Route 3. - Soleure to Bienne. char-à-bane, but very rough, descends the opposite side of the Weissenstein, into the Val Moutiers (described in p. 6). 1 Sissach, a village of 1100 inhabitants, and 2 Läufelfingen. The pass of the Unter-Hauenstein (the hewn rock), which now commences, is of great importance as an outlet for the merchandise of Switzerland, and as the most direct line of communication from W. Germany to Italy by the St. Gotthard. The improvements completed between 1827 and 1830, at an expense of 260,289 fr., have rendered the slope on both sides so gradual, that extra horses are rarely required for carriages. A toll of 5 batz per horse is paid, but nothing is charged for Vorspann horses. From the summit of the pass, after crossing the boundary-line of Bâle and Soleure, a fine view is obtained of the great chain of the Alps. 21 Olten (Inns: Krone; Halber Mond Half Moon), though it contains but 1500 inhabitants, promises to rise into a flourishing town, to the prejudice of Soleure, of which it is becoming the rival. Its prosperity is greatly promoted by its position on the new road of the Unter Hauenstein. It is built on the left bank of the Aar, and is said to be the Roman Ultinum. The roads from Bâle to Lucerne, and from Zurich to Soleure and Neuchâtel, cross here. The old parish church, converted into a wood warehouse since the new one was built, is of great antiquity: it is mentioned in records as early as 1240. Our road crosses the Aar by a wooden bridge, and proceeds along its rt. bank, through pleasing scenery, to Aarburg-(Inns; Bär;-Krone), an old town of 1500 inhabitants, distinguished by its extensive Citadel on the heights above, constructed in 1660; the only fortress belonging to the Swiss Confederation, but of no use as a fortification, for although it has bomb-proof casemates hewn out of the rock, its works have been allowed to go to decay. It serves as a military storehouse for the Swiss Confederation, and forms a picturesque object in the landscape, such as is met with in the background of old German pictures. Outside the town is an extensive cotton factory. At Kreutzstrasse, a mile farther, the high road from Zurich to Berne (Route 13) crosses our route. The Lion is a good inn here. The road continues along a pretty valley, distinguished by its verdant pasture: its substantial looking houses, many of them with gardens, whose walls are often covered with thin plates of wood overlapping each other like fishes' scales. It is bordered by a varied outline of wooded heights. 4 Sursee-(Inn: Hirsch; bad and dear) an old walled town, whose gate-towers still bear the doubleheaded eagle of Austria carved in stone. "The traveller may well employ a few moments in examining the Rathhaus, much dilapidated, but affording a good specimen of the peculiarities of the German-Burgundian style. The general outline resembles the old Tolbooth of Edin Sempach. of the noble devotion of Arnold of He of battle-martyrs chief! Wordsworth. He was a knight of Unterwalden, who, observing all the efforts of the Swiss to break the ranks of their enemies foiled by their long lances, exclaimed, "Protect my wife and children, and I will open a path to freedom." He then rushed forward, and gathering in his arms as many lances as he could grasp, buried them in his bosom. The confederates were enabled to take advantage of the gap thus formed in the mail-clad ranks of the foe, before the Austrian lancers burgh."-P. Sursee lies at the dis-had time to extricate their entangled tance of about a mile from the N. extremity of the Lake of Sempach, which is seen over and among the orchards on the left of the road in going to Lucerne. It has no pretensions to great beauty, but is pleasing, and highly interesting historically from the famous Battle of Sempach (1336) the second of those great and surprising victories by which Swiss independence was established. It was fought on the E. shore of the lake, behind the little town of Sempach, opposite which the lake comes into full view from our road. In 1805, a portion of the water of the lake was let off, in order to gain land along its banks; thus its extent is diminished, its surface lowered, and its form somewhat altered from what it was at the time of the battle. A small chapel, in the form of a portico, is erected to commemorate the victory, on the spot where Leopold of Austria (son of the Duke of the same name who had been defeated 71 years before at Morgarten) lost his life. The names of those who fell, both Austrians and Swiss, were inscribed on the walls, which also bear a rude fresco representation weapons from his corse. In order to oppose the Swiss, who fought on foot, many of the Austrian nobles had dismounted to form a serried phalanx; but the armour which_rendered them almost invulnerable on horseback, and which, while they remained united and in close column, had formed so impenetrable a barrier to the attack of the Swiss, now that their ranks were broken, disabled them from coping with their lightarmed and active foes. 600 nobles were slain, and more than 2000 common soldiers; while the entire force of the Swiss, who achieved this victory, is said not to have exceeded 1400 men. At Buttisholz, a village about 3 miles from Sursee, and on the S. of our road, may be seen a mound, called the English barrow, because it contains the bones of 3000 of our countrymen, followers of the celebrated Condottiero leader, Ingelram de Coucy, who were defeated here, 1376, by the inhabitants of Entlebuch. This Ingelram de Coucy was son-in-law of Edward III., king of England, and Earl of Bedford. Having a feud against Leopold of Route 5. Basle to Aarau. 6.. Basle to Zurich. : Austria, he not only laid waste his territories, but made devastating inroads into the neighbouring Swiss cantons, from the Jura to the gates of Berne and Zurich, until his career was suddenly arrested here by a few hundred Swiss peasants. This action put an end to a struggle known in Swiss history as the English war. The approach to Lucerne is charming on the 1. rises the Rigi, in shape somewhat resembling a horse's back; on the rt. the Pilatus is distinguished by its serrated ridge. After crossing the small stream of the Emme by a wooden bridge, we reach the banks of the green Reuss, rushing out of the lake of Lucerne. On the rt. the new road to Berne, by the Entlebuch, is passed. Lucerne is surrounded on this side by a battlemented wall, flanked at intervals by a number of tall watch-towers, descending to the margin of the river. 4 LUCERNE. Route 16. ROUTE 5. BASLE TO AARAU, BY THE STAFFELECK. 19 stunden-621 Eng. miles. The road is the same as Route 2, as far as 34 Rheinfelden (p. 8.) At Stein it quits the side of the Rhine, and ascends the Frickthal to 33 Frick-(the Ange is not a good inn)-a —a village of 1800 inhabitants, with a church on a height. Here our route branches out of the high road to Zurich. (R. 6.) The Frickthal and surrounding district belonged to Austria down to 1801. 13 Staffelegg. Above this village is a depression or col in the chain of the Jura, over which an easy carriageroad has been constructed at the expense of the government of the canton. A gradual descent leads down into the valley of the Aar, which is crossed in order to enter 1 Aarau- Inns: Wilder Mann, (Sauvage) Ochs (Boeuf) — Ci 15 gogne. The chief town of the canton, Argovie, which was first included in the Confederation 1803, having previously formed a subject province of canton Bern, contains 4500 inhabitants, and is situated on the rt. bank of the Aar: the bridge over it was swept away by an inundation in 1831. Simond called it, in 1817, "an odious little place;" but it has much improved and increased since then. It lies at the S. base of the Jura, here partly covered with vineyards. There are many extensive cotton-mills here. The Rathhaus, in which the cantonal councils are held, includes within its circuit the tower of a feudal castle of the Counts von Rore, which may be regarded as the nucleus of the town. In the parish church, Protestant and Catholic services are performed alternately. Henry Zschokke, the historian and novel-writer, resides here. When the armies of the French Revolution took possession of Switzerland in 1789, and destroyed its ancient form of government, Aarau was made capital of the Helvetian Republic, but it was soon transferred to Lucerne. The baths of Schintznach (p. 18.) are about 10 miles from this. The road to them runs along the rt. bank of the Aar, passing several castles, the most conspicuous of which is that of Windeck. Close to Schintznach rise the ruins of the Castle of Habsburg, the cradle of the House of Austria (p. 17.). 16 Route 6. Basle to Zurich the Frickthal, has a comfortable inn, and commands a pretty view across the river to the village and château of Zecking, on the opposite side. 7 Frick.—(Inns: "L'Ange; very indifferent and very exorbitant. There is another, which is at least worth trying," de S.) Passing through the villages Hornussen and Effingen, The road crosses the hill of Bötzberg, whose culminating point, 1850 ft. above the sea, commands a fine view of the Alps. It was called Mons Vocetius by the Romans, who constructed a highway across it; and on this spot, according to Swiss antiquaries, was fought the battle so fatal to the Helvetians, in which they were defeated by Cocina, and the Legion called by Tacitus Rapax, from its exactions and cruelty, A. d. 69. Opposite the small but pleasant inn, "An der Linden," there is a remarkably fine view of the Castle of Habsburg and town of Brugg, with the Aar in front, and the distant chain of Bernese Alps behind, including the Jungfrau and Blumlis Alp. The road descends a long hill to Brugg, crossing the Aar by a wooden bridge, 70 ft. long. 3 Brugg, or Bruck-(Inns: Stern, Etoile ; Rothes Haus, Maison Rouge) a walled town of great antiquity, having been an ancient possession of the House of Habsburg, containing 800 inhabitants. The exit and entrance to it are guarded by high conical-roofed towers and gates. It is the birth-place of Zimmerman, physician of Frederick the Great, who wrote on Solitude. The country around Brugg is interesting, both in a geographical and historical point of view. In the plain, a little below the town, three of the principal rivers of Switzerland which drain the N. slopes of the Alps, from the Grisons to the Jura, the Limmat, the Reuss, and the Aar, form a junction, and, united under the name of the Aar, throw themselves into the Rhine about 10 miles below Brugg, at a place called Coblenz. Close upon this meeting of the waters, and on the triangular tongue of land between the Aar and Reuss, stood Vindonissa, the most important settlement of the Romans in Helvetia, as well as their strongest fortress on this frontier, on which they placed their chief dependence for maintaining this portion of their empire. Its works extended 12 miles from N. to S. Yet scarcely any portion of it now appears above ground; traces of an amphitheatre, a subterranean aqueduct, which conveyed water from Brauneggberg, 3 miles off, founda tions of walls, broken pottery, inscriptions, and coins have been turned up by the spade from time to time, and its name is preserved in that of the miserable little village of Windisch. "Within the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of Habsburg, the abbey of Konigsfeld, and the town of Bruck, have successively arisen. The philosophic traveller may compare the monuments of Roman conquests, of feudal or Austrian tyranny, of monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly a philosopher, he will applaud the merit and happiness of his own time."- Gibbon. Half a mile beyond the walls of Brugg stands the Abbey of Königsfelden (King's field), founded, 1310, by the Empress Elizabeth, and Agnes, Queen of Hungary, on the spot where, two years before, their husband and father, the Emperor Albert, was assassinated. The convent was suppressed in 1528, and is now converted into a farm-house, an hospital, and a mad-house; the rest is rapidly falling to decay. The Church, though dilapidated, contains some fine painted glass; and the effigies in stone, as large as life, of a long train of nobles, who fell in the battle of Sempach. The large vaults beneath Route 6.- Königsfelden - Castle of Habsburg. were the burial-place of many members of the Austrian family, including Agnes, and Leopold, who fell at Sempach, but they were removed hence into the Austrian dominions in 1770. According to tradition, the high altar stands on the spot where Albert fell. He had crossed the ferry of the Reuss in a small boat, leaving his suite on the opposite bank, and attended only by the four conspirators. The chief of them, John of Suabia, nephew of Albert who had been instigated to the design by the wrong he endured in being kept out of his paternal inheritance by his uncle first struck him in the throat with his lance. Balm ran him through with his sword, and Walter von Eschenbach cleft his skull with a felling-stroke. Wart, the fourth, took no share in the murder. Although the deed was so openly done in broad day, almost under the walls of the Imperial Castle of Habsburg, and in sight of a large retinue of armed attendants, the murderers were able to escape in different directions; and the imperial retainers took to flight, leaving their dying master to breathe his last in the arms of a poor peasant who happened to pass. A peasant-girl that royal head upon her bosom laid, And, shrinking not for woman's dread, the face of death survey'd: Alone she sate. From hill and wood low sunk the mournful sun; Fast gushed the fount of noble blood. Treason his worst had done. With her long hair she vainly pressed the wounds to staunch their tide; Unknown, on that meek, humble breast, imperial Albert died. Mrs. Hemans. A direful vengeance was wreaked by the children of the murdered monarch; not, however, upon the murderers-for, with the exception of Wart, the only one who did not raise his hand against him, they all escaped- but upon their families, relations, and friends; and 1000 victims are believed to have expiated, with their lives, a crime of which they were totally innocent. Queen 17 Agnes gratified her spirit of ven-geance with the sight of these horrid executions, exclaiming, while 63 unfortunate men were butchered before her, 66 Now I bathe in May-dew !" She ended her days in the convent of Königsfelden, which she had founded and endowed with the confiscated property of those whom she had slaughtered. Penance, prayer, and alms-giving could avail but little to stifle the qualms of a guilty conscience for the bloody deeds which she had committed; and it is recorded that a holy hermit, to whom she had applied for absolution, replied to her "Woman! God is not to be served with bloody hands, nor by the slaughter of innocent persons, nor by convents built with the plunder of orphans and widows, but by mercy and forgiveness of injuries.' The building in which she passed 50 years of her life is destroyed; that which is shown as her cell is not so in reality. There was a grove of oaks on the spot at the time the murder was committed. The tree under which Albert fell was converted into a chest to hold Agnes' jewels, and is still preserved. About two miles from Brugg, on a wooded height called Wülpelsberg, stand the remains of the Castle of Habsburg, or Habichtsburg (Hawk's Castle), the cradle of the House of Austria, built in the 11th century by Bishop Werner, of Strassburg, an ancestor of the family. A mere fragment of the original building now exists. The tall, square keep of rough stones has walls 8 ft. thick; and beneath it a dungeon, to be entered only by a trap-door in the floor above. The view from it is picturesque and interesting; the eye ranges along the course of the three rivers, over the site of the Roman Vindonissa and Königsfelden, the sepulchre of imperial Albert: on the S. rises the ruined castle of Braunegg, which belonged to the sons of the tyrant Gessler; and below it Birr, |