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V
CHAP. V.
G EN EV A TO L A U S A N N E . C OM PA R ISO N B E TW E E N
T H E L A K E S C EN E R Y OP G R E A T B R IT A IN A N D
SW IT Z E R L A N D . C O U N T R Y R O U N D B E R N E . -----
A R IS TO C R A C Y OF B E R N E . P O W E R OF T H E P E O P
L E . E X P U L S IO N OF M . H A L L E R F R OM T H E
S E N A T E . C A B IN E T OF P R O F E S S O R M E IS SN E R .
P U B L IC M U S E U M . B E R N E S E O B E R L A N D . -----
L A K E OF T H O U M . R E S ID E N C E A T IN T E R L A K E N .
G R IN D E LW A L D . — • M E L A N C H O L Y A C C ID E N T
IN T H E G L A C I E R S . PA S SA G E OF T H E W E N G E N
A L P S . A V A L A N C H E S . V A L L E Y OF L A U T E R -
P P U N . L A K E OF B R I E N T Z . M E Y R E N G E N . -----
N EW S E C T OF A D A M IT E S .
■ P E A S A N T R Y OF T H E
O B E R L A N D .
A f t e r reposing a few days at Geneva, we
were desirous to employ the remainder of
the summer in exploring the Bernese
Oberland, the canton of Friburg, and a
part of the Upper Valley of the Bhone,
which we had travelled through the preceding
year. We engaged a Bernese open
carriage at Geneva, to convey us to Lausanne
and Berne. I was somewhat curious
LAKE SCENERY.
to ascertain, whether, after a long residence
amid the alpine scenery of Savoy, the enchanting
views in the vicinity of Lausanne
would lose any of their in te re st; but this
was not tbe case ; the natural beauties here
are of that transcendant kind, that they can
scarcely be lessened by comparison with
any other. Persons long familiar with the
lake scenery in oiir own island, are generally
somewhat disappointed on their first
arrival at the lake of Geneva, expecting
to behold scenes incomparably more sublime
than any around the British lakes ; but
beauty, rather than sublimity, is the characteristic
feature of this lake, except at its
upper end, where we obtain a glimpse of
some of the higher Alps. An Fnghshman,
when he arrives in Switzerland, sees objects
through a medium so much more
transparent than what his eye has been
accustomed to, that they seem much less
than they really are ; and mountains which
are six or eight thousand feet high, do not
appear more elevated than those round
Ulswater or Keswick, because the distinctness
of the outlines, and the vividness of
the colouring, greatly diminishes the appa