s desired us to walk over the interior of the mansion. Saw on the
table of the saloon Blair's Sermons and somebody else's (I forget who's)
sermons, and a set of noisy children. Saw all worth seeing, and then
descended to the 'Bosquet de Julie,' &c. &c.; our guide full of
Rousseau, whom he is eternally confounding with St. Preux, and mixing
the man and the book. Went again as far as Chillon to revisit the little
torrent from the hill behind it. Sunset reflected in the lake. Have to
get up at five to-morrow to cross the mountains on horseback; carriage
to be sent round; lodged at my old cottage--hospitable and comfortable;
tired with a longish ride on the colt, and the subsequent jolting of the
char-a-banc, and my scramble in the hot sun.

"Mem. The corporal who showed the wonders of Chillon was as drunk as
Blucher, and (to my mind) as great a man; he was deaf also, and thinking
every one else so, roared out the legends of the castle so fearfully
that H. got out of humour. However, we saw things from the gallows to
the dungeons (the _potence_ and the _cachots_), and returned to Clarens
with more freedom than belonged to the fifteenth century.

"September 19.

"Rose at five. Crossed the mountains to Montbovon on horseback, and on
mules, and, by dint of scrambling, on foot also; the whole route
beautiful as a dream, and now to me almost as indistinct. I am so
tired;--for though healthy, I have not the strength I possessed but a
few years ago. At Montbovon we breakfasted; afterwards, on a steep
ascent dismounted; tumbled down; cut a finger open; the baggage also got
loose and fell down a ravine, till stopped by a large tree; recovered
baggage; horse tired and drooping; mounted mule. At the approach of the
summit of Dent Jument[111] dismounted again with Hobhouse and all the
party. Arrived at a lake in the very bosom of the mountains; left our
quadrupeds with a shepherd, and ascended farther; came to some snow in
patches, upon which my forehead's perspiration fell like rain, making
the same dints as in a sieve; the chill of the wind and the snow turned
me giddy, but I scrambled on and upwards. Hobhouse went to the highest
pinnacle; I did not, but paused within a few yards (at an opening of the
cliff). In coming down, the guide tumbled three times; I fell a
laughing, and tumbled too--the descent luckily soft, though steep and
slippery: Hobhouse also fell, but nobody hurt. The whole of the
mountains superb. A shepherd on a