Volume I Part 27 (1/2)

Walked about visiting, and heard all the gossip of Paris froo's box at the Opera I don't ossip and scandal unless when I hear so

Dined with Stuart; Tweeddale, Gurwood, Allen, and some heavy _attaches_; no French He appears to live handsolioni, who did not dance; then to Madame Appony's, to who and civilities about my family Rather bored at the party, and areatly puzzled about my route, for everybody recommends a different one

March 9th, 1830 {p285}

Dined with M de Flahault; met M de Talleyrand, Madalie, and Montrond Sebastiani and Bertin de Vaux are Deputies, and all violent Oppositionists After dinner M de Lescure, anotherDuc de Valencay, Madame de Dino's son, came in

They talked politics all the tih to me Bertin is the sort of man in appearance that Tierney was, and shrewd like hier himself, of the 'Journal des Debats' Sebastiani is slow and polie is one of the best reed that the Governainst it as any of theainst 130 Talleyrand said that it was quite iht be the result of this contest (if the Court pushed matters to extremity) both to France and Europe, and that it was astonishi+ng surrounding nations, and particularly England, did not see how deeply they were interested in the event He said of us, 'Vous avez plus d'argent que de credit' He looks horridly old, but see After dinner they all put their heads together and chattered politics as fast as they could Madame de Flahault is more violent than her husband, and her house is the resort of all the Liberal party Went afterwards to the Opera and saw Maret, the Duc de Bassano, a stupid elderly bourgeois-looking in in the Chamber on Saturday or Monday on the Address Talleyrand told me that the next three weeks would be the most iitation to deprive hie Head: MOUNTAIN SCENERY]

Susa, March 15th, 1830, 9 o'clock {p286}

Just arrived at this place at the foot of Mont Cenis Left Paris on the 11th, at twelve o'clock at night On the last day, Montrond made a dinner for me at a club to see M des Chapelles play at whist I saw it, but was no wiser; but I conclude he plays very well, for he alins, is not suspected of cheating, and excels at all other ga an hour and a half for two breakfasts) got to Lyons in forty-eight hours and a half Journey not disagreeable, and roads much better than I expected, particularly after Macon, when they becaland; but the country presents the sa appearance as that between Calais and Paris--no hedges, no trees, except tall, stupid-looking poplars, and no chateaux or farm-houses

I am at a loss to knohy a country should look so ill which I do not believe is either barren or ill cultivated Lyons is a nificent town It was dark when I arrived, or ratherwas fine, and yesterday randeur of the place; it is like a great and nificent Bath; but I had not time to see much of it, and, with beautiful weather, I set off at ten o'clock The mountains (les echelles de Savoie) appear al before I could make out whether they were clouds or an to mount the echelles, which I did on foot, and I never shall forget the first impression made upon me by the mountain scenery It first burst upon e perpendicular rock abovedown and a mountain covered with pines and ilexes on the other side, and in front another vast rock which was shi+ning in the reflected light of the setting sun I never shall forget it How I turned round and round, afraid to lorious scene It was the liveliest impression because it was the first I walked nearly to the other post with the ot to La Grotta I went on, however, all night, very unhappy at the idea of losing a great deal of this scenery, but consoled by the reflection that there was plenty left As soon as it was light I found myself in the middle of the mountains (the Lower Alps), and froh not the finest pass, tolike it, it appeared perfectly beautiful, every turn in the road presenting a new co than the patches of cultivation in the midst of the tremendous rocks and precipices, and in one or two spots there were plots of grass and evergreens, like an English shrubbery, at the foot of enormous mountains covered with snow There was not a breath of air in these valleys, and the sun was shi+ning in unclouded brightness, so that there was all the atmosphere of summer beloith all the livery of winter above

The altitude of sole's birthplace, or sootten years, that shows, Inscribed as with the silence of the thought Upon its bleak and visionary sides, The history of many a winter storm Or obscure record of the path of fire

There the sun hiest day Rests his substantial orb; between those heights, And on the top of either pinnacle, More keenly than elsewhere in night's blue vault Sparkle the stars, as of their station proud: Thoughts are not busier in thethere,--alone Here do I sit and watch

In one place, too, I reed and barren es, to arrive at which steps had been cut in the rock No sign of vegetation was near, so exactly the description of Goldsmith:--

Dear is that shed to which their souls conform, And dear that hill that lifts thee Head: THE MONT CENIS]

In another place there was a cluster of houses and a church newly built Not far fro fort, built by the King of Sardinia, which commands the road It has a fine effect perched upon a rock, and apparently unapproachable A soldier was pacing the battleave life to the scene and exhibited the i objects, sothey put four horses and two e, but I took my courier's horse and set off to ride up thewith me, and who proposed to take me up a much shorter way by the old road, which, however, I declined; he was on foot, and made a short cut up the hill while I rode by the road, which winds in several turns up the mountain Fired with mountainous zeal, I had auide to cli ascent; but I soon found that I had better have stuck toobjects had deceived round was so steep and slippery that, unprepared as I was for such an atte When about half-way up, I looked ruefully round and saw steeps above and below covered with ice and snow and loose earth I could not get back, and did not kno to get on I felt like the man ent up in a balloon, and when a s were very like what Johnson describes at Hawkestone in his tour in Wales 'He that mounts the precipices at ---- wonders how he came thither, and doubts how he shall return; his walk is an adventure and his departure an escape He has not the tranquillity but the horrors of solitude--a kind of turbulent pleasure between fright and ad, and properly shod so he went first,steps for me in the snow, into which I put rasped the tail of his blue frock and with the other seized bits of twig or anything I could lay hold of; and in this ludicrous way, scrareat joy I at last got to the road, and for the rest of the ascent contentedat his head and was a sorry beast enough I was never weary, however, of aduide toldthe ht in a _tor Savoyards, who took hiio_[4] He asked the they were not, enquired how ave them the requisite sum, and settled pensions of 600 francs on each of theot near the top of the mountain the road, which had hitherto been excellent, became execrable and the cold intense I had left summer below and found winter above I looked in vain for the chamois, hares, wolves, and bears, all of which I was told are found there At last I arrived at the summit, and found at the inn a friar, the only inhabitant of the Hospice, who, hearing e was not yet co, fat, rosy, jolly, and dirty, dressed in a black robe with a travelling-cap on his head, appeared quick and intelligent, and spoke French and Italian He took me over the Hospice, which is now quite empty, and showed me two very decently furnished rooms which the Emperor Napoleon used to occupy, and two inferior apartments which had been appropriated to the Erille_ of the door had been changed for VE's (Victor Ehtful pictures of the Sardinian King and Queen have replaced the Iuished people have slept there _en passant_, and do still when coe and feed lad to see Napoleon's bedrooreat man, at which he seemed extremely pleased, and said, 'Ah, monsieur, vous etes donc comme moi' I dined at the inn (a very bad one) on soot for me from the Hospice--very fine fish, but very ill dressed The sun was setting by the tiot half-way down the descent, and dark before I had reached the first stage When half-way down the descent, the last rays of the sun were still gilding the tops of the crags above, and the contrast between that light above and the darkness beloas very fine Fro my eyes into the darkness to catch the dim and indistinct shapes of the mountains, the Italian side is the finest--the e and with more variety On the French side you are always on the breast of the sa different rocks always hanging over a precipice with huge black, snow-topped crags frowning froether I never shall forget the pleasure of the two days' journey and the first sight of the Alps, exceeding the expectations I had for soof which, by-the-bye, I was very nearly overturned) only ends at this place, where I found a tolerable roo so abonated the whole apartment

[3] A _tormento_ (most appropriate naly dangerous to those who are io_ is a sort of cabin, of which there are several built at certain distances all the way up the e Head: TURIN]

Turin, March 16th, 1830 {p291}

Got here early andon A fine but dull-looking town Found the two Forsters, who pressed yptian Museum, said to be the finest in the world

It was collected by Drovetti, the French Consul, and offered to us for 16,000, which we declined to give, and the King of Sardinia bought it Forster told ed in bigotry There are near 400 convents in the King's dominions It is the dullest town in Europe, and it is because it looks so dull that I a was cloudy, and presented fresh combinations of beauty in the reat white peaks, so the their sharp outlines above the wreath of ering look behind

Genoa, March 18th, 1830 {p291}

Got on so quick froht, and set off at half-past six yesterday o, a boundless plain (now thickly studded with trees and houses), and saw the spot where Desaix was killed The bridge over the Borone, but another has been built near it The Austrians or Sardinians have taken down the column which was erected to the ht as well have left it, for the place will always be celebrated, though they only did as the French had done before After the battle of Jena they took down the Column of Rossbach,[5] but that was erected to commemorate the victory, and this the death of the hero I feel like Johnson--'far far froid philosophy which can make us pass unmoved over any scenes which have been consecrated by virtue, by valour, or by wisdoination to see all the tumult of this famous battle, in which Bonaparte had been actually defeated, yet (one can hardly now tell hoas in the end coht have been left, too, as a striking memorial of the rapid vicissitudes of fortune: the removal of it has been here so quick, and at Rossbach so tardy, a reparation of national honour

[5] The battle of Rossbach was gained by Frederick the Great over the French and Austrians in 1757

[Page Head: PALACES AND CHURCHES OF GENOA]

The Apennines are nothing after the Alps, but the descent to Genoa is very pretty, and Genoa itself exceeds everything I ever saw in point of beauty and nificence