LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOURIST. 497 



on the Tuesday morning, which is their market-day, we had a fine op- 

 portunity of seeing numbers of the inhabitants. Yet the only 

 remarkable circumstance in their appearance was the absence of any 

 traces of extreme poverty. All seemed well-fed and comfortably 

 clothed, and had that air of independence which belongs especially to 

 those who are neither pinched for means, nor constantly in contact 

 with their superiors. The green-coated chasseurs of Berne with 

 their short guns were stout fellows, but nothing at all more than 

 common. Indeed altogether I have been much disappointed in the 

 people, who seem to have captivated the excited imaginations of 

 tourists, without in any respect meriting the encomiums which have 

 been so lavishly bestowed upon them. I certainly have not seen any 

 men at all comparable with Englishmen as regards their bodily 

 appearance, whether as regards stature, solidity, personal beauty, or 

 thews and sinews. And 1 myself who am not a better 'pedestrian 

 than is common among us, easily out- walked every guide with whom 

 I measured my strength. 



At the Swan hotel where we put up, the salle a manger is de- 

 cidedly the finest room I have seen since I left Paris, and the view 

 from it would have been very fine, but that it rained incessantly the 

 whole time we remained here, so that we not only could not ascend 

 but could not even see the Rigi, so entirely was it enveloped in 

 clouds and mist. To the right Mont Pilate (which Scott has rendered 

 so celebrated by laying the most interesting scenes of Arine of Geier- 

 stein in its immediate neighbourhood or on it), reared its head above 

 the robe of clouds which concealed its base and frowned on us 

 through the storm. 



Notwithstanding the heavy rain I hunted out Thorwalsden's lion. 

 He supplied the model from which the carving is executed by a Swiss 

 sculptor of Constance. Colonel Pfiffer conceived the idea of carving 

 in a rock on his grounds a monumental effigy in memory of the devo- 

 tion displayed by the Swiss guards at the time of the first French 

 revolution. Having raised a sufficient sum by subscription he em- 

 ployed Thorwalsden to furnish him with a model. The Danish 

 sculptor sent him a lion dying from a spear- wound in his side and 

 guarding a shield adorned with fleurs-de-lys. This model is shown 

 in the room opposite the monument. The rock has been scarped and 

 the figure of colossal dimensions cut deeply into it. It is shaded by 

 cypresses and willows which add to its mournful character. The 

 idea is grand and the execution creditable to the native carver. 



The bridges in Luzern are singular enough in their construction, 

 being covered in with gable roofs and the girders adorned with 

 ancient pictures representing in part scripture subjects, in part scenes 

 from Swiss history. They are, however, execrably done, and, without 

 the legends beneath, would be utterly unintelligible. The interiors 

 of the churches are more ornamental than might have been expected 

 in so small a town; but in all Catholic countries this will be found 

 to be the case. In all entered by us waxen images were hung as 

 votive offerings for the attainment of some wish expressed in prayer. 

 They strongly reminded me of a similar practice among the ancients. 

 Indeed no one intimate with religious observances in Roman Catho- 



