d about eight leagues from Schaffhausen,
where we crossed it, and proceeded by Baden to Lucerne. I am at this
present moment (14th September) writing at a small village on the road
from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen. By consulting your maps, you will
find these villages in the south-east part of the canton of Berne, not
far from the lakes of Thun and Brientz. After viewing the valley of
Lauterbrunnen, we shall have concluded our tour of the more Alpine part
of Switzerland. We proceed thence to Berne, and intend, after making two
or three small excursions about the lake of Neufchatel, to go to Basle,
a town in Switzerland, upon the Rhine, whence we shall, if we find we
can afford it, take advantage of the river down to Cologne, and so cross
to Ostend, where we shall take the packet to Margate. To-day is the 14th
of September; and I hope we shall be in England by the 10th of October.
I have had, during the course of this delightful tour, a great deal of
uneasiness from an apprehension of your anxiety on my account. I have
thought of you perpetually; and never have my eyes burst upon a scene of
particular loveliness but I have almost instantly wished that you could
for a moment be transported to the place where I stood to enjoy it. I
have been more particularly induced to form those wishes, because the
scenes of Switzerland have no resemblance to any I have found in
England; consequently it may probably never be in your power to form an
idea of them. We are now, as I observed above, upon the point of
quitting these most sublime and beautiful parts; and you cannot imagine
the melancholy regret which I feel at the idea. I am a perfect
enthusiast in my admiration of nature in all her various forms; and I
have looked upon, and, as it were, conversed with, the objects which
this country has presented to my view so long, and with such increasing
pleasure, that the idea of parting from them oppresses me with a sadness
similar to what I have always felt in quitting a beloved friend.

There is no reason to be surprised at the strong attachment which the
Swiss have always shown to their native country. Much of it must
undoubtedly have been owing to those charms which have already produced
so powerful an effect upon me, and to which the rudest minds cannot
possibly be indifferent. Ten thousand times in the course of this tour
have I regretted the inability of my memory to retain a more strong
impression of the beautiful forms before me