eat 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 execution on the 1st of
January, 1308, by forcing their tyrannical governors to quit a country
thenceforward destined to be free. The second place is about a league
and a half distant, it is the Rock of Aschen-berg, 5240 feet above the
level of the lake (which is here 600 feet deep), on a part of which,
called Tell Platte, that patriot killed the tyrant _Gessler_ here is a
small chapel. I also visited the little town of _Gersau_ (which was, by
the French, united to the canton of Schweitz), remarkable as being the
smallest republic existing in Europe, as it contains only _one hundred
square toises_, and from 900 to 1000 inhabitants, who subsist chiefly by
agricult