Chap. Ilf. 
through S W I S S E R L A N D, &IC. 
1 6. Chavennes is very pleafantly fituated at the very 
Foot of the Mountains ; there rups through the Town 
a charming little River. It is nobly built, and hath 
many rich Vineyards about it *, and the Reverberation 
of the Sun-beams from the Mountains fo increafes the 
Heats, that the Soil is as rich here, as in any Part of 
Italy. Here one begins to fee a noble Architefture in 
many Houfes : In fhort, all the Marks of a rich Soil 
and a free Government appear here. The Town flood 
a little more to the North about five hundred Years 
ago, but a Piece of the Alps came down upon it, and 
buried it quite ; and at the upper End of the Town 
there are fome Rocks that look like Ruins, about which 
there hath been a very extraordinary Expence, to di- 
vide them one from another, and to make them fit for 
Forts and Caftles : The Marks of the Tools appear’d 
all over the Rock in one Place. I meafured the 
Breadth of the one from the other, which is twenty 
Foot, the Length is four hundred and fifty Foot ; and, 
as we could guefs, the Rock was two hundred Foot 
high, cut down on both Sides in a Line, as even as a 
Wall ; towards the Top of one, the Name Salvius is 
cut in large Letters, a little Gothick. On the Tops of 
thofe Rocks, which are inacceffible, except on the one 
Side, and to that the Afcent is uneafy, they had Gar- 
rifons during the W^ars of the Valteline : There were 
fifteen hundred in Garrifon in that which is in the Mid- 
dle. There fall down frequently Pieces from the Hills, 
that extremely fatten the Ground which they coyer, fo 
that it becomes fruitful beyond Expreffion : And I faw 
a Lime-tree that was planted eight and thirty Years 
before in a Piece of Ground which has been fo co- 
ver’d, two Fathom and an half in Compafs. On both 
Sides of the River, the Town and the Gardens belong- 
ing to it, cover the whole Bottom between the Hills •, 
and at the Roots of the Mountains they dig great Cel- 
lars and Grottos, and ftrike a Hole about a Foot fquare, 
ten or twelve Foot into the Hill, which all the Summer 
draws a frefh Air into the Cellar, fo that the Wine of 
thofe Cellars drinks as cold as if it were in Ice 5 but 
this Wind-pipe did not blow when I was there, which 
was towards the End of September : For the Sun open- 
ing the Pores of the Earth, and ratifying the exterior 
Air, that, which is compreffed within the Cavities that 
are in the Mountains, rulhes out with a conftant Wind ; 
but when the Operation of the Sun is weakened, this 
Courfe of the Air is lefs fenfible. Before, or over thofe 
Vaults, they build little pleafant Rooms like Summer- 
houfes, and in them they go to Collations generally at 
Night in Summer. I never faw bigger Grapes than 
here ; there is one Sort larger than the big^eft Damaf- 
cene Plumbs that we have in England. 
There is a Kind of Wine heVe and in the Valteline, 
which I never heard, named any where elfe, that is 
called Aromatick Wine *, and as the Tafte makes one 
think it muft be a Compofition, (for it taftes like a 
ftrong Water drawn off Spices) fo its Strength, being 
equal to a weak Brandy, difpofes one to believe that it 
cannot be a natural Wine : Yet it is the pure Juice of 
the Grape without any Mixture. The Liquor being 
fingular, I informed myfelf particularly of the Way of 
preparing it. The Grapes are red, though it appears 
white. They let the Grapes hang on the Vines till No- 
member, when they are extreme ripe •, then they carry 
them to their Garrets, and fet them all upright on their 
Ends by one another for two or three Months ; then 
they pick all the Grapes, and throw away thofe in 
which there is the leafl; Appearance of Rottennefs, fo 
that they prefs none but found Grapes : After they*are 
preffed, they put the Liquor in an open Veffel, in which 
it throws- up a Scum, which they take off twice a Day ; 
and when no more comes up, which, according to the 
Difference of the Seafon, is fconer or later, (for fome- 
times the Scum comes no more after eight Days, and 
at other Times it continues a Fortnight) then they put 
It in a clofe Veffel. For the firfl: Year it is extreme 
fweet and lufcious, but at the End of the Year, they 
pierce it a little higher than the Middle of the Veffel, 
aimoft two Thirds from the Bottom, and drink it off 
till it cometh fo low, and then every Year they fill it 
V O L. IL N U M B, 1 10, 
up anew : On ce a Year (in the Month of March ) it 
ferments, and cannot be drank dll that is over, which 
continues a Month ; but their other V/ine ferments not 
at that Time. Madam de Sails, a Lady of that Coun- 
try, who entertained us three Days with a Magnificence 
like London or Paris, had Wine of this Compofition 
that was forty Years old, and vais fo very ftrong, that 
one could hardly drink above a Spoonful j and it tafted 
high of Spicery, though fhe affured me there was not 
one Grain of Spice in it, nor of any other Mixture. 
1 hus, as I conceive, the Heat that is in this Wine be- 
comes a Fire, and diftils itfelf, throwing up the more 
ipirituous Parts of it to the Top of the Flogftiead. 
Both here, and in the Country of the Grifons, the 
Meat is very juicy ; the Fowl are excellent, their Roots 
and Herbs very well reli fil’d ; but the Fifii of their 
Lakes are beyond any Thing I ever fiw. They live in 
great Simplicity as to their Habit and Furniture j but 
they have Plenty of all Things, and are very rich. 
The Family, where we were fo nobly entertain’d, is 
believed to be worth about two hundred thoufand 
Crowns. Here the Italian Cuftom, of one only of a 
Family that marries, begins to take place. There is a 
Sort of Pots of Scone that is ufed not only in all the 
Kitchens here, but aimoft all over Lombardy, called 
' Lavege ; the Stone feels oily and fcaly, fo that a Scale 
flicks to one’s Finger that touches it, and is fome- 
what of the Nature of a Slate : There are but three 
Mines of it known, one near Chavennes, another in the 
Valteline, and the third in the Grifons-, but the firft is 
much the beft. They generally cut it in the Mine 
round, about a Foot and a half diameter, and a Foot 
and a Charter thick ; and they work it in a Mill, where 
the Chiffels that cut the Stone are driven about by a 
Wheel that is fee a going by Water, and which is fo 
ordered, that he, who manages the Chiffel, very eafily 
draws forward the Wheel out of the Courfe of the Wa- 
ter. They turn off firft the outward Coat of this Stone, 
till it is exabfly fmooth, and then they feparate one 
Pot after another by thofe fmall and hooked Chiffels, 
by which they make a Neft of Pots, all one within 
another, the biggeft being of the Size of an ordinary 
Beef-pot, and the inward Pot being no larger than a 
fmall Pipkin : Thefe they arm with Hooks and Circles' 
of Brafs, and fo they ufe them in their Kitchens. One 
of thefe Scone-pots takes Hear, and boils fooner than 
any Pot of Metal ; and whereas the Bottoms of Me- 
tal-pots tranfmit the Heat fo entirely to the Liquor 
within, that they are not infufferably hot, the Bottom 
of this Stone-pot, which is about twice fo thick as a 
Pot of Metal, burns extremely. It never cracks, or 
gives any Sort of Tafte to the Liquor that is boiled in 
it ; but if It falls to the Ground, it is very brittle ; yet 
this is repair d by patching it up ; for they piece their 
broken Pots fo clofe, though without any Cement, by 
fewing with Iron-wire the broken Parcels together, 
that in the Holes which they pierce with the Wire, 
there is not the leaft Breach, except that which the 
Wire both makes and fills. The Paffige to this Mine 
is very inconvenient ; for they muft creep into it for 
near half a Mile through a Rock, that is fo hard, that 
the Paffage is not above three Foot high ; and thofe, 
that draw out the Stones, creep along upon their Belly, 
having a Candle fattened in their Forehead, and the 
Stone laid on a Sort of Cufiiion made for it upon 
their. Hips : The Stones are commonly two hundred 
Weight. 
17. But having mentioned fome Falls or Breaches of 
Mountains in thofe Parts, I cannot pafs by the extraor- 
dinary Fate of the Town of Pleurs, that was about a 
League from Chavennes to the North in the fame Bot- 
tom, but on a Situation that is a little more raifed 
The Town was half the Bignefs of Chavennes ; the 
Number of the Inhabitants about two and twenty hun- 
dred Perfons, but it was much better built ; for be- 
fides_ the great Palace of the Francken, that coft fome 
Millions, there were many other Palaces e reded by fe- 
veral rich Factors of Milan, and the other Parts oi Italy, 
who liked the Situation and Air, as v^ll as the Free- 
dom of the Government j fo they ufed to come hither 
7 F during 
