192 RISEN BY PERSE VERANCE. 



order to start fairly, he sought a home in Switzerland, establish- 

 ing himself in a house at Lausanne, which he has thus described 

 in writing to Douglas Jerrold : ' We are established here, in a 

 perfect doll's house, which could be put bodily into the hall of 

 our Italian palazzo; but it is the most lovely and delicious 

 situation imaginable, and there is a spare bedroom, wherein 

 we could make you as comfortable as need be. Bowers of 

 roses for cigar smoking, arbours for cool punch-drinking, 

 mountainous Tyrolean countries close at hand, piled-up Alps 

 before the windows,' etc The rent was to be ;^io a 

 month for half a year. ' The country,' he further wrote, * is 

 delightful in the extreme — as leafy, green, and shady as Eng^ 

 land; full of deep glens and branchy places (rather a Leigh 

 Huntish expression), and bright with all sorts of flowers in 

 profusion. It abounds in singing-birds, besides — very pleasant 

 after Italy; and the moonlight on the lake is noble. Pro- 

 digious mountains rise up from its opposite shore (it is eight 

 or nine miles across at this point), and the Simplon, the St. 

 Gothard, Mont Blanc, and all the Alpine wonders are piled 

 there in tremendous grandeur. The cultivation is uncommonly 

 rich and profuse. There are all manner of walks, vineyards, 

 green lanes, corn fields, and pastures full of hay. The general 

 neatness is as remarkable as in England. There are no priests 

 or monks in the streets, and the people appear to be industrious 

 and thriving. French (and very intelligible and pleasant 

 French) seems to be the universal language. I never saw so 

 many booksellers' shops crammed within the same space as in 

 the steep up-and-down streets of Lausanne.' Here he remained 

 and worked for six months, beginning Dovihey &> Son, and 

 writing also his Christmas tale, A Battle of Life, amid many 

 difficulties and discouragements. 'The difficulty,' he wrote, 



