churches in Albany, which Knickerbocker describes so exactly, many of the roofs and steeples are covered with tin plate, which glitters in the sun to the great annoyance of the spectators. Every person, after rambling through the towns of France, must be struck with the absence of beggars in the streets of Geneva. Though they are no doubt to be found, I do not recollect to have met with an individual of that description. On our return from Chamouny, we took lodgings at the Balance, which we think a better hotel than the Crown, where we formerly resided, though perhaps not so stylish. Here, this morning, we received a visit from an American friend, the Rev. J. G. Grier, now chaplain to one of our ships of war in the Mediterranean, and who is on a visit here on furlough, in search of health. I need scarcely say, that it was highly gratifying to meet a native of our own State, and a Christian, in this distant land-which seems still farther removed from home, the nearer we approach the time when we expect to leave it. At about 11 o'clock, our party, consisting of the two Messrs. G., of Philadelphia, Dr. G., and myself, entered one of the steam-boats, which plies regularly on the lake between Geneva and Lausanne, for the latter place. I left Geneva with regret, and shall always recollect the short period passed there, with great pleasure. During the first hour, our excursion up the lake was delightful. The cultivated banks, along which lie scattered a number of genteel looking habitations, the neat exterior of which indicated at least that domestick enjoyments and cultivated taste resided within the long range of the Jura, with its green and dewy valleys, and thick groves of verdant trees, on our left-and the brown and craggy pinnacles of Mont Blanc, interspersed with golden peaks and snowy summits, on our right, presented an unrivalled scene. Fortunately the steamboat approached the shore near Copet, so as to give us a very good view of the Chateau, celebrated as the residence of Necker, and his daughter, Madame de Staël. Their tombs are in the garden adjoining the castle; which is far more interesting as being the birth-place of the author of Corinna, than from its external appearance, though it certainly occupies a beautiful site. Thick clouds now covered the sky, giving a misty grandeur to the Alps, and obscuring all adjacent objects. A heavy rain drove us all into the cabin below, where we presented a motley crew, of French and German, English and American passengers, each gabbering in his own tongue. . Our arrival at Ouchy, the port of Lausanne, put an end to our "durance vile"-and stepping into a hackney coach, numbers of which stood on the wharf, we were dragged up a high, heavy hill, to the door of a spacious hotel, called the Falcon. As our journey must be continued to-morrow, Dr. G. and myself set off together to view the town, which is the capital of the Canton de Vaud. Our enterprise was exceedingly fatiguing, as all the streets through which wę passed lead over short, high, precipitous hills. Nothing, I should think, could be more uncomfortable for an aged or infirm man, than to take a walk through the streets. of Lausanne. We clambered up an almost interminable flight of rough steps, to visit the Cathedral, said to be one of the finest Gothick churches in Europe. The entrance, and several parts of the exterior, exhibit a variety of carved figures -The interior is quite handsome, and is adorned with a multitude of columns. The sepulchral monuments are, many of them, interesting. A white marble tomb, erected to the memory of Mrs. Strat ford Canning, is partly the work manship of Canova, and is very striking. During fine weather, the view from the elevated terrace on which the cathedral stands, is said to be magnificent beyond description-the beauty of the lake, the picturesque scenery along the bays and promontories of its shores, and the rich, varied, and sublime features of the Alps, present an unequalled prospect. One of the principal sights at Lausanne, is the place where Gibbon wrote the concluding part of his "Decline and Fall." Our enthusiasm for his genius did not lead us to visit the out-house he occupied, and which we understood to be a dirty work-shop-itself an image of decline and fall. Gibbon's memory is not much venerated by the inhabitants. His selfishness, repulsive manners, and disgusting habits, have, in a great measure, dispelled the charm which his learning and genius are calculated to inspire. The houses here are neither large nor well built. In some of the book shops we saw for sale a number of American publications. There are many literary, scientifick, and religious institutions here. The first tract society in Switzerland was, I am informed, establish ed in this town by a lady. We returned from our wanderings just at the dinner hour, and sat down with a large company of ladies and gentlemen to a sumptuous repast, served up in the French style. The windows of the dining room open on the lake, and afford a very extensive prospect. While at the table, I had the pleasure of witnessing the most brilliant rainbow I ever beheld both the inner and the outer bow were perfectly complete, and equally luminous in all their extent, and remained so for an unusual length of time-The colours in one bow were, of course, in an inverse order to those in the other. So remarkable was this meteor in beauty, that not only all the company at table suspended for awhile the important process of eating, but the bustling and industrious passengers along the streets stopped for some moments to gaze upon it. Having engaged a convenient and light carriage to carry us through the interior of Switzerland, we retired early to our chambers, that we might be prepared to continue our journey early to-morrow. I regret to be obliged to travel on the Sabbath, but circumstances seem to render this unavoidable. Sunday, August 24th. Some time before sundown this evening, we reached Friburgh, the principal town in the Canton of the same name. The road passes over a rough country, and through several mean villages, neither of which exhibited any objects peculiarly interesting. We saw a number of persons affected with those extraordinary lumps or swellings about the glands of the throat, called goitres-they were on children as well as on grown people. The population, however, is said to be generally healthy. Many physicians have endeavoured to ascertain the cause which produces these singular excrescences. Some attribute them, as I have before mentioned, to the water derived from melted snow-they prevail, however, in parts of the country where no such water abounds. Saussure supposes that the heat of the climate in the valleys, and the stagnation of the air in low situations, produce this disease-but the inhabitants of elevated places are also troubled with them. Coxe, in his account of Switzerland, thinks that this malady is occasioned by the calcareous matter, in the water which they drink. It gives some plausibility to this opinion, that the people in the western parts of Pennsylvania, where lime-stone water is so common, are also disfigured with these hor 1 rid tumours.* Those individuals who are afflicted with large goitres, commonly become idiotick, owing, perhaps, to the extreme languor and indolence which they produce. Friburg presents quite an interesting appearance, at a short distance from it. Part of the city is built on the top of a precipice formed of sand-stone, and a part on the banks of the river Sartine, which winds below. Our postilion drove to the Falcon, which is said to be the best hotel; but it was crowded with military officers, and we were obliged to put up at the Merchant's Inn, which was undergoing repairs. We followed our luggage up a high clumsy stair-case into a third story room, which was to be our parlour, dining room, and chamber. We had an opportunity of seeing the Friburgers to advantage, in their Sunday dress the streets were crowded, almost all the inhabitants passing by our door, from some Catholick exhibition they had been to witness in the country. Such a motley group of colours, and sizes, and characters, I never before saw. The Swiss females are famous for their love of gaudy hues, and here we had them in perfection "Starr'd, striped and spotted, yellow, red and blue." Monks, and other ecclesiasticks, mingled in the chattering throng of idlers and beggars. This town is exactly on the limits of the French and German idioms; so that one-half of the inhabitants can scarcely understand the other. Not being disposed to ramble about, Among the early settlers of Pittsburg and Reading, two places almost at opposite boundaries of the lime-stone region of water, the goitre was very frequent; but since these towns, particularly the last, have become more populous, new cases but rarely occur, we retired early to bed, but not to sleep He, like the world, his ready visit pays Where fortune smiles. It was our mishap to be annoyed almost all night with fleas, and those nameless horrid insects which torment the pillow of the traveller, in all parts of the world. Monday, August 25th.-There are but a few objects in Friburg for the traveller to examine. The old linden or lime tree, nearly in the centre of the town, is interesting. It is about twenty feet in circumference, and was planted here in 1476, on the day when Charles the Bold was defeated at Morat. The bearer of the news then brought from that place the twig in his hand, which has grown to this great tree. This venerable relick of other times has been much shattered by storms, and exhibits many marks of old age. Great care is taken of it; its wounds are skilfully dressed and bandaged, and its lower branches are supported by props, so that it may yet outlive many future generations of man. There are seats placed round the trunk; and under its shade, in former times, the judges used to hold their sittings every Saturday, for the purpose of settling the differences that occurred between the peasants, in the market place close by. We noticed a large number of fountains, most of them very homely in their structure-A constant stream of clear water runs from them-the reservoirs which supply them being, I suppose, placed on the high grounds in the vicinity. On one of these elevated points is the Jesuit's College, a large and commanding edifice, organized, as we understood, to counteract the liberal and enlightened views, taught in the Lancasterian seminary of the benevolent Abbé Girard. The most curious object here is the cathedral of St. Nicholas. It is said to be a fair speci men of the Gothick architecture of the thirteenth century. The tower is the highest in Switzerland, rising to an elevation of 363 feet, and contains the finest chime of bells in the country. Over the principal entrance to the church, there is a wonderful carving in stone, representing the day of judgmentthe saints in heaven are delineated on one side, and the lost spirits on the other. It is ridiculous and extravagant in the extreme. The left hand group exhibits the Old boy and one of his imps, carrying a basket full of sinners on a pole over their shoulders, to pitch them into a great caldron, which is boiling over a flaming furnace, with divers human heads and arms floating on its surface. Alas! thought I, is this the awful pantomime of the nether world, which the genius of Romanism has devised, to represent the punishment inflicted on the enemies of the church. No wonder that infidelity and licentiousness so much abound, both within and without the pale of St. Peter. History and existing facts abundantly show, that splendid rites and odious vices may dwell together, under the same consecrated roofs. After breakfast, we set off in our carriage for Berne, supposed by many to be one of the handsomest towns in Europe. Nothing occurred on the road of sufficient interest to detail, except perhaps the number of trees, and the neatness of the farm houses, covered with a trim thick kind of thatch. We entered the city by a gate, on the posts of which were mounted two great stone bears. The figures of those animals are emblazoned on the arms and coins of the Canton of Berne. The city is said to have derived its name from the number of bears which annoyed its early settlers. The hotel called the Falcon, at which we stopped, was crowded with guests, but we found every thing clean and comfortable. After an excellent dinner, we commenced our customary explorations. The city is on the banks of the Aar, and is surrounded by high grounds richly cultivated. Streams or branches of the river pass along the middle of many of the streets. Fountains of water are numerous, and many of them are surmounted by little old-fashioned statues of some hero or saint. Among others, we noticed the figure of Arnold Van Winkelried, the warrior of Sempach, and that of Moses, which adorns the fountain in the square of the cathedral. The houses in many streets are built on low arches, forming long arcades, something like those of the Palais Royal in Paris, under which the shops are arranged. We walked to the western extremity of the city, to see a tower said to contain a clock of very curious mechanism. The striking of the hours, our guide book informs us, is announced by a procession of small figures, and the crowing of a cock; after which, a man in armour makes his appearance, and strikes the hours with a club. We were in good season for the exhibition, but saw nothing but a huge ugly dial plate-Disappointments like this have not unfrequently occurred to us. The fortifications of the city are kept in tolerable order. In one of the trenches we saw, among other feræ naturæ, several bears, which are supported by an annual publick tax, because they are on the armorial bearings of the town. Not far from this place, a number of gentlemen were collected, shooting at a target, an amusement very popular here. There is an avenue of fine trees leading to this place-indeed all the principal roads in the environs are handsomely planted with trees, to a considerable distance. The Bernese have many interesting institutions devoted to science, literature, and piety. A museum annexed to the publick library, contains a number of curiosities brought from the South Seas by Weber, the painter, who accompanied Captain Cook round the world. Every body knows that the great Haller was a native of Berne-We purchased a well executed head of this good philosopher, at one of the print shops, as a memento of our visit, together with some curiously carved pieces of wood. The most remarkable edifice in Berne is the cathedral. It stands on a terrace, elevated more than one hundred feet above the river Aar, and which is adorned with fine trees. On the low wall built along the edge of the precipice, there is an inscription in German, recording the wonderful escape of a man, whose horse being irritated by a parcel of rude boys, sprangover the wall. The horse was killed by the fall, but the rider escaped, with merely the fracture of a few bones. As we looked down the fearful deep from the parapet, our blood chilled, at the thought of this marvellous adventure. Entering the church, we saw the woman who keeps the door feeding, with crumbs of bread, a flock of little sparrows, whose nests we learned were in the old crevices of the walls, or on the monuments to departed worthies. There is nothing in our eyes very remarkable about this church-it has some richly stained glass in the windows, and the spire is certainly commanding. Every American traveller must be surprised and displeased, at seeing in the streets of Berne a number of convicts in chains, who are kept constantly employed in some menial publick service. So torturing to the feelings of some of the criminals is this system of punishment, that a few years since, a woman condemned to this publick disgrace, while employed in sweeping the high terrace near the ca thedral, sprung over the wall, and dashed into eternity. The traveller through Switzerland, when he arrives at Berne, usually makes an excursion for the most part on foot, over the mountainous districts in the neighbourhood, called the Oberland or Bernese Highlands. The environs of Unterseen and Interlacken, and the lakes, mountains, and cascades of the country of William Tell, almost tempted me to run the chance of losing my passage to America, in the ship which is to sail on the 15th of next month. I had received particular instructions from my friends in London, not to omit this interesting tour; but as fifteen days are necessary to perform it, I felt compelled to renounce the gratification. (To be continued.) FOR THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. MENTAL SCIENCE. Introductory Remarks. No branch of science is more interesting, than the philosophy of mind. It holds an important place in a course of liberal education, and has its use in theological investigations. Other sciences are not to be discredited or displaced by this; nor will any one, who properly estimates its real and relative value, be disposed to make an offensive use of it. By many, the science of mind is considered dry, useless, and only calculated to perplex, or obscure investigation. By others, it constitutes all that is worthy to be called knowledge. The truth lies between the two classes-but as a subject furnishing facts of high interest, no department of philosophy can rival its stores. We may admire the beauty and wisdom of creation, when we contemplate planets and systems of worlds in the light of astronomy-or we may limit our view to the globe which |