li:
LAUSANNE AND ITS ENVIRONS,
THE TOWNS WHICH SCREEN THE EASTERN EXTREMITY
OF THE LAKE OF GENEVA.
AGREEABLY seated as Lausanne is, on the declivity of the hill Jorat, about four
hundred and fifty feet above the surface of the lake, it offers, from its environs, two
noble and ma^ificent, and at the same time dissimilar, prospects, though equally commanding
a view of the whole extent of the lake, both on its eastern and western banks.
[Vide N®XVI.)
The part which looks towards the east possesses the combined properties of the
majestic and beautiful; for the water, reflecting the stupendous mountains which serve
as its barrier, contributes apparently to enlarge their bulk; while an assemblage of hills,
meadows, and villages, increase, by the varied effects of light and shade, the beauty and
animation of that delightful landscape, of which a pile of abrupt rocks and tremendous
mountains, crowned by the great St. Bernard, terminate, at no considerable distance, the
horizon. The western view, although varying from the preceding, is by no means less
interesting, for there the lake appears to lose itself in the horizon; while, in several
places, when the clouds conceal the top of the mountains which skirt this noble basin
on the right and left, it exhibits the appearance of an arm of the sea, such as at Southampton,
when viewed from Spithead. This appearance does not, however, confine the
eye from wandering on its fertile banks to a considerable extent, taking in the rich and
abundant plains of Chablais, visible in the back-ground. But as history ought to precede
description, I shall here, in conformity with the plan of this work, present my readers
with a sketch of the history of this city, from its origin to its present state.
Lausanne, otherwise Lausodiinum, or Lausonna, according to Antoninus's Itinerary,
is of ancient date, as is evident not only from the medals which have been dug up in its
neighbourhood, but also from a Roman inscription discovered at Vidy, a small hamlet