the rose-tree. These were followed by various others, as to caterpillars, and worms. He subsequently engaged in experiments on vegetable physiology; and was the author of several works on this, as well as other subjects. His "Contemplation of Nature" has been translated into several European languages, and commented on by various writers.

De Candolle is connected with a later period in the history of science, to which he has rendered highly important services, especially in his office of professor in the city of Geneva. Linnæus attempted to classify plants according to their agreement in some single characters, without reference to their resemblances or differences in any other respect, just as words are arranged in a dictionary by the accordance of their initial letters. On the other hand, the natural system of botany was formed by Jussieu out of the views of Ray, Tournefort, and others, combined with very numerous observations of his own. It has, however, been much modified by succeeding systematists, and particularly by the labours of De Candolle.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was born at Geneva. Madame de Stael was born at Paris, but her father, the celebrated financier, Necker, was a native of Geneva, and important

portions of her life were passed in Switzerland. The productions of her pen are numerous and various. As a literary person, she was the most distinguished woman of her age; and though open to the weakness of ambition, was always sincere, honest, and independent.

A distinguished contemporary of Madame de Stael was Jean Charles Leonard Sismondi, and with her, as well as the celebrated Benjamin Constant, he enjoyed at Geneva a delightful and profitable intimacy. Sympathy of literary tastes produced the sincerest friendship between these two eminently gifted persons; while the influence of the scenes they visited together in Italy, and the poetic charm cast upon them by the conversation of the celebrated authoress of " Corinne," determined Sismondi to consecrate the past glories of the land of his ancestors in the page of history. The course of lectures he delivered at Geneva, on the literature of the South of Europe, is well known.

Passing now from these eminent persons, it may be remarked, in closing the present chapter, that Geneva is one of the chief seats of the watch manufacture of Switzerland. Its origin and progress are not a little singular. So early as the seventeenth century,

some workmen had constructed wooden clocks with weights, taking for their model the parish clock which was placed in the church of Locle in the year 1630. It must, however, have been at best but a clumsy machine, for the idea of using springs in such structures had not, at that time, been entertained. But, towards the close of the same century, a Swiss mountaincer, returning from a long voyage, brought with him the first watch that his countrymen had ever beheld, and on its requiring to be repaired, he committed it to a skilful workman named Richard.

Richard fully justified his confidence; he repaired the watch, and still further, after accurately examining its mechanism, formed the purpose of constructing a similar article. Nor was this any ordinary task; for not only was he compelled to fabricate all its movements, but the tools that were necessary to assist him in his labours. The result of his skill and perseverence excited great attention, and led several ingenious and energetic men to follow his example. Thus the inhabitants of the mountains, hitherto exercising no other trade or profession than those which were strictly necessary to their

daily wants, had the art of watch-making introduced among them, which has been productive of many and great advantages.

. Obliged for a number of years to import their tools, they gradually surmounted this disadvantage, learning to make and improve upon them. As, too, the art of watch-making became more developed, several of the artizans went to Paris to perfect themselves in it, and contributed on their return greatly to advance the general skill. It is not more than eighty or ninety years, since a few merchants began to collect together small parcels of watches, in order to sell them in foreign markets. The success which attended these speculations encouraged the population of Switzerland to devote themselves still more to this manufacture, so that it has been embraced by a large number of persons. Musical boxes and jewellery also contribute to the commercial prosperity of Geneva; for the production of which in good years, 75,000 ounces of gold, 5,000 marks of silver, and precious stones of the value of 1,000,000 of francs, is said to be used. A syndic, with a committee of master workmen, is charged by the government to inspect every article, and zealously to guard against any deterioration of the staple manufactures.

CHAPTER IV.

LAKE LEMAN-A VOYAGE ON IT-LAUSANNE-VEVAY-FESTIVAL OF THE VINE-DRESSERS-THE CASTLE OF CHILLON, AND ITS PRISONERS-VILLENEUVE-FIRST SIGHT OF MONT BLANC-· -LAKE LEMAN IN A CALM, AND IN A STORM-PORT DU SEX AND BOVARET-MEILLERIE -BONS-PASS OF DES ORMONDS-BOLTIGEN-FREYBURG-NEUCHATEL-LAKE OF BIENNE.

THE eye is delighted, and various pleasant feelings arise in the bosom, at the sight of the blue and placid waters of Lake Leman, extending in the form of a crescent from east to west, between Switzerland and Savoy. The breadth of this lake, which is one of the largest in Europe, is between eight and nine miles in the middle; but for a space of

fourteen miles in length it is called the Little Lake, and, more especially, the Lake of Geneva. Its surface, which seldom or never freezes, is 1,150 feet above the sea, but in summer it rises to a still greater height, from the meltings of the Alpine snows. The Rhone, coming from the Valais, enters the lake at the south-eastern extremity, where the waters are turbid, and issues forth again at Geneva, where they reflect a bright azure tinge like that of the Mediterranean. Steam-boats leave Geneva and Villeneuve at the two extremities of the lake twice a day, and make the voyage from one end to the other in about five hours. The boats on its blue waters having latine sails, like the craft of the Mediterranean, are highly picturesque as they pass along its placid waters. Its ample bed receives not only the waters of the Rhone, but those of forty streams.

The mists were rising from the lake in the distance, and from the low grounds along the shore; clouds enveloped most of the mountains to the right, but the sky was clear overhead; and on the left the Jura range was resplendent with the rays of the rising sun,-when we commenced our voyage on its waters, so perfectly clear and intensely blue. The eye speedily discerns the strip of well-cultivated land which extends on either side between the mountains and the lake for about thirty miles. Here and there are slopes covered with vines; while numerous white mansions, embosomed in trees, or seated on slight eminences, show how many are allured from the turmoil and battle of life, to seek a domicile surrounded by the grand and beautiful.

Lausanne, situated at a short distance from the shore of the lake, crowning a steep

ascent with its cathedral and its mossy castle tower, which give it an antique and romantic effect, is the capital of the Pays de Vaud. Here it was that Gibbon retired to finish his work, the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Not a little elated by what he deemed a high compliment of Burke in one of his speeches on the celebrated trial of Warren Hastings, he said to a friend who left Westminster Hall with him, "Did you observe what Burke said of me?" "Why, what was it ?" was the naire reply. The rejoinder was immediate-" The luminous Gibbon!" But what followed must have checked, if it did not turn the tide of feeling: "O! I beg your pardon, Burke said, 'The voluminous Gibbon!"" A hotel occupies the site of the historian's house. The chief peculiarity in the cathedral of Lausanne is, that no two of its many columns are alike.

Vevay is the second town of the Canton of Vaud; it is celebrated for its vines, which it is believed were first planted by the Romans, while a stone that has been discovered, inscribed “Libero Patri Colliensi," shows that they had reared a temple to Bacchus at Collium, now known as the little village of Cully, situated on the margin of the lake, between Vevay and Lausanne.

A society of some antiquity exists at Vevay, called "L'Abbaye des Vignerons," which takes the significant motto, "Ora et labora." It is designed to promote the culture of the vine; and with this view, it sends every spring and autumn qualified persons to survey all the vineyards of the district, and on their testimony, awards medals and pruning-hooks as prizes to the most diligent and skilful of the vine-dressers.

"La Fête des Vignerons" is celebrated at Vevay once in fifteen or twenty years. Tradition ascribes its origin to the fêtes of the Athenians in honour of Ceres and Bacchus. The last festival commenced on the 7th of August, 18-51, and is estimated to have been attended by 40,000 persons. The principal scene was in the market-place; the two most successful of the vine-dressers during nine years, were rewarded with a crown and a medal of honour; fifty other vine-dressers, who were prosperous during six years, were rewarded with a prize and a medal; while prizes were also bestowed on those who had been successful during three years.

"It seems to be a fact," says Mr. Reach," that everybody, every beast, and every bird, whatever may be his, her, or its nature in other parts of the world, when brought amongst grapes, eats grapes. As for the peasants, their appetite for grapes is perfectly preposterous. Unlike the surfeit-sickened grocers' boys, who, after the first week, loathe figs, and turn poorly whenever sugar-candy is hinted at, the love of grapes appears literally to grow by what it feeds on. Every garden is full of table vines. The people eat grapes with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper. The labourer plods along the road munching a cluster. The child in its mother's arms is hugging away with its toothless gums at a bleeding bunch; while as for the vintagers, male and female, in the less important plantations, heaven only knows where the masses of grapes go to which they devour, labouring incessantly at the metier, as they do from dawn till sunset."

After leaving Vevay, the mountains seem to rise immediately from the lake. There is indeed only room for a road, and a few houses at the edge of the water; but the lower part has been worked into terraces, and well-stocked with vines; above these are steep and apparently almost inaccessible pasturages, with their châlets, and still higher are bare ragged rocks pointing to the sky..

About half a mile from the village of Clarens-the residence of Rousseau-we recalled the words of Byron :