NUMBER FORTY-FIVE.

FROM LAUSANNE TO FREYBURG.

General Laharpe, the instructor of the Emperor Alexander-Origin of the Holy Alliance-Schools at Lausanne and the neighborhood-Scenery-Road to VevayVineyards-Church of St. Martin at Vevay-General Ludlow's monument-Fate of the regicides-Scenery at Vevay-Clarens-Chillon-Its dungeons-Burke's judgment of Rousseau's writings-Moudon-Payerne-Bertha's saddle-Freyburg -Local description-The ancient Linden-Strange bas-relief at the cathedralPoint of junction of the French and German languages-Suspension bridge.

THE Cathedral at Lausanne is one of the most important buildings of this class in Switzerland. Its interior presents points of architectural interest and singularity which have attracted much attention from the students of medieval art; but it has suffered by the changes required for the convenience of the simpler forms of Protestant worship. The sepulchral monuments contained in it extend from the reign of Henry the Third of England to the last generation, and cover all the varieties of human fortune from the crown and the tiara to the fireside of private life.

We had the opportunity and satisfaction of becoming acquainted at Lausanne with General Frederic Cæsar Laharpe, the instructor and friend of the Emperor Alexander of Russia. This distinguished gentleman, a native of the Canton de Vaud, found himself in St. Petersburg in early life; and having become known to the Empress Catharine, gained her confidence so completely that she confided to him the education of her grandsons, Alexander and Constantine. After they had out

grown his tutelage, he returned to his native country; but his salary and liberal gratuities from the Emperor were continued to the end of his life. After his return to Switzerland, he took a very active part in public affairs on the liberal side. He retained the friendship of the Emperor Alexander to the last, and is supposed to have exercised an influence with him greatly to the advantage of his country, in the territorial arrangements at Paris and at the Congress of Vienna.

He spoke to us with great warmth of the amiable personal qualities of Alexander, and thought his political principles were liberal and generous. He said, by way of pleasantry, that he feared he had got into bad company at the Congress of Sovereigns at Aix-la-Chapelle; but he was sure that, as far as depended upon him, nothing would be attempted against the gradual extension of liberal ideas in Europe. General Laharpe denied all foundation to the rumors current at that time, that the political course of the Emperor Alexander had been shaped under the influence of the celebrated Madame von Krüdener. IIe said that the Emperor had ever evinced great susceptibility to religious impressions, and that the wonderful events of 1805-1815, during which period he had passed, as the Emperor of Russia from the lowest point of adversity, for himself and his Empire, to the foremost position in Christendom, had given great warmth and strength to his convictions and feelings on the subject of an overruling Providence. It was these convictions and feelings, in the opinion of General Laharpe, which led the Emperor to undertake, in conjunction with the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, the formation of the Holy Alliance in 1815; but he would not allow that it was in any degree inspired by the religious exhortations of Madame von Krüdener, to which, however, he did not deny that Alexander was fond of listening. The son of this eccentric lady was for several years the respectable minister of Russia at Washington. I enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with him, and I may, without impropri

ety, add, that his statements on this subject coincided with those of General Laharpe.

Great improvements, I understand, have been made at Lausanne since my visit there in 1818. It has at all times been an attractive residence for foreigners, especially the Russians and English. Many American boys have of late years. been sent to the schools of this and of other places in Switzerland, under the mistaken impression, that a better education. is to be had abroad than at home. This is not the case, except as far as the acquisition of a foreign language goes. French and German can of course be best learned in countries where they are spoken; and music is more generally taught in the schools of Continental Europe than in those of the United States; but up to the age at which boys are usually sent to college in this country, as good an education can be obtained in America as in Germany, France, or England. I make this remark with some confidence, from personal observation in each of those countries.

The views from the heights above Lausanne are surpassingly beautiful. There is, I think, no part of the shores of the Lake where it is seen to greater advantage; no part of Switzerland, so far as I have seen it, where the prospect on all sides is finer. The distant Alps, glimpses of the valley of the Rhone beyond the Lake, the beautiful expanse of the Lake itself, the nearer views of the Bernese Alps, and Jura, the surrounding country filled with villages and covered with farms and vineyards combine to form a landscape of infinite variety and grace.

From Lausanne to Vevay is about a couple of hours drive. The road is lined with vineyards, which cover the slopes of the hills to the very top; and give an appearance to the country not unlike the banks of the Rhine, with no difference but that between river and lake. The culture of the vine has been established in the neighborhood of Vevay from the time of the Romans. The climate and soil do not admit

the growth of the most generous wines; but those which are produced at all are cultivated, I was told, with greater certainty of a crop, than the more delicate vintages of Burgundy and Bordeaux. It was principally from Vevay that the culture of the grape was introduced by Swiss emigrants into this country, where it bids fair to become a very important branch of industry. The banks of the Ohio, in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, bear a striking general resemblance to those of the Rhine, and are probably as favorable to the growth of the grape.

We visited the Church of St. Martin, which stands on the outskirts of Vevay, and is pleasantly sheltered by vines and trees. It is here that General Ludlow and some of his republican associates are buried; others rest in the soil of America; others perished on the scaffold at home. The great regicide of all died in his bed; but his skull, or what is believed to be such, after having been exposed at Temple bar, is exhibited in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. He himself has been pronounced, by her most eloquent historian, to be the greatest prince that ever ruled England, and Hume admits in substance, that she is indebted for the preservation of her liberties to the party in Church and State which brought Charles the First to the block!

The situation of Vevay, upon the whole, seemed to me the finest on the Lake. There is nowhere so much variety and composition in the landscape. The country about Geneva subsides into the broad valley of the Rhone; it is pleasing but not picturesque. At Vevay it comes up to the walls of the city, in the shape of luxuriant vineyards on the slopes of the hills, and of elegant villas, while the narrowness of the Lake, without impairing the charm of the water view, enriches the scene with the wild romantic rocks of the opposite shore. Something is added to the liveliness of the landscape by the bustle of a miniature commerce, produced by a little fleet of boats at the quay, rigged with lateen sails and loaded with

lime to go down the lake. Vevay and Lausanne are in the Canton de Vaud, first separately organized as such in 1814.

From Vevay is but about a league and a half to the Castle of Chillon, on which Byron has bestowed a portion of his immortality; on the way to it we passed through Clarens, a small but not attractive village, to which Rousseau has imparted a portion of his. His admirers endeavor to identify it with his descriptions, and the Handbook declares that "the spot where the beautiful bosquet de Julie (Julia's bower) is sought for, is now a potato field."—I must confess the question whether the topography of a licentious French novel, however celebrated, is accurately described from nature, did not seem to me one that would reward a very laborious inquiry. The position is magnificent ;-the view of the Lake, of the valley of the Rhone, and the mountains beyond is fine, but the village itself altogether uninviting. Lord Byron has clothed it with the charm of some of his most exquisite stanzas; and his poetry and Rousseau's prose will no doubt continue to make the fortune of Clarens with all sentimental travellers.

Chillon is an ancient castle, built upon an insulated rock in the Lake, but very near the shore, to which it is joined by a wooden bridge. The water is said to be of great depth beneath the walls of the castle; but M. Simond makes it pretty clear, that the dungeon floor is not, as is generally supposed, beneath the level of the lake. Chillon was used as a State's prison by the Dukes of Savoy. The principal apartment is large and lofty, and not destitute of air and light. There is a ring bolted into one of the pillars, by which Bonnevard is supposed to have been confined from 1530 to 1536, and the floor near it is worn, according to tradition, by his continued pacing up and down. M. Simond thinks the traditions inconsistent with each other; but it does not appear that the chain may not have been long enough to allow the prisoner to walk a moderate distance, backward and forward. The