Of a proud, brotherly, and civic band,
All unbought champions in no princely cause
Of vice entail'd Corruption; they no land
Doom'd to bewail the blasphemy of laws

Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause."

LAKE NEUCHATEL.

High intervening ridges make narrow peninsulas separating Lake Morat from Lake Neuchâtel to the westward, into which the former discharges. At the base of the long range of the Jura, bounding the northwestern horizon, spreads the wide Lake Neuchâtel, stretching twenty-five miles from the southwest toward the northeast, its fertile borders being a prolific vineyard and pasture land. This was the Roman Lacus Eburodunensis, and adjoining its shores are the noted lake dwellings of La Tène at Marin, near its northeastern outlet, the relics of a civilization prior to the days of Rome.

The Canton of Neuchâtel came into the Swiss Confederation in the first half of the nineteenth century, and its capital, the town of Neuchâtel, is in a charming situation on the slopes of the Jura, spreading broadly upon the northwestern shore of the lake. An attractive quay and tree-planted promenade front it for over a mile along the edge of the water, and near the centre is the little harbor, almost enclosed by protecting piers. A monument commemorates the accession of the Canton to Switzerland, and from the promenade there is a superb outlook across the

lake at the distant Alpine ranges. Back on the hill is the "Neu Châtel"-the ancient, but recently restored château, dating from the twelfth century, which is now the Cantonal Capitol. Adjacent is the old Abbey Church, with its fine monument, a fourteenth century erection to the Counts of Neuchâtel. A statue in front represents Farel, the reformer of the sixteenth century, and there are pleasant adjoining cloisters, relics of the bygone era. The Museum of Art and Antiquities has valuable collections, with much that illustrates watchmaking, the leading manufacture of the Canton. An Observatory, on a height above the town, has been erected for the watchmakers' benefit, having telegraphic communication with Chaux de Fonds, the great watchmaking village about eighteen miles northwest, among the spurs of the Jura, at nearly thirty-three hundred feet elevation. Here are handsome streets and buildings, and over thirty thousand people, who say they are proud to know that they live in "the largest village of Europe." Another important watchmaking settlement, though with smaller population, is Le Locle. This industry, in both places, was founded by M. Richard, who died in 1741, his bronze statue being erected opposite the Watchmakers' School of Le Locle. Southwest from Neuchâtel, the pretty little river Reuse flows through the Val de Travers, and here at the village of Môtiers on May 28, 1807, Louis Agassiz was born.

Lake Neuchâtel discharges through the canal of

Zihl, northeastward into the smaller Lake Bienne, which is substantially a prolongation, stretching for ten miles. The latter in turn discharges through the river Zihl into the Aar, which having come out from the south by a great western curve, now turns northeast seeking the Rhine. At the foot of the lake is the old town of Bienne, also a prolific maker of watches. The Aar flows through a picturesque valley in the Canton Soleure, which entered the Confederation in the fifteenth century. It passes the ancient town of Soleure, the Roman Salodurum, claiming to be after Treves, the oldest city north of the Alps. Here are a Cathedral, and an Arsenal, with collections of ancient weapons and armor, including the shield of Philip the Good of Burgundy. Its oldest and most treasured building is the curious Clock Tower, said to be a Burgundian structure of the fifth century, but by some claimed to have been erected as early as 400 B. C. This tower has a Latin inscription relating the great antiquity of the town. Thaddeus Kosciuszko died here in 1817. There are magnificent views from the Weissenstein and other high hills, enclosing the deep valley of the Aar.

Farther down the river is Aarburg, its original castle now being devoted to the practical uses of a factory. Northeastward and still farther down is Aarau, the capital of Canton Argau, the houses. spreading along the river bank at the bases of the Jura foothills. Here lived the Swiss historian Zschokke, whose house is pointed out and his bronze

statue adorns the village. Below, the mountain spurs closely approach the Aar, and there are sulphur and other baths at the base of the high Wülpelsberg. On top of the eminence are the ruins of the famous castle of Hapsburg, where the Imperial family of Austria had its origin. The castle was built by Count Radbod in the early eleventh century, and from the summit, the view includes the entire ancient domain of these Counts, extending over the valleys of the Aar, and of the Reuss and the Limmat, its tributaries, flowing down from the outlying spurs of the higher Alps of the Bernese Oberland at the southeastern and southern horizon. The ruins chiefly are a tower with thick walls, including the room occupied by the noted Count Rudolph of Hapsburg. Farther down the Aar at Brugg, died Pestalozzi, the noted Swiss educator of the early nineteenth century who did so much to develop the modern school system. The town displays near the river, the restored Schwarze Thurm, an ancient Roman construction; and in the suburbs is the Abbey of Königsfelden, founded in the fourteenth century on the spot where Albert of Austria was murdered in 1308 by John of Swabia. His widow, Elizabeth, and daughter, Agnes, were the builders, but only part of the original construction remains. It has been greatly enlarged, for its modern occupation by a lunatic asylum. The Abbey church once was the place of interment of princes of the House of Austria, but the tombs are empty. Nearby, the Reuss joins the Aar, and on the

peninsula between them, anciently stood the Helvetian town of Vindonissa, which was destroyed in the fifth century. Recent excavations here, have disclosed various Roman and even more ancient remains, including the foundation walls of a large amphitheatre. The Aar receives the Limmat to the northward, and then soon joins the Rhine.

THE CANTON BERN.

Upon the northern verge of the Aar valley at Soleure, the high enclosing ridge, as we have seen, culminates in the eminence of the Weissenstein, rising over forty-two hundred feet. The people climb up here to enjoy the grand view given of the Plains of Switzerland, the distant Bernese Oberland, and the whole Alpine chain from the far eastern Tyrol to the crowning summit of Mont Blanc to the southward. As one stands on this point of noble outlook, on either hand the long pine-clad ridge stretches to the northcast and southwest. In front is the deeply carved river valley, the Aar winding through the fertile plains from the south, while to the southwest, glint the silver waters of the lakes Bienne, Morat and Neuchâtel. There is a broad stretch of lowlands beyond, with undulating surface of verdure, grain fields and gardens, pasture and woodlands, having a confused mass of hills behind them, rising into flattened tops, and then the loftier mountain waves, with range after range of higher summits and steeper slopes.