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is past all thought-it is above, beyond, the apprehension of the highest human intellect! "Holy Father!" he added, clasping his hands, and raising his eyes, unseen as he was,—for he was alone on the border of the lake, "Rather may my eyes be closed in perpetual darkness, than that I should cease to acknowledge thee in the glories of thy creation!"

It had been settled that the young men were to be called with the dawn; they therefore retired early to rest, and the streaks of light on the eastern horizon were still very faint when they got into the boat which was to convey them to Neuhaus. They expected to be about three hours on the water.

The glories of the scenes which presented themselves almost every instant in new aspects, threw Frederic back upon the same train of reflections which had occupied him by the lake-side the evening before; he made one or two attempts to communicate his thoughts to Octavius; but was answered each time with one of those ready-made sentences, of which unreflecting young persons make so much use. These sentences either had no reference whatever to what Frederic said, or were connected with his remarks by a pun made on a word, or ridiculous turn of the sentiment. Sometimes he would condescend to make a slight apology for these freedoms to his young companion, by saying, “You must not mind me, Fred; you know me of old. I never could be serious two minutes together in my life.” Octavius, however, used no such ceremony with the guide, whom he quizzed, contradicted, and crammed with absurdities during the whole of the passage, in French, for the benefit of the young man himself; and in English, for that of Frederic.

He insisted, for instance, that the Swiss mountains were but mole-hills to those in England, and the lakes but ponds, with other equally witless assertions; and when Haldermann pointed out any particular object on the banks of the lake, giving the name, and other particulars, he contradicted what he said, telling Frederic that the fellow did not know his business as a ciceroni, that he himself knew the lake of Thun, and all its environs, as well as he did his own native place; and could not be deceived by any pretensions of such an ignoramus as Mynheer Haldermann; for instance, he said, we all know that Arnault Biderman lived on the shores of this lake, and that the remains

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"Oh! I forgot; you are being reared for a bishop-are you not?" said Octavius. "You would not think it becoming to bet; but listen, I will put the question to our sapient guide, and you will hear the answer." This answer was what Octavius expected, Haldermann had never heard the name, or seen the castle. Octavius drew up his lips, and poured forth a long shrill whistle.

"I think, remarked Frederic, that the mistake lies with you; and that you are giving a fabulous name to a real character."

"Pardon me," said Octavius," but I am not much given either to mistake or miscall, my good fellow, and as my tutor used to tell me, I have really an inconveniently good memory; it was the most difficult thing in the world for me when writing a theme, not to become a plagiarist, so liable is my own memory to make every thing its own."

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"If such be your case," replied Frederic, you should be careful what you hear; for my own part, I should not like to make every thing my own which I might chance to encounter in travelling."

"Very good!" returned Octavius, "I give you credit for your remark; but as I was saying" and off he flew again to some new exercise of his powers of quizzing at the expence of the guide, who was evidently growing sullen under the infliction, though his tormentor persisted in asserting that the fellow was as unconscious of what was going forward as a bear is of the grimaces of the ape which rides on his back.

If you are correct in your simile, and in the application of the bear to Haldermann; who is figured by the monkey?” said Frederic, with a quiet smile.

"Myself-no other than myself!" returned Octavius, "Myself, most noble potentate, I pride myself on my versatility of powers, Fred!-a monkey at one time, a lion or eagle at another; my ambition takes a wide range. But I hate a fellow who is what they call consistent: there is no creature on earth more consistent than a certain long-eared quadruped, which I forbear to name."

"But," said Frederic, "are you doing wisely in irritating your bear? Should he grow unruly he might make the ape which depends upon him rather more uneasy than he might wish to be."

Instead of giving his companion an answer, the flippant youth affected not to have heard his remark, but assuming an exceeding bland smile, he said, "Did you happen to be speaking? do have the goodness to say that again, it sounded like something worth hearing; but I am troubled with occasional fits of deafness-a thousand pardons?"

Nonsense may be borne whan it comes in without effort, and forms a little variety in unrestrained family intercourse; but to be condemned to hear nonsense, unmixed nonsense, for hours together, in scenes too where there is much to be admired, and much to be learned, is a most disagreeable infliction; and Frederic felt it to be such, and endeavored to fix his attention on the scenes through which they passed, and not to be distracted by the rattle of his companion.

Being landed at Neuhaus, the three young men proceeded briskly on foot to the lovely village of Unterseen, which still retains the old and beautiful character of a Swiss hamlet; and there they breakfasted, doing no small honor to the honey and cream provided by the fragrant pastures of that beautiful region.

Octavius was very eloquent whilst eating his breakfast, and had much to tell the persons who waited upon him respecting the names, natures, and circumstances of the mountains round about, for all of which information he was indebted to sundry guide-books, which, to use a college phrase, he had “got up” as a lesson, so that Frederic gave up in despair, all attempts to learn any thing from the people about the place through the medium of his own hearing. Having breakfasted, they passed on through Interlachen, the next lovely village-the original beauty of which however has suffered by the erection of numbers of smart modern-built lodging-houses for the reception of visitors in the summer. Having passed through this place, the travellers walked some miles along the borders of the Lutscheen, a torrent which is blackened by the meltings of the glaciers of Grindelwald. Before them opened a gloomy gorge, whither they were advancing through scenes to which no description can do justice.

This gorge gaped upon them like the mouth of a cavern, terrible from its extreme darkness.

During this progress, whilst Frederic was filled with reflections suggested by the wonderful prospects which were opening more and more to his observation, Octavius was taking infinite pains, as he boasted, to bamboozle the guide, who, as he told his countryman, was as ineffable a specimen as he ever met with, of boorish stupidity.

"I think you may be mistaken: at all events don't make yourself quite sure that he does not understand more of what we are saying to each other than we would like," answered Frederic.

"He may hear what he pleases, and understand what he pleases," replied Octavius. "I never say any thing I am ashamed of, or any thing I would not stand to. I believe the fellow to be a stupid boor. I must have my jest, and he happens to be the only oddity in my way just now."

“—Or, at any rate, perhaps, the greatest ;" rejoined Frederic. "In his absence, or that of any other, perchance you might find something in me on which to break the lance of your wit—is it not so?"

"Why, my dear fellow,” replied Octavius, “I won't say, I really won't say--but that you might answer the purpose; but I would willingly spare you, in consideration of auld lang syne.”

Frederic was convinced that Haldermann knew more English than he seemed at first to do, and he dropped behind in consequence, as soon as Octavius addressed him again, seeing plainly that the young man was displeased.

When fairly entered within the gorge, the scene became more and more wild, and there was so much to see, and the ways were so rude and painful, that the travellers were compelled to stop by the way to spend the night in the only place where they could find reception, at a house between an inn and small farm, where Octavius shewed off to the poor people in the same style as he had done all along, repeating his vapid jests, until Frederic felt himself disposed to he almost out of temper. There was something so particularly discordant, he felt, between the wild scenery and simple people, and the light and self-sufficient manner of his companion. He tried however to reconcile himself to

this levity, by thinking how young Octavius still was, and how little he had been accustomed to go alone; for, by the young man's own account, he was then trying his wings on the continent for the first time.

The travellers lingered and looked so long, and made so many discursive steps that day, that they did not reach the hotel at Grindelwald until the whole valley was cast into deep shade through the approach of night. Octavius, as usual, made himself well heard in the house, and was not quiet till having eaten well, and drank more than well, he found himself lodged in a good bed.

The valley is hemmed in by mountains so lofty, and apparently so near, that they seem to rise around midway to the skies. At a small distance on the left of the front of the hotel there is a magnificent glacier, on one side of which is the Eiger Noir, and on the other the Wetterhorn. The travellers were up with the first dawn, impatient to see the wonders of the place. Octavius seemed to have acquired a new supply of his selfsufficient and flippant vivacity, from the long refreshment he had enjoyed in his bed. He gave Frederic a vast deal of information on the nature of glaciers, as he descended to that seen from the hotel, not failing to interrupt the guide whenever he attempted to add any thing from his own knowledge.

Having visited the glacier, the young men proposed to walk for a little way along the mountain. This mountain seemed to rise directly from the bed of a torrent, and though crowned with eternal snow, it presented on its side many fine green pastures, several groves of pine, and even some cottages cautiously nestled in places protected by the form of the mountain against the falls of snow from above.

The morning was lovely; the breeze was soft, and came laden with the fragrance of wild thyme and other spicy herbs. The pedestrians were continually ascending, and when yet far, very far from the snowy summit, they came on a pasture which spread its verdant and flowery lap towards the sun, being sheltered from the blasts which came down in the winter from the snows of the summit, by a thick grove of ancient pine. These pastures are called Alps in that region, and the guide had used this term, and been pertly corrected for having made a mistake by Octavius, who insisted upon it that the word meant a mount,

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