CHAPTER II.

Leave Lyons-Severe winter-Scenery in France-compared with landscapes in England-French and English villages-Gaul and Britain on ancient medals-Hannibal's passage of the Alps -Discovery of a silver votive Buckler-Pont de Beauvoisin Letters examined-Enter Savoy-The river Guiers-Melancholy condition of the peasantry of Savoy-Sterne's Sentimental Journey-Addison's remarks on several parts of Italy—Tremendous pass-La Chaille-Les Echelles-Montagna della Grotta-Charles Emanuel II.-The persecutor of the Vaudois-Enter the defile of Aiguebelle — The river Arc—A French disputant-Description of the passage of the AlpsThe various features of the mountain-Cultivation-VinesView of sun-rise among the Alps - Cascades Masses of ice-Alpine sublimity-Fortress on the mountainLans-le-bourg-Mount Cenis-Cross the mountain on a sledge -Description of the grand route over Mount Cenis-Attack of the French upon Mount Cenis-Hospice-Plain of St. Nicholas -Murat Traineaus- Mountain prospects-View of Italy from the Alps-Hannibal-Polybius-Livy-Route of the Carthaginian army.

Torrents

ON Monday evening, December 30, we left Lyons, and commenced our journey to the Alps with all those feelings of expectation, which the name of these tremendous barriers of Italy is calculated to inspire. Livy's fine wintry descriptions, and Eustace's glorious picture of the eternal snows, and frightful passes, which we were going to encounter at the most trying period of an inclement winter, were fresh in our recollection; and we were delighted even with the unusual inhospitality of the season, because it would afford us a better opportunity of ascertaining how

far their accounts are correct. We had seen too little of the boasted landscapes of La belle France, to regret that we were not travelling in the summer, or to be convinced that they are of such superior order of beauty, as to bear any comparison with the rich landscapes of merry England. When we are speaking of a mountainous region, it is at once understood what is meant by fine scenery; but perhaps it is not easy to agree upon the essentials which are to constitute beautiful scenery in a flat country. Most people, however, concur in filling up the prospect with groves and streams, gentle undulations of hill and dale, vineyards or hop-grounds, a gay intermixture of corn and meadow land, hedge rows and groups of timber trees, and frequent enclosures of various forms and sizes. But, to complete the picture in an Englishman's eyes, there must be the village spire and green, the snug cottage and neat garden, and the substantial farm-house; and he must be occasionally greeted with the sight of a park and mansion-house, and with that general aspect of cheerful comfort, which the residence of the nobility and gentry of a nation, at the hospitable seats of their ancestors, never fails to impart. Every tourist knows that ornamental gardening, the art of laying out grounds to advantage, and the taste for a country life, do not prevail among the French; that the châteaus of the noblesse are formal, and often melancholy-looking buildings; and that pretty hamlets or villages are rarely to be seen. I do not remember passing through one which had attractions sufficient to make me say, what I have so often thought in England, "Here I could pitch my tent; I could take up my abode in this sweet place, and never desire a lovelier spot." These observations are made with all due allowance for the season of the year in which I was travelling.

"Where are the cattle upon a thousand hills?" is a question which every body puts, who looks for flocks and herds to adorn the landscape. These are not to be seen in

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France at any time of the year, in that abundance which we should presume from the fertility of the country. In former days, Gaul was so famous for her cattle, that, in old medals, she is often represented with a sheep at her side to signify the multitude of her flocks, and the richness of her pastures; but now, for one flock of sheep, or one field with cattle grazing in it which you see in France, you may see ten in England. The wealth of Gaul' was anciently so proverbial in this respect, that Horace mentions it among the most enviable productions of the world:

Quanquam nec Calabræ mella ferunt apes,

Nec Læstrigoniâ Bacchus in amphorâ

Languescit mihi, nec pinguia Gallicis

Crescunt vellera Pascuis- ." B. iii. O. 16.

We took no interest in our journey from Lyons till we arrived at Bourgoin, the ancient Bergusium. Here we flattered ourselves, that we were following pretty nearly the same route which Hannibal took in his passage over the Alps. An able dissertation" on this subject was published about three years ago, by a member of the University of Oxford; and I am inclined to follow the line of march which this writer has traced, in preference to any other that has been laid down. He conducts the Carthaginian army along the banks of the Rhone to Vienne, the Vienna of the Allobroges; and proceeds to argue, with a great deal of in

1 Speaking of Gaul, and ancient medals, reminds me, that the representation of Britain on some of the Roman coins, was not unlike that which appears on our present copper coins. The reverse of an Antoninus Pius has Britain sitting on a globe placed in the water. Addison's interpretation of this figure is rather too conjectural: he says it meant to denote that Britain was mistress of a world, separated from the Roman empire by the interposition of the sea. The Romans were too fond of speaking of Britain in terms of contempt, to pay her this compliment; but, at all events, the present condition of the British empire is more conformable to its ancient emblem, than that of France to hers.

See "A Dissertation on the Passage of Hannibal over the Alps." Oxford, 1820.

genuity and probability, that it must have taken an easterly direction from thence, passed over the Mont du Chat, into the plains of Chamberry, followed the course of the river Isere from Montmeillan to Moutier and Scez, crossed over the Graian Alps, or Little St. Bernard, pursued the banks of the Doire? through Aoste (Augusta Prætoria,) and Ivree (Eporedia,) and so to Turin, the capital of the Taurini.

A curious discovery, which was made about a hundred years ago at Le Passage, a village very near the road by which we were travelling, makes it more than a dream of the imagination to suppose, that we were, for a few miles at least, in the track of the most enterprising soldier who ever dared encounter the Roman arms. A peasant ploughed up a large stone which attracted his notice: he dug under it, and found a round silver plate, of twenty-seven inches in diameter, and weighing 344 ounces. The engraving in the centre of this relic of antiquity, argues strongly in favour of its being Carthaginian: it represents a lion and a palm tree, and under them, in a sort of exergue, the torn limbs of some animal. The French Academy pronounced the plate to be a votive buckler, and the lion and the palm tree to be the ordinary emblems of Carthage. It is still to be seen in the King's Library at Paris. Tradition says, what is not unlikely, that the Village of Passage derives its name from the celebrated march of Hannibal: and its position renders it extremely probable that here, if any where, he would offer up his vows for a safe passage over the mountains, and deposit a votive offering, as a memorial of the hazardous expedition. It is at Passage that the flat and more fertile country is left behind; and here the traveller not only begins to mount a chain of hills, which rise higher and higher, until they are succeeded by the formidable Alps themselves;

n The Doire, Dora, or Duria, rises on Mount Blanc, and falls into the River Po, between Crescentino and Brusaco; and another river of the same name flows from the Cottian Alps, by Susa and Pianezza, and joins the waters of the Po near Turin. The former was anciently called the Duria Major.

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but it is here also that he meets the first acclivity, from which he has a good view of those snow-topped mountains, that threaten to arrest his progress.

At Pont de Beauvoisin we crossed the Guiers, a river that forms the boundary between France and Savoy; and, on the French side, I met with a detention that might have been followed with more disagreeable consequences. The very strict search to which we were exposed at the Customhouse, revealed a packet of introductory letters, which I had about my person. The discovery appeared to be of a most important nature; and caused such consternation and suspicion among the Douaniers, that they made no hesitation in telling me, that some of these letters might contain treasonable correspondence. I was marched off under the escort of a soldier to the post-office, to have the matter examined by the post-master; and my busy imagination conjured up pains and penalties, such as Mr. Bowring had not long before suffered in the prison at Boulogne. At the post-office my letters were examined, and myself questioned. The illegality of my being the bearer of a packet of eight or ten letters, some of which were sealed, was strongly urged against me; and a fine of 300 francs for each, and even imprisonment, were thundered in my ears, as the punishment of my transgression. I pleaded the necessity of taking charge of the letters myself, as they were all introductory, and begged they would open those addressed to the British ministers at Florence and Naples, Lord Burghersh, and Mr. Hamilton, in proof of my being a true man, and no spy. After some consultation, it was determined that I might go my way in peace; but the letters were demanded, in order that they might be transmitted by the post. This I strenuously resisted; and having succeeded in convincing the gentlemen in office, that letters of introduction could be of little use, unless presented in person, I was permitted to carry away my despatches. It is due to the post-master to add, that I was treated with as much civility as the case