Letters from the Continent

' k > A. /£v. a *te & * " X *, A*;W W?I$S* K " i-ms - £. PA.' S# *>£*; '»!, , 1 t ™&K n* NSaA; *&Jb. ¥?! ; - '^^^lv!^:!.'v * ,?> *n * *'~<VaA4* i ; m fc? .** *& v^,^,. »^.: ;fe^«?»i(* • University of California Berkeley Purchased from ALUMNUS BOOK FUND JW l^as^r SB Mrtefta* .*>•*.; if w ,MtoS ' - »- - «^'\l^f\ s*f\r\' I ^#^*^w 0mmM /£; *-4 I LETTERS FROM THE CONTINENT BY SIR EGERTON BRYDGES, BART. K.J. W®.in KENT: ^ttntcD at tf)e pttbate IPrcsig of Xce ^ttocg; BY JOHN WARWICK. 1821. CONTENTS PAGE. Introductory 1 The Kingdom of Burgundy Helvetia—Ancient Kings— House of Charlemagne 11 Ferney Voltaire 28 Rosseau 35 Chillon—Meillerie 39 Kingdom of Burgundy 43 Dukes of Burgundy—Counts Palatine of Burgundy 53 History of Savoy 57 The Counts of Geneva 67 General Reflections---Decline and Termination of the Kingdom of Burgundy Jean Muller Paul- Henri-Mallet 71 House of Savoy—Faucigny 77 Originality very rare—Dante, Petrarch, Boccace, Chaucer, Spenser, Sackville, Milton-- -Court Poets of Charles I. and Charles II 90 Baths of St. Gervais in Savoy-— Reflections on Sa- voyard Simplicity 107 Reflections— -Passage of the Simplon resumed—Bor- romean Islands— Visconti and Sforza Families. 127 Dukes of Parma and Plazenza 162 Agology for the long interval between the dates of these Letters Reflections on the intervening Events-—Aim of the Publication— -Common Cha- racter of Travels 171 LETTERS FROM THE CONTINENT. LETTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Switzerland, i7th June, 1819. ITINERARIES, Tours, Travels; Topographi- cal, Historical, and Statistical Descriptions of of to every part Europe, abound even satiety. He therefore who should attempt to add another to these classes of works, would not act very discreetly. Remarks aud reflections suggested by the scenes or manners of foreign countries are not liable to the same censure. If there be intrinsic value in the writers thoughts, information, or if he language; should be happily gifted with B 2 LETTER I. original powers of mind; with liveliness of fancy; and energy of feeling:: the view of new of different customs and other forms prospects ; ; of government may add to the animation of his mind, and give a favourable opportunity of pour- ing; out some of its stores. The matter of Travels therefore, Avill only make an incidental part of these Letters; and will only be noticed so far as it may give rise to the subject which may occupy the excursions of the author's mind. Faculties ever at work, an heart ever in motion, weave webs, and build castles, in every situation which they fondly desire to preserve and communicate. There are few pleasures equal to those of literature: there are scarcely any so innocent and pure: scarcely any so noble: and scarcely any so beneficial : when their fruits are not buried in the bosoms of the cultivators. I never rest till I have obtained an outline, at least, of the history of the place that I inhabit; but I shall not trouble the reader with what may be easily found in printed books. Switzerland, anciently called Helvetia, or the INTRODUCTORY. 3 in the greater part, was included temporary kingdom of Aries, in the ninth century, under Charles * le Gros, forming, I conccivft, together with Savoy, that part which as a separate kingdom had gone under the name of Burgundy Trans- Jurane, while Burgundy Cis-Jurane, the other part, extended from Franche-Comte, on the hol- ders of Alsatia, north, through Burgundy, Dau- phine, and Provence, to the Mediterranean, south. This kingdom lasted hut a very short time. It fell to peices again with the death of Charles le Gros, or rather with his deposition, Boson had taken it from Charles le Gros: hut Rodolph soon wrested away from this Boson the kingdom of High Burgundy. His son, Rodolph II. join- ed again Aries and Provence by compromise with Hugh, Count de Provence, who was com- petitor with Berengaire I. for the kingdom of III. Italy. Rodolph the grandson, who died 1032, was the last kimr of this race. Such a vast territory would have formed a most power- ful kingdom, if it had ever had time to consoli- r * Great grandson of Charlemagne. Ob. S88. LETTER I. date itself: but perhaps it could not have con- solidated itself from want of natural boundaries. Mallet, the historian, remarks that Switzerland alone seems marked out by Nature to make its inhabitants a people distinct from their neighbours. Switzerland afterwards fell to the Emperors, till the Helvetic Confederacy emancipated them from the House of Hapsbtirg. Geneva fell under the at least contested power of the Counts of Savoy, who formed a principality out of the ruins of the kingdom of Burgundy. The Counts and Bishops of Geneva, and even the Bourgeoisie, disputed privileges and pre-eminences with them. the time that From Geneva perfectly liberated itself, its history is quite familiar to all well-read persons. The figure it makes in the annals of Protestantism, and the names of Calvin and Beza have so associated it with that, which is most impressed upon the memory, that it would - to 1 1 be disgusting n ad these <teps. Lord Byron has drawn the attention of the English reader to the Jan- of vFrancis Bonnivard in his Prisoners Chillon. He died about about <>J 15-fl 3 aged INTRODUCTORY. 5 seventy-five. There are two or three curious traits of him, not elsewhere noticed, in the Hragmens Biographiques et Historiques of Mons. V0 Grenus-Saladin, Geneve, 1815, 8 . a rare vo- lume, extracted from the original registers of the Council of Geneve, with ninety-seven portraits of Syndics, and other eminent Genevois. The slightest allusions to the celehrated persons of Geneva, without any notice of Rousseau, would seem like coldness and neglect. The great difference of opinion, which it is customary to encourage regarding him, requires either a long discussion, or a recognition of the fewest words. Common-place praise, or common-place condemnation, would be idle and revolting. His character is one, which interest me to analyze: but which would be too long for this first stage of my outset. I may say the same of Madame de Stael. Every one is attached naturally, and perhaps wisely, to the character and habits of his own country. As his experience enlarges; as his r mind enlightens; as his associations untwist themselves; take new ». directions; and throw 6 LETTER I. themselves round new objects, he begins to won- der at many of his prejudices : to see happiness in other modes of life, and health and pleasure in other sorts of scenery; to believe that liberty and welfare are consistent with more than one form of goverment; to admit that wealth is not the result merely of one system of commerce, or one form of political economy: but that, of all, the major part have some good, peculiar to themselves : that many things, deemed essential, soon become indifferent: and that we soon reconcile ourselves to the indurance, or privation, of what we had formerly thought most important to be free from, or possessed of. It is by constant occupation, wherever our and lot may carry us, that Time moves swiftly, and generally smoothly, on. The thoughts prey upon the heart, when not strongly engaged. Who is free from regrets of the past, or dread of the future? Who has not had his misfortunes, and bis griefs? Who has been free from deep wounds to his affections, from the loss of friends, from the premature death of beloved relatives? The spirit must be hard, that can gi\e ample INTRODUCTORY. 7 space to the power of these sorrowful musings ! They gather strength by indulgence, and burst the breast that allows them room to swell. But how can the regions of literature be ex- hausted? Each new step opens numerous new vistas to us and the more we yet unexplored ; read, the more we have to learn. Every new countrv we visit suggests a thousand enquiries, on which before we felt no curiosity. We asso- ciate its history with its scenery, and the visible relics of its former grandeur; an interest is rais- ed for its rulers and its our people ; impressions and recollections become, as it were, embodied : the light spreads : we go from country to countrv: one history links itself to another: till the whole is elucidated: the figures on all sides start from the canvas : each throws a ray upon its neighbours : and the whole shews an unity of design, of which many of the parts were before inexplicable. We know that all are not qualified for this mental industry. Either the native endowment, or the habitual attention, is wanting. Perhaps also the labour of reading may only overload 8 LETTER I. the memory, if their he no force of intellectual digestion. An overloaded memory is a danger- ous it to thing: serves make follv more conspi- cuous ; to increase its conceit and the ; augment delusion of its self-confidence. On the other hand, what can the most pow- erful human mind do without knowledge ? What enlarged opinions can we form on politics without history ? How can we be confident of the character of human nature, under various cir- cumstances, but from a familiarity with the experience of past ages ? Is the present alone to be our care? Is the present sufficient for all the observation we require; and all the practical results we have occasion for? It is history which reconciles us to our lot: it is history that shows us, when we are unhappy, how few have escaped better than ourselves: free that power and principalities are never from deep anxieties; and seldom from dangers, and violent deaths ! This the annals of" every Sove- will shew.

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