42 RAMBLES IN WESTERN SWITZERLAND, &C. 



soon scaled the steep and fortified lines, which make the place 

 important as a military position ; and as soon as I reached the top, 

 and had entered the gate of the town, was stopped by a sentinel 

 perched in a little box overlooking the pathway, and my knapsack 

 was immediately taken off and overhauled with the most praisewor- 

 thy attention and minuteness. I know not whether it was that 

 searching was an amusement rarely enjoyed, or whether there 

 appeared something contraband in my looks or manner, but certainly 

 never was the operation of turning every thing inside out so assidu- 

 ously performed. Even a little morsel of soap in a paper, and the 

 insides of a pair of shoes, were examined ; and, to crown all, my 

 note-book was untied and opened, although, indeed, its contents 

 were — ^being in English — held sacred. When all this had been 

 done, and that, too, on the steps of the guard-house, I was marched 

 off in state, by one of the gens d'armes, to M. le Commandant, who, 

 after arranging my passport, became rather communicative, and 

 showed me various curiosities which he had discovered in his pre- 

 sent dull quarters. One of them was, I think, the very finest me- 

 dal of Julius Caesar I have ever seen ; and he had, besides this, se- 

 veral other coins and medals, and a few fossils. I soon quitted 

 Jougne, and was glad to escape from it ; for I never have seen any 

 place so absolutely stagnant, or one which seemed to want so en- 

 tirely every vestige of life and animation. With the exception of 

 half a dozen women talking together near the gate, and the two 

 soldiers who amused themselves with my baggage, there was not 

 another human being to be seen in passing through the principal 

 street at mid-day ; and as for shops, there seemed to be none, or at 

 least what there were appeared empty of goods as well as customers. 

 But if the place is dull, its situation is certainly sufficient to account 

 for any degree of dullness, however great. Placed on the summit 

 of a hill, and commanding an extensive view of bleak and sterile 

 waste in every direction, the eye can rest on no pleasing or interest- 

 ing object ; for there is not a trace of civilization, and scarcely even 

 a vestige of life, animate or inanimate. 



It is true that, even from the very extent of desolation, there 

 arises an idea of sublimity ; and the mind is filled" with the contem- 

 plation of lofty mountains, and a considerable extent of country, upon 

 which the sun in vain sheds his kindly influence, and the clouds 

 drop no fatness ; but this negative sublimity fatigues even while it 

 produces its effect, and one is glad to hurry over such parts, and 

 hasten to others where beauty is at least present, if it does not pre- 

 ponderate over grandeur* 



