lover of his country must sincerely deprecate. For my own part, I think it becomes all parents and guardians to ponder well the probable results of the step they meditate, ere, for the sake of economy, they resign the youth committed to their care, to the influence of such a pestilential element, and the attraction of such a dangerous vortex: for Britain may well deplore the day when art, and cunning, and scepticism, shall be substituted for that ingenuousness of character, which is now the brightest ornament of her rising population.

We left Lausanne at an early hour, and reached this place about sun-set. The ascent from Lausanne was long and tedious, although we had an additional pair of horses to our carriage. But this circumstance I considered rather an advantage than otherwise, as it gave me more leisure to survey the scenery we were leaving behind. The outline of the Alps we exceedingly grand from the hill above Lausanne, and the lake looked lovelier than ever, because, perhaps, the view I was then taking of it was the last.

We breakfasted at Moudon, a town of great antiquity, situated in a delightful valley, watered by the Broze, and encompassed by well wooded and verdant hills. It was the capital of the canton, when the Pays de Vaud was under the dominion of the Dukes of Savoy. Our next stage was to Payerne, whose appearance was forlorn and desolate. It is a place of great antiquity, but of no trade or manufacture. It stands upon an extensive plain, and its inhabitants are chiefly occupied in the pursuits of agriculture.

In the market-place, is a rude statue, which I was informed was intended to represent the famous Tell, the great assertor of their independence. We met with a very civil and communicative man in our rambles through the streets, from whom we learned that they had neither Bible society nor Sunday school; but they had a free school, and were well supplied with bibles from the institution at Lausanne, The country through which we have passed to-day reminded us strongly of our own. The haymakers were busy in the fields. promised an abundant harvest. The farm-houses and cottages had an air of neatness and of comfort, such as we had not witnessed either in France or Savoy, and scenes of cheerfulness and plenty reigned around.

The corn looked well, and

Morat is a neat town built of stone. The houses of the principal streets are on arcades. It is pleasantly situated on the borders of a small lake, about six miles in length, and one and a half in breadth. The lake of Morat is separated from that of Neuchatel by a ridge of inconsiderable hills. These two lakes run parallel to each other, and the former pours its superabundant waters, by means of the Broze, into the latter. The lake of Neuchatel, however, surpasses that of Morat in extent, though not, perhaps, in beauty. It is thirty miles in length, and about three in breadth.

Morat is celebrated in the history of Switzerland, for a desperate battle fought in its neighbourhood, between the Swiss and Charles the Noble, Duke of Burgundy, in the year 1476. The vic

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tory was decided in favour of the Swiss. invading army was almost annihilated. The bones of the vanquished were collected and preserved in a square building near the town. There remain, however, but few at present; the Burgundian troops in the service of France, have embraced the opportunity afforded by their more successful invasion, to remove, as far as possible, these memorials of their ancestors' defeat, while the Swiss themselves are charged with having violated these relics, by making a barter of the bones for the purpose of knife handles, for which their extreme whiteness have rendered them greatly in demand.

The German language is generally spoken at Morat. We here began to find the comfort of a servant who can speak most of the continental languages with fluency. We have been much amused with a debate between him and the landlord of the inn, the subject of which was, whether the English did really drink sugar in their tea. The landlord seemed hard to be convinced that we could be guilty of such extravagance. 'Twas well for us that we were provided with the tea, else there would have been no occasion for the debate. Our's, it must be observed, is not the best inn in the town, being already occupied by the magistrates from Bern, but is the second in rank, and certainly not to be celebrated for any thing but its darkness and its dirt. We have enjoyed a pleasant walk by the margin of the lake. To me there is something peculiarly interesting in the stillness and twilight of the evening and amid such scenes the charm is doubly

powerful. How delightful, at such an hour, is the converse of a friend-and, if alone, how transporting that effort is of the mind by which it can surround itself with the society it loves, and hold communion with the absent, in defiance of the distance that intervenes. The luxury has frequently been mine in the course of this tour, and I enjoy it now. But like every thing sublunary it is transient. Adieu.

Your's, &c.

LETTER XXIII.

Basle.

MY DEAR

I walked through a highly cultivated country from Morat to Gumenen, a little village, six miles distant, where we breakfasted, and had the good fortune to secure to ourselves the only two white loaves then in the place. It is pleasantly situated upon the Saane, a rapid river of considerable breadth, which is crossed by a wooden bridge of singular construction, with a tiled roof to shelter it from the weather. From this place we proceeded to Bern.

We entered the canton of Bern between Morat and Gumenen, and were immediately struck with the curious costume of the women. It is such that I should have supposed it greatly exaggerated if I had seen it only in a picture. The body of the gown, or bodice, if such it can be called, and the entire skirt, is black, or if it is not entirely black, it presents a small square of white upon the bosom, surrounded as it were by a deep black frame-the sleeve which issues from beneath it on either side is white and very full, giving them an appearance not very unlike that of a bishop in his lawn. I am aware of the temerity of the comparison, and yet I know not how to give you a better idea of the costume I am attempting to describe. The hair is suffered to