Chichester is a city of ancient standing. Its plan is regular and its situation pleasant. A considerable portion of the wall which formerly surrounded it still remains. The charities of this town are highly creditable to the judgment and humanity ofits citizens. The daugh ter of a female friend, at whose house I met with a reception which forbade my seeking other quarters, in conversing on the state of their public schools, evinced the lively interest which she takes in the concerns of the poor, especiaUy in relation to their children. She showed me a considerable library of books, adapted to the understandings of young people, whicb she kept to loan out to such as wished to read. 234 BRIGHTON. She also receives from them their little earnings, (not disdaining even a farthing,) which, when they amount to a certain sum, she puts in the Savings Bank, where they draw an interest. It is almost impossible to es timate the benefit which may thus be done, even by an individual, in giving to the children of the lower classes correct notions of economy and industry, and some taste for books of an instructive tendency. In passing from Chichester to Brighton, we dined at Arundel, a town of nearly 25,000 inhabitants, situated on the river Arun. There is a famous castle near this town, which was once considered as the strongest in the kingdom. Worthing is a considerable place, very recently built, immediately on the sea coast. The houses are large, and handsome, having been erected chiefly on speculation, with a view to the profits ari sing from visiters who frequent the coast, for purposes of health and pleasure. Dr. F., my fellow passenger from New-York to Liver pool, and *. *. ****, of Philadelphia, had agreed to join me at Brighton, whence we were to proceed to Paris. In waiting a few days for their arrival from London, I experienced the greatest hospitality from *. ********^ a friend, of that place. A very short time is sufficient to see all that is particularly worth notice in Brighton, or Brighthelmston, as it is written on the maps. It contains about eighteen thousand inhabitants, but this number is increased nearly one half, at particular seasons, by the influx of visiters from all parts of the kingdom, but more especially from London. Many of these are doubtless invalids, but the greater num ber come merely to pass away their time, or because it is a place of gayety and fashion. Visiters resort BRIGHTON. 235 here at all seasons of the year, the air being consi dered as very salubrious, and the water excellent. The greatest number, however, are here during the summer and autumn. Besides sea bathing, ample pro vision is made for cold, tepid, and warm baths, and also for steam and medicated vapour baths. A cus tom has been introduced, which 1 never before heard of It is called Shampooing, and is said to be derived from India. To render it more imposing, the opera tion is superintended by a person called Mahomied. Whether the practice was introduced by some real believer in the Koran, who came to England for this purpose, or by some crafty adventurer, who assumed the name, I know not. The process of shampooing, to be agreeable and effectual, must be performed by people regularly trained to it. They are called Shampoomen. After the body of the patient has been thoroughly suppled by the seawater vapour bath, the Shampooers squeeze the flesh and muscles with their hands from the extremities to the centre, and conclude by rub bing the skin briskly, which removes obstructions from the pores, and renders the skin as soft and smooth as satin. So highly is this new practice extolled, that one of the notices which I have seen of it, states, " that it may fairly be alleged, that the universal remedy, as a panacea, has at length been discovered !" A great proportion of the houses are built, and handsomely furnishedfor the purpose of being let out by the week or month. The shore is not very favour able to bathing, the position, in my opinion, being very inferior either to Long Branch or Rockaway, in the vicinity of New- York. The bathers are taken into the sea in a small dressing-house, drawn, or rather 236 BRIGHTON. pushed by a horse. From this house they descend, by wooden steps, into the water. The channel is too narrow to admit of a fine re- freshnig surf, and the water deepens so gradually as to afford no good accommodations at low tide; The shore, a bold, chalky blu£^ is also so high and steep, fi^m the bank on which the town stands, to the wa ter's edge, as to make it a formidable task for invalids to descend and ascend. The houses are very commonly constructed with arched fronts and bow windows. The material is either brick or flint. The latter substance is procured from the chalk beds in great quantities, in rounded nodules, of the size of a large potatoe. When broken in two, the fracture is smooth and glossy, and being placed in front of the houses, sometimes alone, but more fre quently alternated with rows of bricks, they give to the fronts an appearance very peculiar, and by no means ipihandsome. A particular sort of tile is also used here, which, when applied to a rough wall, fur^ nishes a better front than common bricks, and at the same time excludes more effectually the moisture of the atmosphere. These tiles are used also as a facing to wooden houses. They are so shaped as to be easily attached to each other, and to the wall, by nails and a little mortar, and they give to the wall exactly the appearance of neat bricks. I cannot but think that they are worthy of adoption in other places. It has become much the fashion in Brighton, as well as in other parts of England, to use asses (or donkeys, as they are called) as a substitute for horses, both un der the saddle and for draught. Two or three of these diminutive creatures are harnessed to a chaise or gig BRIGHTON. 237 with very low wheels, and driven by a boy, who gene rally rides as postillion. They answer a valuable purpose. It costs btit Uttle to keep them, and they endure labour, and even rough usage, with a strength and vigour disproportionate to their size. They are much employed by females and young riders of both sexes, being more easily mounted, and less dangerous than horses. They might, I should think, be advan- tageously introduced into the United States. Very few trees are to be seen in Brighton, or in its immediate neighbourhood, in consequence of the chalky stratum on which it is built. This is a defi ciency which art cannot well supply. The Prince Regent has a house here, in the centre of the town, called the Pavilion. Its architecture is extremely whimsical, if not ridiculous, having more the appear ance of a Turkish mosque, than of a Christian habita tion. It has been undergoing almost constant altera tions during the last 20 years, and is not yet completed to the satisfaction ofits Royal owner. But " Great princes have great playthings," and the pavilion has probably answered the purpose of a useful hobby to his Royal Highness. A packet leaves Brighton almost every day for Dieppe, in France. As there is no quay or dock. approachable even by sloops, the embarkation is very inconvenient, and in rough weather it must be ex» tremely uncomfortable, if not dangerous. Vol. I. 20 238 PASSAGE TO DIEPPE. LETTER XI. Paris, 9th month {Sepfem.) Gth, 1818. Mv DEAR ***** AND ****, Being joined by my American friends, and having obtained our clearances for France, and furnished ourselves with sufficient viaticum, even for a protract ed passage, we took leave of those whose kind atten tions to us claimed our hearty acknowledgments ; and at 8 P.M. on the 6th ultimo, we were transported on men's shoulders to an open boat in the sea, and conveyed to the packet, a sloop of about eighty tons ; in which we found about forty others, bound, like ourselves, to France. In this company were Alderman Wood, M. P. late Lord Mayor of London, his wife, and two daugh ters. At 9 we set sail with a fine breeze. Sth month, 7th. A mat on the cabin floor served seve ral of us as a bed, on which I slept well, although the violent tossing of our little bark, entirely destroyed the comfort and rest of many of our fellow passengers. At 6 A. M. the chalky elevations of the French coast, and the steeples of Dieppe, were in view. The shore here, as well as Brighton, can be approached at cer tain times of the tide, only in small boats. At eight we were boarded by a large French barge, and taken out of the packet with our baggage, the tide not serv ing for the sloop to advance up a small creek to the wharf On our approaching the shore, we found the surf too high for even the barge to land ; on which DIEPPE. 239 account it was necessary to procure a smaller boat to convey us to the shore. A number of people were coUected to see us debark, among whom we disco vered several gens-d'armes, or armed soldiers. The loud and continued jabber of the French sailors, and the bustle of the people on shore, soon convinced us that we were in a difierent country and among a dif ferent nation, from those we had left. After landing, our passports were taken possession of by the soldiers, and we ourselves escorted, a la mi' litaire, to the custom house. We were there sepa rately examined, first by feeling our pockets, and in some cases, obliging us to exhibit their contents ; then by unbuttoning our waistcoats, to ascertain whether we had not increased our bulk by some precious arti cle or other, contraband of trade. After tickling our skin a little, this farcical business was finished, by al lowing us to button up and go where we pleased. But I ought not to omit to state, that one of the first objects which presented itself to our notice on land ing, was a crucifix, or image of our Saviour as large as life, nailed to the cross. This is erected near the dock, for the due notice of seamen and strangers. We put up at the " Regent's Hotel," kept by an Englishman; the waiter also speaking English per fectly. Here we took our breakfasts, very much in the EngUsh style We were in hopes of being able to pursue our journey immediately, but were told that neither our passports nor our baggage, (which was all to be examined in our presence,) would be ready till afternoon, and then the diligence for Rouen would be gone. Thus circumstanced, we had leisure to walk through the town. 240 DIEPPE. Dieppe is situated in a valley between high hills, precipitous next the sea, and composed of white chalk, inclosing flints, exactly similar to the formation of the opposite shore in England. The town contains about 20,000 inhabitants ; but we could not avoid re marking the great excess of women, in point of num bers. The streets swarm with females, a large pro portion of whom are miserable objects, covered with rags and dirt, and many of them sturdy beggars. England far exceeds America, in the number of beg gars one meets with in every town ; but in Dieppe, England is quite outdone in the race of mendicity. In short, this debut of France gives one a very unfa vourable idea of the comforts of the French. It is trne, the word comfort has no equivalent term in the French language ; and an American or Englishman would conclude, from Dieppe alOne, that the enjoy ment of it was equally foreign to their practice. The houses are very high, and have a clumsy and inele gant appearance. The town is finely supplied with water, which is brought in pipes from the hills. It spouts in constant streams in various places in the streets. A very large dock for shipping, was begun by Bonaparte, which, having been suspended during the commotions, is now again in a state of advancement. On going into a large church, apparently very old, we found a number of people assembled in it at mass. The churches are kept open, for this purpose, nearly the whole day. Two large candles were burning, and a marble basin of consecrated water is kept near the door. This religion, I have no doubt, is wonderfully calculated to gain upon the credulity and confidence of the lower classes. DIEPPE. 241 The dress of the women in Normandy, it is said, has not varied during the last century. Its most re markable characteristic is the cap. When the head is newly dressed the cap is very white, plaited with great care, and extends at least a foot in height from the forepart, and about two feet behind the head. Having occasion to go into the shop of a barber to get shaved, this office was performed upon all of us by his daughter, a neat little girl of fifteen, and we could not but acknowledge, that she handled the ra zor with much dexterity. On one side of the town is a large and strong cas tle upon an eminence, which overlooks nearly all the other buildings. Our American passports were taken from us and sent to Paris, and another granted us by the mayor of Dieppe. Sth. We hired a carriage with four horses, to con vey us to Rouen, distant thirty-nine miles, for which we were to pay sixty francs ; and leaving Dieppe at six, we had an extremely pleasant ride, through a va ried and fertile country, in which the wheat was as large and fine as I have ever seen it at home, through out a district of equal extent. We were here, as well as in England, in the midst of wheat harvest. The greater number of labourers in the field was women. They were reaping, binding, and loading the wheat. We met them driving carts, loaded asses, going to market with burthens, and indeed, it would seem as if Ceres were bestowing her favours, almost exclu sively, upon the females of the country. Their com plexions indicate as much of the exposure and hardi hood of out-door labour, as those of the men. The fields, in this part of France, are entirely without 20* 242 RouEir. fences, even on the public road. Cattle and sheep^. at pasture, are strictly guarded; cows, when taken to graze, have a rope tied round the horns, and a girl or boy holds one end to guide them. We stopped at Teste, a small village, to breakfast, where we were joined by Alderman Wood and fa- roily, who were travelling in their own carriage to Paris. The Inn was very large, but destitute of that appearance which we call tidy and comfortable. The road between Toete and Rouen,, extends along the side of a hill, beneath which is a beautiful valley, through which flows the river Cailly, which empties into the Seine. This valley is very populous, con taining a great number of manufactories, of different ttinds; particularly of cotton and paper. We arrived at the borders of the Seine, a few miles below Rouen. The road is here lined with a double row of trees. Ropes are stretched across it, from tree to tree, and lamps are suspended in the centre, throwing their light over the whole area of the road, which is at least double the ordinary width of the roads in England. We entered Rouen by the gate of Havre, and drove through narrow streets, crowded with people and large wagons, to the hotel Vattel. We were here in troduced, for the first time, into an inn truly French. One of the servants spoke a little English, and was eager to show us that he understood the language. The floors, even of the bed-rooms, were of brick, or tile, and without carpets. The beds are placed in a recess in the chamber, and furnished with fine cur tains. Large looking-glasses are found in every room; in short, the mixture of splendour, andof bad ROUEN. 243 taste; of elegance, and the absence of neatness, struck us very forcibly. With our fellow passengers from London, who are also quartered here, we walked out to view the town. We went into the cathedral, which is admitted, I be lieve, to be one of the noblest piles of this nature in France. It was built by William the Conqueror. The Gothic architecture of this building, the statuary, and the paintings,, render it very imposing. It was the time of vespers. Two old priests, in a curious costume ; two or three boys, and half a dozen monk ish looking creatures, were chanting, and performing a variety of marches and evolutions to, and from, and round the altar, and from one part of the area to another, while the incense, which was burned upon some coals in a coarse iron pan, filled the interior of the building with a strong and rather odoriferous smell Without the pale of the altar, were a dozen or twenty poor people, most of whom were kneeling, and each looking over a book. There were others, in remote parts of the church, apparently engaged in some religious act by themselves. We left them, and proceeded to a convent, in which forty or fifty girls are educated, in strict conformity to the rites and ce remonies of the Catholic Church. We were conduct ed through the rooms by the abbess or matron, whose countenance and manners indicated great compla cency and kindness, but evidently mixed with a strong attachment to the principles in which she was educating her flock. The house was a model of cleanliness. The girls have each a room and bed, barely large enough to accommodate her comfortably. These rooms are arranged on each side of a gaUery, 244 ROUEN. in the middle of which is a wide passage, extending from one end of it to the other. The greatest atten tion, I apprehend, is paid to the moral habits of these children. In passing through the chapel of the con vent, a sweet little girl, very neatly dressed, courte ously presented a plate, and solicited a contribution from us, for the sick and distressed. In the chapel was a crucifix, before which I observed the child to how, every time she passed it. We dined at the table d''hote of our inn, in the true French style. Several of the dishes were new to us; the changes were numerous, and the price moderate. Upon the whole, we were by no means displeased with our first essay at the silver fork and spoon, in the land of soups and fricasees. The company at the table was large, and composed of French, English, and Americans. We were regaled, during the repast, with music, by a female performer, on a hand organ, who placed herself before the door for this purpose, expecting, in return, a few voluntary sous from each of the company. In the afternoon, we all went to the top of Mount St. Catharine, a celebrated eminence, near the city. It was a toilsome ascent, especially to our lady May oress ; but though we had often to stop and renew our strength by a little fresh breathing, when the sum mit was once gained, we were amply repaid for our exertion. The capital of Normandy, with its tall spires, its compact streets, its wall of defence, and its fine boulevards, lay at our feet. The Seine, embra cing a number of green islands, showed its meander ings to a great distance. Several viUages were in sight ; and a wide extent of country, yellow with har- ROUEN. 245 vest, filled up the contour of this delightful prospect. The streets were crowded to excess, on our return, but soldiers, or gens d''armes, were every where ming led with the population, ready to take notice of any impropriety, and to bring offenders speedily to jus tice. To judge from the appearance of the populace, we should have supposed that a very large proportion of the inhabitants, must be at a loss for the means of subsistence. Considerable trade appears to be en joyed here. The number of square-rigged vessels and the bustle along the wharves bespeak much com mercial activity. Rouen, including its suburbs, is said to be seven miles in circumference, and to contain 73,000 inhabi tants. It was the birth-place of Fontenelle, of the two Corneilles, and of Joan of Arc ; the latter was inhur manly burnt here, by order of the English general, in 1430. One of the villages, or suburbs, on the oppo« site side of the river, is connected with Rouen by a bridge of boats. It has a draw-bridge in the centre, which, when raised, admits the barge underneath to be slipped out, and thus opens a free passage to the vessels employed on the Seine. 9th. Having engaged seats in the diligence, we lieft Rouen, early this morning, with the hope of reaching Paris before night. To have a correct idea of a French diligence, you may imagine four strong wheels, placed at such a distance, as to admit of the body of a coach in the middle, holding six persons, three on each seat, facing each other ; a large chaise, with a leathern cover and apron in front, placed before the coach ; and a sort of Jersey wagon, holding six persons, on two seats, riding sideways, and facing each other, 246 JOURNEY TO PARIS. adjoining the coach, behind. If these three vehi cles are supposed to be united into one body with out, yet entirely separate as it regards the interior, a tolerable notion will be gained of the public stages of France. The front vehicle is caUed the cabriolet, and the hinder one the gallery. The former is con sidered as the best part of the diUgence, for it admits of the most open view of the country. Through the complaisance of a French girl, who yielded her place to me very politely, 1 was admitted to a seat in the cabriolet, while two of my companions were in the gallery, and the other (Dr. F.) in the coach, with four or five French women. On one side of me, in the ca briolet, was a Frenchman, and on the other a Polish Jew, with a long beard. The road was excessively dusty. We passed through a great number of vil lages, and some towns of considerable extent. The country is finely variegated on this route, with hills and extensive plains, cultivated with diligence, but apparently with less skill than in any of our mid dle states. The chalk formation appeared to reach through the whole extent of this day's ride, sometimes appearing in abrupt and broken cKffs. About midway of the distance, between Rouen and Paris, the crops of wheat began to yield to the culti vation of the vine, and, in the latter part of the day, vineyards, loaded with grapes, appeared in great abundance. The vine is raised in rows^ about three feet asunder, each way. It grows to the height of four or five feet, bearing grapes from within a few inches of the surface, and supported by a stick stuck in the ground, to which it is tied. As this was the first day of the week, we had an opportunity of witnessing the JOURNEY TO PARIS. 247 manner in which it is kept by the French ; and if it be fair to draw conclusions, from as close an observation as it is possible to make, by passing through a great number of towns and villages, in the course of 100 miles, I should say, that it is considered as a day of pleasure. Business is by no means suspended, for every where the shops were open, in considerable numbers ; carts and horses were in motion as usual ; labourers were at work in the fields and on the roads ; but the majority of the people appeared to be occu pied, principaUy, in concerns of pleasure; collected in groupes, at the doors, under the trees, and about the inns. We crossed the Seine several times in the course of the day. The principal towns, through which we rode, were Louviers, Gaillon, Vernon. Bon- nieres. Mantes, (where we dined,) Meulan, Triel, St. Germain-en-Laye, and Nanterre ; some of them very considerable places. Hence you will justly in fer, that the country, on this route, is very populous. The horses are managed entirely by a postiUion, who rides on the near wheel horse. But another impor tant personage is the " Conducteur," who has his sta tion either in the gallery, or on the top of the coach. He is captain of the whole concern ; the baggage is under his care ; the postillion is at his command ; he regulates the period of stopping ; helps the passen gers out, attends to their meals, aids in carving, &c. The whole establishment is under the control of the government. The conductor and the postil lion are officers., amenable to the police. There are, of course, much more regularity and decorum in the conduct and management of these conveyances than with us, where the stages are the property of indivi- JOURNEY TO PARIS. duals, or of companies, without any particular respon sibility. The horses in France, at least between Dieppe and Paris, are in general better than those in England. They do not travel perhaps quite so fast, but they are in better condition. At Marly, ten miles from Paris, we saw the immense works that were erected to raise water for the supply of Versailles. Great quantities are, it is true, elevated to the uncommon height of 533 feet ; but the clumsi ness of the machinery is past description. It has the appearance of a forest of naked timber. Rennie, the English engineer, offered to erect steam works on the Seine, which would be more effective in their opera tion than these works are, for no other reward than the timber he should find on the spot. '^ The preference given by the French, to Americans over the English, is manifested on almost every occa sion which presents itself for showing it. One of the gens-d 'armes, at Dieppe,on finding we were Americans, said to me, " Ah ! bon, bon ; les Anglais ne sont pas bons." They show their dislike to England some times rather rudely. " Combien, gari^on," said I to the boy, who assisted in changing the horses, at St. Germain, "Combien d'ici a Paris ?" Knowing I was not a Frenchman, and supposing me to be English, he replied, " D'ici a Paris .'' C'est cent lieux. Monsieur Bosbif." The Frenchman by my side, upon learning that I was an American, very freely indulged himself, in manifesting his attachment to Bonaparte, by extoUing every thing he had done ; and venting his dislike to the English. As we approached Paris, his warmth encreased ; every thing beautiful or great had been rendered so by the Emperor. In passing Malmaison, PARIS. 2ii< be dwelt upon the improvements Napoleon had made there ; and when we entered the grand Avenue, to the great city, lighted with lamps suspended from the trees, and passed the Triumphal Arch, into the Ely sian fields, the poor fellow could hardly contain him self, so great was his ecstasy, in his eager desire to point out every thing to me that was curious and in teresting, and to make me understand how much was due to the Emperor. I remarked to him, at length, that Napoleon had produced an earthquake in Eu rope, and in the violence of the concussion, he himself had been justled to St. Helena. His countenance fell, and with an expression of deep regret, he replied, *' Ah ! Monsieur, c'est vrai !" The entrance of Paris, by the Avenue de Neuilly, and the Champs Elyse^s, especially at an hour when the business of the day is over, can hardly fail to make a dazzling impression on the mind of a stranger, let him come from what country he may. We entered the city just as daylight was beginning to yield to the splendour of the lamps. The Avenue, including the Elysian fields, must be two miles long. It was thronged tvith carriages, and horsemen, and horsewomen, and thousands of pedestrians, all bent on pleasure. In ma ny places they were formed into groupes, dancing to instruments of music. The gardens were illuminated, and sports of all kinds in operation. Such was the scene presented to us, on our arrival in this great me tropolis, on the evening of the Christian Sabbath. If the question had been asked us, at this moment, "What kind of people are the Parisians.'"' we should have answered, They are a fiddling and dancing peO' pie, caring for Uttle but the present hour. Vol. i 21 250 PARIS. We alighted, where all travellers who come to Paris by the public conveyances must alight, in the Grand Cour des Diligences, Every conducttur is obliged to report himself and his charge at the office in the great yard, and due notice of it is entered on the books. We proceeded to Meurice's hotel. Rue St. Honore, a house in which 150 beds are made up, ex clusive of those for servants ; yet it was with some difficulty that we obtained accommodations. Alder man Wood and family, who arrived a little after us, were obliged to seek for quarters at another inn. 1 0th. In consequence of a lameness in my knee, from a slight injury, 1 did not go out to-day. My friend Dr. P. of Philadelphia, who has been two years in Paris, called to see me. He administered leeches to the swelled part of the knee, which afforded effec tual relief 1 1 th. My first sortie, in this splendid capital, was in a visit this morning, with my companions, to the palace of the Louvre, so distinguished as the great temple of the fine arts in France. In passing through the garden of the Thuilleries, my eyes were com pletely dazzled with the lustre of a brilliant sun, re flected from the statues, the fountains, the gravelled walks, and various other elegancies on the one side ; and the marble front of the palace on the other. Nothing can be more imposing than such a debut in Paris. On entering the garden from the side of St. Honore, passing through it to Pont Royal, and ascend ing the river in front of the Louvre, the most sumptu ous and elegant parts of the city, burst at once upon the view. And if such an entree is calculated to strike the mind with astonishment, an admission to the mu- PARIS. 251 seum of tbe Louvre, will not diminish the impression. The statues, busts, and antiques, are in various apart ments on the lower floor; and the paintings, above^ To describe them would require a volume. The first effect is astonishment, at the freedom of the ex hibition. There is nothing in statuary or painting which shocks the female delicacy of the French. In this respect, the English go much further than we do ; but in France this freedom is pushed to greater lengths. The public gardens abound with statues, which, in America, are only placed behind skreens in our exhibition rooms. The most highly wrought mo dels of the Venus de Medicis, serve as decorations in some of the coflfee rooms, and other places fre quented by both sexes, and yet the dress and man ners of the French women, are, at least to appearance, quite as decorous as those of England or America. From this simple view of the case, it might be at first concluded, that the style of manners in France, in relation to those denuded exhibitions, cannot be unfriendly to public morals ; — nor have there been wanting philosophers, of both sexes, who have con tended, that our common notions of decency are en tirely artificial ; and that the concealment of truth and nature, is more injurious to purity of sentiment and feeling, than the simple and undisguised habits of the Pelew or Fejee islands. But it might easily be proved, as I conceive, by a reference to the his tory of those islanders themselves, that in proportion to the advancement of human society in civilization, and intellectual refinement, such primitive habits are found to be entirely incompatible with the preserva tion of public and private virtue. Nor is the actual 252 PARIS. state of morals in France, any evidence to the con trary; but, as I believe, greatly the reverse. Their own records publish to the world, that one third of the births in the city of Paris, (amounting to upwards of 8000 annually,) are " hors de marriage ;" and as to conjugal fidelity, where could the person be found who would have the courage to rank this among the prominent national virtues ? X^ Fifteen apartments, including the vestibule and corridor, are appropriated to the antiquities of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The whole number of figures, comprehended in the printed catalogue, is 361. It is impossible to enter these halls, at least for the first time, without experiencing the most vivid impression. The sudden display of so much elegance and splen dour, rouses the feelings to a pitch unknown before ; and the admiratioh^htch i» thus so forcibly excited, scarcely loses any thing of its intensity, by a minute examination of the various objects contained in this long suite of apartments. If novelty and wonder are the first emotions, the mingled feelings of delight and astonishment, will be maintained by such an evidence of sublime conception, and exquisite skill in execu tion, as the greater number of the pieces so clearly .proves. The ascent to the picture galleries, is by a wide and sumptuous staircase. The number of apartments is here also considerable. In the one which adjoins the antichamber, the pictures are mostly very large ; but it is not till one enters the grand gallery, that the imagination is wrought upon to the highest pitch, and that the enthusiasm, which animates every Frenchman in speaking of the museum of the Louvre, can be duly PARIS. 233 imderstood and appreciated. You may, periiaps, form some idea of the effect upon the mind of a per son who has never seen a very large collection of .pictures, on entering, at one end, an apartment, about thirty feet wide and more than a quarter of a mile in length, with a ceiUng beautifully arched and divided into ornamental squares, with its walls Entirely filled from one extremity to the other with the finest pic tures; excepting, that, at intervals, elegant marble pillars are erected at short distances from the walls, between which are superb mirrors, that reflect the splendours of the gallery in every direction. Although the Louvre has been shorn of much ofits Imperial glory, by the just retribution of plundered nations, there appears no deficiency whatever, to the eye of a spectator to whom the exhibition is new. The catalt^ue must now, indeed, be very different from what it was when the choicest pictures and sta tues of Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan; of Brus sels, Antwerp, and other cities, were included in the collection. But France possessed, within her own domain, enough of the productions of the fine arts to fill up the blanks by judicious selection ; — and though some, indeed many, of the paintings, did not strike me as possessing much interest, the collection is altogether too multifarious and splendid, to allow me to venture upon the difficult and delicate task of description. The Louvre is an extensive palace, now connected with the Thuilleries, and forming on the side of the river a magnificent line of buildings. Opposite to its central opening on the side of the Seine, a new and beautiful iron bridge has been thrown across the 21 * ^54 PARIS. river, expressly for the accommodation of foot passen^ gers. It is the only bridge in that part of the city, at which a toll is demanded. As this bridge connects Xhe Louvre with the buildings occupied by the Royal Academy of Sciences, it is called the. " Pont des ArtsJ" It is a very long time since any part of the Louvre has been the abode of royalty. Napoleon had commen ced, and put into a train of execution, such extensive additions and alterations, as would doubtless have rendered it the most magnificent palace in ihe world ; and that the fame of its completion might be connect ed for ever with his own name, the letter N., in large capitals, has been inserted, in numerous places, in the solid masonry of the front; and in so substantial a manner, as to defy the attempts, hitherto made, completely to obliterate it. We this evening witnessed the ascent of a balloon,, from the gardens of Tivoli. The manner of filling it with hydrogen gas, was very obvious. Into a great number of casks^ containing diluted sulphuric acid and iron, were inserted pipes, which terminated in the neck of the balloon. Through these the gas escaped, and gradually inflated it. The silk being completely expanded, a light car, shaped like the body of a small gig, was suspended from a net which covered the bal loon ; and when all was ready for the ascent, the in trepid Madame Blanchard mounted the car, standing upright in it, holding in one hand a white flag, and in the other a lighted match. The cords which held the balloon to the ground were slackened, and she remained suspended, for a short time, just above the heads of the spectators, waving her flag ; then, at a signal given, the cords were detached, and, still stand- FARIS. 255 ing upright in her car, she rose With a movement which combined more of sublimity and graceiulness, than any thing I ever beheld within the compass of human art. The wind blew very briskly. When she had risen fully above the tops of the trees, she applied her match to the fireworks, and in a moment she was enveloped in fire, smoke, and thunder; but at such a distance below her, as to do no injury to her frail ve hicle. These fireworks are inflammable mixtures, suspended by cords from the balloon, and communi cating by tubes with each other, and by a train of powder to the car. The eflect was truly wonderfuL To see a human being, and that too a deUcate female, suspended in the air to a ball, and scattering around her fire and thunder, and then rising, with majestie grace, into the upper regions of the atmosphere, and sailing, with the velocity of an eagle, cannot fail to produce the liveliest astonishment. This ascent, we were informed, was the seventy-fourth flight of this skilful aeronaut. There would seem, therefore, to be scarcely more danger in making a journey through the atmosphere, by means of a silken bag, filled with inflammable air, than in a voyage at sea ! ', Two kinds of vehicles are used in Paris, as hack neys — fiacres and cabriolets. The former are pre cisely like the coaches of London and New- York, ex cept that they are kept in better order, especially within. The cabriolet is a large and clumsy kind of chair or gig, with a leathern top, extending forward further than is usual in our topped chairs. It is drawn by one horse, and is wide enough to hold two persons, besides the driver, who sits with his passengers. The prices of both of them are fixed by law, and do not 256 PARIS. vary for any distance within the walfa,— thirty soue for a fiacre, and twenty-five for a cabriolet. The palace and garden of the Thuilleries, will ex cite the notice of a stranger, early after his arrival jn Paris. The former is an ancient building, consisting of a large central paviUon, and two others on each side, at a distance from the centre and each other, and the whole connected by four ranges of buildings, forming one grand fa§ade, of 1000 feet. Every order of architecture has been employed to embelUsh this noble front. The roof, however, is very steep, and is altogether too conspicuous to please a modern eye. The front of the palace is open to the garden ; the aide next the court is ornamented with a portico, de corated by Ionic columns and statues. The front ex hibits eighteen marble statues, of Roman senators, and twenty-two busts of Roman generals and emperors. The garden of the Thuilleries extends about four hundred toises, (half a mile,) from the palace, to *' Place Louis XV." and is about, a quarter of a mile in width. This large space contains, on each side of the main avenue, a most delightful grove of large trees, chiefly of the horse-chesnut, planted in rows, and with vistas passing through, them, in various directions. The branches of the trees are trimmed, or rather cUpped with shears, to symmetrical shapes, so that every tree which faces an avenue, has the same shape. The ground, beneath the trees, is an entire level; not a blade of grass is allowed to grow in if ; and the de cayed leaves are removed as they fall. Several jets d'eaux play in the garden, in the midst of large basins, encased with white marble, in which swans are sport ing, as tame as the visiters who observe them. Sta- PARIS. 257 tues of marble and bronze, are distributed through out this enchanting place. The garden is open to every decently dressed citizen ; and in the evening, in good weather, it contains thousands of people, who resort thither after the hours of business are over. Two centinels, one always a Swiss, are stationed at each gate./} No person carrying a parcel or bundle, nor any one without a Cravat, or long coat, is allowed to enter. Some of the avenues are lined with orange trees of a very large size, growing in painted boxes. The Seine flows on one side of the garden ; and on this side a terrace has been raised, through the whole ex tent, from which there is a fine view of the river, and the city on the opposite side. The Thuilleries is the residence of the present King. Bonaparte sometimes resided here, but frequently changed his station to some other palace, for there are several others with in the walls of the city.*^ ^ 13th. I called to-day, with *. *******, of Philaael- phia, recently arrived in Paris, on the Abb6 Gaultier, and found him with a class of boys, composed of the monitors of difierent schools This excellent man is a warm friend and promoter of the system of mutual instruction, as they here call the plan, which, in En gland, is denominated Lancasterian. The boys were undergoing, in his presence, an examination in gram mar. To no person perhaps, in France, is the erection of schools, and the extension of education among the poor, more highly indebted. Besides his exertions, in common with others, to establish schools on the improved isystem, he bias published a variety of books adapted to that system, which are now in use in the schools. The mildness of his manners, and the beae=> 2S8 PARIS. volence of his countenance, impressed me very agree ably. We also called on Count L'Asteyrie,who is likewise distinguished for his philanthropic efforts in the cause of education, and for his ingenious and persevering endeavours to introduce the art of printing on stone. He politely conducted us to his Lithographic rooms, where we saw the operation of smoothing the stone, putting on the colours, sponging, inking, and printing. The process is admirably adapted to drawings of all kinds, and may be applied to scrip printing, but has BO sort of adaptation to common letter press. The Stone is a compact carbonate of lime, of a close tex ture. After it has received the requisite poUsh, the figure or character is laid on with a pencil dipped in ink of a particular composition. An actual drawing is thus effected of the object to be represented. The stone being then placed in the frame of the press, a sponge, dippecf in water, is several times passed over it, and the ink is put on, by pressing upon the stone a soft substance, charged with it, much in the same manner as that practised with common types. But the ink adheres to no part of the surface which is tho roughly wet, and of course it is only that part which has been previously covered with the paint that takes the ink, and produces the impression, when- covered with paper, and subjected to the press. 1 4th. Most of this day was devoted to the Garden of Plants, or, as it is now called, " le Jardin du Roi." The various establishments which are known by this title, do the utmost credit to the liberality of the govern ment, and to the science of the nation. Besides agri cultural and botanical gardens of considerable extent, PARIS. 259 adapted to practical, as well as scientific instruction, there are, within the walls, green and hot houses of more than 600 feet in length ; a menagerie of wild beasts, many of them within large enclosures; an avi- ary,containing a collection of almost every bird known in France and the neighbouring countries; a mUseum of natural history, more than 600 feet long ; an ex tensive library; a cabinet of comparative anatomy; and an amphitheatre, in which public lectures are de livered on all the branches of natural history, and on general chemistry, on pharmaceutical chemistry, and on the appUcation of chemistry to the arts. Most of the professors have, likewise, dwelling-houses within the garden. 15th. Dr. P. accompanied me to a lecture of Dr. Gall, the celebrated Craniologist. He treated, in this lecture, of the evidences of difierent organs in the brain, deduced from its compound structure, and from a comparison of the brain and skull of different animals. He reasoned ingeniously upon the points he wished to establish. His manner is open and clear, and it cannot be denied, I think, that his talents are respectable; but it will be long, I suspect, before his principles can assume the form of a regular science. susceptible of much practical application. Several females were in his class, and among them two dutch- esses. It does not appear to me that his doctrine re ceives much support from scientific men, even in Pa ris ; though I know there are some persons who con sider them as substantially correct. His coadjutor, Dr. bpurzheim, has, J believe, been rather more suc cessful in England, in gaining proselytes to their cra- niological theories. 260 PARIS. 16th. In order to see a Uttle of the neighbourhood af Paris, we engaged this morning a fiacre, and rode to St. Denys, a village six miles distant. In the cele brated cathedral bf this town, we were shown the vaults which are intended as the place of deposit for the remains of the present. line of kings. The relics of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette are here, but the vault in vrhich they Ue is not opened to the public. We were shown the coffin of the late Prince of Cond6. Some of the monuments in this cathedral are more splendid than any thing of the sepulchral kind 1 have yet witnessed; not excepting those in Westminster '^bbey. This cathedral was almost red uced to a heap -of ruins by the fury of the revolution, and its numerous relics scattered to the winds. Bonaparte took par" ticular pains to restore it to more than its ancient dig- mity ; intending it, 1 believe, as the sepultural abode of his own family. What a lesson to monarchs is contained in the voice which issues from the vaults of this cathedral ! The bones of heroes and the dust of ancient monarchs are torn from them by the violence of popular indigna tion. A new and more powerful monarch succeeds, who repairs and beautifies these tombs, and selects them as the final repose of himself and his august race: but, before his head is silvered with gray, he is swept from his kingdom and country, and the ancient race is again restored, and has once more begun to peo ple these subterranean abodes. From St. Denys we rode to Montmorency, four or five miles further, where we were shown the cottage which was for some time the residence of .lean Jacques Rousseau. Wishing to view the heights near the vii- PARIS. ^61 lage, we were furnished each with a donkey, and thus mounted, in a style which, to ds, was truly ludicrous, we ascended the hills. With a boy running after us with a stick, to whip our beasts along, and point out the paths. Our feet almost dragged the ground, and we could scarcely avoid being convulsed with laughter, at the figure which we cut, upon these almost con temptible beasts of burden. We enjoyed, however, very highly, a ride of an hour or two, in a way quite new to us all. The scenery and the roads, during this excursion, were interesting and agreeable. The village of Montmorency, and several other places, through which we passed, were crowded with visiters, all of whom seemed bent on the enjoyment of some sport, and particularly that of music and dancing. On our return, we stopped at Montmartre, a high conical elevation, just without the walls of Paris, and almost covered with houses. On the summit are the ruins of a church, which have been converted into a post of military observation,and surmounted with a telegraph. This hill, strongly fortified, was the last resource of the Parisians, on the approach of the allied armies. It completely overlooks the whole city, and the exten sive champain around it. The keeper of the obser vatory, who explained to us the scenery, informed us, that he was on the hill during the whole of the con test, from the time the allies first appeared in sight, to the period of the surrender of the city. He showed us the house in which Joseph Bonaparte had ordered dinner for himself and some others ; but finding it was likely to become too hot a place to enjoy his repast in, he transferred the dinner to another quarter. This man recounted to us, with as much minuteness as we Vol. I, 22 262 PARISH wished, the movements of the armies, and the destruc tive terrors of the conflict. The view of Paris, from Montmartre, will compensate any one for the toil of reaching the summit. Information of the birth of the son of Napoleon was communicated, we were told, from this hill, by telegraph, to Rome, and an answer returned, in one hour and fifteen minutes. 17th. I was introduced to-day, to the Chambers of the Institute, by Count Berthollet, and attended a sit ting of that body. They occupy two large rooms, the walls of which are completely filled with books, form ing a very extensive library. One of the rooms serves as an antichamber, in which the members assemble and converse, prior to the sound pf the president's bell, which convenes them in the other room. 1 was struck with the general physiognomy of this learned body. A stranger, without knowing who or what they were, would certainly pronounce them to be men of strong sense, I am inclined to think that the French countenance is more expressive of character than the English. A narrow table extends along the four sides of the room, around Avhich the members sit, facing- each other. In the intervening spaces are also tables, occupied by members. The president sits in the mid dle df the room, in a chair slightly elevated above the rest. Strangers are admitted into the area, outside of Ahe tables. Several papers were read by members, who remained at their places, without rising. 21st. The palace and garden of the Luxemburg, though inferior to those of the Thuilleries, are very large. The garden contains delightful groves and fountains, a great number of statues, and some jets- d'eaux. It is more elevated and more rural than the PARIS. 263 Thuilleries, and commands a better range of pros pect. The palace is 360 feet long and 300 wide. Within it are three galleries of paintings, many of which are from the pencil of Rubens, and among his most esteemed productions. Several of the finest pieces, however, which adorned these gaUeries, have been removed to the Louvre, to fill the vacancies oc casioned by the restoration of the plundered treasure of other countries. Still there is enough left in the Luxemburg to afford any person who has the least taste for painting, hours of gratification. There is, I think, in this collection, a greater proportion of large pictures, than in the gallery of the Louvre. Some of the best specimens of David's execution are here exhibited. They appeared to me to be marked by a vigour of expression, and a strength and richness of colouring, rarely to be seen. Yet there was some thing in the general effect of almost all the produc tions of this great artist, which did not please me; I can scarcely say what it was, nor can I positively deny, that it may have been the eflfect of a prejudice derived from the uncouth features of this painter, as shown in the likenesses I have seen of him; and from those traits of his character which the Revolution brought into view. We met here *. *. ********, a "Friend" from London, his wife, son, and four daughters. It is an un common thing for "Friends" to greet each other unex pectedly in Paris. *. *. **** and myself, excite as much notice in the public walks, from the slight pecu liarity of our hats and coats, as a Persian satrap, with his silks and turban, would do in Philadelphia or New- York. " Voila le grand chapeau !" is a remark 264 PARIS, which, in an undertone, often strikes our ears, as we pass through the crowd. 22d. Adet, the former minister of France to the United States, called and took me to see Vauquelin, who, as one of the professors, resides in the Garden of Plants. He was not at home ; but we had a long conversation with two sprightly old ladies, who live in the same house ; both of them sisters of Fourcroy, the late celebrated chemist. One of them talked in cessantly for half an hour ; giving me a more com plete specimen of female volubiUty, than 1 ever had before. Her subjects were all of a domestic nature, relating to individuals of their acquaintance ; but her animation and fluency, went very much to confirm me in the opinion, that the French language is better adapted than our own, to the rapid and easy move ment of the organs of speech. The celebrated Abbe Haijy, also lives within the garden. We found him at breakfast. He received us with the greatest simplicity and ease, and, without ceasing to eat his fruit and drink his wine, began to converse about America and American mineralogists ; and evinced a very famiUar acquaintance with the peculiarities of the United States, in relation to his favourite science. He took me into his cabinet, and performed a num ber of experiments on the electricity of the tourma line, and other crystalline substances. He is an old man, bending under the weight of years, but active and persevering in his department, and of kind and affectionate manners. 23d. This being a day in which the public are admitted to the French palaces, we rode to St. Cloud, viewed the garden, and were escorted, in common PARIS. 265 with hundreds, and probably • thousands, of others, through the different apartments of the palace. The situation of this palace is extremely fine. The gar dens, in point of prospect and other local advantages, are much superior, and in relation to taste and deco ration, but little inferior, to the Thuilleries. The fur niture, paintirigs, tapestry, and other ornaments, far exceed in splendour and costliness, any thing I had before seen. We were both surprised and amused, at observing, in one of the long rooms, a beautiful model of the triumphal column in the Place Vendome, on which the statue of Napoleon is still allowed to re main. On the real column in Paris, the statue has been displaced by a white flag. We continued our ride to Versailles, ahd went through the palace and gardens of that distinguished place. The splendour of St. Cloud is lost in the magnificence of Versailles. Thousands were con ducted, like ourselves, through the majestic saloons, galleries, and chambers, of this palace-. The painted ceilings, the pictured waUs, the size and number of the mirrors, the highly finished floors, the tapestry, the gilding, the exquisitely wrought furniture, admit of no description that can convey an adequate idea of its sumptuousness. The gardens are proportion ately extensive, magnificent, and costly. The artifi cial cascades and jets-d'eaux, are considered as the noblest in the world. At one basin alone there are eighty jets, some perpendicular, others oblique, issu ing from dolphins, dragons, &c., all under the com mand of Neptune, who stands in the middle, sur rounded with his water gods, pouring forth streams 22 * 266 PARIS. and torrents of water. The number of persons col lected around this basin, waiting for the moment when the jets would begin to play, we estimated at 20,000. The machine at Marly, which raises the water that supplies these fountains, must have been, at the time ofits construction, an admirable eflfbrt of mecha nical skill. The fall of the river is but three feet, yet this fall ismade to turn fourteen large wheels, and these work the forcing pumps, which lift, or rather propel the water, by three successive stages, to the reservoir which supplies the fountains. The machine raises about 800 hogsheads per hour, or 14 hogsheads per minute. But the water- works at London-bridge, with only four wheels, raises 32 hogsheads in a minute. The machine at Marly,, is said to have cost four mil lions sterling ; but with what correctness, I know not. There are steam engines in England, which exert a force equal to this machine, which do not cost more than £10,000. In every part of this extensive gar den, are waterfells and jets, constructed in the most lanciful forms, with pavilions, arcades, large groves, shrubbery, flowers, and statues, almost innumerable. Towards the lower extremity of the garden is a canal, 1600 yards long and 64 broad, with two branches, each of which is 518 yards in length. At the bottom is another palace called the Grand Trianon, through which we were conducted. The furniture here is also very splendid. I noticed particularly, a vase or basin, about three feet in diameter, and a pretty large table, both formed of malachite or carbonate of copper ; they are extremely beautiful. The little Trianon is a small palace in another part of the garden, of much less imposing appearance. PARIS. 267 The palace and garden of Versailles, and indeed nearly the whole town, (which contains about 20,000 inhabitants,) were built under the direction of that luxurious monarch Louis XIV. It appeared to me very reasonable to conclude, that the two palaces bf St. Cloud and Versailles, with the gardens, furniture, paintings,, and other appurtenances, as they now exist, would cost more than the whole city of New- York ! Versailles is twelve miles from Paris. 24 th. Adet called again this morning. We found Vauquelin at home, and had a pleasant conversation with him and the old ladies. He has a remarkably mild and agreeable countenance. Adet informed me, that Lavoisier's death, (one of the darkest deeds of tbe Revolution,) was very much owing to his holding the station of farmer-general, an office against which tbe republicans discharged their most malignant ve nom. Had he been willing to take the advice of his friends, his life might have been saved ; but relying on his own unblemished integrity, he persisted in a course of action which brought him to the guillotine. It is a fact, that Robespierre would not even give him time to finish an interesting experiment, by which he hoped to deduce an important chemical truth. I attended the Institute again with Dr. P. The president for the day was De Rossel. The two per petual secretaries, Delambre and Cuvier, sit on his right ; and the vice president, Vauquelin, on his left. The minutes and correspondence were read, and then several papers by the members; among which was one by Thenard. Tbe sittings are well attended. It was very interesting to see men whose names make so conspicuous a figure in modern science, as- 268 PARIS. sembled at a board. Which has done so mOch to ex tend the progress of udeful discovery and improve ment. Some of them are very old, particularly Haiiy, Lamarc, Lacepede, and Berthollet. 25th. This day being the grand fete of St. Louis, and as it was to be held as such, for the first time in twenty or twenty-five years, (having been roughly pifthed out of the calendar by St. Napoleon,) we were desirous to see how the populace of Paris- would conduct themselves, particularly as great pre parations had been made to celebrate it with unusual pomp. In the forepart of the day, the crowd was most nu merous on the boulevards, and along the river, in con sequence of the procession of the king, attended by the military. This procession, which drew a vast concourse of people, terminated at the Pont Neuf, where a new equestrian statue of Henry IV. bad just been erected, and which was then to be installed in its place, in presence of tbe king and royal family. But the principal rendezvous, and theatre of diversion, was the Champs Elysees. This extensive field be came crowded in almost every part, long before night. At a reasonable computation, there must have been 200,000 people here assembled. Large stages were erected along the principal avenue, from which were distributed wine and bread to the populace, without cost. Part of the diversion, consisted in making the people scramble for the wine. The stage was so high, and so closely boarded up on all sides, they had no means of getting at it but by clambering on each others' shoulders, and presenting their mugs, pitchers, and buckets, to the officers on the stage. For this PARIS. 269 purpose, different parties clubbed together to support each other, and to oppose the rest. Sometimes the wine was d^-awn by the men on the stage, who were charged with the distribution, and when a vessel was handed them, by a successful climber, they filled it, in whole or in part, and the boy, after drinking him self, handed the rest to his companions. On other occasions, they bored a hole through the side of the stage, and inserting a tube through this hole, they connected it with the pipe of wine, and allowed it to run through in a constant stream. In the struggle to catch it, a good deal was lost, but the greater pjortion found its way into one or other of the numerous con tending pitchers and buckets. The same strife was kept up, in endeavouring to seize the thousands of loaves of bread and sausages, which were thrown out from other platforms, erected for that purpose. In another part of the ground, high poles, like the masts of a ship, were firmly erected, made perfectly smooth, and slushed all over wilh soap. At the top of each of these poles a large hoop was suspended, decorated with leaves and flowers ; and to each of them were attached watches, gold rings, silver cups, and other valuable articles. These were the prize of him who should be successful in climbing to the top. Around every pole there were, probably, a dozen or twenty competitors. They were allowed to take up a httle straw or dust with them, to wipe off the grease, and facilitate their progress, but no instru ments. The effort was a severe one, and' none suc ceeded until after hours of reiterated effort. A string of them would sometimes be seen on th© pole — the upper one would give out, and occasionally slide by 270 PARIS. the others, but very frequently bring them all down with him to the ground. Rope dancing and tumbling, both by male and female operators, fiddling, stage playing, puppet shows, and a variety of other diver sions, were in constant operation, upon wide and open stages, erected around the field. Refreshments of all kinds were to be had. To increase the effect of this grand fete (which it must be remembered cost the spectators nothing but their time and their taxes — - things they seem to care not much about, if they can but have a. grand spectacle^,) Madame Blanchard again ascended, from the centre of the largest open area. We obtained a station very close to the balloon. The evening was extremely fine, and scarcely a breath of wind to be felt. She rose very slowly, frequently emptying a bag of sand to promote her ascent. Some.* times she sat down in the car, and then rose up to show herself, waving her flag to the thousands of gazing spectators. The flag, at a great height, slipped off the rod, and fell. She immediately took out her white pocket handkerchief, and fastened it on the rod, wa ving it,. as she rose slowly towards the clouds. She at length appUed her match to the train of powder, and was immediately surrounded with the blaze of rockets, flying in every direction, and cracking like the noise of a hundred pistols. When the fireworks had ceased, the figure of a beautiful star appeared under the balloon, and remained visible, until the balloon, which was itself illuminated, disappeared, either in consequence ofits great elevation, or of the interference of some light clouds which were floating at a great height in the air. The latter appeared to me the most probable. PARIS. 271 We returned from this scene of crowded novelty, of gayety, and of nonsense, astonished at the good order which every where prevailed. Not a single instance of drunkenness, or of quarrelling, notwithstanding the eager strife of the very lowest classes, for the wine and the sausages, occurred to our notice during the whole day. It is true, gens d^armes were every where mingled with the crowd, ready, at a moment, to check any dis order; yet it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that the national temperament of the French, in times of national tranquillity, is more favourable to decency of manners, to good humour, and the civiUties of so cial intercourse, than that of either England or Ame rica. The illuminations of the whole Champs Elysees, the Garden of the Thuilleries, and most of the public buildings, produced a splendour not easily imagined ; and the discharge of numerous fireworks terminated the fete of St. Louis, doubtless, very much to the con tent of his successor, and of his liege subjects in the great city of Paris. 26th. I visited, to-day, M. A. J. and the Abbe Gre goire. The former is a gentleman much interested in schools and other benevolent concerns. The latter was formerly Bishop of Blois, but lost his favour with the dominant party in religion and politics, in conse quence of the liberality of his religious opinions, and his dislike to oppression in every shape. His publi cations in favour of the blacks, and the general bene volence of his character, are well known. If his mind is not characterised by the very strongest traits of genius, it is distinguished by the clearest evidences of Christian kindness, and the love of his fellow crea tures ; and well would it be, I think, if much of the 272 PARIS. mere genius of the world could be made to give way to qualities of such a nature as these. I learned from the Abbe, that one of the objections advanced by the Catholics against the general circulation of the Bible, is, that certain parts of it, particularly the book of Le viticus and the Canticles, were liable to be misunder stood and abused, particularly by young people. The frank and kind reception I met with, from both these gentlemen, was very satisfactory. Dr. P. introduced me, in the course of this day's round, to Thenard, the able professor of chemistry in the CoUege of France. We found him in his laboratory, engaged in experi ments. He stated to us some discoveries he had just made, relative to the super-oxygenisement of acids, by means of barytes, and the evidence of the discharge of the additional oxygen, by the agency of silver. 27th. I went, with some friends, to see a gymnastic school, kept by Amonton. The boys were exercised in jumping, climbing, walking on stilts, and other bo dily manceuvres. A systematic course of instruction, with proper exercises, on the right use of their limbs, I have long thought, would be very advantageous to boys. The person, who gives this instruction, endea voured, some time ago, to establish a school at Ma drid, on the plan of Pestalozzi ; but the eflTort was not very successful. 28th. We breakfasted this morning at the Cafffe Zoppi, Rue des Fosses St. Germain des pres. This coffee-house was formerly the rendezvous of Voltaire, Rousseau, Fontenelle, and other Uterary men of the last century. The newspapers, and several Uterary journals are taken, for the benefit of those who are in clined to mingle politics with their coffee ; but there PARIS. 273 was nothing in the appearance and conversation of the guests we met there, that seemed to have any connection with the wit and humour, the poetry, poli tics, and irreligion of former days. With W. M******, of Philadelphia, whose generoiis efforts tb promote the advancement of science in the United States, have justly obtained for him the Pre sidency of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Phila delphia, 1 went to the School of Mines, in Rue d'En- fer. We found a ready admittance to the coUections of this distinguished and important school. It occu pies the rooms of the Hotel Vendome, a small palace, erected formerly for one of the sons of Louis XIV., situated in the rear of the Luxemburg. The coUec tion of minerals, in this institution, if not so splendid as that at the Garden of Plants, is more valuable. It is, in all probability, the most instructive coUection in the world. The foreign specimens are arranged in hori zontal cases, in a lower room ; and the native mine rals, in vertical cases, in a suite of six or seven apart ments, above stairs. The latter are disposed of geo graphically ; that is, the cases are marked with the names of the departments, and within each division are placed the minerals of that particular region. It is thus very easy for the pupils of the school to be come acquainted with the peculiar mineralogical fea tures of every department in France, without leaving the capital. It contains also a collection of rocks, pre sented by Werner, the great father of modern minera logy, at Friburg ; and Cuvier and Brogniard's collec tion of the minerals around Paris. In other apartments of the building, are furnaces, chemicals, and all other necessary accommodations, for the analysis of mineral Vol. I. 23 274 PARIS. substances. This school is composed of three classes of pupils ; viz. a French class, who are retained by the government, and whose expenses are paid; another French class, who pay their own expenses ; and a class of foreigners. Among the latter, are two young men from Philadelphia, whose acquirements in mine ralogy and mining, are very meritorious, and whose skill and science will, I hope, be employed for the future benefit of their country.* 29th. The museum of French monuments, is well entitled to the notice of a stranger. It consists of a collection of altars, and monumental pieces, preser ved from the fury of the populace, when, during the revolution, the property of the church was confiscated for the use of the nation. They are not very nume rous, but many of them are interesting ; some for their antiquity, and others for the delicacy and perfection of the sculpture. Tbey are arranged in halls, accord ing to the order of time, commencing with the moul dering altars of the ancient Gauls, and thence, in suc cession, from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. The names of no inconsiderable proportion of the great characters, who have figured in the political and literary history of France, are here exhibited in a style of execution, as various as the lives of those whose names the chiselled marble is intended to commemo rate. This is the Westminster Abbey of Paris; though unlike the collection in that hoary edifice, its relics are not in their original situation, but brought together from various parts of the city and country, thus consti tuting a real museum of tomb stones and monuments. * * One of these gentlemen, now holds a professorship in Columbia coUege, South Carolina, and the other a similar station, in the University of Penn- sylrania. ^ PARIS. 275 But the serious traveller, how deflighted soever he may be at the display of so much of the truly sublime and beautiful in human art, must, on viewing such collections, feel the force of that poetic interrogation, Can storied urn, or animated bust. Back to its mansion caU the fleeting breath .' Can honour's voice provoke the sUent dust. Or flattery sooth the duU cold ear of death ? To the " cold ear" of departed heroes and philoso phers, this flattery is utterly lost. It is only, therefore, from its effect upon the living, that such a vast ex penditure of time, and talent, and substance, can be justified. But who are they, that are thus held up to the admiration of posterity, and whose names and deeds are transmitted, through the impressive flow of centuries, by the most laboured efforts of human art ? Are they not, very often, those whose pathway of life has been strewn with the tears and miseries of their fellow creatures ; — heroes, that have rode " through slaughter to a throne ;" and philosophers, whose moral creed has dropt poison into the foun tains of human happiness ? In the court of this " museum," overhung by cypress and willow, are the ashes of Moliere, La Fontaine, Boileau, Descartes, Masillon, and Montfaucon, with one or two heroes of the sword. We visited, among other places, to-day, the model of a fountain, which is to be erected on the very spot, where formerly stood the Bastile, of direful, despotic memory. This fountain is to be a bronze statue of an elephant, seventy-two feet high, with a tower on his back. In one of his legs, there is to be a stair-case ascending to an apartment in his body, and from thence to the castle. The centre of the castle is to 276 PARIS. form the reservoir, around which is to be a gallery, wherein the visiters may walk, «nd from which they may view the city in any direction. The jet-d'eau is to issue from the end of the elephant's trunk. A mo del of this huge thing, of the size intended, has been made in plaister, and is shown to strangers. It is erected under a very large shed. When a foreigner wishes to view objects of this nature in Paris, he has only to present himself to the proper person, state his request, show his passport, and leave his address. A written permit is afterwards sent to his lodgings, which gives him leave of admission, without cost. The pedestal, on which the elephant is to stand, has been long completed ; but the main work, Uke many others projected under the great Emperor, remains nearly " in statu quo, ante helium." But the number of improvements which he did effect in the city; the new works erected, and the plans of improvement suggested and commenced, are astonishingly great; and so important are they, generally, not only to the beauty, but to the improvement of the city, and the real comfort of the inhabitants, there will not be want ing to the Parisians, for ages to come, daily mementos of his industry, and his qualification to do good, when he was disposed to exert it. 30th. I spent the greater part of this day in the lec ture room of Charles, an old and veteran professor of philosophy. He has been engaged nearly thirty years, in collecting apparatus, and in delivering lectures. Though upwards of seventy years of age, he is still an active man, and a good lecturer. His collection of instruments far exceeds, in extent, elegance, aud cost liness, any thing that I had ever expected to see. Its, PARIS. 277 value was estimated, a considerable time since, at up wards of 150,000 francs. My opinion, previous to hea^ring of this estimate, was, that £10,000 sterUng would not produce such a collection, at the present day. He has devoted much of his time, to the in vention of apparatus, and improvement of the kinds already in use. His optical and electrical machines, are splendid and beautiful. He has three or four pneumatic tubs, with sliding shelves, the whole of which, except the corners and edges, are of plate glass. They contain, each, about two cubic feet of water. He performed a variety of experiments, on light and electricity, for our amusement. Most of this collection has been made in Paris, by Dumotiez, ex cept the optical instruments, many of which are from London. 9th month, 3d. The Cemetery of Pere La Chaise, just without the eastern wall, will hardly fail to gratify the visiter. This celebrated burial place, was former ly a chateau, and grounds, given by Louis XIV. to his favourite confessor, Pere La Chaise, who bequeathed it, for the purpose for which it is now employed. Every citizen, without distinction of, sect, may pur chase the right of burial in this cemetery, including a certain space of ground, which is granted to him for over. There is, accordingly, on the side of a hill, within the enclosure, a number of family vaults, re cently erected, wilh great neatness. This cemetery deserves to be visited by every foreigner, who wishes to become acquainted with the character of the Pari sians. It is questionable whether any two of the mo numents or tomb-stones are alike, in the whole of this very large ground, and none of them are similar to 23* 278 PARIS. those common in America. They are, however^ al"- most universally characterised by neatness and deli cacy of taste. Many of them are very rich and cost ly. One of the first which attracted our notice, was a large and expensive monument, containing the remains of Heloise and Abelard. They were removed, not long since, from the museum of French mormments, and deposited in this place. Almost every grave is surrounded by a neat railing, either of iron or wood, and the enclosure is planted with the choicest flow ers; while wreaths of leaves and flowers are seen hanging on the monumental stone. Once in a year, at least, and on a fixed day, tbe relations and friends of the deceased repair to the spot, and renew the pleasing testimonials of their attachment, by cultivating with care the flowers which had been planted, or by planting new ones in the room of those which are de cayed, and hanging fresh wreaths on the tombs. Thus, instead of the lugubrious images of death and desolation, which the cemeteries of other countries too frequently exhibit, these people strive to render their burial grounds subservient to their love of va riety and pleasure, and to the removal of that dread of our final change, which they consider as too apt to acquire, in some minds, a morbid influence. The prospect of the city, from the heights of Pere La Chaise, is very fine. On our return, we attended an examination of the pupils of a school, entitled "L'Institut Academique des nations Europeens." Neither the appearance of the room, nor the exercises of the boys, had much to cor respond with this pompous title. A considerable au dience of male and female visiters was present, mostly PARIS. 279 relations of the scholars. Two of the boys answered questions in logic, and recited each a portion of a sermon. Several of them construed a page or two of Greek, Latin, English, and German, and one per formed an exercise in Mathematics. One of the in structors read an address to the scholars and to the audience, and to make it more emphatical, it was written in verse, and delivered with strong gesture. My friend *. *. *******, who sat near me, and who is a French writer of some note, told me the poetry was not good. The prizes were then delivered agreeably to a written statement of the progress of the scholars, read by one of the teachers. They consisted of books, very handsomely bound. When the boy's name was pronounced, he came to the table, the prize was deli vered to him by an elderly gentleman, and a wreath of flowers put on his head. A band of music then cheered him to his seat. Those of the boys who had female relations present, went to them and received a kiss before they sat down. 4th. 1 visited this morning several persons, prior to my departure for Switzerland. Among them were Count Lasteyrie, Bishop Gregoire, and the Abbe Gualtier with whom I had much interesting conver sation relative to schools and to the prejudices of the clergy and people of this country. These gentlemen are all influenced, 1 believe, by benevolent motives, and are remarkably free from prejudice. The two former exert themselves notably in the cause, and rejoice in the success, of the system of mutual in struction. \ A large proportion of the schools in France, are taught by a fraternity, styled " Les Freres de la Reli- 280 PARIS. gion Chretienne." They assume a peculiar dress, and from long custom, consider it their privilege, (as it has become their means of support,) to educate the youth of the country. These men have, of course, opposed the new system With great zeal. It is never theless making its way with rapidity, and even the " Freres" find that their custom, instead of diminish ing, is increased by the general stir. The schools, however, of the new system, are still confined to the children of Cathohcs. The influence of the priests is so great, it is thought necessary to conform to the prejudice, and the Protestants are, accordingly, obli ged to open separate schools for their own youth. Count Lasteyrie is one of the first who embarked in this concern, and who advised the formation of a society for the promotion of education, upon the new plan. If this had not been done prior to the king's restoration, it is doubtful whether the system could have gained admission into the country; and were it not for the weight and influence of the society, it would still have to struggle with difficulties almost insurmountable. 5th. M****** called this morning, and went with me to see Professor Berzelius, of Stockholm, who has lately arrived here with the Swedish minister. He is rather a young man, of open and pleasing address, and of social, ^easy manners. We spent an hour and a half with him in conversation, on subjects of science, He showed us a portion of the new metal called by him Selenium, and exhibited to us some of its pro perties, by the blow-pipe. He carries with him a neat collection of instruments, for the analysis of minerals in the dry way, done up in a folding leather PARIS. 281 case of small compass. He intends to remain in Paris all winter. 1 met to-day the Rev. J. Owen, secretary of the Britishand Foreign Bible Society. He intends ma king a tour through some parts of the continent, to advance if possible, the cause in which he has so suc cessfully laboured at home. He has had printed se veral tracts, in relation to the Bible, since his arrival here. Nothing has yet been done in Paris, nor 1 be lieve, in any part of France, in the way of a society to promote the circulation of the Scriptures. Jesuit ical influence is too powerful, to expect much ; yet there is reason to believe that the wedge of reforma tion has been entered, and that the knotty fibres of opposition and prejudice, may be made gradually to yield to the operation of that Spirit which works by love. I received a visit in my room from Gay Lussac. He is a much younger man than his reputation would have induced me to expect. His person and manners are interesting, and his talents as a chemist and phi losopher, of the first order. He appears to be inte rested in the success of elementary schools. It will require, he observed, 30,000 schools to supply all France, and there is yet established but about one- sixtieth of that number. 6th. A stranger in Paris will find it more economi cal, and generally more agreeable, to agree with his landlord, for the accommodation of his lodging-room only, and to take his meals without ; — that is to say, bis breakfast at a Caffe, and his dinner at a Restau rateur. Nothing can be more convenient than those eating houses, not only to the immense concourse of 282 PARIS. strangers, that now frequent this city, but to great numbers of the Parisians themselves. The coffee rooms are very numerous. They are open from eight o'clock (or earlier in summer) till noon, or perhaps later. In those of a respectable rank, the breakfast rooms are fitted up with great neatness, and even splendour. Marble columns, so adjusted as to pro duce an effect, and other Ornaments, are reflected by numerous large mirrors, tastefully arranged around the room. On one side is an elevated seat, with an elegant desk or counter before it, frequently orna mented by an impending canopy. At this seat, is sta tioned a female, generally selected for her personal attractions. She is the presiding genius of the esta blishment, repressing by her presence, and by the gentle but effectual superintendence pf her eye, any irregularity or indecorum among her guests; and con trolling the servants in the discharge of their duties. She receives, with singular grace, the money of her visiters, and replies to any, observations they inay make with finished politeness The usual breakfast at those places, is a large cup of coffee, a fresh roll of bread, a. flute or long slender roll of a sweet and very light kind of bread, with a quantum sufficit of loaf su gar and butter. The latter article is served up in the shape of a long ribbon, nicely laid in folds on the plate. The sugar is brought in a small dish in lumps, and if there be a superabundance, which is frequently the case, the visiter assumes the liberty, as we very often perceived, to put the residue in his pocket — a singular practice, but sanctioned by common usage. The French coffee is very superior to the EngUsh ; and generally better than we have it in America. The PARIS. 283 waiter at the Caffe enters with two burnished metallic pots, one containing hot coffee, and the other boiled milk. He pours out the coffee, till directed to stop, and then overflows the cup with hot milk. 1 was not before aware how much the boiling of the milk adds to the richness and flavour of the repast. The price for such a breakfast is generally one frank, which in cludes the privilege of reading the newspapers. The Restaurateurs, or eating houses, embrace afar more extensive range of solid and fluid comforts. On entering one of these houses, and seating one's self at a small table, covered with a neat white cloth, a printed paper is presented, containing a list of all the varieties which the house affords; potages, hors d'oju- vres, entremets, fricasees, ragouts, patisserie, and des serts, with wines and liqueurs of all kinds. The price of so much as an individual ordinarily requires, is at tached to each article. Hence a person may call for just what he pleases, and pay for no more than he calls for. My companions and myself have generally taken our dinners at a restaurateurs, kept within the palace of the Louvre, by the family of the Swiss por ter. The situation of the room was remarkably fine, overlooking the Seine and its opposite bank, with the Pont des Arts immediately in front, peopled with all ranks and nations. The guests were waited upon by two grown daughters of the master of the house. Their dress was always neat, and in all their atten tions to the company, and in every movement, there was a gracefulness rarely to be met with, in persons of the same rank, either in England or America. The price of a dinner, at such a house, including a dish of soup, two dishes of meat, bread, vegetablea, a 284 PARIS. dessert, and half a bottle of wine, may vary from three to five francs, according to the rarity or expensiveness of the articles called for. In those eating rooms, one meets with a great variety of company of both sexes. It is no unusual thing for a respectable tradesman, or other decent citizen, to bring his wife and children to a restaurateur, for an occasional dinner. It saves them some trouble and expense at home, and what is probably of greater consequence, enables them to see a little more of the " grand monde." I have not seen, in the eating rooms of Paris, notwithstanding the vast variety of character one there meets with, any other than perfect decency of deportment. The French are very punctiUous in the observance of external civilities. Politeness is interwoven with the national temperament and character ; and al though it may not extend much beyond the ceremo nials of behaviour, it is really more agreeable to be treated by a stranger with graceful ease and kindness, how superficial soever the motive, than, upon equal terms, to experience only the chilling formalities of indifference or reserve. The city of Paris is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Seine. This river is here considerably less than the Thames in London, both in width and depth. It contains an island of no small dimensions, near the centre of the town, connected with each shore by several stone bridges. This island is so compactly built as to have received the common appellation of la Cite. The quays, or borders of the river, furnish so diflfer- ent a scene from those of New-York, Philadelphia, and other commercial towns, as to strike every Ame- PARIS. 285 rican with the force of the contrast. Instead of large ships with their groves of masts, and the noise and bustle of carts, cartmen, and porters, in the transpor tation of bulky wares and merchandize ; and tall ware houses and their counting rooms, all indicative of an extended foreign commerce, — the river Seine contains half a dozen or more of large scow-form boats, load ed with hay or charcoal, quietly stationed in the stream : other long boats are safely moored in the current, filled with washer-women, whose tongues are in as rapid motion as the paddles with which they strike the clothes, while numerous batteaux are plying from place to place, on some trifling concern, either of business or amusement. A thick wall, three or four feet high above the pavement, protects the foot passenger from the river, throughout the whole length, nearly, of the city. The top of this wall, excepting in very bad weather, is covered with books, to the extent, proba bly, of miles. Numerous shambles are also placed along the wall, on which are exposed for sale, a most curious variety of articles, old and new, and mostly at very moderate prices ; with them are intermingled, show-men and show-women, tricks of various kinds, fruit and other eatables, lemonade and liqueurs carried on men's backs, in long tin vessels, and other etcete ras, in a most diverting profusion. I have been re ally surprised at the prodigious number of books that are printed and offered for sale in this city. Not only are the book stores large and numerous, but the quays, the boulevards, and other public places, are re plete with shambles and shelves, loaded with books. Rare and valuaMS works, in almost every deparfment of literature, may often be obtained at those places Vol, I. 24 286 PARIS. at very moderate prices. Print shops, and exhibitions of prints, are more numerous in Paris, than in any place I have seen. The French delight in carica tures ; and they get them up in a style of great point and humour ; though it is to be regretted that they are too seldom designed to produce a moral effect. That sketches of this nature may be rendered subser vient to serious moral impressions, has been proved by Hogarth ; and it might be the occasion of surprise, that so few attempts have been made, to follow up the plan of pictorial tales of instruction, so ably com menced by this great painter, did we not know, that it is chiefly the weak part of our nature, — a taste for the ludicrous and the witty, — that derives pleasure from those inferior productions of the graphic art. The national antipathy to English habits are shown in the French caricatures. In our boyhood we were taught, by the tales we read, to consider a French man, living upon his soups and frogs, as a meagre creature indeed, compared with the rotund figure of a beef-eating subject of John Bull's dominion. But in Paris, they just reverse the picture — and in a print now very fashionable on the Boulevards, an Englishman is represented, coming to France, in the form of a tall walking skeleton, with an eager and anx ious countenance ; and after spending some time in dustriously among the Restaurateurs, he is seen on his return, pushing a wheel-barrow before him, on which the anterior portion of his mortal fabric, now so enlarged, finds a convenient and necessary support. Very few Englishmen, and still fewer Americans, will be induced to consider Paris,, (if^]the whole, as an elegant city. The gardens and public squares, the PARIS. 287 palaces and private hotels of the nobility, and of some wealthy citizens, are in a style of magnificence unequalled, as I believe, by any town or city in Great Britain; and in the United States, we have certain ly nothing that bears any comparison with them. The Boulevards, also, combine the advantages of a wide and beautiful promenade, with a display of superb mansions, public fountains, tea gardens, shops, &e. They consist of a very wide street, which extends in an irregular circle, nearly around the whole city, forming a circumference of almost seven miles. Two rows of majestic elms grow upon each side, whose branches almost interlace each other, forming a na tural arcade on each side of the centre. The space between them is gravelled, for the benefit of foot pas sengers. This extended and remarkable promenade, was once the boundary of the city, and at that time was covered with turf, and much resorted to for play ing at bowls ; hence the name Boulevard, — an abre- viation of " boules sur le vert." This is, in all pro bability, the most commodious, and most frequented public walk in Europe. Here all classes have the liberty of amusing themselves ; and it is here that the gayety of Paris is witnessed in its most variegated forms. In the afternoon and evening, these walks are lined with a double or treble row of chairs, which can be hired by the passengers for a sous each — a rate so cheap, that the fashionable lounger can some times afford to appropriate five of them to his indul gence, one for his body and one for each of his four Umbs, while the motley group which surrounds him, contributes not a little to his entertainment. In this multifarious assemblage, are ballad singers ; dancers, 288 PARIS. both children and dogs; conjurors; puppet shows; merry Andrews, and fortune tellers ; men with castles inhabited by white mice, which play a thousand antics in its different apartments; fortresses guarded by a regiment of Canary birds, which perform their evolu- tions With great precision ; caricaturists or grimaciers, who change their faces into a rapid succession of odd and singularly grotesque forms, which no risible mus cles can well withstand : these, and many other con trivances, are performed with unwearied exertions to please, and by persons thankful for the voluntary sous which may be thrown them. Intermingled with these tricks, is a display of fruit women and flower girls, musicians, hydrostatic experiments, and other allurements, which convert the Boulevards of Paris into a place of daily amusement, highly characteris tic of the people of this metropoUs and nation. But abstracting these pubUc places and buildings, Paris has no external attractions to recommend it. The houses are very high, and of a clumsy and anti quated style of architecture. The streets are nar row, dark, and dirty ; and without sidewalks for foot passengers. They are excessively crowded by wheel carriages, and pedestrians of all descriptions ; espe cially women and chUdren. Tbe safest place to walk, is generally in the middle of the street ; but it requires no little care and dexterity, to avoid the contact of wheels ; or, at best, the mud and dirt that fly from them. The axletrees of the carts, too, pro ject outwards to an enormous and needless length, anil increase the danger. The shops are not, in common, so elegantly dressed out as in London ; yet those in the Palais Royal, and PARIS. 289 a few other places, are as sumptuous and attractive as the most splendid fabrics, artfully and tastefully ar ranged, can possibly render them. There is a curious jumbling together, too, of odd circumstances in France. The same associations do~ not seem to prevail here, that we find on the other side of the channel, or of the Atlantic. A whole fa mily will live in splendour in the fourth story of a house. A number of gentlemen's houses open into one and the same fi^nt court, which communicates with the street by a massive gate. The stables are often found under the same roof with the owner and his family ; so that while the minister or peer is enter- tertaining his guests in a superbly furnished saloon in the second story, his horses are enjoying their re past in the apartments immediately below. We have seen no reason to believe that the opi nions entertained in Paris, relative to the Christian Sabbath, are different from those which we were in duced to suspect on our first entrance. There are few, very few indeed, who appear to regard it as a day peculiarly designed for worship. The Catho lic churches are open, and a priest is in attendance every day, for the benefit of those who incline to present themselves before the altar; and every per son is at liberty to go at such times as he may feel his mind most strongly impelled to the performance of this duty. It is only on feast days, that the obligation is considered stronger than Ordinary, to assemble in the churches; and those fetes are as likely to fall upon any other day of the week, as upon the first. This day seems, accordingly, to be regarded as the signal of a relaxation from business, and a devotion 24* 290 PARIS. to amusement and pleasure. But where there is no actual prohibition against labour, industry or avarice will prompt many to continue their work. Hence, during the forepart of the day, but little difference is observable between this and other days. The shops are open, m'echanics are at their employment, and the streets exhibit the usual stir of business and activity. But in the afternoon, the instruments of labour are laid aside, and instruments of music take their place. The gardens, boulevards, and other public places, are thronged with tbe giddy multitude. The theatres are all crowded, illumina tions take place, and dancing and festivities conclude, at a late hour, the Parisian mode of observing the Christian Sabbath. The present king has attempted, by special de crees, to prevent these excesses ; but the current of popular feeling appears to be too strong to be thus resisted. What, it will naturally be asked by the sober Christian, is the result of all this.'' Can the dedica tion of one day in seven to the worship of the Al mighty, and to the exercise of pious contemplation and communion, be dispensed with, without an obvi ous dereliction of religious faith and practice, and a consequent relaxation and abandonment of moral principle .'' What is the actual state of rehgion in such a country ?, It would, perhaps, be presumption in me, to attempt to reply to these questions, with such limited oppor tunities of judging, as a month's residence in France must be supposed to afford. I can only, therefore, ?tate my impressions, as derived from the facts pre- PARIS. 291 sented to my notice. I have several times entered the churches, when 1 have found them open, as stran gers are always at liberty to do. A few persons, (and seldom more than a few,) were seen kneeling on the pavement, in different parts of the building, either intent on the priest, as he moved about the altar, bowing and kneeling before the crucifix, and repeat ing the different parts of his formula; or pondering over the books which they held in their hands, and occasionally reciting parts of them in a low voice. On the countenances of some of these, devotion seemed to be strongly marked ; and not unfrequently were they wrapt in grief But by far the greater num ber of those whom 1 thus noticed in the churches, were persons of the lower classes of society, and roost of them females. Never, excepting on some special occasion, was the number of assembled wor shippers very considerable, and rarely did it compre hend people of genteel condition. That persons in the higher ranks of society, are not at all in the prac tical performance of public religious worship, I by no means assert. My means of information have been too limited to enable me to form a judgment. But from all that has appeared during my stay in Paris, I might safely draw the inference, that a single large place of worship, would be sufficient to contain all the devoted Christians, who punctually attend to that duty, in this great city. With regard to the general morality of the people, I may be prepared, perhaps, fo form a more correct judgment hereafter. 292 JOURNEY PROM LETTER Xn. Geneva, 9th month {Septem.) 17, 1818. My dear ***** AND ****, Having agreed with my friend and fellow passen ger, *. *. ***** of Philadelphia, whom I met here after our separation in London, to accompany him to Swit zerland, we took our departure from Paris, on the Sth, in a neat traveUing carriage, which he had obtained at Brussels. We were joined by a gentle man of Boston, journeying like ourselves, for health and information. We have also a Flemish servant, which my friend *. *. *, had engaged at Brussels; one of those honest and handy creatures, who are in the practice of hiring themselves to travellers as ser vants, interpreters, and pioneers, through the different countries of Europe. Persons of this class, when they have acquired an established reputation for ho nesty and fidelity, prove extremely serviceable to those that engage them. They acquire in their va rious journeys a great deal of local and general infor mation, which it is their interest and pleasure freely to communicate. It is of the utmost importance to a traveller, to be previously well assured of their in tegrity ; for it is continually in their power, if they are so disposed, by collusions with innkeepers or their servants, to defraud their employers. There are, besides, many things that will necessarily be en trusted to their discretion, which involve, not only the pecuniary interest, but the comfort and safety of the traveller. PARIS TO GENEVA. 293 Our carriage being a calash, and fitted with a shaft, it comes under the denomination of a " Liraoniere," and we are permitted to go with three horses, one in the shaft and one on each side, driven by a postillion, ridingthe nearhorse,and equipped with a pairof boots, into which a small man might jump from the height of several feet. The structure of these boots, it is presu mable, has not varied since the time of Louis- le Gros. They are more clumsy and heavy than any one would believe who had never seen them, and yet they are worn generally by the postillions in France. Out horses were not bad, and being well adjusted to our\elegant new carriage with strong ropes, we cleared the city by the Barriere d'ltalie. and flattered ourselves that the dust of a protracted drought, had been effectually taid by a smart shower which fpU in the city before weleft it? but we found that the rain had not reached much be yond the walls, and that clouds of dust must be our portion. The road was very straight and wide, with a broad pave in the middle, and ornamented with rows of elms, trimmed nearly to the top. The fields are entirely without enclosures, and appeared very brown, from the long continued dry weather. 1 remarked, however, that the lucern was very green and thrifty. Whether this grass always sustains a drought better than clover, is a question of some importance in prac tical farming, and which I cannot at present solve. The country in general is level, and well cultivated. Numerous chateaux appeared in sight, and village after village kept our attention alive. We passed through Ville Juif, Fromenteau, Essonne, Pon- thierre, and Chailly ; at each of which places there is a post royal, and a relay of horses. We pay for the 294 JOURNEY PROM three horses six francs per post, and to the postillion thirty sous, equal to one and a half francs. Occasion ally, for extraordinary driving or cleverness, we may pay more. The law allows them but fifteen sous per post, but custom has taken the liberty to double it, and her dictates are much more imperious than some of the royal mandates ; that, for example, which en joins the good citizens of Paris to keep their shops shut on the Sabbath day. Essonne is a handsome vil lage, of 1 500 inhabitants. In its immediate neighbour hood are several raaimfactories of printed calicoes and woollen goods, with some chemical establishments. A little beyond Chailly we entered the forest of Fon tainebleau. In order to avoid the rough pavement, and the sand on each side, we took a by road among the trees; and, for the first time since I have been in Eu rope, could I easily have fancied myself in one of our native woods. Nature indeed has been but little dis turbed in this forest for ages. The trees, when much striken with age, or symptoms of decay, are cut down, and converted into fire wood. Tbey are large and majestic, consisting principally of beech and elm. This forest is twelve leagues in circumference. It has for ages been a favourite resort of the French mo narchs, for the pleasure of the chlise. The wild boar has still his haunts in its shades. The same trees have extended their branches over the forest parties of Louis VII. and Louis XVL, of Henry IV. and of Na poleon. In some places, as if to remind us still more of home, the wood, which had been felled, was cut into lengths, and piled or corded just as in our woods. The surface of the forest is very broken, and its geo logical features appeared different from any thing I PARIS TO GENEVA. 29.5 had ever seen. Very large rocks cover the ground in some places, in rounded masses, exceeding in size any of the boulders I ever saw in America.* They give an aspect of grandeur to the forest landscape. The chalk hills, which so much prevailed on the other side of Paris, have not appeared in this day's ride. We arrived at Fontainebleau, fourteen and a half French leagues from Paris, at 6 p. m. This town, con taining about 9000 inhabitants, completely surroimded as it is by the forest, may be considered as a Royal exotic, planted here for the purpose of gratifying the senses of majesty, in its hours of pleasurable indul gence. The chateau, or palace, has been built at va rious disjointed epochs, and by monarchs of very dif ferent fancies. The architecture of different parts is extremely dissimilar. It is a large palace, sufficient to contain, 1 should conjecture, several hundred fami lies, allowing to each as much space as a common dwelling house. The gardens, in which we walked, are extensive, and kept in good order. They contain no statues, nor did we see any jets-d'eaux ; but there are several beautiful fountains, large, and of various shapes, in which swans were moving with their accus tomed grace and beauty. In one of them, a brood of young swans, nearly grown, accompanied the old ones. Their plumage was a dusky brown, that of the old ones, perfectly white. We put up at the Hotel du Ville de Lyon, a neat and tolerably decent inn, and I believe the most respectable in the place. 9th. In every well furnished bedroom in France, * I since find that there are rocks of this description even within the limits of the city of NeTV-York, probably quite as large as those in the forest of Fontainebleau. 296 JOURNEY PROM which I have seen, there is a neat and very convenient secretary, besides a case of drawers for clothes. An Italian princess, from Rome, and her attendants, were our inmates at the inn. They were travelling in two carriages, drawn by black mules. The forest conti nued for some miles south of Fontainebleau. At a league distant, we passed a cross, erected on the spot where Napoleon met the Pope, in his journey from Rome, to attend the consecration. How fit an em blem, is this post, of the instability of worldly things! Nemours, four leagues from Fontainebleau, is a town of 5000 inhabitants, on the river Loing. 1 was pleas ed to see, as we rode through it, in large letters on a neat building, " Ecole d'enseigment mutuel :" it af fords one evidence, at least, that this system is begin ning to spread through the country. To Croisiere, three leagues. The hilly, and wild appearance of the country, about the forest, ha^ changed to a level and fertile champain. To Fontenai, two leagues, and thence to Puits-le-Laude, two more. A beautiful ca nal borders the river Loing, and is fed by it. To Montargis, two leagues. We passed two very large manufactories of paper, on the Loing, established by Duperron.'^ Montargis contains 6 or 7000 inhabitants. This town was anciently called the cradle of France, because, on account of the purity of its climate, the queens resorted to its castle, previous to their ac couchement. This castle was built by Charles V., but it is now in a state of dilapidation. It contained a hall, 135 feet long, with various ancient paintings in frescoe, and among them the famous dog of Montargis. The revolution destroyed the castle and the pictures. The climate of this region, is said to have become PARIS TO GENEVA. 297 much less salubrious, since the canal was erected. To Briare, six leagues. The country is uninviting and sterile, till we approach this town, when the beautiful valley of the Loire opens to our view. It is here, however, a narrow stream, with an unusual extent of flat sandy bottom on each side. The whole of this wide bed, is no doubt covered by the river, when the waters are raised by continued rains. At this place, the canal which joins the Seine and the Loire, opens into the latter by several locks. It was the first un dertaking of the kind in France, and was worthy of the great Sully, by whom it was planned. Through Boni to Neuvi, four leagues; and from Neuvi to Cosne, three and a half These are towns containing from 1 500 to 4000 people. Cosne is a place of con siderable manufacturing industry. We arrived h^re about 6, P. M. and as soon as we could disengage ourselves, from the crowd of females that surround ed the carriage, urging us with vehemence to buy some of the articles made in the place, which they exhibited to our notice, we went to view an anchor forge, at which the largest anchors in Europe, are said to be manufactured. The superintendent, (as he appeared to be,) complied immediately with my re quest to see the establishment, and conducted us to -¦several shops, containing forges, tilt-hammers, &c., and explained the manner in which the prodigiously large masses of wrought iron, which compose the body and branches of the anchors, are firmly united together, so as to form a solid and compact whole. He showed us a great number of anchors, each o'f which were stamped with the weight of about 5100 kiIlograms=l 1 j350 lbs,, or five tons nearly. My ques- Voi. I 25 298 JOURNEY FROM \ tions being rather particular, he looked at me ear nestly, and remarked, " Vous etes Anglais sans doutes." " Non, nous sommes Americains." At this his counte nance brightened, he expressed his -surprise, and re doubled his attentions ; remarking, that he had be fore " had the honour of conversing with Americans." Cutlery is made here of a fine quality. Cosne, is im mediately on the Loire. From thence to Pouilly, three and a half leagues, and to La Charite, three leagues further. We arrived at this last place, about nine in the evening, in a shower of rain ; and found, in the large kitchen of a good inn, a cheering wood fire, which, with the shape of the fire-place, reminded us of an old fashioned New-Jersey farm house. The hostess and her domestics, were very civil. They soon prepared for us two omelets, and some boiled milk ; placing, as is always customary in France, a bottle of wine on the table. At all the inns we have been at, the female is the principal manager. In al most every department of active life, they know how to direct and manage without the interference of men. I noticed, on the road to-day, a young woman driving a team, with a load of wood. The country through which we have just passed, abounds in grapes, which are now nearly ready for the vintage. 10th. We left LaCharitebefbre 6. This placederives its name it is said, from the numerous alms which were formerly distributed in it, from a convent in the neigh bourhood. Its population is about 4000. After pass ing Pougues, we ascended towards Nevers. Here the aspect of the country changed greatly for the bet ter. Instead of a landscape, rather sterile and unin teresting, we are presented with a valley, rich in grain PARIS TO GENEVA. 299 and fruits, with hills on each side covered with vines. Nevers is seated at the confluence of the Nievre and Loire. It is an old town; the streets are crooked, and the buildings, like most of those in France, have nothing of that air of neatness and comfort, to which we are accustomed at home. A new and splendid crucifix, with a group of figures, representing the wo men standing over the body of our Saviour, just ta ken from the cross, attracted our notice on entering the town. There is some appearance of commerce at this place ; and our guide informs us there are se veral kinds of manufactories carried on here, particu larly earthen ware, glass, and enamel. Of the latter we had a convincing proof in the importunate appli cation of a genteel woman, who, at our breakfast table, spread before us two boxes of ware of very nice workmanship, and with great insinuation, urged us to buy. There are also various operations connected with the working of iron ore, which is obtained at no great distance. Nevers has a population of 12,000. Magni, St. Pierre, Le Moutier, St. Imbert, and Ville- neuve sur Allier, are stations where we changed hor ses. They are viUages of different sizes, and all situated in a charming and fertile country. Yet at every stopping place we are accosted by men, wo men, and children, uttering, in a doleful tone of voice, " Votre charite Messieurs, s'il vous plait, pour un pauvre miserable." Mendicity in France is a regu lar profession. A gentleman in Paris informed me, that in the course of an investigation in which he was concerned, some years ago, they discovered that a certain family of mendicants who occupied an up per room in one of the obscure houses of the metro- 300 JOURNEY FROM polls, had depended upon begging, a* a family resource, for 100 years. The business had descended regular ly from parents to children through several genera tions. The next town which we entered was Moulins, agreeably situated on the Allier, a river which joins the Loire just below Nevers. Moulins contains 13 or 14,000 inhabitants. It is famous for its cutlery : of this the traveller is generally informed immediately on the arrival of his carriage, by a score of women, young and old, who open their boxes and ply him with the most pertinacious and dexterous intreaties to purchase their wares. Knives, scissors, razors, &c. of the most curious and delicate construction, are offered at double their value, with an intention to take what they are really worth. It being a rainy day, we had to contend with only two or three of these black- eyed suitors. The streets and houses of this town, though wider and better than those of Nevers, are crooked and inconvenient. This town is the capital of the Bourbonnais. Upon leaving it, we proceeded along the Allier, through the villages of Bessai, and Varennes, to St. Gerand, where we concluded to abide till to-morrow. The country through which we have travelled to day, more especially since we left Nevers, has been as beautiful and smiling as any part of the world I have been in. A heavy rain during the day did not prevent us from indulging in frequent terms of admi ration, of the prospects of hill, valley, cultivation, fer tility and beauty, which were continually apparent. It is remarkable for the excellence of its fruit, the beauty ofits women, the curious figure oftheir straw PARIS TO GENEVA. 301 hats, shaped like a boat, and their wooden shoes. These clumsy, clogging shoes are still in general use in many parts of France. They make a very unplea sant noise on the pavement and floor, but they have the recommendation of durability and cheapness. Perceiving a decent man with a better pair on than ordinary, I asked him the cost ; he replied ten sous. They are also drier than shoes of leather. The fe males wear caps from their childhood, without dis continuance. The male peasants in this part of France, carry very broad brimmed hats, some of them I think, two feet in diameter. They appear to be a civil, polite people. Great quantities of nuts, of the kind we call English walnuts, are cultivated here. The tree, (Juglano Regia,) is ornamental as well as useful. Much of this day's ride has reminded us of Amer ica, from the width of the road, the general features of the country, and the better style of farming which prevails. Oxen are used in ploughing. 1 observed three pair attached to one plough, where the soil was such, that in New-Jersey, two horses would be con sidered as an ample team. The oxen draw by. the head and not by the shoulders. A mat of straw is placed on the forehead, and a band of leather or cor dage is put over it and made fast round the horns to the yoke, which rests on the neck. This yoke is fas tened to a pole or tongue, chains not being used. Upon our arrival at St. Gerand, we were recommend ed to the Maison de Poste, as the best inn. An active and polite little landlady displayed her rooms with brick floors, her beds, and her salle a manger, assu ring us, we should be " bien content" with her fare. Some pigeons that were on the spit, and a fine rabbit 25* 302 JOURNEY FROM that the " bon homme'' was skinning, so quickened our appetites, that we determined upon having a good. supper^ before we bad stipulated for the price. nth. After a breakfast on genuine French coffee, which is always good, and paying a bill of thirty-five francs, from which, enormous as it was, there was no appeal, we pursued our journey through the post towns of Palisse, a considerable village, with an old chateau ? Droiturier, a poor place ; St. Martin d'Estreaux ; Pa- caudiere, and St. Germain I'Espinasse. None of these are places of much importance. The same general want of neatness and attention to external appear-- ance, which prevails in the northwest of France, is found here. The country becomes more hilly as we advance. At the last mentioned town, hills appeSjred that deserve the name of mountains i and before we entered Roanne, our next post, the lofty summit of the Puy de Dome, covered with snow, made a magnificent appearance in the southwestern horizon. Roanne is one of the finest towns we have seen since leaving Fontainebleau. It has a population of 13,000, and is charmingly seated on the Loire, near the head of its navigation. A vast number of boats were stationed in the river, all without sails, and of a peculiar cojistruction.' Many of these are employed in transporting pit-coal from mines situated higher up. The market was full as we rode through ; but many more women than men are to be seen on all such occasions. Among the articles displayed in the shops, as we ride through these country towns, our attention is sometimes drawn by the appearance of large shoe stores in which a piece of leather could not be found. These sabots are in general demand. PARIS TO GENEVA. 303 The female peasants in this part of the country, have a mode of spinning which enables them to per form the operation as they walk the streets and roads. The distaff, having a long handle, is held under the left arm. The spool terminates at one end in an iron pin, pointed and made rough, so that with the thumb and finger of the right hand, a rapid twirl is easily given to it, which draws out and twists the thread ; the spool hanging loose as it runs round. The thread is then wound up, and another twirl is given in the same way. They spin hemp, in this manner, with facility, as they watch their goats, sheep, or cows, grazing in the fields. Leaving Roanne, the country becomes mountain ous. We changed horses at St. Simphorien, and im mediately began to ascend Mount Tarare. This mountain has been celebrated by Sterne, in his ac count of the horse-shoe and the peasant's family. It has an elevation of 22 or 2500 feet above the seA. We crossed it about four o'clock P. M., in as fine an afternoon as the summer has produced. The per spective, on all sides, was delightful ; cultivation eve ry where smoothing the rugged features of nature. The snows of Puy de Dome were visible at a dis tance, while the valleys under our feet were clothed in a lively verdure. The air was remarkably clear. Towns, villages, farm houses, and chateaux, gave animation to the scenery. The descent of this mountain is rapid, but the road is remarkably good. The waters which flow into the Loire and its tribu tary streams, are here divided from those which empty in the Soane ; thus separating the Atlantic from the Mediterranean currents. At the foot of the 304 JOURNEY FROM mountain, is the town of Tarare; where we had concluded to seek quarters for the night. This town is in a situation the most unfavourable to the ordinary means of human support — in a narrow valley, a bar ren soil, and remote from any navigable stream. It is a place in which one could at best suppose there would be but a few indifferent huts, and a bad tavern ; but it has acquired, within a few years, a population of about 3000, and contains some of the best houses we have seen (chateaux excepted) since leaving Paris. This prosperity is owing to the introduction of manufactories, principally those of cotton weaving, and of calico printing. The brook which moves the machinery sometimes becomes a formidable tor rent ; but such has been the extraordinary drought of the present summer, the stream has not only been entirely dried up, but they have been obliged to send their cattle to a great distance to water. This, they say, has been the case for three months, until the co pious rain of yesterday gave them relief From the experience of last night, we thought it best to make a bargain with the landlady for our ac commodation. After looking at the rooms and find ing them tolerably good, I asked the price. This she declined to state, saying we might give what we pleased. To this 1 objected, and left her to make further inquiry ; but whUe I was gone, she offered the rooms to our servant at a reasonable price, and not being more successful in my bargain at the next inn, we accepted the terms offered. This trait in the French customs, is one of the most unpleasant which a traveUer has to encounter. They appear to think that all the money they can get for an article is fairly PARIS TO GENEVA. 305 acquired, and will often ask double or treble the sum, at which they will afterwards oifer it. Without a pre vious bargain, one is scarcely ever exempt from such a liability to imposition; and yet nothing appears more remote from their intention than to cheat. They are scrupulous with respect to the money given in change, and would scorn to take advantage of any mistake in the calculation. With respect to the prin ciple of honesty, or rather of its opposite, dishonesty, it is questionable whether property is any where more safe, or a traveller less in danger of thieves, than among the French. 12th. After breakfast and paying a bill compara tively moderate, we left Tarare in a delightful morn ing, and disengaging ourselves by degrees from the narrow valley, the country opened into an expanded landscape, embracing several large chateaux of a more modern structure than those nearer Paris. The recent rain has set the ploughs again at work. I ob served that in several instances the furrow was turned to the left, instead of the right, as it always is, I be lieve, in America, excepting, perhaps, among some of our foreign settlers. Passing through Bully, we ar rived at Arbrelle, where we suffered our carriage to go on to the next post, and hired a carriole to con duct us to the copper mine of Chessy, about a league to the north of the road. Although it was the inn keeper himself who was to drive us, and with his own horses, it was his wife with whom the bargain was to be made. With her husband at her elbow, she de cided upon the price, and off we started in a most singular kind of vehicle, the seats of which would serve for a bed or couch if placed in a chamber, but 306 JOURNEY FROM which so filled the carriole, as to render it extremely awkward. Arrived at the mine, we found the works were stopped for want of water. The shafts extend about 250 feet in perpendicular depth. The ore ap peared to be "principally pyrites, with the green and blue carbonate. The latter variety is a very fine and rather a rare mineral. This copper is found in a rock composed of quartz, and a talcy steatite. The operations of the mine are conducted by horses, steam not being used. The bellows of the foundery are of wood, the lower part sliding into the upper. This mine is very small compared with those in Cornwall. We resumed our carriage at La Tour, a village three and a half leagues from Lyons. The country increased in interest as we approached this ancient capital of the south. It is considered as one of the most delightful regions of France. The maisons de campagne are so numerous, as to appear like viUages scattered upon the hills. The dome des Chartreux of Lyons, announces the position of the city between the Soane and the Rhone, neither of which is crossed by the road we have travelled. The remains of a Roman aqueduct claimed our attention; one portion of it being in a valley and another on a hiU. They are doubtless the oldest specimens of masonry, which our eyes have ever beheld. The Soane is a stream, quite as consi derable at Lyons, as the Seine at Paris. We crossed it on one of the seven bridges, which connect its op posite banks within the town, and took up our quar ters at the Hotel de I'Europe, in rooms which over look the river, immediately in front of the heights PARIS TO GENEVA. 307 on the opposite side ; upon which is a number of large buildings, gardens, shrubbery, &c. We repaired to a restaurateur for our dinner, and were well served, for two and a half francs each, in cluding a bottle of vin ordinaire, which we found very good, though it was marked on the carte at only one franc. It is cheaper, of course, than bottled cider in America. In the evening we had a dehghtful walk on the banks of the Rhone. The full moon shone with brilliant effulgence on the water, as it flowed with majestic rapidity through the arches of the bridge, upon which we placed ourselves, to enjoy the scenery. The Rhone is by far the most noble river 1 have seen in Europe. It inspired me with the most pleasing re collections, from its resemblance of the streams of my native land. We returned along a fine quai, upon its borders, lined with boats, which convey to the city coal, wood, salt, and other commodities. 1 Sth. Seated at my escritoire, to note the particu lars of yesterday, a singular sound from a person in the street, drew me to the window. It was a jug gler, attracting a crowd around him, in order to ex hibit his tricks, and to collect the sous they might have to spare. He succeeded in gaining a large au dience of both sexes, who, passing par hazard, formed a ring round him, and laughed heartily at his legerde main. Thus began the first day of the week, in this part of the town. We breakfasted well at a caffe, for less than one and a half francs, and had the newspapers in the bargain. The one 1 took hold of was a Paris Moni- teur. It contained an account of the promised relin quishment of Pensaeola by our government — a piece 308 LYONS. of intelligence that could not but gratify our feelings, from the persuasion that it was an act of moral justice, that would do much for the credit of our government. Upon our return, the necromancer in the street had given place to a company of fiddlers. B******, a merchant and banker, of some -emi nence in Lyons, to whom we had letters, called to see us, and offered his services, with the ease and politeness of a true gentleman. Having accepted his invitation to dinner/ihe next day, we engaged a conductor, a modest and intelligent Swiss, and commenced a little survey of the town. The mu seum was opened to us. It consists chiefly of Ro man and Egyptian antiquities, and paintings. The former are very considerable, a great portion of them having been found in tbe town and neighbour hood of Lyons. The paintings are numerous, and some of them large and fine. In this collection are the celebrated bronze tablets, discovered in 1758, containing the harangue which the Emperor Claudius made in favour of Lyons. These curious and interest ing monuments of antiquity were dug out of a hill near the^own. Theyare still in good condition, the inscrip tions being quite legible. We were shown the apart ments of the school of drawing ; an institution which appears to be conducted with great spirit and science. In passing through the hotel du ville, or city hall, two very large bronze statues, emblematic of the two rivers which bathe the town, are presented to our notice. They are fine specimens of this kind of workmanship. This hotel fronts the Place de Terreaux, which was deluged with the blood of the citizens^ after the sur- LYONS. 309 Bender of the city to the revolutionary army, about the year 1794. We crossed the Soane, and went to the top of La Fourvieres, where there is a church, called Notre- Dames de Fourvieres. The people were assembled in it at the time of our arrival. This church remained shut during the whole of the revolution, and was not opened until the late return of the present Pope from France. In passing through Lyons, he performed a pilgrimage, as his devoted followers have termed it, to the top of Mount Fourvieres, in company with the archbishop, and reopened this church. He was fol lowed by an immense multitude of people. After the ceremony, the poor old father was carried down in a chair, by two priests, to the Hospital Antiquailles, fol lowed by the acclamations of the crowd. When he descended, his faithful adherents eagerly endeavoured to kiss the ground where his feet had been placed. It would seem therefore, that, notwithstanding the very unceremonious style in which his holiness had been treated by the great Emperor, that he had lost nothing of his sanctity in the opinion of the greater number of the Lyonnaise. When the ceremonies were over, we found no diffi culty in gaining admittance to the interior of Notre- Dame de Fourvieres. It is a very plain building. We ascended to the steeple, and enjoyed a perspective of greater extent than any I had ever before beheld. The city of Lyons, the two rivers, and the country bor dering the town, lay at our feet. The abrupt moun tains of Dauphiny appeared in the southeast, and further north the Alps reared their majestic heads. Mount Blanc, though at the distance of sixty miles, Vol. I. 26 310 LYONS. often presents its snowy peaks. Our guide said he distinctly saw it, though the evidence to me was riot so clear. When the atmosphere is such as to afford a distinct view of it, rain, it is said, may be expected. There are other places of worship of considerable note on this side of the Soane. One of them is the chapel of St. Just, respecting which a curious story i« related, and by no means creditable to the early inha bitants of this city. A madman, having committed a great many disorders in the city, ascended the Four vieres, and sought refuge in this chapel. The en raged citizens followed him, demanded that he should be given up, and threatened, in case of refusal, to re duce the church to ashes. St. Just, who was at that time Bishop of Lyons, was deaf to their entreaties, until the principal persons among the pursuers had bound themselves in a solemn manner, that when they had obtained the criminal, they would only put him in irons. Utterly regardless of this promise, as soon as they had the man in their possession, they tore him in pieces, before the eyes of the bishop. St. Just, ac cusing himself of rashness, deliberately condemned himself to a state of penitence in the deserts of Egypt. His people endeavoured in vain to bring him back to his church. He died in his retreat, and his body was brought to Lyons in great pomp, and placed in this church, which was afterwards dedicated to the ca nonized bishop. The gardens rise one above another, on the Four vieres, as so many terraces in the air. In one of them we plucked some of the most delicious grapes we had ever tasted, and ate of them till we were cloyed ; our guide, paying to the owner, only a few sous for the LYONS. 311 privilege. Upon the same eminence is a hospital for the insane, in a building which was formerly a con vent. This building stands on the site, where was once a palace of the Roman Emperors, and in which the Emperor Claudius was bol'n, and Caligula, his predecessor, had lived. It is now called L'Hopital Antiquailles, in consequence of the numerous anti quities, that have been, and are still found in that quarter. Into this hospital, we gained admission, and were shown the apartments and cells of the insane. The treatment of them appears to be mild ; the ac commodations, though coarse, are tolerable; and if beauty of prospect or position, can contribute to the relief of mental disorder, this asylum must possess a very eminent advantage. In the insane departments, were about sixty men, and more women. The na tional character is by no means obliterated by de rangement. The first thing we saw on entering, was one of the male patients, playing on the fiddle to an other, who was dancing merrily before him, in obe dience to the music. But, to the discredit of the sup porters of this institution, the building is made subser vient to another purpose, which must have a direct tendency to retard the recovery of lunatic patients. It is a place of confinement for disorderly and diseas ed females. They have possession of the upper rooms, which look immediately into the yard, of those whose mental malady is, or ought to be, the subject of moral treatment, The funds of this institution, are insuffi cient to maintain it in the desired order, and it is on this account, probably, that the building is appropri- lated to such incongruous uses. 312 LYONS. In descending the Fourvieres, we went into the Ca thedral, or Metropolitan Church of St. John. This is an ancient building, the architecture of which is in the Moorish style. It is not very large, nor is its interior half so impressive as the church at Rouen, and many others. It contains, however, one of the two very cu rious and ingenious clocks, made by Lipsius, of Basle, in 1598, and described in Hutton's mathematical re creations, and by other writers. 14th. The first salutation from the street this morn ing, were the sounds of a hymn, from a number of voices in chorus. It was a procession, — first of men, headed by priests in their robes, walking in two rows, at some distance from each other, and bearing a large silken banner, or flag : then of females, all drest in white, with a white vail over their heads, the foremost bearing a crucifix of ivory, encircled with festoons, from which several cords were extended, and held by those who led the band. Every female, in the pro cession, carried an open book, and joined in the chant. After these followed a great number of other females, habited in their usual style, and then a corps of men formed the rear of this march, quite new to us, but I suppose very common in Catholic towns. Our guide informed us there were not more than four hundred Protestants in Lyons, and but one place of Protestant worship. The external observances of the Catholic church, appear to be admirably calculated to hold the common mind in subjection to its dogmata ; a subjection, which I have no doubt, however, is often seasoned with sincere devotion. But how deep ly is it to be regretted, that this devotion is so often LYONS. 313 intimately connected, with dark and blind supersti tion ; and that, in consequence of this, so «nany of those who- have intelligence enough to perceive this cormection, run into the opposite extreme, of cold hearted infidelity. We went, after breakfast, to see a manufactory of sUk stuffs, or tissue. It would be difficult to form an idea of the richness and splendour of this stuff, with out seeing specimens of it. Gold and silver thread, and silk of all colours, are woven into any form or figure, which an artist may be pleased to designate. Flowers, birds, animals, and men, are thus represent ed by the operations of the loom, as effectually as by embroidery, and with all the brilliancy of the dyer's art, and all the luxury of gold and silver. Some of these stuffs are made, (as we were informed, by one of the principal dealers and capitalists,) expressly for the Grand Seignior, and court of Constantinople, Those destined for the cushions and hangings of the French palaces, are less costly and gaudy, and more con formable to modern European taste. The mechanism of the loom, by which this tissue is made, resembles, very closely, that used in the weaving of figured car pets, alluded to at page 184, but requiring greater nicety of management, and much more time to accom plish a given length. The workman at the loom in formed us, that an ell was the labour of three or four days. Ribands are woven with the same richness, and variety of figure. The gold and silver thread, we had also an opportunity of seeing manufactured. The gold thread is only gilded silver. It is drawn to the requisite degree of fineness, by passing the wire between two exquisitely polished steel rollers, press-* 2* 314 LYONS. ed together by weights. The metaUic and the sUk thread ftre then twisted together, by a kind of jenny, but in such a way, as to wrap the metal effectually round the silk. We embraced the invitation, given us by the wo man in the cathedral yesterday, to visit the clock again, and to see its movements. It was wound up for the purpose, and performed most or all of the ope rations, mentioned in the description that has been given of it. It is in the form of a square tdwer, ter minated by a dome, above which is an artificial cock. When the clock was wound up, the cock, (as large as a half grown chicken,) fluttered its wings, and crowed twice or thrice ; a dove descended from the clouds ; an angel appeared to Joseph, as an emblem of the annunciation of the virgin ; other angels appeared, and, by striking bells, produced something like the sound of a hymn. On a little balcony, which crowns the dome, is a figure of a guard, or porter, who, as soon as the chime begins, marches slowly toward the bell, raises his hammer, and strikes the hour, turning his head round at each stroke ; then, moving round the dome, repairs to his post, where he remains till the next hour. On different dial plates, various as tronomical events are represented, such as the diur nal progress of the sun and moon, the days of the year, with the civil and ecclesiastical calendar. One of the dial plates, which indicates the hours and mi nutes, is of an oval or eUiptical form, and the hand or index which moves round the centre of the el lipse, lengthens or contracts itself, as it revolves, ac cording to the varying semi-diameter of the ellipse. This was certainly a most extraordinary piece qf LYONS. 315 mechanism for that period. It was repaired in the last century by Nourisson, a very ingenious workman of this city. At present, however, it might be exe cuted in a different and very superior style. The woman took us into a private apartment, opened a drawer, and showed us the vestments worn by the priests on special occasions. They are as gaudy and splendid, as the richest gold and silver embroidery can make them. How much more of the Mosaic ritual and of the Levitical spirit, is there in all this, than of that dispensation they profess to follow, whose Author was clothed in a garment without a seam! We dined to-day with B****** The dinner was in the true French manner, and certainly very excellent. Variety was its distinguishing feature. The fruit was uncommonly fine. His wife appears to be a pleasant and interesting lady. Seated between her and her mother, my French faculties were put to the test ; but how well 1 acquitted myself, it would be difficult, through the vail of French politeness, to discover. There were several gentlemen at the table, and among them B******, le grand pere, father of our host, a remarkably agreeable and venerable looking gentleman. After leaving the table, we were con ducted into another room, where coflfee and liqueurs were immediately served. '* Leaving this agreeable facaily, we walked about a mile and a half to witness the confluence of the Rhone and Soane. The promenade is a delightful one, along the margin of the Rhone, between two extended rows of Lombardy poplars. The rapidity and depth of the river, afford the means of erecting mills upon it to any desirable extent. This is done by anchoring 316 LYONS. to the shore at a distance of twenty or thirty feet, by heavy chains, two large boats placed abreast, with a large water wheel adjusted between them. The body of the mill rests on one or both the boats. They have a near resemblance to our steam ferry-boats. Flour and fulling mills, are thus constructed in suffi cient number, in the immediate vicinity, of the toWn. The current, always in one direction, is so rapid as to turn the wheels with facility. The view which we obtained from the bridge which crosses the Soane near the junction of the two rivers, is exceedingly fine. A village on each side, and a populous country on the east of the Rhone, with the bold shore of the Soane, capped with large buildings and gardens, delight the eye by their variety and pic turesque beauty. We returned in a carriole crowded with citizens, but mostly females, and paid four sous each for our ride. 15th. The streets of Lyons are very narrow, pa ved mostly with pebbles, and without footwalks. The houses are built of stone, and generally five or six stories high. Hence the light of the sun in some of the streets, (lat. nearly 46° N.) must be a delicacy during six months of the year. The shops make but little display. It is considered, nevertheless, as the richest commercial town in France, next to the great metropolis. The population in 1 806, was less than 90,000, and it has not, I should presume, varied much since. The most considerable houses here, as well as in Paris, are built with a hollow square or opening in the centre, which is common to all the mansions around it. One or more large stone staircases open into this court, which are also common to a number LYONS. 317 of families, who occupy different apartments, and dif ferent stories, in the building. A large heavy gate, closes the court of these houses from the street. At this the visiter gives a lusty knock, the gate is opened by the porter, who directs him to the story and the door of the inhabitant whom he seeks. I went to see a piece of ancient mosaic, recently discovered, and considered as one of the most inte resting relics of this kind in existence. It is carefully preserved, by having a coarse wooden house erected over it. 1 should judge it to be about fifteen feet square. It represents the sports of the circus, with the judge seated at one end, in the attitude of deci ding the prize among the different competitors. It has suffered some injury, but still exhibits with great distinctness and beauty, the taste of that remote age, and the skill and labour employed in that species of work. Agreeably to the invitation of B******, le grand pere, who is one of the administrators of the institu tion, we visited " La Charite," the public establish ment of the city for assisting the poor. It is a very extensive concern. In one room there are 250 beds appropriated to females, each bed having an armoire or clothes-press, appertaining to it. The bedsteads are all of iron. Each of the occupants appeared to have some employment, chiefly spinning and knitting. Another room of rather less size, is appropriated to men. This institution has three di.stinct departments. A hospital for the aged and indigent poor, a foundling hospital, and a matemite or lying-in hospital. About 400 aged people find in this hospital an asylum during 318 LYONS. the rest of their lives. None can be entered in the books for admission to this department, who are not seventy years of age. Their situation and claims to the charity, are carefully inquired into, before the question is taken on their admission. When four va cancies are to be filled, a preference is given, first to the three " septuagenaires" who have been longest on the list of applicants, and secondly the fourth is chosen from the "octogenaires" that have been at least three months in nomination. These old people are dressed in a uniform, and have the privilege of going into the town once a week, but they are forbidden to beg on pain of expulsion. The whole of this large establishment appeared to be admirably conducted. The infantile department was the first of the kind 1 had yet seen, for in the United States we have nothing of this description. In one room were twenty cradles, for the use of these little outcasts from the warmth and tenderness of pa rental affection. The cradles were suspended in rows, on a frame, of a height sufficient to make them easy to manage. Children are received at the earliest period of infancy, put out to nurse in the country, re turned when old enough to derive benefit from in struction, taught in the school of the establishment, put out to trades, and kept under the notice of the administration until their apprenticeship expires. The children dine separately from the old people, We observed a train of them marching from table, and singing in chorus, as they passed from one part of the building to another. They were returning thanks, as our venerable and polite attendant informed us, for the meal they had just partaken of LYONS. 319 They showed me the list of children received since the commencement of the present year. It amounted to 1 007 ! Can a more decisive proof be wanting of the ultimate tendency of such an institution ? They remain generally but a few days in the house, the ap plication for children being commensurate with the demand for nurses. They are baptized, named, and sent abroad. One of the sisters who attends to this department, has stood godmother for many thousands. This very extensive establishment is supported chiefly by voluntary contributions and legacies. Whether the eventual tendency of such an esta blishment as this, be to diminish or to increase the sum total of human happiness, there can be no doubt that the administration of it, affords the most sincere gratification to the benevolent minds of those who are actively concerned in it, and annually preserves from an untimely death, hundreds of human lives. This very extensive institution took its rise in the year 1531, when the country was afflicted with a grievous famine. Thousands resorted to the city of Lyons from the adjacent districts, and after being sustained by the generous exertions of the citizens, until the return of a new harvest, the surplus of the fund raised for their relief, was appropriated to the foun dation of this charity. The buildings are large and finely situated between the place Bellecour and the Rhone. ^We next visited the general hospital of the city, which is considered as the best in France, and per haps in Europe. On application to the porter, we were directed to one of the matrons, who have the 320 LYONS. general charge of the establishment, and on informing her who we were, and what was our object, a guide was immediately assigned us, — a man thoroughly ver sed in all the details of the house. -After passing through and examining the various apartments, we could not but acknowledge that it deserves the repu tation it has acquired. To this Hospital, as well as to one in Paris, the French have given the appella tion of Hotel Dieu. The practice of familiarizing the sacred name with worldly objects, as in this instance, IS, as I conceive, extremely reprehensible ; and still more so is the frequent^I might say perpetual — and almost universal habit of introducing it in the way of ejaculation, on the most trivial, as well as important occasions. I am aware, that as it is thus employed by many persons, it is by no means designed to express irreverent feelings ; for 1 have often heard the term. Ah mon Dieu ! from the lips of persons whom I sincere ly believe to be of a religious and pious turn of mind. Still I think it impossible that the habitual introduc tion of a term which is meant to apply exclusively to the Supreme Being, into common and trivial conver sation, can be unattended with a diminution of reve rence for that best and most sacred of all the objects of our , contemplation ; and that, of course, such a practice, when it becomes general or national must tend to lower the moral tone of the people. The situation of this hospital as well as that of La Charite, is remarkably fine. It fronts the Rhone, with a noble fagade, while its majestic dome gives it an air of architectural magnificence, not often surpassed in buildings of this nature. It is singular, however, LYONS. 321 that there is no admission into this building by any door or opening in front. The entrance is in the rear, and by an unpleasant and awkward passage. At the time of my visit, the hospital contained about 1200 patients. Last year there were 1400. But, notwithstanding this great number, the building is not crowded. Each patient has a bed to himself The wards are large and airy, and kept in very com* mendable neatness. The whole organization and management appeared to me to be admirable — exceed ing any thing of the kind that has yet been adopted in our country. It is however an organization a la Catholique. A priest is regarded as an indispensable part of the economy of the house, and the daily cele bration of mass, as an important part of the duties due to the poor patients. There are two altars in the house. The principal one is in the chapel. It is ornamented with a cost liness and splendour that astonished me, and which ill accord, either with that regard to economy which is inseparable from the wise administration of charity, or with the simplicity of that faith which cheers the dying Christian. It is decorated with sculpture, and Mosaic, and verd antique, with a sumptuousness and vanity, that would better befit the chapel of a palace, than the altar of a house for the sick, supported by public bounty. But in a religion which consists so much in pomp and display, it is considered as a work of great merit, to adorn with costly materials, and ela borate workmanship, those places where men are to kneel and confess their sins, to render homage to the Creator, and to be forcibly reminded of the emptiness Vol. I. 27 322 LYONS. of worldly things ! Accordingly, on a stone near the altar, there is the following inscription : Cel autel est un nouvel hommage De la pi£t^ et de la bienfaisance De nos concitoyens. > 1808. Four of the largest rooms, or wards of the patients, have, taken together, the form of a cross : two of the wings are appropriated to women, and two to men ; the whole being easily inspected by a person in the centre. They are lighted by a central dome ; be neath which is a small altar, at which mass is said for the benefit of the patients in all the wings ; most of whom can see the movements of the priest, and hear • the service, as they lie in bed ; and cross themselves, and unite with the ceremony, as they may feel incli ned. It was here that I witnessed, for the first time, the excellent effects of that extraordinary band of fe males, denominated, in France, " Soeurs de la Chari te." This is a distinct sisterhood, or religious order of females, whose whole business is to relieve the dis tresses of their fellow creatures. To this they de- Vote their lives. It is doubtless the unwearied acti vity of this truly benevolent sisterhood, which gives to the hospitals of France, a superiority over most others in the world. Their fidelity, their patience, intelligence, neatness, skill ; and above all, their tenderness and sympathy with human aflHiction, qualify them, in an eminent degree, to discharge the various duties of hospital attendants, with superior effect, Surely if there is true reUgion to be found in LYONS. 323 the country, it exists, in its brightest form, in this amiable sisterhood. What but a pervading sense of the nature of Christian obligation, can induce a young and accomplished female, to abandon the va rious pleasures of fashionable life, and devote herself to a service, which, in its nature, can have nothing to recommend it but the inward consolation of doing good ? They are found in all the hospitals of France, performing the duties of nurses, chamber-maids, and cooks. Some of the elder sisters fill the higher and more elevated office of apothecaries. I was surprised to find the " pharmacie" of this great hospital, entirely in the keeping and management of • the sisters : and its appearance bears testimony to their skill and neatness of arrangement. The apart ment is large. It not only supplies the house with medicine, but serves also as a dispensary to the out door poor. The hospital contains, besides, a large laboratory, well supplied with furnaces, stills, and all other requisites for the preparation of medicine in a large way. The administration of this extensive concern, is under the direction of a counsel compo sed of the archbishop, the prefect of the department, the mayor of the city, and twenty citizens, appointed by the minister of the interior, at the suggestion of the council. Four or five of these are renewed every year. There are attached to the house : a priest, (or " maitre spirituel," as he is called ;) four almoners ; eight physicians, and six assistants ; a sur geon-major, a surgeon's mate, and eleven assistants ; a steward; eighty-one sisters, and seventy-three can didates ; thirty-six brothers, (freres hospitaliers,) and thirty-six candidates. The bedsteads in this hospi- 324 LYONS. tal, are of iron ; with tops, to whidh curtains are ap pended. A shelf rests on supports in the frame, im mediately over the patient's head ; on which his me dicine and food are placed within his reach. This im portant addition to the cleanliness and comfort of the sick, was effected by a special subscription, in 1787; and was encouraged by the example of the king, Louis XVI. This noble institution receives consi derable support from government, but it depends very much upon legacies and private donations. I have been more particular in this account of it, as it is the first institution of the kind I have visited on the continent ; and is regarded as inferior to few, if any, in Europe, for the perfection of its administration. There are several private associations in Lyons, for the relief of the poor. Madame B****** told me she was a member of a large society of females, whose labours were very important in finding good places for children, assisting servants, &c. A school for mutual instruction has been commenced, and is get ting under good way ; but it was the time of va cation, and I did not see it. The college of Lyons, which bears the name of La Trinite, like all the principal establishments of the city, suffered extremely during the revolution. The chapel was pillaged and mutilated ; the pulpit torn down ; the observatory destroyed ; and the paintings in fresco, which ornamented the class rooms, entirely obliterated. But what still more strongly marked the violence of these modern Sara cens, was, that the noble library, enriched by the gifts of successive kings, and other valuable dona tions, and filling a room one hundred and fifty feet LYONS. 325 long, 3S wide, and 40 high, was despoiled of the trea sure of ages. Many of the books and manuscripts, if we were correctly informed, were employed by those reformers of the government, as fuel, in cooking their victuals. These devastations have, since the revolu tion, been repaired to a great extent, and it is now estimated to contain 120,000 volumes. This library is situated on the quay of the Rhone, with a balcony ex tending along its front, and opening into the room. The entrance, however, to this famous store of learning, is iqnthe rear, through a single door, in one corner of the room, narrow, obscure, and difficult of access. 1 know not the reason for such a perversion of taste and con venience. The busts of the Abbey Raynal and of Voltaire, and an old pair of globes about six feet in diameter, are the only ornaments which the revolu tionary enthusiasts allowed to remain ; and none have since been added. I could not leave Lyons, without feelings of respect for the public spirit of the citizens, and of solemn pleasure in having seen a place, the history of which contains so much that is tragically interesting. It is a very ancient city, being founded, according to the best accounts, about forty years before the Christian era. The aqueducts, whose ruins I have noticed, are ascribed to Marc Antony. From a learned and very interesting account of them, read before the Acade my of Lyons, by M. Delorme, it is evident, that these aqueducts ought to be ranked amongst the most dis tinguished efforts of Roman skill and enterprise, in this kind of engineering. The object was to intro duce a plentiful supply of water to the top of the Fourviers, an elevation of many hundred feet above 27 * 326 LYONS. the level of the Soane, where the palace, baths, and fountains of the Emperor were situated. For this purpose they were obliged to seek for springs on ground still more elevated. These were found in sufficient abundance, only at the distance of twenty or thirty miles, where, on the tops of mountains, they collected the waters of the Geis and the Janon, tributary streams of the Loire. Hence the prin cipal aqueduct had a great number of branches, ex- extending to diflferent mountains. The elevation of the main sources is computed to be 360 feet aboi|e the Fourviers. A gradual and regular slope was given to the principal canal, throughout the whole dis tance. To effect this, they were obliged to conduct it along the sides of the vallies, pursuing their various sinuosities, and frequently crossing them on bridges or arcades, piled one above another. When the depth. of the valley was so great, as to render the labour and expense of a bridge too formidable, the aqueduct was continued along the slope, until a more convenient place for crossing presented itself. But, in some in stances, they were obliged to convey the waters over vaUies too profound to admit of the construction of a continued level of masonry. In these cases they re sorted to the use of leaden tubes. The aqueduct of stone terminated in a large and substantial reservoir on each side of the gulf, and these reservoirs were connected by numerous large leaden tubes, which, having their extremities inserted in opposite reser voirs, descended toward the bottom of the vaUey, and were supported throughout their length, either by the sides of the hUl, or by soUd walls. The length of the principal aqueduct (for there were evidently several LYONS. 327 which brought water to the city) comprehending its windings, is estimated at thirteen leagues, or about forty English miles. The trench, or canal, was dug five feet wide, and about ten feet deep, with a regular depression of one foot (French) in 100 toises. The walls contracted this space to a channel for the wa ter, of two Roman feet in width and four and a half in depth. The floor was covered with cement, six inches in thickness, and the walls an inch and a half TheSarcb was not cemented. The angles of the floor weie filled with cement. The perfection and dura bility of this great aqueduct is ascribed by Delorme, to the use of small fragments only of stone, from three to six inches thick, in the formation of the walls, re jecting pieces of larger size. This facilitates the con- soKdation of the wall by a more intimate junction of the stone and the mortar. The strength of the mor tar, on which much also depends, was increased by the coarse sand from the mountain streams, which is considered as incomparably better than fine river sand. When they were obliged to use the latter they min gled it with pounded bricks. Delorme is of opinion, that the .Roman mortar was composed of the best quick lime and coarse sand, in the proportion of one- third of the former and two-thirds of the latter. The cement which covered the walls inside, was composed of pulverized bricks, containing portions as large as peas, and even (in the finish of the floor) as large as walnuts or small eggs. It consisted entirely of lime, newly slaked, and pounded bricks, excepting, as De lorme supposes, that the mixture might have been completed by pouring on wine or vinegar. It is ob vious, that the composition of these Roman walls was. 328 LYONS. in some important particulars, very different from that at present employed, for they have resisted the shocks of nearly nineteen centuries, and are still sound, even in places where they have ever been exposed to the weather. In the reign of Claudius, Lyons was destroyed by a dreadful conflagration. " Una nox interfuit inter maximam urbem et nullam." It was rebuilt by Nero, and became the residence of a great number of Christians, 19,000 of whom, un der the reign of Septimus Severus, were inhumanly slaughtered. This city, in the stormy period of the French revo lution, remained faithful to the king, and suffered hea vily under a siege, which it maintained for a long time, against the republican army. When reduced to capi tulation, dreadful indeed was the rage of those pre tended friends of liberty and the rights of man. The blood of its citizens streamed from the horrid axe in the Place de Terreaux ; and, as if its operations were too slow for the vengeance of the conquerors, hun dreds were arranged before the mouths of cannon,and swept from existence, on the heights beyond the Rhone. Bonaparte took pains to efface the recollection of these disastrous events, by rebuilding the houses that had been destroyed, and adding many spacious edi fices, which greatly ornament and beautify the city; insomuch, that his name is popular in Lyons. The person who conducted us over one of the institutions, in referring to his expulsion, asserted, that nothing had gone right since that period, and that even the seasons and weather had evidently changed for the worse ! JOURNEY TO GENEVA. 329 Our road extended along the Rhone, for a consi derable distance, after leaving tbe city. The sky was very serene, and the atmosphere so clear, that the snowy summit of Mount Blanc, and much ofits ridge, were distinctly in view. Miribel, Mont Luel, Meri- meux, and Bublanne, were post towns, through which we passed, changing horses at each place. Tbe road, after leaving the Rhone, extends along the Ain, a con siderable stream, which forms a branch of the Rhone. At Pont d'Ain, we crossed the latter on a handsome stone bridge, and almost immediately after, entered one of the valleys of Mount Jura. The moon shone brightly, and we concluded to avail ourselves of so favourable an evening, to advance in our journey. The road lay between mountains, which reared their heads to a greater elevation than any we had yet en countered. We passed through Cordon, and Maillac, and arrived at Nantua, about half past one in the morning. A tolerable inn gave us accommodations. during the remainder of the night. 16th. The town of Nantua contains about 4000 inhabitants. Its situation in the bosom of some of the highest elevations of the Jura, renders it sublimely picturesque. The mountains are extremely wild and irregular in this passage, rising with an almost per* pendicular abruptness over the town, to an astonish ing height, and frowning upon it, with a physiognomy terrifying to one not accustomed to features of such an alpine character. Before our departure this morning, our luggage was examined by the officers on this station. They came into the inn yard, to save us the inconvenience of trans porting our trunks to the gate, and seemed disposed 330 JOURNEY TO GENEVA. to give us as little trouble as possible. I entered into conversation with one of the most respectable of them, and questioned him with regard to the feelings of the people of that district, in relation to the ex- Emperor. Finding that I was an American, and that he Would run no risque in avowing his opinions, ' he candidly acknowledged that the aflfections of the people were decidedly in favour of Napoleon. So common was this feeling among the lower classes, they were unwilling to believe that the Emperor had actually been transported to St. Helena. They thought it more probable, that he was concealed either in England or France ; and might be ready, at a suitable juncture, again to make his appearance on the theatre of action, and contend for his empire. The officer himself partook of this opinion, and seri ously £lsk^d me where 1 thought it was, that the em peror was actually concealed. On my assuring him, that there was not the least doubt of his being, in reality, where public report had placed him, he ap peared surprised, and was evidently unwilling to believe it. We left Nantua about half past eight, and began immediately to ascend the mountain. The road over which we travelled, made with great labour and ex pense, extended for miles along a precipice, with a prodigious gulf on one side and an almost perpen dicular wall on the other. At Bellegarde we stopped to view "La perte du Rhone," or the spot where the waters of this river entirely disappear, by a subter ranean passage. It is no more than a great sluice of rocks formed by nature, in a rapid stream. The river is confined in a narrow channel, and must be GENEVA. 331 very deep. The rock which conceals the water, lies much lower than the surface of the ground, and when the river is full, the water overflows it. This shelf has doubtless been formed by the fall of rocks from the adjoining mountains. It conceals the bed of the river for about sixty paces. We were apprised of our approach to this spot long before we reached it, by a boy who came running to us without a hat, and offering himself as a guide. We engaged him, but upon our alighting, the poor boy was joined by a dozen other people, some of them women, with chil dren in their arms, and all insisting, in spite of our remonstrances, to show us the way to " La perte du Rhone," and help us up and down the hills. On re suming our carriage when the show was over, we were obliged to give them all, at least a sous apiece to appease their clamour. Having descended the mountain, the country became level ; and as we ap proached the borders of Switzerland, the appearance of the houses and farms changed materially, for the better. The fields were enclosed with hedges, and the habitations and the people had an air of greater comfort. There is no natural division between the canton of Geneva and the French territory. We crossed the line about four miles from the town. It had the appearance on our approach, of an ancient place, as it really is ; the houses are mostly of stone, but discoloured by time. We drove to the " balances d'or," and obtained lodging rooms in the fourth story, Geneva has been so full of strangers for some time, that several persons have found it difficult to procure accommodations. In the course of our journey from Lyons, we have noticed for the ^rst time in Europe, 332 GENEVA. the cultivation of Indian corn. They call it Ble de Turigms, or Turkey wheat. It is, however, a very meagre crop in this part of the world. With the top cut offj as we generaUy saw it, the stalks are about a foot high, and bear each one small ear. 17th. On calling this morning to deliver my let ters of introduction, I found but one person, out of six or seven, at home. This was Dr. Berger, who offered his services with great politeness. At Pro fessor Pictet's I was informed he was laid up with an attack of rheumatism, and could not rise from his bed, but sent a request that I would call at five o'clock. M******** a clergyman, (or as he is termed here, a pastor,) at whose house 1 had left a letter from the Abb^ Gregoire, called to see me. I found him an exceedingly inteUigent, kind, and, as I think, a worthy man. He gave me much useful information respect ing Geneva, and the best mode of proceeding, so as to see Switzerland with advantage ; and kindly inte rested himself in procuring the means of our visiting without delay, the valley of Chamouny. We had much conversation on the subject of war, and he ap peared to perceive its spirit and tendency, and to de plore its evils with a truly Christian sensibility. I learned however, from this worthy man, that there is a great division in the town, on the subject of reli gion, and a want of that mutual charity among differ ent sects, without which, it is questionable whether the genuine fruits of Christianity ever can be produ ced. How grievously has the cause of truth suffered, from the want of that spirit, " which thinketh no evil, which is not easily provoked, which suffereth long and is kind, and without which all profession is as GENEVA. 333 sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal ?" What devasta tions has Christendom not endured, from the predomi nance of an anti-Christian spirit, among its warmest professors! We dined to-day at the table d'hote of our inn. The dinner was served much in the French style; soup, various, dishes of meat and vegetables, wine, and fruit. The tuneful propensities of the Swiss, were evinced by a part of the entertainment. This was the abrupt entrance into the dining-room, of a man With a violin, and a woman with a guitar, who placing themselves in a corner, and without saying a word, commenced playing, the woman accompanying her instrument with her voice. At the request of one of the company, they gave the national or Swiss air, called the " Rans de Vache," which is said to produce so great an effect on those who are absent from their country. The note is soft and tender, and I doubt not, produces an immediate association of ideas-, which may powerfully affect the nervous system. At five I called to see Professor Pictet, who with some effort came into the parlour, and gave me a welcome reception. I staid till late in the evening, and enjoyed a very pleasant conversation with him and his daughters, and with Dr. Marcet of London, who happened to be there on a visit. Professor Pictet has three daughters, all married, and who all reside, oc casionally, with their husbands and children, under the parental roof They then constitute a united and truly interesting family. Vol, I. 28 334 GENEVA. LETTER Xin. Geneva, 9th month {Septem.) 25, 1818. My dear ***** AND ****, I ATTENDED a Iccturc OU botany at eight o'clock this morning, (the 18th,) delivered to the collegiate class, by Professor De CandoUe. It consisted, principally, of a definition of the distinction between species and varieties, which he illustrated by a reference to the animal kingdom, so as to bring his meaning fully within the comprehension of his young auditors. His style was clear and manly, and his enunciation so distinct, I scarcely lost a word. He impressed me with a very favourable opinion of his talents. His audience, besides the students, comprehended several amateurs of ^;he town. Professor De CandoUe is from the south of France, and is well known by his publi cations on botanical subjects. At Professor Pictet's, I met this morning his oldest daughter, Madame Vernet, wife of the President of the civil tribunal of Geneva. I found her to be a lady of that character , with which a stranger must be imme diately pleased, and become almost immediately ac quainted. Sincere and serious, yet open, affable, and kind, her countenance and address are at once a pledge of the amiable qualities df her mind. They live in the country in summer, and with her father and sisters in the winter. I accepted her invitation to dine with her to-day at her father's table. She is very active in charitable and religious concerns. Her oldest daughter is married, and her oldest son is noW ^: GENEVA. 335 at school in England. A nephew, by marriage, of Professor P.'s, took me to see a house he is build ing for himself It is fifty feet square, and will cost about 50,000 dollars. He is his own architect, and the design does great credit to his taste. The prin cipal material is a fine free-stone, found near the lake of Geneva. 19th, We set off this morning in a hired voiture with a German driver, who spoke neither French nor English, on a visit to Chamouny, at the foot of Mount Blanc. The road lies mostly through vallies between alpine ridges. The villages are not very distant from each other, on this route ; and their ap pearance, in general, indicate a greater degree of industry than those of the same extent in France. We entered Savoy, at a short distance from the lake ; leav ing, thereby, the government of Switzerland, and passing into the dominions of the king of Sardinia. The inhabitants of Savoy are mostly Catholics, an evidence of which was not wanting in the appear ance of the crucifixes, and the great increase of beg gars. We stopped at Bonneville, a town of about 4000 inhabitants, and much more pleasantly laid out than any we had recently passed through. In the middle of it is a large triangular area, with the houses facing it on each side. While our Dutchman and his horses were reposing, we regaled ourselves in a small house, where, according to the usual no tice over the door, " On donne a boire et a manger." We found very good vin ordinaire and the cheese of Switzerland, le fromage a Gruyere is held in esti mation at Paris. From the ceiling of the room were suspended enormous sausages, which we desired our 336 EXCURSION TO our pleasant little landlady to let us taste. Being thoroughly dried, they required no cooking, and we found them tolerably good. The attention which. was paid us in this little place, and the grace and politeness with which we were waited upon, are cha racteristic of French and Swiss manners. In a ram ble over the town, we entered a church yard, and were struck with the appearance of a large crucifix. It was a carved image of the body of our Saviour, as large as life, nailed to the cross, and accompanied by the ladder, the sponge, the hammer, and all other implements connected with the crucifixion. Such exhibitions appear to me to indicate a degraded condi tion of the people, both inteUectual and moral. But in this instance, as in many others, it must be the rulers of the people who cause them to err. Such a servile at tention to outward forms, must tend to perpetuate the influence of priestly authority and superstition. The river Arve, which had been on our right as far as BonneviUe, we there crossed, on a stone bridge ; beyond which the road lay through a finely cultivated plain, as far as Clifse, a considerable vil lage, with narrow streets and heavy stone houses. We here crossed the Arve again, and followed its banks between two mountains, which rose majestical ly above us to the height, in many places, of 8000 feet. The side of the mountain on our left, present ed, generally, an abrupt and perpendicular face of calcareous rock ; the top of which, in some places, occupied our zenith. We could hardly lift our eyes to its awful brow, without sensations of terror. The passage between this tremendous wall and the river, was, now and then, but just wide enough for the cas^ CHAMOUNY. 337 iiage,^and a horseman on each side, to pass. We were convinced that we had actually reached the Alps and were in one of the most romantic and sublime of their valleys. The road, winding along the river was almost a perfect level. The mountain opposite was sprinkled, on its top, with a recent snow, which, in many ofits cavities, had accumulated to a considera ble depth, and would not disappear till driven away by the sun of another summer. The verdant meadows, the orchards loaded with fruit, the clear and rapid current of the Arve, and the smoothness and beauty of the road, contrasted with the majesty of the moun tain scenery, contributed to render the ride through this valley, interesting and delightful in the highest degree. The effect was much heightened, in several places, by water falls, issuing from the sides of the mountain. Two of these, J{ant d^orle, and JVant d'arpe- nas, are very remarkable. They spring from the rock, at the height, probably, of 3000 feet from the valliey, and falling perpendicularly from 600 to 800 feet, dash upon a shelving portion of the mountain, and rush with fliry to the bottom. The rocks of these mountains consist chiefly of carbonate of lime ; some granite appears, which ought, perhaps, to be regarded as a kind of sienite, rather than true granite. The quartz, and feldspar, are very distinct, but in lieu of mica, it appears to contain horn- blend. The stratification of the mountain, on the right of the Arve, is extremely irregular. The beds are sometimes perpendicular, in some places horizon tal, in others oblique, and in others curvilinear, and twisted in the most curious and surprising order. In one place, a stream of water flows immediately from 28* 338 EXCURSION TO the foot of the rock, without any apparent openingy and in sufficient quantity to turn several mills. We passed through the village of Magian, situated in the valley of the Arve. Many of tbe inhabitants of this town, it is said, leave their native valley, to seek their fortunes, as petty traders in Germany, and return home rich. We arrived at the village of St. Martin, before sun down. Here we were to stay for the night. The evening being remarkably fine, we crossed the Arve on a beautiful bridge, and walked over to Salenche, a very considerable village, opposite to St. Martins, and ascended a hill to view the effect of the sun's de clining light, upon Mount Blanc. The scene was truly grand. The broad range of tbe mountain was fully before us, of a pure and almost glowing white, apparently to its very base ; and which, contrasted with the brown tints of the adjoining mountains, greatly heightened the novelty of the scene. We could scarcely avoid the conclusion, that this vast pile of snow was very near us, and yet its base was not less than fifteen, and its summit probably more than twenty miles from the place where we stood. The varying shades of light, produced by reflection from the snow, as the sun's rays declined, passing from a brilUant white, through purple and pink, and ending in the gentle Ught which snow gives, after the sun has set, afforded an exhibition in optics, upon a scale of grandeur, which no other region in the world could probably excel. Never in my life, have my feelings been so powerfully affected, by mere scenery, as they were in this day's excursion. The excitement, though attended by sensations awfully impressive, is CHAMOUNY. 339 nevertheless so finely attempered by the glow ofnovel- ty, incessantly mingled with astonishment and admira tion, as to produce, on the whole, a feast of delight. A few years since, I stood upon Table Rock, and 'placed my cane in the descending flood of Niagara. Its tremendous roar, almost entirely precluded con versation, with the friend at my side ; and its whirl wind of mist and foam, filled the air to a great dis- , tance around me. The rainbow sported in its bosom. The gulf below exhibited the wild fury of an im mense, boiling cauldron ; whife the rapids above, for the space of nearly a mile, appeared like a mountain of billows, chafing and dashing against each other, with thundering impetuosity, in their eager strife to gain the precipice, and take the awful leap. In contemplating this scene, my imagination and my heart were filled with sublime and tender emotions. The soul seemed to be brought a step nearer to the presence of that Incomprehensible Being, whose Spi rit dwelt in every feature of the cataract, and direct ed all its amazing energies. Yet, in the scenery of this day, there was more of a pervading sense of aw ful and unlimited grandeur : mountain piled upon mountain, in endless continuity, throughout the whole extent, and crowned by the brightest effulgence of an evening sun, upon the everlasting snows of the high est pinnacle of Europe. In such moments of excite ment, with what ardour did I wish for the company of some of those who were far distant, to partake with me in the pleasures of my alpine sensibilities, and to increase them by sympathetic emotion. We returned to St. Martin before dark, and put up at the house of Chenet, called the " Hotel de Mont 340 EXCURSION TO Blanc ;^' how much more appropriate and inviting an appellation, than the "Hotel de Waterloo," a large inn at Salenche. It is surprising how common this term has become in England, since the great battle. Every thing that can be strained to the purpose, is now a la Waterloo. To me it is disgusting, as I have no doubt that it is also to the better classes in England. This is the first time I have seen a " Waterloo" hotel on the continent, and it shows that we have got fairly away.from France, and French politics. 20th. Exchanging our Dutchman, and his old ca lash, for a postillion, and a pair of strong mules, we mounted a vehicle, different from any I had ever set my foot in before : it is called a " char-a-banc." It is an open four wheeled carriage, with two side seats, the passengers of each seat sitting with their backs to each other, and their faces to the wheels. The step on which the feet rest, is within a foot of the ground, so that to mount and dismount, is a matter of sport The road from St. Martin to Chamouny, is too rough for a common carriage. We continued our route through this valley, on the right side of the Arve, over a rich bottomed soil,,, and carefully cultivated, till we crossed a rapid brook, which flows into the Arve. This we ascended about half a mile, to St. Gervais, a house built in a kind of glen, under the mountains, for the purpose of a bath ing place. Several springs arise here, of the tempe rature of 104° F. The water is saline, and remark ably transparent. Air is constantly rising in the spring, very copiously. 1 caught some of it in a tum bler, and found it to be incapable of supporting com->- bustion. CHAMOUKV. 341 Recrossing tbe Arve, and passing thrdugh the vil lage of Chede, where there is a fine water fall, and a beautifully transparent lake of small extent, we began to ascend the mountain. At Servoz, a decent little town, we stopped, and found a good inn. The neigh bours were at church : they are mostly Catholics. On looking in, we saw the priest decorated in his robes» and performing his gesticulations before the image and the altar. When these were accompUshed, a latin hymn was sung, which appeared to terminate the ser vice. The sermon, 1 believe, had been given before. At the inn, 1 found a large collection of the minerals of the country kept for sale, and an attendant, who was well acquainted with their scientific names. At a abort distance from Servoz, on an insulated hill, were the remains of a Roman chateau. Whether it had been the secreted habitation of some gallant knight, and lady fair, who sighed to each other in this moun tain solitude, or the abode of a feudal chieftain, who held dominion over his little tribe of mountaineers, we had not the means of determining. We crossed again the Arve, in a very wild spot, having the lofty mountain of Buet on our left, and after a very considerable ascent, entered the valley of Chamouny, about two o'clock. This valley is on the north side of Mount Blanc, and while it contains sufficient space for several villages and farms, it af fords the finest position for the accommodation of tra vellers, who come to visit this most rugged and sublime of all the alpine regions. The glaciers, of which there are five considerable ones, on this side the mountain, extend themselves into the valley, and are now making a gradual encroachment upon the mea> 342 CHAMOUNY. dows which surround them. I had before, no just conception of the nature and appearance of a glacier. They are vast bodies of ice, formed by the freezing of the water, which runs down from the snow, on the sides of the mountain, between its different ridges, congealing as it advances. They are much increased by avalanches, or bodies of snow, that break loose from the higher declivities, from time to time, and fall into these valleys. They must also be increased by successive accumulations of snow and rain, every win ter. There is thus formed so great a mass of ice, that the heats of summer are insufficient to reduce them, though the valley is often very hot, and the streams which then flow from their sides, are very copious. Leaving our car at the Uttle village of Montcuart, we ascended to a considerable height along side of the Glacier de Bosson. The day was so warm, that the efforts of the ascent, put us into a profuse perspi ration. Our way was at first over meadows, and then through groves of fir trees, continually ascend ing till we reached the great platform of the glacier. We mounted by the help of our guide, this great icy ridge, and passed directly across it. We had enga ged a guide at Servoz to conduct us across this gla cier, which is the largest of all those connected with Mount Blanc. On leaving our charabanc to ascend the mountain, we were joined by half a dozen other guides, requesting the liberty to join us as conductors. It was in vain that we endeavoured to send them back, telling them we were already supplied, and should not want their services. They still officiously asked leave to accompany us, and persevered in trudging CHAMOUNY. 343 with us up the mountain, though we informed them that they need not expect to receive any compensa tion for their services, as they were not wanted. But on our arrival at the place where we were to ascend the glacier, the importance of these new attendants began to be apparent, and we found that without the asistance of nearly the whole number, our journey across the ice would have been extremely hazard ous, if not impracticable. Some were employed in cutting steps with hatchets, in the icy hills, to enable us to ascend ; others went forward to select the sa fest paths ; and had it not been for the great experi ence and the most devoted attention of these men, it would have been folly to attempt the passage. Two of them were constantly with each of us, bestowing the most careful and even affectionate attention to our safety. They feel the great responsibility oftheir charge, and are devoted from principle, to its faith ful execution. On landing us safely on the opposite shore, they made no demand, but thankfully received whatever we chose to give them. The width of this glacier, at the place of our tran sit, is about one third of a mile. Its surface exhibits the most frightful irregularity. Fissures of a foot or two feet in width, and many hundreds in depth, must be stepped over. Cavernous places exist in the great body of the glacier, into which streams of water are pouring with a loud and fearful rumbling. The por tion which lay below us, was torn up into large coni cal peaks of 10 or 20 feet in height, closely wedged together at their bases, and rearing their pointed tops jn formidable and terrific grandeur. The place where we crossed was remarkably levr el, compared with the surface both above and below 344 CHAMOUNY. OS. We were provided by the guides with long poles pointed with iron. They are extremely useful. The sun was so warm that the ice afforded only an agreea ble freshness. It was an interesting spectacle, to ob serve on the same spot, these two extremes of nature ; the freshness of the trees and the verdure of the mead ows, in alliance with such extended masses of ice and snow. We were agreeably surprised, and unexpectedly refreshed, after the fatigue of this ascending and de scending march, by meeting on the side of the moun tain, several maidens of the village, bringing with them clean tumblers and decanters full of delicious milk, which they offered to us at a moderate price. We proceeded to the village of Chamouny, or as it is called, the Prieure, and found excellent quarters at the hotel there. " Of these there are two, the Hotel de Londre, and Hotel de L'Union, differing but little in their accommodations. The village contains about 100 houses. Two shops or cabinets of natural histo ry are kept here, in which very good collections of the minerals and plants of this Alpine region, are expo sed for sale. A suite of the former, consisting of small specimens, may be bought for 6 francs, compre hending about one hundred varieties; and a little herbarium of dried plants may be obtained for less than two dollars, containing nearly a hundred species. One of these I bought of a boy, who appeared to be well acquainted with the scientific names of the plants and minerals of the valley. 21st. After an early breakfast, we mounted each a mule, and with our excellent guide, Michel Paccard, we set out for Le Croix de la Flegere, a position of CHAMOUNY. 345 the mountain on the side of the valley opposite to Mount Blanc. We rode for some time behind a flock of one hundred goats, which a herdsman was driving to pasture. These animals are kept for their milk, and they yield a very notable quantity of it. The declivity of the mountain was very steep, but our mules clambered up with a steady foot, and with sur prising facility considering their size and the loads they carry. The " Cross" is at an elevation which required an ascent of an hour and a half On gain ing this almost dizzy elevation, what was our sur prize to find a dozen children, mostly females, and one woman, already on the spot, prepared with de canters of fresh milk, grapes, pears, cakes, nuts and brandy for our refreshment. Knowing of our intend ed ascent, they had clambered up the mountain, with N baskets containing all those articles, and were eager to induce us to accept of theircommodities. Although we had brought a good store of provisions with us, we could not do less than to take some of their ex cellent mountain milk, and to eat of the fruit upon their own conditions, which were always, " ce que vous voulez, messieurs." Some of these little creatures that had clambered up the mountain, to gain a few sous by the disposal of their provisions, could not have been more than 7 years old. The view which we obtained from La Croix de la Flegere, of the whole chain of Mount Blanc, its tow ering summit, its undulations, its lofty needles, and its immense cavities, all bleached with the frost of count less ages, were enough to fill the mind with the deep est reverence— *nay, vrith devotional solemnity. Vol, I. 29 346 CHAMOUNY. The glaciers which extend from the sides of this great sire of mountains, were exhibited in full per spective, as on an immense map, suspended over the valley. It was a spectacle too varied, too sublime, and altogether too powerfully impressive to be either felt or understood by any description, however eloquent ; or by any graphic colouring, however true. There is no attainable situation on the sides of Mount Blanc itself, which could have given us half so correct and expanded a view of the whole scenery of its awfully extended ridge, and the towering height of its majes tic dome, its glaciers, and its needles, — in short, of the entire physiognomy of its northern front, as that which we obtained from this elevated point of the op posite mountain. It was on this account that I had decided on taking the advice of Professor Pictet, to ascend to the cross of La Flegere, on Mount Brevent, as the means of gaining a correct notion of the topo graphy of this particular region, — in preference to the views we should have had from any of the more fashionable places of resort on Mount Blanc itself. The thunder of avalanches was heard at very short intervals, during our continuance on those elevated summits. They consist of large bodies of snow and ice, which, accumulating by degrees on some precipi tous base, acquire at length a form and position, which render that base inadequate to their support. When this moment arrives, the mass disengages itself from the surrounding matter, and plunging with dreadful fury from its giddy elevation, breaks into innumerable atoms upon the glaciers below. The neighbouring mountains reverberate the thunder of its fall, and prolong the sound by repeated echoes. CHAMOUNY. 347 We frequently witnessed the motion of these falling masses. They do not always consist of ice and snow alone, but, by their weight, and the prodigious mo mentum with which they impinge against the rocks and trees, in their descent, they carry down with them numerous fragments, some of which are of large size. The avalanches of the spring and summer generally consist of larger and more coherent masses than those of the winter. The tremendous velocity which they acquire in these mountain leaps, sometimes occasions such a lateral pressure of the atmosphere, as to pros trate the trees on each side, and even to overturn the habitations which are situated on the hills opposite to their descent. In crossing the glaciers, one is sur prised to meet with such quantities of rocks and other terrene masses, lodged in bodies of ice of some hun dreds, and, probably, thousands of feet in thickness. Those earthy and more ponderous portions of the faU ing materials accumulate, by the wasting of the upper surface of the ice during summer, into large heaps at the bottom and sides of the glaciers, and add much to the terrific appearance of this most gigantic display of mountain revolution. We were obliged to descend without our mules, for bad we undertaken to ride them, the least stumble might have plunged us head long down the mountain. To those unaccustomed to this kind of travelling, the descent from a great ele vation, is found to be quite as fatiguing as the ascent. No remarkable change in the atmosphere was ob servable at the height to which we attained, and I think it probable, that the accounts we have some times heard of the difficulty of breathing on the tops of mountains, may be, in part, exaggeration ; or, at 348 CHAMOUNY. least, that the difficulty may arise, in some measure, from the peculiar state of tbe atmosphere at the time, as well as from the elevation ; for we not unfrequently experience a degree of pulmonary obstruction, from a want of atmospheric elasticity, on level ground. Our guide, on whose veracity we placed great confidence, informed us, that he was, three years ago, on the high est pinnacle of Mount Blanc, and that he experienced no uneasiness whatever. I would not, by any means, imply that the atmosphere, on higb mountain eleva tions, is equally favourable to respiration as on the level of the ocean : the statements of Saussure and others would abundantly disprove this ; but merely to express the belief, that the general opinion on this subject may go beyond the truth. Upon reaching the plain we rode to the source of the Arveron, one of the branches of the Arve. This stream rises at the foot of the glaciere De Bois, from which issues sufficient water to produce a large and rapid brook. A singu lar and curious appearance is presented at the spot where this river flows from the ice. The small streams, which run in secret channels down the gla ciers, unite previous to their discharge, and then burst out with such force as to produce at once an impetu ous and a copious current. The violence of this erup tion wears away the ice at the place of its exit, and forms a large vault or cavern, which, at particular seasons, may be entered to a considerable depth. This vault is said to present a sublime but terrific as pect. The very fragile materials of which the roof is composed, and the perpetual changes it is undergoing, would be sufficient, one would think, to deter the boldest adventurer from entering far, or remaining CHAMOUNY. 319 long, in this icy cavern. Yet the curiosity of one in dividual, a respectable citizen of Geneva, impelled him to an act, which was attended with fatal conse quences, and which will, doubtless, serve as a warning to others. He entered this cavern, with his son and nephew, and, when fully within its enclosure, he fired a pistol, to observe the effect of the sound ; but the concussion of the air so jarred the brittle fabric as to bring down a large mass of ice upon the un fortunate adventurers. His son was killed, his ne phew was grievously wounded, and he himself had one of his legs broken. This glacier is making advances upon the plain, and has nearly overtaken a house, which, when first built, was at a becoming distance from this creeping mountain of enduring ice. Its height, as it advances, is surprisingly great. I asked the guide his opinion, and he said, it was at least 300, and, in some places, he thought, 500 toises (3000 feet) above the plain. It presents a surface, on all sides, extremely rugged. Although Mount Blanc appears, at all seasons, to be wrapped in a deep fold of snow, of a brilliant white, it is not, as my guide stated, to be considered as snow, but rather as a covering of ice from bottom to top. The heat of the sun, during the long days of summer, softens the particles of snow; and by the cold of the night, they are compacted into ice. Over the surface of this, or rather in gullies worn in the ice, water, during the warm season, is constantly pouring. The number of visiters at Chamouny, more espe cially since the general peace, has been remarkably great ; but it is still more remarkable that this valley should have remained unexplored, and almost «n- 29* CHAMOUNY. known until 1741. In that year its position and su perior advantages for viewing Mount Blanc, were made known by Pococke, the celebrated English tra veller. It is now as populous as the soil will admit of;. and indeed a great portion of its inhabitants must be supported by travellers, whom its wild and wonderful scenery attracts to this spot. We left this interesting valley about two o'clock, to return to Geneva, not without impressions arising from the visit, which can never be effaced, while memory retains its powers. The inhabitants, of this and the adjoining valley, as far as our intercourse with them extended, appeared to partake of much of that amiable simplicity of manners which have usually been ascribed to the Swiss cha racter. The great influx of strangers, at Chamouny, will, it is to be feared, be productive of no benefit to them in a moral point of view ; but it was pleasing to discover, that, notwithstanding the introduction of many thousands of visiters from almost every country of Europe, during the last few years, and the conse quent enlargement of their commerce and their gains, no very perceptible deterioration has yet become obvious. Their peculiar habits and customs have been fixed by the authority of ages, and will not ve ry speedily yield to the influence of temporary oc currences. The agricultural labours of the valley are performed chiefly by the women. The men are en gaged as guides to strangers,in collecting minerals and plants for sale, or in hunting the wild chamois in his cloud capped haunts, inaccessable to all but those who are accustomed to clamber over those dizzy heights. Although the summit of Mount Blanc, is in plain view from the priory or church of Chamouny, and MOUNT BLANC. 351 cannot be considered as more than seven English miles distant from it, on a line drawn upon the slope of the mountain, yet no one, who is aware of the nature of the undertaking, will wonder that this pinnacle was never marked by human foot-step, until within the last forty years. It was not to be expected, that while the mountain was looked upon only by the gaze of blank indifference, any motive could exist, that would tempt an individual to make the fearful eflfert ; or that until science had kindled its living fires in the mind of the traveller, and given to his curiosity a noble and dignified aim, that this perilous journey would ever be encountered. The researches of modern philosophy into the nature and qualities of the atmosphere at different heights and places, naturally prompted the desire to ascend to the highest of European elevations, and re wards were held out, (in a particular manner by the celebrated Saussure,) to any one who would point out a practicable and safe route to the summit of Mount Blanc. Various unsuccessful attempts were made by different persons, some of whom succeeded in attaining to elevations much higher than any one had ever before trodden. Saussure himself made the attempt, in company with Bourrit, of Geneva, and assisted by 12 guides, well provided with instru ments for observation. They advanced beyond the Dome de Goute, a remarkable point at an elevation of more than 8,200 feet ; but a violent snow storm pre vented their further progress. This was on the 14th of September, 1785, In July next year, James Bal- mat, one of the guides of Chamouny, passed a night on a spot above the Dome de Goute, and discovered. :>52 MOUNT BLANC. as he believed, a way by which the summit might be gained. On his return to Chamouny, he was seized with illness, occasioned by the fatigue and exposure he had endured on the mountain. He was attended by Dr. Paccard^; and to him, as a reward for his pro fessional services, he communicated his discoveries, and offered to conduct him to the summit. Accor dingly, on the 7th of August, they left- the priory, and passed the following night on the heights of La Cote, a mountain which overhangs the Glacier de Bosson. The next morning they passed over the Dome de Goute, and struggling heroically against the most pinching cold, a violent and piercing wind, and exces sive fatigue, they attained the pinnacle for the first time within the knowledge of man. Here they re mained half an hour. Their provisions and ink froze in their pockets ! They effected their descent with out any serious injury, and thus prepared the way for future adventurers. Their example was soon followed by the enterpri sing and indefatigable Saussure, accompanied by a servant and 18 guides, who carried his tents, philo sophical apparatus apd other necessaries. He gain ed the pinnacle, which he found to be a ridge, nearly horizontal, extending east and west, and so narrow as scarcely to allow two people to walk abreast. He remained on the summit four and a half hours, which afforded time for those extensive and interesting ob servations, which he has published in the fourth vo lume of his " Voyages dans les Alpes." I can do nothing more than merely to give some of the principal results of the different observations that have been made upon this mountain. A history of the various MOUNT BLANC. 353 successful and unsuccessful endeavours to scale its hoary sides, with the discoveries and calculations of different philosophers, would fill a volume. The height of the summit, taking the mean of some of the best observations, is 2450 toises=l 5,673 English feet, or nearly three miles above the level of the sea. It is 14,556 feet above the lake of Geneva, and 11,532 feet above the vale of Chamouny. Its actual height is 5236 feet less than the summit of Chimborazo, and about 10,000 feet less than the highest peak of the Great Himmalaya chain in Asia. But Mount Blanc rises higher above the level of the adjoining country than Chimborazo, and therefore makes a more conspicuous figure in the eye of the observer, as a distinct and insulated object. The temperature on the summit is from three to five degrees of Fahren heit, below freezing in the summer. Saussure's ther mometer was at 27° F. on the top of, the mountain, while that of Sennebier at Geneva was at 82° F. The barometer at the same time, viz, 3d of August at noon, was 16,181 inches, (English,) while at Geneva it stood at 29,020 inches. There is no bare rock to be seen within 150 yards of the top; and almost the whole body of the mountain on the north side, excepting those abrupt and sharp pyramids, called needles, is en veloped in an everlasting mantle of ice and snow. The rocks of the highest peaks are considered by most ge ologists as granite ; but Professor Jurin, of Geneva, one of the most learned naturalists of the age, told me he had serious doubts of the correctness of the term gra nite, as applied to those rocks. The air of the summit, according to Saussure's hygrometer, was six times less humid than the air of Geneva, The electricity of the 354 MOUNT BLANC. atmosphere was positive ; and experiments with lime water showed that it contained carbonic acid. The least exertions, occasioned to Saussure, a laborious and painful respiration. The sound of a pistol was as feeble as that of a Chinese cracker let off" in a room.* At St. Martin, where we again lodged, we found a number of persons, chiefly English, on their way to Chamouny. A heavy rain this morning did not pre vent us from pursuing our journey toward Geneva. — Agreeably to a previous invitation, I stopped at the dwelling of Vernet, with the intention of staying all night. Their country residence is about five miles from the town, on the border of the Canton, near Savoy. In addition to the pleasure of a kind and courteous reception, I had the satisfaction to meet there with three female visiters; two of them from Scotland, (a Lady C******* and her daughter,) and * Two of my American friends, Dr. Van Rensselaer of New-York, and Dr. Howard of Baltimore, ascended to the top of Mont Blanc, accompa nied by nine guides, on the 12th of July 1819, and remained an hour and a: quarter on its highest pinnacle. On the 11th of the following month, Captain J. UndreU of the British Navy, also reached the top, where he spent three hours. " The thermo meter in the sun was 33°, placed upon the snow with the same aspect, it sunk in five minutes to 26° . Suspended towards the north in a cold current of air, it was 14° ; and in the same spot with the bulb in the snow, fell to 9°. He caused a pistol to be discharged several times, and found that the cessation of the report was instantaneous. The very highest rock is highly orystaline hornblende, and steatite. The latter might be mistaken for compact feldspar, but it yields to pressure and the knife. The rock called Petit Mulet, is the protogene of Professor Jurine, consisting of quartz, feld spar, and steatite. .Annals of Philosophy., June, 1821. Two unsuccessful attempts to ascend Mont Blanc, were made by Dr. Hamel, counsellor of state to the Emperor of Russia, in August 1820. In the last of these the whole party was in imminent danger, and three of the guides actually perished. RETURN TO GENEVA. 355 the other from England. It is rare to meet with persons, of either sex, of more improved under standings than were the ladies of this little group ; and we had an inteUectual and very agreeable eve ning. They all spoke both French and English, and the conversation was in either language, as inclina tion directed. The topics were mostly of an el evated character, and seasoned, throughout, with the evidence of piety and Christian benevolence. We were joined, in the evening, by Vernet himself; whose official duties, as one of the judges of the Can ton, occupy much of his time, and induce him, in con formity to custom, to leave to his wife, the principal management of her house and family. And happy would it be, if, in all other cases, maternal and do mestic influence were exercised with the same en- Ughtened judgment, piety, and feeling. They have five children, three of whom are at home. Before we retired to rest, the servants were called in, (six in number,) when the mother read, very seriously, first a prayer, and then a chapter of the New Testament. 23d. Vernet being obliged to be in town seasonably on the days of session, we took an early breakfast, and I parted from his worthy family, with sentiments of great friendship and respect. He brought me to Geneva in his charabanc, (a neat little vehicle, peculiar, as far as I know, to Switzerland,) which he drove him self We passed through one or two villages, which formerly belonged to Savoy, but which are now, agreeably to the last political demarcation, attached to the canton of Geneva. The Savoyards are nearly all Catholics ; but notwithstanding that the canton is under a Protestant government, they are well satisfied 356 GENEVA. with the change ; for the Sardinian government, is said to be chargeable, with a want of liberality to wards its subjects. Vernet informed me, that as far as the experience of the tribunal, over which he presides, would justify a conclusion, it might be in ferred, that the principles of the Protestant religion, were more favourable to morals, than those of the Catholic. But so many other things, besides mere re ligious dogmas, are to be taken into the account, in deciding this question, by the record of a court of justice, not much reliance, he thought, could be placed in their result. Being introduced to Professor Prevost, I had a pleasant conversation with him, prior to the com mencement of his lecture, which 1 attended. He has the department of moral philosophy, in the college ; but to help out the dryness of his subject, which is concerned only with the inward light, he unites op tics with it, and lectures, once a week, on the light of the sun. He is justly esteemed, as a learned man,' and a sound reasoner, and has long been known, as one of the promoters of natural science. He con ducted me, after the lecture, to the rooms of a reading society, which has recently been set on foot. One apartment is appropriated to journals, domestic and foreign, and is well supplied. In another room, a good foundation is laid for a library ; and a third is appro priated to the German language. In other apart ments, lectures are to be delivered, for the benefit of the town, on such physical and moral subjects, as may accord with the prevailing taste. This institu tion is quite in its infancy, and its eventual success is uncertain. GENEVA. 357 Dr. B. introduced me to Professor Jurine, the friend and frequent companion of Saussure. We spent an hour or two in his cabinet, which compre hends an excellent collection of minerals, in which are not wanting those which particularly belong to the United States. This cabinet is remarkable for its variety, and the neatness of its arrangement. It in cludes likewise an entomological collection, the ob jects of which are disposed with uncommon neatness and advantage, between two glasses, in little frames, so that they can be viewed on both sides, without ex posure to the air. Professor Jiirine appeared to me to be a mild, agreeable, and very estimable man,* 24th, The table d'hote of our inn, affords excellent fare, and in sufficient variety. The lake of Geneva contains about twenty-nine varieties of fish, some of which are very fine. Professor Pictet conducted me to the Academy of Painting. It contains but a small collection ; but the school of drawing attached to it, appears to be well supported. We went to see the artist Gaudin, whose models of the Alps are so justly admired. Theyare beautiful representations, in wood, of different por tions of Alpine scenery, exactly conformable to what would appear, from a bird's eye view, of the district represented: the lakes are made of glass. He is preparing one, which will cover a surface of sixty- two square yards, and which will represent the greater part of Switzerland, with its lakes and ele vations. We afterwards called on Dr. Marcet, and were in troduced to his wife, known as the very sensible and * He died on the 20th October, 1819, after three days illness. Vol. I, 30 358 GENEVA. judicious author of conversations on chemistry; and more recently those on political economy. We found there also. Professors Prevost and De CandoUe. They had been amusing themselves with sending up a paper balloon, three feet in diameter, which rose to a great height, and then took fire. The remainder of the evening I spent with Alderman Wood, and fa mily, who had just arrived from Italy. 25th. I attended this morning a lecture by Pro fessor Pictet, on galvanism. He conducts his course with little apparatus, and that which he does use, be longs mpstly to himself; the college not being in a condition at present to provide itself with instruments. He was therefore obliged, in illustrating the facts of galvanism, to use diagrams drawn on a black board with chalk. A board of this kind covers the profes sors' table. Its surface is preserved by a folding lid or cover, which is fastened by a lock. He did not enter much upon the theory of galvanism. He showed the students Dr. WoUaston's miniature battery, and the eagerness with which they endeavoured to see and comprehend its action, sufficiently evinced the advantages of experimental illustration, over a mere verbal definition, however correct and elaborate. The professors in this coUege, question two or three of the students, upon the principles of the last lecture, at the commencement of the succeeding. The names of those to be questioned, are drawn by lot, so that none knows upon whom it will fall. The lecture-room of the professors (the same room serving most, or all of them,) is a very indifferent one. We dined with Alderman Wood and family, at their lodgings. The rank which this gentleman has held, GENEVA. , 359 as Lord Mayor of London, for two successive years, and that which he now holds, both as a magistrate and member of parliament for the city, demonstrates the confidence placed in his fidelity and public spirit. His unaffected aflTability, without the least shadow of pride or hauteur, has rendered him the most popular man in London. At his first election in parliament, he was chosen without opposition ; and at the last, his name was by far the highest on the successful ticket. His attention to charitable and humane institutions, proceeds, 1 believe, from principle. He makes no pretensions beyond his acquirements. He has a son, a youth of sixteen, in the college at Geneva. Having introduced Professor Pictet to Alderman Wood and family, the evening was spent very agree ably at the house of the former, where were assem bled a considerable number of professors and other citizens. Among them was M******, a distinguished surgeon of Geneva, and a well informed and enlight ened man. His wife is an Englishwoman, and two of his daughters are married and settled in England, He is pretty well acquainted with the state of our country, and takes a lively interest in the condition of the blacks. Of the superior talents of Professor De C*******, I was convinced, from the conversation we had together this evening. Among the incidents of the evening, was the narration of an occurrence of second-sight, in a person under the influence of epilepsy. He could hear distinctly what was said to him, when the mouth of the speaker was placed on his breast. He was aware of the passing by of a person in a carriage, whose name he mentioned, and whom he could not possibly see. He replied appro- 360 GENEVA. priately to some remarks expressed to him in writing. by drawing the paper across his lips, and thus ascer taining its contents ; having his eyes the whole time closely shut ! What credit may be due to the story, 1 ca,nnot affirm, but it would certainly require a great weight of evidence to place it in the rank of unques tionable facts ; and yet, such is, and always has been, the mysterious nature of our sentient principle, as to render it important, that we do not carry our incredu lity too far, in relation to its spiritual faculties. I had the exquisite satisfaction of receiving this afternoon, your letter of the last month, containing the most favourable accounts of your welfare. My friend B. D****** of Manchester, from whom I had received a letter when in Paris, signifying bis intention to join me in Switzerland, arrived this even ing, greatly to my satisfaction, as my American com panions had expressed a wish to abandon their pro ject of visiting Switzerland at this time, and to go directly into Italy. He was accompanied by Dr. S*** of Manchester, a young man who has just graduated as M. D. at Edinburgh. They are both members of our Society. GENEVA. 361 LETTER XIV. Hofwyl, 10th month, {October) 3, 1818. My DEAR *****, In company with some of our London and Gene- vese acquaintance, among whom was one of the ma gistrates of the town, we visited the asylum for the insane, the hospital, and the prison. The two former join each other, or are rather two parts of the same range of buildings. They have both the serious dis advantage of having been constructed before just no tions were entertained of the most salutary modes of treatment, more especially of those who are affected with mental disorders. The rooms are, accordingly, small and awkwardly arranged, the court yard paltry and inconsiderable, and the cells paved with stone, damp, and uncomfortable. The number of insane is but small. The convalescents we did not see, as they are properly kept out of sight. Those maniacs which we did see, were mostly in a high state of phrenzy. One woman was singularly affected. Though in per fect health of body, she fancies herself to be under a mortal and disgraceful disease, and loudly and in cessantly bewails her condition. Another of the fe male lunatics, most happily employs herself in knit ting coarse straw into shirts and bonnets, a store of which she keeps by her. The whole of this depart ment appeared to me to stand greatly in need of re formation. The hospital is better conducted, tolera bly clean, though exhibiting but little of that nicety and laste, which are constantly kept in view in most 30* 362 GENEVA. of the similar institutions in England and America. The number of patients is at least 150. The prison is near the hospital, and is very badly constructed. Judicious efforts, however, are used to classify the prisoners. Those under age are separated from the adults, and in some cases, removed from the prison to the hospital, where they are employed in the ser vice of the house, and, according to their deserts, allowed the use of the yard, and even the liberty of visiting, occasionally, in the day time, their connex ions in the town. Some attempts have been made to introduce labour, and a few of those who have trades are kept at work. Very few persons in Geneva, are confined for debt. At the time of our visit there was only one. The magistrates do not commit debtors, except in particular cases, that is to say, for debts contracted in a particular way. There were between sixty and seventy prisoners in the gaol at the time of our visit. The poor of Geneva are mostly assisted at their own houses. Their number is so great, that one in six of the whole population, have recently received charity. A prize was offered some time since, by the Economical Society of this town, for the best essay on the means of obviating the evUs of pauperism. The committee have received twenty-six papers from dif ferent places, but have not yet had time to read them all. Professor P., who is one of the committee, on reading tbe report of the New-York Society for the prevention of Pauperism, which I lent him, had it imqiediately translated. In our walks we stopped at the School d'Enseign- ment Mutuel. It was not the day of admission to vi siters, but we apologised, and were let in. It is a new COPPET. 363 establishment ; and the room is arranged in the usual Lancasterian manner. The number of scholars is about eighty, and the system pursued appealed to be very similar to that of the schools in England. 27th. We left Geneva, about seven, in a hired voi ture, fer Lausanne, distant twelve leagues. The price of the -carriage was twenty francs for two days, and six francs to the coachman. The morning was delight ful, and the road, (as good as possible,) extending along the borders of the lake, afforded the most agree able prospects of finely cultivated farms, handsome country seats, and frequent villages, with the high chain of Mount Jura on the left, and the silvery tops of the Alps, beyond tbe lake, on our right. The agri culture of Switzerland is certainly better than that of France, and equal, if not superior, to that of En gland. The fine shape and quality of the cattle are very striking. At Coppet, a handsome village of 3 or 4,000 inhabitants, we left the canton of Geneva, and entered that of Pays de Vaud. This village is distinguished as the residence of M. Necker, and of his celebrated daughter, Madame de Stael. They are both buried in the grounds of the chateau ; which is at present occupied by the Duke de Broglie, who married the daughter of Madame de Stael. While the gens-d'armes were examining our passports, we walked to the chateau. It is a plain, but respectable looking mansion, but we had not time to ask for ad mission. At Rolle, we breakfasted at an excellent inn, and walked through the town, which is very pleasant, and contains, probably, 3000 inhabitants. Between Nyon and Rolle we passed the chateau Prangins, which 364 LAUSANNE. was formely occupied, and is still owned, by Joseph Bonaparte. It is a spacious edifice, and finely situated for health and prospect. Merges is a larger village than those already mentioned, and like all the towns and villages I have seen, is well paved with stones. We arrived at Lausanne, at half past three, and found decent accommodations at the Balances d'or. We walked, while our dinner was preparing, towards the lake. The vine is cultivated on the north side of this fine sheet of water, the hills facing the south afford an excellent soil and temperature for their growth and maturity. Taking a guide, 1 walked to the country residence of G**** de V******, about a mile and a half from the town ; delivered a letter of introduction, and took tea with him and his lady, and enjoyed a long conversation on America, Switzerland, litera ture, and the institutions of the age. He is an elderly gentleman, of large estate, very influential at Lau sanne, and has spent much of his time at Paris. He and his family were intimate with Dr. Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Morris, as our ambassadors at France. His wife is a sensible woman, and very communica tive. She furnished me with several tracts, published by a tract society in Lausanne, and evidently takes much interest in the efforts that are now on foot, for enlightening and Christianizing the lower classes of society. I left them at a late hour, and after several invitations to remain all night, which my engagements would not admit of This being the first day of the week, 1 had an op portunity of comparing the habits of the Swiss with those of the French, relative to a day of rest, and Christian worship. I need only say, that the differ- LAUSANNE.' 365 ence is greatly in favour of Switzerland, and of Pro- testatnt principles. 28th. Being introduced to Dr. V******, a physician of Lausanne, by a note from G**** de V******, I found him to be a very sensible and learned man. He accompanied my companions to the hospital, while I delivered an introduction to M. A. G******, an En glish lady, who resides in the family of Dr. L*****, a minister, and professor of theology in the college of this town. She is celebrated in this place, for her de votion to the charitable and religious associations of this canton. The establishment of the tract society of Lausanne is ascribed to her, and she is the most active agent of the Bible cause. We had half an hour's conversation on subjects interesting to us both. She represented the state of religion as being low in Switzerland; having to struggle, on the one band, against infidelity, which, unhappily, has too much in fected many of the higher ranks, — and, on the other, with the zealous efforts of the Church of Rome, to maintain its ascendancy, and to gain new proselytes. The re-establishment of the order of the Jesuits, by the reigning Pope, has been done with this view. " We know," said she, " that the gates of hell will not prevail, but appearances are nevertheless very threat ening." This short opportunity gave me a most fa vourable impression of the qualifications, both of head and heart, which this lady possesses, to do good, and her disposition to exert them. Not being able to join my companions, and Dr. V******, in their visit to the prison, I copy the state ment of my friend B. D******, relative to this insti tution. « Dr. V******, conducted us to the Maison 366 LAUSANNE. de Force. All the confined are sentenced, some to 20, or 10, or 5 periods of imprisonment, but all for crimes of magnitude. Murder alone, is punished with death, in the Canton de Vaud. The prisoners were all actively occupied in carding, or spinning, or weaving, or plaiting straw for hats, slippers, chair- bottoms or mats. The women, wholly separate, are employed in nearly the same way under female in spectors. Those who are accustomed to any me chanic employment, as shoemaking, chairmaking, or other occupations that may be followed in prison, are employed in that way. If not industrious theyare subject to punishment. They have besides a certain proportion of the proceeds of their labour. "Offenders in less aggravated cases, are secured in separate apartments, and are generally employed. There is no idleness in the prison. " Besides this establishment, in the same building are two stories appropriated as an infirmary, through which the Doctor attended us. There are 40 patients in the house. The dispensary is also very useful to the poor of Lausanne. " The Doctor mentioned to us an establishment in Lausanne, for the discipline and reform of young convicts, and refractory young persons, whose friends commit them to this means of reclaiming them. They are taught and employed, and restricted to regular habits." The poor are supported in this canton, as I was informed by G**** de V******, by a fund, arising from property which has long been in the possession of the government of the canton for this purpose. But no person that is not a citizen, i. e. who has not the right LAUSANNE. 367 of Bourgeoisie, can claim the protection of this fund. In cases of extraordinary distress, resort is had to private collections, but never to taxation. The right of Bourgeoisie may be purchased. At Lausanne it is worth 40 Louis d'ors. The fund does not increase much. Dr. V******, took us to the School d'Enseign- ment Mutuel. The building is a very poor one. The school is in an upper room, and the access to it, nar row and difficult. The number of scholars was about 80. Many were absent on account of the measles. Provision is made in Switzerland for the education of every child, and parents are obliged to send their children to school. The teachers are paid by the government, so that the schools are gratis to the pa rents. We went into one of these schools. It con tained about 30 scholars of the poorer families, and appeared to be badly conducted. 1 suggested to Dr. V. the advantage of uniting several of these schools into one, and adopting the improved plans of tuition, paying more attention at the same time to neatness and respectability of appearance. He said that some measures had already been taken to eflfect this object, which he considered truly desirable. This gentle man informed us, that in several parts of Switzerland, saving banks were long in use ; prior, as I understood, to their first introduction into England. They are called Caisses d'Epargnment. Lausanne contains about 11,000 inhabitants. It is built on three hills, which subjects the citzens, necessarily, to a great deal of ascent and descent. The views of the lake and mountains, from some parts of the town are delightful. I here took leave of my former companions, who intended to return to 368 VEVEY. Geneva and thence proceed to Italy ; and with my English friends set out for Vevey, distant four leagues. The road passes along the lake and on the edge of a mountain, and is highly romantic. The declivity is very steep ; but so well adapted are the soil and air to th^ perfection of grapes, almost every foot of ground is cultivated. The side of the mountain is converted by means of stone walls, erected one above another, and extending in horizontal directions, into terraces or platforms, and on these the vines are rai sed. At St, Saphorin, a considerable village, we obtained some grapes of a woman, fresh from the vineyard. They were the best I ever tasted. These grapes are considered, indeed, as inferior to none in Europe ; and the land in this immediate neighbour hood sells for 1200 francs per arpent, so highly is it esteemed for the vine. Vevey is a pleasant town on the lake, containing 3,500 souls. It has some very decent buildings, and a handsome market house, better than any that I ever saw in America, in a place of equal extent. We took a boat and a batelier, and went out on the lake. The scenery was delight ful. The Alps on the south, in some places covered with snow; villages scattered on each border ; the Castle Chillon, at the upper extremity, so famous in history, and in the poetry of Lord Byron ; the trans parency of the water; thfe Rhone pouring its flood into the lake ; the mildness of the evening ; the va pours, skirting the sides of the mountains ; — these, and other accompaniments, rendered this little watery excursion exceedingly pleasant ; and nothing was wanting but the company and sympathetic feelings of j^y #***»***» ^^. «*** *^Q complete the happiness of the JOURNEY TO BERNE. 369 moment.- The village of Montreux, situate in a valley, at the head of the lake, appeared in sight. From this viUage, a number of Swiss have emigrated to America ; and have established themselves in the state of Ohio, where they have built a town, which they call Vevey. Our boatman, on finding where I was from, was earnest in asking questions relative to the situation and probable prospects of his country men. His questions evinced a sound and reflecting mind, prudence, and sagacity. Indeed, all that I have seen of the habits of the lower orders in Swit zerland, speaks loudly in favour of the extension of knowledge, and of moral and religious principles. We engaged our postiUion, whom we found to be a very obliging and good tempered man, to take us to Fribourg, in his little calash. After going to bed, unless my ears deceived me, I heard the hour of the night announced by six town clocks, one after another. The Swiss are great lovers of clock-work, bells, and music. 29th. The road, for a considerable distance from Vevey, was rapidly ascending. We met a great number of peasants going to market; carrying, for the most part, their productions, either on their heads, or in long baskets or buckets of an oval form, with flat sides, and suspended on their backs, by a strap round the shoulders. The greater number were women; and certainly of a more interesting aspect, more handsome and graceful, than any I had ever before noticed in a similar condition of Ufe. The costume of the females varies very remarkably in the different Cantons. In this part of the Pays de Vaud, they wear straw bonnets, very large, and with a high Vol. I. 31 370 JOURNEY TO BERNE. button or handle on the centre of the crown. Their hair is suffered to grow till it becomes a prodigious mass, (or, in defect of quantity, they help it out by a cushion) and then twisting it behind into a large roll, they fasten it, in the shape of a chair cushion, to the back part of the head ; generally interspersing a quantity of powder. Such was the head dress of these market girls; and which they doubtless consi dered as in no respect incompatible with the heavy loads which they carried on their backs. We breakfasted at Chatel St. Deny, a small town, composed of Catholics. The church was decorated with a great variety of ornaments, outside as well as within. A stone basin of consecrated water, was placed at each door ; into which the females, as they came out, dipt their fingers and crossed themselves. One of them, 1 observed, took out some water in the palm of her hand, and sprinkled it on a grave. The style of farming continues to be good, yet some awkward customs prevail. I noticed a plough at work, drawn by two horses and a. bull ; the latter animal being harnessed as a leader, and guided by a girl, by means of a rope fastened round his horns. Cows are frequently harnessed, and made to work, like oxen ; and I know not why they should not be, where women are to be the drivers. In one field, we saw a cow and a horse drawing together, side by side, at a plough. At Bulle, a town within the Can ton of Fribourg, we stopt to refresh, and to look around us, for an hour or two. This place was almost wholly destroyed by fire, eleven years ago; being, at that time, built chiefly of wood. The houses are now mostly rebuilt with stone, and covered with BULLE. 371 tile. A young man of respectable appearance, volun tarily conducted us to the church ; a new building, with a pretty high steeple, containing five bells. The decorations of the interior were costly, but more chaste than ordinary. In this town there is a convent of Capuchins, containing twelve friars. We went to see them. They dress very coarsely, and wear their beards at full length. We met one of them in the road, on our approach to Bulle. He saluted us, very courteously, and on asking our coachman who he was, he replied, "Monsieur, c'est un Capuchin, ils ont un convent ici a Bulle." What do they do, said I, in their convent .'' " Qu'est-ce qu'ils font .'' lis prierit le bon Dieu pour ceux que travailleut." The friar whom we met in the convent, was a mild and good looking man. He told us there were but twelve of them, and signified that they were very poor. Their apartments were, indeed, plainly furnished ; and it was evident that they did not consider water as given only for the purpose of washing away out ward spots. CleanUness forms no part of the religion of these professors of poverty and abstinence. They have, in their garden, an escargotoire, or enclosure where they keep and feed snails, for the purpose of food. They had a notable crop of them. The town of Gruyere is in sight from Bulle. It gives a name to the cheese made in this part of Swit zerland, which has a high reputation, even in Paris. It is a rich, well flavoured cheese, but rather hard- At Fribourg, we obtained good accommodations and an excellent supper, at the Merchant's Inn. 30th. Having a letter for Le Pere Girard, whose ge nius and philanthropy have qualified him to effect the 372 FRIBOURG. most important improvements, in the education of the children of Fribourg, and to establish a school^ which has become famous throughout Switzerland, I hasten ed this morning to the convent where he resides, and received the unwelcome intelligence, that it was the time of vacation, and that he had gpne into the coun try, to stay some days. I inquiredjlf one of his assist ants, who there was, that could gi^ me correct infor mation, relative to the system, pursued in the institu tion, over which the Pere Girard presides, and he re ferred me to the Chanoine Fontaine, as an enlighten ed man, and a friend of Pere Girard. Upon waiting for this ecclesiastic, at his house, he came in from the morning service, dressed in his priestly habiliments, and looked at me with some surprise. 1 apologised for coming to him without an introduction, and ex plained frankly the object of my visit. He then, very cordially, offered to give me all the information he could, and appointed 10 o'clock, to receive me and my friends. He regretted that Pere Girard was ab sent, as I should find him, he said, a very interesting man in conversation, and willing to communicate any information, relative to his system. At the appointed hour, we went to the chanoine's, and were introduced into his picture room, which contained a very neat collection of paintings, one of which, he said, was by Rubens, (the descent from the cross,) and the original design of his great picture at Antwerp. He explained to us, loquaciously, the va rious pictures of the collection ; and then, placing chairs in a circle, invited us to sit down, and com menced an eloquent statement, first of the etymology of the word Education, implying to draw out, or deve- PRIBOURG. 373 lope, and not to increase, or to superadd. He next adverted to the common error, as he called it, of sup posing that mathematics can have much tendency to expand and mature the faculties of the mind ; an4 urged the superiority of language, as an instrument or means of effecting this important end. He considerT ed it of high importance, that plans of education should tend to open and perfect the qualities already existing in the mind, as the sun swells and opens the bud, and heightens the colours and fragrance of the rose. He informed us that the Pere Girard's views, and bis own, corresponded on this subject ; that the latter, being a man of penetration, and acquainted with human nature, and possessing a spirit of great philanthropy, had proceeded, step by step, trusting only to experience, in bringing the school to its pre sent state of improvement. Prior to the commence ment of his labours, the schools of Fribourg, were in a state of great depression, without system, and ineffi cacious, with respect to morals; that Pere Girard's greatest efforts had been, to make the scholars tho roughly acquainted with their religious duties, to ren der them sober and industrious ; in short, to inspire them with a taste and a love for all that belongs to an honourable character, in the respective stations which they are to fill. His success, in this respect, the whole town was ready to attest The Lancasterian plan of instruction, came opportunely to his aid ; but he was rather a " BelUste," than a " Lancasterien." The principle which he relies most upon, as an ex citement to the energies of the boys, is emulation. ' This principle, properly directed, he is confident, does not produce envy, or any other injurious feeling. 31 * 374 FRIBOURG- i So anxious are the boys, in his school, to improvCv they are known often to rise in the night to study ; and so lively and interesting to them, has he rendered fhe exercises of the school, that very young children are fond of attending. A lady of distinction, (the ex- ', queen ofSweden^) visiting the school, observed a very young child in one of the classes. " Pourquoi viens tu ici, mon enfant .<*" said she, to the tiny scholar. " Pour m'amuser," was the answer. Still more sur prised, she asked, " Comment ? est-ce-que I'ecole t'amuse ?" " Oh, Madame," said he, " nous nous amu- sons ici tous les jours." But, observed our leamed in formant, as there is always a struggle between light and darkness, so it was hardly to be expected, that Pere Girard's success, would not meet with opposition. His school has acquired so much celebrity, that not a day passes without visiters. In short, it was to have a little time to write, that he has left the town for a few days. A public examination is held every three months, with a great deal of form, accompanied with music, and a distribution of prizes, to the most meri torious scholars. It is a kind of public spectacle, which gratifies the town. But the religious principles of the Pere, are too liberal for the zealous friends of the Romish Church, and the bell of alarm has been sounded, with notes of danger to the true faith. A divi sion has taken place, and, in the present government of the canton, there is a majority of the disaffected. They accordingly determined, by a decision obtain ed last month, to reinstate the Jesuits in their coUege, in Fribourg; doubtless wifh a view to counteract the influence of Pere Girard ; and it is probable that they would soon proceed to place his school, " hors d^ FRIBOURG. 375 combat," were it not for the very strong popular sup port, which it receives. The government of this can ton is patrician; or, in other words, aristocratical. To retain their power, is a darling object with the patricians ; and they are so well aware that the diffii- sion of learning and morals will work against them, that when the corner stone of a new and commodious house, now erecting for Pere Girard's school, was laid by a committee, the Avoyer, or chief magistrate, happening to pass, he said to one near him, " Voila le tombeau des patricians." ' The only excitement to emulation, which Girard uses, is an advancement in the classes, medals, and prize books at the examina- , tions. But it is his constant effort to preserve such a ' tone of moral feeling, as to operateitself as a stimulus to honourable effort, and, at the same time, to prevent the evil consequences of emulation. That a most fa vourable change has been produced in themoral ha bits of the children of Fribourg, is generally admitted. Our conversation with the Chanoine, was very in teresting to us. He is a man of superior intelligence, of a comely figure, and pleasing address. We parted at one o'clock, and, on observing to him that we should be glad to see his cabinet, (for our printed guide in formed us he had one,) he desired us to call again at two ; an invitation we did not fail to comply with. He introduced us into a room, completely filled with books, minerals, birds, fish, fossils, and other objects of natu ral history, arranged with great taste and effect. It was a very learned and neat little museum. His spe cimens of quartz crystals are uncommonly beautiful. He showed us a manuscript copy of the Bible, in illu minated letter, of very fine execution, and nearly four 3*76 FRIBOURG. hundred years old. The whole collection does great credit to his industry, his learning, and his taste. His clerical dress, which he retained while we were with him, was neat and plain. We left him with sen timents of grateful respect, for the information he afforded us, and his cordial reception of strangers, without a formal introduction. We next visited the hospital of Fribourg. It is a large building, occupying the four sides of a hollow square. In the centre of the square is the chapel, a round building, having four court yards, one in each angle. We were conducted through the apartments, by the economist, or steward, (I'econome,) with en tire frankness and politeness, though we had nothing to recommend us but our persons and tongues. There was nothing extraordinary in this institution. The absence of neatness and order was but too observa ble. We were shown one room full of beds, (coarse enough to be sure) destined for the accommodation of wayfaring men and travellers, who are not well pro vided with the means of paying for their fare. They call here, and sleep, receive a bowl of soup and a piece of bread, and then travel on. If taken sick, they are carefully nursed by the good sisters, who are the ministers of consolation in these establishments. The apartments for the insane were in miserable condi tion. A damp ground floor, cold rooms, a bundle of straw for a bed, and such a destitution of every thing cheering, that one is ready to suppose, that, in these Catholic hospitals, the insane are considered as per sons possessed of evil spirits, and fit only to be treated as subjects of his Satanic majesty. One room was ap propriated to the cretins, or those who have some bo- FRIBOURG. 377 dily or mental deformity, arising from hereditary or natural causes. These cases are often, though not always, accompanied by goitre. In the general hos pital there were about forty patients, beside children, and eight insane. Our young guide (gargon de place) next introduced us to the Jesuit's convent ; a very large building, with Spacious corridors, and numerous rooms for the mem bers or peres. Thirty of these are to be reinstated in this their ancient habitation ; but few of them are yet arrived. When prepared, they are to open their schools, and provide for the instruction of 200 scholars. One of the young professors showed us the library. It is extensive, and contains some costly and valuable works ; but it is, of course, very deficient in modern publications. Its arrangement is classical, and con venient. Wo to Pere Girard, when these thirty cham pions open the field against him ! 10th month, 1st. We rose by candle light, and pre pared for our departure — my companions in a char-a- banc, and myself in the diligence. As soon as the day dawned, we saw a number of persons resorting to the church, to say mass. By far the greater portion were females. Fribourg contains about 6000 inhabitants. It is romantically situated on the Sarine, which empties into the Aar. The shore of the river is a bold rock of sand stone, on which the houses are buiU, at a great elevation above the water. The town is remarkably well watered, there being no less than twenty-eight public fountains, from the greater number of which a stream of pure and excellent water is constantly flow ing. In crossing a public square, in the centre of the 378 FRIBOURG BERNE. upper town, we were struck by the appearance of a free of extraordinary size and venerable aspect. It is a linden tree, (tilia,) and was planted, if the record be true, in commemoration of the battle of Moret, on the 20th of June, 1476. It begins to lose its vigour, and to exhibit marks of decay. The cathedral of this town is a very ancient building, founded in 1283. The tower is considered as the highest in Switzerland, be ing 356 feet, French, equal to 379 English. The French language is spoken in the higher parts of the town, and the German in the lower, while in the cen tral portions, the two languages are confounded. The country between Fribourg and Berne (six leagues) contains much wood, consisting mostly of tall and straight firs. The farms were in excellent cultivation, producing grass in apparent abundance. The entrance to Berne is extremely pleasant. On pedestals, one on each side of the gate of the town, are placed enormous statues of white bears, this animal be ing the symbolic representative of the town, and occu pying the centre ofits coat of arms. The peculiarity of the female costume of this canton appeared as soon as we entered its limits. It consists of a small velvet cap, which fits closely to the back part of the head, and to which is attached a border of six or seven inches wide, made of horse hair, woven into a kind of net or gauze, and which spreads out almost perpendicularly to the head. The hair is plaited in two long queus, which hang down to the waist interwoven with ribbands at tached to the back part of the cap. This dress gives to the upper part of the body an appearance alto gether ludicrous to one who sees it for the first time ; yet it is the general style of ornamenting the head BERNE. 37 9 throughout the canton, from children of nine years of age to married women, and from the labourers in the field to the lady in town. The arms of the women are generally covered with white linen or muslin sleeves, very wide, and gathered round the arm near the wrist. Among the lower classes, in warm weather, the sleeves of their chemises are made to answer the demands of the fashion. The women are busy at all kinds of out door work ; breaking hemp with an instrument exactly similar to that used with us for flax ; driving oxen ; spreading manure, and other labours of an equally masculine character. 1 noticed many of them at these employments, neatly dressed in their bonnets and white sleeves. We found, at the Faucon Inn, an ex ceUent table d'hote, and good accommodations. We called in the afternoon on Dr. Wyttenbach, for whom 1 had a letter, from Professor P. of Geneva. He is one of the German clergymen of the place, seventy years of age, of a most engaging and agree able physiognomy, and a venerable figure. He met us, equipped in his ministerials, and with an address expressive of great benevolence, said he was just going to church, to deliver a prayer, which would occupy him only " un petit quart d'heure," and if we would amuse ourselves till that time, he would be glad to meet us. We took a walk, and on calling again were introduced into his cabinet, which contained a variety of objects of curiosity. He went with us to the pub lic library ; containing a suite of rooms, and a col lection of books, superior, in point of taste and beauty, to any I have seen on the continent. He afterwards introduced us to the rooms of natural history in the same building, consisting of three apartments, and 380 BERNE. containing a very interesting cabinet of the minerals, birds, and quadrupeds, of Switzerland; with a con siderable number of articles from other countries, several large models of the Swiss mountains, made by a young Bernois, a beautiful collection of birds' nests and eggs, numerous materials from the South Sea islands, deposited here by Weber, who ac companied Captain Cook as his draughtsman, and who was also a Bernois ; these and other things, were arranged in handsome style in the different apartments. Adjoining these rooms is a botanic gar den ; not large, but well provided with the plants of the country, especially alpine. In the garden was a a marble bust of the great Haller, who was a native of this town, and one of its principal magistrates. His remains are deposited in this garden. It was evident to us that this institution is an object of affec tion with Dr. Wyttenbach, as being in some sort a child of his own raising, and in the nursing of which, he spends a good deal of his time. His conversation was full of pleasant anecdote and humour, and his manners were kind and aflfable. He satisfied us that he is a man of much learning, and of very consider able science. 2d. The hospital for the poor is a handsome build ing, occupying all the sides of a large square; in the centre of which is a fine garden, with a fountain play ing in the middle of it. The apartments in each story, open into a wide corridor, which extends all around the central area. The number of patients is about 120, but the buUdings also afford accommoda tion, (i. e. a night's lodging and a meal or two,) to Wayfaring poor. During the past year, &s many as BERNE. 381 10,000, thus found here a temporary shelter. The poor of Switzerland are no where supported by tax ation. In the Canton of Berne there are permanent funds for this purpose, kept up by donations and lega cies, but none have a real demand upon this charity, but those who have the right of bourgeoisie, which, unless it be inherited, it is very difficult to obtain. My companions visited likewise the general hospi tal, or infirmary, " a very handsome building, situated near the descent to the river Aar. The entrance ie in the centre, which leads to a long gallery. The room where the faculty prescribe for their out pa tients, is a very neat one. The hospital contains about 115 beds. The lobbies are airy, wards are only arranged on one side of the hospital. What ap pears singular in the arrangement, is, that two wards are occupied by men, and the other by women, com municating by a door, without going into the gallery. There is a separate room for children with tinea ca pitis, and one for lying-in womeii, at one end of the building. Every thing appeared extremely clean and comfortable. Patients of a certain character, are not admitted here, there being another house for them, in the town. The bed stocks are of wood ; neat, cur tains, sometimes covering several beds, near together. Behind, is a very good walk for the patients, looking towards the river." After getting our passports examined, by the Aus trian minister, at Berne, and taking our dinners at the table d'hote, we set off" in a voiture provided by our landlord, for Hofwyl, two leagues from Berne, in or der to visit the celebrated establishment or " Institut jcl'education," of Emmanuel de FeUenberg, It was a Vol, I. 32 382 HOFWYL. rainy day. We passed through a pretty large wood, and arrived at Hofwyl, about 4 o'clock. 1 was intro duced to FeUenberg, by three letters ; two from Paris, and one from Geneva. The visiters that resort here are so numerous, and the attention of the principal so much taken up with them, 1 had been advised to anticipate some difficulty in getting access to him. On presenting myself at the door, 1 was received by a young man, who appeared to be his clerk, and who, introducing me into the office, re quested me to write my name and residence in a book which he gave me. He then announced me to Fel- lenberg, who politely invited me into the parlour, I produced my letters, which appeared to give him much satisfaction. He is a man of middle age, of a mild and agreeable countenance, and of polite and genteel manners. He seated me on a sofa, and enter ed upon an explanation of the principles of his estab lishment, and the particular views of education, which had induced him to engage in it. .^He considers so ciety as divisible into three distinct parts ; the higher, (comprehending the noble and the wealthy,) the mid dling, and the poor. The greatest defects of educa tion, he supposed to exist in the two extreme classes. That, these distinctions or classes among men, would always prevail, in every civilized country, he believed to be incontrovertible ; and, of course, any attempt to break down the distinction, would be fruitless. It is, therefore, of consequence that they should be each educated in a manner conformable to their situations, but both in, such a way, as to develope, to the highest extent, the best faculties of their nature ; and, while it preserves the projper relation between them, it HOFWYL, 383 should, at the same time, encourage the feelings of kindliness and sympathy on the one part, and of re spect and love on the other. This, he thought, could be effected upon no plan, so effectually, as by bring ing them up side by side, so that they should have each other constantly in view, without any necessity whatever of mixing or associating. The rich, "by ob serving the industry, the skill, and the importance of the labouring classes, would learn to entertain just sentiments respecting them, and the poor, by feeling and experiencing the kindly influence of the rich, would regard them as benefactersr^ /" With respect to the best means of cultivating the faculties, which, in their due operation, are to promote the permanent happiness of men, he considers agri culture, as affording opportunities and advantages of the greatestigxportance, and next to this, the mechanic arts. ^Sgreeably to these leading views, his establish ment consists of two distinct parts ; a boarding school of the sons of noblemen and gentlemen, in which no pains are spared, to provide them with teachers in every useful science ; and of a house, in which boys, taken from the poorest class, are clothed and fed in a very plain, coarse, and farmer like style, and who work diligently in the fields, at employments adapted to their strength and skill. During two hours in the day, in summer, and more in winter, they are in structed in letters, and in music. They are likewise introduced into the workshops, and taught the busi ness of a blacksmith, a carpenter, a wheelwright, a cabinet maker, a turner, a shoemaker, or a worker in brass, according as a particular talent for any of these, may manifest itself. The produce of the labour of 384 HOFWYL. these boys, bears no inconsiderable proportion of the expense of their maintenance and insti»uctionA After this brief explanation of his principles, Fel- lenberg introduced my companions and myself, to Count Louis de Villevielle, a gentleman from the south of France, who, reduced by the revolution, has attached himself to FeUenberg, and appears to live with him, as a sort of companion. He attends to strangers, and goes with them through the grounds, shops, &c. of the establishment. He proved to be a very sensible, well informed man, and altogether dis posed to satisfy our inquiries. He conducted us to the workshops. In one of them, a new and handsome fire engine, of a large size, had just been completed in a style which would do credit to London or New- York. In these shops, all the instruments of agricul ture are made, and it is the constant aim of the prin cipal, to improve upon the form and structure of them, and to invent others which experience may indicate the use of As they make more than the farm re quires, the surplus is sold to the neighbours. ' In the evening the Count conducted us to the farm house, where the class of the poor boys are lodged, fed, and instructed. We found them at supper, on a kind of hasty-pudding, with whey and boiled pota toes. They breakfast on a piece of bread and an apple, or something as simple, and dine between eleven and twelve, on vegetable food alone. Once a week only, (on first day,) they have meat and wine. They are thus taught a lesson of simplicity, with re spect to their manner of Kving, The furniture of the house corresponds with the dress and clothing of the boys. After supper they went up stairs to the school- HOFWYL. 385 room, Jp take a lesson in music. Their teacher (Vehrly) is a young man of very extraordinary qua lifications. He received his early education from his father, who filled, in a distinguished manner, the of fice of schoolmaster for thirty years. He began at an early age to assist his parent in the discharge of his office. On coming to reside with FeUenberg, his views were further expanded, and he entered with enthusiasm into the concerns of the establishment, and willingly undertook the formation and direction of the class of the poor, in all their exercises, agri cultural, literary, scientific, and moral. He lives with them, eats, sleeps, and works with them, dresses as they do, and makes himself their friend and compa nion, as well as their instructor. He is eminently fitted for such an occupation by his genius, his address, his temper and disposition, and above all by his religious principles. The school room serves also for a shoe- ' makers' shop, and probably accommodates, occasion ally, the taylor and harness maker. The boys always take a lesson of one hour, between supper and bed. This lesson is frequently confined to music. They are taught it by principles, but they use no instru ment but their vocal organs. FeUenberg lays great stress on music, as a means of bringing the mind and heart into harmony with truth, and of inspiring the mild and benevolent aflfections. He thinks it has been very beneficial in reclaiming many of these boys, from the vicious habits they had acquired from the low and exposed lives they had been subject to. By teaching them to sing religious songs, together with those that are simply patriotic, h^'says their attention is diverted from those vile ballads which are common 32* 386 HOFWYL. among low bred people ; and that they find, in this new entertainment, a happy substitute for the coarse and vulgar expressions to which they were addicted.. The boys of this class appeared to be very healthy and contented. They are taught to pay the utmost attention to cleanliness. Their clothing in summer, is of coarse cotton, and in winter, of woollen cloth. They go barefooted, except when they work in the fields, or when the state of the weather requires them to wear shoes and stockings. They are always with out any thing on their heads. Many of them, as might naturally be supposed, entered tbe school with the seeds of scrophulous disorders; but by the eflfect of a simple and wholesome diet, cleanlines, and labour, they are restored to health with scarcely any medi cine. Some of them, on their entrance, were feeble and debilitated, unable to endure cold, heat, or la bour; but when once they have become accustomed to the regimen of the school, they willingly encoun ter rain, storms, and severe cold, whenever their work calls them abroad, without shrinking from, or regard ing the exposure. They are taught to mend their own clothes^' In summer they rise at five, and in win ter at six ; and after having dressed themselves and said their prayers, they receive instruction for an hour. They then breakfast, after which they go to work until half past eleven. They have then half an hour for dinner ; after which Vehrly gives them a lesson of one hour. They work out till six, and after eating their supper, receive further instruction, which concludes with prayer, and theyare generally in bed between eight and nine o'clock. But this dis tribution of time varies according to the seasons. In HOFWYL. 387 winter five or six hours a day are devoted to seden tary instruction. The morning of the first day of the week, is always devoted to exercises of piety, and after dinner-some hours are given to instruction in sacred historyJ -But their lessons are by no means confined to tKe school room, Vehrly takes pleasure in questioning them on subjects of natural history, geography, religion, morals, or any other useful topic, while they are at work in the fields or shops ; and it may readily be conceived, that with this devotion to the improvement of his pupils, occasions will perpet ually present themselves, of conveying instruction in every kind of knowledge, calculated to expand the minds of children, and to cultivate their best affections. \ \/ With regard to the most effective means of elicit ing the powers of the mind, and of conducting the lite rary exercises of young people, great credit is due to Pestalozzi, whose veteran labours, as one of the most enlightened teachers of the age, were well known and acknowledged long before the commencement of the Hofwyl Institution. His plans of communicating knowledge, are in a great measure, practised by Vehrly. Much pains are taken to impress on the minds of the pupils, a deep sense of the importance of time, and of habits of industry; andT?ronr*the re ports that have been published by commissioners ap pointed to examine the establishments, it is evident that the most favourable results have attended these endeavours. The children are so effectually redeem ed from their former vicious habits, that, in their most free and noisy sports, not an expression is heard, of fensive to innocence or good mannners. "After work- 388 HOFWYL. ing 10 hours in the day, they give themselves up, when their teacher permits, to the liveliest recrea tion ; but a word from Vehrly, is sufficient to induce them to leave their sport and to engage in some other exercise. JThe progress which they make in know ledge, is truly surprising, when it is considered how adverse their former habits have been to all intel lectual abstraction, fin a few years, or even in less time, they learn to read, write and calculate, with and without the use of pencil or pen ; the elements of drawing become familiar to them ; and they acquire good notions of geometry, especially in its relation to field surveying, and its application to descriptive drawing. Botany and mineralogy constitute part of their amusements. They become well acquainted with all the plants of Hofwyl, and their different qual ities, both the salutary and noxious. Of the mine rals also, they acquire the names and principal uses, and they make collections of all that is valuable and curious in minerals and vegetables. Some of them are very attentive to the improvement of their4ittle cabinets.;' The principal, when walking with them in the fields, is often called upon to decide disputes relative to the nature of stones or vegetables. But the most admirable trait in the character of this school, is the tone of religious feeUng which, it is said, pervades it. This could not be accomplished, were not FeUenberg and Vehrly, both strongly imbued with a sense of religious obligation, and unremittingly attentive to awaken those sentiments in the minds of the pupils. -They have learned by heart more than 50 hymns, and naany portions of sacred history. They are regularly attentive to one practice, which is a pleas- HOPWYL. 389 ing source of instruction, aaid at the same time serves to demonstrate the progress they have made in use ful acquirements. At the close of every week, they write, in a book provided for the purpose, an account of whatever has impressed their minds with the great est force. It may be either a moral reflection,a descrip tion of a plant, or an instrument, an account of a con versation, or an extract from some thing they have read. We saw some of these journals ; they were mostly in the German language, and the greater num ber were written with remarkable neatness. Some of them contained drawings that evinced no inconsi derable skill, and an eye accustomed to accuracy of observation. ^ It will readily be conceived that a plan of instruc tion so admirable, and constantly directed to the best and purest affections of the mind and heart, can scarcely fail to redeem from indolence and vice, those whose habits haVe been the most degraded. And it has accordingly happened, that notwithstanding the boys under Vehrly's charge have been taken from the very lowest ranks, some of them the children of beg gars, but one instance has occurred, of such invete rate vice, as to render it eventually necessary to aban don the culprit to his corrupt propensities, and ex pel him from the schoolj In the religious exercises, which take place on' the first day of the week, the boys of the poor school assem ble with the superior class, but on no other occasion. After seeing the evening exercise of these boys, we retired to an inn, at the village of Buchsee, about a quarter of a mile from Hofwyl. This was only a vii- 390 HOFWYL. lage inn, but we found in it good beds, and good at tention. 3d. After breakfast, we repaired again to Hofwyl, and were conducted by the Count, first, to the place where the agricultural instruments are deposited. The drill, or machine for sowing seeds of various kinds, by which one half the seed is said to be saved, has been improved by FeUenberg. The exterminator, for destroying weeds, and the scarificator, for paring the soil, were among the things in this collection : but I was surprised, when FeUenberg, in reply to my questions, informed me, that no attempts had been made to improve the common plough. That which appears to be in universal practice in Switzerland, is probably the same used by the great grandfathers of the present race, and is much more awkward and clumsy than the English plough. The mould-board is only a flat plank placed at an angle with the beam. This plank is often changed to the other side of the plough, at each end of the field, so as to throw the fur row always in one direction, but for what reason it is difficult to imagine, except, on the side of a steep hill, there may be some advantage in casting the furrows downward. But, as these ploughs are constructed, I am persuaded, it requires nearly or quite double the team, to perform a given quantity of labour, as in Ame rica. I noticed in the yard, a new sleigh, designed to hold about eighty persons, and to be drawn by four teen horses. This is intended for the amusement of the higher class of boys. The snow is often very deep in thisjgart^Switzerland, and continues some months. The stables exhiBifeffa coUection of the largest cows HOPWYL. 391 I ever saw. They are kept to the stalls all the year, and are fed with grass in the summer. The greatest care is taken to economise the manure. The yard, which receives the litter, is made concave, and has a well in its centre, whence water is thrown over it in dry weather. A large reservoir, lined with stone, re ceives the wash of the stables, which is from time to time, thrown over the contents of the yard. The cows were mostly fat enough for good beef They seldom give more than twenty-four bottles in a day, and, upon an average, not more than sixteen bottles, or about twelve quarts. We were next conducted round part of the farm. It consists, in the whole, of 240 acres, and certainly affords a neat specimen of agricultural skill. We were shown the garden and play ground of the upper school, and the fixtures for their gymnastic exercises, &c. Among the latter, throwing the lance is practised. They aim, from a given distance, at a post, the top of which is loosely attached by hinges on the remote side, and the lancers endeavour to strike with sufficient force to overturn it. Each of them has a por tion of garden ground assigned to him, which he cul tivates as his own ; while a more extensive enclosure belongs to them in common, in the labour of which they are governed by rules, adopted by themselves. They have their choice also of the mechanic arts, fa cilitated by the numerous workshops on the premises. Although the building, in which FeUenberg accom modates his superior class, is large, he is erecting two others. One of these is for the dwelling house and school-rooms of the students. It is about 100 feet long, and 60 wide, and will contain wine cellars, a chapel, ample dormitories, refectory, &c. for more pupils than 392 HOFWYL. his )present number. The other building is for a ri ding-school below, and dancing and exercise rooms above. This buUding, which is also large, is con structed like many (if not most) of the country houses of Switzerland, by erecting an open and strong frame of wood, and fiUing the interstices with a mixture of clay and straw. This is moulded by the hand, into oblong portions, which are laid upon sticks, and are forced down in grooves made in the posts of the frame. The mortar is wrapped round the stick, so as to cover it ; another is then forced down, &c. This wall is af terwards plaistered and white-washed. ^ The Hofwyl establishment, as 1 have before re marked, consists of two classes, the rich and the poor. The class of the rich contains at present about 80, Twenty of these, consisting of children under ten years of age, are placed under the care of a re spectable gentleman and his wife, in a house belong ing to FeUenberg, situated about a mile from his own residence. A teacher or two have the charge of their instruction, both in and out of the house. From this house and ground we had a magnificent view of the eastern Alps. The elevation of some of the sum mits in this range, is but little less than that of Mount Blanc; and the extent of the chain covered with snow, was much greater than any 1 had seen. The air was very clear, exhibiting the rich white of this stu pendous ridge of mountains, in the finest style ima ginable. The other sixty, constituting the most prominent part of the Hofwyl institution, are provided with more than twenty teachers, or professors. rAmong the pupils, are several princes, and the sons of minis* HOFWYL. 393 ters of state, &c. -iThe price of board and tuition, varies from 100 to £300 sterling per annum. We were not admitted to the interior of the building oc cupied by these students. We saw none of their performances, oftheir schools, or their exercises, ex cept a little riding on horseback, on saddles with out stirrups ; the horses trotting in a circle, guided by a rope held by a boy in the centre ; the professor standing, likewise, in the middle, and directing the rider how to sit In this exclusion from the interior of his school, we were treated, by FeUenberg, like most, if not all, of his visiters. None are invited to the exercises, and none, of course, would go in with out invitation. Either the trouble and distraction which the general admission of his numerous visiters would occasion, oblige him to adopt this course ; or, there is not, in the classification and operations of his school, enough of refinement, talent and perfection, to support the name, and to correspond with the cha racter of eminence he has succeeded in obtaining. My own impression is, that both these causes operate in producing his decision. The daily, and almost hourly, attendance and interference of company, would certainly be extremely troublesome. (He does not profess, either, to have adopted any plan by which his pupils are rapidly brought forward. His system, as he explained it to me, is even opposed to a hasty progress. He wishes to allow his plants to arrive at full and vigorous growth, by a slow, cautious, and well directed training, and by carefully removing from the soil every obstruction ; rather than to urge them by a hot-bed culture. He justly thinks, that all he can do, is to lay a solid foundation. That educa- VoL. I. 33 394 HOPWYL. tion is, or ought to be, the business of a whole Ufe^ Moral and reUgious principles, he regards as the ba sis of aU that is excellent in man ; and accordingly, great pains are taken to inculcate the doctrines of Christianity, agreeably to the profession of the pa rents and guardians of the pupils. The Catholic scholars have a clergyman or professor of their own sect, and the Emperor Alexander has provided for the instruction of the Rusjian-p,upils, in the principles of the Greek ChUrch, ^Fellenber^ character, as a man of principle and piety^"isri' believe, decidedly in his favour. He has the manners of a gentleman, and the whole exterior of his establishment, bears the marks of considerable taste and judgment. Beside the three schools alreadyjnentioned, he has another about iTatf^^rBnleTrom Hofwyl, where y^jung men at tend, during the winter, to courses of instruction in those subjects which relate to agriculture. He lec tures himself, I believe, on the practical operations of farming. It is here too that the professor of che mistry has his laboratory and lecture room. We were introduced to him (I3r. Strobe,) and judged him to be a good chemist. He is also the physician of the esta blishment. His laboratory indicates an attachment to his profession and tolerable judgment in its prac tical details. The philosophical apparatus is, how ever, very lihworthy of the institution, and ought not, I should hope, to be taken as a sample of the whole interior, fin taking leave of FeUenberg, he express ed much regret at the shortness of our stay, and the consequent want of more opportunities of conversa tion. I cannot but regard him as a man of more than mediocrity of talent ; a man of penetration and HOFWYL. 395 judgment ; but rather prone, perhaps, like other Ger man philosophers, to theorise on human nature, and to fancy that new and important discoveries are yet to be made in the principles of human action.] From the information we received from others, as well as from the statements of FeUenberg himself, it is evident that his plans have ever been regarded with jealousy by a great number of his most influen tial neighbours and fellow countrymen. He was at first condemned as a visionary: but when he had fair ly demonstra^d the practicability and utility of his schemes for the improvement of education, they ac cused him of sinister views ; and alleged against him, that his motives were mercenary, having an eye chief ly to the profits of the establishment. This narrow- minded spirit has not been content with mere expres sions of disapprobation and condemnation. The government of the canton has gone so far as to lay positive obstructions in his way, and to threaten him with the weight of their aristocratical authority. He had a few years ago devised a plan for diffusing some of the benefits of his experience in the government of youth, throughout the. canton. He invited the teachers of schools to repair to Hofwyl during the period of their vacation, and there to avail themselves of such information, as the institution would aflTord, and their time would admit of This offer was glad ly accepted; but the next season the teachers of the canton were most arbitrarily interdicted by the government from resorting to Hofwyl. FeUenberg, thus very ungenerously thwarted in his wishes to do good, opened his establishment for the benefit of other cantons, and has thus had it in his power to extend 396 HOFWVL. StiU more widely the advantages of his system.* His great desire is to introduce a taste for agricultural pursuits, connected with an amelioration of the indi gent classes.t He is himself of a patrician family; and his haughty compeers do not relish what they foolishly consider as a diminution of the dignity of their order, by his resorting to the task pf an instruct or. But though the Bernese government is thus ac tuated by ignoble sentiments towards the Hofwyl es tablishment, the most distinguished and enlightened characters in other parts of Switzerland, are deci dedly in its favour. At Geneva it is considered as an honour to Switzerland ; and if we may judge from the patronage that its founder has received from other countries; from England, Scotland, Germany, Russia, &c. it may be inferred that the FeUenberg system^of instructi£n,,is.JaigMy.approved, by^ competent judges of real merit in Europe.^ * This part of the institution, which he called the Jformal School, has been entirely prohibited by the cantonal government. f His farm is intended to serFe as a model of the best course of cultiva tion and- management. About one twentieth of it is devoted to expmmen- tal inquiries, and the results are graduaUy adopted in his practice. \ By the latest information in my possession, the superior class ccmsisted of nearly 100 pupUs, taught by upwards of thirty professors ! The course of instruction embraces the Greek, Latin, German and French languages and literature ; History, civil and sacred ; Geography ; Mathematics, pure and mixed ; natural and mental philosophy ; chemistry ; music ; drawing ; gymnastics, including riding, swimming, dancing, fe;. ; natural history in all its branches ; and religious instruction. The pupils rise at six in winter and five in summer ; they breakfast at seven, eat a little at ten, dine ^t noon, take a luncheon at five, and sup at eight. Five hours are appropriated to study in the forenoon and four hours in the afternoon ; the rest of the day being devoted to their gymnastic, agri- cviltural, and mechanical exercises. This arrangement however is not abso- hitely restrictive, but is made to conform to the varying circumstjinces of HOPWYL. 397 \ Without attempting to justify ALjt the views which have influenced the founder of the Hofwyl institu- tion, either as it regards its general arrangement of distinct and independent classes, or its minute prac tical details, I have no hesitation in saying, that from all that I have read, and all that I have seen of this establishment, it does appear to me to be conducted upon principles which are calculated to afford the very best kind of education which it is possible to the establishment, the health and genius of the pupils, &c. The greatest pains are taken to cultivate their moral and religious sensibilities. The lan guage chiefly spoken is the German. The internal or civil government, (if it may be so called,) of the school, is regulated by a constitution and by laws, administered by the pupils themselves, and for which object they have their legislative and executive officers, under the supervision of the princi- ^ pal. 'pKe motives of emulation, as theyare ordinarily excited byrewards, me dals, honours, &c. or by a division into classes in the numerical order of first, second, third, &c. form no part of the FeUenberg system. His aim is to address his instructions to the more reasonable and noble principles of their nature, and by the number of his professors, (for he has had as many as thir ty-five with less than 100 pupils,) to unite aU the advantages of private, with those of public instructipn. I It appears from a receSf and very interesting exposition of the Hofwyl institution, by the Count de ViUeveille, that the principal of that establish ment began his enterprise with a fortune of 400,000 francs, (nearly ^80,000,} and that by a prudent economy in his expenditures and management, he has, in the course of twenty-two years, more than doubled his original capital, notwithstanding the constant maintenance of 40 poor boys, and his liberal provision for those of the higher class. Such is the attraction which Hofwyl now presents, to the enlightened cu riosity of travellers in Switzerland, the number which daUy visit the insti tution during the travelling season, cannot be estimated at less than 12 or 15. Of this number, it is scarcely possible that De FeUenbeiig, intensely occu pied as he must be with his extensive concerns, can have time to see and converse with more than one. It is in consequence of the concourse of visiters, that so few are admitted to the interior of the school ; for it would be an injustice to the parents, if, instead of devoting himself to the interests of their chUdren, he should offer them as a d^ly and almost hourly specta cle to visiters. 33* 398 HOFWYL, confer upon a young man, whatever may be the situ ation which he is to fill in active life. As it regards the poor, it is difficult to conceive how they could be brought up in a way which would better prepare them for fiUing the station of industrious, skUful and intelligent labourersjf With respect to the rich, while they are cheerfuUy^pursuing an excellent course of literary and scientific instruction, they are effect ually preserved, by the principles of this institution, from those idle and vicious habits which so common ly result from the vacant time of colleges and univer sities. By turning their attention to agriculture and the mechanic arts ; by inspiring them with a love of labour, or at least of a useful application of their strength and muscular activities ; by exercising their ingenuity in the use of tools and instruments ; by famil iarizing them to an attentive observance of nature in her different kingdoms, and in the revolution of sea sons, — a foundation is laid for those more expanded feelings and generous sympathies, which bind the up per to the lower classes of the community, and event ually tend to exalt the condition of humanity. rBut the greatest recommendation of the Pestaloz- zian and FeUenberg plan of education, is the moral charm which is diffused throughout all its operations. It cannot but happen, (all other things being equal,) that pupils thus educated, will become not only more intelligent men and better philosophers, but also more moral and dignified members of society. 1 cannot but cherish the hope, that this scheme of education, of combining agricultural and i;nechanical, with lite rary and scientific instruction, will be speedily and extensively adopted in the United States. I am aware HOFWYL. 399 that it would have to contend with serious difficulties. The prejudices and habits of the people would be against it. The high notions of independence, so early imbibed and strongly cherished among us, would submit, in all probability, with an ill grace to the al ternation of labour with the exercises of a school. The pulse of the nation has already been felt on this subject by a benevolent individual, (our friend M******,) who, having visited the institutions of Pes talozzi and FeUenberg, was resolved, if possible, to establish one or more schools in the United States, on a similar plan. But after travelling from New- York to lake Erie, he could find no one who would agree to second his views ; none who did not consi der the plan, as either unnecessary or impractica ble. Thus discouraged he relinquished the project, though few persons in the world would have sup ported it by greater pecuniary sacrifices. Still I cannot but believe, that, if it were once introduced and brought fairly into operation, its superiority would be immediately manifest, and that the first successful example would be rapidly followed in different parts of the country. I have but little doubt, that on a good productive farm, of 250 or .300 acres, provided with suitable buildings, (which need not be very costly,) and well stocked, a school of twenty-five or thirty boys, conducted on the plan of Fellenberg's poor school, would maintain itself, and leave a gain in favour of the proprietor, A few such schools would soon impart, to a large and populous district of country, a moral tone, of incalculable importance to its highest interests and welfare. I know of no means by which a benevolent and wealthy individual could 400 HOFWYL. do SO much good, at the same expense, as by erecting one or more such institutions, in any of our middle states. If white children could not at once be ob tained to begin with, I would take the children of blacks. These could be procured of a suitable age, and taken on indentures to remain a certain number of years, or until they were of age, if it should be found requisite, as in some cases it might be. Such an experiment, with persons of this description, would be highly interesting. It would put to flight the ridi culous theory of those who contend for an organic inferiority on the part of the blacks. It would in time produce examples very beneficial to our black popu lation; and in reference to the scheme of coloniza tion, now becoming popular, it might prove extremely important, by furnishing individuals admirably quali fied by education, habits, and morals to aid in the management of an infant colony, ^he great difficulty would be, either in America, or anywhere else, in find ing persons qualified to conduct such schools. Such characters as Vehrly are rare. Without a deep sense of religion, united with the proper intellectual endow ments, on the part of the teacher, the scheme could not prosper. Its basis is the mild, but fervent spirit of Christian love. It is, however, the happy nature of such a temper, to beget its own likeness in the hearts of others ; and it might reasonably be pre sumed, that one successful example, would readily prepare the way for others. We could not part with the Count de Villevielle, without feeling and acknowledging his indefatigable attentions. He is strongly impressed with the superi ority of , the Hofwyl system. In other places, he ob- HOPWYL. 401 serves, instruction is the end, and education is only se condary. At Hofwyl, education is the end, and instruc tion is regarded only as the means of attaining itv It was again nearly dark when we left Hofwyl, to occupy once more, our chambers at the country inn. 4th. We partook of an early breakfast, and paid the bill of our landlord, which amounted to about eight francs each, for five meals and two nights' lodging; by far the cheapest fare 1 have met with on the continent. The morning being fine we concluded to walk to Berne, and engaged a man to carry our parcels and serve as a guide; for there is a foot way much nearer than that by which we came. On leaving the inn, the landlord, his wife, and the chambermaid, all pressed forward to take us by the hand, and to express their thanks. It was a mark of honest sim plicity, as agreeable, as it would be rare in almost any other country than Switzerland. The path led through a beautiful forest of old oaks, beyond which was a grove^nr wood of fir trees. At the village of Reichenbach, on the river Aar ; my companions diverged from the straight path, to visit a hospital for incurables, and another for insane pa tients, which are situated near each other, and at some distance from the town. They found the for mer in pretty good condition ; but the insane appear ed to be very much neglected, or at least treated upon the old plan of exclusive confinement in dirty and dark rooms, and on coarse and hard fare ; con signed, in short, to irremediable wretchedness. I fol lowed the guide directly to Berne. We crossed the Aar (a rapid river,) in a scow similar to those used with us. It was managed, however, so as to require 402 BERNE. no rowing to transfer it from one side of the river to the other. One end of it was fastened, by a long rope, to the middle of another rope, firmly stretched across the river, and fastened to a high support on each side. The scow thus prevented from moving down the stream, was placed obliquely to the current, by a large oar, used as a sculler or rudder; and being maintained in that position, was soon carried across, by the action of the current against the oar held firmly in its place. The entrance to Berne, was along a public prome nade, extending a mile beyond the town, on a high bank of the river, whence the eye, in addition to the charmingly cultivated fields and gardens of the imme diate landscape, and the combined richness of city and country, comprehended within its grasp, a sublimely extended ridge of alpine grandeur, bleached by the snows of a perennial winter. Great pains appear to be taken, to preserve this promenade in the best or der. The faaxbourgtj, or outekipte of Berne, are truly remarkable for beautiful walks. The river Aar, winds round the town, in a deep glen, the high banks of which have a rapid slope, but covered with fine ver dure, and kept smooth, either by the scythe, or by grazing sheep. Wood is brought down the river, by the' side next the mountain, and corded in long piles on its border. The town itself is neat and well built ; and, in one respect, differs from any that I have seen. On each side of the streets, (which are mostly of an agreeable width,) are arcades, under which the pas sengers walk, perfectly sheltered from the weather, and the sun. These arcades are formed by the re cession of the first story of the house, about ten feet BERNE J. J. ROUSSEAU. 403 from the street ; the front wall, of the upper story, being supported by columns and arches. The shops open into the arcades, and benches, or tables, are fre quently placed under the front arches, on which goods are exposed for sale. The passenger has thus, on each side of him, wherewith to attract his atten tion, and to tempt his purse. Sth. The inn, at which we have lodged in Berne, is in reality one of the best 1 have ever been at. The chamber in which we were accommodated, is large and elegant. They make up between forty and fifty beds, besides those for servants. The prices were about the same as at Geneva; two francs for break fast, the same for tea and for lodging, and three for dinner. We hired a voiture, to take us to Neufchatel, dis tant nine leagues. The day was wet, but the scenery, in many places, compensated for the want of good weather, Arberg, a village on the Aar, where we stepped to feed the horses, and dine, had nothing to recommend it. We crossed the river, on a covered wooden bridge : from an eminence, which we gained some time before, the lake of Bienne presented itself to our view, and in it the island of St Pierre, and on this island the house which was so long the abode of Jean Jaques Rousseau. ] mis was the place which he chose as a retreat, from a world which he dis liked ; but which he did not contribute much, I think, to mend. The eye of a misanthropist, is a very mise rable, distorting kind of telescope ; and a heart that does not glow with the love of God and man, will serve as a very poor and delusive guide, for the head of a reformer, The spot which Rousseau chose for 404 SWISS VINTAGE. his residence, has enough of the romantic around it, to suit even his fastidious mind, and he has according ly described it in his usual strain of luxuriant co louring.! On^tEe borders of the lake of Neufchatel, the peo ple were busy at the vintage ; the whole slope on the lake being covered with vines. The period of ga thering, is a season of great hilarity. Male and fe male are employed in the pleasing task of cutting and collecting the grapes. They engage in this task in large companies, and are much disposed to be merry with each other, and with passengers. A traveller can scarcely expect to pass such a company, without a salutation of some sort, and, as we found to-day, the number of female voices will probably exceed that of the men. The grapes are collected by the vintagers in small wooden tubs, and thence transferred to a large oval tub, carried on the back of a man through the vineyard, who, in his turn, discharges them into still larger wooden vessels, which are placed by the side of the field, or in the road. In these last vessels, the grapes are pounded with a coarse wooden dasher, which reduces them to a semi-fluid mass, so that they can be easily measured. These tubs are then con veyed to the press, the liquor strained off", and the re sidue of the broken grapes is subjected to the action of a screw press, in the same way as ground apples are treated in the cyder press. The new wine is put into large casks, for fermentation, whence it is drawn into smaller vessels, for transportation or use. At the outlet of the lake of Neufchatel, we passed through the vUlage of St. Blaise. Between this and the town of Neufchatel, the vineyards are very pro- NeUchatel. 405 ductive. We arrived at the latter place about sun down, and took rooms at the Faucon. We had no letters to this town, but Professor Pictet had given me simply the names of two persons here, the one a mi nister of religion, and the other the secretary of the government. With this slight credential, 1 ventured to take a guide, and directed him to conduct me to the house of the latter. On knoming at the door, a servant came to open it, whom I requested to inform his master, that a stranger wished to speak with him. On his appearance, 1 stated to him my case, very can didly, and apologised for theUberty of calling on him, without an introduction. He immediately offered to assist me in any way in his power, invited me into the parlour, and seated me at the tea table, beside his wife. He proved himself to be a man of sound un derstanding, and of mild agreeable manners. As he was deeply engaged in the concerns Of the vintage, he referred me to a captain Courant, who was also at the table, as an excellent guide, to such places in the town as we wished to visit. The captairroflfefed his services very politely. This gentleman, I soon found, was a British officer, though a native of NeuchStel, He had been eleven years in the British service, and spoke English, of course, like an Englishman, He engaged to call upon me in the morning; and at the same time, the Secretary M********* oflfered to fijr- nish me with letters of introduction, to the two next towns we purposed to visit. I told him, before he did that, I ought at least to convince him 1 was the per son I pretended to be, and took out of my pocket, two letters of general recommendation, I had brought from home, one frpm the Governor of New- York, and Vol. I. 34 406 NEUCHATEL. the other from the French Minister in the United States. He politely returned them to me, unopened, and said there was no occasion for them. On these very friendly terms I took leave of the family, after being treated to some excellent grapes, both white and black, fresh from the vineyard. 6th. Captain Courant called at eight and conduct ed us to a hospital, built, about seven years ago, by a rich citizen of Neuchatel, of the name of Pourtalis, at his own expense, for the benefit of the sick and wounded of the whole country, except the poor of the town, who are provided for in another hospital, or alms house. The captain contrived to introduce us while the physician was in attendance. With this gentleman. Dr. Castella, we were particularly pleased. He holds a high rank as a physician in the town, and, as it appeared to us, very deservedly. The building, the wards, the kitchen, the refectory, &c. of this hos pital, are models of neatness and simplicity. It con tains about thirty beds. The bedsteads are of wrought iron, and very light; the head-piece being made to slip into openings in the horizontal frame, so as to take off" occasionally, for the convenience of removing the bed, or of performing an operation. The cur tains are suspended from an iron frame projecting from the wall, immediately over the bed. The pa tients in this hospital cost, upon an average, about fifteen batz, equal to forty cents, per day. Dr. C. showed us his pharmacopeia for the hospital. He relies very much on simples. The sick are attended altogether by the sisters of charity from Besangon, in France. They are nurses, cooks, maids, and even apotheqaries. Who can question the sincerity of NEUCHATEL. 407 uprightness of the motives which can so operate upon beautiful and interesting females, as to induce them to withdraw from the world, and devote their days and nights to the alleviation of human misery, even in some ofits most disgusting forms ? The chapel of L'hopital Pourtales is adapted both to Protestants and Catholics, When the former assemble in it, a cur- \^ tain is drawn in front of the recess which contains the Ncrucifix and its appendages. The benevolent founder oif this neat and interesting charity, left, at his death, a handsome fund for its support His sons have since increased the amount. They are considered as among the wealthiest men in Switzerland. The town is also indebted to Pourtales for various other improvements, particularly a fine promenade on the lake, built at great expense. His fortune was made in trade. The captain next conducted us to a wine press, be longing to Secretary Montmollin. We there tasted ol the new wine, as it ran from the press. It differs very little, either in appearance or taste (i. e. the white wine) from new cider, except that it is less palatable- Nor is the wine commonly drunk at table, more exhi larating than our cider. A bottle of it can be easily managed at a meal, by a person whose head is no stronger than mine ; but a bottle of good cider 1 have seldom ventured to drink at one sitting. The red wine requires to be slightly fermented in the tub be fore it is pressed, in order to give it a good colour and flavour. The white win^ dbes not require this. From the press it is conveyed to the wine cellar, and depo sited in wooden vessels that hold from nineteen to fifty thousand bottles. In the month of March it is racked off into casks, in which it is left till autumn, and then 408 NEUCHATEL. bottled. Among the vignerons there is, however, a dispute, as Montmollin informed me, relative to the advantage of letting the wine remain on the lees until it is bottled, or put into fresh casks. It is alleged by many, that the lees at the bottom serve to attract, more effectually, the fine particles which remain sus pended in the wine, and which injure its beauty and flavour. The town of NeuchStel contains about 4000 per-/ sons. Some of the houses are of princely size, witln grounds corresponding. The tpwn is greatly indebted to two ofits citizens, Pourtales, (of whom 1 have spo ken) and Pury, who built a large town-house, for public business, and made a present of it to his fel low citizens. Such evidences of generosity and pub lic spirit afford the most delightful testimonials of the moral feeling which pervades the country. There are no people, perhaps, on the globe, more famous for their amor patriae, than the Swiss ; and yet there are none who. so readily hire themselves as soldiers to other nations, without regard to the cause in which they engage. This cannot surely be owing to any innate love of war and blpodshed, for the Swiss are naturally a mild and amiable, though highminded people. It must arise either from incidental and long established custom — or from the necessity of emigra- gration, in consequence of a dense and over-crowded population. It is, however, a melancholy considera tion, that any one nation of professing Christians should be the habitual encouragers of so anti-Chris tian a practice as war; and especially, in cases in which they have no immediate interest. As a national trait, this cannot but be regarded, I should suppose^ NEUCHATEL^-MOUNT JURA. 409 by every serious and enlightened member of the Swiss confederacy, as a great blemish in the character of the country. How much of this error might be re medied by education. If the children of the country were taught to regard wars and fightings in the light in which they are placed by the whole letter and spi rit of the New Testament ; by every precept of the Saviour, and every injunction of his disciples and apostles, how small would be the number of those that wouldr^ embark in war, merely as a profession, and risk their lives and happiness in the quarrels of others, only for the sake of gaining a living! Being provided with two letters from Montmollin, and one from Captain Courant, we departed, at eleven o'clock, in a kind of voiture, for an excursion on Mount Jura. The day was very wet, but this did not prevent us from enjoying the sublime scenery, and surprising evidence of industry, which this excursion afforded. The road was an almost continual ascent, for four leagues. At the end of about three hours, we crossed a valley, six miles long, and three wide, which con tains twenty-two villages ! At one of these (Fontaine Melon) we stopped, and were introduced by one of our letters, to M. Banqueret, a manufacturer of the coarser parts of watch- work. He took us through his shops, in which about 150 persons are employed, in making the wheels, springs, and other parts of watches, which they effect almost entirely by ma chinery. We saw the operation, from the cutting of the brass out of thick sheets, and roUing it by a horse power, to the fashioning of some of the smallest wheels, the fusees, cutting the teeth, &c. This single factory, 34* 410 CHAUX-DE-FOND. I should suppose, could supply these materials in sv£- ficient quantity for one half thie United States. We continued our journey, through a heavy rain, further up the mountain, and arrived about four at Chaux-de-FondV This is a town which has sprung up within a short period. Most of the houses are buUt of stone, and appear new. Many of them are three and four stories high, and of a proportionate width. It is situated at the head of a valley, near the top of the mountain, and is computed to contain 4000 inhabit ants. Nearly the whole business of the town is the manufacture of watches and clocks. As we were to stay here but a few hours, 1 hastened to take a letter of introduction directed by my kind friend Montmol lin, " a Monsieur, Monsieur ministre du Saint Evangile, et tres digne Pasteur, a Chaux-de-Fond." But to our regret the " very worthy pastor" was not at home. He had left his flock for a season, and gone to Neuch&tel to get in his grapes, and make his wine. Our next resource was a " gar§on de place," one of a very useful kind of people, who are to be met with in every town, not excepting those on Mount Jura. They are mostly recognised by the government, and are obliged to conform to prescribed rules and prices, when hired by the day. This secures their fidelity. He escorted us to one of the principal watch dealers, Robert Droz & Co. We were immediately invited into the shop, and to satisfy our curiosity, (for we stated that to be our motive,) the drawers and cases were opened with the utmost politeness, and watches, in a greater variety than 1 had ever seen, displayed before us. As to prices, a stranger must be hard to please if he cannot be suited, for he may have his CH AUX-DE-FOND. 411 choice between 21 and 200 dollars. We were oflfered gold watches for 4^ Napoleon's, or 17 dollars. Vast quantities of these low priced articles, are manufac tured expressly for America. We have been told that one house in this town, sends annually to Ame rica 20,000 watches. It comprehends, probably, both North and South America. These traders, finding that English watches were gaining a preference in our market, on account of their superiority, now make theirs to imitate, precisely in appearance, those of London. Many of those shown us, were marked George Prior, London. None but a watchmaker can, on this account, discover the diflference between a valuable ' watch, and one of those spurious articles, which are sold in such quantities at auction in New-York. Musical boxes were also displayed in great variety, but we left the shop without yielding to the temptation of elegance 'and cheapness. In another house we were shown clocks of various sorts. One of them was placed behind a beautiful painting, representing a village landscape ; in the village was a church with a steeple, and in the steeple a clock, the hands of which, being moved by the machinery behind, kept good time, and the hours were struck, so as to complete the illusion. We remained about two hours at Chaux-de-Fond, and then continued along the valley to Locle, a similar town, two leagues further. It was dark when we arrived. Our quarters at " the Balance" proved to be very good, and a comfortable fire and plentiful supper, compensated for the cold and wet to which we had been exposed in our moun tain ascent. Having a letter from the secretary, for " Monsieur Houriet," a noted watchmaker and dealer, 412 LOCLE. the innkeeper went to inform him of it, to save me the walk. He was not at home, but his son came, and finding the letter was from M. MontmolUn, said his father would be happy to wait on us, and as he was only engaged in company at a short distance, he would inform him of it. This we desired him not to do, as our stay would be very short in Locle. The old gentleman, however, soon appeared, and was very complaisant, offering his services very heartily, and giving us a great deal of information. 7th. We find that M. Houriet occupies the largest house, and is the wealthiest man in the place. His shop is exceedingly neat, and contains a variety of ingenious pieces of mechanism, for which he has a particular talent. He showed us a neat little balance^ weighing only 35 grains, and which turned with the 4096 part of a grain. He went with us to see several objects of curiosity, which the town and neighbourhood aflferd. The first was a charity school, containing about forty children, " tire de la misere," as he expressed it. They are lodged, clothed, and fed, taught to read, write, and cypher, and to understand music, and are em ployed in the manufacture of lace. We found them busy at work, seated at small tables, and handling the little spools with great dexterity. Lace is made by a kind of hand-weaving or twisting, the thread being wound on very small spools. We were shown some patterns, in which 800 of these spools must be hand led in succession to produce the figure. The work of the children, Houriet supposed, might amount to one- third or one half of the expense of their maintenance. The residue is provided by a charitable society of females, of which his daughter is an active member. LOCLE. 413 One of these little creatures was found at the door of the house, one morning, in a bag, with a note, stating that its parents were in the utmost distress, and una ble to preserve it. This the committee afterwards found to be true. The mistress had them all collect ed into one room, and made them sing a hymn before us ; which they performed while at their work, withr out notes or book.* We were taken further on to see a work of great industry and enterprise. The stream which runs through the valley, had no other outlet than an al most, perpendicular cavern, or pit, in the side of the mountain. This outlet, in the spring of the year, was insufficient to carry off" the water, and a considerable portion of the valley was, in consequence, overflown.. The project was conceived, pf perforating the moun tain in a different place from the cavern, and driving a canal through its base. This was treated, at first, as an extravagant whim ; but at length put into exe cution and completely effected. The base of the mountain is 920 feet thick, and the width of the canal is five feet, and its height four and a half It is driven mostly through solid rock. Houriet informed us that when the barometer was low, (its medium height be ing but twenty-six inches) the workmen could scarcely breathe in the cavity of the canal, and were obliged to desist, till the weather changed. When the pas sage was completed, a grand fete was held on the * It was truly delightful to find, in a viUage so remote from the vulgar throng, such a display of Christian charity. It was commenced by Mada^i moiselle CaJame, who accustomed herself, from her early youth, to visit tb©. abodes of distress, and to assuage the wants of the poor. In 18?0. it con?. tained eighty girls. Bib. Univ. >AvrUt 18gO. 414 LOCLE. spot; at the conclusion of which, the water was sud denly opened into its new channel, and rushed in a torrent through the mountain. As soon as it appear- on the other side, the hiUs rang with acclamation and triumph. The valley is now converted into a fine meadow. At the cavern, or place of its former exit, three mills were constructed, one over another; the water pouring from the upper wheel on the se cond, and from that on the third. The lowermost of the three, is now neglected. The town of Locle contains 4000 inhabitants, all manufacturers either of watches or lace. Our con ductor, though 74 years of age, had the sprightliness and vivacity of a young Frenchman. By his talents and wealth he has become the chief of these village mountaineers. He informed us that the king of Prus sia, in his visit to Locle, had breakfasted with him " a la fourchette ;" which implies, a breakfast at eleven or twelve o'clock, with all the variety of a dinner. As an evidence of the social character of these people, Houriet stated that he had appropriated a large room of his house to the purpose of a converzatione, or meeting, which assembled every evening for conver sation, and other amusements which they consider rational. The day being cloudy and misty, we were prevent ed from enjoying that noble view of the Alps, which the descent of the Jura affords. The great Alpine ranges, must, in clear weather, present themselves, with the most sublime effect, from the top of the Jura ; and, probably, from no situation, could they be view ed with more of panoramic grandeur and beauty, than from many points over which we passed in this day's LOCLE ^YVERDUN. 41 5 ride. The scenery, however, immediately around us was very interesting. The canton of Neuchatel is a duchy -of Prussia. The king derives little or no revenue from it, but its acknowledged allegiance serves as a political check, in ordinary times, on the side of France, It forms also a constituent part of the Swiss government ; that is, it is represented in the general diet and has a vote with the other can tons. It bears the same relation to Prussia, as Han over does to England. Its population is about 40,000. Its surface is altogether mountainous, the land pro ducing not more than sufficient for one fourth of the people : their mechanical industry and talents sup ply them with the remainder. There are probably more watches made in this canton than in all the world besides. In our descent from Locle, we passed through or near Colombier, St. Aubin, Grandson, and other villa ges, and arrived at Yverdun about nine in the evening. We put up at the Hotel de la ville de Londres, where we found the accommodations rather of a superior kind. [oa^^ -^'^ / Sth. Breakfast finished, our first and chief concern here was to visit the celebrated institute of Pesta- lozzi. This establishment occupies a large castle," the use of which was granted to Pestalozzi by the canton of Berne, when the town of Yxerdun was in cluded in that canton. The government of the Pays de Vaud, to which it now belongs, continues the grant. On entering the castle, we were invited into a private room. pTgave my letters to the person in attendance, who took them immediately to the chief The good old man soon came in, and seized me warmly by the 416 YVERDtTN. hand, and seeing my hat on my head, he pointed to it in a sort of ecstasy, with his eyes almost filled with tears. I hardly knew how to interpret this emotion, and asked him if he wished me to take it off! He answered very earnestly, " no, no, no, keep it on, you are right.') He seemed very glad to see us^ and as he speaks Trench very imperfectly, and with an indistinct accent, he said he would call Monsieur G****** to talk with us. This gentleman soon came and enter ed immediately into a detail of the institution, its principles, its spirit, its arrangement, &c. He is an Englishman, and, as 1 found upon inquiry, brother to the lady whom I had seen at Lausanne. He has been some weeks with Pestalozzi, for the purpose of un derstanding his system thoroughly, in order to aid a sister in England in the education of her children. He enters warmly into its concerns, and will be use ful in making it better known. ^He explained to us very clearly the leading ideas and views of human nature, which induced Pestalozzi to become an in structor of youth. "The two great instruments with which he works are faith and love. jHe discards the motives of ambition and emulation, as unnecessary, and as tending to counteract the sentiment of good will toward others. '"He thinks there is enough in the intuitive understanding of every child to accomplish the complete growth and maturity of its faculties, if its reason be properly trained and nourished, and not warped by injudicious treatment. The com mon plans of education he regards as too artificial, too wide a departure from nature. Too much stress is laid upon the memory, while the imajgination is too much neglected. If the native feelings of the ( yVerduN. I 417 V, heart, are allowed to operate, under the dominion of the native powers of the mind, drawn out and expan ded by faith and love, the child is competent of itself to arrive gradually at the most correct and important conclusions in religion and science. There is a na tive and inherent life, which only requires to be cher ished by genial treatment, to bring it into the full at tainment of truth, and to the utmost perfection ofits being. He therefore insists upon the greatest pains being taken to draw out this native life and to pre serve it in full vigour. There is a constant danger of urging the child forward beyond its natural strength, of anticipating its conclusions and thus weakening its confidence in its own powers. In the plans he adopts nothing is to be got by heart. The understanding is to be thoroughly reached, and then the memory will take care of itself / His school consists at present of about 90 boys, German, Prussian, French, Swiss, Italian, Spanish and English, -^t is divided into four principal classes, according to the attainments of the pupils. These classes are subdivided into others. There are seven school rooms in the castle, and twelve teachers or professors. His head professor, Joseph Schmidt, has been brought up in the institution, and is a very effi cient and worthy man. He is a native of one of the. German cantons, and speaks and writes perfectly the German and French, He is a man of modest de meanor, and entirely devoted to the institution. He has written treatises on several of the subjects taught in the school, and adapted to its methods. We spent most of the day in the different school rooms, witnessing the exercises of the scholars. Very Vol. I. 35 418 YVERDUN. few books are used, as it is expected the children can read well before they come there. But to describe the modes of teaching, so as to render them clearly intelligible, would require much more time and space than 1 can possibly allot to it were 1 ever so compe tent to make it known. We saw the exercises of arith metic, writing, drawing, mathematics, lessons in music and gymnastics, something of geography, French, La tin, and German. nT'o teach a school, in the way prac tised here, without book, and almost entirely by verbal instruction, is extremely laborious. The teacher must be constantly with the child, always talking, question ing, explaining, and repeating. The pupils, however, by this process, are brought into very close intimacy with the instructer. Their capacities, all their facul ties and propensities become laid open to his observa tion. This gives him an advantage, which cannot pos sibly be gained, in the ordinary way in which schools are generally taught. The children look well, appear very contented, and apparently, live in great harmony one with another; which, considering the diversity of national character and temper here collected, can be attributed only to the spirit of love and affection which sways the breast of the principal of the institution, and extends its benign influence throughout all the depart ments. In the afternoon we went, with Pestalozzi, G******, and B******, a German clergyman, (who is here on a visit to the institution,) and one or two others, to visit a free school of twelve or fourteen rhilrlren;. which PestalozziTiasestablished in the viUage-ofClen- dy, at a short distance from the castle. These are chil dren taken from the families of poor p^ple, select ed on account of their character and Talents, in order YVERDUN. 419 to be educated as teachers, with a view to extend and perpetuate the principles and operation of the system. One half of them are boys and the other half girls. Their principal instructer is a sister of Schmidt, the chief master, an exceedingly clever and interesting young woman. She has another sister also with her, younger than herself, who will soon be come qualified to act as an instructer. These pupils were exercised before us,indrawing,in arithmetic, and in music. The girls, seated round a table, aud busy writh their needles, had questions in arithmetic given them by the mistress, which they were to solve by their heads. They are thus led on, from the most simple beginnings, to comprehend the principles of arith metic, and to work questions with great expertness, solely by a mental p>ocess. A male teacher is pro vided for tbe boys, though the mistress often assists in their instruction. This little school promises to be well cared for, and of service to the Pestalozzian cause. We were much pleased with its appearance, and with the assurance it affords, that whatever there is of value and importance in this system, will not be lost. j The success of this mode of instructioq, greatly de pends on the personal qualifications of those who un dertake to conduct it There is nothing of mechanism in it, as in the Lancasterian plan ; no laying down of precise rules for managing classes, &c. It is all mind and feeling. Its arrangements must always depend on the ages, talents, and tempers of the scholars, and re quires, on the part of the teachers, the most diligent and faithful attention. Above all, it requires that the teacher should consider himself as the father and bo- 420 YVERDUN. som friend of his pupils, and to be animated with the most affectionate desires for their good. Pestalozzi himself is all thisj His heart glows with such a spirit that the good old man can hardly refrain from bestow ing kisses on all with whom he is concerned. He holds out his hand to his pupils on every occasion, and they love him as a child loves its mother. His plan of teaching is just fit for the domestic fireside, with a father or mother in the centre, and a circle of happy children around them. He is aware of this, and wishes to extend the knowledg^jftf his plan to every parent. PestalQzzi„is ^venty-two yeafts of age. It has been quite unfortunateTor the progress of his system on the continent, that he pays so little attention to exteriors, regarding dress, furniture, &c. as of no moment what ever, provided the mind and heart be right. 9th. The weather continuing wet, we resolved to wait till to-morrow, and take the diUgence to Lau sanne and Geneva. Much of the day was spent at the castle, in the school-rooms, and in conversation with G******. 1 omitted to mention, that we attended last evening, to the religious exercise which terminates the business of the day. The scholars assembled in a room called the chapel, but very simply furnished, with benches, and a table. When all were collected, Pestalozzi, directing his face chiefly to the boys, began to speak in German, moving about, from side to side, directing his attention, for some time, to the boys on his right, and then advancing towards those on his left This motion, backwards and forwards, continued about twenty minutes; he was constantly speaking, and sometimes with considerable earnestness. It was altogether unintelligible to me, but I afterwards learn- YVERDUN. 421 ed, that it consisted of a recapitulation of the occur rences of the day, noticing particularly every thing of moment, and intermingling the whole with short pray ers, adapted to the circumstances mentioned in the discourse. If, for example, any of the boys had quar relled, or behaved unseemly to each other, or to their teacher, he would speak to the case, and accompany his remarks with a pious ejaculation. It is probable, that he sometimes engages more formally in this ex ercise. As it was, it appeared to gain the whole at tention of his audience. It was concluded by reading, from a small book, what appeared to be a hymn or psalm. A company of English visiters attended at the castle to-day, consisting of men and women. The boys per formed some oftheir gymnastic exercises before them, consisting chiefly of simple, but simultaneous move ments of the arms, legs, feet, head, &c,, stepping, marching, turning, and jumping, all intended to exer cise the various muscles, which give motion to the limbs and head, and to make the boys acquainted with the elements of all those movements. This ex ercise took place in one of the large bed-rooms. We attended, by invitation, last evening, a lecture given by Schmidt, the head teacher, to a number of young men, among whom were four Russians, sent by the Emperor to gain information, in England, and other countries, relative to the best modes of teaching. They had been in England, and spoke our language tolerably well. The lectures are to iUustrate more fully, the principles and processes adopted in the Pestalozzian institution. 35 * 423 YVERDUN. We had the company, this evening, at our lodgings, of Frederick Bucholz, who was late a chaplain to the king's German legion in England. He had been some time with Pestalozzi, and was able to inform us, more fully, with respect to some parts of the system, than we could obtain by a short visit to the school itself 10th. The town of Yverdun is pleasantly situated, at the head of the lake of Neuchatel, and contains, probably, 2500 inhabitants. It is pretty well built ; the streets, in common with most of the towns in Switzerland, are paved with round stones. We have been surprised, in observing the large droves of cows, which have passed through the streets to-day, most of them with huge bells round their necks. The noise they make is almost deafening. These cows are ta ken to the mountains to pasture, during the summer, in great numbers ; the shepherds, or rather cowherds, allowing a certain sum for the produce of the milk and butter. On the day of St. Denis, they are returned again to the valley. We have had at our table d'hote, the last two days, ten or twelve boys, with their three preceptors, con stituting a boarding school at Geneva. They are on an excursion, round the lake of Geneva, taking Yver dun in the way. They came to this place on foot, through the rain, and intended to perform the whole journey on foot ; but the weather continuing very wet, they went off this morning in carriages. One of them is a young prince of Wirtemberg, about twelve years of age, of plain juvenile manners, exhibiting no extra ordinary talent, but apparently of an amiable temper. We left Yverdun in the diligence, after going again to the castle, and taking leave of some of the profess- YVERDUN, 423 OPS. Pestalozzi was not in ; he had been to see us at the inn, but missed of us. Before we set off", however^ the good old man came down again, and parted with us very affectionately. In the course of the two days which we have spent at the castle, he several times pressed my hand to his lips, and seemed to possess all the love and fervency of a true disciple in the cause in which he is engaged. If his personal talents, address, and management, were equal either to his genius, or his zeal, his influence would have been: much greater even than it has been. Nevertheless^ his life and la bours will, I fully believe, be hereafter regarded as a most important epoch, in the history of educatioUi "When his principles come to be more generally un derstood, they will be found to contain much that is extremely valuable. It is to be feared, however, that many years will still elapse, before the world is put in possession of a complete explanatory view of his whole system. He does not himself possess the faculty, (as Bucholz informed me,) of explaining, in familiar and intelligible terms, his own principles. He conceives with wonderful acuteness, and expresses himself in language of extraordinary force and energy, but it re quires a deep and steady attention, to be able to em brace his whole meaning. He has published largely in explanation, and in support of his plans of instruc tion ; but there is so much of vernacular pith — of idio matic force and peculiarity, in his style and manner, as to render it rather difficult to read him, and still more so, to translate his writings. He is now, however, 1 anxious to have all bis works translated into English, fully believing, that the merit of his plans will be bet ter understood, and his principles more industriously 424 RETURN TO GENEVA. supported by tbe English nation, than by his own peo ple. His career has been marked with perplexities. He has had to struggle intensely against poverty, ne glect, prejudice, and gross misrepresentation ; but his patience, his meekness, his perseverance, his ardent love of his fpllow creatures, have bome him through all his trials ; and notwithstanding his advanced age, the reputation of his school, is now as high, if not high er, than it ever has been. Towards those who have generously contributed to aid him in his pecuniary difficulties, his heart glows with the liveliest gratitude. Of two of my acquaintance, one of London, and the other of Philadelphia, who had thus befriended him, he could not speak without evident emotion. The road to Lausanne is very picturesque, passing along the valley of the Orbe, which empties into the lake. The view from the town of Orbe, situated on a high eminence, is considered as inferior to few in this romantic country, for richness of prospect. But the day being cloudy and wet, we could not so well enjoy it. We reached Lausanne soon after dark, and occupied again our former rooms at "the Balance." nth. Left Lausanne at five. The rain had ceased and the morning was pleasant Arrived again at Ge neva, 1 found upon inquiry, that Professor Pictet had gone to Paris, and it being a period of vacation in the Academy, the other professors, or at least some of them, were also absent. ^The statejofmorate in Geneva, appeared to me to be upon the whole very respectable. There was little appearance of disorder in the streets, and much less apparent neglect of the Sabbath, than was obvi ous in France. On the evening of that day, however, GENEVA. 425 when the religious exercises are over, public amuse ments are more resorted to than in England or Ame rica. On one of those occasions, during our stay in Geneva, the theatre was open in the evening, and a comedy advertised to be acted. The town has been much agitated of late with religious disputations. The question lies, if I understand it rightly, between Calvinists and Unitarians. The contest is of long standing, and the temper it produces, as is almost in fallibly the case, is adverse to the growth and opera tion of vital religioiL^ We called this evening on Simond de Sismondi, to whom 1 was introduced by the Abbe Gregoire, There- are few Swiss writers who hold a higher rank in the republic of letters. He speaks English with ease and fluency, and we had a pleasant and interesting conversation. LETTER XV. Milan, 10th month, {October) 20, 1818. My DEAR ***** AND ****, Having decided upon crossing the Simplon to Mi lan, we were occupied during part of the day, in in quiring after and engaging a good voiture.- Geneva abounds with voituriers, or hackney-men, all disposed to gain a job, and prompt in offering their accommo dations, but not all worthy of implicit confidence ; and as the journey requires six or seven days, it be came a thing of some consequence to secure a good man. We at length engaged with — — Populus, a 426 GENEVA. person recommended to us by Sismondi, to take us to MUan for 144 francs each, including dinner, supper, and lodging. The dinner to consist of four dishes, besides soup, fruit, and such wine as the country afforded, but not foreign wine. The supper to be the same as the dinner. Three persons besides ourselves were to be accommodated in the carriage. On con cluding the bargain, I was surprised at his putting into my hand, several crowns in silver; but this, 1 learned, was the mode of sealing an agreement He who is to perform the service, deposits with the other party, a sum which is to be the pledge of his fidelity. It is called the " arrhe," and is to be returned when the service is over. Sismondi called at our room to-day, and in tbe course of conversation, gave us much information re lative to the laws of Switzerland, and the political condition of the country. The trial by jury, (as he stated,) is but partially adopted. In France it is not known in civil cases. The judges are numerous, their salaries low ; and obsequiousness to power is but too manifest in their decisions. The government of Switzerland, is highly aristocratical ; and its measures, at least in some of the cantons, are more arbitrary than under the former cantonal government, prior to the revolution. In the ancient aristocracy, there was a great deal of feeling for the people ; but at present it is much the reverse ; the councils doing all they can to strengthen their own power. The number of paupers has greatly increased, in consequence of the embarrassments of trade, arising from the regulations of France. Taxes are no where resorted to in this country for their support, but funds are voluntarily GENEVA. 427 raised, and hospitals or alms-houses maintained for that purpose. We called to see L. S*****, of New-York, who re mains temporarily at Geneva. He had gone to Berne, but his wife who is a New- York lady, received us very kindly, and induced us to stay to tea. We found there a Scotch lady, who, it appeared, was to be one of our companions to Milan. We discovered from her conversation, that she possessed an improved mind, and all we could learn in addition was, that she had lived some time tn Switzerland, and was going to Italy to spend the winter, and that she had had resolution enough to decide upon taking the journey without any particular companion. In preparing to leave Geneva for the third and last time, 1 must acknowledge that I have been much gratified with the opportunities I have had of beco ming acquainted with a place so remarkable for its distinction in letters, science and politics, and for a population so intelligent and agreeable. To Profess or Pictet and his interesting family, I have been par ticularly indebted for many civilities. Professor P- is a truly estimable character. Few individuals in Geneva, or in Switzerland, enjoy a higher reputa tion, for quaUties which add dignity to human na ture. He has long been the editor, (in conjunc tion with his brother,) of a monthly journal of sci ence, which has done much to spread on both sides of the Alps, a taste for learning and the useful arts. It was continued twenty years under the title of « Bibliotheque Britannique," and extended during that time to 144 volumes. Its particular object was lo diflfuse, throughout that part of the European con^ 428 GENEVA. tinent, a knowledge of the progress and actual state of British literature and science, but not unconnect ed with domestic learning. The title was consid ered, at length, to be too exclusive, and it is now in. the fourth year of a new series under the title of " Bibliotheque Universel." It is conducted with a fidelity and abiUty, very creditable to the editors, and to the country. Although the appearance of Geneva may disap point a stranger, in consequence of the uncouth form and decaying aspect of many of the houses, and the irregularity of the streets, it will be acknowledged by all to be almost without a rival, in picturesque beauty of situation. Standing at the western extremity of ©ne of the finest lakes in the world, and on a surface very much diversified in point of elevation, it affbrds an interesting variety of appearances in different places. The Rhone issues from the lake in an impetuous torrent. The waters are extremely limpid and of a remarkably green colour. The greater part of the town is on the south side of the river. The rapidity of the current serves various important purposes of manufacture, and pumps up the water likewise which supplies the fountains of the city. From tbe high est part of the town, in the neighbourhood of the street, very properly called "Rue de Beauregard," a prospect is open, which in good weather is truly en chanting. On the west is a most delightful cham paign, luxuriant in cultivation, interspersed with seats, farm-houses and vUlages. In the northern horizon is the Jura, forming a long and even line of misty eleva tion ; at one's feet is the city and the gushing waters of GENEVA. 429 the Rhone. On the northeast, the lake spreads its pla cid bosom, ornamented on its northern border with the populous villages of Copet, Nyon and Rolle, all situa ted in a region of the highest cultivation. On the south east and south the eye wanders in amazement among the mountains of Savoy, rising in tumultuous succes sion, with wild and inexpressible grandeur. Some of these mountains are almost always coveted with snow, and among them in a clear day Mpunt Blanc is dis tinctly perceived, giving, to this unparalleled land scape a finish of the greatest sublimity. Geneva is remarkable for the ingenuity and delica cy of its fabrics, more especially of those connected with watch machinery. 1 was surprised to find that some of the richest shops are kept in the upper rooms of the houses. The most noted coUection of watches and jewelry must be sought for by passing through a dark court, and mounting a narrow stair-case to a room in the fourth story. Whether this proceeds from considerations of safety, or from convenience to the dealers, I cannot say, but a shop in such a situa tion in one of our cities, would stand a poor chance of gaining customers. The wonderful talent of these mechanicians is ad mirably displayed in the Uttle automaton boxes that are occasionally, exposed for sale. In one of the shops we were shown a gold box of the size of a snufF box, which being wound up and placed on the table, a smaU drawer was opened, at the bottom, con taining a number of little counters, each marked with a particular figure. Into a cavity in the drawer, Ave were desired to put any one of the counters we chose, which being done the drawer was shut. On Vol, I. 36 430 GENEVA. touching a spring the Ud of the box flew open, and up rose a magician, in the figure of an old man with a grave aspect and a long beard, and holding a rod in his hand. He stood before a tree and after making a number of grave motions with his head and stick, he at length turned round, and pointed with his rod to an opening in the branches of the tree, where was seen the precise number of the counter placed in the box. These counters appeared to differ in no respect from each other, except in the figures engraved upon them ; and yet the magician would raise the same number precisely, in the tree. One of the counters was a blank. When this was put into the drawer, the figure, after its usual incantations, pointed to the tree, but finding nothing there, he appeared thoughtful, recommenced his manoeuvres, and again finding nothing but a blank, he shook his head as if in despair, and ceased his operations. 1 have seen a box of a similar size, still more curious. The spring being touched, the lid flew open, and a very small bird of beautiful plum age, perched itself on a post, hopped round, flutter ed its wings, opened its bill, sang several notes — then folding its wings, it turned on its side, sunk quietly into the box and the lid closed. Ebel in his exceUent " Manuel du Voyageur en Suisse," states that " Droz, the father of the present house of that name at Chaux-de-Fond, being at Ma drid, he exhibited before the king a clock, on which was seen a negro, a dog, and a shepherd. When the clock struck, the shepherd played six tunes on his flute, and the dog approached and fawned upon him. The king was deUghted. The gentleness of my dog, said Droz, is his least merit. Let your majesty touch one of the GENEVA. 431 apples which you see in the shepherd's basket and you wUl admire the fidelity of this animal. The king took an apple, and the dog flew at his hand and barked so loud, that the king's dog, which was in the room, began also to bark. At this the courtiers not doubting that it was an affair of witchcraft, hastUy left the room, crossing themselves as they went out The Minister of Marine was the only one that ven tured to stay. The king having desired him to ask the negro what o'clock it was, the Minister obeyed, but he obtained no reply, Droz then observed, that the negro had notyet learned Spanish, upon which the Minister repeated the question in French, and the black immediately answered him. At this new prodigy the firmness of the Minister also forsook him, and he retreated precipitately, declaring that it must be the work of the devil. The son of Droz, was, at the age of twenty-one, as great a mechanician as his father." The English or American traveller, will find in Geneva, a state of society differing much less from that of his own country, than in Paris, or other cities of France, The practice of drinking tea and of in viting company to tea, is practised here. Whether it was in connexion with this very rational and exhili- rating custom, that the terms comfort and comfortable have been adopted into the language, I know not, but these terms are now pretty common in the social parlance of Geneva, 14th. At seven, our carriage being in readiness, we set out from Geneva with three horses and a com pany of six persons besides the postillion. In addition to the lady and ourselves, two officers appeared and 432' THONON. took their seats. The morning was foggy, and seem ed rather portentous of bad weather; but toward noon, the mountains began to appear, and the Alps to exhibit their snowy eminences on our right. The road lay near the lake. The country was generally well cultivated, the vine being the staple growth. The people were busy with the vintage. The villa ges through which we passed, had a coarse, crowded,, and very unpleasant appearance, altogether inferior to those on the other side of the lake. The soil on this side is less fertile, and the climate not quite so friend ly ; but it is to be apprehended that the difference, so observable in the comforts of the people, is very much owing to the government and the religion, — Sardi nian and Catholic. We dined at Thonon, the former capital of Chablais, a considerable plage, about half a mile from the lake. We walked to the hospital, a spacious building with a court inside, and a large staircase, entries, suite of rooms, &c. It was former ly a convent of monks. There were six other con vents in this town, prior to the revolution, but at that period, the estates were confiscated and the proper ty sold. The hospital contained but few patients, and these all poor and badly accommodated. Near Thonon, on the lake, is a celebrated mansion and grounds caUed RipaiUe, once the residence of Pope FeUx v., who resigned his supremacy, and retired thither to devote himself more uninterruptedly not to religion, but to licentious gratifications. From this circumstance is derived, it is said, the French verb faire ripaiUe, (to banquet.) The estate was bought by its present owner, for 400,000 francs ; but it is now supposed to be worth double that sum. LE VALAIS. 433 Vivian is a village of some extent, on the borders of the lake. We passed hastily through it, and ar rived at St. Gingoulph, near the head of the lake, some time after the full moon had risen. The road, worked with vast labour on the margin of the water, was in the best order. The moon, as it rose in "^ cloud less majesty" directly before us, exhibited a scene tru ly delightful. Its silver beam was reflected with supe rior brightness, by the clear unruffled surface of the water ; castle Chillon, at the foot of the mountain over which the moon ascended, was in view, and also the towns of Vevey and Montreux, on the other side. It was a picture worthy of the imagination of a poet, and we could jaot wonder that Byron had made the border of this lake his residence. Our fe- . male companion, who had resided a year at Ve vey, informed us that he once knocked up some boatmen at that place, in the night, and engag ed them, for a handsome sum, to take him out on the lake in a high storm. The inn at St, Gin goulph, was formerly a castle. The host and the maids were very attentive ; and furnished us with a good supper and good beds. 15th. Set off at six, A previous cup of coffee had disposed us to enjoy whatever the road afforded that was interesting or curious. We took leave of Savoy at the inn, and entered Le Valais, one of the Swiss cantons. It comprehends the valley through which the Rhone flows from its source in the Alps, to its junction with the lake of Geneva, together with a number of lateral valleys, which open into it. Our road lay near the Rhone, and duringmost of the day, immediately on its bank. The river, at its embou- 36* 434 ST. MAURICE. chure into the lake, is nearly as wide as at its egress at Geneva, but not so rapid. At St. Maurice, we stppped to dine, and from all we saw of the inn, and its attendants, w;e united in the very favourable recommendation, given it by Sir H. Davy and his lady, which we found in the traveller's book. Nearly aU the inns I have been at, on the con tinent, keep a book, in which every lodger is request ed to inscribe his name, his profession, his country, and, in most cases, his age, and his motives in travel ling ; the place he comes from, and that to which he is bound. You will perceive from this, that the cus tom of pumping travellers, in order to obtain their secrets, and to satisfy curiosity, is not confined to our side of the Atlantic, though foreigners have endea voured to stigmatise us, on account of the disposition which they ascribe to us, of asking questions. The difference is, that in America, the traveller gives this information, if he chooses, to those who modestly ask for it ; and here, he is, in some measure, compelled to publish it to the world, by writing it in a book. At St, Maurice is a bridge over the Rhone, said to have been built by the Romans, While dinner was preparing, we took a guide, (a girl of twelve or thir teen) and ascended to a great height, to view the dwelling of a hermit His habitation is placed upon a narrow spot, upon the side of a mountain, the face of which is a solid, and almost perpendicular rock. A pathway has been cut in the rock, with great labour, in a winding direction, to the hermitage. A chapel has been also erected on the dizzy height, to which the monks, and the good CathoUcs below, clamber up every morning, to join the hermit in devotion. The ST. MAURICE. 435 old man lives upon the charity of his neighbours, but often has to descend to tbe village to get his dinner. To our regret, he was not at home, and both his gate and his chapel were locked. The inhabitants of the vUlage are aU CathoUcs. The influence of supersti tion among them, was evident, from a simple story of our pleasant and communicative little guide. A child, she said, once fell from near the chapel, to the bottom of the precipice below. Its attendants, in the utmost distress, hastened down the circuitous path, to take up its lifeless body, and convey it home. Arri ved at the spot, they found the child sporting on the grass, with a nosegay of flowers, which it had just been gathering on the plain, not having received the least mark or injury from the fall. It was then made known to them, that the holy virgin had interposed, and caught the child in her arms, and saved it harm less. In commemoration of the event, a picture has been placed in the chapel, descriptive of the falling child, in the arms of the virgin. The valley, at this place, is very much contracted, bythe approach of two mountains. La Dent de la Morcle, and La Dent du Midi. It is said to have been in, or near this spot, that the Theban legion, of 6000 men, were massacred by order of the Emperor Maximinus, for re fusing to pursue and destroy a body of people, whom they believed to be innocent and virtuous. The sol diers of this legion, had been converted to Christiani ty, in Asia, and were baptised into that faith, by Zab- da, Bishop of Jerusalem. On arriving at St. Maurice, (the ancient Agaunum,) and learning that they were destined to pursue Christians, they refused to obey. The emperor, then at Martigny, enraged at this re- 436 MARTIGNY. sistance, ordered the legion to be decimated. This was done, a first and a second time, without changing their purpose. "We are," said they to the emperor, '^ thy soldiers, but we respect God, more than thee. He has given us life, and from thee we only receive the pay of our services. We can fight our enemies, but we will not imbrue our hands with the blood of virtu ous men. If thou dost not require us to commit so great a crime, we are ready to obey thee, as we have hitherto faithfully done ; but we are Christians, and cannot destroy our brethren." This noble and mag nanimous reply, made in presence of their bleeding and lifeless companions, only increased the rage of ¦ the tyrant ; he ordered them to be surrounded by his pagan army, and ali^put to death. The ride, this afternoon, was very interesting, from the serenity of the weather, and the beauty of the scenery around us; the valley, on each side, being bounded by mountains, whose summits were occa sionally clothed with firs, which glittered in the sun like trees of gold ; while, behind them, were pointed eminences of the snowy Alps. The border of the Rhone, in this part of the valley, is much encumbered with rushes, and the agriculture must necessarily be very scanty. Between St, Maurice and Martigny, is a remarkable cascade, well known by the modest name of Pissevache. It is formed by the little river Salanche, which pitches over a mountain precipice, and faUs nearly three hundred feet, breaking against the shel ving side of the mountain, and scattering its spray to a great extent. About four, we arrived at Martigny, where we were to remain tUl morning. We walked up the vaUey, be- MARTIGNY. 437 fore the sun went down, tb observe more fully the great devastation, and the heavy suffering, which this place sustained, on the twenty-first of June last. This event, which has been published throughout Europe, is briefly as follows : — A gorge, or valiey of a moun tain, near St. Bernard, had become closed, or dam med by ice, so as to form an extensive lake. It was foreseen, that the pressure of the water, in this lake, must, ere long, break its barrier, and rush down the val ley, with destructive force. But, among the Catholics of Switzerland, though events of this kind are anticipa ted, they prefer, very often, to repose in the protection of a favourite saint, rather than to save themselves by precautionary measures. Considerable efforts were made, however, to prevent the disaster, by endeavour ing to perforate the icy bank, near the bottom, and allow the water gradually to pass off; but about' half past three in the afternoon, the brittle mound gave way, and the body of the lake, bearing away with ir resistible fury, rocks, trees, houses, cattle, &c. arrived at Martigny at six ; destroyed eighty buildings, and killed, at least thirty-four persons ; filled the lower stories of the town, with water and mud, and piled up, to an enormous height, wood, trees, and rocks, filling the whole plain, with the most frightful ravages. It required almost incredible labour, to clear the streets of the mud and rubbish, so as to render them passable. Great quantities still remain in them, in large heaps. A more melancholy aspect I never beheld, excepting, perhaps, the remains of an extensive cpnflagration. A boy, who had just returned from the mountain, with his goats, told us he had saved himself, by hasti ly climbing the mountain. The little feUow answered 438 MARTIGNY. our inquiries, with singular naivete and distinctness; and finding that we were disposed to be friendly^ he turned to us, and said, " Auriez vous la complaisance. Messieurs, de me donner quelque chose pour souper." It was an appeal we could not resist. An incident occurred, during the progress of this mighty torrent, which adds another to the many proofs of the wonderful nature of animal sagacity. A gen tleman, mounted on a mule, was descending the valley, towards Martigny, unsuspicious of danger. Suddenly the animal pricked up its ears, and made an effort to leave the road. The rider, neither seeing nor hearing any thing that should occasion this freak, forced the creature back into the path. It still manifested unea siness, and, in a few minutes after, in spite of resist ance, scrambled, with all its might, up the side of the mountain, carrying its unwilling rider along with it. But in a minute after, the roaring of the torrent was heard, and the devastating flood passed, with its aw ful rapidity, leaving the terrified traveller absorbed in the feelings of astonishment and gratitude. In the evening, we had the company of an English gentleman and his wife, who had resided some time at Vevey. They were about to Venture on a journey to Chamouny, over the Col de Balm — a perilous under taking, at this late season. They mentioned to us, the fact, that two or three EngUsh ladies, one of them only fourteen, had lately performed a pedestrian tour over the Simplon, St. Bernard, and other parts of the Alps, to the distance of 400 miles, hiring people, from place to place, to carry their luggage. It was a tour of fe male curiosity and heroism. They had one man to bear them company. ^ LE VALAIS. 439 16th. OflTat 5. The Valais improved as we ad vanced. The grape began to appear again on the southern aspect of the mountains, and Indian corn is one of the staples of this remarkable region. We passed several hamlets, some of them tolerably neat. The mountains were exceedingly picturesque, espe cially where the goats appeared browsing among the rocks, near the summits. The farm houses in this canton, and indeed in other pat-ts of Switzerland, have a very plain and coarse appearance. The roof projects so far beyond the walls of the building as to form a gallery, or shed, un der which the wood, for winter fuel, is piled up. The roof itself consists of thin planks, kept down by large stones. The barns are erected upon posts, on the top of which large flat stones are placed, forming a projection, which prevents the rats from gaining ad mission. The goitre occurs very often ; and in almost every village cretins are to be seen. These poor creatures are uniformly more or less idiotic. They place them selves in the sun, before the doors of the cottages, in a state of stupid inaction, and if spoken to, their fea tures are contorted, into an unmeaning grimace, which shocks one's feelings ; and, if they attempt any reply, it is by an inarticulate and scarcely human sound. The immediate cause of such a frequent occurrence of goitre and cretinism, in these Alpine valleys, is a question, which still admits, I believe, only of conjec tural solution. Saussure, who entered elaborately in to the subject, assigns the heat of the vaUeys, and the stagnation of the air in them, as the principal cause ; and it is alleged, that the number of cretins has sen- 440 SION. sibly diminished, since greater precaution has been taken, by persons in easy circumstances, to remove their wives to the mountains, prior to the birth of their children, and to rear them there, untU they are ten or twelve years of age. We arrived at Sion, the capital of Le Valais, about eleven, and remained there to dinner. The inn was large and commodious. This is a walled town, flanked with towers. Upon a high hill, within its limits, are the ruins of an ancient castle, and a convent. The houses are very high, and some of them of respectable appearance ; the population is about 3,000. We went through the principal church, the doors of which were open, and the lamps of the altar burning, though no devotee was there to disturb our curiosity. Orna ments were distributed throughout the whole interior, in such profusion, as to give it more the appearance of a baby-house, than a place dedicated to serious re flection. We inquired for the hospital, and were di rected to a large building, with an agreeable and ra ther imposing exterior. We entered it, and soon found, that the outside was the best of the establish ment. Much of the interior was as dirty as a stable. It contained about twenty poor people, two of whom were sick. The house is managed by seven sisters ; one of whom very complaisantly conducted us through the rooms, though the want of cleanliness was so dis creditable to the care and taste of the managers. Most of the patients were miserable looking cretins, deformed, yet contented and smiling, though living in dark and filthy holes, and eating only cabbage soup for dinner. In the room of the female cretins a very young child lay on a coarse bed. The sister pointed LE VALAIS. 441 out the mother to me, and, with the utmost simplicity, remarked, " On fait beaucoup d'enfans ici !" Such an evidence of the absence of moral government, in the chief institution of the capital of this canton, needs no comment. The German language is chiefly spoken in Sion ; many of the inhabitants understand no French, The Catholic religion is alone professed. I should con clude, from appearances in several parts, of Switzer land, that there is a disinclination in the two sects to Uve in the same town. The road from Sion bordered the rapid current of the Rhone, and often, between the rocky cliflfs of the mountain and the brink of the river, there was but just sufficient space for the carriage to pass. The day rapidly declined, as we skirted the mountains, sometimes on one side of the river, and then on the other. Their shadows covered us long before the sun went down, but the splendour of the moon, in a cloudless night, reflected now by the snows of the Simplon, compensated for the absence of day. It was rather late before we' entered the village of Turtemagne, all in good spirits, from the fineness of the weather, and the beauty and grandeur of the mountain scenery. A dish of coffee, at a fireside, (for the weather has been so cool, for several days, as to make a little blaze of an evening comfortable) stimu lated to conversation our little party, and made us better acquainted. Our female passenger proves to be a well read and sensible person, disposed to con verse, and contributing much to our entertainment; but the officers add more to the weight of the carriage draught, than to its stock of moveable intellect. One Vol. I. 37 442 LE VALAIS. of them is an Italian, about twenty-three or twenty- five, with as much good nature as I ever saw under a high military hat His seat was altogether on the outside, in the cabriolet The other conversed with difficulty, on account of a wound he had received in the mouth. Of my two particular companions, I need say no more, than that I am highly pleased with, and attached to them both. We were waited upon, at this inn, by two of the daughters of the landlady, one of whom spoke both German and French. 17th. At half past two we were called up, and after taking a slight repast, resumed our journey. The queen of night, now in the western part of the s'ky, beamed with a sweet effulgence, and the air, though cool, was pleasant The gradual declension of the moon, and the kindling light of day, spreading over a hemisphere without a cloud, opening first upon the tops of the mountains, and extending by refrac tion into the valley, expelling the deep gloom of the shadows of the lofty eminences around us, and exhi biting the narrow but level and safe road we were hastening over, infused something of animation and joy into our Uttle company ; and something, I Would hope, of gratitude to the Author of the stupendous works around us, for the blessings of health and fine weather. At Glis we availed ourselves of a short stop of the coach, to look into a large church, the door of which was open, but no person within, the morning mass being over. It was gaily decorated. An image of the Virgin was dressed with trinkets of tin, beads, glass, &c., in a manner, one would think, more likely to excite notions of a baU room, or a village feast, than LE VALAIS. 443 the soberness of religious worship. This church was erected by George de Supersax, a native of Glis, In a picture in one of the chapels, he is represented with his wife, and their twelve sons and eleven daughters ; to which is subjoined the foUowing inscription. En I'honneur de Sainte Anne, George de Supersax, soldat, A fond£ cette chapeUe I'an de grace 1519, A il6v^ un autel, et I'a enrichi En reconnaissance des vingt-trois enfans Que sone Spouse Marguerite lui a donnas. In walking round the yard, we saw and entered a building, the interior of which surprised us. It was a charnel house containing many thousands of human skulls and other bones, piled up with great care, in •regular tiers along the walls. A crucifix with a burn ing lamp was at the remote end of the chamber, (which was partly subterranean,) and a few old benches at some distance from it, for the convenience of the pious people of the village, who might be in clined to come in, and pray for the souls of those who had once inhabited the empty receptacles around them. Whether these were the bones of persons slain in battle, or collected gradually from the graves of the churchyard, we were not informed ; but it is more than probable that they are the remains of those of the Valaisans, that lost their lives in the sangui nary struggle with the French republican army in 1798 and 1799. The inhabitants of the upper valley, made a most formidable resistance against the army of the Directory, by their courage and their know ledge of the country, but they were overpowered by numbers and discipline, and had to endure the most 444 LE VALAIS. severe suflferings, from those pretended friends of li berty and the rights of man. At Brieg, a village of considerable size, and not far from GUs, we stopped to take afresh recruit of horses, in order to ascend the Simplon. This viUage is situ ated, not far from the eastern extremity of the valley of the Rhone, and of the source of that river. The Valais is here populous, and has been very long the abode of industry, agriculture, and the arts. The influx of strangers, since the completion of the Sim plon road, has relieved the country of much of its poverty, and has nearly, if not entirely, put an end to the unhappy feuds which prevailed between the up per and lower Valais, It was tbe day of a public fair, and in walking through it, we were amused with the difference discoverable in the shape of the vari ous articles of metal and wood exposed for sale, from those we were accustomed to. We left Brieg at half past eight with five fresh horses, and two postillions, our voiturier remaining to bring on his own twro, to the top of the mountain. At half a mile from the village, we were fairly upon the road constructed by the order of Napoleon, and com pleted by the joint labour of the French and Italians in 1 805. This road, so justly celebrated by the cha racteristic boldness which projected it, and by the surprising skill displayed in its execution, commen ces, strictly speaking, at Glia; but the care taken to render this passage of the Alps easy and pleasant, is obvious in different places, throughout the whole route from Geneva, It would be difficult to describe the effect produced upon the mind of the traveller, who first passes over this stupendous road. Though SIMPLON ROAD. 445 it surmounts one of the snowy summits of the Alps, its declivity no where exceeds two and a half inches in a toise or six feet ; so that it is unnecessary, in ahy place, to lock the wheels in descending. Its whble extent across the Alpine ridge, is about fourteen leagues French, or forty miles. It is not therefore the extent of the road, nor is it the height of the Sim plon, which renders this a work of so much merit. It is the extreme declivity of the successive ridges, the awful depth of the gorges over which it passes, and tbe prodigious masses of rock to be penetrated and removed, which constitute the glory of an enter prise, that must ever command the plaudits of Europe. Neat and comfortable stone houses are built at suit able intervals across the mountain. Of these there are seven between Brieg and the village of Simplon, and a corresponding number on the Italian side. The occupant of each of these houses receives twenty -five Louis d'or per annum, and is bound to keep his fur nace, or stove heated night and day in cold weather, and a room ready for the reception of travellefs. A company at Brieg, we were informed, have underta ken to keep the road in perfect repair for ten years, to clear the obstructions as they arise, from snow, avalanches, &c. and to leave it in good order. For this they are to receive from the government 75,000 francs. Although the ground in some places, as we ascend ed, was frozen, and ice appeared on the side of the road at midday, yet the sun was so clear and powerful, that the exercise of walking rendered our surtouts bur densome. The views obtained from some points bf the road, of the valley of the Rhone, the town of Brieg, 37 * 446 SIMPLON ROAD. with its steeple covered with tin, and the opposite mountain with its snows and glaciers, " held and charmed our wandering eyes." One of the first improvements met with in ascending from Glis, is a handsome covered bridge over the Saltine, a river which flows into the Rhone. On the left of the road soon after the commencement of our ascent, we were struck with the appearance of a tem ple at a great elevation, and a number of little orato ries at different stages of the mountain, nicely white washed within, and containing each a small crucifix. It is thus that the Catholics associate bodily toil with the exercises of devotion, doubtless from the persua sion that it increases the merit of the service. About 4 p. M, we attained the snowy summit. The road does not pass over the highest pinnacle, nor does it fall a great deal below it. The snow lay upon the ground nearly a mile ; its depth in some places was about a foot. It was a recent snow, for during a few weeks in hot weather the road is entirely dry. Near the top is the foundation of a handsome stone building, about 200 feet long, intended as a hotel or hospital for the benefit of travellers, and capable, if completed, of accommodating several hundreds ; but having reached the second story, its progress, like that of a vast number of other buildings and schemes of improvement, was arrested by the flames of Moscow, There is at this place an old convent of monks, who formerly provided for the way-faring man in his pas sage of the mountain by the ancient and perilous route. As we began the descent a thick Vapour sud- denly gathered on the summit around us and curled its misty volumes over the hiUs and along the valley SIMPLON ROAP. 447 in the most curious and fantastic forms ; and before the sun set, we were transferred from the canopy of a serene and cloudless sky, to the midst of a heavy fog. These sudden transitions from a clear and spotless azure, to the close envelope of a dense cloud, is pe culiar to mountainous countries, and constitutes one of the curious concomitants of an Alpine journey. At the village of Simplon, an ancient little town of about twenty houses, with a church and two inns, we found pretty good accommodations, in a house which, some years ago, had been partly knocked down by an ava lanche of snow, by which several horses and two men were crushed to death. The prevailing rock on the Swiss side of the Sim plon, is micaceous schist. It works very freely, re quiring little more than the wedge and the hammer to reduce it to sizes very convenient for walks and roads.. Occasionally it is mixed with considerable masses of amorphous quartz, either milky or crystalline, which in some cases is finely incrusted with mica. Very little granite is to be seen on that side of the moun tain. The crumbling nature of this rock renders great attention to the road necessary; for large masses, dis engaged either by frost or incumbent snow, fall from tbe mountain above and injure or obstruct it. 18th. We left Simplon at six, in company with Col. A****, and Capt. C*****, two English gentlemen, who lodged at the same inn with us, and who had been travelling for some time on the continent They re side in London. The former is member of Parlia ment for Berwick on Tweed, a borough of which he has been long the representative. He was concern ed, I was told, in the taking of Seringapatam, in Asia. 448 , SIMPLON ROAD. Captain C*****, has been in the East India service. We were enveloped in fog for some time in our de scent but, as in America, it proved the precursor of a bright, sunny day. The descent of the mountain afforded more interest, by the variety and boldness of the scenery, than the ascent Among the truly pic turesque objects of this road are the galleries. These are openings for carriages, cut through the solid rock, in situations where there was positively no space be tween the perpendicular projection of the mountain and the chasm below, for a road or platform to be made. There are six of these galleries on the Sim plon route, the longest of which is 200 metres, or about 650 English feet. Three wide openings are perforated through its sides to admit light. The gaU leries are at least as wide as the road, (which is 25 feet French, or nearly 27 English,) and 30 feet high. The crack of the coachman's whip, rang with deaf- ning sound in this extended cavern. In issuing from it, we immediately cross a bridge over a tor rent, which pours its foaming waters into the river Doveria, and which, at this very spot rushes with thundering sound, among enormous blocks of gra nite, into a gulf below. In no part of the route, is the power of art so finely contrasted with the sublimity of nature, as in this spot. Thirty men, it is said, were employed night and day, (relieved every eight hours by as many others,) during eighteen months, in effect ing this prodigious gallery. It will be easily understood, that to construct a good road on the side of a steep mountain, a wall must be erected on the lower side to support the platform ; and that if durabiUty be an object, these SIMPLON ROAD. 449 walls must be laid with stone and mortar. The quan tity of masonry, indeed, in this route of the Simplon is immense. The wall rises a few feet above the level of the road, but we perceived that in se veral places it had been injured by avalanches from the heights above. Posts, ten feet high, are erected at intervals, to distinguish the road from the precipice, when the whole is deeply covered with snow. The bridges, (of which there are many,) are of wood, aind very strong. The abutments are wrought in stone, at great expense and labour, and with true architectural skill. In descending, we pass ed along the valley of the river Variola, which emp ties into the lakes of Italy, and passed the barrier be tween Le Valais and Piedmont, which belongs to Sar dinia, without much difficulty from the Douaniers. It was interesting to observe the industry with which every spot is cultivated on the south side of the mountains, where a lodgment could be obtained. Villages and populous settlements soon began to ap pear. On eminences too high for a winter habita tion, chalets, or summer cottages are erected, where the poor remain during the warm season, to feed their goats, and gather a little hay. These chalets are found in every part of the Alps, and some of them at an amazing height. They add much to the picturesque beauty of the scenery. The rock on this side of the Alps, differs essentially from that on the side of Swit zerland. Slate indeed very frequently appears, but granite and limestone are the predominant materials. Several of the gaUeries are perforations through a hard granite, containing a large portion of quartz. We passed a fine quarry of beautiful marble in our descent, 450 PLAIN OF DOMO d'oSSOLA, whence some of the finest workmanship of Milan has been suppHed. A single column five feet in diame ter and about forty feet long, lay by tbe side of the road ; having been destined for the triumphal arch of Milan, but arrested in its progress, Uke other things, as we are always told, " par les evenemens." Arrived at length at the southern foot of this ridge of the Alps, the plain of I>omo D'Ossola broke upon us with all the beauty of a new and elegant picture at the first drawing of the curtain. This plain is very exten sive, and appears as level as a bowling green. Houses and plantations are thickly scattered on its border ; most of the former being covered with white cement On entering the valley we crossed the Diveria, on the new and beautiful bridge of Crevola, which forms part of the improvements of this general route. We could not leave the Simplon without feelings of admiration at the skill and the energy which have so completely overcome the most formidable obsta cles, and established a far better communication be tween France and Italy, than any which had ever existed. Nothing which Napoleon has executed, will be regarded with more unmingled satisfaction, or furnish a more striking and durable monument of his public spirit. In travelling through this plain, and indeed before we had entered it, a considerable difference was per ceptible in the style of cultivation. The grape, in stead of being reared, as in France and Switzerland, upon single stalks, and always confined by annual pruning, tb the height of a few feet is here produced upon vines trained upon horizontal espaliers, sup ported by slabs of gneiss planted in the ground and DOMO d'ossola. 451 rising to the height of six or seven feet. Other crops, such as corn or millet are introduced between the vine rows — a method seldom practised north of the Alps, Domo D'Ossola is a town of respectable size, and the first we have reached in which the Italian lan guage is spoken. We walked, while dinner was pre paring, to a place called Mount Calvary, an eleva tion, which commands a fine view of the plain, with the town below, and a wide extent of improvement around. On the top are a church, an oratorio, and an old tower. We entered the church, and found it, like the last we were in, replete with images, cruci fixes, gewgaw finery, and all the trimmings of Catholic worship. Small chapels are placed at different stages of the mountain, containing figures of the natural size, and before Which these poor people perform their genuflections, and recite their prayers. The figures represent the events of the trial, crucifixion, and re surrection of the Saviour. His persecutors are drawn, as might be expected, with ferocious countenances, and one of them, in order to render him as odious as possible, is made with a huge goitre. As we descend ed we met a priest and a number of his followers, going up to mass. We were accompanied, in this pleasant little excursion, by A**** and C*****, The former sketches vejy handsomely. He showed us several views he had taken of the Simplon. Our road, after dinner, conducted us through the villages of Pallanzano, Masone, and Vogagna, and along the river Toccia, Indian corn is one of the principal productions of the valley. It was in a state fit for gathering. It is cultivated in broad lands or 452 LOMBARD*. rows, with an intervening space, in which millet was growing. The corn appeared to have been sown on the ground, like wheat or rye, and' dressed with the hoe or spade. At dusk we dismounted, for the night, at Fariola, a small place, on the border of Laco Mag giore, (chief lake,) the largest of the three lakes of Lombardy. I accepted the invitation of A**** and C*****, to take tea with them, in their room. We were joined by one of my companions, and the evening passed in interesting conversation. 19th. Our track, this morning, afforded high satis faction, by conducting us along the edge of the beau tiful lake last mentioned, the sides of which exhibited many of the luxuries of nature and the splendour of art. We passed, on the lake, a quarry of beautiful rose coloured granite, surpassing, I think, in richness of co lour, the finest marble. At Baveno, a little village,' we descended from our carriage, and took a boat, to visit the Borromeen islands, situated in the lake. They are three in number, the most remarkable of which is Isola Bella, (the beautiful island,) the residence of their wealthy owner. This island, by nature, w;as a barren rock of small extent, but by art and labour it has been enlarged, to the dimensions of nearly a mile in circumference. Vast sums have been expended, to render it the seat of beauty and magnificence. A large palace, erected at one end of the island, is the resi dence of Borromeus, the present owner, who received the property by inheritance. We were conducted through the saloons and rooms of the principal man sion, by the upper servant The pictures, though nu merous, did not appear to be above mediocrity. The lower suite of rooms is finished in the manner of grot- BORROME AS ISLANDS. 453 tos, in the richest and most fanciful taste. - The floors, walls, and ceilings are formed of small pebbles, of va rious colours, inserted in stucco, and so arranged as to form flowers, birds, men, and other creatures, in great variety. The pillars are covered with pieces of rough, calcareous tufa. The Mosaic effect of this ornamental work is extremely curious and pleasing. The largest of these rooms is the " Salle a manger," and a more cool and delightful place, for refreshing the appetite, contiguous as it is to the water of the lake, it would be difficult to find. The garden and shrubbery are altogether in the artificial style of former days. They consist of ten terraces, rising successively one above another, and decorated with fountains and statues. These terraces are entirely artificial, forming the suc cessive stages of a pyramid, which has a base of 400 feet square, and rises to the height of 150 Yee t The platform on the summit is fifty feet square. The ter races are supported by arcades, beneath which the more tender plants are protected during fhe winter. I saw here, for the first time, orange and citron trees growing in the open ground. Some of the former were a foot in diameter, and nearly, all luxuriant in flowers and fruit, in various stages of growth. The gardener informed us, that he collected, annually, about 60,000 lemons. There are forty families residing on this island, as dependants of the signore. Isola Madre is the largest of the three, and also contains a garden, and a mansion, to which the owner often resorts. The servant informed us, that the Princess of Wales had twice visited his master, at Isola Bella, and he pointed out the room in which she lodged. The third island is the abode of a colony of fishermen. These islands Vol. I. 38 454 LACO MAGGIORE. were at first only naked rocks in the lake. They were purchased in 1673, by Count VitaUan Borromeo, who covered them with earth, and rendered them, by pro digious labour, what we now behold them. The road along the lake is a continuation of the Simplon improvement It is as smooth and substan tial, and elegant, as one can well conceive a road to be. It is supported on the lake side by a wall of masonry, many miles in extent. The bridges are of granite. The viUage of Arona, on the border of the lake, gave birth to Charles Borromeus, a predecessor and relative of the present family. He was born in 1 538, and in consequence of his extraordinary benevolence, and the sanctity of his life, he was canonized by Paul V, in 1605, and is now regarded as one of the most distinguished of the Italian saints. If the accounts published of him, be correct, he was truly a remark able character, living in extreme self-denial, and dis tributing his immense wealth in acts of charity and public improvements. A statue of him is erected on a high hill, near the town of Arona, which attracted our attention at a great distance. It is of copper, and is probably the largest statue in Europe. We did not ascend to it, but the dimensions given me, by A**** and C*****, who stopped to examine it are the follow ing, very nearly : Height 70 feet. Length of the head 10 do. Circumference of the neck 20 do. Length of nose 2i do. Length of the arm 28 do. Do. fore finger , 4 do- COLOSSAL STATUE. 455 Length of the breviary, or book, which ) , ^ /• he holds , $ Width of the book 4 do. Length of the foot 4 do. Height of the pedestal of granite, on ) , which it stands j Cost of the statue gl50,000 Six men, it is said, may dine together in the head. One arm of this colossal figure is raised, and points to a school, which " San Carlos" established for the in struction of eighty boys. This remarkable statue was erected at the joint expense of the inhabitants of the vicinage and of the Borromean family, and was inau gurated on the lOth'of May, 1698, bythe archbishop of MUan, The waters of lake Maggiore are discharged, through the river Ticino into the Po, and thence into the Adriatic Sea. Arrived at the outlet of the lake, we crossed the Ticino in a large floating vehicle, made by throwing a platform over two boats. We drove on it without getting out of our carriage. It was drawn over, by pulling at a rope which was stretched across the river, and passed through an opening in a post attached to the boat. It is a clumsy contrivance, and very slow in its motion. On the other side we landed in the town of Sesto, in Lom bardy, and were, of course, within the dominions of Austria. A douceur was paid to the Sardinian offi cers on one side, for suffering our baggage to pass unexamined, and another to the Austrian, at Sesto, for the liberty of writing our names in a book which was presented to us, agreeably to a form prescribed 456 LOMBARDY. by law. We dined at Sesto, and proceeded through a tract of country which possessed but little to inte rest us, except its connexion with the robberies of which it has often been the theatre. Our voiturier related to us some of his own narrow escapes, and the disasters which had befallen others. The govern ment has used great vigilance and activity in sup pressing the brigandage that has been so long an abomination to Italy, and it is now considered quite safe to travel any* where in Lombardy in the day time. The night, however, contrary to our expectation overtook us, and excited apprehensions, which were at length agreeably expelled by the lights of Galla- rate, a town where we were to repose till the dawn of another day. The two English gentleman arrived soon after us. 20th. We were waited upon, at the inn at Galla- rate, by the daughter and son of the innkeeper, whose appearance and manners gave us a favourable pre possession of Italian customs. At parting they came to the carriage, and took us by the hand with the ex pression of much good will. The morning was very fine. The sun rose with brilliance, and gilded the lofty summits of Mount Rosa and other peaks of the Alps, which lay behind us. This last named moun tain, is very little lower than Mount Blanc, and con stitutes one of the grandest features of the southern side of the Alps. Our way was directly through the plains of Lombardy, apparently as level as the ocean. The process of irrigation is carefully attended to in this country. The elevation of the streams as they issue from the mountains, aflfords the means of doing it in great perfection. The inclination of the plams RHO. 457 is very gradual, yet sufficient to produce an easy and uninterrupted flow of the water. It is conducted in channels along the roads, and thence into the fields, and distributed through furrows, or small courses, (which are opened or shut at pleasure,) to the places required. While the horses were feeding at Rho, a large town about nine miles from Milan, we walked to a church called Notre Dame des Miracles, which belonged formerly to the College of Missionaries, now suppressed. It is a large and beautiful building, and displays great taste, both in its exterior and interior finish. The priest was officiating before the altar, with an auditory of not more than half a dozen per sons, and those, judging from their appearance, very poor, A woman came and knelt before the altar, without the railing, and a lad placed himself in a corresponding position on the other side of the pass age. The priest advanced to the altar, kneeled, and bowed to the image, opened a little door, bowed again, took out a cup, bowed before it, opened it, bowed again, took out a large white wafer in each hand, re treated from the altar, bowed to the image, then ad vanced to the woman and put the wafer in her mouth, repeating, at the same time, a sentence in Latin, im plying that he administered to her the body of Christ ! The same process was renewed with the boy. After receiving the wafer they remained some time on their knees, and then withdrew. The countenances of these poor people, indicated great devotion and sin cerity, and I have little doubt that they swallowed the wafer, and the Latin too, all in good faith ; but if I might be allowed to judge, from the manners of the young priest, his credulity was not quite of so easy a 38* 458 LOMBARDY. character. We ascended to the top of the tower of this church, and enjoyed a delightful prospect of the plain, with the city of Milan on one side and the Alps on the other, three-fourths of the horizon remaining entirely unbroken by the least variation from a level. The number of villages and spires, of gardens, villas, and richly cultivated fields, which decorated this im mense plain, particularly on the side next the lakes, and in the direction of Como, surprised us all. The whole spectacle was of a novel character, and charm ing in the highest degree. We entered Milan about ten o'clock, and drove to the "Pension Suisse," which being already full, we proceeded to the Albergo San Marco, and were well accommodated. Having dined, we called upon seve ral persons, whose names had been given us, but found none of them at home. Our cicerone led us to the cathedral, and we availed ourselves of the remaimng light of a clear bright evening, by ascendmg to the. top> and taking a bird's-eye view of the city. The ascent of 520 steps was a work of some labour, but we were well repaid by the rich and vastly extended scenery around us. The sun went down behind Mount Rosa, with a splendojur I have never seen surpassed. MILAN. 459 LETTER XVL Genoa, 10th month, {October) 2S, 1818. My dear ***** AND ****, At six this morning, (the 21st,) we went to the hospital, a very large and well regulated establish ment. We were introduced into a spacious interior square, around which were diflferent wards and other apartments of the institution. This square opened again into others, there being in the whole eight of them, but of less size than the first. It appears to be customary for the physicians and surgeons of the con tinental hospitals, to pay their visits at an early hour in the morning. We were conducted to the wards without delay, and found them engaged in their visits. I addressed the principal surgeon ; stated to him our country, the motives of our visit, and the pleasure we should derive from any information he might be pleased to give us. He immediately gave some directions to the yotmg men in attendance, and obligingly walked with us through all the rooms and wards, that we wished to see. The hospital is large enough for the accom modation of 3000 patients ; but, a,t present, they have but 800. The bedsteads are of iron, a,nd without curtains, except a very few, and these were plain and simple. The medical patients are separate from the surgical ; there is also a distinct ward for diseases of the eye. In one of the female wards, were one hun dred and ninety beds. This room is in the form of a 460 MILAN. cross, with an altar, at which mass is occasionally ce lebrated. Crucifixes are to be seen suspended in dif ferent places, in most of the hospitals I have visited, and pictures, or prints, of the virgin and child, placed at the head of a bed, are very common. Another ward contained sixty-four beds ; indeed, they are mostly very large. The male patients are attended by male nurses, and the women by females, taken from the foundling hospital. We were shown a lad, of not more than twelve, who had three times undergone a lithotomic operation. The kitchen is extensive. The cook and assistants, are taken from the foundling hos pital. The apothecary's shop is large, and apparent ly well arranged. The laboratory contained an am ple set of utensils, for the various pharmaceutical ope rations. .> Jn addition to these, we were shown a pretty large room, well provided with a suite of furnaces, a forge, and a cabinet of chemical preparations, rea gents, &c. all destined for a course of lectures on pharmacy, to the students of the town. This hospi tal holds a distinguished rank in Italy. It appeared to us to be well attended to, and the patients kept in tolerable comfort ; but it is not in that state of neat ness and order, which we have noticed in some other institutions. Surgeon Moriji next conducted us to the Foundling Hospital. After some hesitation, (for strangers are not generally admitted,) the doors were opened to us, and we were attended by an active, and very talk ative matron; but as she spoke only Italian, Moriji interpreted for us, into French. There were about three hundred children in the house, of both sexes, and various ages. Many of those, who can work, are MILAN. 461 lodged and fed here, but are sent into the town to work, at such places and arts, as may be found for them. When we first entered the hospital court, we met a large number of the boys of this charity, going out to work, with each a piece of bread. This hospi tal receives, without inquiry, all the children that are brought to it. The poor little creatures, who are thus abandoned to the wide world, by unnatural parents, are brought to the wall of the hospital, in the night, and placed in a cradle, lined with leather, which i& contained in a round, box, that revolves on an axis, one half projecting beyond the wall, outside. The in fant is laid in, and the box is turned round;* this rings a set of bells; the attendant immediately comes, and delivers the child to the nurse. In one room, were children of the tenderest age. They were incased in swaddling clothes, like little mummies, leaving only the bead at liberty. Each wet nurse has two. She lifts them about with one hand, like a little girl her dolls. But as there is not a sufficient number of w6t nurses for all the children, one apartment of the insti tution is consigned to those, who are to be brought up by hand. Of these, we were informed, upon in quiry, the greatest number die within the first year. They are fed on a decoction of barley and milk, which the child takes through a small sponge, at tached to the spout of a cup, or small teapot Not less than three thousand, were brought to the house, in the course of 1817, but it was rather an excessive number. I asked Moriji, if he did not think such in stitutions had an unfavourable eflfect upon the public morals, but he did not seem to be aware that it had . at least he believed, that tbe ultimate effect was fa- 462 MILAN. vourable to humanity. But in this I differ so decided ly from him in opinion, that I should greatly regret to see such an institution, set up in the United States. There is no reason to fear, however, that this will ever be the case, for the public voice, 1 am persuaded, would be almost unanimous against it ; and that, too, on the firm ground of morals, reUgion, and humanity. There are none, 1 believe, in England ; at least none upon the principle of indiscriminate admission, adopt ed here and in other large towns of the continent. In some of the rooms, children from four to eight or ten years of age, were collected for instruction in knitting and sewing. In the nurseries for sick chil dren, we noticed a very large proportion of diseases of the eye, and of scrofulous cases. The hospital, at Milan, is supported by funds in its possession, which are increased by contributions and legacies. Upon the whole, we were convinced, that these insti tutions, though established and supported at a great expense, are not so well inspected as they ought to be. The attention we received from Professor Moriji, was more than perfect strangers, without any intro duction, had a right to presume upon. He remained with us iibout two hours, during a fatiguing march, up and down stairs, from room to room. He appears to hold a respectable rank in his profession, but is not altogether free from the too general infection, of the odium medicum. I am at a loss to determine, upon what principle it is, that this moral malady, so common among physicians, is to be accounted for. Dr. Rush once told me, that he had a dispute with Dr. Priestly, relative to the odium medicum, and the odium theo- logicum. Each contended for the superior aggrava« MILAN, 463 tion of his own professional disease. Lawyers, I be lieve, live upon as good terms with each other, as with the rest of the world. After breakfast we went again to the cathedral. To describe this edifice properly, would require a small volume. The exterior is entirely of marble, not excepting the roof, or at least, only a part of it, which is still unfinished. Such a profusion of sculpture is perhaps no where to be seen as the outside of this edifice presents to the eye. Most of the prominent incidents of the Old and New Testaments, are here attempted to be described, in marble figures as large as life. The architecture is Gothic; and though the building was commenced in 1 386, it advanced so slow ly, that even the front was not completed, till the city of Milan came* under the sway of Napoleon. He went boldly to work and had very nearly completed the original design, when the labours of the workmen were again arrested '¦'¦par les evenemens." They are now resumed, and nothing remains unfinished but the roof There are, it is said, in this grand Duomo, 1200 statues. Every pinnacle or spire is surmounted by a statue. Every niche, and projection, is ornament ed with a statue, and every pannel contains figures in alto relievo. In magnitude, this cathedral yields only to St Peter's in Rome. It is nearly of the same length as St, Paul's in London, but in width much superior.^ Its interior elevation under the dome is 258 feet, and its exterior height from the pavement to the summit of the tower, 400 feet. The chancel is entirely open, and separated from the nave only by its elevation. The pillars which support the roof are in clusters, and more than ninety feet high. It is perhaps the 464 MILAN. only edifice of tbe kind built entirely of so elegant and durable a material ; it is paved, vaulted and roof ed with white marble, from near lake Maggiore. Upon the whole, in point of materials, costliness, and embellishment, this edifice may, in all probability, be justly ranked as the second in Europe, and of course in the world. Nevertheless, this splendid specimen of architectural skill, has been, I think, justly object ed to by travellers, as producing too great a confu sion of objects. Its effect upon the mind is that of grandeur, rather than pleasure, — magnificeilce, ra ther than elegance, — of power, devoid of the simpli city of true taste. Of the ornaments of the interior, the most imposing are the tomb of St. Charies Bor romeo, and the pictures which illustrate the events of his life. We were conducted into the tomb. It is an octangular cavity in the central part of the cathe dral, immediately under the dome, and sufficiently spacious to contain 20 men. The coffin is formed of pieces of rock crystal of extraordinary size and of the finest polish, inserted in silver frames. It was given by Philip IV. of Spain, who was eight years in search of cl-ystal, before he procured a sufficient quantity. The body is clothed in the robes which he wore when Archbishop of Milan, decked with nu merous jewels. The dark and shrivelled face of the " Saint," is the only mortal part exposed to view. Around the sides of the tomb are superb representa tions, in massive silver relief, of the principal events of his life, -beginning with his birth, and ending, (of course,) with Jiis apotheosis. The hangings of this subterranean chapel, are cloth of gold, and the archi traves of the doors and cornice are of solid silver. MILAN. 465 The cornice is supported by large statues of angels, adorned with alto relievos of silver. From the roof of the coffin hangs a small cross over his breast, form ed of emeralds, a rich present from Maria Theresa, of Austria. The tomb is covered with an open gra ting of wood, and around it in the church, is an iron railing or enclosure, which the pious or the curious may approach, in order to get a glimpse of the splen did receptacle of the body of a man, whose motto, while, living was " Humilitas," and whose life actually exhibited a most extraordinary example of self-abase ment. With what severity of censure does that single word condemn this pompous display of monumental extravagance ? The pictures which are suspended between the massive pillars of the cathedral, are also devoted to the memory of this illustrious member of the Borromean family. Their execution is not above mediocrity. The design of them is different from those of the tomb, but the events they iUustrate, are nearly the same. This extraordinary man was the nephew of Pius IV. He became a cardinal and arch bishop at twenty-four years of age. Though born to the inheritance of almost unbounded wealth, and the highest dignities, and with talents which soon raised him to great eminence in learning and accomplish ments, he not only escaped the intoxication, so na tural to a youthful mind in such circumstances, but devoted his life, with the steadiness of a Christian hero, to the spiritual and temporal welfare of his dio cese. The occurrence of a raging pestilence in Milan, did not induce him to forsake his post. He erected a hospital, and fed the victims of disease , with his own hands. He died at the age of forty-six : Vol. I. 39 466 MILAN. but his memory lives in the imperishable records of history, and needs not the splendour of mausoleums, to preserve it in the aflfections of the Milanese. If, indeed, such a monumental display could induce others to emulate these virtues, then marble, silver, and jewels, might not be lavished in vain. We called to pay our respects to Monti, a person who is considered as holding the highest rank among the living Italian poets. He received us complai santly, sitting in bed, dressed in a gelet, and with a frame before him, covered with books and materials for writing. He is rather an old man, but of still vigorous intellect. The conversation was general. He spoke highly of Sismondi, and was glad to hear from him. The poetry of Monti is considered by some, as worthy of being placed next to that of Pe trarch and Dante. His writings have generally a political bearing, and he is accused of being always in favour of existing authority. We took a fiacre, for the purpose of viewing a few things, at some distance from the town. 1st. The amphitheatre. This is a large place, called the JVau- machia, erected in the reign of Bonaparte, for the purpose of public entertainment. It comprehends about two acres of grcwqn^, of an elliptical form, surrounded by a wall. In the centre is an ellip tical excavation, about four feet deep. Around this the ground slopes to the wall, and is formed into seats, rising successively above each other, covered with turf, and capable, it is said, of contain ing 20,000 spectators. An elegant building is erect ed adjacent to this theatre, with beautiful columns of red granite, and with steps of granite descending MILAN. 467 to the basin. This buUding is for the accommoda tion of the grandees who attend and regulate the spectacle, When all is ready, the floodgates are opened, and water rushes in and fills the basin to a convenient depth. Boats are then introduced, ac coutred for sport and games of various sorts. 2d. The echo. The attention of strangers is de servedly directed to this curiosity. It is laerely an old country palace, now abandoned, consisting of a large front and two wings extending in the rear to the depth, probably, of sixty feet ; the walls of these wings are perpendicular to th© front. They are smooth and entire, except a single window, at a con siderable elevation, in one of the wings. When a noise is made at this window, the sound is audibly reverberated about sixty times. Some of our com pany were able to count at least fifty-six "repetitions of the sound of a pistol, which was fired by the at tendants. The experiment was several times repeat ed with similar results. The distance of these walls from each other, I should judge to be 150 feet. 3d. The triumphal arch of Bonaparte, This was in a state of great forwardness, when the masons and the sculptors were obliged to desist ^'¦pav les evenemens." It is placed exactly at the termination of the Simplon road, and at the entrance of the city. The sculpture appeared to me, to be the finest specimens of modern skill, I have yet beheld. If completed, it would cer tainly be i-egarded as a most elaborate piece of work manship. But the image of the conqueror is too ap parent among the figures, to admit of the belief, that the numerous elegant alto-relievos, which are held under lock and key, in the coarse shops around the 468 MILAN. arch in which they were formed, will ever be placed triumphant, on their pUlars, without a material change in the Lombardian government. 4 th. The Cenacfe, or Last Supper, of Lionardo da Vinci. This celebrated picture is executed on the end wall of a long room, of the convent of Madonna delle Grazie. Though in a state of decay, it still retains enough of the spirit and animation of the painter, to render it an object of the greatest interestto an ama teur. The figures are somewhat larger than life. When the monks Were turned out of this convent by the revolution, this picture was exposed, through utter carelessness, to the w^eather, and received material in jury. The surface of the wall has become loose, and is gradually pealing off The painting is 324 years old. It has been so often copied and engraved, that the arrangement of the figures, and their respective attitudes, are well known to every lover of painting. An imitation of this picture in mosaic, is in a state of forwardness in this city, by Raffaelli, a professor of that ancient art. On the wall opposite to the picture of the Supper, is a painting of the Crucifixion, by D'Oggione, also much admired. The principal build ings of this convent are now used as horse barracks. There was a variety of elegant paintings in this room, at the time of our visit, for sale. From the prices attached to them, I could not but think, that an Ame rican academy might be supplied on very moderate terms. We took dinner at a " ristoratore." The articles of the bill of fare, were much the same as those of France. Grated cheese is always placed on the table, to be added to the soup. MILAN. 469 Very few women are to be seen in the streets of MUan, in comparison with the cities of France, or even of England. We have seen no beggars. 22d. We this morning visited the zecca, or mint, and had explained to us, the various operations of melting, rolling, cutting, weighhig, and stamping' the coin. The stamping machine makes about 1000 im pressions in an hour. Gold is more plentiftil here than silver. The machinery is moved by a water wheel. It is a singular fact, that the likeness of Na poleon is still stamped upon the money now coined. It is the impression of 1814. A great deal of work is done at this mint, but it is mostly for individuals. We were shown several cabinets of dies, contain ing all those that have been in use since the institu tion was erected. The ancients struck their coins with a hammer, by hand, as is evident from the shape and appearance of the die. They preserve carefully also, patterns of all the medals that are struck at the mint. The collection is interesting in a historieal point of view. The buildings of the mint are situa ted around an open square, and are airy and conve nient. In one apartment, they were washing silver ore, obtained near the lake Maggiore. After returning from the mint, we called upon Count Moscati, who was a senator under the former government, a physician of high repute, and a man of letters. He is now advanced in years. He reproach ed us for not staying longer in Milan, than he found it was our intention to do. After treating us to cho colate, he conducted us through a long suite of apart ments, containing his library, and his instruments of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. The coUection 39 * 470 MILAN. is a remarkably fine one for that of an individual, who pursues science only for tbe pleasure it aflferds. His apparatus is chiefly from Paris and London, and many of the instruments are of nice and costly workmanship. His laboratory is large and well constructed, and his chemical utensils more extensive than those of some public schools. The bellows of his forge is of wood, very neatly made, and with appendages which adapt it to the production of a current of air to a lamp, or table furnace, any where in the room. Among his chemical preparations was a beautiful Arbor Dianae, produced by supporting a small quantity of mercury, contained in a leather bag, on the top of a glass rod*, attached by cement to the bottom of a bottle con taining the nitric solution of silver. His library is very extensive, comprehending the best works of sci ence in most of the languages of ancient and modern Europe. It includes a very large coUection of tracts or pamphlets, bound up in the order of time. Among them I noticed Dr. Franklin's Poor Richard, in Ital ian. He has Ukewise a collection of the Paris Moni- teur from the beginning of the revolution. He showed us several splendid works on natural history. Being himself in feeble health, his servant conducted us to the Italian Institute, of which Moscati is the director of the class of science. The building which this insti tution occupies was formerly a convent of Jesuits, de nominated the brera. It is of astonishing size, and in a beautiful style of architecture. The staircases are uncommonly large and fine, and the colonnades are of granite. We were first conducted to the ob- seryatory, which occupies several rooms on the top of one quarter of the building. The instruments are MILAN. 471 numerous, and most of them in fine order. They are of English, French, and Milanese workmanship. Among them are five or six telescopes well mounted ; one of which is a transit instrument, eight feet long. Among them is a reflector fifteen feet long, with about ten inches aperture, but it is not mounted. Some of the telescopes are on stone pillars well supported be low, and protected by moveable roofs, with late ral and vertical openings. There are mural qua drants also, for fore and back observation. Astrono mical clocks were in movement in various parts of the observatory, and among the instruments was a lu nar globe in mounting, with a small terrestrial globe attached to it. This observatory is well situated for astronomical research, having a charming sky and a very fine horizon. It constitutes part of the academical arrangements of the university of Pavia. The library, into which we were next introduced, occupies many large rooms, and contains, we were told, at least 200,000 volumes. It is scientifically arranged. In the English department, is a complete collection of the London Philosophical Transactions, and most of those of Philadelphia. It includes part of the library of Hal ler, which, with his herbarium, was purchased by the emperor, for 2000 Louis d'or, and divided between this city and Pavia. In the room appropriated to the fine arts, were prize essays in drawing, painting, and sculpture, done with extraordinary taste and neatness of finish. The collection of statues is not large, I noticed a fine marble bast, tres ressemblant, of our friend Count Moscati, The modern pictures are not very numerous, but in the rooms appropriated to ancient paintings, is a rich feast indeed, for the connoisseur. 472 MILAN. He will there meet with some of the finest works of the great masters of the Italian school. Some of the pictures are very large. It was late when we went in, and the attendants were anxious to go to their dinners, so that we were obliged to make only a rapid excursion through the rooms, and without taking time to examine satisfactorily a single piece. A good dinner at a " ristoratore," for- three and a half francs, completed this day's adventure in Milan. 23d. We called again this morning at Moscati's, for a letter of introduction to Pavia, which he kindly oflfered to furnish me with. The porter gave me two, one to myself, pointing out the objects most worthy of attention, in Milan, and assuring us of his regard ; and another to Professor Configliachi, of Pavia. But as the porter had directions not to let us go, without informing him, we were again introduced to the ve nerable philosopher, sitting in bed. He would not let us depart, without a cup of chocolate, and a little more conversation, on subjects of science. He spoke in high terms of Dalton and Henry, as chemists. In reference to the former, " dites lui," (said he to my companion, B. D.) " non seulement que je le lis, mais, que je I'etude." His letter informed me, that he is in his seventy-eighth year. Having left our names yesterday, at the rooms of Acerbi, known to most readers as the author of travels to the North Cape, and as the editor of an Ita lian journal of hterature, we called upon him this morning, and were received with the frankness of a man acquainted with the world, and knowing the wants of travellers. He is of middle age, tall, with a comely countenance, and a dark and lively eye. MILAN. 473 We conversed in his library, upon various topics, in English, which he speaks unusually well for a foreigner. He very obligingly agreed to conduct us to any part of the city, and proposed a visit to the prison, or Maison de Force, Though not a ma nager of the institution, he takes an interest in its condition and progress. We were admitted without hesitation, and conducted through the apartments, by one of the officers of the house. This prison was es tablished long before the French revolution, but much improved, in its general regulations, during the Italian reign of Bonaparte. Like most of the public institu tions we have seen, it includes, besides a large front, several interior square courts. There were, at the time of our visit, 432 prisoners, only 44 of whom were females. The latter are kept entirely out of sight of the male prisoners. When they meet in the chapel together, at mass, once a week, a skreen separates them. The rooms are large, and are preserved in a state of cleanliness, well worthy of imitation. The prisoners are all kept at work. The only employ ments practised, are those connected with the manu facture of different kinds of cloth and stuffs. Those who haye not been accustomed to this labour, soon learn to spin, twist, and even to weave. Labour is in troduced more for the purpose of preventing the evil effects of idleness, and as the means of reformation, than as a relief to the expenses of the prison. When this prison was under French regulation, one third of the gains went to the house, one third was paid month ly to the prisoners, and the remaining third was given them, at the time oftheir discharge. This regulation has been annulled by the Austrians, and the whole of 474 MILAN. the gains now goes to the house, the labour being com pulsory.* The effects of this change, the conductor informed us, is bad. The prisoner, at his discharge, having no resource, and no character, too often com mits a crime, in order to get back ; whereas, it was common for them, formerly, to leave the prison after five or six years confinement, with three or fouP hun dred francs. The Austrian System,- is much disliked by the keepers. IjThe boys, or younger convicts, are, in this prison, kept by themselves, a practice worthy pf all imitation. They receive, every day, two hours instruction in learning, and in reUgion; but, unfortu nately, (as I think,) their instructor is a priest, who has been several times immured in the house, for petty crimes. How much better to have an instructor, against whom there is no such imputation. Some of the work ing apartments of the prison are very large. In one of them, were 220 persons, mostly engaged in spin ning and weaving; but the room is divided into. re cesses, which, in some measure, obviates the objec tion, to too free an intercourse with each other. One of the rooms is called the hard prison. It receives the worst convicts, and serves also as a punishment to the refractory in the other rooms. In this apartment, their privations are greatly increased. Their bed is only a slanting board, without either straw, or a pillow of any sort, and their food equally coarse. Their legs are kept constantly chained together. They sleep two in a room, under lock. A guard is con tinually statione;| to watch them. In this apartment, there were fifty-six prisoners. The general system of * The female prisoners are, however, allowed a certain sum per day ; about one third, as I understood, of common out door wages. MILAN. 47iS this institution is lenient. The more orderly go out on the business of the house, to market, &c. but always under the eye of an attendant. The female apart ments, resembled more those of a decent work-house, than of a prison. The chief nurse of the infirmary, is a woman, condemned, as a commutation for death, to twenty years imprisonment, for the murder of her hus band, a crime which was committed at the instigation of a priest. Nineteen of the twenty years have ex pired. Her conduct in prison has been very exem plary. The infirmary, in point of cleanliness and comfort, looked better than the wards of some hospi tals we have seen. Besides mass, the prisoners at tend prayers, twice a week. In taking their meals, they do not place.themselves at table, but go down into a court in companies, receive it in bowls, and eat standing in the court, or seated on benches, under co ver from the weather. Acerbi informed us, that the writings of Beccaria have had great influence in pro ducing a more lenient and consistent course of ma nagement, in the prisons of Italy. He next conducted us to the School of Mines, where a person in attendance, opened to us a cabinet of mi nerals, of tolerable extent, though not in the best con dition. The Ichthyolites were the largest, finest, and most numerous, I have seen in any coUection. They are from Monte Bolca, in the Veronese territory. Many of those in the cabinets of Paris, have been supplied from the same place. Elephant's bones are also found there, a great number of which, are depo sited in the school at Milan. This institution is pro vided with a pretty good library of books, on minera logy and chemistry. 476 MILAN. The next institution to which our friend Acerbi led «s, is called // Pio Albergo Trivulzi, or the pious hos pital of Trivulzi. It is an asylum for poor people, who have attained the age of 70 years, and have not the means to support themselves. It was founded in 1771, by Trivulzi, a wealthy citizen, and is supported by funds left by him for the purpose. This curious and interesting institution contains 550 of these Sep- iuagenaires, about one half of whom are women. The number is always complete, there being, as we were informed, no less than from 600 to 800 candidates on the list for admission, when a place is vacated bythe decease of any one of this family of ancients. Among them are some above 100 years old, and several above 98. About one quarter of the whole number die an nually. They are fed arid clothed, as well as lodged, without cost to the public. The men are dressed in a plain, but decent and respectable style, and all alike. In walking among them, and observing their general health, and the ease and comfort in which they live, we could hardly avoid the beUef, that we were in a family of ancient worthies, whom brotherly concord had collected into one domestic circle, and whose temperate and pious lives had qualified them to " O'erleap this narrow vulgar span. And live beyond the life of man." They are not obliged to labour, but many of them prefer employment, and occupy themselves with spin ning, weaving, and knitting. A few, when the weather is good, work in the garden. The women voluntarily engage in spinning, and some of them in making lace. They all eat in one large room, which was formerly the stable of the benevolent owner. Their breakfast MILAN. 477 and dinner consist of bread, soup, and wine. We found, in the female department, a woman who was a native of Yorkshire^ England. She was confined to her bed by infirmity, but conversed with us, in En glish, with much earnestness and pleasure. The coUection of books, paintings, and statuary, called the Ambrosian library, next engaged our at tention. This is a celebrated and very interesting collection. It was founded by Frederigo Borromeo, nephew of San Carlos, whose wealth and extensive connexions enabled him to obtain, from various parts of the world, literary works, and curiosities in art, of high value. Among the busts and figures are some fine copies from Michael Angelo, and in the room of paintings, is one of the cartoons of Raphael, — the SCHOOL OF Athens. The colouring is very plain, but the spirit of the design, and the dignity of the whole piece, appeared to me very impressive, and I could scarcely avoid the belief that it must be faithful to nature. This picture was carried tp Paris, by Bona parte, but was returned with other stolen treasures, at the general pacification. The King of France offered 1 00,000 francs for it, without success. There are va rious small pieces in this room, of very fine execution. The library contains about 40,000 volumes. Though inferior in size to many we have seen, it is more re markable for containing a great number of rare and antique books and manuscripts. It is questionable. hideed, whether there is any collection in Europe, so rich in this kind of treasure ; and it is only within a few years that its value in ancient manuscripts has been duly estimated. A learned monk, of the name of Angelo Mai, has recently discovered (as we were Vol. I, 40 478 MILAN. told by the librarian) a greater number of unpublished and interesting manuscripts of thie ancients than the city of Herculaneum has furnished, since its ruins have been explored. Several of these he has clearly made out, and published. Among them are five or six ora tions of Cicero, a work of Dyonisiusof Halicarnassus, and a book of Isocrates, written on parchment We were shown Petrarch's copy of Virgil — the whole writ ten out in }iis own hand. It is a vellum book, of com mon folio size ; and the writing is executed with singu lar neatness, and with a great deal of ornament. It is enriched with the notes of the writer, which are cu rious and interesting. He states, in one of them, that he had that day attained his thirty-fourth year, in con sequence of which he placed his own likeness at tbe head of a book ; and he proves by this miniature, that poeti-y and painting are not incongruous arts. A Latin copy of Josephus was also shown us, written on pa pyrus, in the second century, and reputed to be the oldest manuscript in the world. It is very tender.* We left our friend Acerbi, with sentiments of great regard, and of gratitude for his kind attentions. 24th. We prepared this morning to leave Milan; and, from what I have observed of it, I am obliged to pronounce it the handsomest city I have seen in Eu rope. The houses are built of brick and stone, but all plaistered on the outside, and they preserve their White and cleanly appearance. The streets are in general of tolerable width, and some of them large and elegant. The pavements are peculiar. The ma- * The Abb4 Mai has since removed to Rome. He has discovered, among the ancient manuscripts in the Ubrary of the Vatican, a number of ih.ferest- ing productions, unknown totbe moderns. MILAN. 479 terials, mostly employed, are small rolled stones or pebbles, but in the middle of the streets are two rows of broad flat stones for the wheels to run on, which give an easy motion to the carriages, and effectually prevent noise. The houses are high, and a large pro portion of them elegant. The females are much more retired here than in France. During the forenoon, but few, comparatively, are seen in the streets. Their dress is neat, diflfering very little from that which is common in our American cities. The Milanese ladies, (judging from those I saw,) would not be placed in the rank of the beautiful, either in England or America; hor would they occupy a very low station in the scale of personal charms. They are of good size, and neat in their persons. Their complexion is that of a deli cate and pleasing brunette, with dark and lively eyes. Their manners appeared to be easy and graceful. Mendicity (at least that qf the streets) is scarcely known at Milan, m conseqitence of recent police re- gulations, which confine the indigent to parish work houses. The system of mutual instruction has not been introduced, though we were informed by Acerbi, that it is now a subject of conversation in the town. The poor, however, are taught at the public expense; so that it is rather uncommon for a child to go without an education. There are many private schools in Mi lan, but they are much more influenced by personal and artificial distinctions than in America, or even in England. The population of Milan is about 130,000. Its prin cipal trade consists in grain, rice, silks, and cheese. The latter is chiefly of the kind called, in the country, de Grana, but the term Parmesan is given to it in many 480 MILAN. other places. The commerce of tbe town with neigh bouring districts, is effected verymuch by canals. The city is surrounded by a double wall, which has a cir cuit of about nine miles. Many of the trades are con ducted each in a distinct quarter. In one street there are more than a hundred jeweller's shops; some of which are extremely rich, affording an evident proof of the opulence of the city. Having engaged a voiturier, to take us to Genoa, for nine Napoleons, (three each,) and to furnish us with provisions as before, we left Milan, at seven, with no company but our own. The road lay upon the side of a large and very fine canal, called the JVa- viglio. As the country, through which it extends, is very level, we saw but few locks, but those appeared to be exceedingly well constructed. From this main canal, water courses are carried into the fields, and distributed, so as to produce an ample irrigation in dry seasons. The mulberry is extensively cultivated in the plains of Lombardy. The road along the canal was in the best order. An Italian gentleman joined us, for a short distance, at a village, through which we passed, and we found him a pleasant agreeable, man. He stopped with us at the village of Certusa, and we walked to the church of la Chartreuse, an edifice which attracts the curiosity of numerous travellers. It con stitutes part of a celebrated monastery, situated about three miles from Pavia, and at some distance from the high road. We approached it through a wide and beautiful avenue of tilias and poplars, which ended in a spacious court, with the superb front of the church in white marble, full before us. This convent, one of the richest in Europe, was suppressed by Joseph II. CERTUSA. 481 of Austria. It supported but twenty-six monks, each of whom had a neat little habitation, containing seve ral apartments, and a small garden. These dwellings are connected together, round a square area, each opening into a corridor or piazza. The church of the convent, " Maria de la Grazie," is one of the very richest in Europe. Besides the principal altar, at which the priest officiates for the benefit of the spec tators assembled in the grand aisle, there are, next fhe walls, seventeen private compartments, with each an altar and altar-piece. In all of these, as well as in the main buUding, there are fine and costly paintings. The richness of the building consists (in addition to its marble architecture) in the wealth lavished upon the altars. Besides the finest marble, of almost every variety which Italy affords, precious stones, of the most elegant hue and polish, are used to decorate this temple of private Christian worship ! They consist chiefly of carnelians, agates, and the lapis lazuli. Tbe principal altar has the noble garnet,finely crystallized, distributed among the other gems. In a retired part of the building is an altar, formed entirely of ivory derived from the hippopotamus. It consists of finely wrought, carved representations of the principal events of the Old Testament history. The inscription on this church, is " Mariae Virgine Matri filie sponse Dei." It serves at present f believe, no other purpose thah as a place where mass is said to a few peasants, and as an object of curiosity to visiters, who naturally wish to stop half an hour to look at this splendid monument of monkish extravagance and superstition. By the suppression of this monastery about £20,000 sterling per annum passed to the government. 40* 482 PAVIA. Chi our approach to Pavia, we passed the ruins of a park of twenty miles in circumference, in which the famous battle was fought between Charles V. and Francis I., which ended in the total overthrow of the latter monarch. The captured kmg, it is said, was taken to the Abbey of Certusa, and entering the church while the monks were chanting the one hun dred and nineteenth Psalm, he immediately joined the choir in the seVenty-first verse — " It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; that I might learn thy statutes." We arrived at Pavia at ten o'clock, and after dining, called to deliver our letter of introduction to Professor Configliachi, who is also vice president of the university. 1 received, at the inn, the unpleasant intelligence of the death of Brugnatellis, professor of chemistry. He died about three hours before our arrival, after an illness of a month. Not finding Con figliachi at hiis lodgings, we took a garden, and were conducted to the public rooms of the university. The first object of our attention was tbe museum. This occupies a very large apartment, and contains a remarkably fine collection of objects in natural his tory, all accurately classed according to the Linnean system. In the animal kingdom, it 'is very rich and valuable, containing, besides the animals in their per fect state, a great variety of lusus 'naturae. A lamb, with one eye in the centre of his forehead ; a dog, with two heads, three eyes, and four hind legs; a double egg ; a goose with two heads, and four legs ; a large and perfectly white peacock, — were among the deviations from the order of nature. Inoticed the Palamedea Cornuta, a bird of Cayenne, with a horn PAVIA. 483 of considerable fength at the elbow of each wing, and another large horn on the bead., A large hippopota mus, an elephant, and several other animals in good preservation, occupy the central parts of the room. In entomology, the collection is remarkably rich, more especially in aquatic insects. The minerals fiU two or three rooms, one of considerable size being consigned to the metals alone. In the princi pal room, there is a double collection, — one on the walls arranged according to Linnseus, and one in the centre on the system of the Abbe Haiiy. Among the specimens of asbestos, are two large gloves made of that material. They are very heavy and cold when put on the hand. The university is indebted for this large and valu able museum, chiefly to the industry, zeal, and talent of Spallanzani, who was its professor of natural his tory. This great naturalist died in this town in 1799. The library of the university contains about 85,000 volumes, including most of the splendid works pub lished in France during Napoleon's sway. TVie ana tomical museum is in three apartments, viz. Compa rative Anatomy, Human Anatomy and Pathology, and Surgical Instruments and Bandages. Two fuU sized wax-figures, male and female, iUustrative of the whole system of circulation, made by Fontana, in the first rate style of neatness, grace this collection. The anatomical theatre is semicircular, with a lofty ceil ing. The seats are wide and convenient. The walls and ceUing of this room, as well as most of the others, are painted in fresco. The dissecting room attached to the theatre, is ample and commo dious. 484 PAVIA. We called at five on Configliachi, and found him at home. He occupies rooms in an old convent. The first into which we were introduced, contained a long table, aparently for billiards ; an amusement at which, it is probable, the professors relax a little from the severity of science, though 1 can affirm nothing posi tive on this head. He received us aflfably, and enter ed immediately into an easy and communicative style of conversation in French. He is about thirty-five, tall, and with an open countenance. We spent half an hour, and accepted an invitation to breakfast with him the next morning. 25th. At eight we waited on Configliachi, and took a breakfast on "caffe au lait," after which he conducted us to the cabinet of natural philosophy, in tbe univer sity. He showed me several numb^flrs of the scienti fic journal, publishedby himself and Brugnatelli, and spoke of the death of the latter, as a great loss to the university. The apparatus chamber is very large, and, after going through our examination of the collection, I must acknowledge it to be one of the best, for prac tical purposes, I have yet seen. The instruments are not in that style of splendour, and show, which dis tinguish some of the Paris collections, but they are, I think, more multiplied, and more generally adapted to science. They are preserved in glass cases, of ches- nut wood, the top of each case being marked with that branch of physics which the apparatus it con tains is intended to iUustrate. The optical instru ments are very various. One room is appropriated to optical experiments, being painted black, and having but one window. A pair of double bellows, were shown us by Configliachi, contrived by himself, by which inspiration and expiration are alternately pro- PAVIA, 485 duCed, by the same act of blowing. They are intend ed as an improvement on the instrument commonly used in cases of asphyxia. The lecture room, for na tural philosophy, is a handsome apartment, well seat ed, and with painted walls and ceiling. On one side of the room, is a statue of Gallileo GalUlei, and on the opposite, one of Beimeventino. The figures of New ton and Franklin, are also exhibited, in bas relief In a room below. Professor C. showed us the apparatus used by the teachers of the principles of engineering. It contained large models of canals, with locks of dif ferent kinds, pile engines, hydraulic machines, &c. On taking us into the room for examinations, " voila," said he, " ou on forge les docteurs." This university is large, and in high repute. The number of students that annually attend, is from eight hundred to a thou sand. As in most of the colleges and universities on the continent, they do not live in common, but board in the town. The professors are divided into three faculties : First, Legale Politica, including the prin ciples of commerce, navigation, statistics, political economy, and civil law. Second, Medico-Chirurgico- Farmaceutica; and TTiiVc?, Filosofica. In the first of these faculties, there is a professor of civil and cri minal law ; a professor of the statistics of Europe in general, and of Austria in particular ; a professor of rural economy ; a professor of Roman law ; a profes sor of ecclesiastical law ; a professor of the universal civil law of Austria, and of the diflference between it and the French law ; a professor of the mercantile law of Austria ; a professor of poUtical science, with an explication of the Austrian penal code ; and a profes sor of the practice of courts, notaries, &c. In the se- 486 PAVIA. cond faculty, there is a professor of the introduction to the study of medicine and surgery ; a professor of hu man anatomy ; a professor of mineralogy ; a professor of botany ; a professor of zoology ; a professor of comparative anatomy, and physiology; a professor of chemistry, general, animal, and pharmaceutical; a professor of general pathology, causes, and symptoms ; a professor of dietetics, pharmaceutical symbols, and materia medica; a professor of the introduction to, and theory of surgery ; a professor of theoretical ob stetrics, and exercises with the obstetrical machine; a professor of theoretical and practical instructions upon diseases of the eye ; a professor of special the rapeutics, of internal diseases, and of clinical me dicine ; a professor of veterinary science ; a professor of legal medicine and medical politics ; a professor of physiology, general pathology, and therapeutics; a professor of practical and clinical surgery ; and a pro fessor of remedies for asphyxia. The third faculty, comprehends a professor of religious instruction ; a professor of the theory of philosophy ; a professor of the elements of pure mathematics ; a professor of uni versal history; a professor of the Greek language; a professor of experimental and general physics ; a pro fessor of practical and moral philosophy ; a professor of the higher Latin classics ; a professor of the history of the Austrian States of Germany and Italy; a pro fessor of natural history; a professor of Greek philo logy ; a professor of pedagogia ; a professor of the higher mathematics, or sublime calculus; a professor of physico-mathematics ; a professor of architecture ; a professor of mathematical astronomy; a professor of integral and differential calculus ; and a professor PAVIA. 487 of idrometria and geodesia. This very remarkable course of instruction, is conducted by thirty-three pro fessors, only one of whom occupies a station in two distinct faculties ; but some of them must, of course, hold several stations in the same faculty. 1 know not what some of the great universities of Germany may do, in the way of a sub-division of human knowledge, but if tbe students of this school, do not turn out learn ed men, it will not, I think, be for want of a classifica tion, of the objects oftheir pursuit. Ihave extracted the list from a printed paper, of the present year, gi ven me by Configliachi. There are several emeritian professors, some of whom reside at the university. Of these, three are directors, viz. Tamburini, of the faculty of la«* ; Scar pa, of medicine ; and Volta, of philosophy. It was with much regret I learned, that in consequence of the existing vacation of the school, the two latter di rectors were absent from Pavia. Volta, was on a visit at Como, his former residence. To have seen men of so much distinction, in their respective departments of science, could not fail to increase the number of a traveller's agreeable recollections. In consequence of the recent death of Brugnatelli, the laboratory was not accessible. It is at present at some distance from the university, but measures are now in hand, to es tablish the chemical rooms within the walls, and in an improved form. The buildings of this large insti tution, are conformable to the f cry general arrange ment of hollow squares, with corridors, next to the court, in every story. There are four of these courts within the enclosure of the university. This adds greatly to the pleasantness and convenience of the 488 pavia. rooms, though it must, I think, be a much more expen sive mode of building, than that of one or more de tached and compact houses. There are, besides the university, several colleges in Pavia. One of these was established by a former Pope, and contains ac commodations for 160 students. We visited another, founded by Charles Borromeus, and which is called after him. This college contains a large hall, the ceiling of which is painted, in a flourishing style of design and colouring, all in honour of San Carlos. Thirty-six students only, are educated in this institu tion, but they are clothed, lodged, fed, and instructed, entirely by the funds of the college, and in a building, which; fromits size and convenience, might easily ac- commodat)^ thrice the number. A third college, which we did notf'visit, contains eighteen students. Attached to the University is a hospital, which, on the morning of our visit, included 277 patients. We found it in excellent condition, the patients well classed, and the wards and other apartments, clean and comfortable. The kitchen and laboratory ap peared to be managed with superior judgment. At tached to the latter, is a lecture room, in which in struction is given to the students in pharmaceutical chemistry. The furnaces and chemical apparatus appeared in good order. The soup made in the kitchen was improved by the grating of the bread. The machine used for this purpose, is simple and in genious. A wooden box contains a cylindrical grater of tin, which turns by a winch and handle. The loaf is stuck upon a wooden bar, and pressed against the grater by the action of a heavy weight, which can be lessened or increased at pleasure. The opera- LOMBARDY. 489 tion is very expeditious and eflfectual. There is also a good library in the hospital, in the chamber of which is a tableau, executed under the direction of Scarpa, exhibiting the appearances of the eye, in all the forms of disease to which it is liable. Pavia contains about 22,000 inhabitants. It is an ancient, but handsome town. Several high towers remain in it in good condition, the relics of Gothic taste. They are applied to no important use, nor is it easy to conceive, for what purpose they were de signed. We set off for Genoa with an addition of four or five passengers, who had arrived from Milan in the morning. We crossed the river Tessin, or Tici no, on a long, covered, wooden bridge. This river^ which communicates with Milan by the canal before mentioned, is too shallow to admit of any other navigation than boats of moderate size. Rice is cultivated in large quantities in the neighbourhood of Pavia; the facility of irrigation and the general level of the country, contributing essentially to the means of its production. Soon after crossing the river, we entered the Sardinian territory. Our pass ports were again examined, and our journey was re tarded nearly an hour, in consequence of a box of merchandise,, which belonged to one of the passen gers. It appeared, at this place, that two of our company were inhabitants of Florence ; one was a Genoese, another a Swiss, and a third a trader, who spoke Italian, French, and German, One of the Florentines was a Count Petro p******, a man of about thirty-five, and the other his cara amica, whom he was conducting to Genoa. She was older than Vol, I. 41 490 RIVER PO. himself, but of a singularly clear and blooming com plexion, and a bright dark eye. She spoke French fluently, her cicisbeo not so well. The Swiss was a pleasant young man from Nyon, who had resided some time in Italy, and was occupied chiefly as an agent for commercial houses. We crossed the river Po about three o'clock, on a bridge of boats. The country along its border is flat and not very fertile. There is no village, nor even a single house at the bridge, except a habitation on the middle of it, which serves as a lodging for the toll-gatherer. The river is so wide, as to require fifty- three large boats for the support of this bridge. These are placed abreast of each other, and fastened by chains to smaller boats, which are anchored at a short distance up the stream. The banks of this river, at least in the neighbourhood of this bridge, have nothing of that picturesque character which is so commonly ascribed to Italian scenery. We saw nothing that would justify the second line of Pope's couplet. O'er golden sands let rich Pactolus flow. And trees weep amber on the banks of Po. We reached Voghere, a frontier town of Sardinia, about dark, and found good quarters. My friends and myself took a room, where we had a fire and supper to ourselves ; not finding in the conversation of our stage company, any thing to compensate for the loss of an evening, which might be devoted to our books or pens. 26th. We were called up at half past three. The country continued to be level, and notwithstanding JOURNEY TO GENOA. 491 the long continuance of dry weather, water was per colating the fields through artificial furrows and pre serving the ground sufficiently moist for a lively vege tation. There were more women at work in the fields than men. The labouring men, or at least the poorer sort, in all the parts of Italy that we have travelled through, go bare legged. They wear breeches but no stockings, frequently with shoes, but often without This mode of dress gives them a mean appearance. In the course of this morning's ride, we passed very near the plain of Marengo, where was acted one of those high tragedies, with which Bonaparte so often amused and flattered the great nation. The play of Marengo was highly glorious, for it placed the iron crown on the head of the chief actor. Fifteen thou sand Austrian subjects left upon the field, and a cor responding number of French, was part of the exhi bition ; but what was that, to the joy felt in Paris at the possession of the iron crown ! But where are now the crown, the actor, and the glory of the tri umph ? " Sic transit gloria mundi !" Our road led us through Tortona, a pretty large town, where was formerly, a very strong fortification and a garrison of 10,000 men. The fortification no longer exists, and the garrison is dispersed, leaving the town, in my opinion, safer than it was before. But it will be long, probably very long, before nations will be convinced that a hostile attitude only invites ag gression, and that the art of war is but the art of self- injury or self-destruction. ' .1 , .,, 492 JOURNEY FROM MILAN From Tortona we travelled many miles upon a road constructed by order of Napoleon. It showed the same attention to stability and permanency, which characterizes his other improvements of this nature. The inhabitants of this part of the country, and in deed those of Tortona, are swarthy and badly dress ed. There is a manifest diflference between their appearance, and that of the inhabitants of Austrian Italy, which is much in favour of the latter. Figs were seen this morning growing in the open ground. The principal crops are wheat, rye and rice. We dined at Novi, a pretty large town, with high houses and narrow, dirty streets. We were furnished how ever with a good dinner, and good attendance. The Appenines presented themselves to our view on leaving this place, and the road very soon became rough and hilly. The villages through which we passed, present nothing of the cleanly and comfortable appearance of our American country towns. In the article of comfort, these people are at least a century behind the United States. Is it possible that the bulk of a nation ought to ask its king, whether they are to be happy or wretched .-* The fault is certainly not in the soil or the climate. Fruit is raised in abundance and exposed for sale in great variety at every place. It appears however to be within the reach of very few ; not because it is dear, but because there are so ma ny who have nothing to buy with. We had this day. a curious, but perhaps not an uncommon, specimen of manners, strictly Italian, in the general conduct of Count Petro P******, and his amoroso. It was mark ed by the most devoted attention on his part, and an TO GENOA. 493 almost incessant prattle on hers. Nothing but the melodious accents of the Italian language, which ope rates upon the ear like music, could reconcile us to such company. However, one of the advantages of a public carriage, is the lesson which it affords, in the practical knowledge of our species. This woman had left a husband in Florence, and with his consent was taking this journey. She had a son grown up, and holding a place, as we were told, in the Pope's life guards ; and yet was she travelling throjugh the country with this count, apparently, from no other motive than that of pleasure ! We passed Gavi, a town at the foot of the mountains ; and, as the night was beginning to close upon us, arrived at Voltaggio to lodge. 27th. We departed early, and had a long ascent. These mountains are different in their features from the Alps, more broken, much more devoid of strati fied rocks, more conglomerate, as if heaped up in haste, or formed by some tumultuous deposition. This part of the Appenines appears, too, to be less productive of grass, than the valleys of the Alps. It was not far from noon, when, reaching the sum mit of the Bochetta, one of the highest of the maritime Appenines, we obtained a full and fine view of the Mediterranean, with several ships under full sail, moving upon it. The sight greatly animated our spirits, and stimulated our imaginations, for here we were certainly on classic ground. The road being extremely rough, we walked a long distance down the mountain. At Campomarone, a little village, we stopped to dine, but alas for our mountain apetites,— it was St Simon's day ; and to try the fidelity of his 41* 494 JOURNEY FROM MILAN believers, it was ordered that they should abstain from meat. Our inn, therefore, could afford no thing but eggs and fresh anchovies, with coffee and bread and butter. The anchovies being to me, in their fresh state, a new dish, I was willing, for once, to conform to the calendar, and have nothing to do, with either beef, mutton, or pork. The dishes, especially the anchovies, were good, and we fared, probably, quite as well as those who paid no regard to saints. On leaving this place our Italian count got into a fu rious passion with the Genoese passenger, for not lea ving the seat the latter had occupied in the cabriolet the whole journey, and allow him to take it, that he might be along side of his dukinea, who had chosen to place herself in front, and ride, for a while, indepen dently of her gallant. But his jealousy would not suffer this. He ordered the man from his seat, which the latter refused to comply with. He then directed the lady to come down ; and after many remonstran ces, she thought best to yield, and resume her sta tion in the coach ; but he was so highly oflfended as to refuse to get in, and we set off without him. He walked sulkily along, for some time, till one or two of the passengers, out of compassion for the woman, got out and tried to sooth him. He came up, and burst out again into such a fit of passion at the unoi^ fending passenger, that had not the others interfered, he would have thrown a large stone at his head. He became more calm by degrees, and at length got into the coach. Such was the conduct of a man bearing the title of count ; and such is the dominion of passion, when it is suffered habitually to overstep the bounds of moraUty. Near Campomarona, we passed the lit- TO GENOA. 495 tie river Polcevera, and travelled on an excellent road, made at the expense of the family of Cambiaso, when a noble of that family was Doge of Genoa. We met, on this road, an astonishing number of mules and asses, conveying goods from Genoa, in large boxes suspended on each side of the animals. Excepting liquors and groceries, the transport of merchandise from that town to the interior, is eflfected on the backs of these diminutive creatures. The valley of the Polcevera, and the vicinity of Genoa, are ex tremely interesting from the number of large and elegant country houses ofits wealthy citizens, and the picturesque situations in which they are placed. On the top of a high hill is a church dedicated to " JVb- tre Dame del Mare." Thither the sailors and ship owners, who believe in the protection of the saints, climb, to prefer their supplications for the success of their adventures on the boisterous deep. To propi tiate more eflfectually the favour of the Virgin, the seamen often bring presents to her shrine, of some part of their cargo, or of ropes, blocks, old sails, and other moveable parts of the ship! The sea, as we approached it, was quite calm. The lighthouse, a high tower on the brink of the wa ter, is a conspicuous and beautiful object, and the view of the city of Genoa, as we advanced along the shore, was truly grand. It is built at the bottom of a bay, from the circumference of which, rises, in ra pid ascent, an amphitheatre of abrupt and high hills, which art has converted into gardens, and ornamen ted with houses, many of which are elegant and sump tuous. It is surrounded by two walls, — one enclosing the city only, within the circumference of six miles ; 496 GENOA. while the other comprehends a number of hills, villas, and fortresses, and has a circuit of thirteen miles. We passed the gates without difficulty from the gens d'arms, a franc from one of the passengers, being sufficient to convince them that it was unne cessary to unlock our trunks and examine their con tents. At the Hotel de Londres, situated immediate ly on the bay, we were accommodated with a good chamber in the seventh story. LETTER XVn. Marseilles, llth month, {JYovember) 3, 1818, My dear *****, At Milan the air was so cool as to render afire in our chamber necessary to comfort ; but we enjoyed, this morning (the 28th,) the mildness of a fine day in spring. Having engaged a cicerone, we called first on T*****, an English merchant, who has been some time settled here, and to whom one of my companions had a letter of introduction. He lives in a kind of palace, — a house with a large interior court, a wide and lofty staircase, and numerous rooms. Of these large buildings there are many in Genoa. He re ceived us politely, talked of trade, informed us that he had once travelled from Genoa to London, by post, in eight days, though detained ten hours in Parisy and finished by inviting us to dinner the next day. At the house of De la Rue, a banker, where I had occasion to call, we were informed of a steam-boat, GENOA. 497 then at Genoa, and bound in a few days to Marseilles. She was built at Naples, and was intended for a pas sage boat on the borders of this sea. We went to look at her, with a view of embracing so unexpected and favourable an opportunity of pursuing our route, if the boat should appear in good condition. The engine, we found, was English, and managed by an English engineer. The accommodations, though far inferior to those in American steam-boats, were not such as to prevent us from deciding upon a passage in her, if nothing further should occur to oppose it. We called on Dr. M***^, with an introduction from Acer bi, of Milan. His brother, to whom he introduced us, is professor of chemistry in the university, and keeps a Farmada, or druggist's shop, in a degree of neatness that we thought worthy of remark. His articles were classed according to their composition, under four principal heads ; Metalli, Simplici, Acidi, and Alkoholi. The doctor and professor both accompanied us to the university, a large building in the centre of the town, formerly a college of Jesuits. We ascended, on en tering, a flight of wide marble steps, with two statues of large lions crouching at the foot, as if to support the massive weight of the staircases. They exhibited to us the philosophical apparatus — a tolerable collec tion, though trifling compared with that at Pavia, and inferior indeed to several private collections in Ame rica. We were introduced in the coUege, to V******, professor of natural history, a gentleman of modest pretensions, but of much scientific merit. His cabinet of minerals, though of recent preparation, bids fair to become respectable. The university has, at present, about 150 students ; sixty of whom are in the medical 498 GENOA. class. It comprehends four faculties, viz. Science, Law, Medicine, and Theology. We spent half an hour in a reading room, provided with French and Swiss newspapers, and a few literary journals. A small newspaper, printed in Lausanne, (I believe daily,) has a very extensive circulation in the southern parts of Europe, from the sensible, mo derate, and judicious manner in which the editor no tices the political features of the passing moment. In a trip to the light-house this afternoon, we had, from the water, an interesting view of the town, and of the mountains around it With " weary steps, and slow," we ascended to the lantern, and feasted our eyes on the charming scenery. The sea was calm, the sky clear, and the air mild and refreshing. Dolphins were sporting at no great distance from the base of the tower. Numerous small boats were moving on the surface. Savona, the town in which Columbus was born, could be discerned in the western horizon, while toward the east, the city, with its hundred pa laces, and its fine gardens, was spread like a map be fore us. On our return, we stopped at the palace of Doria, whose family fills so important a space in the records of Genoa. It is a large building, but without any marks of exterior elegance. 29th. Dr. M**** conducted us, this morning, to the hospital, celebrated for its architecture, and the num ber of patients it usually contains. It is a fine build ing, with wide marble stairs and columns. Upon entering, we were struck with the great number of statues, larger than life, placed in elevated and con spicuous places along the walls. They are the repre- GENOA. 499 sentatives of those benevolent persons who have con tributed liberally to the funds of the institution. The statues of those who gave to the amount of 100,000 livres (about £2,800 sterling) are placed at their ease, in a sitting posture, while those, whose purses were not quite so long, or hearts more narrow, are con demned for ever to an erect position. These huge statues, figuring like giants in a castle, are badly ex ecuted in marble, and have become so black with dust and smoke, that it would be difficult to say whether the benefactor was a Moor or a Christian, but for the Catholic place in which he is deposited. The general appearance of this hospital soon convinced us, that there was a great deficiency in the attention it receives from its managers and nurses. Cleanliness is much nej glected. The beds are placed in a double tier, with very little space between them. The house contained about 1000 patients, at the time of our visit, but the number sometimes swells to 2 and 3000. Only seven of the sisters of charity are engaged here, the other nurses being hired. It is attended by four physicians and four surgeons, with their assistants. It is sup ported in part by legacies, the deficiency being made up by government. The cases taken to this hospital are all considered as remediable. One apartment is appropriated to wounds arising from accidents — a re gulation which we found to exist also at Milan. This gave rise to a mistake, in one very respectable English traveller, who, in his published journal, relates, that, in the hospital of Genoa, one room is assigned to those who have been wounded with the stiletto ; and he adduces it as an evidence of the deplorable state of morals in that city. We next visited the hospital 500 GBNOA. for incurables and insane. It contains, in the whole, 700, whose condition, in general, denotes the absence of judgment, cleanliness, and tenderness. It includes seventy male lunatics, and a greater number of fe male. Forty of these poor creatures were chained down in their beds, and seldom allowed the use oftheir limbs, or the enjoyment of fresh air. It was the most affecting and disgusting bedlam I ever saw. In ofie room were 300 of the incurables, some of them exhi biting the most appalling maladies which flesh is heir to. A considerable proportion of these are children. The inattention and neglect, apparent in these hospi tals, are ascribed, by most persons, to a dereliction of order and principle, consequent upon the political changes of the country, and the introduction of a feeble, and, at the same time, a bigotted government. The effect of this change is felt, in all the institutions of Genoa. This town is the only seaport of any consequence in Sardinia, and yet its commerce receives no protec tion, no fostering encouragement from the government The university languishes for want of the aid which a liberal and enlightened policy might give it; and fears are entertained, that the building which it occupies, will, ere long, revert to the Jesuits. The church of St Ambrose contains a great number of pictures, of which two are from the pencil of Ru bens. Not choosing to take off my hat, on entering, the man at the door of this church, rather than lose his fee, permitted me to go in ; but the superstitious fellow, either to clear himself of the sin, or to atone for my profanation of the place, kneeled and crossed himself and bowed, at every little image he came to, in fol- GENOA. 501 lowing us round. We visited in our walk, the old temple of San Stephano, in a low and damp situation, but remarkable for its altar piece, the stoning of Ste phen, by Raphael and his pupil .Tulio Romano. The figures are singularly expressive, especially the savage fierceness of the ruffians, who are in the act of cast ing enormous stones upon the dying martyr, whose resigned and pious looks bespeak the mild but irre sistible force of the faith for which he died. The upper part of the picture, is an attempt to represent the celestial benediction upon the devotedness of this Christian hero. The countenance of the Saviour, whose arm is stretched out towards him, is replete with the most animating benignity. We accepted to-day, the invitation of T***** to dine with him. His wife was confined by indisposi tion to her chamber, and mostly to her bed. But as the company of strangers, who could converse in the English tongue, was not very often to be enjoyed in Genoa, we were invited into her room. She is young and handsome, and from her style of conversation, possesses a mind more than usually brilliant. She was suffering from a protracted and obstinate cold, which affected her nervous system, and was attended with cough. Notwithstanding the mildness of this climate, colds, and even consumptions, are not unusual. Seve ral persons were invited to dine with us ; and it was something of a treat to us, to sit down once more to a table in the English mode. The fish of the Medi terranean are considered as excellent. Provisions, and living in general, were stated by the gentlemen present, to be less than one half of the usual prices in English towns, A partner of our host had recently Vol. I. 42 502 GENOA. removed here from England, with his family, and had taken a house with seventeen rooms in it, for £24 sterling per annum. The government of Sardinia, we were informed, appears every where to be despised. The country is completely priest-ridden. The streets of Genoa, indeed, abound with them ; and from their looks, one would certainly imagine, that they lived much to their liking. They have a robust and contented air, and are, upon the whole, both here and in other places, a set of unusually fine looking men. There are more Capuchins in Genoa, than I have any where else met with. Their dress is a coarse coat, or mantle, of gray cloth, feet bare, except sandals, no covering on the head, and a belt or string round the waist, from which is suspended a rope, with a knot in its lower end. This is understood to be for the purpose of self- flagellation, in order to expel the wicked one, when they find he is about to assault their spiritual house. But, if the information communicated at our table to day be true, (and it was presented in no question able shape,) the knots of these monks are often too soft, and altogether insufficient for the purpose of re pelling the enemy. In short the opinion is common, that the actual lives of these people, are, in a certain sense, extremely immoral. The Capuchins profess and possess a great degree of ignorance ; but igno rance is, certainly, not the pledge of virtue. I was sorry to learn, that though there are fifty English inhabitants in Genoa, they have no settled worship, and but little true society is maintained amongst them. Their principal object being the gains of trade, in which pursuit they are rivals, they GENOA. 503 suflfer frivolous jealousies to divide them, and to cut them off" from one of the highest of all earthly bless ings — the enjoyment of loving and being beloved, by those with whom we are connected. We were surprised to see in the hospitals and in the streets, so much of the small-pox, notwithstand ing that vaccination is offered gratis to the poor. But the difficulty was explained whki we were in formed, that the monks oppose the progress of vac cination, and propagate the opinion, that, as God sent the other disease, it ought to be submitted to. Our informants are fully persuaded, that the state of so ciety in Genoa, is in a rapid retrograde movement, and that it has already gone back more than a cen tury; an effect, altogether to be ascribed to the late political changes. Though I am aware that great allowances are to be made for the bias of political opinions, there are many obvious proofs of the just ness of these conclusions, to an extent greatly to be regretted. Many of the streets of Genoa, are too narrow for any carriage to pass, except a wheel barrow, and yet these are places of populous and busy resort One of these narrow passages is appropriated to gold smiths and jewellers, and glitters from one end to the other, with the riches of their various ornaments. A taste for finery, is an evident and striking trait in the females of this ancient republic. 30th. Our guide conducted us this morning to the school for the deaf and dumb. This establishment contains about twenty boys. Their principal in structor, Ottavia Giovanni Battista Affarotti, is a learned monk. As our visit was necessarily short. 504 GENOA. from the want of time^ we saw the boys only in the school room. They performed before us an exercise which was really surprising. A question in Algebra was given to three of them, involving three unknown quantities x, y, and z. On a large black board, the conditions of the question were written down by them, from the signs or gestures of the teacher, and each of the boys in succession, deduced the values of the letters; the first found the value of x, the second with the aid of that, found the value of y, and the third that of z. They were sometimes a little puzzled or disconcerted, but were rectified by the motions of the monk, who appeared vexed, I thought, at their dull ness. If this was not a hackneyed question, as we had no reason to suppose from what appeared, it evin ced the wonderful precision, with which the most ab stract knowledge can be conveyed to the deaf and dumb. We were about to depart, when the good monk requested us to wait a few minutes longer. He asked my name, and on taking my card, he held it concealed in his hand, and directed one of the boys to write my name on the board. The intercourse between them was altogether by signs. They first wrote Monsieur. He next told them to write the name of the apostle that was the most beloved by our Sa viour. They immediately wrote, Jean. He then told them to put down the fifth letter of the word which expressed joy. They wrote the letter G, and under it, to show how they obtained it, they wrote allegresso. Next they were told to join the last letter of the name of the most celebrated of the Roman conquerors. R, was added to the G, and the word Ccesar, put underneath. Then, the second letter of GENOA. 505 the name of the king of animals. I, was placed along side the R, and Lion, written below. Then, the first letter of the term for wisdom. S, was attached to the I, and sagesse, written. The first letter of the name of the ferryman that conveyed his unwilling passen gers over the Styx. C, and Caron. The fourth let ter in the name of the patriarch that had a stone for his pillow. O, and Jacob. Lastly, the second let ter of the last discovered quarter of the globe. M, and America, were in like manner written. My name was thus in full, and with wonderful dexterity made out. The countenances and manners of these chil dren, bespoke great mental activity and inquisi- tiveness ; and 1 never witnessed an exercise which so clearly demonstrated the power which mind possesses over mind, under circumstances so unfavourable to the developement of its faculties. Some of the streets of Genoa are remarkable for being occupied on each side by nothing but houses of so large a size and so richly furnished as to vie in splendour with many of the palaces of Europe. The Strada Nuova and Strada Balbi, are not excelled, I should imagine, by any two streets in Europe, for the uniform magnificence of their buildings. They are mostly painted on the outside, with ornamental fig ures, and some of them of no mean execution, giv ing to a whole street, a scenic effect that is truly imposing. We stopped at the Palace de Serrar, and were admitted by the porter into two or three of the principal apartments. The nicely waxed floor, the profusion of gilding, the numberless reflections from the mirrors, extending from the top to the bot tom of the rooms, the finely painted ceUings, the 42* S06 GENOA. richness of the furniture, tapestry, &c. are all calcula ted to awaken the vulgar gaze, and either to put sim plicity to the blush, or to excite the natural and rea sonable inquiry, of what use is all this prodigality of wealth ? does it contribute to the dignity and happi ness of man ? In this street, we were more beset with beggars, than we had been any where else in our jour ney. Some of them were almost naked, and extreme ly pertinacious in their demands for charity. Such A contrast, between the sumptuousness of a city, and the extreme poverty of many of its inhabitants, is, perhaps, no where so striking, as it is in this place. Our steps were next directed to the Albergo de Po veri, or hotel for the poor ; a large building, situated on high ground, and rather remarkable for the taste, as well as strength ofits architecture. It is a general wb^-houoe, and from its extent, one would think it sufficient to relieve all the poor of Genoa from want, or, at least, from that pinching penury, which leads them to street beggary. This effect it probably would produce, if begging was strictly prohibited, instead of being, as it is, encouraged by the religious prejudices of the people. In the Albergo de Poveri, any person raay present himself, and ask for employment ; and un less there be something extremely unreasonable in the request, he is admitted into the house, fed, clo thed, and lodged, and the balance of his labour, if any be due, paid him whenever he chooses to withdraw. The house contained, at the time of our visit, about 1100 women, and 400 men. The women were em ployed in spinning, weaving, embroidery, in making artificial flowers, and silk ribands. The rooms exhi bited an interesting display of activity and skill. The GENOA. 507 men were engaged in weaving coarse stuffs, as tick ing, &c. The amount of the labour falls short of the expenditures of the house, but in what proportion, I did not learn. The deficiencies are supplied by do nations, and by government ; and some of its princi pal benefactors are honoured, as in the hospitals, by having their statues placed in the hall and anticham ber, either seated or standing, as their merits de served. In the chapel of this large house, are a num ber of paintings, and a statue, by Michael Angelo, of the Virgin, supporting the dead body of Christ. It is in strong relief, and is considered as one of the most exquisite pieces of sculpture, ever executed by that great master of the art. From this famous " tavern," we retired to our inn, dined, and prepared to leave Genoa. Professor V****** called, and gave me several specimens of minerals of the neighbourhood, and signified his de sire of a correspondence, on subjects of science. The city of Genoa, certainly presents many ob jects of great interest to the traveUer, notwithstanding that it appears to have passed, long since, its meri dian of prosperity. Its history, as is well known, is highly curious and instructive, furnishing a salutary lesson, with respect to the influence of governments, upon the morals and happiness of a people. Its po sition is exceedingly beautiful, and its climate that of an almost perennial spring. It is rare that snow falls, and water but seldom freezes in the streets, notwith standing that its latitude corresponds with that of Lake Champlain, in the United States. The cha racter of the Genoese, is reputed to be unfavourable (o simplicity and honesty. Craftiness at a bargain, and 508 GENOA. an avidity for gain, with but too little scruple about the means, are said to be characteristics of the citi zens of this town. This remark, however, is by no means applicable to the bankers, and regular mer chants. The women are not remarkably handsome. In the streets, they wear thin shawls, which hang over the head, and fall loosely down the back, with the corners folded round the arms. We had no op portunity of making personal inquiries, into their wit or knowledge, and, what is of higher importance, their domestic virtues ; but, presuming that they are influ enced by a depressing system of faith and govern ment, as well as the other sex, we should not have entered on the inquiry, with an expectation of finding any thing superior to the female accomplishment of England and America, but greatly the reverse. The markets were amply supplied with the finest fruit, and in great variety. Fresh figs were plentiful. There was one kind of fruit in the market, we had never seen before, though it was cheap, and very pa latable. It is of the size of a small plumb, covered with fine bristles, or down, which does not hurt the mouth. The colour is a bright scarlet red. It is a very showy fruit ; its substance is a soft farinaceous pulp, and its taste sweet and agreeable. Its trivial name, in the market, is Corbezzola. The plant is the Arbutus Unedo, (strawberry-tree,) an evergreen, com mon to the hills round Genoa, but rather rare in other places. It grows in the island of Corsica, where the juice of its fruit is converted into an agreeable wine. Having taken our passage in the steam-boat, for Marseilles, Dr. S***, and myself, took leave of our companion, B. D******, who was going into the south of ' PASSAGE TO MARSEILLES. 509 Italy: our parting was with mutual regret, for we had ever found in our friend, qualities, which rendered him a very pleasant and intelligent fellow-travell^er, well acquainted with the history of the countries we were passing through ; full of enlightened curiosity, and zeal for information ; and, what is very important in one who journies for instruction, an early riser, and of industrious habits. In turning my face westward from Genoa, and re linquishing all prospect of visiting the splendid re mains, of the great mistress of the world, and other in teresting objects in the south of Italy, 1 have resolved to sacrifice inclination, curiosity, and pleasure, to considerations of real utility — of professional duty. It will be impossible to extend my journey south, to Rome, Naples, and Vesuvius, without devoting six weeks, or at least a month, to these objects. I should thereby deprive myself of so much of some of the principal concerns which 1 had in view in leaving home — a visit to the schools of Paris, London, and Edinburgh, during the season of instruction, as greatly to lessen the advantages, or at least the satisfaction which I hope to gain, by spending the winter in those distinguished seats of learning. On board of the boat we found a number of per sons, attracted by a desire to see her works and wit ness their operation. About one half of these were women, some of whom remained on board a consi derable time after we were under way. An old priest was among those whose curiosity was thus excited. But, considering the novelty of such a spectacle, (this being the first steam-boat that had been erected on 510 VOYAGE FROM the Mediterranean,* and this her first trip to Genoa,) the number of those who came to visit the boat was very small. This was doubtless owing to the idea of danger, which, I found, was very prevalent, in relation to steam-boats. There were but two passengers from Genoa, besides ourselves. The boat was named Fer dinando Primo. Her size was 264 tons ; and the power of the engine, fifty horses. It was very obvious, at first setting off, that neither the captain, nor the su- perintendant for the owners, (who was also with us, a German, of the name of W***,) nor the crew, were possessed of much of that dexterity, and good ma nagement, which distinguish the movements, on board of our vessels. A great deal of bustle ; loud and in cessant talk, and evident confusion, together with a drunken engineer, were rather unfavourable prognos tics, with respect to the safety of our voyage. Though they had been a fortnight in port, preparing for this trip, the fuel was not all got in, till the moment of our departure. The lanthorn of the tower, threw its broad gleams over the bay, as we moved out of the harbour, and night closed upon us, while the numerous lights of Genoa were glimmering visibly in our rear. Though this boat was intended chiefly, if not exclusively, for passengers, the accommodations for sleeping were very indifferent With some difficulty, I procured a mattrass, and at length fell into a sound sleep, on the bosom of that water which has so often been the * With the exception of a steam-boat, which runs from Venice to Trieste, on the Adriatic. This boat belongs, I believe, chiefly to the Americaft Consul, at Trieste. GPNOA TO MARSEILLES. 51 1 scene of ancient and modern conflict ; of exploits which were sung by Homer, narrated by Tacitus and Livy, and swelled in the trump of fame by the elo quence of Cicero. 31st. 1 rose early and went on deck. The scenery was truly delightful, the sea calm, the sky serene, the air mild and balmy, and the mountainous coast, near which we were moving with an easy and steady pace, wore an aspect altogether enchanting, at the distance at which we viewed it Many towns were in sight, mostly near the water, but some of them elevated among the hills. The sun rose with splendour, and I thought, with uncommon beauty. One's feelings are sometimes attuned to the harmony of nature, with more than ordinary sensibility ; and when, at those favoured moments, the fancy and affections are in accordance with new and sublime appearances in the visible creation, we may mark such periods as the " sunny islands" in the unsteady ocean of human ex istence. At nine we were served with a good breakfast of coffee, bread, butter, and eggs, by Salvador, our cook, a sleepy, dull looking ItaUan, but quite dis posed, in his own time and manner, to oblige his cus tomers. Our captain, Don Andrea Martino (which certainly sounds better than Andrew Martin,) was a man of an open countenance and modest manners. He had been a captain in the Neapolitan navy, and appeared to be respected and beloved by ' his crew. We moved through the water at the rate of four and a half, or five knots per hour ; but such was the inte rest we took in the scenery around us, there was little or no impatience felt from the slowness of our pro- 512 VOYAGE FROM gress, though accustomed, at home, to move with double that speed. As we advanced, the coast be came more populous. At one time there were no less than thirteen towns in view at once, some of them at very considerable heights. Several of those on the coast were surrounded with high walls. Our progress against the wind and without sails, excited, to the highest pitch, the curiosity of those who gained a sight pf us from the shore ; and from almost every town, boats pushed ofK full of men, wo men, and boys, who rowed vigorously to overtake us. and to ascertain what and who we were. Few, if any. pf them, had ever seen a steam-boat before, and many of them had never heard of such an invention. The captain suffered none to come on board, but generally threw them a rope, and allowed them to keep along side as far as they chose. It was diverting to notice the, eager gaze, and the incessant jabber, of these swarthy Sardinians, In several of the numerous boats' which intercepted us, in the course of the day, an old priest would appear among the curious visiters, and if there was a danger of not coming up with us, these fathers would apply as lustily to the oars as any of the company. But it was remarkable that the captain would never throw a rope to a boat which contained a priest. 1 learned from him, subsequently, that he considered it bad luck to have a priest on board q|" his ship, and that he considered them as among the most worthless, if not the most corrupt people in the country. He told me afterwards that there were 30,000 priests in Naples, and that their conduct was well known to be extremely licentious- His estimation of this class of the community, had. GENOA TO MARSEILLES. 513 it is probable, derived some df its colouring or "bias, from his naval habits. A great number of large porpoises appeared in the course of the morning. Many vessels were in sightj, several of which were large brigs, but all much far ther from shore than our boat At two o'clock we refreshed ourselves with a cup of tea. The super intendent, W***, we found to be a man of mild man ners. He is a native of Strasburg, and as we were told by one of the passengers, is a Jew. The two men employed as engineers, are both Englishmen, and both habituated to drink. One of them was almost constantly intoxicated, and they were always quarrelling with each other. One of our passengers is a Genoese, inquisitive, shrewd, discontented with his situation, and with the government, and de termined to come to America, were it not for the pain of leaving his mother. Another is an elderly Frenchman, residing in Genoa. He was in England fifty years ago, and had been much with the family of F**'s at Falmouth, and appeared to retain a great regard for them, and for the society to which they belong. In the course of the day, we passed Monaco, a town and principality of Piedmont, very small, and very poor. Dined at four. The machine works very slowly. 1 1th month, 1 st. The sun rose this morning with the same mild lustre as it did yesterday, and the weather was again delightful. We were advancing, when I came on deck, about four and a half miles per hour, with the islands D'Hyeres just before us, and a good prospect of seeing our port before night; but this Vol. L 43 514 VOYAGE PROM flattering prospect was soon at an end. It was an nounced to us, that the fuel was nearly exhausted, and would not carry us much further. This very unwel come intelligence threw us into a dilemma, and our superintendent and manager seemed as much embar rassed as 1 should have been, had he thrown the whole charge into my hands. I advised him to steer for Toulon, which was at no great distance ; but it soon appeared that we had not sufficient to carry us, even thither. The only alternative, therefore, was to ap proach the shore at a small village, then in sight, called Saline d'Hyere, about a league distant from the town D'Hyere. This was resolved upon. As we advanced towards the village, there appeared no little commo tion among the inhabitants. We anchored at some distance from the shore, and a boat at length ventured out to examine us. Others soon followed, containing militaires, douanieres, mistresses, maids, labourers, gentlemen of the village, boys and girls, all eager and prompt to see the sight, for we were now on the coast of France. They informed us, that they knew not what to make of our vessel, when they first saw her advancing, without sails, and against the wind, but, observing her at length coming toward the shore, the conclusion was, that she was a ship on fire, running in for assistance, and they were accordingly preparing, men and women, to get out their boats, and come to our relief, when they saw us quietly drop anchor. As to a steam-boat, they had never heard of one. At one o'clock, we went on shore, to endeavour to procure some wood or fuel pf some sort, but it proved to be a most difficult enterprise. There was wood on the shore, but it was destined for the construction of some GENOA TO MARSEILLES. 515 of the salt works, and this, being the first day of the week, the owner of it had gone abroad. The after noon was therefore spent. Without aflferding any imme diate prospect of relief or assistance, at this place. Our manager proved to be very deficient in that kind of energy and address, which are requisite to the sta tion he had undertaken, as the director of a new and important concern. The people of the village appeared to be of decent manners, and tolerably well informed for their station. They were busy in measuring salt, and loading a ves sel with it, notwithstanding it was the Christian Sab bath. In this work, women were laboriously engaged, carrying heavy bags of salt on their heads, from the measurer to the boat. This salt is made by the vil lagers, from the water of the sea, by solar evapora tion. It costs, in the manufacture, about ten sous per bushel ; but the duty is thirteen and a half francs, just twenty-seven times the original value ; so that the purchaser has to pay for it, fourteen francs per bushel. IreeoUected, with some degree of pleasure, that the salt manufactured at Salina, in Onondaga county, New-York, cost, when I was there in 1815, duty and all, but twenty-five cents per bushel ; about one-tenth of the Mediterranean price ! 2d. We were in the same situation this morning, as when we first dropped anchor yesterday, at noon, — no fuel, and not knowing how to procure any. We were told, moreover, as a further trial of our patience, that the wood which the country aflferded, was, for the most part, brought to the village, on the backs of mules. Our manager worried himself, by running hither and thither, without effect. In the mean time. Dr. S. and 316 VOYAGE FROM myself, with the Genoese passenger, resolved to turn the day to some account, and we set off to visit the salt-works of the village. We found the workmen willing and disposed to give us information. The process bf evaporation, as it is here conducted, is very simple. The ground, adjacent to the sea, being flat, extensive basins are formed, by making shallow excavations in the earth, of about four rods square, the bottom being carefully levelled, and pounded or rolled hard. Into these the water is admitted, at plea sure, from canals or ditches, which pass along side the area thus prepared to receive it The evapora tion goes on rapidly in dry weather, and when the brine has arrived at a certain degree of concentration it is let into another compartment, where the salt crystallizes, and settles to the bottom. When dry, it is raked up, as free from the earth or dirt as possible, and in this state it serves for coarse purposes; such as the use of cattle, pickling large meats, fish, &c. It is purified, for nicer domestic use, by dissolving it in a large reservoir, whence it is pumped, by horse power, into a very broad, shallow iron boiler, and again reduced by artificial beat. The water, when exposed, to the sun in the large basins, varies from two to four or five inches in depth. These works are upon a pretty large scale. The basins occupy a sur face of twenty acres ; and, though a large proportion IS sold and removed in a crude state, the storehouse contained a very great quantity of refined salt No advantage is taken here of the mother water, to ob tain glauber's salt as is done in New England. The present season has been very propitious to these salt-works; for such a continuance of dry wea^ GENOA TO MARSEILLES. 517 ther has not been known for a long course of years. But the drought has been very injurious to another kind of industry, practised in this neighbourhood, viz. the orange gardens. In the neighbouring town of d'Hyeres, there is a plantation of orange trees, for the produce of which the proprietor has received 40,000 francs per annum. The trees are constantly in bearing, though the winter sometimes checks, and even destroys the crops. They have suffered much from the want of rain. The olive is also one of the staple commodities of this region. The hills, as we advanced along the coast, were covered with this beautiful plant; which, instead of being, as I had imagined, only a shrub, grows, in a good soil, to the size of our apple trees. The leaves are small, and of a pale green. The fruit is well known. It is gathered in autumn, and either pickled, or sent to the mill, for the extraction of the oil. The pulp which remains in the press, is valuable as food for cattle. The salsola is also gathered in this neighbourhood, especiaUy in the islands, and burned in shallow pits. It undergoes by the heat a kind of fusion, and is thus converted into a coarse article for soap-makers. It is a rigid plant, with a thick fleshy stem, and rather succulent. The uncertainty we were in with respect to fuel, induced Dr. S. and myself, to think of quitting the boat and pursuing our journey by land ; but on re presenting our situation to a few gentlemen who had assembled at the village, we found we could not leave the boat, without subjecting the captain to the risk of a prosecution at Marseilles, unless our names were 518 VOYAGE PROM taken oflT the "role d'equipage," by the authority of a " Commissaire de Marine," and such an oflScer the village did not produce. It is but justice to say, that the gentlemen alluded to, who appeared to be some of the most respectable and wealthy inhabitants of d'Hyere, were much interested for us, and politely offered, if we insisted on leaving the boat, to stand in the gap between the captain and the law, as far as in their power. They were truly civil and obliging, and through their instrumentality, our manager was at length enabled to purchase the wood intended for a special purpose in the salt works, and about noon the sailors began to convey it on board. We accord ingly determined to take our chance in the comple tion of the voyage. The report of tbe steam-boat had spread round the country, and so many persons had collected to view it, our captain had enough to do to wait upon them, and to show them the wonder working machine. One fat old lady was much put to it, in descending the ladder into the dirty hole of the engineer, but on coming up she manifested fhe greatest pleasure in having seen "-fe belle mecanique." About sunset our wood was all on board, the steam was let loose, and we departed, carrying with us, for a short distance, a number of our curious guests, who left us at last with a profusion of bows and thanks, " tres content" with the '¦'•joli petit voyage" they had made by steam. The evening was delightful, and our wood appeared to answer better than the coal, in keeping up the force of the engine and driving. us forward. 3d. The harbour of Marseilles was in sight thia morning, soon after daylight. The entrance of the GENOA TO MARSEILLES. 519 port is exceedingly romantic, with high hUls on each side, and an island in front, which excludes the view of the town, until we arrive at the opening of the basin, around which the city is built The sun peeped over the eastern ridge as we made our entrance into the harbour. Our smoking progress soon excited the gaze and wonder of the numerous pilots, fishermen, and others who were moving about in their light barks in the outer road. Several of them were speedily along side of us, and if the effect of novelty and asto nishment on the countenances of others, can give plea sure to the observer, ours was that gratification. We overtook a large sloop loaded with lumber, and the wind being ahead, they desired permission to make fast to us. This was readily granted, and others availing themselves also of the liberty, we passed the fort and entered the town with a long train at our sides and heels. The shore, the quays, the windows of the houses, and the heights around, were quickly lined with spectators, eager to witness our appear ance and motion. The port of Marseilles is strongly fortified next the sea. The basin, in which the ships Ue, is in the heart of the town. It is entered by a narrow passage, easily shut by a chain, and which has a strong fort on each side. The basin will contain, it is said, 900 sail. The hills around appear barren and dreary. We-anchored about eight a. m., and very soon received a troop of visiters, consisting chiefly of portwardens, or such as ^had some plea of right, to board and examine us. ''' This passage on the whole, has been highly gratify- ? ing to us ; and if this steam-boat were under good management— if an American company had the con- 520 STEAM-BOATj-^MARSEILLES. trol of her, she would yield, I think, in a short time, a handsome profit to the owners. The coast of the Mediterranean from Naples to MarseUles, is so pic turesque and beautiful, the towns and villages on the margin of the sea so numerous, and the weather, in general, so mild, and the route by land so hazardous and unpleasant, 1 cannot but believe that a steam boat conveyance will become an object of luxury, and of general dc're to travellers, to and from Italy; and of expedition and cheapness, to the inhabitants along the coast. But without a more intelligent and able direction than this boat has, I fear the period is still distant, when the Mediterranean steam-boats will be preferred to the backs of mules, the tedious and rugged movements of the diligence or voiture, or the miserable accommodations of the feluccas. It has been to me a singular, and unexpected gratifica tion, fo meet with such a conveyance as this, precisely in that part of my journey where I had anticipated the greatest difficulty. The coast, through the greater part of the distance from Genoa to Nice, is so rugged as to forbid the use of carriages. We-had^made our calculations accordingly, either to return to Tortona by the rough road, on which we had already crossed the Appenines, and thence proceed by Turin and Mount Cenis, to Lyons, or to engage mules and a a muletteer, to carry us to Nice. Neither of these routes presented any thing in prospect but faUgue| and exposure. The occurrence of a steam-boat at| Genoa was, therefore, as agreeable as unexpected. END OF VOL. I. :U ', ,Tf\ tiVi " ft