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LETTER XLV.

Pont Bonvoisin, 8th July, 1825.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

AFTER writing to you my last letter,

I took a light gig, and drove to Aix-les-Bains, six miles from Chambery, on the high road to Geneva. Aix-Aqua Gratiana-is famous for its mineral waters; and in the cellar of one of the houses are some well-preserved remains of Roman baths. The town is prettily situated; and, during the summer season, is generally visited by about fifteen hundred persons. I went over the bathing establishment, which is large, and well furnished with shower-baths, douches of all sorts, &c.; and was conducted to the spot,

within the building, where the spring of sulphur first appears above ground: that of alum rises at a short distance. I was told that the midIdle heat of both is 114 Farenheit: after rains it descends to 112, and in time of drought rises to 116 degrees.

Near the baths is an establishment, within the precincts of which are a large garden, a theatre, coffee-house, and a drawing-room, in which dancing and music is carried on every evening, for the use of the visiters, who subscribe monthly a small sum. The rooms are neat and good.

I then drove through a pretty country of meadows and walnut trees, to the Lake Bourget, half a mile beyond Aix. This lake, though not particularly beautiful, is more so than any I have seen in Italy. I learnt, from some talkative. peasants, that it is more than four leagues long, and one broad; that it is joined by a short canal to the Rhone, below the Lake of Geneva; and that so even is the level of this canal, that the waters of the Rhone sometimes flow into the lake, while those of the lake sometimes find an outlet into the Rhone. Much wood for building used to be thus exported from Savoy to

Lyons, and the boats used to return laden with salt they received from the French in exchange. A late decree of the King of Sardinia had, however, forbidden the importation of French salt; and my informers greatly complained that their commerce in wood would be, in a great measure, destroyed, while the price of salt would necessarily be much raised by its passage over the Mont Cenis. Is it in this manner that the wavering affection of the Savoyards is to be secured to the princes of Piemont? I have said wavering; for Savoy, like many other countries, regrets the dominion of the French.

A boatman offered to take me to an intermitting fountain, and other sights, on the opposite side of the lake. I declined the offer: but the sailing on, and the bathing in, this water must constitute one of the pastimes of the least sickly amongst the visiters of Aix-les-Bains. since I left England, I had not seen so much grass and meadow as during this short excursion.

Ever

The town of Chambery is ugly and ill built: it possesses a handsome public walk. Its inhabitants speak particularly good French, and have pleasant, amiable French manners. It is

said to contain an agreeable and numerous society, though its population does not exceed ten thousand souls.

We left it on the morning after; and passing before a small volume of water that falls from a perpendicular rock, 120 feet high, we followed a beautiful road, bordered by woody mountains and the bed of a rapid torrent. We soon reached the mountain "des Echelles;" so called from its having been formerly passed by means of ladders placed against its steep sides. At present a grotto-it is with great pleasure that I again employ so descriptive a word—a grotto, like that of Posilipo, but not so wide, so lofty, or above half so long, pierces the rock, and leads, with a rapid declivity, to the opposite side; where an immense plain stretches before the traveller, who finds himself on a ledge formed on the almost perpendicular side of the mountain he has just passed through, and which he follows till a gradual descent brings him into a large village, or city,-for it seems to be a disputed question by which of these denominations Echelles ought to be known to the world; the opinion of my " Itinerario" on the subject is

shewn by its blaming the "vanita" which prompts its inhabitants to call their village a city. Stopping at this place-I leave the question undecided-to buy some fruit, it was brought to me in a scrap of paper, on which I found the following curious document, which I transcribe to you.

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"Proces Verbal de l'Assembleé Comumnale "de St. Jean de Cour.

"Du cinquieme Germinal an sept de la Ré'publique Français une et indivisible.

Les

66 citoyens de la Commune de St. Jean de Cour "ayant les qualités réquises par la constitution, 66 se sont réunis en Assemblée Communale dans "l'edifice public du dit lieu pour tenir leurs "séances; l'assemblée s'est provisoirement con"stituée sous la presidence du citoyen-qui a

66

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éte réconnu pour le plus âgé des citoyens "presents, lequel ayant pris place au bureau "en cette qualité, a fait connoitre que les citoyens-etant les plus agés après lui, sachant "ecrire, rempliroient provisoirement les fonc"tions de scrutateurs, ces citoyens ont aussi "pris place à l'invitation du president, il a eté

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