.526 Ilor I i cultural Jottanda. 



scenery of the Continent, and that of Britain, is, the total 

 want of those frequent crystalline brooks, which beautify and 

 fertilise our land, and the want of which will ever prevent 

 Continental scenery from wholly jileasing an Enjrlish eye. 

 Either there are lar<re rivers, or there is no water at all. As 

 the distance from Normandy increases, the rich and florid 

 Gothic architecture of the ecclesiastical edifices gradually dis- 

 appears, and gives way to a disagreeable mongrel between it 

 and the marble-faced classical Italian fanes. 



I know not if it be merely fancy, but I imagine there is a 

 constant increase of hilliness from the northern coast of 

 France to the foot of the Alps. At Poligny these Alps first 

 rear their fronts against the traveller, and over the tops of 

 Jura the road leads on to Geneva. Perhaps the panorama that 

 in an instant bursts upon the astonished eye, at the commence- 

 ment of the descent of Jura, is not equalled by any in Europe. 

 At once, as if by the drawing up of the curtain of a theatre, 

 Lake Leman, blue as the sapphire, with its dark foreground 

 of pines ; the whole High Alps, with their stormy summits ; 

 Geneva, Lausanne, Vevay ; countless villages and villas, in 

 luxuriant vine-clad valleys, appear. The road, as it winds 

 down Jura, has been constructed with admirable skill, showing 

 the view in all points, and never letting it be lost sight of for 

 a moment, although in a thick pine forest. 



The Rhone, at Geneva, is some 70 ft. deep, but so exquisitely 

 clear, that a pebble may be seen in the bottom at that depth ; 

 but, seen with its surface at a small angle, to the eye it appears 

 of the most beauteous transparent blue : this, some assert, 

 arises from the lake's waters being actually coloured ; but the 

 transparency of the waters ai masse disproves this. The fact 

 is, it arises from the colour of the bottom, which, being of the 

 same substance as the neighbouring side of Jura, a calcareous 

 tufa, is nearly white ; and the blue of the sky is thus reflected 

 with such singular beauty. There is a great number of 

 English residents near (ieiieva, and every thing bears the ap- 

 pearance of wealth and comfort. The climate is delicious, the 

 oppressive heat of the Swiss valleys being attempered by the 

 lake ; and the highest cultivation prevails. 



On the smooth bosom of the lake, on eacii side the ever- 

 lasting Alps, the quiet sail wafts us on our way to Villeneuve, 

 " as with a noiseless wing." 



" Lake Leniao wooes inc with its crystal face, 

 The mirror where the stars and mountains view 

 The stillness of their aspect in each trace 

 Its clear depth yields ot their far height and hue." 



Martigny shall be our head-quarters in my next. 



{To he rovfhnir{f.) 



