‘Dear Rogers,—A thousand thanks for your beautiful verses, which
call before my eyes our agreeable travels. The Lakes of Geneva and Lucerne are
strongly and justly contrasted. The first naturally cheerful and surrounded by
animated cultivation, or by places distinguished as the residence of men of
talent. The second tremendously sublime—a fit scene for heroic virtue. I
know not whether the Lake of Lucerne might not be characterised still more
clearly, or, to speak more truly, whether its characteristic feature might not
be more brought out. What morally distinguishes the Lake of Uri from most, if
not all, other spots on the globe, is that it is perhaps the only place where
the whole inhabitants, without excepting the most simple and least instructed,
contemplate the scenes of the noble acts of their forefathers in far-distant
times with a reverence which study, in most places, teaches the best very
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‘In countries of industry and wealth the stream of events sweeps away these old remembrances. The solitude of the Alps is a sanctuary destined for the monuments of ancient virtue. Here all is quiet and unchanged. Six centuries have passed away unmarked by any events but three or four pure victories which guarded from profanation the temples of the patriots, and rooted still more deeply the devotion to their memory.
‘Excuse this talk, and believe me, dear Rogers,
