Letters written during a journey to Switzerland in the autumn of 1841

Preface

. At the moment of setting out last summer, with a portion of my family, on a journey to Switzerland, I succeeded to some degree in sooth ing the sorrow of my younger children on my leaving them, by making them a promise, that from every place we should visit I would write a particular account of it. In discharging the pleasing obligation which I had imposed on myself, I have been tempted to mention circumstances of by-gone days connected with the scenes I visited, for the purpose of at once amusing my juvenile correspondents, and of promoting in them a taste for history, for "philosophy, teaching by example;" but I did not bind myself to any rules or plan, I wrote just as my gossiping inclination dictated.

PREFACE.

. VI The narratives of the noble deeds of Swiss heroism, studied and detailed in the very theatre of their achievement, could not fail to create a vivid interest in the coldest bosom ; mine, I con fess, they filled with ardent sympathy: and the young patriot, yet only a shepherd boy, overcoming the gigantic Philistine in all his panoply, appeared to me not an unapt comparison for a small number of rude peasants successfully resisting, and finally expelling from their mountains, the formidable confederation of their powerful invaders, combined to subdue and enslave them. In attempting to give expression to my excited feelings, I found the performance of my engage ment expand itself to a magnitude, which, far exceeding all that I contemplated when I made it, would have warned me to proceed on a very diminished scale, when about half the number of the following Letters — assuredly intended to be seen only by the dear ones to whom they are addressed — were shewn by them to a friend, who urged me to continue and publish them. To that request I yielded the more easily, being

PREFACE.

. VII convinced, that from a compliance with it, I had to expect but little more than the gratification of testifying my sense of the kindness by which I knew that it was dictated. The production of a pen so entirely unknown as mine, can incur but small hazard of finding readers beyond a narrow circle of indulgent friends; and should it fall into other hands, its unpretending character will, I trust, avert acrimonious strictures. Insig nificance is often a sure protection — the lightning that blasts the towering and gnarled oak spares the lowly bramble. But no disappointment of my hopes in this particular can affect the pleasure I have had in endeavouring to give permanence to impressions made on me by the beautiful scenery it was my good fortune to behold in the finest possible weather; and if my attempt to describe them shall awaken in any young reader a love 6f nature, and a desire to explore some of the sublimest of her sanctuaries, the satis faction of thinking I have contributed to direct an ingenuous mind to one of the purest sources of earthly enjoyment will be more than com-

PREFACE.

pensation for my failure to escape the severity of literary criticism. I have curtailed the expressions of tenderness which more or less, I suppose, fall from every mother's pen in writing to her children. The inferiority of manner, were I to do otherwise, would too probably recal, in the way of contrast, the inimitable grace and charm with which Madame de Sevigne depicts her maternal love. I, doubtless, shall be excused for not professing, like Montaigne, to be " moi-meme la matiere de mon livre." F. M. L. Y. December, 1842. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Pagt Letter I. Calais .... 1 II. Cambrai 7 III. St. Quentin - - - - 15 IV. Laon ----- 19 V. Chalons-sur-Marne - 27 VI. Nancy - - - - 37 VII. Nancy — continued - - - 45 VIII. Mulhausen - - - - 52 IX. Basle ' - 58 X. Basle — continued - - - 70 XI. Les Bains de Baden - - 82 XII.

Zurich - - - - 94 XIII. From the Banks of the Lake of Zug 110 XIV. Lucerne - - - - 116 XV. Lucerne — continued - - 127 XVI. Lucerne — continued - 144 XVII. Lucerne — continued - - 153 XVIII. Lucerne — continued ... X CONTENTS. Page Letter XIX. Langnau - 169 XX. Langnau — continued - - 176 XXI. Interlachen - - - 182 XXII. Lauterbrunnen - - - 188 XXIII. Grindelwald - - 195 XXIV. Meyringen - - • - 206 XXV. Meyringen — continued - - 220 XXVI. Interlachen - - 233 XXVII. Berne 246 ERRATA. Vol. I. p. 84, for Vindonisson, read Vindonissa. 98, for Glavis, read Glaris. 10\,for Stratagetie, read strategetic. 113, dele " before " in ihe fourth line. 114, for moralist, read naturalist. 128,ybr Wolfenschiessen, read Wolfenschiess. 172, line 1, read do not " apparently." 207, for field, read bield. 243, for conventional, read conventual.

Vol. II. p. 38, for 1745, read 1475. 38,/or 1746, read 1476. 39, for 1746, read 1476. 66, for desolations, read desolation. 72, line \3,for others, read ours. 161, Hne9, dele great. 192, for Bertrand, read Bernard. 227, line i,for oud, read ond.

Letter I

Calais. My dear Children, I do not forget the promise which helped to dry your tears at our late sad parting, that I would employ my evenings in writing to you a full account of our journey to Switzerland; and "pour commencer au commencement," I now take up my pen at Calais, of which place you perhaps retain some recollection. I find* M. Dessin looking as good - humoured and host -like as formerly — and his garden as trim and bedecked with gay scentless flowers and numerous flower-pots, as when it excited your almost infantine admiration. It is certainly very French; bright in colours, but not by any means yielding the perfumes of "Araby the Blest," nor a tithe of the sweet odours that are to be found VOL. I. B CALAIS. in a little unpretending English garden, where no statues and no vases are placed to produce coups d'œil in a space of some fifty or a hundred yards in extent.

Here (at Dessin's), the Duke of Devonshire was yesterday; he and his suite only left Calais a few hours before our arrival. I dare say you remember having seen the Duke at Buxton, two or three years ago, and his having then spoken to you; for his manners are so kind and affable, that they confer pleasure on whom soever he notices, old and young alike. He is gone, and we are detained here waiting for our carriage. At Dover, by some unaccountable omission, it was not sent on board the packet at night, as we directed, and it could not come along with us this morning, when we put to sea in a small boat, to enable us to reach the packet, the low state of the tide not admitting of its lying alongside the quay. How well I remember the first time I was at Calais (not many years ago), and the ecstasy of delight I was in at finding myself in a foreign CALAIS. land, listening to men, women, and children, speaking the language of Racine, and of the court of Louis XIV.; so different from that which I had been hearing and speaking only three hours before, and all my previous life.

The high-roofed houses, of such gay colours, enclosing in their courts groves of trees growing in green tubs instead of the green turf; the costume of the peasants, male and female, with their conspicuous earrings, all excited in me then the liveliest interest. Now I look on the same objects with indifference, including even the figure of old Balafre (the Duke of Guise) as he stands before tbe Hotel de Ville, whose history on that occasion I anxiously endeavoured to recollect, as of the utmost importance, from its connexion with this city and our possession of it for two centuries. He wrested it from us in 1558; and Queen Mary was so grieved by the loss of this last relic of our Gallic conquests, that she said pathetically, the word " Calais would be found, after her death, inscribed on her heart," that heart which was the abode of sorrow almost from her earliest existence.

CALAIS. There are some places and scenes we can look upon again and again with renewed and increasing pleasure; while for others, when once seen, we lose all zest; and Calais, I must say, is of this latter description. The Basse-ville, which skirts it on the land side, I conclude, from some notices of it that I have casually met, was originally built by our King Edward III., the conqueror of Calais. He thus cut off all provisions in that direction coming from the country, as did his ships by sea. By means of the famine that ensued, he caused the town to surrender, when he cruelly resolved to sacrifice six of the principal inhabitants, to punish them for having so long resisted his arms. You no doubt remember reading with me how nobly the victims, led on by Eustace de St. Pierre, volun teered to offer themselves to save the lives and properties of their fellow citizens.

They little expected that the fallingtears and earnest entrea ties of a gentle Queen would be employed on their behalf, and turn the stern monarch from his revengeful purpose. Woman's mission on earth, CALAIS. 5 to promote deeds of mercy, to soften and to soothe man's rougher nature, is commonly attended, as it was in this instance, with unlooked-for blessings. Their lives were granted by the warrior; he who could calmly contemplate the shedding of innocent blood, and purpose the perpetration of an exe crable crime, could not see unmoved the tears of his kneeling wife. She arose (like a pleading angel who had obtained mercy for the condemned) with the joyful conviction that she had not prostrated herself in vain — her prayers were not unheeded — the lives of the captives were spared, their chains were rent asunder, and her husband was saved from the guilt of the foul sin he was on the point of committing.

It does not fall to the lot of many women to fill so high a station as did Philippa of Hainault, Edward's Queen; and it is not always in our power to exercise extended or very important benevolence; but in our different circles, wide and narrow, we can all do something, however little, in the way of shewing mercy and com passion towards our fellow creatures. The most CALAIS. important of all lessons given on this subject, and held out to us for our example, is the Widow's casting her mite into the treasury for the poor. Let us endeavour to act in the same spirit, and " do likewise," according to our means and oppor tunities, and bear in mind that woman's especial mission on earth is to promote happiness; being for the most part farther removed than men from the strife and turmoil of the world, she has more leisure for the performance of deeds of mercy and charity, as well as for the cultivation of the dispositions that suggest them.

Letter II

Cambrai. We had an uninteresting journey from Calais to Cambrai: the whole of the way the country is flat and monotonous; fae, pave on which carriages are commonly driven is rough in the extreme; the road on either side is too heavy not to be avoided by all postillions; however, we occasionally bribed ours to grant us a short respite from the into lerable jolting inflicted on us, and the alternations we experienced from one extreme to another reminded me of Tony Lumpkin's description of Crackskull Common and Feather-bed Lane — the combined agremens of which are to be found on the roads of France. We, who are accustomed to smooth-going on Macadamized roads, feel doubly the hard usage we get in our passage through CAMBRAI. what have been called (Oh, what a misnomer!) "the gay regions of France."

At least, those we have lately traversed are anything but gay; there are no hedges and no trees forming the neat and pleasant boundaries of the peasant's home. It is inexplicable to me how they can distinguish their several properties in the soil, unless it is by the different kinds of grain pro duced; and perhaps self-interest may sharpen the vision, and habit too, which latter enables a sailor to descry terra firma where a landsman could only perceive clouds. I have heard that Mathematics had their origin in difficulties of this description, occasioned by the overflowing of the Nile removing the accustomed landmarks. And truly to my eye, the divisions of land in this country seem as undefined as if the fertilizing mud of the Nile annually paid them a visit. But, doubtless, the owners of property see lines which are not apparent to others; and which, I suppose, are not quite so imaginary as those by the help of which you are taught Geography.

CAMBRAI. 9 At Cambrai, we find but little to afford us interest. Military men, who understand fortifications, would give a very different account of this city; for they are on such a scale as, I believe, renders it one of the strongest places in France. A very remarkable treaty took place here during the reign of the Emperor Charles V., transacted by two ladies — his aunt Margaret, governess of the Netherlands, and Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I. They met at Cambrai; and, by putting their heads together, effected a coalition (it proved but temporary) between their warring kinsmen. It had been well for Francis if the Duchess d'Angouleme's dispositions had at all times been of so peaceful a character. She it was who caused the noble Duke of Bourbon, after the severest struggles and his receiving the most galling provocations, together with the grossest injustice, to turn his arms against his sovereign, and thus produced a long train of direful evils to her gallant son, who loved his mother " not wisely but too well."

Independently of the fortifications, Cambrai b CAMBRAI. exhibits no marks of antiquity whatever: it is neither more nor less than an ordinary good sized town. Solomon complained that there was nothing new under the^ sun; and I, being in all things very unlike Solomon, am tempted to com plain that there is nothing old (some men and women excepted), being so often disappointed when full fraught with the expectation of seeing the habitations and other traces of the great men of former days. The Cathedral, as a building, is not at all indebted to the fine arts for any decoration, with the exception of a monument erected to the great and good Fenelon, so lately as the year 1824. A former one, I was told, had been destroyed during the Revolution at the close of the last century; when, with more than Vandal barbarism, infuriated mobs devastated all over France, with savage-like ferocity, time-honoured memorials.

The present monument consists of a fine white marble figure (by David) of Fenelon, having his hand appropriately laid on the Bible, whence alone, doubtless, he derived strength and power CAMBRAI. 11 of soul to tell the "Grand Monarque" unpala table truths, which none of his contemporaries, though Bossuet and other great men were amongst them, had the courage to utter. I must, how ever, admit that Massillon and the admirable Bourdaloue did, like Paul before Festus, dis course to him with surpassing eloquence on Death, Judgment, and Eternity. Such topics were, how ever (though the most astounding and momentous of all of which the tongues of men or angels could speak) more safe to treat of than the affairs of this world. I can never think of Fenelon's "Telemaque" without feeling for him the highest admiration.

When Poetry, Painting, and History were exhausting their powers of eulogy in cele brating the martial exploits of Louis XIV., he wrote that work, contrasting a good king with one whose selfishness and love of vain-glory rendered him insensible to the sufferings of his people. The written story was as bold a declaration of the real truth as the Prophet's narration to David, when he unveiled to him his guilt, saying, " Thou art the man!" CAMBRAI. Fenelon wrote the " Telemaque," not to satirize his sovereign (whom haply it might serve to enlighten), but for the benefit of the Duke of Burgundy, the next heir to the throne, whose education had been confided to him. In fact, the grandfather stood in need of the salutary lessons that precious work contains on self and kingly government, even more than the haughty wilful boy, whose unamiable qualities, however, quickly disappeared, and were replaced by virtues, under the mild influence of his excellent tutor, whom he promptly found himself compelled to love and reverence, whilst he successfully cultivated the Christian graces instilled into his mind.

In an evil hour for France, this admirable youth was removed by death from the cares of this world to the happiness of another; Fenelon, in qualifying him for an earthly throne, had fitted him for heaven. Whilst still disconsolate for the loss of his beloved pupil, and yet mourning over the destruc tion of his noble anticipations of ensuring for his country the future blessing of a wise and good CAMBRAI. 13 sovereign, he was ordered to withdraw from Paris — the Paradise of every intellectual French man of that period. He was exiled to Cambrai, because his counsels did not please the unac knowledged wife of Louis — the crafty, clever, and cold-hearted Madame de Maintenon. Like Sully towards Henry IV., in this instance he remon trated with the king emphatically against his union with the favourite, but not with equal success.

The frail Gabrielle d'Estrees died wretched, her wishes unfulfilled; whilst her more politic, and, it is admitted, virtuous successor survived, in luxurious retirement, the monarch whom she ruled, though she did not, to himself at least, " seem to rule," so consummate was her skill. I said that Fenelon was exiled; for — alas for human weakness in one of the best of men ! — it was with great reluctance that he went to his Archbishopric of Cambrai, whither his high sense of duty should have led him to go voluntarily; but when he did take up his abode there, he could not do otherwise than widely diffuse blessings around him; and many a touching tale is still CAMBRAI. on record of pious and benevolent actions which endeared him beyond measure to its inhabitants. The anecdote of his going on a dreary winter's evening in search of the poor widow's cow — who, not being aware of his rank until he brought it to her, had inquired if he had seen it straying — forms, together with others of his deeds of mercy, a subject of one of the bas-reliefs on the pedestal of his monument.

On leaving the church, we went in search of Fenelon's former residence; and we had the mortification of finding that there are no traces remaining, it having been destroyed at the period of the aforesaid revolution. On the site has been erected a plain modern house, which is occupied by the present archbishop.

Letter III

St. Quentin. On leaving Cambrai our road lay through the same kind of flat uninteresting country as that I have already described, not calculated to call forth one idea, excepting perhaps as regards the origin of the word ennui, and I fancied I could see around me good cause for that expressive term having been suggested to the minds of the gaily disposed French people. The first large town we stopped at for the night is St. Quentin, remarkable for nothing that I know of but the circumstances connected with a battle fought in its neighbourhood on St. Lawrence's day, between the French and Spaniards, when the army of the latter was commanded by the Duke of Savoy, whom the French had assisted in expelling from his dominions. The victory gained ST. QUENTIN. on that occasion so rejoiced the heart of Philip II. of Spain, that, in celebration of this event, he built the Escurial Palace, a monastery, and a church, all connected together, and in the shape of a gridiron (which the word Escurial signifies), in honour of the above-named saint, who had suffered martyrdom, as saintly legends tell, upon that culinary utensil.

The country around St. Quentin is disfigured by the cultivation of extensive tracks of poppies, the dark heads of which, from being fully ripe and uncut, give a lugubrious sombre aspect to the whole landscape, that reminded me strongly of the descriptions I have heard from Eastern travellers of the appearance of the country during a descent of locusts, which, wherever they alight, " make the green one" black. So different here in appearance are the poppies from the scarlet weed we find enlivening our fields, only in sufficient numbers to deck the gleaning girl's hair, or to remind us that " Our pleasures are like poppies spread, We seize the flower, its bloom is shed. ST. QUENTIN. 17 Had Mrs. O'Neill seen, as I have, many square miles together, disfigured by the growth of the poppy, she woulcl never have addressed to that flower, notwithstanding all its imputed virtues, her beautiful ode beginning " Not for the promise of the labour'd field, Not for the good the yellow harvests yield, I bend at Ceres' shrine; For dull, to humid eyes, appear The golden glories of the year — Alas! a melancholy worship's mine.

I hail the Goddess for her scarlet flower ! Thou brilliant weed, That dost so far exceed The richest gifts gay Flora can bestow : Heedless I pass'd thee in life's morning hour — Thou comforter of woe ! — Till sorrow taught me to confess thy power. ' ' Ete. etc. I have quoted only from memory, and as I find that is beginning to fail, I will stop, lest I should mix up Mrs. Greville's exquisite ode to "Indif ference" with that of her sister muse to the poppy, my writing of which latter perhaps causes the weighing down of my eyelids; certain it is I cannot ST. QUENTIN. much longer keep them open; so I must needs, while I am yet able to guide my pen, say adieu and Bon soir. P.S. — Some bust or statue of the beautiful Mrs. O'Neill ought to have been crowned with poppies — like Thorwalsden's Night — she sung so sweetly of their " dear lethean power."

Letter IV

Laon. To a person who has been long at sea, and has seen no object to give variety to the wearisome monotony of the wide expanse of waters, the appearance of a gallant vessel, with all its sails set and filled, cannot fail to be a most enlivening sight. Thus, having traversed for some time dull plains of standing poppies and of gathered grain, we saw with surprise and admiration, as we drew near the end of our day's journey, a very steep hill, surmounted by a most magnificent cathedral; through the windows and arches of that romanesque building of dark red stone, the setting sun was casting its rays in bright effulgence. LAON I do not remember ever to have seen anything more picturesque than the situation of this church and the surrounding town — anciently, I believe, it was a city — of Laon.

It was a noble site to choose for the temple of Christians, whose holy religion had triumphed over the false and debasing systems that had previously obtained the homage of mankind. As I looked upon its commanding position, which to my apprehension would render it impregnable as the rock of Gibraltar, I could not help wishing that it had been the fate of the early sufferers in the cause of truth, to defend themselves in some such strongholds, and to have there bid defiance to their persecutors, instead of taking refuge in dens and caves from the ruthless tyrants, who, amongst other species of cruelties, used to deliver them to be torn by wild beasts, to contribute to the savage mirth of assem bled multitudes. But, on consideration, I retracted this vain wish; for had the early converts con quered, or maintained themselves unsubjugated by the force of arms, the convincing proofs they gave of the stedfastness of their faith would have LAON been in a great degree lost to the world.

Their miseries were transient, and their recompense is everlasting. I remember having once been very much amused with a note of Doctor Johnson on Shak speare. It consists of this simple declaration — " Of the Manningtree ox, I can give no account." This honest avowal of that great man, forms a pleasant contrast to the uselessly elaborate notes of some other inferior commentators on the most ludicrously indifferent matters; such, for instance, as what kind and description of cat is meant by a gib-cat, and sic genus. I must say of Laon, as he did of the ox, that I can give you no account of it, farther than that it was formerly a Bishop's see, which has been removed to Soissons. The town was larger and more flou rishing than it is at present — it has all the appearance of having been a place of considerable importance; but as I am without any books of reference, I must maintain a discreet silence as to its past history.

LAON The inside of the church is not unworthy of its grand and striking exterior. In resuming our journey, as we walked down the hill which approaches too nearly to being perpendicular to admit of trusting one's safety to a carriage, we were every moment looking round again and again upon the lofty and noble edifice, erected on high, like the Temples of the Sun of old — to the God not only of this world, but of all the innumerable worlds the universe contains. After leaving Laon the country became much less triste, from our seeing more of verdure and trees than we had previously done during the whole way from Calais; still it was flat, and better only by comparison. We never saw farm-houses near the road, nor "decent village church." At a considerable dis tance we could sometimes discern hamlets; but they were few, and so far removed, that they did not impart cheerfulness, and even scarcely served to diversify the landscape.

LAON 23 After leaving Laon, the first place where we changed horses was Sillery. I alighted, when the carriage stopped, on seeing that name inscribed over a large and grand-looking gateway. Com tesse de Sillery was the title given, together with that estate, to which the gate is an entrance, to the justly celebrated Madame de Genlis. She educated the late Duke of Orleans's family, and such branches of knowledge as she did not herself undertake to impart, were taught wholly under her superintendence and by her directions, at a country seat of the Duke's, called "La belle Chasse." When the awful revolution already mentioned, burst forth in all its horrors, in 1793, the Duke of Chartres, the eldest of her pupils, now the King of the French, was then a youth of nineteen years of age. He saved his life in the first instance by flight: he took the name of Chabot, and crossed the Alps on foot, with his knapsack on his back.

Soon after his arrival in Switzerland, he was engaged as an usher to a school, in the little village of Reichenau, near to Coire, and there he taught French, history, LAON and mathematics. That one of "the children of France" should be so educated by a woman as to be thus qualified to meet such reverses of fortune, is a circumstance of which our sex may well be proud. A poet says, " to bear is to conquer our fate;" but he did more and better than passively submit to his altered condition — he triumphed over it. Again the wheel of fortune went round, and when Madame de Genlis was past eighty years of age, she saw the same vigorous-minded pupil, then a middle-aged man, called to the throne of France. Vicissitudes so wonderful could hardly fail to have suggested to his mind some such reflection as has been well expressed by Doctor Channing in the following words : " The outward distinctions of life must seem to us not 'a. great gulf,' but superficial lines, which the chances of a day may blot out, and which are broad only to the narrow minded."

His Majesty did not forget his early instructress, whose lessons had assisted in teaching him how LAON to bear such extremes of fortune with equal ability and incomparable power of self-adaptation. One of his first acts was to offer her apartments (that they might be again under the same roof) in the Palace of the Tuileries. Overwhelmed with grati tude, she sat up to a late hour, writing a long letter to him on the subject of his offer, as well as on that of his accession to the throne. At length she was prevailed on to retire to rest. She laid her head upon her pillow, from which she never raised it. — She died happy. I was disappointed at finding no house of hers remaining. An avenue of trees leading from the gateway, denotes where it had been erected. In answer to some of my inquiries, a farmer on the spot said, the estate had been given by Madame de Genlis to her grandaughter Madame V , whose husband was an officer in Napoleon's invading army of Russia; and that in revenge for some excesses committed by him there, the chateau was completely destroyed, when the Russians, in 1814, returned the unceremonious visit that had been paid to them by the French.