dred Savoyard peasants stationed themselves, to oppose some French troops at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, but they were soon driven from their position, though the first attack, which was made upon Mount Cenis by the French, completely failed. It was attempted to be executed by 1500 men, who advanced in three columns, from Lansle-Villars, Le Monfrey, and by the grand route. The second attack succeeded, which was also made in three columns, under the command of General Dumas, in May, 1794. The left column, consisting of 400 men, took the battery of Villaret, at the point of the bayonet: the right column, of 900 strong, made itself master of the battery of Rivet, in the same gallant style; and the centre, of 600 men, charged along the main pass, and carried every thing before it, until it arrived at the summit of the position, which was the object of the attack.

After reaching the most elevated part of the road, the traveller proceeds across, what is called, the plain of Mount Cenis, which is of considerable extent; and here he finds the well known Hospice, founded originally by Charlemagne, and re-established by Napoleon. During the whole passage of the Alps, Mount Cenis itself was the least drearylooking part of our journey. Its hamlets and Hospice, its houses of refuge, twenty-five in number, each occupied by a cantonnier, and built for the reception of those who might otherwise be lost in the snow storms, and the concourse of travellers through the passes, take away from the mind all idea of desolation, notwithstanding the wild character of the scenery. Indeed we met with more traffic on the moun→ tain, than on any other part of our road within an equal distance; and we could hardly believe that we had really passed that dreaded barrier, which had for so many cen. turies been the terror of those who were obliged to cross it. The most magnificent section of the mountain is that which overhangs the plain of St. Nicholas: the rocks rise so perpendicularly, and with such aspiring loftiness, that in

PLAIN OF ST. NICHOLAS.

43

the clearest day, the clouds hang about the peaks, and the very chamois avoid them.

Here you look down upon the road, which appears at some places hollowed out of the rock, at others, supported by arches, crossing over bridges, bordered by precipices, protected by walls, and shewing at every yard that there had been an arduous conflict, before the perseverance of man had been able to overcome the obstinacy of nature. We were about two hours in accomplishing the descent into Susa; and towards the afternoon, (although we had none of those violent gusts which generally blow from Piemont) the sharpness of the air together with the wilfulness of our conductors, who seemed to delight in shaking our nerves, and shewing us how near they could take the traineaus to the edge of the precipices, made us glad that this part of our journey was over. The descent into Lans-lebourg may be performed in a sledge in seven minutes; and Murat is said to have done it in six; but it must be by one of the old routes, and attended with extreme hazard.

The general appearance of Mount Cenis, when seen from a distance, is more striking from the side of Turin, than from that of Chamberry, because it rises more abruptly from its base in Piemont than in Savoy: the view of the valleys is also more interesting from the Piemontese side. But the traveller must not expect to see an unbounded horizon, or any thing like a panoramic view: it is quite fabulous to talk of any of the passes, as commanding a general prospect of the plains of Lombardy. Much may probably be seen in a clear day if a person be enterprising enough to ascend one of the summits; but a passage across mountain scenery rarely presents that extensive and distant view which is imagined; and it is difficult to determine where Polybius and Livy could have placed Hannibal, to give him and his army that sight of the plains of the Po, which had the effect of animating their sinking spirits: the direction is all that could possibly have been pointed out, from whatever

spot the Carthaginian harangued his troops; for wherever there is a pass that conducts across mountains, there must be intersections, and chains and ridges flanking and crossing each other, and effectually intercepting any distant prospect.

I have crossed the Alps by the Simplon, Mount St. Gothard, and the great St. Bernard, as well as by Mount Cenis; but I do not remember seeing, or hearing any body speak of, those boundless views, which Hannibal's historians had in their imagination. The general accuracy of Polybius's account of that great general's march over the Alps, must make us loth to deny all credit to his statements; but Livy's descriptions are the dreams of a poet, rather than the details of an historian. Nothing can be more beautiful than the dreary and wintry picture which he has drawn; his scenery is truly Alpine; and the sufferings and embarrassments of the Carthaginian army are those which they must really have encountered, had they actually been exposed to the situations in which he has placed them. But it is more than exaggeration, it is mere fable, to talk of an experienced soldier attempting to lead an armament, consisting of certainly not less than 26,000a men, with cavalry, elephants, and baggage, over the Alps, and through hostile tribes, under the conduct of guides, whose fidelity or knowledge of the passes was questionable; and to march troops by mountain paths, which were so slippery, that they could not move without falling, beyond the power of recovering themselves; and where man and beast kept rolling over one another in endless confusion. His other accounts are even still more preposterous. For instance,

"Minimum, viginti millia peditum, sex equitum," &c. "Nono die in jugum Alpium perventum est, per invia pleraque, et errores, quos aut ducentium fraus, aut ubi fides iis non esset, temerè initæ valles a conjectantibus iter faciebant."

"Omnis enim ferme via præceps, angusta, lubrica erat, ut neque sustinere se a lapsu possent, nec si paullulum titubassent, hærere afflicti vestigio suo: aliique super alios, et jumenta et homines occiderent."

ROUTE OF HANNIBAL'S ARMY.

45

the romantic dilemma of arriving at a spot, where an army, which had passed through so many real obstacles, was at last stopped by a precipice of a thousand feet deep, and obliged to spend four days in digging, and burning, and melting a passage through the rock. The fact is, that Hannibal was a general of two much experience, to think of a random expedition in the face of such mountain obstacles as Livy has represented: on the contrary, he must have supplied himself with able and trust-worthy guides, who knew and described the passes which the army was to

take he must have ascertained his route and resources before he set out, and have taken that line of march where his troops would have the means of subsistence, and the least fatigue. The plains of Chamberry, the valleys of the Isere and the Aouste, and the passes which were traced by following the courses of the Isere and the Doire, offered Hannibal a practicable route; which, though it was not without its perils and difficulties, yet did not expose his forces to the certainty of being starved to death, or lost amidst precipices.

"Ventum deinde ad multo angustiorem rupem, atque ita rectis saxis, ut ægre expeditus miles tentabundus, manibusque retinens virgulta ac stirpes circa eminentes, demittere se posset- -in pedum mille altitudinem

fodiendum atque egerendum fuit

tantum nivis

-struem ingentem lignorum faciunt : eamque

succendunt, ardentiaque saxa infuso aceto putrefaciunt-quatriduum circa ru

pem consumptum."-Livy, 1. 21. c. 35, 36, 37.

dred Savoyard peasants stationed themselves, to oppose some French troops at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, but they were soon driven from their position, though the first attack, which was made upon Mount Cenis by the French, completely failed. It was attempted to be executed by 1500 men, who advanced in three columns, from Lansle-Villars, Le Monfrey, and by the grand route. The se cond attack succeeded, which was also made in three columns, under the command of General Dumas, in May, 1794. The left column, consisting of 400 men, took the battery of Villaret, at the point of the bayonet: the right column, of 900 strong, made itself master of the battery of Rivet, in the same gallant style; and the centre, of 600 men, charged along the main pass, and carried every thing before it, until it arrived at the summit of the position, which was the object of the attack.

After reaching the most elevated part of the road, the traveller proceeds across, what is called, the plain of Mount Cenis, which is of considerable extent; and here he finds the well known Hospice, founded originally by Charlemagne, and re-established by Napoleon. During the whole passage of the Alps, Mount Cenis itself was the least drearylooking part of our journey. Its hamlets and Hospice, its houses of refuge, twenty-five in number, each occupied by a cantonnier, and built for the reception of those who might otherwise be lost in the snow storms, and the concourse of travellers through the passes, take away from the mind all idea of desolation, notwithstanding the wild character of the scenery. Indeed we met with more traffic on the moun tain, than on any other part of our road within an equal distance; and we could hardly believe that we had really passed that dreaded barrier, which had for so many cen. turies been the terror of those who were obliged to cross it. The most magnificent section of the mountain is that which overhangs the plain of St. Nicholas: the rocks rise so perpendicularly, and with such aspiring loftiness, that in