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out and pegging one basket of clothes! A postchaise has been waiting at the shrubbery-gate from eleven o'clock till five minutes past twelve, and Sir Hilgrove's cart has gone three times up the lane with a tarpaulin over it. What can be the meaning of all this? This long absence is excessively rude of Mr. Bishop!

Dr. Drawlington called this morning-heard him puffing as he came up stairs and had just time to pop a novel I was reading under the sofa cushion, and take out his pamphlet upon the Revelations, in which he has clearly proved that the events of last year are prefigured and prophecied. The same thing has been indisputably proved every year within my recollection. I hope he didn't observe that the leaves were uncut. He is certainly a very learned and clever man, and well deserves his various lucrative preferments, but I did not glean any thing particularly interesting from his conversation in this visit, except that he wouldn't give a farthing for lobster-sauce without nutmeg in it, that a glass of vinegar should always be thrown into the water when you boil a turbot, and that a sucking-pig should invariably be roasted as soon as it is killed, with the legs skewered back; or the under part will not crisp. I shall take no further notice of Mr. B-!

How very cheap jacconet muslins have become!-I don't like Cape Madeira. Mem. to have no more cabbages for dinner.--I'm sure Peggy must steal my pins, there isn't one left in the pincushion.-This is the second time I have spoken to Hannah about the drawing-room grate. Servants are such a plague!-A handful of wormwood best preservative of furs against the moth. Mrs. Stevens's things hanging out again!-I thought she washed last week. I see Mrs. Umphreville is likely to have an increase: I think she might wear a shawl, but some people have no sense of shame.-No answer yet from Mrs. Fringe.— Pug barked three times last night: surely it wasn't Mr. B―?

Went to the circulating library for Scott's last novel (as I thought it), and find there are two new ones since. I'm sure nobody is more anxious than I am to read them as fast as possible, but he really should have a little consideration for people who must snatch an hour or two, now and then, to eat and drink, and see their friends, and discharge the common duties of society. A letter at last from Mrs. Fringe, but I positively will not wear pea-green, so dreadfully unbecoming to my complexion: dark people should wear nothing but pink or amber. Saw Mrs. Joliffe, who bantered one about Mr. Bishop, and told me she met him this morning in High-street. I find he's a trifling, shuffling character, and I shall treat him with the contempt he deserves. Told Hannah and Peggy to say I am not at home if he calls any more.

What an idiot that Hannah is!-How could she think of letting in Miss Lockhart and the two Miss Penfolds ?-Never was caught in such a pickle in all my life-hair in papers-a morning-wrapper, and pink slippers!--the parlour in a litter-the stair-carpet up, and a mop and pail in the hall !!! It's very vulgar of them to be dressed out and making visits at such an early hour. Now that I have made myself tidy I don't suppose a soul will come near the house: I don't like this cap. I think I look better after all in the amber ribbons. Surely I see some one coming-it can't be---Peggy! Peggy! give me my amber cap directly. Hannah! run down and open the garden gate-here's Mr. Bishop coming!-I am at home! Do you understand? You may let him in-I am at home!

ON PESTALOZZI.

THE world has heard much of Pestalozzi, and he has enjoyed all the honours which fashion usually delights to lavish upon her favourites. He has been praised beyond his merits, and depreciated in an equal degree, while not one of these different opinions was in reality well founded. We meet everywhere with philanthropic enthusiasts, who admire benevolence as a spectacle, and who delight in it, especially as a subject of conversation, and as furnishing them with sentimental small-talk. Exaggeration generally fades into coolness, and not unfrequently terminates in disgust; but its greatest evil consists in shutting up the road to truth. Under its influence we are content to receive impressions, and we search no farther. In order to avoid this danger as it regards Pestalozzi, we must follow him, we must examine what have been his means, the nature of the country in which he lives, and the circumstances which have made him known to the public. Before we judge him, in short, we must become well acquainted with him; he is not one of those whom it is sufficient to glance at, and he will well repay the trouble we shall take in studying him.

Switzerland, that land of enchantment, which might be expected to inspire the poet and the painter, has in general produced none but ordinary characters. It would seem as if the beauties of nature, so picturesque and upon so grand a scale, annihilated the mental faculties; this influence, too, acts equally upon strangers, for there exists not one good poetical description of Switzerland, and yet it has been visited by the most celebrated poets. Whence arises this want of harmony between nature and man? Is it that these sublime beauties approach him too nearly, surround him too closely? Perhaps the imagination requires perspective; distance is perhaps necessary for her imagery. There is something, if we may so express ourselves, mathematical in the beauties of Switzerland, they are almost tangible to the spectator: there is no illusion, all is positive, and the great difficulty in real life, as in poetry, is to elevate oneself to truth. The poet will wander much more at his ease among clouds, than through valleys and over mountains; his difficulty is steadily to maintain his balance; if he lose it on terra firma, he falls, but in the clouds his wings will save him. The sun, the moon, and the stars, are much more easily sung than Switzerland: their distance is in the poet's favour, for we have no means of judging of the truth of his allusions, or of his descriptions. Mont Blanc and the Riggi, those wonders of Switzerland, are not so susceptible of poetical hyperbole, exaggeration fails in endeavouring to pourtray those grand efforts of nature which stand not in need of the imagination of man to increase their sublimity. Besides, what comparisons could be used? What description would be at once sufficiently lofty and simple to give an idea of these sublime realities? Comparison, that figure in rhetoric so essential in poetry, cannot be employed by him who would describe Switzerland; it would always appear trivial or exaggerated. Nature, in Switzerland, is, one may almost say, the very personification of imagination, and the poet must humble himself before it, for he can go no farther. Coleridge has attempted a description of Mont Blanc; his language is harmonious, but he is below the level of his subject; and though he has avoided exaggeration, he has fallen into mediocrity and

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poverty of thought: he crawls, in short, at the base, and has never been able to reach the summit. Rousseau, and Rousseau alone, has described some of the varied scenes which Switzerland presents. His description of the Haut Vallais and the shores of Meillerie are enchanting. In "his reveries" he makes the reader accompany him in his wanderings to the Lake of Bienne; his charming pictures represent all objects with so much truth, his choice of expressions is so perfect, that as we read we seem to breathe the air of the mountains, and to inhale the perfume of the flowers. But Mr. Simond nevertheless, that dry and heavy writer, attempts to turn Rousseau into ridicule: he tells us with a singular kind of naïveté, that on the Lake of Bienne he felt nothing similar to the impressions of Rousseau! We can readily believe him, for nature has secrets which she reveals not to all, and common-place minds were not formed to participate in her favours. And how does it happen that a Frenchman undertakes to write upon Switzerland? What has he to do with nature and with truth? Never will he be capable of comprehending them; always full of exaggeration, he either affects enthusiasm and emotion, or flies into an opposite extreme. Mr. Simond, without any knowledge of the German language, writes the history of the Swiss, the whole of whose documents are written in German! The French generally imagine they can guess at all languages; and Mr. Simond, who partakes of this opinion, but. who is desirous to pass for a foreigner, guesses at German, not by means of French, like most of his countrymen, but by the help of what he knows of English. This resemblance between Swiss, German, and English, is certainly a new discovery, and one that no English traveller, among all who have visited Switzerland, has ever been so fortunate as to make.

Another Frenchman has lately published a voyage in Switzerland. This gentleman is sentimental; he sighs in every line, and faints in every page. He has palpitations innumerable, and he makes himself understood by the pretty peasant-girls by throwing himself at their feet, and kissing their hands. It must have been an amusing sight enough to see the little effeminate Frenchman prostrate before these good mountaineers, who took him probably either for a beggar or a madman, and who certainly had not the smallest idea of the refinements of French gallantry.

In Switzerland one would expect to find a strongly marked national character, but it is not amongst the higher classes of society that we must seek for it. The mountain-peasants alone have still preserved this distinction, and perhaps it is to the geographical and political situation of the country, that we must attribute the moral difference that exists between the peasantry and the more educated classes, who for the most part are obliged to become voluntary exiles. Switzerland is, as it were, imprisoned in the midst of Europe, or at least her inhabitants are under an arrest, since they are only allowed to act upon parole. The surrounding powers consent that the Swiss should call themselves republicans, but it is on condition that they should not do a single act without permission. It was thus, that at the time of the coalition against France in 1814, the Diet, notwithstanding it had sent deputies to Bonaparte to assure him of its neutrality, was obliged, even before these deputies had returned from their mission, to submit to force, and

to grant a passage to the allied troops. Thus it is that the exiles of Italy, of France, of Spain, the unfortunate in short of every nation, seek in vain an asylum in Switzerland; not that the Swiss would refuse it to them, but that such an indulgence is contrary to the will of their powerful neighbours. Liberty in Switzerland is but a name, and she would certainly be a much happier country if she made a part of Germany, for in the present state of things she can have no commerce, and consequently is without resources. Yet the Swiss are very industrious; but what avails their industry? The products of their manufactures are prohibited in Germany, in France, and in Italy; they must therefore renounce commerce altogether, or they must become smugglers. They are obliged then to expatriate themselves, and to seek their fortune in distant lands, either in commerce or in war, and it is especially in this last profession that their unhappy situation is the most striking. Republicans, and calling themselves free, they receive the wages of kings, and go forth to fight against independence! Every other people perhaps in the same situation would be debased, dishonoured. The Swiss owe to their fidelity and to their valour, a reputation in foreign service, which is equivalent to a national character. They may be pitied, but they can never be despised.

The want of a national language is another cause of expatriation; for in order to write or speak correctly, either German, Italian, or French, which are the prevailing languages, the Swiss must go to a distance for instruction. These languages, as they are spoken by the mass of the people, are corrupted, and in fact are but mere jargons. The clergy, ignorant themselves, take no part in the education of the people, and the poverty of the village-curates renders them, in a great degree, dependent on their parishioners; for their revenues not being sufficient for their wants, they subsist chiefly on the gifts, or rather on the charity of the peasants; and thus lose much of their dignity and of their power. They dare not, therefore, be too severe upon vices and disorders, and hence results a great relaxation in manners, great indifference in religion, and much superstition. There are very marked shades of difference in the characters of the Swiss mountaineers of the different cantons, though in general they all possess sense and shrewdness. If these natural dispositions were developed by education, they would perhaps become one of the most intelligent nations of Europe; but left to themselves, they do not profit by their advantages, or they make a bad use of them. The mountaineers of German Switzerland are very superior to the French and Italian Swiss. The chief evil proceeding from their ignorance, is the horror which they have for every sort of instruction: they not only refuse it for themselves, but they will not permit their children to be taught. In a country without resources, and consequently without activity, prejudices are daily strengthened, and in time become so powerful that extraordinary events are necessary to develope and exercise the faculties. Had the revolution of 1798 never taken place, never perhaps would the benevolence of Pestalozzi have been called into action. But before we enter into details, let us throw a rapid glance over the political state of Switzerland at that period, and let us see under what auspices* Pestalozzi commenced his philanthropic career.

As it was not our intention to give a history of Pestalozzi (since the history of a living character never can be complete and but seldom just) we have confined our

Greedy of carnage and of crime, the French were not yet satisfied with their revolution: they required fresh victims and a new theatre of war. They chose Switzerland; and trusting to the poverty of the people, they felt certain of success. They knew of no other weapons but money and force, but they had to contend against men of honour, who defended their country with valour and enthusiasm, and who in spite of the inequality of numbers, gained many victories, and sold their lives dearly. The atrocities of every kind committed by the French had so revolted the Swiss, that they may be said to have increased their courage. They knew that there was nothing for them but victory or death; they had then only to choose between a glorious death upon the field of battle, or one of torture if they fell into the hands of their enemies. This conviction assisted in producing that courageous resistance which seems almost incredible when we consider what a handful of men kept the field against whole armies, and often conquered them. The French during this war, though they employed every possible means of corruption, could never obtain either a spy or a mistress: between death and ignominy the Swiss never hesitated.

At length the Constitution Unitaire presented by the French government was adopted throughout almost the whole of Switzerland. The deputies from the Cantons had already formed themselves into a national assembly, when it became known that the inhabitants of Nidwalden. refused to bind themselves by the oath required. Nidwalden forms a part of the Underwald, one of the three cantons first known by the name of the Waldstettes. Neither the prayers of the Helvetic Direc tory, nor the menaces of the French, could shake the resolution of these patriots. War was decided upon. The inhabitants of Schwitz and of Uri sent them two corps of volunteers, and this reinforcement augmented their numbers, to two thousand men.

On the third of September 1798, sixteen thousand French advanced to attack them; during six days this army in vain attempted to reach Stanz by crossing the Lake of Lucerne. At length, finding their design impracticable, they endeavoured to approach the town by land, and they ultimately succeeded. On the 9th of September was fought that battle which covered the insurgents with glory. For nine hours, notwithstanding the inferiority of their number, they resisted the enemy; fresh troops coming up, they had no resource but to combat in small detachments. Men, women, old men and children, all fought with

selves to a sketch of his philanthropic labours. As we might, however, be reproached with not having entered sufficiently into detail respecting this celebrated man, we think it necessary to add that he is of an ancient family of Zurich, and was educated for the church, and that in his youth be was the intimate friend of Lavater. Having obtained a curacy in a village near Zurich, he married, and passed his time in the fulfilment of his duties, and promoting the happiness of his parishioners. Here the condemnation of a young girl accused and convicted of infanticide, struck him forcibly. He disapproved of the punishment (she suffered death), because he attributed the crime to a want of education, and he wrote on this subject a book which forms part of his works. From this epoch may be dated his desire to improve the education of the poor. The French Revolution also excited his attention; he foresaw the miseries that it would entail upon Switzerland, and he wrote Fables in prose in which he described the evils that would result from the disorders' committed in France. These Fables are also published in the collection of his

works.

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