the revolution, but it was rejected by the National Assembly. The support of the poor is somewhat precarious. In large towns there are hospitals for the sick and aged poor, and these are chiefly supported by a toll laid on all provisions entering the town. But in the country places there are no such asylums, and the support of the indigent is less certain. We have scen many beggars on the road, but certainly not so many as I expected, and by no means so many as besiege the traveller in Ireland; such as there are, are chiefly old men and children. The most troublesome fellows are the boys, who surround you whenever you leave your carriage or your inn, each eager to become your guide, to the cathedral, or other objects of curiosity in the place, which they run over with great rapidity. Whether you wish for their assistance or not, they continue to pursue you, and it is almost impossible to get a walk in any direction through a town, without some of these pests at your heels. Yours, &c. LETTER XVIII. Geneva, MY DEAR It was a lovely morning when we left Dijon, and the road presented a more animated scene than we had witnessed in any previous part of our route. This compensated for the insipidity of the country, which is flat and open, and with little variety to relieve the eye, though in a high state of cultivation, and smiling with the promise of an abundant autumn. We passed many groups of cheerful peasantry repairing to the town, and many waggons, of a curious structure, heavily laden, and drawn by horses, as curiously yoked to the carriage and to each other. Approaching to Auxonne, the number of people on the road increased, and we observed a considerable difference both in their costume and their complexion, particularly in the women. Their faces were extremely brown, and to defend themselves from the scorching sun, they had an enormous kind of white beaver hat, of very coarse materials, but of immense dimensions, broader than the hats of the Chinese, and to the full as capacious as that of any coal-heaver in London. They cut a curious figure thus attired about the head; and, together with the cocked-hats of the men, which most tenaciously retain two peaks only, out of the three, that give it rather the appearance of a small inverted canoe, present a truly foreign picture to an English eye. We found Auxonne crowded with people and cattle, it being a horse fair, and while the horses were putting to, which was not very expeditiously done, we amused ourselves with strolling through the streets and mingling with the crowd. We have certainly found more life, more business, more cheerfulness, and more apparent comfort, in the remote provinces than in those nearest to the capital. I pretend not to account for this, but merely name the fact, as not altogether undeserving of remark. Auxonne is remarkable for two things, the double wall that surrounds it, and its long and venerable bridge, which, by three and twenty arches, crosses the Saone; the river which flows past that town to Lyons. At this place I furnished myself with a straw hat, such as is usually worn by the people of the country, my own being almost insupportable amid the burning heat to which I was constantly exposed. There was little to interest us on leaving Auxonne, till, at the brow of the hill, immediately before we entered Dole, the carriage suddenly stopped, and the postilion cried out, There's Mont Blanc! There are the Alps! I started from a deep reverie into which I had fallen, and lifting up my eyes, beheld the whole chain of Alps, forming the line of the horizon, at the immense distance of one hundred and thirty miles, and yet distinctly seen with the . naked eye. Mont Blanc appeared towering above them all, and glittering in the sunbeams like a crystal lake. The emotions of my mind at that moment were unutterable. I had not power to speak-my heart beat with increased rapidity within my bosom and now that the sublime and stupendous objects, upon which my imagination had dwelt so long and with so much ardour, were actually before me, I could scarcely realize the scene, or believe the vision true. And, indeed, there was something so unearthly in their appearance-distance, and the splendours of a summer noon had so melted and softened them down-that they looked like a singular combination of dark and brilliant clouds resting on the earth: while the suddenness and unexpectedness of their appearance, all contributed to heighten the effect, and give it more the air of enchantment than reality. You may smile, perhaps, that I should make so much of what some would deem a very little thing, and occupy so many lines in telling you where and when I first saw the Alps. But if there are any scenes that interest me, next to the important discoveries of the sacred volume, they are the sublime and beautiful in nature-such objects as surround me now, and such as are to feast my eyes and fill my heart, if life and health are spared, through the ensuing week. The man who does not kindle at these displays of the Creator's power-that has no spirit stirring in his breast to harmonize and mingle with them, had better stay in cities, and study man! But I am happy sometimes to escape from man, to study nature-and amidst her awful or her lovely scenes, to converse with God. I send you a sketch of the scenery to which I have now alluded. It was committed immediately to paper, while the outline was before me. It has the merit of correctness, therefore, though I am well aware it is destitute of every other: "Twas noon, And from the summit of the hill I gazed, A mighty chain, that stretched their awful forms And cast their shadows o'er the "realms of noon," Oh! 'twas a goodly sight; Like some delicious summer evening's dream, |