492 
a ftill larger proportion were in a ftate of 
vaflalage in the canton of Zurich; nor 
did Lucerne, the Boeotia of Switzerland, 
‘wear, in amy degree, lefs heavy or lefs 
galling chains than either. ‘¢ What,” 
exclaims Guftavus Vafa to the miners of 
Dalecarlia, 
‘¢ What but liberty 
‘Through the famed courfe of thirteen hun- 
dred years, 
Aloof hath held invasron from your hills, 
And fanétified their fhade? . 2... 
Match’d to the finew of a fingle arm 
‘That ftrikes for liberty ?” 
But the French have marched over the 
hills of Switzerland, for the mountaineers 
had no liberty to ftrike for; and they 
yielded, after an obftinate, indeed, though 
a fhort conflict, to the reftlefs and am- 
_ bitious arms.of a proud and overbearin 
republic. The laf thirty pages of Mifs 
WILLIAMS’s interefting work contain 
important matter, and matter very littlé 
known, relative to this invafion; which 
had not taken place at the time fhe wrote, 
but which fhe feems to have clearly an- 
ticipated from the temper which fhe ob- 
_ferved in the country. It appears that 
the popular party of the Pays de Vaud 
claimed from the French an ancient gua- 
rantee of their republican independence, 
in oppofition to the governments of Swit- 
_zerland, particularly that of Berne; this 
guarantee was made by the French na- 
tion in the year 1565, in confirmation of 
the treaty of Laufanne, concluded the 
preceding year, between Philibert, the 
fucceflor of Charles the Third, duke of 
Savoy, and the Swifs cantons. Mifs 
WiuiuiaMs has given a hiftory of this cu- 
rious and important treaty, which, if cor- 
xec?, feems, on the acknowledged princi- 
ples of national faith, not only to juttify 
the invafion of Switzerland by France, 
but to fhew that it was fimply the ho- 
nourable fulfilment of an old engagement 
in favour of the people *. 

* The invafion of Switzerland has met 
with fuch general reprobation, that we are 
particularly folicitous not to miflead our 
readers, and prompt them to an erroneous 
judgment on the fubje&& 5; Mifs Witziiams 
wrote antecedent to the revolution, and con- 
” fequently cannot be fulpected of having writ- 
ten exprefsly in vindication of it. We have 
fiated plainly, what was the impreffion made 
on our minds in the perufal of her tour ;.a 
very oppofite impreffion might be made on 
the minds of others. We with our readers, 
therefore, not to form their opinion from 
Falf-yearly Retrofpect of Britifo Literature. 
The laft work which we have oecafion 
to notice in this department of literature 
is, “© Travels through the Maritime Alps, 
from Italy to Lyons, acrofs the Col de Tende,” 
&c. by Mr. ALBANIS BEAUMONT, au- 
thor of “ The Rhetian Alps,’ &c. The 
chief merit of this publication, as well 
as of the former by the fame gentleman, 
confifts in the {plendour of its plates, and 
the elegance of its typography. It is 
printed in folio, and the price of it is 
five guineas. 
TOURS. 
Some few narratives of what may be 
denominated domeftic excurfions, wna- 
f{piring to the dignity of ‘* Voyages and 
Travels,’ have too much merit to be 
paffed over in filence. We have feldom 
perufed a {mall volume, which, for 2 de- 
lineation of character, variety of inci- 
dent, and variety of defeription, ex- 
ceeds Mr. WarNeR’s “ Walk through — 
Wales.’ We are happy to cbferve an 
increafing frequency of thefe pedeftrian 
tours: fo walk, is, beyond all compari- 
fon, the moft independent and advanta- 
geous mode of travelling; Smelfungus 
and Mundungus may purfue their jour- 
ney as they pleafe; but it grieves one to 
fee a man of tafte at the mercy of a pofti- 
lion. Mr. Henry SKRINE is rather a 
common-place traveller: his ‘* Two fuc- 
cefive Tours through the whole of Wales’ 
is a. mediocre performance, affording but 
little room, either to cenfure or applaud. 
Mr. Woopwarp’s * Eccentric Excur- 
jfions’ contain abundant fketches of cha- 
racter and country, in different parts of 
England and South Wales. A vein of 
humour pervades them, which, however,. 
is not always the moft happy: the work 
is embellifhed with a hundred engravimgs, 
many of them original and characterittic. 
Mr. M‘Nayr’s ‘* Guide from Glafgow 
to fome of the moft remarkable Scenes in the 
Highlands of Scotland,” is fomewhat over- 
charged with defcription; we queftion 
not the warmth of the author’s feelings 
at the fcenes he furveyed, but a man of 
fimple and correét tafte would, im fome 
decree, have repulfed the wantonnefs and 
luxuriaace of his imagination, when he 
fat down to write. As the eye may be 
offended at a glare of colouring, fo may 
the ear be foon furfeited by richnefs and 
mellifiuencecf delcription. Mr. M‘NaYR, 
however, is entitled to confiderable praife ; 
like Mr. WARNER, the pedeftrian tourift 
juft mentioned, he is an admirer of Offian, 

what we have faid, but rather to feek the 
fountain whence we drew eur information. 
ane 
>. 
