34 INTRODUCTION. 



days," when the feudal barons of Granson sway- 

 ed an arbitrary rule over the tributary depend- 

 ants of the Fief, and levied their unrighteous ex- 

 actions on the defenceless trader, who visited, in 

 the prosecution of his craft, their limited do- 

 mains. 



Luxuriant vineyards crown the heights where 

 the gallant countrymen of Tell opposed the dar- 

 ing inroads of Charles, and sheltered by their 

 mountain fastnesses, overthrew, with a handful of 

 determined men, the disciplined legions of Bur- 

 gundy's powerful Duke. 



The interest of the story is deepened by the 

 popular tale of " Anne of Gierstein." Granson 

 is classic ground from the pen of the master spi- 

 rit who has so happily interwoven her fictions 

 and her facts, and spun from them a web, which 

 rivals in grace the fairy woof of Arachne. 

 But such scenes are passed at Granson, where 

 now the patient Vigneron pursues his daily round, 

 heedless of the dream of fancy which recalls to 

 life the chivalry that time has quenched, or mar- 

 tial deeds consigned to oblivion by the magi- 

 cian's wand. The dull realities of life excite his 

 active energies; and his physical powers are tax- 

 ed to repair the ravages of the tempest. I have 

 known on these hills, the entire product of ex- 

 tensive vine grounds, hounding beneath the pro- 

 mises of exuberant vintage, totally annihilated 

 by a sudden hail storm, of half an hour's dura- 

 tion, sweeping, with destructive fury, the line 

 over which it passed, and which did not, per- 

 haps, exceed the breadth of half a mile, leaving 

 the country on either side of its path entirely 



