gets to this

through the earth, till it great refervoir. The large trout are fent to Turin, and bought up for the King's table, and for those of foreign ministers, for great entertainments. During the time that the Lake is frozen over, loaded mules, and herds of cattle cross it; without danger, as the ice is frequently from feven to eight feet thick.

Having reached the Prieft's houfe, we stopped, and afked admittance. He, good old man, received us with the utmoft hofpitality; he has quite the appearance and countenance one should attach to the idea of the Patriarchs of old. He gave us excellent cheese of the mountain*, with as good wine and bread as the Porters had promised us. His house was clean; and he shewed us one room, which he boasted of, as having been occupied three fummer months by a noble gueft, Lord A-g-n; who had retired here from Florence, during the heats of fummer, and with fome fporting-dogs, and English horses, amused himself upon these mountains. His apartment was fitted up in the most humble manner; his pious hoft, by way of enlivening it, had graced the walls with prints representing the fathers of the defart. The poor old man mentioned him with parental tenderness, spoke highly in his praife, and regretted his departure with the utmost fenfibility.

I wonder how fo young a man could find fufficient refources in himself to be able to exift volun

*This cheese is made of three milks, viz. Cow, goat, and heep.

tarily in fo dreary a folitude as that of Mont Cennis. The hospital, which joins to the Priest's house, is for the reception of pilgrims travelling over the mountain: Pere Nicolas is chaplain to it. In case of fickness, they are lodged and taken care of till recovered; if they happen to be benighted, they are taken in for one night only. Each pilgrim that calls at the hospital receives a pound of bread and fome foup. This inftitution was certainly well intended; but at prefent those who receive these charitable donations are nothing better than a mass of idle vagabonds, who, rather than work, wander about with fcollop fhells in their hats, and under pretence of pilgrimaging, indulge a lazy difpofition of rambling, and frequently of pilfering upon their

road.

Having taken leave of our kind hoft, promifing to revifit him at our return, if we fhould come back the fame way, we proceeded to La Grande Croix, an inn, fituated at the extremity of the plain, the descent commencing immediately after. Oppofite to the inn is a small chapel, where those who happen to perifh on the mountain by cold, lightning, or any other accident, are buried. Here our Porters refted for above an hour, while we tafted the famous trout of the Lake, which they fried for us; and although they were not large, as I think I mentioned before, they were uncom monly well-flavoured. They brought us butter, which was the best I think I ever tafted, perhaps owing to the many aromatic herbs the cows find on

the plain. They afferted, that for nine months of the year they keep their cows in their kitchens, in order to make fresh butter for the English travellers. The wine is very pleasant, produced by the fides of the mountains, and is preferved in goat-fkins. Had I feen this veffel before I had tafted of its contents, I doubt if I could have prevailed on myself to have touched it, for these skins have a dirty and difgufting appearance: the hair is off, but the fkin looks black and greafy; where the feet and the head grew it is fewed up the whole looks like some strange fwollen monster. The Ganymede, cup-bearer, or Savoyard who acts as butler, tucks up this difmembered appearance, like a pair of Scotch bagpipes, under his arm, presents its posteriors to the guefts, and plucks out a peg; the wine flies out from a tap Nature never intended for this purpose when the created goats.

The defcent from la Grande Croix is extremely rapid for about three hundred yards. I don't know any thing this road resembles more than a broken stone ftair-cafe, which occafions the Porters to turn fo fuddenly with its windings, that the perfon in the chair paffes clear over the fharp angles, cutting them, as it were, across. Notwithstanding the novelty of this manner of travelling, the steepness of the road, and the velo city with which I defcended, my Porters running almost the whole way, I never once felt myself fufficiently frightened to lay hold of the arms of

the

the chair, my attention was fo much engaged with the fingularity and variety of the profpect below; for the fun having now got up far enough over thefe ftupendous mountains to disperse the fogs and vapours on this fide of the world, difcovered to us, through fragments of broken clouds, fertile. vallies, woods, villages, and rivers, seen as a bird flies. When, by the crooked turning of the road, we loft this profpect, the eye was fupplied with prodigious cascades, the fpray of which fell down upon us in rain, and mixing with the clouds, produced the most beautiful rainbows, whofe vivid colours dazzled the fight. Whatever you may think of clouds when you behold them, and their foft and warm appearance in a fine day, they are nevertheless exceedingly damp and cold to pafs through. I certainly need not inform you, that I have been much higher than the clouds. At fome moments during the defcent, I could not help fancying myself a witch upon a broomstick. The beautiful cascade, particularly noticed by both Richard and Lalande *, is much better defcribed by the former. The rock is plainly incrufted with ore of lead and copper, and the fand about it evidently impregnated with metallic fubftances. This cascade falls from a prodigious height. Having arrived at what is called the Plain of St. Nicholas, we had thence a clear and diftinct view of it. There are still some small remains of ruined walls

* See vol. i. p. 22. of the former, and vol. i. p. 28. of the latter.

La Ferriere.

and rails; the latter indeed is carried away every year by the fall of fnow, but conftantly replaced in the spring by the peasants.

From this plain, which is rough and rugged, we came to a village called La Ferriere, ftanding exactly midway between La Grande Croix and Novalefe; here our Porters rested just time enough to drink a draught of wine and water. This village is more than wretched; and already you perceive yourself in Piedmont; the dawnings of the little, low, cheating Piedmontese cunning begin to fhew themselves in the countenances of the peasants of La Ferriere.

Within about half a league out of the road from La Novalefe to La Ferriere, upon your left, is the hill called the Affietta, the famous scene of a victory gained over the French army, in the year by the troops of his Sardinian majesty and his allies. M-acquiefces in my inclofing you the following account of that action, which he wrote down almost from the mouth of an officer of the guards of Piedmont, who had a fhare in it; he does not himself, in any refpect, queftion its authenticity; and you know he is fond of, and well-informed upon military subjects,—at least I think fo. It may amufe you to compare this recital, with thofe given by Voltaire and other hiftorians, of this battle, fo very important in its confequences, as well as, he thinks, fo very much mifrepresented by them.

The