Foreign Notices. — Switzerland. 499 



ated here asGrosvcnor Palace ; nor one in which the columns were employed 

 as ornaments, as against the arches of the new entrance into Hyde Park, or 

 purely for effect, even to the darkening of the windows, as in the new Trea- 

 sury; nor a multitude of parts and petty details, as in Buckingham Palace, 

 though a high roof, as in York House, would perhaps be admitted, for this 

 is one of the defects of Continental architects. The progress of art is from 

 complexity to simplicity, and to the latter point the architects of Munich 

 seem to have attained more generally than those of England, avoiding at the 

 same time that meagre baldness which detracts so much from the effect of 

 ■the Quadrant in Regent Street, viewed in connection with the houses over 

 it. We are far from saying that there are not many, even a great many, 

 nobler buildings and parks and gardens in England, than there are in Ger- 

 many, or perhaps in the whole of the Continent taken together ; we merely- 

 state what we consider to be the proportion of bad to good buildings there 

 and in Britain, and assert, without the slightest fear of being found wrong, 

 *liat, in proportion to the existing wealth of the two countries, the taste for 

 architecture on the Continent is decidedly more pure than it is in England. 

 There almost every private building shows that the wealth is greater than 

 the taste ; while, on the Continent, the glaring deformity of high roofs and 

 garret windovi's crowning elevations of simple and elegant design, show that 

 the taste of the architect has to contend with the poverty of the inhabitant. 

 We shall hereafter prove what we have asserted in this letter, as to the 

 landscape-gardening and architecture of Bavaria, by plans and elevations j 

 m the mean time, we cannot help stating, that when we compare Hyde 

 Park, by recollection, and the Regent's Park, with the Park here ; and the 

 grounds connected with Buckingham Palace, with those of Nymphenburg; 

 we feel ashamed for the state of landscape-gardening in the country which 

 gave birth to that art. When we think of the paltry botanifc garden of Kew 

 and the botanic gardens of Paris and Berlin, we feel less regret, because 

 lx>tany is not with us a national science, as landscape-gardening is a na- 

 tional art. We know very well that these observations will not be very well 

 received by some of our countrymen ; but, believing them to be founded on 

 truth, and calculated for the public benefit, and knowing also that those 

 whom we consider the most competent to judge will agree with us in opi- 

 nion, we leave them to work their way with whoever may peruse them. We 

 shall be content, as to our remarks on architecture, to have them judged 

 by Mr. Wilkins, and those on landscape-gardening by Sir Uvedale Price. — 

 Cond. 



SWITZERLAND. 



The Horn of the Alps is employed in the mountainous districts of Swit- 

 zerland, not solely to sound the call, but for another purpose, solemn and 

 religious. As soon as the sun has disappeared in the valleys, and its last 

 rays are just glimmering on the snowy summits of the mountains, then the 

 herdsman on the loftiest of them takes his horn and trumpets forth " Praise 

 God the Lord ; " all the herds in the neighbourhood, on hearing this, come 

 out of their huts, take their horns, and repeat the words. This often goes 

 on for a quarter of an hour ; whilst, on all sides, the mountains echo the 

 name of God. A profound and solemn silence follows ; every individual 

 offers his prayers on bended knees and with uncovered head. By this time 

 it is quite dark ; " Good night," trumpets forth the herdsman on the loftiest 

 summit ; " Good night " is repeated on all the mountains from the horns o., 

 the herdsmen and clefts of the rocks ; then each lays himself down to rest. 

 {Reichard.) 



Dairy Caves. — There are several natural and artificial cold caves in the 

 Cantons and Rhetian Alps used as dairies. These were examined by Pro- 

 fessor Pictet, with a view to ascertain what was the cause of their temper- 

 ature being so much below that of the district in which they are. At 

 Chiavenna, where they are called cantines, they rest against a rock, whence 



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