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determined by weight, but not singly, for
several are weighed together, and a kind-
hearted angel is slyly pulling the scale, to
make the party appear to be good weight.
St. Peter is leading the saints up to Paradise;
and on the other side daemons, in human
forms, but with pig’s faces, are carrying on
their backs baskets full of the wicked, and
precipitating them into a pit, while other
daemons are zealously stokeing them down
with long forks. The insides o f the
churches are also filled with emblems of
the most gloomy superstition ; and over
the city gate, on the road leading to Vevey,
there is a large piece of sculpture, in which
the figure of an old man, intended to represent
God the Father, is dandling on
his knee, not the infant Jesus, but Christ
upon the crucifix. It is astonishing that
such a shocking piece of absurdity and impiety,
should be exposed to the public
gaze, even in a catholic country, and particularly
in one where the minds of men
may be supposed to be in some degree enlightened
by the possession of political
freedom. The gates and the walls are
very ancient, their date is evidently prior
to the use of fire-arms. The Jesuits have a
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large church and convent on one o f the
heights within the walls, a vast reservoir of
water is close by it, to supply the town
instantly in case of fire. A few miles from
Fribourg there is an establishment of Trap-
pists. In fine, Fribourg may be regarded
as the asylum of superstition ; nothing is
heard early in the morning but the tinkling
of bells for matins, and the only persons
seen in the streets at that time, are women
in long black cloaks going to the confessional
or to mass.
There, are, however, several useful institutions
here ; among others, a large school
for boys conducted by the Abbé Girard,
who has endeavoured to extract and combine
the best parts of the systems of Pestalozzi,
Lancaster, and Feilenberg. There
is another establishment where girls are
employed in the manufacture of coarse
cloth, and in knitting, &c. Tiie articles
are sold for their benefit. The soeurs grises
nurse and superintend the sick, in a large
hospital near the gate to Lausanne.
The French language is spoken in the
upper part of Fribourg, and German in
the lower. There are many striking views
from the walls.
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