72 
THE WIFE’S RETREAT. 
a delightful feeling of freshness. The fane 
above, surrounded by hospitable wooden seats; 
a small library (a second temple), whence the 
vine-dressers borrow books; and, finally, a 
pretty fountain, combine in a graceful little 
picture, .austerely charming. At morning 
especially, in the half-misty veil which fore¬ 
tokens a day of heat, this beautiful spot has 
all the effect of a religious thought, concen¬ 
tring in itself, and yet extended over that 
immense panorama which the mind embraces, 
admires, and blesses. 
“ I frequently resorted thither, ascending 
the first slope of the mountain, solitary, and 
enriched with flowers. I took with me a 
book, and yet I never read. The prospect 
was too absorbing. Whether the eye ranged 
afar over the level mirror of the lake, and 
the rocks of Meillerie, with their forests, 
meadows, and precipices; or hovered close at 
hand about the nest of Clarens and the low 
towers of Chillon; or, finally, returned to the 
pretty villas, with their green lattices, of our 
' friends the physician and the pastor,* in 
whose company my husband laboured; — I 
remained there in a kind of dream, and my 
1 heart, deeply moved, felt the sweetness of a 
holy harmony. 
“ But soon I discovered that I was not 
utterly alone. Bees, or drones, which had also 
. risen early, were alread}^ at work, seeking in 
* It was our good fortune to reside, while at Montreux— 
the most beautiful spot on the wide earth—with a very estimable and rare individual, whom I 
should have thought of Italian or Spanish birth, if I had not known her to be a Genevese, and 
the sister of the able and enthusiastic historian of Geneva. Next door lived an eminent physi¬ 
cian, of simple character, but all the more learned in natural studies. 
