A Three Months' Tour in Switzerland and France, etc

Front matter

A THREE MONTHS' TOUR i\ SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE. JB'^n.iK.Vwt^hi(^ctrboiivlkf^^it?jfth4Jici'f'W7LliddiCxYÆ h/ C Ætlhtwatdtl. JFALL of fh.e STAUBBACH. aeai. lautelib-L-aii. J?U&Jhs-7itil 01/ i-'m;?7i *.{*r.r C'fyfTiJuU. A THREE MONTHS* TOUR IN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE: Illushrateo fottfj plates, DESCRIPTIVE OF MOUNTAIN SCENERV, AND INTERSPERSED WITH TOETRY ; WITH A ROUTE TO CHAMOUNI, THE BERNESE ALPS, &c BY THE REV. WILLIAM LIDDIARD. AUTHOR OF "THE LEGEND OF EsNSIDLIN, A METRICAL TALE OF SWITZERLAND,' AND OTHER POEMS. " To climb the trackless mountain all unseen, With the wild flock that never sees a fold; Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean ; This is not solitude ; 'tis but to hold Converse with nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled." Childe Harold, Canto 2. LONDON : SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., CORNHILL. 1832.

LONDON : Printed by Maurice and Co., Fenchurch Street. TO THE REV. ROBERT WALSH, LL.D., F.R.S.A., AS A MEMORIAL OF FRIENDSHIP, AND AS A TESTIMONY OF ESTEEM FOR HIS TALENTS, THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED BY HIS FAITHFUL FRIEND, THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. In visiting the Land which forms the chief sub ject of the following Tour, the author has been instigated by various motives ; — to view the handy-work of the Deity in all its sublimity, and at the same time to tread a soil which, like Greece, has been stamped with the seal of Free dom ; celebrated for the heroic deeds of those who purchased for it, with their best blood, the first of all blessings ; who swore that it should be free, — "and it was so." I was actuated also by another motive. A Metrical Poem, which I was then writing, induced a wish to see that particular spot, Morgarten, where the battle was fought in which the Spartan Swiss proved vic torious, and drove an invading foe, in spite of an immense superiority in numbers, from their lakes and hills. I wished also to see the splen-

PREFACE.

. did Monastery of " Notre Dame des Hermites," (Einsidlin,) from whence the little Poem I speak of derived its name. I regret that my time did not permit me to see more of these attractive valleys and awe-inspiring hills : but I ought to be grateful, and not to forget that I never was for one single day impeded by bad weather, and therefore saw as much of the country as any person could have seen, in the same time. This I attribute, not solely to the weather, but as much to a determination I made, upon leaving England, not to be persuaded to go to Italy ; a resolution which I found it was no easy matter to adhere to. At Martigny, in particular, I had to struggle against the importunity of an agreeable fellow-traveller, then with his brother on his way to the Simplon and Milan, — whom I left (after having resisted all his entreaties) on his way; while I pursued mine, in solitude, towards the Pisse-Vache, St. Maurice, Chillon, Bex, Vevay, &c. Whatever reluctance I may have felt at the time, I had reason to rejoice at my determination ; as, when I was travelling the Bernese Alps after wards, I found, by a letter from mv fellow-travel-

PREFACE.

. IX lers, that they were prisoners on the wrong side of the Alps ; a fall of snow having prevented them from meeting me, as they had intended, on the Lake of Lucerne. How much depends upon a well-digested plan may be learnt from this cir cumstance ; the person I allude to having been three times in Switzerland without having seen, what I have Lord Byron's authority for calling, the "finest country in the world."* In giving this short Tour to the public, the author is in hopes it may prove serviceable to those who have time only to make a brief visit to these mountains. If it should stimulate a single individual to such an undertaking, he will feel that he has not written in vain. If he has been excursive upon an hackneyed theme, he is assured that it is one which is inexhaustible, since no two travellers, perhaps, see this mountainous region under the * Lord Byron says, in his Notes in a Tour to these very Alps, that the was fortunate both in the weather and in his companion, Mr. H . '' I can bear fatigue and privation, and have seen some of the noblest views in the world." — See the second volume of Moore's Memoirs of Lord Byron. X

PREFACE.

. same aspect, — now glooming in mist, now spark ling in the sunshine, yet never otherwise than sublime. In my ascent of the Righi I was most fortunate, and would say, that the sight of the rising or the setting sun, but more especially of the latter, from thence, cannot be too dearly purchased by any toil. He that has seen this, has reached the " ne plus ultra" of that delight of which our earthly vision is capable. I shall only detain my reader whilst I depre cate his too severe criticism of a Tour which has been written with a view to stimulate others to undertake a similar Journey. To form any thing like an accurate opinion of the grandeur of this country, which I have humbly attempted to describe, it must be visited; — to be duly appre ciated, it must be seen. CONTENTS. TOUR TO CHAMOUNI.

Letter I

Page. Departure from Ryde for Havre in the Camilla Steam Packet — Sailing Match — Arrival at Havre — Hotel de Londre — Douanier American Indians — ATahled'Hote — Singing Girls 3

Letter II

Leave Havre in tbe Steamer for Rouen — Honfleur — Chateau on the Seine — Dinner on board — Setting Sun ; proposed by a Lady of the Party, that every one should write something upon the subject — Rouen Hotel .. .. 10

Letter III

Rouen — St. Owen — Visit to a Garden of an Englishman, at Rouen — Military Mass at Rouen Cathedral — Leave Rouen for Paris — • Hotel d'ltalie- — Visit to the Louvre — Franeoni's — Leave Paris in a Voiture for Geneva — Palace at Fontainbleau — Table upon which Napoleon signed his Abdication — Cathedral at Sens. 17

Letter IV

Joigny — Pont de Pargny — Procession at St. Laurent — Fete — Female Saint — Reuss — The Jura Mountains — Lake of Geneva — Mr. Canning — The Blue Rhone — Arrive at Geneva — ' La Ballance.' CONTENTS. XII Page- 46 53 59 70 75

Letter V

Difference between Switzerland and Italy — Geneva — Model of Swiss Mountains — View from the Jura Mountains — Visit to Furney — Sheet lightning on our return .. ..

Letter VI

Visit to Chamouni — Bonneville — St. Martin — First View of Mont Blanc unclouded — Little Church and Steeple of St. Martin — Journey from St. Martin to Chamouni — The Aiguilles — Glaciers seen from the Vale of Chamouni

Letter VII

Visit to Montanvert — Mer de Glace — Visit to the source of the Arveiron — Rose of the Alps — Pomegranates — Saying of the Guides to those who shew any reluctance to follow them

Letter VIII

Visit to Martigny, by the Col de Balme — View from thence of the Vale of Chamouni — Mont Blanc — Hear distinct Avalanches towards St. Bernard, as we approach Martigny — Remains of a Roman Fortress

Letter IX

St. Maurice — Account of the Roman Castle — Martigny — Dent de Midi — Dent de Morcles — The Diablerets and Martinets — Bex — Chateau Chillon — Bonivert — Montreux — Clareus — ■ Vevay — Embark for Geneva — Storm — Effect of the Bise, or North Wind CONTENTS. XIII Page. 85 91 9 6 in TOUR TO THE BERNESE ALPS, LAKE OF LUCERNE, &c.

Letter X

Departure for Lausanne — Different Services in the same Temple on the Sabbath — Chateau de St. Barthelemi — Noble View from thence — Obelisk — Inscription — Remains of an Altar at the Hotel de Ville at Lausanne, consecrated to the Sun and Moon — Most rational of all Idolatries — Mildness of the Sectarians here to be attributed to the sublimity of the Scene around — Join a Traveller in taking a Caleche to Berne

Letter XI

Stipulation about Cigars — Moudon — Large Pigeons — Ancient Minidunum — Altar to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, &c. — Inscription to Marcus Aurelius — Morat — Pillar of Skulls removed by the French — Avenche — Ancient Aventicum — Pillar of the Storks — Berne. .

Letter XII

Bernese Costume — Terrace near the Church — Accident and surprising Escape — Proceed to Thun — Merlingen — Family of Bubenburgh — Beatenburgh — St. Beat — Lake of Thun — Unterseen — Interlackeu — Lake of Brienz — La Belle Battelliere — Lauterbrun ; Valley leading to it — Jungfrau — The Falls ofthe Staubbach, 950 feet high — The Myrrenbach and the Schmadribach — Swiss Girls -Mountain Music

Letter XIII

Chalet opposite the Jungfrau — Hear an Avelanche for the first time — Echo — -Descent to Grindelwald — Glacier close to the Auberge — Arch of Ice — The Eiger and Breithorn — Le Roc Chaud — Marvellous Escape of three Bernois — Avelanche on passing the Scheideck — Ross Alps — Dos D'Ane — The Reichenbach — Swiss School . . . . CONTENTS. Page. 128 135 157

Letter XIV

Lungern Lake — Sarnen — Paintings — Nicholas de Flue — Henry de Melcthal — Marguerithe Herlobig, wife of Werner de Stauffacher, said to have suggested the league by which the Three Cantons freed their Country from the curse of Despotism — Her arguments, cause ofthe Meeting at Grutli — The Result — Hair ornaments — Lucerne .. .. .. .. ••

Letter XV

Leave Lucerne for Weggis — Altorf — The Righi — Sunset — Sunrise Righi Staffel — Goldau — The fall of the Mountain Rossberg — Valley of Ruin — Brunnen — Minstrel, with a cross-bow, chants, in German, the history of William Tell — Enthusiasm in the cause here universal, especially amongst the boatmen — Fluelen — Altorf — The French under Le Courbe

Letter XVI

Tower of Tell — The Muotta — Lines upon a Harp — St. Gothard — Monk's-leap — Anecdote in the Pyrenees, by a Traveller — Altorf — Fire at Altorf — Records connected with the History of William Tell saved from the flames — Leave Altorf for St. Gothard — The Retreat of the Russian over the Alps called the Kienzighulm — The Passage contested by Massena — Anecdote of a French Officer — Celebrated Echo at Brunis — Meet a Chamois ; Verses upon the same — Pont au Diable — Burglen, Birth-place of William Tell — Return to Altorf — Adventure of a Stranger in the Pyrenees

Letter XVII

Grutli — The Three Fountains —Verses upon the same — Brunnen — The Inn at Schweitz — The Landlord — His Beau Frere — Misunderstanding —Visit Morgarten— Lake of Egeri — The Abbey of CONTENTS. XV Page. Einsidlin ; description of the Convent ; its history ; robbed by the French army during the French Revolution — Present Convent rises greater from its ashes .. .. .. .. 179

Letter XVIII

Lake of Lowertz — Anecdote of a Female Ghost, said to haunt the Ruins of the Castle of Schwanaw — Valley suddenly covered with a Debris of the Fall from the Righi — Chapel of Alten carried away by the overflow of the Lake, and left near Seven — Gesler's Castle — Kussnaght Chapel upon the spot where Gesler was killed — Lake of Zug — Views from thence — Church at Weggis — Lucerne — Ulrich Zwingli, the Reformer, burnt to death — Bridges at Lucerne — Dance of Death — Fish of the Lake various and fine — Female Bandit — Smokers and Card-players alike — Leave Lucerne for Berne 198

Letter XIX

Address to the Sun — Meet my German Fellow Traveller — Travel with him to Berne — Find my portmanteau, but without a direction — The Aubergiste very civilly restores it — His quarrel with an English Traveller who had lost a ring at the Faucon ; settled by the Bernese Magistrates — Panorama ofthe Sunrise at Mount Righi — Visit Fellenberg's Academy at Hofwyll — Description of Hofwyll — Curious Communication of the Dining-room with the Kitchen — Wooden Horse — Leave Berne — Lausanne — Geneva — Verses addressed to the Lake . . . . . . . . 223

Letter XX

Paris— Swiss Traveller in the Diligence annoyed at having his Trunk searched at Dole — still more enraged at being searched in the middle of the night in France — gets outrageous - — Officer of the Gens-d'Armes sent for — Arrive in Paris — Hotel d'ltalie ; strange Character there — Theatres at Paris — Trentes Annees — Somnambule — Frescati — Victims to the Gambling Table — Versailles — The Bastile — The Thuilleries CONTENTS.

Letter XXI

Page. Boulogne — High and low Town — Pillar of Napoleon — Society at Boulogne — Excellent Amateur Painters living there at present — Anecdote of a French Officer resident there — The Museum — Concert — Storm on the Coast — A Vessel wrecked — Lines written on the spot upon the subject • — Protestant Chapel built so as to be turned into a Theatre — French Regiment ; their mode of settling their quarrels — Beaten Tracts — Difference between Beaters in looking out for subjects — Gray's opinion of writers of Travels — Conclusion . . . . . • . . 247 2ist of ffjc lEmbcUisfirnent-i. View ofthe Fall of the Staubbach, near Lauterbrun ... To face Title-page. Route from Geneva to Chamouni, Martigny, St. Maurice, Bex, Chillon, and Vevay, back to Geneva, including a second Route from Geneva by Lausanne, Berne, Thun, Lauterbrun, &c. to the Bernese Alps, the Lakes of Lucerne, Zug, &c &c To face page 1 View near Chede, between Sallenche and Chamouni „ 50 View ofthe Jungfrau from the Valley of Lauterbrun ... ... 104 View on the Lake of Uri near Brunnen „ TOUR TO CHAMOUNI. B SIX WEEKS' TOUR, cyC.

Letter I

Departure from Ryde for Havre in the Camilla Steam Packet — Sailing Match — Arrival at Havre — Hotel de Londre — Douaniers — An Account of the American Indians — A Table d'Hote — Singing Girls. Havke de Grace, Aug. 3, 1827. When Sterne applied the term of apparition to a letter, he must have considered absence as a temporary death, from which the absent, like the departed, are permitted occasionally to escape, to revisit the " Glimpses of the Moon'1 — to hover occasionally round the loved and wellremembered abode of their friends " et quo non possum corpore mente feror." Of such it may be said that they are never more at home than when from home. As such a test, I trust you will hail the appearance of this Letter. I shall now recur back, without further prejudice, to the moment when I took leave of you on the Pier of Ryde, and stepped from thence into the steam-boat in waiting.

Cer- ROYAL HIGH ADMIRAL. tain it is, that the pang of departure is increased or diminished by circumstances. A ray of sunshine will help to dispel a shade of the gloom which we cannot but feel when we are about to leave all in which our happiness is centered, though but for a short time — a sensation which is redoubled, when about to exchange our own land for the land of the stranger. Without being superstitious or biassed by accidental coincidences, we maybe allowed to hail, as a happy event, the brightness of the parting hour which deprives the " farewell" of half its bitterness. If such a feeling predominates in spite of our disinclination to acknowledge its influence, certainly the moment which I had made choice of for leaving those I loved, was fruitful in these grateful contingencies — a bright day, a summer sea, whose surface was " only not asleep," bearing on its tranquil bosom countless yachts and men-of-war, decked out in all their gay paraphernalia, their riggings manned, to hail the first visit of their new and Royal High Admiral, welcoming him with their mouths of fire as he approached their joyous sides.

Here was every thing to engage attention, when it was most wanting, to divide my thoughts, and wean them from my friends, who, still standing on the deck like pier, were lessening to my sight. The Duke of Cla rence was just passing in his yacht, towed by a steamer, towards the Victory, immortalized by the fall of Nelson. As we landed at Portsmouth, the town presented one joyous scene of congratulation, while music floated in the air, reminding Britons of their native element. After waiting STEAM PACKET. 5 an hour and a half at Portsmouth, I embarked with some other passengers in a boat in search of the Camilla, the Havre packet, which waits for passengers off the port, though she starts from Southampton. We at length descried her chimney, and the long dark line of smoke, which, by its course, gave promise of a speedy passage, pointing like a long dark pennant to the coast to which she was running.

The rate at which she moved, aided by the tide and its rapidity, made it somewhat difficult, if not dangerous, to approach. In spite of her threatening noise and course, after some little alarm, as her wheels were " rolling," though not " rapidly," we succeeded in getting on board, where we soon discovered there was more than one inconvenience in taking a passage from Portsmouth, as all the beds had been engaged before the packet left South ampton. Had there been half as many again to be had, they would have been occupied, as you may suppose, when I tell you that I could not even get a tarpauling to cover me when the hour of sleep came, and when I lay down on the deck, strewed on all sides with weary passengers like myself, who could not be accommodated in the cabin. At first we had quite enough to occupy our attention in the interest which was created by one of the yachts just a-head of us, the foremost of a dozen others, who were at various distances struggling for the prize to be adjudged to the one which first reached a given point, a stationary vessel, and first returned to Cowes, the place from whence they started.

I had never witnessed a YACHT RACE. race of this kind before ; and that which I now, for the first time, looked upon, was not calculated to impress me with that great interest, which many who have not witnessed such a race imagine such a contest to present. Mr. Maxie's yacht, to which we lowered our colours as we passed, was just on the point of going round the stationed vessel, while the next nearest yacht was at least a mile behind. It seemed to be a hollow thing, there being nothing like the strife, the " tug of war" you almost always are sure to witness in a degree enough to make it interesting in a horse race. It is generally too well known which vessel will win the race, according as there is a breeze or calm: so far there is this advantage, that as neither Boreas nor Zephyrus are to be bribed, so there can be no foul play ; it being impossible that the water jockeys can ever reach the climax to which those of the turf have arrived.

After a restless, negative sleep on the hard deck, wrapt in my cloak, I was not sorry to hail the dawn of day, and, soon after, the harbour for which we were bound. The number of docks rather injure the beauty of the entrance to Havre, whilst the want of a free circulation of water in summer must give rise to an unwholesome effluvia. It is to this stagnantcy that the natives must attribute the intermittent fevers to which the people at Havre and its immediate neighbourhood are always liable in summer. After a visit from the Douaniers, the pressure of whose fingers I felt upon my cloak, without being productive of HAVRE PASSPORTS. 7 any result, I hastened to the nearest hotel, the Hotel de Londres, where I was well accommodated during my stay at Havre. We (that is, all the English) had our patience and temper tried by the Douaniers, who were evidently determined to detain us as long as possible, honouring our occasional sallies of impatience at the delay, with epithets not very complimentary.

" Cochons Anglois" was a term which more than once assailed my ears, responded to by us in our turn, in an equally opprobrious strain. The inso lence of office, it must be confessed, exceeds that which petty " brief authority" plays off in our own country. In the Passport Office, where I left my passport, I experienced much vexatious delay, all of which I afterwards found might have been avoided by a small douceur to a Madame , who regulates these matters more speed ily and satisfactorily to her employers. Substitutes were given us in lieu of our passports, which were forwarded to Paris. There, we were informed, they would be restored. All these contretems are so many appeals to the pocket. Woe betide him who should follow the scriptural instruc tion to the letter, and travel without scrip or purse, a most indispensible part of the traveller's luggage.

We found very good accommodation at the Hotel de Londres, kept by an English woman, who was very attentive, and, considering all things, reasonable in her demands: five francs a-head entitled us to an excellent dinner, a dessert, and a bottle of claret, well flavoured, at the " Table d'Hote." AMERICAN INDIANS Whilst in the enjoyment of our dessert, a more intellec tual treat awaited us, through another sense, the ear, which was now regaled by the sound of sweet music, vocal as well as instrumental. We soon found we were indebted to a trio for this repast, consisting of a father and his two daughters ; both of whom sang, one of them accompanying her voice with the harp, the father playing the violin. After several delightful " chansons," a plate was sent round the table, into which (as much was not expected) every person put something; what I know not, but enough, apparently, to satisfy the performers, one of whom had to boast of no small beauty of person as well as voice.

In rambling through the streets the following morning, I met one of our fellow-travellers, who had taken up his quarters at another hotel, together with some lions, or, in other words, " American Indians, from the Back Settle ments," who were on their route to Paris, with a view to gratify Charles Dix and the Parisiens. I was induced to accompany him to his auberge, where we found the objects of our curiosity busily occupied in discussing an ample dish of plums, spitting out the stones in various directions, of which the chequered floor bore testimony on every side ; an action in which they evinced no small degree of assi duity and perseverance. Possibly they had no reason to regret that we disturbed them in this operation, as we afterwards heard their healths had suffered from the excess in this indulgence.

As soon, however, as they perceived we were observing them with a prying eye of curiosity, GENS D'ARMES. 9 they made their retreat, setting in motion a number of little bells, which were suspended to a sort of bracelet, fastened to the upper part of the arm, by means of which, like the lady of " Banbury," they make a sort of " music wherever they go." Their complexion was rather dark tawny than Mack ; the females, reversing the order of nature, having the least beauty to boast of, their features partaking more of the Squaw than those of the men: — their language seemed to be rapid and dissonant. We were in terrupted and precluded from further observation by the appearance of one of the gens d'armes, who told us it was against their orders to admit strangers : we were there fore obliged to decamp without ceremony ; and, amongst the rest, our friend, who in vain endeavoured to assure the gens d'armes that he had apartments in the hotel, until a femme de chambre made her appearance, and confirmed the assurance.

To-morrow we propose leaving Havre by the Rouen steamer ; an intention I have been induced to adopt, from finding that several of our party have resolved to do the same thing, and for the same cause — the beautiful scenery which the banks of the Seine present on every side. For the present, then, adieu ! My next Letter will be from Rouen, when I shall endeavour to describe the events of the day, which is rich, at least, in promises.

Letter II

Leave Havre in the Steamer for Rouen — Honfleur — Chateau on the Seine — Dinner on board — Setting Sun; proposed by a Lady of the Party, that every one should write something upon the subject — Rouen Hotel. Rouen, Aug. 5, 1827. Retrospection may be said to have two urns ; one con taining that which is bitter, the other that which is sweet. Thus, though the former stream is most abundant, yet she sometimes lets us taste of that which is more grateful. In the present instance she has been in a bountiful humour, the past claiming precedency over the present ; an assurance you would well understand, were you circumstanced as I am in the Hotel de Midi, from whence I write. Such a combination of circumstances seldom occurs to enhance a day's enjoyment, and to stamp it in the memory with its endearing reminiscences.

The hilarity arising from a bright day to which few are insensible, and the morning scene upon the waters, were, yesterday, chequered by taking leave of those I loved ; an event which, even under the happiest circumstances, im presses the mind with more or less melancholy; though it has been truly said that the worst, the most difficult part CHANSONS DEAN SWIFT. 11 of leave taking, is from the parlour to the hall-door. There is something in these partings, which, to a reflecting mind, reminds us of that final separation which sooner or later awaits us all. This conviction it was, no doubt, that caused a celebrated writer to exclaim upon a certain oc casion, when about to part with a friend to whom he was sincerely attached : " May we never meet again!" meaning, no doubt, thereby, that if such were the pains of parting, it were better to avoid its recurrence.

There are many anecdotes of the author of the " Tale of a Tub," to prove, that, with much assumed roughness, he was possessed of a tender heart. " But," as the historian says, " to return." There was nothing of this kind to interfere with, to counteract the enjoyment which commenced from the moment I entered the steam-boat, my ears listening to and recognizing the voice of one of the minstrels, accompanied with the harp which I heard yesterday, singing a sort of parting admo nition to the assembling passengers, in the words of the chanson, to which she imparted a peculiar interest, " Gar den vous D' Amour, Bergere." From the moment I entered the steam-boat, until I left it at the midnight hour for the Hotel de Midi, from whence I write ; from " morn to dewy eve, a summer's day," it was all " couleur de rose."

Difficult to please, and ungrateful to Providence must I have been, not to have appreciated, not still to appreciate the golden hours which constituted a day, marked in my calen dar,as having been fraught with every concomitant calculated THE SEINE. to endear it to the recollection. Imagine me then gliding down the Seine, one of the most lovely of rivers, rich in interesting scenery, each side seeming to vie which should most attract our notice. Here, a town or village with its steeple close to the water's side, and backed with rising woods, affording a luxuriant shelter; and there, the ruined Chateau of TankerviDe Castle, inviting the imagination to muse upon the busy and fruitful past. Such are -the scenes which Harfleur and Tankerville Castle, alternately, on either side present. No sooner is the latter past than the wide and ample river spreads itself out, as it were a lake, again in, a little while, to resume its more humble character.

There is something peculiarly delightful in the sensation of gliding down a spacious river, rich in its scenery, the mind awakening as the body becomes quiescent, particularly so on a day such as that with which we may be said to have been blessed, where we had nothing to distract the eye, or prevent the enjoyment of the inexhaustible food, now refreshing, animating, revigorating the soul. This intellectual repast is doubly exhilarating, when to this is added the co-operating charm of novelty, and the consum mation of all, which I possessed, in being surrounded by persons of both sexes, who were embarked in the same vessel, and upon the same errand by a congenial taste ; one congenializing knot, in search of the same ore, abundant enough to gratify all who seek the inexhaustible mine. Amongst those who were partaking of this rich repast, I recognised several ; but one party in particular, who had STEAMERS — ■ PARTY ON BOARD. been fellow passengers in the Havre packet, who had, as well as myself, taken their passage from Portsmouth — a Mrs. O — , the widow of an admiral, her daughter, and governess; the rest of the party consisted of a Mr. and Mrs. F , from Warwickshire, and a Captain M , of the Royal Navy.