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sound of the river mingling at times with the matin or vesper bell, or the still more melodious bells of the herd -the scent from a thousand wildflowers-the balmlike air-and the deep-blue sky over all,-and you have a scene that no imagination or fiction, even of ancient fable, can surpass, for pure, delicious, tranquil beauty.

I never passed two whole days together of something so near to happiness as I did among the mountains of Savoy ;-and though I was too delighted to think of it at the time, I have since been very much pleased to recognise in this a very striking confirmation of a favourite creed of mine. I am now more than ever convinced that there are no mental ills that may not be cured by a timely, a sincere, and a trusting recurrence to those medicines which lye everywhere scattered about for us among the forms and influences of nature that in an inartificial state of society and manners, all the fancies and feelings and associations that come to the mind from the external world, are expressly adapted, by their very nature, to meet and combine with others which previously existed in the mind itself; and to engender, by their union, powers and effects that could not have been produced in any other way. In fact, that the mind of man, and the external world, are made expressly for each other; as the sexes are in man and woman: and that powers and capabilities exist in each, which can never be properly and naturally exerted but by the means and in the presence of those which belong to the other. That the mind is (almost literally) a musical instrument, whose tones can only be duly felt and brought out by meeting with corresponding tones in objects external from itself.I know that metaphysicians would laugh at all this-but I should not like it or believe it a bit the less on that

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in Savoy, and is situated about the centre of it. I should think that, in respect to situation, this must be the most romantic capital in the world. It is so completely surrounded on all sides by an amphitheatre of mountains, that the sun does not reach it for more than two hours after it has risen. I never witnessed a more interesting sight than occurred the morning we left this town. We started about an hour after the sun had risen. It was just then glittering on the snow tops of the neighbouring mountains, and gilding the skirts of the white mists that were curling round them. As we proceeded up the mountain,—still keeping the town in view,-the sun got over the surrounding summits, and came gradually slanting down their sides; at first reaching the pine-trees -then the roofs of the white cottages that were situated highest-then glancing on the spire of some village church

then reaching, one by one, the little country-houses towards the foot of the mountains-and, at last, spreading over the town itself. All this time the sun was concealed from our view; till, at length, a turn of the road brought it in sight suddenly and at once.

"It was here that Rousseau's mind imbibed and cherished that deep and pure love for the beauties of external nature, which, notwithstanding all the pollutions that it gathered in great cities, never quitted it but in death. It was perhaps some unconscious association with this very scene which made him at the moment that he felt his last breath ebbing from him, desire that his face might be turned to the sun, and the window of his chamber opened, that he might feel its warmth and see its glories for the last time-and he died gazing on it!

"These were the scenes of all the happy part of Rousseau's real life. I have not left myself room to tell, and I'm afraid I have not left you patience to hear, of the scenes in which he passed his imaginary life, in the person of his own St Preux; though they are still more deeply interesting than the foregoing, from their connexion with the most enchanting work that ever proceeded from the pen of man— the Nouvelle Heloise."

(To be continued.)

ON THE CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF THE TYROLESE.

THERE is no country of Europe which exhibits both the beauties of nature, and the character of man, in a more striking or interesting aspect than the TYROL. The events of the preceding years have given an interest of a higher kind to its mountains and vallies, than belongs to the theatre of any other warfare. Bold as the spirit of resistance was which everywhere arose to resist the progress of French dominion; and valiantly as the people of every country have struggled to preserve their independence, or recover the national glory which their late misfortunes had sullied; there is yet no country which has evinced so heroic a spirit; there is no people who have displayed so memorable a devotion as the inhabitants of the Tyrol. The Spaniards had a great country and strong fortresses, and the powerful assistance of England, to support them: the Russians rested on the resource of a mighty empire, and developed the military power which had so long made Europe tremble, in defending themselves against the French invasion the Prussians rose against a weakened and dispirited enemy, and shared in the exultation of unequalled triumphs, when they joined the victorious Russians in the pursuit of their enemy. It was in the Tyrol only that the people rested on their own courage and patriotism alone. It was there, that at the first signal of war, its whole population flew to arms. They stopt not to calculate the chances of success in the contest in which they were to engage. They weighed not the weakness of their own resources, and the small number on which they could depend, when compared with the appalling multitudes by whom they were to be assailed. They heard only the voice of their sovereign calling them to arms, and listened to the dictates of their own hearts in the answer which they made to him.

Nor was it any blind confidence in success, or any presumptuous contempt for the French armies, which induced the Tyrolese, in 1809, to rise unanimously against the French dominion. The enemies whom they were about to encounter, were the same troops with whom they had maintained many severe contests in the former wars.

The power whom they fearlessly attacked was the power before whom they had seen all the monarchies of Europe successively bow; and beneath the weight of whose arms, even the gigantic might of Russia had been constrained to bend. When the peasantry of Tyrol flew to arms, they knew well the perilous and desperate service on which they were entering. Every man took leave of his family, and his friends, as of those whom he would probably never meet again. They prepared themselves, after the pious manner of their country, for what they deemed a holy warfare, by the most solemn rites of their religion. The priest in every parish assembled those who were to join the army, and animated them by his exhortations, and blessed those who might die in defence of their country. Every family assembled together, and prayed, that the youths who were to leave it might support their good name in the hour of danger, and die rather than dishonour their native land. In many instances even the sacrament was administered, as for the last time in life, and accompanied with the solemnities which the Catholic Church enjoins for the welfare of a departing soul. It was with such holy rites, and by such exercises of family-devotion, that those brave men prepared themselves for the fearful warfare on which they were entering; and it was the spirit which they thus inhaled that supported them when they were left to their own resources, and enabled them, even amidst all the depression arising from the desertion of their allies, and famine among themselves, to present an undaunted front to the hostility of combined Europe.

It was a singular and extraordinary circumstance, with what unanimity, and how simultaneously the insurrection began over every part of the country. The tidings of the Austrians having crossed the Inn, and of a corps approaching the Tyrol, had no sooner reached the frontier, than it was conveyed, with almost magical celerity, to the remotest valleys. Everywhere the inhabitants, without any concert among themselves, took up arms, and marched at the same moment towards the chief towns of the districts

in which they were placed. The Austrian authorities, charged with organizing the insurrection in their course up the valleys, met the different corps of peasantry descending with the fowling pieces, and other rustic arms, which they had in their possession. These small bodies, proceeding down their valleys, received continual accessions of strength as they advanced; and, like the mountain streams, whose course they followed, rolled onwards their united force towards the plain.

There is reason to believe, that the chiefs of the conspiracy were well acquainted, for some time previous, with the war which was in contemplation between Austria and France. But their knowledge could not be generally communicated, both from the risk of entrusting so important a secret to many persons, and from the extraordinary obstacles to the circulation of information which the nature of the country presented. The knowledge of each valley was in a great measure confined to its own little society; bare rocks, and snowy mountains, forming insuperable barriers to all intercourse with the neighbouring people. The simultaneous insurrection of the Tyrolese, therefore, must be imputed to. that burst of generous feeling which animated all ranks at that eventful crisis, and to that noble confidence in each other, which led the inhabitants of every valley to take up arms, in the sure belief that all their countrymen had done the same.

When the peasants from the valleys which connect with the Inn Thal assembled round Inspruck, they exhibited a motley and extraordinary appearance. The young and the old, the rich and the poor, were all crowded together without order, or military equipment of any kind, and dressed in the picturesque and striking manner which is peculiar to those mountaineers. Most of the peasants had a fowling-piece, or rifle ; but in every other species of equipment they were miserably deficient. Cannon, or stores, or horsemen, they had none, and even their swords were hardly such as are suited to modern warfare. Many aged warriors bore the halbards which their forefathers had used in the days when armour was worn by the cavalry, and with which the Swiss had resisted the chivalry of Charles the Bold on the field of Morat. The spears which

others carried were the same which
had been used in the bloody wars be-
tween the Swiss and the Tyrolese,
above three hundred years ago, and
which had been preserved with reli-
gious care by the descendants of the
persons who there distinguished them-
selves. Many did not possess even
such arms as these; but joined their
comrades with no other weapons than
a scythe, a pruning-hook, or a rusty
bayonet. But, though variously equip-
ped, and for the most part but half-
armed, all were animated by the same
spirit, and all felt not only the strong-
est determination in their own mind,
but the surest reliance on the fidelity
and courage of their associates.

The poetical description which Mr
Scott has given of the gathering of
the Clan Alpin in Balquhidder, by
the order of Roderick Dhu, was here
realized on a far greater scale, and in
the prosecution of a nobler purpose.
From the gray sire whose trembling hand,
To the raw boy whose shaft and bow
Could hardly buckle on his brand;
Were yet scarce terror to the crow;
Each valley, each sequestered glen,
Mustered his little horde of men,
That met as torrents from the height,
In Highland dale their streams unite;
Still gathering as they pour along,
A voice more loud, a tide more strong."

The peasantry who assembled round Inspruck amounted to above 20,000; and having formed such hasty arrangements as the exigency of the moment would permit, they commenced an attack on the town. It is difficult sufficiently to admire the courage of these brave men in this their first encounter with the French troops. They had to cross a narrow bridge of great length, in front of a battery of cannon, supported on either side by files of infantry, securely posted behind walls, or within the houses.-The storming of the celebrated bridge of Lodi, of which so much has been said, was not so perilous an_enterprize as this was; and the French grenadiers who there rushed upon the Austrian battery, did not require the

same individual determination which was here evinced by these undisciplined mountaineers. Their first essay in arms, was an achievement at which the courage of most veteran soldiers would have failed.

The leaders of the charge were instantly destroyed by the murderous

fire of grape shot, which swept the bridge; but the firmness and enthusiasm of the people overcame every obstacle, and they succeeded in forcing the pass, and capturing the cannon which defended it. The immediate consequence, was the evacuation of the town and the lower Inn Thal by the French troops. To this day, the inhabitants speak of this achievement, as well they may, with exultation; and point with pride to the walls which are literally riddled with grape shot, to mark the severity of the fire to which their countrymen were exposed.

The next important action in the war, was on a rocky ridge, between Reichenhall and Viedering, on the road from Salzburg to Worgel. The French and Bavarians, under the Duke of Dantzic, having captured Salzburg, after the fatal battle of Ratisbon, advanced towards the Tyrol, on the great road from Vienna to Inspruck. The Tyrolese, under Hofer, took post on a rocky eminence, surrounded by vast and precipitous mountains, immediately to the westward of a small lake which lies on the frontier of the Salzburg territory-It is impossible to imagine a scene of more perfect beauty, than the which was here selected as the field of battle. A lake of small dimensions not unlike Loch Achray, in Perthshire, spreads itself at the foot of lofty cliffs whose sides and base are clothed with luxuriant woods, and penetrates far into their lovely recesses. Green fields, and white cottages, and smiling orchards fringe the margin of the water, and occupy the narrow space which lies between the lake and the stupendous rocks by which it is surrounded. The road winds through this delightful region till it reaches the extremity of the lake, when it ascends the rugged and almost perpendicular cliffs which form its western boundary, and separate, on this side, the territories of Saltzburg from those of Tyrol.

It was on these cliffs that the Tyrolese took their station-Vast forests of larch and fir cover the higher parts of the mountains, and entirely concealed the peasants who occupied the passes. It was early on the morning of the 14th May, that the French troops, to the number of 28000, broke up from Reichenhall, where they had passed the night, and advanced along the margin of the lake, towards the ridge which the Tyrolese occupied.

A thick mist, very prevalent at daybreak in that country, at first concealed their movements; and the peasants were too inexperienced in the art of war, to have gained any previous intelligence of their approach.

They were saying their matin prayers on the morning of holy Thurs day, which is kept with remarkable devotion by all the people, when the most advanced first perceived, through the mist which was beginning to rise, the sun glittering on the bayonets of the hostile troops that were advanc ing against them. The increasing warmth of the day shortly after dispelled the clouds, and the Tyrolese, from their station in the forest, beheld the long lines of infantry and cavalry, that were winding along the margin of the lake, and beginning to ascend the rugged eminence on which they were stationed. A dead silence prevailed throughout the whole patriot army; at this magnificent and animating spectacle, and in the pause of anxious suspence which ensued, they distinctly heard "the measured tread of marching men," which, more even than the immeasurable extent of their files bespoke the number and discipline of their enemies.

Before ascending into the higher parts of the forest, however, the French general, who had probably received intelligence that the peasants were stationed in ambush some where in the neighbourhood, halted the main body of his troops, and detached some light regiments in advance, to explore the wild and broken ascent that lay before him-The Tyrolese had the most express orders to conceal themselves with the utmost care from the enemy; and so admirably was this order obeyed by men who had been accustomed from their infancy to lie in ambush in the pursuit of game, that the French tirailleurs could perceive no traces of an enemy. They advanced nearly to the summit of the ridge, but the most perfect silence every where prevailed, and they perceived nothing but a dark and gloomy forest on both sides of the road, filled with aged trees and broken with underwood and precipices. The main body of the French, encouraged by this account, proceeded fearlessly to mount the pass; and their columns gradually became more disorderly as they toiled up the steep ascent, exposed to the

horizontal and burning rays of the sun, which now shone forth with unclouded splendor. The soldiers, who had kept their ranks in the valley below, became careless as they ascended, and the young and thoughtless among them lightened their toil by singing the gay and national airs of France.

But their g iety was not of long duration. No sooner was the main body of the French army mounted on the ascent, than, on the signal of a musket fired from a cliff in the centre, one instantaneous and overwhelming fire burst forth from all parts of the forest. Instantly the peasantry showed themselves in vast numbers, and issuing from their recesses, rushed upon the enemy, while a loud and universal shout announced the dreadful success of their discharge. The French column, amazed and terrified at this extraordinary attack, fell back in the utmost confusion, and in hurrying down to the valley, presented an indiscriminate mass on which the fire of their enemies took effect with unerring precision In less than ten minutes the whole column, amounting to nearly 18000, which had begun this perilous ascent, was precipitated back into the valley, while the whole road which they had occupied, was filled by the dead and the wounded, or choked up with fallen horses and broken waggons, overturned in the hurry of the flight. The Tyrolese pursued them into the beautiful little plain below, and then returned to their station among the presipices.

The French troops renewed the attack with their accustomed gallantry, during the remainder of the forenoon; but they were never able to sustain the desperate fire which the Tyrolese marksmen kept up from their inaccessible position. At length, tired with fruitless efforts, they drew off their troops, and the peasants, imagining that the victory was decided, left their posts in great numbers, in order to hear mass, and return thanksgiving at some neighbouring convents. The defence of the pass was now devolved to some Austrian battalions, and the French, perceiving the weakness of their opponents, renewed the attack, and after a vigorous opposition, succeeded in establishing themselves on the heights. The peasants, how

much soever they were enraged at seeing victory thus snatched from their grasp, were compelled to fall back to the interior of the country; and Innspruck, with the whole valley of the Inn, was again occupied by the hos tile army.

The Austrians, with a degree of pusillanimity which can never be sufficiently reprobated, now abandoned the country to its merciless conquerors, and the Tyrolese were left to rely entirely on their own resources. The grand army had already destroyed the Austrian army in the plains of Bavaria, and had penetrated to the neighbourhood of Vienna; and the Tyrol had received no warlike supplies of any importance from their flattering allies. In this emergency, however, their own courage did not desert them. Speckbacher and Hofer, their two leaders, retired to their respective val◄ lies on the opposite sides of the Inn, and roused the peasantry to a contin. uance of the war by their eloquence and their example. Speckbacher undertook himself to convey the intelligence of the ardour which prevailed in his valleys across the Inn that was then occupied by the French troops. He set out accordingly, accompanied by his tried friends George Zoppell and Simon Lechner, and endeavoured to penetrate across the part of the valley which seemed most weakly guarded. But in the middle of the night, while they were treading softly through a broken tract of rocks and underwood, they came upon a detachment of 100 Bavarian dragoons. They had gone too far to recede; but, nevertheless, they hesitated for a moment before they ventured to attack their opponents, who were leaning on their arms, round blazing fire, with their horses standing on the outside of the circle. Being determined, however, to risk every thing rather than abandon their purpose, they levelled their rifles, and by their first discharge killed and wounded several of the enemy. During the confusion which ensued upon this unexpected attack, they loaded their pieces, and, hastily mounting the cliffs, fired again before their numbers were perceived. The Bavarians, conceiving that they were beset by a large body of the peasantry, fled in all directions; and Speckbacher, with

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