Letters from an absent brother, containing some account of a tour through parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Northern Italy, and France, in the summer of 1823 [Some of the letters signed: D. W, i.e. Daniel Wilson.] Second edition

Front matter

LETTERS FROM AN ABSENT BROTHER, CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF A TOUR THROUGH PARTS OF THE NETHERLANDS, SWITZERLAND, NORTHERN ITALY, AND FRANCE, IN THE SUMMER OF 1823. 1N TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. SECOND, EDITION. LONDON : PRINTED FOR GEORGE WILSON, KSSEX-STREET, STRAND. 1824. LONDON : PRINTED BY THOMAS DAV1SON, WHITEFKIAK9.

ADVERTISEMENT.

TO THE FIRST EDITION. The Author of the following Letters has yielded, with extreme reluctance, to the desires of his Family and Friends, by printing a few copies of them for private circulation. He earnestly entreats, that no one, into whose hands this small work may fall, will become accessary, in any way, to the Letters, or any part of them, being made public- December 12 th, 1823. a2

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION. The following pages comprise some par ticulars of a Tour from Calais through the Netherlands to Cologne ; thence up the Rhine to Schaffhausen ; through Switzerland to Ge neva ; thence by Chamouny, to Milan and Tu rin ; returning by Lyon and Paris to England. The reader must not expect in these letters any thing of the studied and minute details of a regular tourist. The author makes no such pretensions. He travelled as an invalid and as a clergyman, after a life spent in theological pursuits, and his attention was most strongly directed to the beauties of nature, and to in quiries into subjects connected with morals and religion. His letters are also the unpremeditated

PREFACE.

TO THE VI effusions of the moment, giving the first impressions made upon his mind by the scenes through which he passed, and by the information afforded him by the pious and learned persons to whom he was introduced. The facts which he records illustrative of the superstitions of Popery or the indifference of Protestantism, ofthe moral and social condition of the inhabitants of different countries, and of the estimate formed of spiritual and vital Christianity, he simply describes as they fell under his own observation. Perhaps he expresses him self with more surprise than the reader would expect on some occasions, from his previous recluse habits. Every thing was new to a stranger emerging from his study to travel for the first time in foreign lands. Some reasons may naturally be required for the publication of letters so devoid of the or dinary claims to attention.

The simple truth is, that having been ordered to travel abroad for his health last summer, he was accompanied by his family and an old college friend. SECOND EDITION. VII On their arrival at Calais, his companion and his sons began to keep journals of their tour. From this attempt, his state of health exempted him. When the time, however, arrived for sending despatches to England, most of the party being engaged with their journals, he was unanimously requested to write the first letter. A similar reason offered itself at each succeeding post; and thus the author be came, without the slightest previous inten tion, the English correspondent. He was en couraged to proceed by the accounts which he received from home, of the pleasure which his hasty sketches afforded to the absent mem bers of his family.

He had soon a letter al ways in hand; and the journals gradually falling into arrear, his series of communications was sometimes the only record of the journey. By degrees, also, his health and spirits im proved, and he took a livelier interest in his task, and executed it more in detail. He was, in consequence, not at all aware ofthe length of his correspondence, till he saw it collected together on his return.

PREFACE.

TO THE VIII In this totally unprepared and confidential manner were these letters written. The author communicated his first ideas of all he saw, and his opinions on various subjects, with out the slightest suspicion that his letters would be communicated beyond his own family. When he returned to England, he found, to his utter surprise, that they had been read by a considerable circle of friends, who were pleased to express themselves gratified with the number and variety of facts he had collected, and especially with his account of the state of religion abroad. They soon became importunate with him to allow a few copies to be printed for private circulation. They ad mitted, indeed, that such free communications might not be fit for the public eye ; but main tained, that no inconvenience could arise from a private edition of them.

After much delay, and with extreme reluctance, the author yielded to this importunity. And the con sequence, which perhaps he ought to have SECOND EDITION. IX anticipated, has followed ; he finds himself compelled to consent to the present publica tion. The copies of the letters have been, in fact, so widely circulated, as to make further concealment fruitless if not impossible. In the meantime, the author has received from various friends on whose judgment he has been accustomed to rely, the most en couraging opinions as to the work itself. They have stated to him, that such a publication could scarcely fail of being acceptable to the larger class of readers, who would prefer a simple and unadorned narrative of such a journey, to the elaborate and studied productions of a more professed tourist.

If the public should judge that this opinion is sounded in truth, the author will have less reason to regret the strong necessity to which only he was disposed to yield. The alterations and additions which he has X

PREFACE.

TO THE made in carrying the work through the press are not inconsiderable. The letters are sub stantially the same ; but many of the domestic occurrences and personal allusions are omitted, a few inaccuracies are corrected, and some additional facts and. illustrations are introduced; so that the general effect is, as the author hopes, strengthened and improved. He has also inserted a few explanatory notes, and has closed the series with a new letter, comprising some account of Paris, and some general reflections on the whole tour. There may, after all, be considerable difference of opinion as to the expediency of the present publication. The author confesses that it does not appear to him to be inconsistent with the character of a minister of Christ, to publish a familiar, and even imperfect, account of a tour, rendered indispensable by indisposition, if the tendency of it is to assist the English Pro testant to associate religious and moral ends SECOND EDITION.

XI with the pursuit of health or improvement in foreign travels. The motive, however, which determined him to yield without further delay to the necessity above adverted to, was, that a long state of pain ful infirmity had laid him aside from all public duties, and that, in giving a corrected edition ofthe following letters, he thought he should be filling up, not altogether unprofitably, the hours of languor and suffering, and be perhaps " occupying with his single talent" as an in valid, at a time when he could not be more actively employed as a minister of the Gospel. He considered besides, that if the serious cast of his work should prove beneficial to any of his countrymen travelling abroad, he should not be really chargeable with deserting, in the publication of it, his appropriate sphere of duty. He therefore commends this little work, with all its imperfections, to the blessing of God, the giver of all good ; without whom the most

PREFACE.

. elaborate production must fail of any salutary effect ; but whose approbation can prosper even the humblest effort to honour him, and to promote the welfare of mankind. April 20, 1824. CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Letter IV

— july 11, 1823. ST. GOAR-CARLSRUH. Scenery of Rhine — Ehrenbreitstein — Coblentz — Hirtzenach — Bingen — Vineyard — Weisbaden — Mentz — Francfort — Conversion of Priest — Goethe — Darmstadt — Leander Van Ess — Heppenheim — Heidelberg — Manheim — Schwetzingen — Carlsruh - Page 49—67

Letter V

— july 20, 1823. R ASTADT— SCH AFFHA USEN. Henhofer — Rastadt — Ulm — Kehl — Strasburg — Reformers — Emeudingen — Manner of Travelling — Hoellenthal — Bad Inn — Black Forest — Donaueschingen — Danube — Mr. Canning — Switzerland— Schaffhausen — Fall of Rhine — Sunday 68 — 91

Letter VI

— july 28, 1823. ZURICH— BASLE. Bridge— Swiss Manners— Fall of Rhine — Eglisau — Zurich — Reformers — Inn L'Epee — Antistes Hess — Mr. Wilberforce— Zuingle— Bible Society — Aarau — Basle — Stoves — Fountains — A Divine — Tombs of Erasmus and Œcolampadius — CONTENTS. XV M. Blumhaidt — Holy Alliance — Council of Basle — Life of Zuingle - - Page 92 — 114 Page92— 114

Letter VII

— august 3, 1823- MOUTIERS— BERN. Sunday at Basle — Valley of Moutiers — Soyhier — Court — Pierre Pertuis — Cormoret — Neufchatel — Bienne — Isle St. Pierre — J. J. Rousseau — Bern — Voitures — M. Wittenbach — M. Haller — Swiss Diet— Sunday— Henhofer - - 115—137

Letter VIII

— august 12, 1823. LAUTERBRUNNEN— GRIMSEL. View from Inn at Lauterbrunnen — Thun — Interlacken — St. Beat — Staubbach — Passage of Wengen Alp — Chalets — Avalanches from Jungfrau Alp — Grindelwald — Glaciers — Sheideck Alp — Reichen-bach — Meyringen — Brientz — Giessbach — Grimsel — Sunday reflections - - - 138 — 164

Letter IX

— august 18, 1823. FURCA ALP— BERN. Glacier of Rhone — Furca — Realp— Capuchin— Hospenthal— Valley of Reuss — Devil's bridge — Am- CONTEXTS. stag— Altorf— William Tell— Fluellen— Lake of four Cantons — Switz — Mount Righi — Storm — Mount Pilate — Ruin of Goldau — Stranger's book — Kuesnacht — Lucern — William Tell — Bridges — PereGirard — Zofingen — Herzogenbuchs — Bern — Sunday — Fast — Government of Bern and England - - - - Page 1 65—205 LETTERS, &c.

Letter I

Ghent or Gand, Saturday, June 21 st, 1823. WE are now fixed, my dear sister, for the Sunday, and therefore I begin to give my dearest mother and you some account of our move ments. Thank God, we are all in good health, and surrounded by many, many blessings and mercies. We are now at Gand, or Ghent, in the kingdom ofthe Netherlands, about eighteen leagues from Ostend. We had a delightful drive to Dover on Monday, and found good accom modations at the Union Hotel. Our passage in the steam vessel, on Tuesday, to Calais was calm and favourable. We almost all suffered VOL. I. B DUNKIRK. from sea-sickness ; but, by three or four o'clock, we were sitting down to an excellent dinner at the Bourbon Hotel, at Calais, and began to forget our fatigue. It was late on Tuesday evening before we had hired two carriages for four months for our tour; for we found one would have been unsafe and inconvenient.

About eleven on Wednesday we were on the road to Dunkirk. We passed Gravelines, a place of considerable strength, with five lines of fortification. The road annoyed us a good deal, being all a stone-paved way ; and the wind was not less inconvenient, blowing from the sea, from the north-east. We reached Dunkirk about five. It is a large noble town, with a fine port, a handsome church, and a good deal of trade. A tower enabled us to command an extensive view of the whole surrounding country. The fortifications and the port were destroyed after the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. There is a great air of comfort and cleanliness about this part of France, but the deplorable superstitions prevalent every where are most affecting. At this town they actually call the LILLE, Protestants Jem, confounding them generally with all who disbelieve the Roman Catholic tenets.

The adoration the people pay the Virgin Mary is deplorable ; in fact, it seems to supersede every thing else. On Thursday we set off for Mount Cassel, a beautiful spot seven leagues from Dunkirk ; from the summit of which thirty-two towns and an hundred villages are said to be visible ; for I could not make out near so many. On one side of the hill General Vandamme has laid out a beautiful garden, the study and delight of twenty-four years. We reached the celebrated town of Lille (of which the Duke of Marl borough's campaigns speak so much, and the fortifications of which were the chef-d'oeuvre of Vauban) about nine in the evening. It contains sixty-two thousand inhabitants, sur rounded with walls, moats, and formidable works. The town is built of stone, the houses are handsome, adorned with carved work, and finished in a style quite superior to our English ones.

I called on the Protestant Minister — only two hundred and fifty Protestants, alarmed, b2 COtTRTKAY. dejected— a feeble Bible Society. Superstition with her dark damp shade overhangs the place. The trade is in lace and cotton chiefly. The men in the manufactories gain three or four francs (the franc is worth about nine-pence halfpenny) a day ; the women one franc, and the children about the same ; food a third part cheaper than in London. The women wear only caps and cloaks ; the wooden shoe is common. We set off on Friday, yesterday, about two in the afternoon, for Courtray, a town interesting for its cheerfulness and neatness, for the taste in which the houses are built, and its general beautiful appearance — but, alas ! the whole place is given to superstition. At every lamp through the streets an image of the Virgin is suspended ; not a Protestant in the town.

In England, we have little idea of the state of things in Catholic Europe ; there is "a darkness that may be felt.'" Here and at Gand, and a village lying between, we have seen some of those fine pulpits which are common in the Netherlands. If the doc trine delivered only resembled the excellence PULPITS. of the pulpits, it would be a blessing indeed. One was a kind of palm-tree, the trunk concealing within it the stairs ; the foliage formed the sounding-board, and an immense sort of pumpkin the pulpit itself, which an angel supported underneath. The next was a pulpit sustained by four female figures as large as life ; the sounding-board surmounted by a cherub raising the cross, angels standing by. A third was chiefly of white marble ; an angel underneath opened the Bible to an old man, at these words, " Awake, thou that sleepest, and ai-ise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

Another angel at the sounding-board was blowing the trumpet of the gospel, and another sustaining the cross. But, oh ! the sad falling off when we turn from this to the wretched superstitions of Popery. It seems quite incredible, with the New Testament in our hands, that men should be so deluded ; but the Scriptures describe Popery as " the power of error ;" " Satan deceiving the nations." — Still the diligence of the Catholics' attention to their ceremonies, and their deep devotion, GAND ought to be examples to purer churches. We never entered a church but many were at their prayers; and this evening the churches were crowded. I forgot to tell you, that one of our carriages gave way about seven miles from Courtray ; a bar of iron behind was broken through. It detained us two hours on the road, and will keep us here perhaps over Monday ; otherwise we should have reached Antwerp to-night, and Brussels on Monday.

We have now come forty-five leagues from Calais, about one hundred and twenty-four English miles. We are all quite well, and comfortable, and happy, and cheerful, with no one accident to our persons, and only the slight one just men tioned to the carriages. Farewell. The post does not go out till Tuesday. Gand, Sunday night, 22d. — We found to day an English service at one of the churches- The prayers were well read, and the sermon tolerable. We spoke to the clergyman after church, and it turned out that he knew some thing of us. We asked him home to our inn, GAND and he dined with us. He was a pleasant, and I hope a pious man. There being no Pro testant service, I went in the afternoon to at tend one ofthe Catholic churches. The sermon was in Flemish, and unintelligible to me ; and the Mass afterwards was most afflictive : really, the processions, prostrations, incense, music, made up a sort of stage-effect, utterly irreconcilable with all notions of spiritual worship.

Thank God for the Reformation ! In the evening we had service in our family, — the evening prayers of the church, and a sermon. I was much in clined to have offered to preach this morning ; but I abstained, from a sense of duty. My heart and thoughts have been much at St. John's. Gand, June 23d, Monday morning.— We have had an excellent night — all well ; we are now going to visit the principal curiosities of this celebrated town, and shall probably set off for Antwerp about two in the afternoon, and arrive at eight. To-morrow we mean to sleep at Brussels ; and Wednesday, perhaps, at ■u GAND Maestricht, and so on to Spa. The road in these Low Countries is all a pave in the middle, and generally deep sand on the sides. I suppose we have travelled about one hundred miles already on stones, which are worse than those in our London streets.

Carriages break down constantly ; sometimes the first day, and generally before the end of the week. We paid four francs for some cords, at Vive St. Eloi, which were worth five sous — about six teen times their value. Farewell. Pray for us, and believe me your affectionate D. W.

Letter II

Brussels, Friday, June 27, 1823. MY DEAR SISTER, I sent off my first letter from Ghent, on Monday, June 23, which I hope you received on Thursday or Friday. I begin now my second letter against the next post-day. We took our view of the city of Ghent on Monday morning. It stands upon twenty-six islands, connected by three hundred bridges. It has sixty or seventy thousand inhabitants. It was the birth-place of Charles V. The Nunnery, where six or seven hundred females maintain themselves by spinning and other like works, first engaged our attention. We next visited the Museum of Paintings, distinguished for many pictures of Rubens. The public Li brary is one of the finest buildings in Europe ; ANTWERP. entirely of black and white marble. An inscription, taken from St. Chrysostom, very much pleased me, " Lectio Scripturarum munitio est adversus malum ; The reading of the Scrip tures is the defence against evil" — no obscure testimony against the present practice of the Church of Rome.

The Cathedral is sumptuous and superstitious beyond all imagination ; (See Rev. xviii. 11 — 13.) We ascended the tower by four hundred and sixty-four steps, and there obtained a rich coup-d'œil of the whole city, which has all the marks of departed grandeur. At two, our carriages being repaired, we set off for Antwerp ; eleven leagues, thirty miles English. As we approached it, the magnificent tower of the Cathedral appeared directly in our view, — 466 feet high, of the most delicate architecture, and rising at top to the finest point imaginable — certainly the most splendid thing of the kind in Europe : the Scheld river, how ever, flowing between us and the city, we had to pass a quarter of a league in a ferry-boat before we could reach it. As we walked up to the inn, gaudy images of the Virgin offended BRUSSELS. us at the corner of almost every street ; forty or fifty of these, with lamps suspended before them, are scattered over the city.

The town is most handsome and noble, like the former capital of European commerce. The Scheld is broader here than our Thames at London, and flows close up to the place. We visited the next morning the church of St. James, and saw a beautiful pulpit, supported by female figures as large as life, representing Truth, Faith, Theology, and Learning. The tower of the cathedral, of six hundred and twenty-two steps, I declined to ascend. The Museum of Pictures is valuable. We dined at three, and soon after drove off to Brussels, where we arrived at nine in the evening, Tuesday, June 24. Here we have been detained three days for repairing a second time the carriages— dislocated, weakened, shattered almost, with these paves. The city is beautifully situated, partly on a hill and partly in the valley ; it has one hundred thousand inhabitants, with boulevards encircling it, which will, when finished, be about six miles in extent.

The chamber of the Etats Gene- BRUSSELS. raux, or Parliament, is really quite charming, much more elegant and commodious than our English House of Commons. The Royal Pa laces at this place and at Lacken, three miles from Brussels, are pleasing. The chief church of St. Gudule is, like all the other Catholic churches, loaded with images of saints and the Virgin. A priest showed us the church ; and told us, with perfect sang-froid, that some Jews having, four centuries ago, stolen the host from the church and stabbed it, blood miraculously issued from it and destroyed them ! The pulpit here again is exquisite ; it is supported by figures of Adam and Eve driven out of Eden by an angel, with death triumphing over their ruin. The stairs and back of the pulpit repre sent the garden of Eden, with the different animals around.

The sounding-board is sur mounted by our Saviour, and, what always ac companies it, the Virgin. The Museum and Library are fine ; one hundred thousand vo lumes, and many pictures of Rubens. We here saw the first book printed at Brussels, in the year 1476, entitled Speculum Conscientiœ. We NAMUR were introduced to a very pious Protestant gentleman, who showed us the greatest kind ness. Things are rather improving upon the whole as to religion ; still the dark heavy su perstition of Popery prevails, and weighs down the consciences of men. Buonaparte is the idol here, and the present Government unpo pular ; but Popery seems to me the great evil. O, when shall the pure truth of the Gospel once more spread through Europe ; and silently, but effectually, dissipate this strong delusion ! 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11.

Namur, Sunday, June 29. — A city entirely catholic ! Twenty thousand souls, and scarcely a Protestant inhabitant ! Not so much as a single sermon, of any kind, in any church throughout the day, for the people of the town ! Thank God, the military, from Holland and Switzerland, have Protestant chaplains and services in a church built for them by the present King of the Netherlands, who is himself, as you know, of the Protestant religion. As soon as breakfast was over, we had the WATERLOO. morning prayers of our own Church and a sermon; our little congregation seven as usual. At twelve, I went to the Military Chapel, to hear the German sermon, of which I could not understand a word. I talked afterwards to the chaplain; he was a sensible and pious young man. We dined at a quarter past one. In the afternoon, we went to the Cathedral — Popish service — building fine — pulpit of beautiful, though unadorned, marble.

We are now about to have our second domestic service. O, how I pity these Catholics, brought up to worship, not the God and Father of all, but the Virgin Mary and the Saints ! — Farewell. Namur, Monday morning. — We are now going off for Liege ; we hope to be at Spa on Wednesday; at Aix la Chapelle, Thursday; and Cologne on the Rhine (where the pave ends), Saturday. At Brussels, we engaged with a Swiss voiturier, who had come here with four horses from Rome, to conduct us to Berne. We left Brussels at nine on Saturday, and at eleven were on the field of Waterloo. "■1 WATERLOO. The garden, where Lord Anglesey's leg was interred, was visited by his Majesty the King of England, two years back ; we saw the mo nument. The small village church contains twenty-two monuments of the English officers who fell, with suitable inscriptions — a most affecting sight, I assure you.

The field of Waterloo itself is covered with corn ; but the hedge leading to Ohain, the farm of Haie Sainte, Huguemont, Planchenoir, &c. remain. The spot where the last attack was made on the English by the Imperial Guard is marked by a pillar, and also that where General Gordon fell. The Wellington tree was brought to England two years ago, and is at the British Museum. Costa, Buonaparte's guide, was ours, — an elderly man, full of enthusiasm in his de scription of the battle. We spent an hour with him on this memorable scene of England's glory. We reached Namur at nine, after a journey, on pave, of forty-four miles. It is a strongly fortified place, celebrated for the long siege which it sustained in King William's wars, and, like all frontier towns, the perpetual scene HUY of bloodshed and misery.

Forty thousand sol diers were quartered here in 1815 under Grouchy. It stands on the confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse or Maese ; a fine moun tain, adorned with hanging wood, and crowned with tremendous fortifications, forming the back ground. The walk by the river side is ex quisite. Muy, Twelve o'clock, Monday, June 30. — We have been four hours and a half coming to this beautiful town. The road has been by the side of the Meuse, seventeen miles. The hanging woods, the rocks, the villages, the windings of the river, the ruined castles, and a road of fine smooth earth, not pave, formed one of the most striking and beautiful rides I have ever witnessed. The cliffs and woods, in some places, were sublime. The rain of yesterday had laid the dust, and left a verdure on the face of nature.

The peculiar feature was the trees and woods, interspersed amongst the rocks in the most picturesque manner. We ascended the fortress at this place; which LIEGE 33 Lord Wellington, we were told, has been six years directing six thousand men to construct, and which is considered to be impregnable. Liege, Tuesday, July 1. — We arrived here last night, the road continuing equally beautiful ; but the heat of the day, especially in the morning, was very great, and we find ourselves a good deal fatigued. My dear Mrs. W. has been on the whole comfortable, though yester day she felt the heat a good deal. To-day is the post, and therefore I close this letter. Pray for us. I found no letters from England at Brussels, but I hope to receive some at Co logne. We are all well. I am, &c. D. W. P. S. We have underrated the distance we have travelled ; the leagues are two miles and three quarters English ; so that we have now gone about two hundred and seventy-five miles from Calais.

We have two coachmen, and two beautiful white horses to each carriage. Liege VOL. I. c LIEGE contains nothing very remarkable. It stands in a picturesque spot on the side of a hill; a small river, banked with stone walls, runs through it ; and the gardens coming down to the river, are beautiful; a promenade, with trees, affords a delightful walk all around. In coming here we saw the mountain sides, for the first time, covered with vineyards. , 3$

Letter III

Spa, Tuesday, July 1, 1823 MY DEAREST SISTER, We have safely arrived at this beautiful spot, — a romantic watering place, celebrated all over Europe for its mineral springs. The road from Liege is mountainous, but in many places highly picturesque ; and as you approach Spa, follows the course of a fine stream till you come to Spa itself, which is situated in a charming valley, surrounded with mountains covered with hanging woods. On our road, we stopped an hour at a small inn, in the chamber of which I found a sort of chapel, dressed up with a crucifix, and many superstitious ornaments ; underneath, however, was a copy of verses so pious, that I copied them out, and send them for your benefit. I think them admirable : c2 SVA La Sainte Vohnte de Dieu ; lafolie de la Croix ; ov, Maximes de la Sagesse Evangilique.

Domptez vos passions, faites-vous violence .- Mortifiez vos dtsirs, cherissez le silence. Croyez sincerement chacun meilleur que vous ; Jugez de tous au bien, soyez affable a tous. Ne vous prevalez pas du mai que font les autres ; Excusez leur defauts, humiliez vous des vctres. Detoumez votre esprit des objets curieux ; Menagez vos momens, car ils sont pre'eieux. Evitez avec soin l'amitie' trop humaine; EUe trouble le cœur, et ne produit que peine. Obeissez gaiment, ne murmurez jamais; Votre ame jouira d'une solide paix. Que cette paix seroit durable et salutaire ; Si Ton n'avoit le cœur qu'a son unique affaire. Et si Ton savoit bien graver dans l'esprit ; Que le monde n'est rien, si Ton n'a Jesus Christ. Heureux qui prend le temps comme Dieu le lui donne ; Des biens, des maux presens, sait faire son profit : Et qui pour l'avenir au Seigneur s'abandonne, Disant, content de tout, Dieu le veut, il svffit.

Spa, Wednesday, July 2. — We have had a beautiful day. This village is surrounded with the finest rides and walks imaginable. The waters are a strong chalybeate, and some of VERVIERS. them with sulphur. They were first discovered in 1326. The place has fallen off for the last thirty years, and is now in decay. We shall stay here over to-morrow probably. Little did I think I should ever spend a birth-day at Spa, but so it is. I am forty-five to day ; with how many mercies surrounded ; with how much to lament in myself! This world how short, how vain, how unsatisfying ! Oh, that the temporal springs of this place may lead me to thirst more ardently for that fountain of living waters, which springs up into everlasting life ! Aix La Chapelle, Saturday, July 5. — We left Spa on Thursday after dinner, and came by a delightful road to Verviers, a small town, eleven miles distant, celebrated for a small river, the waters of which are used for dying cloths.