also saw the library, and a large collection of
Roman antiquities. The portraits are very fine at the library; and we
saw those of Euler and Bernouilli, the mathematicians. At the university
we saw the building, and received polite attentions from the librarian
and Latin professor. We also saw the professor of chemistry, renowned
for his discovery of gun cotton. The collection of MSS. is very large
and rich; and we had the gratification to have in our hands the
handwriting of several letters by Melancthon, Calvin, Luther, Erasmus,
&c., &c. I think this is a good place to live in for purposes of study.
At Basle there is a large missionary seminary; and a great many of the
best missionaries in India and Africa were educated here. We also
visited the private reading-room of a club, and found a very good
library there. On the table were several American papers--the New York
Herald, Express, and the Boston Mercantile Journal. After dinner we took
a carriage and repaired to St. Jacob, a quiet village, about one mile
from Basle. Here we found a neat little church, and, at the junction of
two roads, a Gothic cross, to commemorate the famous battle of St.
Jacob, in 1444, when sixteen hundred Swiss fought the French army under
the dauphin for a whole day. The French were over sixteen thousand
strong. Only ten Swiss escaped the slaughter. Lest you should think me
at fault upon the numbers in this battle, I would say that I know
Watteville calls the Swiss twelve hundred, and the French thirty
thousand; but I quote from Swiss historians, who are deemed good
authority. We went into the little tavern and drank some red wine, which
goes by the name of Swiss blood. We then ascended an eminence commanding
a fine view of the city, the river, and the Jura Mountains. At the
summit we found a church; and the parsonage next to it looked very cosy
and comfortable. The pastor's children were running about, and were very
noble-looking boys. We learnt that while the stipend of the pastor was
very small,--as is the case in Switzerland,--yet he was a man of wealth.

We were quite amused with the market day here. Droves of country people
were in the streets--the women in country costume; and on the ground
there were vast collections of crockery, which seemed one of the chief
articles of traffic.

A charming drive, late in the afternoon, took us to the consul's
hospitable abode; and there, with his lady, we had a thoroughly Yankee
tea-time. In the