Page images
PDF
EPUB

the spires of Lucerne, as the evening star had lighted his glowing lamp in the west; and the young moon, 'like to a silver bow new set in heaven,' shone in its deep clear vault; while the rich red radiance of the sky still trembled over the vast and placid mirror of the lake.

[blocks in formation]

Of unsubmitting spirit wise and brave,

Who still through bleeding ages struggled hard
To hold a free and undiminished state.

THOMPSON.

LETTER XXXII.

CAROLINE ST. CLAIR TO MRS. BALCARRIS.

It was Sunday morning, and peasant girls in their holiday dresses, and rustic swains with nosegays in their breasts, were flocking into the town; and the bells of the cathedral were ringing for mass, and the busy Priests, with their long vestments, were hurrying through the throng

ing streets, when we sallied forth to see the city of Lucerne. The streets looked unspeakably gay, crowded with the happy faces, the bright colours, and rich dresses of the Lucerne peasants, who tripped along-so rustic!-so coquettish !-so very conscious how smart they were!—their short black petticoats displaying the neat white stocking and buckled shoe-nay even giving a glimpse of the smart red garter;-while the little apron, more for ornament than use the richly laced embroidered boddice, the pure white chemise sleeve, peeping out below it—the gaudy ribbons, the light gipsy hat, with its broad brim and low crown, coquettishly stuck on the back of the head, trimmed with flowers and flaunting strings-presented exactly such a dress as you see on the stage, when a pretty actress would represent the beau ideal of a peasant girl.

Such is the costume of the pretty peasants of Lucerne! For whether it is that their dress is so becoming, and their air so gay, or that they really are a very handsome race-certain it is they all look pretty. The women of the town of Lucerne, of the inferior classes, all wear the same dress as the country people. As for the old ladies, they were pacing gravely along to church,

VOL. II.

with

their gray hair combed straight back from their wrinkled faces, plaited and twisted in a knot behind, and well powdered; with nothing whatever upon their poor old bare heads-not a decent cap or bonnet; and the rest of their attire exactly such as you may sometimes see in the frontispiece of an old novel, or on the stage, when ladies of the days of Sir Charles Grandison are represented; but in real actual life and existence -no such sights are now any where to be seen, save in the good city of Lucerne. One such figure walking the streets of London or Paris, would inevitably be mobbed.

There are four convents in Lucerne, and the pale sad countenances of the poor Nuns whom we visited-victims rather of pride than of piety;— noble daughters whose aristocratic families, to aggrandise one child have sacrificed the rest, and buried the youth of these unfortunate females in the living tomb of the cloister-formed a painful contrast to the gaiety and joy of the happy children of nature without, and sent us away melancholy from its cheerless walls

One of the grand lions of Lucerne is the model of a considerable part of Switzerland, by General Pfyffer, who devoted to it the labour of

half a century. The woods, rocks, lakes, rivers, villages, and even every single house and field, are executed with the minutest accuracy. But it is impossible not to regret that we have so much of these fields, and so little of the mountains-by far the most interesting part of the country. Had the good General made a model of the Alps only, he would have left behind him an admirable and invaluable work. It was highly amusing, thus quite at our ease, to travel over again the Alpine passes which had cost us so much peril and labour to surmount on the actual journey.

We were much pleased with the panorama of the Righi, which is shewn at a bookseller's shop; and with a collection of all the curious costumes of Switzerland, which forms a most amusing picture gallery. The views from the long wooden bridges which cross the extremity of the lake, from which the Reuss rushes, are inconceivably beautiful. One of these bridges has its whole length of thirteen hundred feet, ornamented with paintings of the heroic deeds of Helvetian story; but the beauty of the prospects would not allow me to examine the performances with much attention. It was indeed with great regret we bade adieu to Lucerne and its unrivalled lake-the beautiful scenery of which

« PreviousContinue »