(NEW SERIES) BY OLIVER OLDSCHOOL, ESQ. Various, that the mind of desultory man, studious of change and pleased with novelty, may be indulged-Cowp. Philadelphia, Saturday, October 29, 1808. Vol. VI. E ORIGINAL PAPERS. ELETTERS FROM GENEVA AND FRANCE. 3 . Written during a residence of between two and three years in different parts of those countries, and addressed to a lady in Virginia. (Continued from page 260.) LETTER LII. WE stopped for an hour or two at Martigny, the Octadurum mentioned by Cæsar, where one of his legions under Galba, had nearly been overpowered by the people of the country. The ravages of the Drance and of the Rhone must I have altered the face of the country very considerably, and yet there are persons who pretend to point out the place where Galba's camp was. = I remember a General Melville, disputing with a young man of Martigny upon that subject many years ago; the General, with Cæsar's Commentaties in his hand, wondered at the No. 18. Vallaisan's presumption in differing from him, and in pretending to be better acquainted with the country than Cæsar was. Two roads descend into the valley of the Rhone, near Martigny: the one is from Chamouny, over the Col de Balme, and the other over the great St. Bernard. This last was the one made use of by Buonaparte for the passage of his army, in 1801; an undertaking in which a bold originalness of enterprize was aided by the powers of an intelligent and vigorous execution; 600, 800, and 1000 livres had been previously offered for the transportation across the mountain of pieces of artillery, according to their caliber, and the whole peasantry of the neighbourhood were set in motion; trees hollowed into troughs received the guns, the peasants harnessed themselves, the soldiers volunteered their services, without condescending to share in the reward; and the astonishing spectacle was M m thing in time, which the soldiers could properly have occasion for, and a frugal, but plentiful, repast, was always ready for each detachment, as it arrived. It must have been an interesting sight to have beheld some thousands of men, seated in circles upon this little plain, amid scenes of eternal winter, and waited upon by the fathers of the convent. The whole of the passage was effected in three days,and without the loss of a man: the citadel, which commanded the descent into the plain, was too scantily supplied with ammunition, to oppose any serious obstacle. afforded, of an army marching by large detachments with all the cumbrous apparatus of war along the winding narrow path of a mountain, which rises to the height of 7500 feet above its base: in the narrow plain, on the ascent, is a hospice; it has existed for many centuries, and the good fathers, who reside in this, the loftiest of all human habitations, have been ever distinguished for their active zeal in behalf of the unfortunate, and for their kindness and hospitality to persons of all nations and of all religions: the fall of an avalanche, which has obstructed the road, or a snow storm Providence, which meant, we of uncommon violence, is a call are to presume, that the Empeupon their humanity. They sally rour's power in Italy should be forth, from their convent, and, destroyed, and the hopes of the aided by the sagacity of their King of Sardinia forever crushed, dogs, very frequently discover a seems, as the proverb expresses it, way-worn traveller, either buried to have previously deprived their beneath a heap of drifted snow, or ministers and generals of all sense seated in all the bitterness of de- and recollection. No people are spair on the brink of some frightful said to be so attached to their precipice: figure to yourself the home, as the inhabitants of mounsensations of him, who, uncertain tainous countries: the very diffiwhat course to pursue, amid the culty of establishing themselves, snows of the mountain, hears the and of making a living, is attendcheerful sound of the convent belled with exertions, which are perat a distance, or sees a person ap-haps flattering to the human mind, proach, in whose countenance, zeal, courage, and humanity, are blended with piety. The good sense of the 1st Consul had pointed out to him the propriety of protecting these respectable men, at the same time that he rendered them useful to his army; they were furnished with money, that they might provide every-where part of a mountain had for Upon inquiry immediately after my arrival at Geneva, I was informed that no agent from St. Bernard had ever been commissioned to collect contributions in Ame. rica, and that the persons who went, with so much success, under that pretence, from one end of the United States to the other, were impostors, who had imposed on the redulity of the Secretary of State at Washington. and a variety of objects and circumstances, which we know nothing of in the plain, take an agreeable and lasting hold upon the imagination; they are, at the same time, subject to many privations, and to great calamities. We were shown a place, on our way to the Glaciers, last year, merly given way, and covered with its ruins, a number of inhabitants at its base; and upwards of two thousand people are said to have perished upon a similar occasion, in the Grisons. sd vode tofoit You will find an account Williams, as having happened the air. I never saw any individu near the little town of of Pleirs, in the century before the last. An event of the same sort took place in the mountains of the Vallais, about midway between Bex and Sion, in the year 1713-the whole projecting eminence of a lofty mountain fell suddenly, and covered with its ruins nearly two leagues of fertile country: the greater part of the inhabitants of this devoted spot were fortunately absent, but such as were at home perished, together with upwards of 100 head of cattle, and several flocks of sheep and goats. The traveller, who now wanders over this scene of devastation, sees a misshapen mass of horrid rocks, descending, like the lava of Vesuvius, to the edge of the most fertile spots in a beautiful valley, and beholds the cottager, either at work, or surrounded by his family at home, with an appearance of perfect security, though the neighbouring eminences project, many of them, in a way, which renders the renewal of the same calamity every moment probable. The goitre is another evil, which frequently attends the inhabitants of mountainous countries, and when it leads, as it too frequently does, to idiotism, is what you would, I fancy, be more afraid of, for your children, than of a falling mountain. The origin of this deformity, has been variously explained; it is to a slight degree prevalent in the largest vallies of the Alps, and I have seen many instances of it in Geneva, but it is nowhere to be found at the height of 4000 feet above the sea, or in the open plains of Europe; the probability is, that it arises from a great degree of heat, and from the stagnation of als of the wretched race that are called Cretins, but in situations where those causes may be supposed to operate most powerfully: nothing is perhaps better suited to humble the pride of man, than the view of a fellow-creature devested of all reason, and with a degree of instinct far inferiour to that of the greater part of brutes. In passing through Villeneuve, which is not far from the city of d'Aost, says Mr. de Saussure, I wished to ask some questions; but could find no one to answer me; such of the inhabitants as were capable of any exertion, were at work in the fields, and the few wretched objects I saw in the streets were Cretins in the various stages of imbecility; a gloomy silence, or a few inarticulate sounds, attended by a stupid unmeaning stare, explained to me at once, that all of them were idiots. It seemed as if some evil genius, such as we read of in fairy tales, had passed before me, and converted the objects of its malevolence into brutes, leaving them only somewhat of their original form, that it might be seen they once belonged to the human race. I will say nothing to you of St. Maurice or of Bex, or of the neighbouring salt mines, but refer you to books, which you possess, and in which you will find very exact descriptions. It was almost dark when we passed through St. Maurice, and felt like one who has made a long day's journey, after a sleepless night. I could not, however, but recognize the spot, where I had arrived, about thirty years ago, in a joyous company of young Englishmen, or but remember how struck we all were with the charms of a Vallaisanne, in the costume of the country: you will judge of this, and of the other dresses of the Alps and of Switzerland, by a small collection I send you. Our journey from Bex to Morge, through the finest part of the Pays de Vaud, was on a Sunday, and in good weather, after two or three days of rain; the roads were filled with people; a number were dancing in a meadow, by the lake side-it was a picture of happiness, and I endeavoured, as I looked on, to divert my attention from all but the scene before me, but if ever a blindness to the future was kindly given to any people, I believe it to have been given to these, whose fate is at this is moment, perhaps, in agitation: the all-devouring ambition of their great neighbour is at work: :they cannot look for assistance, or even sympathy, to any and will end by swelling quarter, the list of his subjects. We arrived, early the next day, at Secheron, having rapidly completed a very agreeable tour, and found every body well. Of Sebody well. Of Secheron, and of our situation there, I will give you an account hereafter. of numerous editions of the Doctor's writings, not one preserved this charming production. Though one of his first performances, and written under very depressing circumstances, yet it exhibits the whole force of his mind, and all the magick of his style. Gibbon's celebrated essay on a similar subject, though industriously circulated among the witty and the fashionable; and extolled to the skies by Domestick Prejudice, and French Adulation, is by no means its correctness of equal, either for thought, or felicity of expression. We have frequently been on the point of publishing this elegant "Inquiry," ," in The Port Folio, and it is not improbable, that it may appear, on some future occasion, when we can find room for so precious a deposit. We dwell the more earnestly upon the merits of this elegant essay, because it is not only very elegantly, but very correctly written, and displays a vein of original thinking, and such valuable principles of Taste and Criticism, as must meet the approbation of the judicious. 12mo. In pursuing his narrative, Dr. Aiken has committed a slight mistake, which his candour will forgive us for attempting to rectify. Dr. Goldsmith, we believe, did not, in the year 1763, compile for Newbery, ry, The Art of Poetry," 2 vols., We know of no other books with this title, than the compilations of Byshe and Gildon. But in the year 1767, Goldsmith, at the instigation of Mr. Newbery, published the Beauties of English Poetry; a work, in which are preserved some of the finest poems in the language Each is prefixed by a short introduction, in which, Goldsmith very freely ex presses his opinion of their, merit and indulges himself, sometimes, in a strain of criticism, rather more poignant than we should expect from Dr. Aikin his usual good nature. likewise mentions a " Life of Nash," the celebrated beau (we suppose) of Bath, and some time master of the revels, at that fashionable wateringplace. But this article has no place |