pages so fraught with examples of patriotic heroism gloriously successful, as those in which the impetuous Duke of Burgundy, in the vindictive and ambitious attempt to subjugate a people determined to maintain their independence, lost his wits at Granson, his treasures at Morat, and his life at Nanci. The road we took forms a most delightful excursion either for a walk or ride; winding as it does sometimes through enclosures of corn and clover, from which it is separated on each side by nicely clipped hedges; at others among fir, oak, and beech trees. Through breaks in these fine plantations, we caught transitory but enchanting views of the waters and mountains that spread themselves out with increasing amplitude and grandeur. Shady coverts line our course for several miles, resembling the belt of a nobleman's park in England.— The variegated tints of lovely foliage, gilded by the morning sun; the lake's extensive surface slightly ruffled by a breeze, and shining in the orient ray; the bold line of the Jura, crested with fleecy clouds, whose whiteness formed a striking contrast to the hue of the lofty forestcrowned summit of Chasseron; the sides of that chain, sloping down in an easy descent, and cheering the eye with multiplied indications of fertility and industry; the purple tints of the more distant mountains mark surrender their arms, but they rose up, and were victorious.”—Madame de Staël. From the nature of the soil, and its exposure to the sun's rays, these mountainous districts become almost sterile in a season of long continued drought, which is attended with an insupportable degree of heat. The dogs and wolves commit such terrible ravages in very dry summers, that battues are frequently ordered for the destruction of these animals, and numbers of them are killed even near large towns: ing the direction in which, before we should turn away from the water side, our perspective glass was made ready to search for the town of Neuchatel*-these objects and accidents, in picturesque harmony combined, still hold their place on the field of Memory's vision among the most impressive scenery that presented itself in the course of this interesting day's journey. As we proceeded, the surrounding country, so far from deteriorating, improved on our sight the road skirted the foot of a beautiful ridge, planted at the bottom with corn, potatoes, and herbage; above them, along its sides, were vines; and the top was clothed with flourishing young woods. At the commencement of a steep and circuitous ascent, an iron cross, placed on a rock, marks the entry into a commune of which Estavayert is the chief town, and which, though divided by a long narrow strip of the Pays-de-Vaud from the territory of Fribourg, actually belongs to the latter canton. No sooner had we crossed the boundary, than we found ourselves importuned for alms: so invariably do mendicity and Catholicity appear to go together. From Bex through Villeneuve to Geneva, and from Geneva up to this point, being all Protestant ground, never were we solicited by a single beggar.Yvonand, the next village to that distinguished by the above noticed symbol of Romanism, is Protestant, belonging to The King of Prussia is Sovereign of Neuchatel and De Valangin, which is one of the principalities. For form-sake, one of his Chamberlains resides as his representative at Neuchatel, where he is magnificently entertained. + Situated three short leagues from Yverdun, on the borders of the lake. In this small town there are three convents; one for men, and the other two for women. the Pays-de-Vaud; and to Yvonand succeeds Cheire,* a Catholic village, comprised in the canton of Fribourg.— It is thus that territories and religions are checquered in Switzerland. At Cheire we quitted the borders of the lake of Neuchatel, without having seen scarcely a sail, or a bark, or even a fishing punt, on that vast sheet of water. The villagers at Le Chable, as we passed through it, were assembled in the church-yard, waiting for the commencement of Mass.-The road began to lose its good condition, in spite of the many crucifixes that adorned its sides. And though the country abounds in Nature's sweetest charms and richest gifts, yet cleanliness and neatness appeared almost wholly banished from the dwellings of its inhabitants; whose general civility of deportment, however, must not go without the traveller's good word. We breakfasted at Payerne, a Protestant town, situated on that northernmost extremity of the Pays-de-Vaud which so curiously intersects the territory of Fribourg. -The inequalities and peculiarities of building, the carved and painted fronts of its houses, and the immense overhanging roofs constructed to shelter their windows from the intensity of the sun's heat, are subjects to delineate well suited for the pencil of a topographical draughtsman. There are two ancient churches close to each other. The one we entered had formerly belonged to a very rich monastery of Benedictines, founded by Bertha, Royal Consort of Rudolph II. A monumental tablet of modern erection designates the spot where this celebrated Princess was buried: and the still preserved relics of her equestrian appointments (saddle, spur, and * A fine mosaic pavement (Roman) was discovered there in 1775. bridle-bit, rusty and worm-eaten as they are) serve to remind us of that period when Helvetia formed part of the second Burgundian kingdom; and of that simply constituted frame of society, when a Queen wielded the sceptre at the chamber of Nobles in the morning, and as publicly handled the distaff in her afternoon rural ride. The old castle has nothing remarkable in its exterior construction: the interior is occupied as a boarding-house for ladies, whose apartments look out on a spacious and productive garden. On the parapet of the bridge over the Broye, which runs past the town on the Yverdun side, is a Roman remain: it has, however, no connection in point of date with the architecture of the bridge itself, but has merely been adjusted to fill a place in the masonry of one of the parapets. The first two lines are sufficiently legible, viz. FORTVNE REDVCI AVGVSTVS DEDICAT. Which I presume shews it to have been a votive altar stone, consecrated to that fickle Goddess, whose figure (dextra temonem, sinistra cornucopia) appears with the above legend on so many imperial coins from Hadrian to Maximian, as if to prove herself to have been Fortuna Fugax well as Redux. Continuing our journey, we soon crossed the final boundary of the Canton of Vaud, and proceeded towards the * Mr. Coxe, in alluding to this antique fragment, observes, that the decyphering of its inscription was to him by no means a difficult task.He has not, however, favoured us with the result of his perseverance, though accomplished against the advice of the “plain looking man,” whose preference for "plain Latiu,” our instructive traveller so pleasantly mentions, (vol. ii. p. 336).—With the exception of the words above given, the writer of these pages confesses himself to have been no wiser for the pains he took to make out the almost obliterated characters, than the honest native of Payerne, capital of that of Fribourg. We were now in a country of bill and dale, with little or no extent of prospect, except what offered itself to us, as we occasionally looked back on Payerne, and the distantly receding Jura: but we were treated with a delightful succession of homeviews, some resembling "the bottoms," in Gloucestershire, others the wooded districts of Norfolk. A half-finished barn on the road side, near Grolley, reminded us of Addison's description, viz. "a frame of wood for a foundation, and four huge blocks placed at each corner, by which the whole weight of the structure is supported." The gaudy gilded crosses, fixed by the peasantry on each grave in their church-yards, are not in keeping with the simple picture of "The spiry dome "Sacred to Heav'n, around whose hallow'd walls In the villages we find dwellings, barns, and stables, all under one roof, either of tiles, wood, or thatch: even the winter's fuel is piled up before their lower windows: a practice which inevitably renders conflagrations destructive when they do occur. The chief agricultural products in this district are barley, oats, clover, hemp, turnips, beet root, potatoes, and lentils. The corn harvest was just beginning. Fruit trees abound-walnuts, plums, pears, cherries, and apples are the principal. We observed, from time to time, tolerably large plantings of tobacco; and as a necessary consequence found men and boys all smokers. The last stage of our ride to Fribourg lay through a large forest of firs, from which the people are furnished with wood for the purposes both of fuel and |
