dition of the peasantry of Berne. In Switzerland, the winter sunset is the finest of spectacles, and is compared by our author to the dying throes of a volcano-again, again-fiercer, and yet fiercer still; and then, a sudden whiteness fell, like death! In the valleys, which were so much frequented by Mr. Carne, the nights were of peculiar loveliness; the fall of the avalanche from the Jungfrau, heard at the remotest distance; the noble mountain itself, such an object as has made him believe that no landscape is perfect without a snowy mountain, as it furnishes the truest relief to the rich and various hues of groves, gardens, and vales. Such indeed is the nature of the impressions excited by mountains, on the untutored hearts of the natives, as that they believe in the existence of a class of spirits whose haunts are mountains. The popular name for this description of genii is bergeister, spirits of the mountains, which are said to have their dwelling in the glen: if they are seen by the Chamois hunter, about that hour when daylight, fading, no longer lights the hunter on his way, and though the latter is liable to be lured into a precipice, still the mountain spirit does not fail, on all proper occasions, to lend his secret but very useful assistance, in the performance of the duties of the dairy and the farm-yard.

In describing the casualties of a Swiss winter, Mr. Carne dwells on the fate of the little village of Biel, situated in one of the lateral valleys in the upper part of the Vallais, which took place, we believe, somewhere about the period when he resided in that country.

Biel, as we have said, was in a vale surrounded with mountains, and the oldest of the inhabitants, which amounted in all to us more than five hundred, never remembered that any avalanches had ever fallen from their heights. Hence an unsuspecting confidence reigned amongst them from generation to generation, which was destined to terminate in the most fatal manner. On a certain morning, the labouring part of the population went forth as usual to the fields, leaving the sick, the aged, and the women at home. All of a sudden the peasantry in the fields heard a rushing sound, and turning their eyes in the direction from which it proceeded, they were thunder-struck at the spectacle which was presented to them. An immense body of snow rushing in upon them from the mouth of a ravine. The avalanche it seems had fallen six miles off, it had travelled the distance to the village through the ravine, beneath the termination of which the village of Biel lay, and in an instant the loosened mass fell over it like a cataract, covering cottages, gardens, and trees. The destruction was frightful, some being killed, and others grievously maimed and crushed. One little trait is preserved by Mr. Carne, which affords an addition to the numerous facts that recommend so strongly to our care and affection, that faithful animal, the dog.

"It so happened, however, that one was left: a little boy five years of age was found alive and unharmed, clinging to the neck and body of a

faithful dog. When the mass of snow fell, and his mother and the other children perished, he had clapsed in his terror, the large dog who chanced to be close to him at the moment. The sagacious animal covered him with his body, and lay gently down beside him during the long darkness; the warmth of his body, as well as his companionship, cheered the little fellow through the trying scene. He gave a simple and touching detail of his own feelings, and the sounds of anguish and despair that he had heard from hour to hour."-pp. 34, 35.

A subscription was entered into, and we are happy to say that a great deal of consolation was thus administered to the survivors.

It happened, that during his excursion in the pleasantest part of Switzerland, Mr. Carne was overtaken by the season in which the Swiss agricultural families leave their homes, and drive their herds. up the mountains, to remain there in chalets until winter should drive them again to their residences in the valleys. This is a welcome time to the people, for it is a pleasant change of clime and abode. Nothing could be more delightful than the chants of the peasantry resounding from the hills, as they made the ascent. Mr. Carne in this excursion met with a pale and interesting girl riding on a mule ;—she proved to be the sister of a curate's daughter of the neighbourhood, who had recently died. The deceased young lady was accidentally seen by an English family, who fixed upon her as a governess. They brought her over to England, treated her with kindness, and even afforded her the opportunity of settling herself for life. But her heart had been early given to another in her own country, and whilst in England she heard of his death, Her health declined, she was sent back to Switzerland, and died there under the influence of sorrow. The sister never recovered the shock of this death, and it is probable that she did not long survive it.

Upon the delicate subject of Swiss female beauty, Mr. Carne is particularly candid. He tells us, that throughout the whole canton of Berne, it is even thus: great thick figures; features full of kindliness, but broad and unmeaning; a pair of legs, exposed as if courting admiration (being never covered below the knee,) and of the shape and thickness of huge wedges of timber, just hewn from the mountain oak. Where then is the dream-the illusion of Swiss beauty? The head-dress of the Bernese females of all ages, is made of black horse-hair, which rises over the head thin and airy, in the form of wings. The natives of this canton have generally a squalid complexion, which arises altogether from the habitual neglect of the benefits of ventilation. The courtships of this peasanty are conducted in a very peculiar style; every Saturday night the lover, apparelled in his best attire, hies to the abode of his mistress. So far it is in keeping with "The Cottager's Saturday Night" of Burns; but farther the comparison holds not with that beautiful pastoral. It is after the whole of the family are retired to rest, and the paysanne has all the house to herself, that she appears at the

window to look out for the approaching footsteps of her lover. Perhaps the chalet is beside a glacier or cataract, or looks over the dark face of the rock; soon the swain stands beneath the wooden walls that hold his treasure, and, without any parley or waste of words, he climbs up at once, and enters the apartment of his mistress through the window that has been left expressly open. Here he remains, treated with cakes of different kinds, and the fiery spirit called eau de cerises, and passes the witching hours of night, till morning often surprises him still in the chamber of reception. This practice is connived at by the parents, nor is there any thing surprising in this, when we find that an example of relaxation of moral discipline is afforded by the government itself. Thus, every married person in the Canton of Berne, and in the Canton of the Vaud, is allowed to obtain four divorces, which he may successfully sue for, upon the very vague grounds of an inconsistency of of habits between himself and his wife. This facility gives rise to abuses, which prove most fatal to the morality of the Bernese. Another exemplification of the lax morality of this people, is to be found in the manner in which they observe the Sabbath. There is no cessation of the ordinary labours of the mechanics, or of the amusements, particularly of the sport of shooting at a mark with rifles. Again, the theatres are open on a Sunday. Mr. Carne expresses a very becoming indignation at these abuses, and says, that in the Catholic districts, where long habit and a belief of their innocence render these practices less obnoxious to the religious, such things may be palliated, but that they are unpardonable amongst the Protestants of Switzerland, particularly when sanctioned, not merely by the connivance, but by the example of a pastor.

Crime is rare in Switzerland. This peculiarity is as much owing to physical obstacles, as it is to any moral superiority ascribable to the inhabitants; but when a case arises in which a disposition to crime is developed, it is distinguished by great atrocity, and also by some strange anomalies. Thus, Switzerland is one of the few countries in which a female has been found to lead a banditti. Clara Wanzel commanded a band of robbers, which for many years was the terror of the country. This band was ultimately taken, and its members condemned to a just punishment.

The ascent of the Jungfrau is an enterprise which ranks in spirit and enterprise with that of Mont Blanc. Some pretend that the Jungfrau is the most difficult of the two to be encountered, and consequently that the gaining of the summit of this mountain is a diploma for heroism of far more value than that which accrues from a viotorious ascent of Mont Blanc. About four years since, two gentlemen of Berne resolved to attempt the heights of the Virgin mountain, and, after incredible hardships and difficulties, at last succeeded. They declared it to be a far more arduous enterprise than the ascent of Mont Blanc: the precipices, which look from

a distance like crystal walls that may not be scaled, were often perpendicular. These adventurers were engaged three days in the attempt, being obliged to lodge two nights amid wastes of snow, and retrace their steps many a time to seek a safer path; yet so delighted were they with the novelty aud excitement of their journey, that they hazarded it a second time in the following season, and succeeded with very great, though with somewhat less peril and hardship than on the former occasion; painting in vivid and enthusiastic terms the recompense they had reaped. The mountain of Savoy (Mont Blanc), on the contrary, whether from its extreme height, or the clouds and vapours that are apt so suddenly to gather on its summit, rarely gratifies those who arrive there with the magnificence of view they expected. Three things, it is said, the traveller inevitably encounters there-great expense, great fatigue, and great disappointment.

Continuing his journey, Mr. Carne arrived at the Grimsel, where a hospice was established, forming a sort of miniature representation of the famous asylum of the Great St. Bernard. The house of reception of the Grimsel is situated on a small lake, and in a wild district. It is inhabited about four months in the year, by one who rents it from the Canton of Berne, and when the tenant quits it, he leaves a small stock of provisions for the relief of such persons as may be bold enough to encounter the passage during the winter season. During the period of the proprietor's residence, thirty passengers, on some days, are entertained beneath his roof. The wealthy guests pay liberally for their hospitality, but here, as at the larger hospices of St. Bernard and St. Gothard, meat and lodging are provided gratuitously for the poorer order of travellers. This lovely hospice is described by Mr. Carne as standing in the slope of a mountain; the dreary tern, or lake, is just beside it; and the hills rise high, though not closely, around: it would be an excellent abode for a hermit; and as the evening light was cast on it, and no other dwelling was within view, or within the space indeed of a long way, it was impossible to envy the individual who dwelt there. For days and weeks, sometimes, he does not meet a fellow-creature, but is engaged in tending his flocks; he manages all the household cares of his hospice, and goes to rest and wakes in the same loneliness his lake has fish, and there is game on the heights; and the fatted calf or sheep of his herd is often killed for the stranger, whom he was not seldom on the look-out to discern toiling up the tedious ascent. The heartiness of his welcome was in proportion to the appearance of the pilgrim: if humble and destitute, his wants were supplied; but if wealthy, the look of mine host brightened, and all the resources of his solitude were instantly put in requisition.

The town of Berne was next visited by our traveller, and the society and manners of the inhabitants are described. The bane of aristocracy is here effecting its most mischievous consequences, notwithstanding the liberal principle on which its institutions of VOL. I. (1834) NO. I.

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every sort are founded. We were not a little surprised to hear from Mr. Carne, that Geneva, with its vicinity, is the only really habitable part of Switzerland. We presume that he means for a permanency, otherwise we cannot account for the praise which he gives to many other parts of Switzerland. He follows up this observation by some remarks on the comparative cheapness of living in Switzerland on the one hand, and on the other in the south of France and Italy. In the latter countries, economy in necessary expenses includes extreme cheapness of luxuries also, with the various facilities for supporting in comfort and respectability a large family. In Switzerland, there is, no doubt, a cheapness of provisions, those particularly which are classed as necessaries of life; but then, those who live there must be content with this, for they will find no luxuries in Switzerland, except what can only be procured at an extravagant price; its wines are execrable, and are on a par with its cookery; and servants are a universal burden, from the high wages which they require. More than once has Mr. Carne alluded to the extravagance of religious delusion which now characterises Geneva. He particularly describes the new and prevailing sect called "Momiers," which was foolishly made the object of persecution by the authorities, and which consequently throve to a formidable degree of prosperity. It is a melancholy truth, that the most painful experience has so little effect on mankind. The tenets of these people consisted simply in the proposition, that the religion of Christ was to be felt in the heart, not coldly, but with a deep and exquisite enjoyment, and that the influence of the Spirit of mercy and love might so fill the mind, as to give security against sin, and a sure hope of future felicity. Independently of the recommendation which Momierism receives from persecution, it really contains the elements of success, for it implies no lofty or peculiar revelations, and no member is exalted high above the rest for surprise or imitation; but the minister and the poorest of the people, the avocat and the paysan, the lady and the washer-woman, all meet alike on the same kindred soil, drink of the same fountain of inspiration on a footing of perfect equality, speak of their hopes, fears, and triumphs, with mutual sympathy and mutual kindness. All feel that they are embarked on the same troubled but exciting course, that the same tide wafts them onward for good or ill; for the system is a purely spiritual one, and also an eminently social one.

The interests of the society are admirably served by the private and earnest visits of the female members to families and individuals; they enter with an air of perfect simplicity, and, being seated, commence a touching and earnest address on the subject of their best and highest interests. Two or three of their books and pamphlets are not forgotten, and are placed in the hand of the hearer. They have already their own hymn-books; many of the pieces are of original composition, and do no discredit to the genius of the com