the Lord, who forgives penitent sinners; who delivers them, and makes them happy! May God enable me earnestly to pray for you, so that I may never doubt that we shall one day embrace each other before the presence of the Lord!"Surely this paper breathes something of the spirit of the martyr Stephen. The murderer is said to have previously received favors from Lavater.

comfortable, neat, industrious; but they all seem to live together in peace; and a reasonable liberty appears equally dear to all. The dress of the women varies in each canton: the hair of the Zurich women is neatly combed and parted: they have no gowns, but their underdress expands over the shoulders, something like a surplice; they have a stomacher of cloth, with braids of scarlet crosswise; they seem of a strong, fine race, com

At Aarau, yesterday, we observed the houses, all along the main streets, with jutting roofs, only not shelving to the ground; each house has its own roof advancing perhaps ten or twelve feet; so that we walked under them during the rain quite defended; the roofs differ in height, shape, color, &c. so as to make a most singular appear

Aarau, Thursday night, July 31.-We left Zurich with regret this morning, and came twen-pared with the French and German women. ty-eight miles to this town, the capital of the canton of Argovie. It has three thousand inhabitants, chiefly reformed. It stands pleasantly on a hill on the Aar river, the two banks of which are united by a covered bridge. We were surprised to find that the same church is used here for Catholics and Protestants: we entered it; there were no superstitious ornaments. The Protes-ance. I believe I have not mentioned the Gertants meet at eight, the Catholics at half-past nine, man and Swiss stoves, with which almost every on the Sunday. We dined at Baden, where room is furnished; these are sometimes of iron, there is a most beautiful village on the banks of of a moderate size; but oftener of tiles, stone, or the Limmat. At the table-d'hôte I met two Chinaware, and then they are eight or ten feet strangers from Basle. After a good deal of con- square, standing on thick legs, which raise them versation, the lady turned out to be a friend of an a few inches from the ground, and reaching in a English clergyman of my acquaintance, and beg-turret form to the ceiling. The fire is placed in ged me most earnestly to remember her to him, them from the passage, through an opening in the and to assure him that she had not forgotten his partition-wall of the room: there is no grate nor advice, but read every Sunday one of the sermons flame seen, but the warmth is produced by the he gave her it was delightful to me thus to trace whole mass of the tower being thoroughly heated; some fruit of the advice given by my dear friend. the China stoves are of green, blue, or yellow.What good might not be effected, if English tra- The fountains also in this country are curious obvellers were studious to lose no opportunity ofjects; every town and village, however small, has honoring God their Saviour, on the occasions, its fountain. The Catholic adorns his with saints, however slight, which continually present them- the Protestant with heroes: there is no such thing selves. An impression may often be left on the as water conducted to each house, as with us; all mind of a foreigner by a kind and appropriate re- depends on the fountains, which are commonly mark, which nothing can efface. An English-large stone enclosures, from twenty to fifty feet man has peculiar advantages for this, from the weight attached to his country all over the Continent.

Basle, 26 miles from Aarau, Friday evening, August 1.-We have had a charming ride to-day; the road from Aarau to Stein (a lovely village on the Rhine) lay through a noble picturesque country. Some of the villages were more characteristic than any we have yet seen. From Stein the road ran by the Rhine; and when we had come within nine miles of Basle, we sent on the carriages and came down, or rather were flooded down, the Rhine, in a boat; the stream carried us the nine miles in an hour and a quarter-a rather hazardous voyage, as our friends at Basle told us. Basle is a very ancient city, situated at the angle where the Rhine turns northward for Germany. It contains sixteen thousand souls, almost all Protestants. The same liberty prevails here as at Zurich, the same habits. Bread is three half-pence the pound-meat, two-pence three farthings the pound-wages, two shillings a day. There are eight churches. Mr. Blumhardt, of the Missionary Institution, called upon me this morning-a most devout, delightful man. How refreshing to the mind, to meet with a Christian brother in a foreign land, whom one can understand for Mr. B. speaks French and English well.

Travelling from canton to canton, it is curious to see the changes in the villages-some Popish, some Protestant: the latter are always the more

round, with two, four, or six jetsd'eau, which fall so as to meet conveniently the tubes, &c. placed on the margin of the basin. Around these basins are collected women, washing garden-stuff or clothes, horses drinking, servants extending jugs, &c. At Stein we were at the singular hotel, looking full on the Rhine, of which M. Simond speaks in his Voyage with warm commendation. We showed the landlord the book in which mention is made of him: he was not a little astonished that his solitary house should be thus celebrated.

Perhaps one of the most singular persons we have seen since we have been abroad, was a Protestant clergyman of one of the towns we have lately passed through; pompous, good-tempered, officious, confused; with a mixture of pride from his station and family, and of familiarity from an affected condescension towards others; the high priest, and yet the friendly, kind, obliging man; tedious withal; dawdling, never seeing the good sense of a thing, and having no tact in discovering the inconveniences which his conduct occasions; a worthy, bustling, unintelligible personage. But all this would have been nothing, if it were not that this same person is a divine, nay, the divine, the great man in theology, whose reputation spreads through the neighborhood, who talks perpetually of the Reformation, and whose opinions gain credence. I really was quite nervous in his company: after many trials I could get no one good sentiment out of him; he did nothing but talk to me of his church, his parish, his house, and

four or five portraits of himself. A negative character is not enough for a clergyman in a dying, guilty world. The minister of Jesus Christ has a high message to deliver, a weighty stewardship to discharge, a solemn trust to guard. He has to teach by his doctrine and his conversation. He is not to sink down to the standard of the world, but to rouse that world from its torpor, and awaken it to the unseen interests of the soul and eternity.

digest what he had observed. He thinks Paris is only a village compared with London. He complained, however, of London fogs, London water, and London cookery-the fine mountain air, the Rhine, and the ordinary food of Switzerland; these are what he wanted to complete his happiness-he scarcely once saw the sun the first six weeks he was in London. But he forgot all this in the intellectual and religious festivals in which he participated.

Basle, Saturday evening, August 2.—The ca- I omitted to say, that we saw at the cathedral thedral here interested us greatly this morning. to-day the very hall where the council of 1431-47 It is one of the noblest Protestant churches of the held its sittings; the self-same seats and other Continent. It is built of a fine red stone; simple, furniture remain. That council was convoked to yet majestic in its ornaments, with numerous prevent the Reformation; but the scandal raised aisles and monuments, and a remarkably curious by the vices of the bishops, who composed it, had cloister. The tombs of Erasmus, and of Eco- the effect of convincing men of its necessity, and lampadius, the Basle Reformer, much delighted of hastening its approach. It happened curius. The town is neat, and seemingly full of bu-ously, that on the very benches where the Pope's siness. The public library contains thirty-two thousand volumes, and manuscript letters of most of the Reformers. In the afternoon we spent two or three hours with the excellent Mr. B. The first Foreign Bible Society was formed here in 1304, the very year when the original institution began in London. At the third centenary of the Reformation, New Testaments were given from the altar of the cathedral to all the children of P. S. Before I shut up my letter, I must add, the town-above two thousand were distributed. that, in the old divinity school of the cathedral, What an appropriate gift! The missionary insti- we saw a likeness of the celebrated Erasmus, tution contains thirty-four students, and is about scratched apparently by an idle student with the to be enlarged. The lecture rooms and cham-rough point of an iron nail, on the common bers are simple and unadorned.

The state of true religion is, on the whole, improving in Switzerland and some parts of Germany. Truth, holiness, and unity increase, hundreds of Catholics receive Bibles and attend Protestant churches. The Lutherans and Reformed have begun to unite in the common term evangelical. The Antistes and most of the clergy preach and live according to the Gospel. On the other hand, the court of Rome threatens, the Pope is aroused; he thinks the Protestants have begun to propagate their views by Bible and missionary institutions; and he is determined to oppose them. The Jesuits are the Pope's household troops; they are spreading every where, and resisting, in the most open manner, every attempt at Scriptural education. The holy alliance is thought to favor the Pope and the Jesuits, by acting on the idea that all societies are dangerous.*

In the mean time, the friends of the truth are active and humble, leaving events with God. Mr. B. was exceedingly struck with London when he visited it for the first time last year. He says it took him six months, on his return, to cool and collect his scattered and astonished ideas, and

legate and the other members of the council sat
four centuries back, the trophies of the Reforma-
tion were placed, which had just been displayed
at the celebration of the third centenary of that
great event.
Yours affectionately,

D. W.

wooden desk which was before him, during lecture. Three centuries have rendered this roguish trick a great curiosity. The lines are beginning to be faint; but the likeness is still strong. You will please however to observe, that Erasmus is not one of my prime favorites. He had talents, wit, and learning in abundance; but he wanted the heart of a Reformer. The important aid which he at first rendered to Luther, was more than neutralized by the bitter opposition to the Gospel, in which he at length openly joined.

LETTER VII.

Moutiers, August 4.-Bern, August 11, 1823.
Sunday at Basle-View from table-d'hote Room-
Valley of Moutiers - Anabaptists-Soyhier-
Court-Cormoret-Rock Pierre Pertuis-Obser-
vations on Swiss Government-Neufchatel-Re-
former Farel-Bienne-Island of St. Pierre-J.
J. Rousseau - Seedorf- Bern- Voiturier-M.
Wyttenbach-The great Haller-Swiss Diet-
Sunday at Bern-Pastor Henhofer.

Basle, about 963 miles from London,
Sunday, August 3, 1823.

I find from friends who have returned from Rome since the publication of the second edition of this work, that nothing can exceed the present boldness of the Catholic hierarchy there-except their MY DEAREST SISTER-We are now closing folly. Open claims of infallibility are made, indul- our seventh absent Sunday; and have, for the gences placarded, the Bible and education spurned, first time, met with French service. We atthe certain perdition of heretics avowed, the autho

rity of human traditions asserted and vindicated as tended twice; at nine o'clock and at three. strongly as ever. In short, all the comparative I endeavored to hear the sermons with that mildness of Pius VII. and Gonsalvi is forgotten, candor and sincere desire to derive instruction and a new reign of intolerance commenced.-The and comfort, which become a Christian, and Jesuits direct every thing. especially a foreigner; but really they were

exuberant vines, is unequalled in its way; the latter in wild and awful scenery appeared to us at the time incomparable-but the valley of Moùtiers, where we now are, is of so new and grand a character, so considerable in extent (twentytwo miles,) so varied at every turn throughout its course, that, though different from all the preceding scenery, we must allow it to be one of the very finest things we have yet seen. We are indebted to our good friend who has travelled in Switzerland before, for the excellent choice of our road on this and other occasions. Few Englishmen ever think of Hoellenthal, or the valley of Moûtiers. If a traveller has not time to study well the best books before he leaves home, he should by all means obtain the company of a friend who has a thorough knowledge of the coun

so indifferent, or rather so unscriptural, that I was grieved at my very heart. Man is the same every where. It is not a mere freedom from superstition and infidelity which is enough. It is spiritual life which is wanting-that sensibility and perception which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and without which a moral death pervades all the powers of the soul-no due sense of sin, no real penitence, no faith in Christ for justification, no holy love, no communion with God, no dedication to his service, no separation from the world, no true obedience. I hope the strong impression I receive abroad of the necessity of the Gospel in its simplicity, will never be effaced from my mind. What is Protestantism, without the truth on which it rests, and the Holy Spirit by whom alone that truth can be taught or blessed? I cannot but mourn over the decay and desolations of the Pro-try, and judgment and taste to direct his attention testant churches, as I pass from place to place. At Basle it is the French churches of which I speak; for the German here, thank God, are prosperous. The sixteen Lutheran ministers, with scarcely an exception, truly preach the Gospel. The Sabbath, therefore, generally, is much better observed than in Germany; the shops shut; no amusements; great order and decency.

to the most deserving objects. Otherwise he will infallibly lose some of the most interesting points.

The valley of Moûtiers is a sort of fissure or chasm in the immense chain of the Jura mountains. The river Birse flows through it in a rather small, but clear, impetuous, and diversified stream; its numerous cascades, its various bridges, and endless windings, create an inexhaustible Monday morning, August 4.-Basle was cele- fund of pleasure. The rocks of immense height brated in the fourth century; it is capable of con- vertical-parallel-answering to each other on taining a hundred thousand inhabitants, but it has the opposite sides of the chasm, sometimes like now only sixteen thousand. It is superbly situ- leaves of a book, and bearing on every side smalated on the Rhine, which here becomes naviga-ler or larger trees, apparently without any superble. The larger houses in the town have the front doors made of open wire-work, so as to admit the air. Many of the inhabitants have a swollen neck; arising, as Mr. B. informs us, from the nature of the water; but, as others think, from the moist, foggy atmosphere. In the Valais, this disease becomes a protuberance, and is often accompanied with idiotcy. On the whole, Basle much delights us. The table-d'hôte room overhangs the Rhine; with the noble bridge over it, connecting great and little Basle, on our right, full in view. The prospect from one of the bastions surprised us quite unexpectedly one evening, as we were walking on the fortifications. At a sudden turn of the path, the most picturesque view burst upon us as by magic-The Rhine-the bridge-a part of the town-the tower of an old church-a beautiful well-wooded country-a thousand various objects interspersed the whole exquisite. It is, in short, the simplicity, industry, piety, and happiness of the people, together with the liberty of their country, and its uncommon magnificence and beauty, which endear it to Englishmen. Switzerland is the land of moral and intellectual freedom, and one of the chief glories of Reformed Europe.

Court, between Basle and Neufchatel, Monday night, August 4.—We have come to-day thirtytwo miles. This is the third time I have been surprised with a richness of scenery wholly unexpected. Nothing is so difficult to describe. Language at least my language-is unable to follow the inexhaustible variety and profusion of beauties in Switzerland. For nine hours to-day our attention and admiration were excited so perpetually, that we were fatigued under the continued effort. It was not the Rhine, it was not the Hoellenthal,—the former, with its majestic flood and

incumbent earth-vast ravines in these masses, down which the torrents at times roll-overhanging fragments, threatening, as it were, to fall every moment, together with the sinuosities of the valley, formed a scene of wonder and delight. The foliage also, now of dark fir, now of lighter underwood; at one time filling up the valley, and hiding the bursting river; at other times rising up the mountains; and almost always spreading out on the rent masses of granite, added continued beauties, whilst the enormous bodies of rock here and there forced down by the winter tempests, or loosened by the thaws and floods, almost closed the road, and blocked up the river. Along this valley the Romans formed a road, which, after having been more than once obstructed by the falling rocks, was opened again for the last time in 1752. The following inscription, in Latin, is engraved on a stone on the side of the road: "Joseph William, of Rincius, prince bishop of Baldenstein Basiliensium, opened this road, which had been shut for a long time, by breaking through the rocks and opposing mountains, and casting bridges over the Birse, with a labour worthy of the Romans." This boasting inscription, like too many others of the same class, is far from being true. The bishop took no other part in this enterprise, but that of claiming the honor of it. The inhabitants of the valley raised the money, and effected the laborious task.

The road now is excellent. We met as we drove along some venerable old men in great simplicity of attire, and with long flowing beards. They were part of the community of Anabaptists, who were banished from Berne in 1708, because they refused to take oaths and to bear arms. What an odious thing is persecution, especially in free states, and most of all where the

Protestant religion is professed! There are about 1000 of these good people here-industrious, meek, and religious-capable of being a blessing to any nation. They have no similarity of sentiment with the German Anabaptists of the sixteenth century.

I have been naturally led to reflect to-day on that awful disruption of the deluge, which was doubtless the origin of the amazing scenes through which we passed the face of the creation bears marks of that signal judgment of Almighty God on a sinful world. I endeavored also to meditate on the goodness of God in furnishing man with sources of pleasure in the wonders of creation, and spreading over the wrecks of the world the sweet foliage and fertility, which are more delightful from these contrasts. When the last breaking up of nature shall come, and the rocks and mountains depart, may we inherit a new and brighter world wherein dwelleth righteousness!

The people now speak French. We are in the canton of Berne, containing two hundred and fifteen thousand souls, chiefly Protestants. We dined at Soyhier, a small Catholic village, where all the tombstones have cups or basins hanging by them, I suppose for holy water. In the corner of the churchyard is a small building filled with the bones of the dead, with an aperture or window, open to the air, by which you may see them, and touch them, if you please. The villages in this valley are curious, from the very low cottages of only one story, very wide, with roofs of wood, and large stones placed here and there upon the roof, to prevent its being blown away.

materials, unpainted wood. Our cold meat is brought out, which we put into our tin boxes at Basle. We have also Kirchinwasser (eau de cérise,) together with fresh eggs, warm milk, bread, all set out on an immense table, which surrounds three sides of the hall, and has no particular appearance of having been lately cleaned. In this style we are now about to dine, at half-past eleven, Swiss time.

Twelve o'clock.-As the storm continues, and we have finished our frugal meal, I will now go on with such remarks as occur to me. Switzerland formerly contained thirteen cantons, but at present twenty-two, confederated together by an act of congress, 1814; by which the actual limits and rights of the different states were as nearly as possible preserved. The Swiss date their freedom from the first efforts of the canton of Uri, Switz, and Underwald, to throw off the Austrian yoke in 1308, under the heroic guidance of William Tell; of whom I must tell you something, if possible, when we come to the scenes of his exploits. Though a republic, Switzerland has never, like Rome or Athens, formed one great community; but has remained a confederacy of small states, managed by a general diet of deputies from each canton. It is by far the most mountainous country in Europe, having in fact only one large tract of level ground towards Basle, Zurich, and Bern. If you are travelling in some parts, you may eat on the same day the fruits of the coldest and of the warmest climates-the apple and pear, with the grape, almond, and fig. Switzerland contains one million seven hundred and fifty thousand souls, of whom above a million are Protestants. Basle is the largest city, Geneva the most populous, and Bern the most beautiful. The cantons differ from each other materially in religion and in form of government; but a spirit of independence, activity, industry, pervades the whole, and makes them the freest and happiest country in Europe, after Great Britain.

Cormoret, Tuesday morning, eleven o'clock. We left Court this morning at seven, and came on here, sixteen miles, through a fine open country, bordered by mountains. At a place called Pierre Pertuis, we stopped to see the source of the Birse, whose stream had afforded us such extraordinary pleasure yesterday: it gushes from the side of a rock with such force as to turn three mills almost immediately. Above this source a lofty rock is pierced to admit the road: the opening, of about Neufchâtel, Wednesday morning, August 6.forty-five feet by fifteen, was known to the Ro- The storm clearing up yesterday, we set off at mans, as an inscription cut in the rock,* and al-half-past one. We soon came to a hill very steep, most obliterated by time, testifies. It is situated but apparently moderate in length; the two coachat the foot of the mountain Vion. We were over- men, with all our party, except Mrs. W. and Eliza, taken by a most violent storm as we approached walked up. It turned out to be a genuine Swiss this village, Cormoret, and here discovered the mountain, at least three miles long, and three advantage of Swiss architecture; for the host of thousand feet in height. We were more than an a small auberge no sooner saw us, than he opened hour ascending, and as the boys and I followed a the door of the barn, and we drove in under co-countryman by what he called a shorter route, we ver, first one carriage, then another; a door in the side opened into the house, and stairs, steep as a ladder, conducted us to the salle-à-manger, or dining hall, over the said barn, where we now The ceiling, walls, floor, are all of the same

are.

had the happiness to clamber up a side so precipitous, that we were obliged to cling to the roots of trees to prevent our falling backwards. At the top we saw a small auberge; we entered it by the barn, and from that turned into the kitchen, where a moderate fire was burning, not on the hearth, but in the open raised sort of oven, which is usual in this country. We sat down to dry our feet whilst they prepared us some coffee; happening to look up, we saw that the whole fire-place, ten feet by fifteen, gradually formed the chimney, which was all of wood, forty feet high, ending in a square at top, on which was a board raised on one side to allow the smoke to escape, by a pole which descended the whole length, and was hung