due to the offender. Redin, confcious that, under the exifting circumstances, eloquence would make no impreffion on minds fo prejudiced against him, contented himself with coolly declaring, in a few words, that the caufe of framing the new regu lation was publicly known, and that he was as innocent upon the subject as he was ignorant of the cause of his difmiffion. " The traitor then will "not confefs!" exclaimed one of the most furious members: "Hang him on the next tree! Cut him "to pieces!" These menaces were inftantly repeated throughout the Affembly; and while the injured foldier continued perfectly tranquil and undismayed, a party of the people, more daring than the reft, jumped upon the Tribune, where he ftood furrounded by the judges. A young man, his godfon, was holding a parapluie over his head, to fhelter him from the rain, which at this moment poured down in inceffant torrents, when one of the enraged multitude immediately broke the parapluie in pieces with his ftick, exclaiming, "Let "the traitor be uncovered."This exclamation conveyed a correspondent indignation into the bofom of the youth, who inftantly replied, " My god"father a betrayer of his country! Oh! I was ig"norant, I affure you, of the crime alledged against "him; but fince it is fo, let him perish. Where is the "rope? I will be the first to put it round the traitor's "neck." The Magistrates inftantly formed a cir cle cle round the General, and with uplifted hands exhorted him to avert the impending danger, by confeffing that he had not opposed the measures of France with fufficient zeal, and to offer to the offended people his whole fortune as an atonement for his neglect; representing to him, that these were the only means of redeeming his liberty, and perhaps his life. The undaunted foldier, with perfect tranquillityand compofure, walked through the furrounding circle to the fide of the Tribune, and, while the whole Affembly anxiously expected to hear an ample confeffion of his guilt, made a fign of filence with his hand: "FellowCitizens,” faid he, "you are not ignorant that I have been "two-and-forty years on the French establish"ment. You know, and many among you, who "were with me in the fervice, can testify its "truth, how often I have faced the enemy, and "the manner in which I conducted myself in "battle. I confidered every engagement as the laft day of my life. But here I protest to you, "in the presence of that Almighty Being who "knows all our hearts, who liftens to all our "words, and who will hereafter judge of all our "actions, that I never appeared before an enemy "with a mind more pure, a conscience more tran"quil, a heart more innocent, than I at present "poffefs; and if it is your pleasure to condemn 66 me, because 1 refufe to confefs a treachery of " which I have not been guilty, I am now ready "to refign my life into your hands." The dignified demeanour with which the General made this declaration, and the air of truth which accompanied his words, calmed the fury of the Assembly, and faved his life. Both he and his wife, however, immediately quitted the Canton? fhe entering into a convent at Uri; and he retiring to a cavern among the rocks, where he lived two years in Solitude. Time, at length, fubdued the anger of the people, and foftened the General's sense of their injuftice. He returned to the bofom of his country, rewarded its ingratitude by the most signal services, and made every individual recollect and acknowledge the integrity of their magnanimous countryman. To recompence him for the injuries and injustice he had fuffered, they elected him Bailli, or chief officer, of the Canton; and afforded him an almoft fingular inftance of their conftancy and affection, by fucceffively conferring on him three times this high and important dignity. This is the characteristic difpofition of the Swiss who inhabit the Alps; alternately violent and mild; and experiencing, as the extremes of a delighted or vexed imagination happen to prevail, the fame viciffitudes as their climate. The rude scenes of greatness which these ftupendous mountains and vaft defarts afford, render the Swiss violent in fentiment, and rough in manners; while the tranquil lity lity of their fields, and the fmiling beauties of their vallies, foften their minds, and render their hearts kind and benevolent. ENGLISH artifts confess that the afpect of Nature in Swifferland is too fublime and majestic for the pencil of Art faithfully to reach but how exquifite must be the enjoyments they feel upon those romantic hills, in thofe delightful vallies, upon the charming borders of thofe ftill and tranfparent lakes,* where Nature unfolds her various charms, and appears in her highest pomp and splendor; where the majestic oaks, the deep embowering elms, and dark green firs, which cover and adorn It is pleasant to obferve in "Letters on Swifferland," written by Profeffor Meiners, with what exquifite fenfibility that Philofopher describes his enjoyments, in quietly refigning himself to the various emotions of his heart on the borders of the Lake of Biel. "When I am fatigued," fays he, to one of his friends at Gottingen," and inclined to contemplate the furrounding ob 66 jects with ftudious attention, I feat myself on some verdant "bank, or vine-wall, near which people are continually paffing; " and I never indulge this difpofition without experiencing an "inexpreffible tranquillity. The laft time I went there it was "nearly fix o'clock, and the fun finking behind the ridge of "Jura. The dark green firs with which the mountain, to a "certain height, is entirely covered; the oaks of a brighter ver"dure which fucceed them; the vines of ftill livelier hues, in "the midft of which I was feated; and a confiderable portion "of the Lake, were already in fhade; while the opposite shores "of Biel and Nidaw, and the Glaciers, were still illuminated "by the laft rays of the fetting fun." adorn these immense forests, are pleasingly interspersed with myrtles, almond-trees, jeffamines, pomegranates, and vines, which offer their humbler beauties to the view, and variegate the scene! Nature is in no country of the globe more rich and various than in Swifferland. It was the scenery around Zurich, and the beauties of its adjoining lake, that first inspired the Idylls of the immortal Geffner. THESE fublime beauties, while they elevate and inflame the heart, give greater action and life to the imagination than fofter scenes; in like manner as a fine night affords a more auguft and folemn spectacle than the mildeft day. In coming from Frefcati, by the borders of the small lake of Nemi, which lies in a deep valley, so closely sheltered by mountains and forefts, that the winds are fcarcely permitted to disturb its surface, it is impoffible not to exclaim with the English poet, that here "Black Melancholy fits, and round her throws BUT |