the singing and playing of this very air, on pain of severe punishment. Some of the Swiss Guards of the Prince of Orange, had, on hearing it, been affected with what is termed the mal-du-pays; others deserted; and many instances of suicide have been known to result from the impressions of this fantastical and even trivial song. Some of these rude pastorals retrace, in their narrative, the occupations of the herd-keepers, their love-attachments, their village jests, the pleasures of their youthful days, and the productions of their mountains. The patois Fribourgeois and the patois Vaudois have a good deal of affinity with the Italian language, from which indeed they both derive their origin. At Ekersried, a bridge over the torrent of the Kalte Sensé conducts us into the Canton of Berne, whose fiscal authority is designated at the same point by a "Bureau de Frontière et des Péages." At this point the mountains appear again in the extreme distance with great majesty their middle regions were wrapped in clouds, whilst their pyramidic summits, rising far above, looked like vast rocks in a sea of foam. If we have had reason to speak well of the soil, and to think favourably of the rural economy of Catholic Fribourg, the Protestant Canton we have now entered claims our still higher admiration for the yet superior productiveness of the land, and the more comfortable circumstances of its inhabitants. The villages are neat, populous, and picturesque. It is pleasing in the extreme to behold the numerous well-built cottages of the peasantry, and the still more substantial dwellings of the farmers, agreeably embosomed in trees, with their barns and stables detachedly arranged in their vicinity. In the meadows, we observed the grass-layers, composed of various plants, aromatic and others; the predominating part is clover, whence the bees extract their honey, and the butter derives its flavour. The immediate environs of Berne are delightful, and the entrance to the city is particularly handsome.-The Cathedral is a noble specimen of the pointed stile; and if the tower* had been completed it would have even surpassed that of Fribourg: but a cupola of wood, painted of a reddish brown, is a very poor substitute for a coronated lantern of stone, with which apparently it was the intention of the architect to have finished it. The west entrance well deserves a minute inspection from those who take an interest in what are called Gothic designs, not only because they shew the state of the arts, but also as they throw light on the moral and religious character of the middle ages. This portal is full of statuary, consisting of saintly and secular personages. But the principal subject is the Judgment Day, executed on a more extended scale and with more elaborate workmanship than that which has already been noticed among the ecclesiastical curiosities of Fribourg. In the centre of the composition, and in the clouds, is an Angel with a trumpet to his mouth. On the right, is a crowd of Popes, Emperors, and Kings, of Clergy and Laity, entering the gates of Paradise. On the left, Satan and his During the night, a sentinel is stationed on the top of this tower to watch and give alarm in case of fire. The town criers begin their rounds through the city at ten o'clock in the evening, giving out the hour and warning the inhabitants to take care of fire and candle. As they pass by the tower, the sentinel at the top is required to answer them, in proof of his being awake. Angels have a prodigious deal of busines on their hands in committing condemned souls to the flames of "the other place." And to say the truth, the artist, whoever he might be, has performed his task with strict impartiality; for we find a triple-crowned head, in company with cardinals' caps, and mitres, precipitated into the same burning gulph to which the Devil's assistants have already consigned many wearers of imperial and regal diadems, and of noble coronets. The whole is conceived in a style the most grotesque and ludicrous, so unsuited is the manner to the matter, of the representation; but the execution, in high relief, displays no mean proofs of sculptural talent and skill. The interior of this fine church is cleaner and looks altogether more Cathedrallike than that of Geneva. It contains the monument of its founder Berthold V. Duke of Zæringuen, (of the House of Austria): an interesting piece of sepulchral antiquity, spoiled by the trumpery colouring which surrounds it. The choir, converted into a separate place of worship, contains in its windows some good painted glass; and the backs of the stalls are ornamented with figures of the Prophets and the Apostles well carved in wood. In a side-chapel large tablets of marble have been placed against the walls, inscribed with the names of the citizens who perished in the battles which took place near this place in 1798. The French during those dreadful conflicts owed their success, in no small degree, to the diabolical stratagems with which they fomented that party-spirit to whose baneful influence the people of Berne unfortunately were victims. Conspicuous amidst these memorials of national calamity is a cenotaph (simple but in good taste) erected to the truly honourable memory of the good and brave M. Steiguer;* who was Avoyer of Berne, at the fatal epocha in question. A man of transcendant merit, he would have proved himself another Bubenberg, if the Bernese of his day had but been generally possessed of the same patriotism of sentiment, the same devotedness of • Frederick Steigner was born at Berne, in 1729. He became in 1764 a Member of the Sovereign Council; and in 1772 Bailiff of Thun, which place he quitted to take his seat in the Senate. His knowledge and integrity obtained for him a high degree of influence in 1775; and the following year he was deputed to the Diet of Arau and Baden for the purpose of renewing the alliance with France. The Foreign Potentates honoured his talents and virtues with distinctions. In 1787, made Avoyer of Berne, first magistrate of a free people, he displayed all the virtues of a perfect patriot. Filled with indignation at the horrible massacre of the Swiss Guards at Paris, he was desirous of assembling the whole military force of Switzerland to avenge the slaughter of his countrymen. During the French Revolution public opinion was divided at Berne. And a party that sought to obtain, by negotiations with the Directory of France, that which Steigner wished to gain without such a striking at the root of national dignity and independence, was formed against the good Avoyer. In 1798 the insurrection in the Pays-de-Vaud took place, and was followed by its military occupation by the French, who turned to their own advantage the discord that prevailed in the city of Berne. Steiguer strenuously advocating resistance to the advance of their army, caused General d'Erlach to be entrusted with the command of the Bernese troops. An ancient law imposed upon the Avoyer the duty of commanding the army on the day of battle. Steiguer, although 69 years of age, proceeded to join D'Erlach in a position between Soleure and Berne: exposed there to the most murderous fire, he failed to meet the death which he sought. Hurried away amidst the confused mass of his routed companions, he entertained but one thonght, that of avenging the ruined cause of his country. After the surrender of Berne he retired into Germany, where at Augsbourg, he died of a broken heart, on the 3d of December, 1799. His friend, the historian Muller, applies to him no epithets less honourable than those of the WISE and the JUST. His death spread consternation through his country. The Generals of the Imperial Armies, as well as those of all the Allied powers, attended his funeral. And when tranquillity was re-established in Switzerland, a deputation went to Augsbourg to claim his remains, which were deposited in the Cathedral of Berne, with extraordinary pomp and at the public expense, in 1805, near this tomb. heart, the same love of subordination and good discipline, as their forefathers manifested in the war of Laupen.Steiguer did every thing in his power to oppose the cruel invaders of Switzerland. But not having been supported by the principal members of the State, he expatriated himself that he might avoid being a witness of the enemy's devastations. He survived the ruin of his country's cause only a short time, leaving his fellow citizens to deplore the consequences of their not having followed his advice and example; the advice of distrusting the insidious offers, and the example of resisting the profligate aggressions of French Jacobins, given in a Great and Free Land, by an Illustrious Statesman then at the helm of its national power; "Who, while Terror and Doubt o'er the universe reign'd, "And ONE KINGDOM preserv'd, 'midst the wreck of a world." We rested awhile on the welcome seats and under the shady trees of the cathedral-terrace; the view from which offers such a combination of beautiful and sublime objects as can be witnessed from the walls of but few other cities. The ground in the neighbourhood alternately spreads itself in dewy meads, or rises in verdant hills, sprinkled with pleasure houses, farms, and cottages. Beyond them rise the Alps in the grandest perspective.— The Aar is here seen rushing, in a deep and rapid stream, at the foot of the steep eminence on which the town is built. The partial retention of its waters by means of a sort of broad wear,* carried diagonally across the chan * Dr. Burnett notices this "sloping bank of stone, which, as he states, was made at a vast charge." |
