The beauty of its situation, and the imposing aspect which Lucerne presents at a distance, renders the gloominess of its interior the more striking; and I do not know, whether coming from Berne, where all is activity, gave me the impression, but I think I never was in a more melancholy and deserted town of the same magnitude.  The population is only 4,000; but, to judge from its extent, it might contain at least three times that number.  It is difficult to account exactly for the causes of this inactivity, but I should be inclined to think some blame attaches to its government, as here are no traces of that beneficial superintendence which is so perceptible at Berne, This city cannot even boast of a public library.  There are at Lucerne several curious wooden bridges, to join the different parts of the town separated by the river and the lake.  They are from 5 to 600 feet in length, and one of them contains a vast number of paintings from scriptural subjects, and also from the Swiss history.

There are several handsome buildings at Lucerne, but many towns that cannot boast of such a number, much exceed it in general appearance.

We observed a great quantity of fruit for sale, and good peaches for one sol each.  The celebrated plan, or rather, model, of this and the three surrounding cantons, by General Pfiffer, is to be seen here on payment of thirty sols; it is well worthy of a visit, and the General is said to have refused ten thousand pounds for it.  Buonaparte is said to have wished to possess it.

The lake of Lucerne, called also the lake of the Four Cantons, or the Waldstraller See, is one of the most picturesque pieces of water in Switzerland, and by its numerous windings, as well as by the rivers which fall into it, affords facilities for commerce, which are astonishingly neglected.

Mont Pilate rises majestically from the lake.  It is, perhaps, one of the highest mountains in Switzerland, if measured from its base, and not from the level of the sea.  Its elevation from the level of the lake is, according to the measurement of General Pfiffer, not less than 6000 feet.  Its name was, it is thought, given it by the Romans, from the accumulation of snow upon its summit.

Mount Rigi, so generally visited by travellers, presents another distinguished feature in this romantic country.  The ascent to this mountain having been within a few days rendered extremely difficult by a fall of snow, we were advised not to attempt it, and I the more readily acquiesced, having found the ascent to Montanvert difficult, although unobstructed with snow.  I therefore set out to visit two classic spots in the history of Switzerland, which distinguish the banks of this lake; first, the Gruetli (the Runnimede of Switzerland), a field now covered with fruit-trees, where the neighbouring cantons on the 12th of November, 1307, first took the engagement to found the liberty of their country.  They carried their plan into