LETTER XXI.

Morat.

MY DEAR

LAUSANNE is seated on the summits and the steep declivities of three hills that rise above the lake, and from various parts of the town and its environs, extensive views of that noble sheet of water and its surrounding scenery are obtained. It is nearly a mile from the town to the water's edge.

The town itself has little to recommend it. Its streets are narrow, crooked, steep, and miserably paved. We saw but few public edifices, that deserved particular notice. The cathedral is a venerable pile of gothic architecture, and approached by a series of flights of covered steps. Lausanne is the seat of government of the Pays de Vaud, and is at present the residence of the British ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning. We found the inhabitants deeply sympathizing with him in the loss which he has just sustained in the death of an

amiable wife. The man who shewed us the cathedral, pointed out, with great feeling, her recent grave. The melancholy event had happened but ten days before.

We spent the sabbath at Lausanne, and attended divine service in the cathedral. The minister was a young man, and the sermon, so far as I could understand it, most excellent; but it was delivered with such rapidity, that I think the audience, for the most part, must have bad some difficulty in following the preacher. The discourse was on the work and example of Christ, and had more in it of what constitutes the chief excellence of a sermon," the truth as it is in Jesus," than I have heard since leaving England. The congregation was but small. The people appeared attentive and devout.

I cannot but confess, that it was an interesting circumstance to me to attend divine worship in a cathedral, and in the bosom almost of Popery; yet, stripped of all its trappings and absurdities, and conducted with a seriousness and a simplicity which becomes the worship of the most high. I felt myself at home-for the form of service very much resembled that of the people amongst whom I minister. The preacher did use a liturgy, but it was short and concise: in every other respect the worship was conducted much in the manner of the protestant dissenters in England.

The

I found that they had several schools in Lausanne, that they had one upon the principle of Bell and Lancaster, and that they were very careful to give bibles and catechisms to the children. The blessings of education are universally enjoyed throughout the canton, and there are few states, perhaps, that exercise so much vigilance in the care of the rising generation. It is a small republic, with about 150,000 inhabitants. It was long a mere province of the canton of Berne. population of Lausanne is chiefly protestant.This is the case generally throughout the Pays de Vaud; but while the principles of protestantism prevail on one side the lake of Geneva, the demon of superstition and the image of the beast, are enthroned upon the heights that rise abruptly from the other, and shed their pestilential influence over the romantic regions beyond. It would have been strange, indeed, if the reformed religion had not spread in some directions through the immediate neighbourhood of its great champion, and the scenes that were honoured with his labours. But, alas! how small a portion of land, even here, does it possess, and over that portion, scanty as it is, how imperfectly and partially are its genuine spirit and principles diffused.

From the windows of our inn we enjoyed an uninterrupted view of the lake, and in the evening it

presented a glorious spectacle, as the moon rose from behind the adjacent mountains, and shed a column of gold upon its placid waters. Not a breeze ruffled them—all was still and serene. The mighty forms of the mountains lay in masses of shadow upon the glassy surface, while the stars rose one by one in the azure firmament above, till the whole landscape seemed softened down to more than material beauty, and appeared like a type of para→ dise-a glowing picture of a lovely spot in some celestial clime! We were wrapped in silent admiration, when the tones of a guitar saluted us from the terrace of the garden, and, accompanied by a melodious voice, charmed us with some soft and simple German airs, that precisely harmonized with the character of the scene, and completed the sensation of delight which had already been excited in the mind.

The population of Lausanne is about eight thousand. We were informed that vast numbers of English inhabit its neighbourhood. We met with none, however, in the streets. Here, as over all the continent, the sabbath terminated with the afternoon service, yet we did not observe that dissipation in the evening which prevailed in France.

There is a delightful promenade in the vicinity of the town commanding extensive views of the lake,

with its bays and promontories-its surrounding Alps, and the distant ridges of the Jura. I was much struck with the loneliness of the lake. Though in the midst of a populous region, there was scarcely a sail upon its surface through the whole of yesterday, and we observed but one or two, during our ride of many miles along its margin. The length of this magnificent mirror of waters is nearly sixty miles*, and its greatest breadth from eleven to twelve. Its form is like that of the moon, between its first and second quarter, Savoy occupies its concave, and the Pays de Vaud its convex side. Its waters are of the deepest blue, and receive not less than forty tributary streams. Of these the Rhone is the principal; and this noble river is completely purified from its mountain pollutions in its passage through it. I had occasion to remark the transparency of the atmosphere in the amazing distance to which we could distinctly see the castle of Chillon, which occupies a most advantageous position at the head of the lake. It is affirmed, and I believe with truth, that a town upon its banks illumined by the setting sun, may be seen to the distance of forty miles. But the lake of Geneva is a topic upon which so many have written, that I put your patience to an unnecessary trial by these crude remarks of my own.

• Lord Byron writes, "I this day observed for some time the reflection of Mont Blanc, and Mont Argentiere, in the calm of the lake, which I was crossing in my boat. The distance of these mountains from their mirror is sixty miles.