Balls And
Concerts Take Place Here Very Often And The Young Genevois Of Both Sexes
Are Generally Proficient In Music.
They amuse themselves too in summer with
the "tir de l'arc" in common with all the Swiss Cantons.
October 3rd.
I have been in doubt whether I should go to Lausanne, return to Paris or
extend my journey into Italy; but I have at length decided for the latter,
as Zadera, who intends to start immediately for Milan, has offered me a
place in his carriage a frais communs. I found him so agreeable a man and
possessing sentiments so analogous to my own that I eagerly embraced the
offer, and we are to cross the Simplon, so that I shall behold a travel
over that magnificent chausee made by Napoleon's orders, which I have so
much desired to see and which everybody tells me is a most stupendous work
and exceeding anything ever made by the Romans. As the Chevalier has served
in Italy and was much repandu in society there, I could not possibly have
a pleasanter companion. He has with him Dante and Alfieri, and I have
Gessner's Idylls and my constant travelling companion Ariosto, so that we
shall have no loss for conversation, for when our native wits are
exhausted, a page or two from any of the above authors will suggest
innumerable ideas, anecdotes, and subjects of discourse.
MILAN, 10th Oct.
We started from Geneva at seven in the morning of the 4th October, and in
half an hour entered the Savoyard territory, of which douaniers with blue
cockades (the cockade of the King of Sardinia) gave us intimation. The road
is on the South side of the lake Leman. In Evian and Thonon, the two first
villages we passed thro', we do not find that aisance, comfort and
cleanliness that is perceivable on the other side of the lake, in the
delightful Canton de Vaud. The double yoke of priestcraft and military
despotism presses hard upon the unhappy Savoyard and wrings from him his
hard-earned pittance, while no people are better off than the Vaudois; yet
the Savoyards are to the full as deserving of liberty as the Swiss. The
Savoyard possesses honesty, fidelity and industry in a superior degree, and
these qualities he seldom or ever loses, even when exposed to the
temptations of a great metropolis like Paris, to which they are compelled
to emigrate, as their own country is too poor to furnish the means of
subsistence to all its population. When in Paris and other large cities,
the Savoyards contrive, by the most indefatigable industry and incredible
frugality, to return to their native village after a certain lapse of time,
with a little fortune that is amply sufficient for their comfort. The
poorest Savoyard in Paris never fails to remit something for the support of
his parents. Both Voltaire and Rousseau have rendered justice to the good
qualities of this honest people. It is a thousand pities that this country
(Savoy) is not either incorporated with France, or made to form part of the
Helvetic confederacy.
On passing by La Meillerie we were reminded of "La nouvelle Heloise" and
the words of St Preux: "Le rocher est escarpe: l'eau est profonde et je
suis au desespoir." On the opposite side of the lake is to be seen the
little white town of Clarens, the supposed residence of the divine Julie. A
little beyond St Gingolph, which lies at the eastern extremity of the lake,
we quit Savoy and enter into the Valais, which now forms, a component part
of the Helvetic confederacy. German is the language spoken in the Valais.
As the high road into Italy passes thro' the whole length of this Canton,
Napoleon caused it to be separated from the Helvetic union and to form a
Republic apart, with the ulterior view and which he afterwards carried into
execution of annexing it to the French Empire. The Valais forms a long and
exceedingly narrow valley, thro' the whole length of which the Rhone flows
and falls into the lake Leman at St Gingolph. The breadth of this valley in
its widest part is not more probably than 1,000 yards, and in most places
considerably narrower, and it is enclosed on each side, or rather walled up
by the immense mountains of the higher Alps which rise here very abruptly
and seem to shut out this valley from the rest of the world. The high road
runs nearly parallel to the course of the Rhone and is sometimes on one
side of the river and sometimes on the other, communicating by bridges;
from the sinuosity of the road and the different points of view presented
by the salient and re-entering angles, of the mountains the scenery is
extremely picturesque, grand and striking, and as sometimes no outlet
presents itself to view, you do not perceive how you are ever to get out of
this valley but by a stratagem similar to that of Sindbad in the Valley of
Diamonds. At St Maurice is a remarkable one-arched bridge built by the
Romans. We stopped at Martigny to pass the night; within one mile of
Martigny and before arriving at it, we perceived the celebrated waterfall
called the Pissevache; and the appellation, though coarse, is perfectly
applicable. From Martigny a bridle road branches off which leads across the
Grand St Bernard to Aoste. The next morning we arrived at Sion, called in
the language of the country Sitten, the metropolis of the Valais; it is a
neat-looking and tolerably large town, and which from its position might be
made a most formidable military post, as there is a steep hill close to it
which rises abruptly from the centre of the valley, and commands an
extensive view east and west. Works erected on this height would enfilade
the whole road either way and totally obstruct the approach of an enemy.
There is besides a large castle on the southern paroi of mountains which
hem in this valley, which would expose to a most galling fire and take in
flank completely those who should attempt to force the passage whether
coming from St Maurice or Brieg.
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