Paris Bible Society-Deaf and Dumb Institution-French Preachers-King's Almoner-Nobleman-Translation of Scott-Friends to whom Author was introduced- Baron de Sacy-Count D'Hauterive-Marquis de Jaucourt-Reflections on the whole Tour: 1. Su- preme Providence of God-2. Opposite Evils of Su- perstition and Infidelity-3. Scenes of Reformers' La- bours-Luther-Beza-Bucer-Ecolampadius-Bul- linger-Authenticity of 1 John v. 7, 8.4. Duty of advancing the Age of CHARITY-5. Importance of every Traveller being active-Advice to Invalids- Anecdotes-6. Gratitude to God-Revocation of the Edict of Nantes-Origin of Vaudois-Expulsion from LETTERS, &c. LETTER XII. Great St. Bernard, Sept. 6.—Brieg, Sept. 10, 1823. on Jardin of Mer de Glace-Forclaz-Bas Valais-Martigny- MY DEAR SISTER, Martigny, Bas Valais, Switzerland, I WAS quite mortified in sending you my last letter; it was written in such inexpressible hurries, and seemed to me, when I read it over, so sadly unconnected and incomplete. Indeed, this has been more or less the case with all my letters. I know, however, that your love will excuse the defects of my rapid accounts. I believe I did not tell you that the particular points of the Mer de Glace which we went to visit were the Couvercle and the Jardin, or garden. The Couvercle is an immensely high rock, to which you have no access but by crossing the sea of ice, as we did, and which, from its height and position, commands an unbroken view of Mont Blanc and eleven other Alps. From the Couvercle there is a twenty minutes' walk to the Jardin, which is a rock rising above the Mer de Glace. A slight stone enclosure marks out the garden, which is covered, during the brief summer, with verdure and flowers. The contrast with the snowy mantle concealing the face of nature all around, is very striking. This Jardin we did not reach: I really was overcome. There are eighteen immense glaciers, formed from the Mer de Glace, in different The English ravines, and thirty smaller ones. gentleman, whom I reported as having ascended Mont Blanc, returned safely: he accomplished the task in thirty-seven hours; but his fatigue was so great, that he was at last literally obliged to be pushed up by the guides. At the summit, a tremendous storm of snow and wind had nearly carried them all away; he remained there only five minutes, and could scarcely see any thing. His object was not science; but simply pleasure, or curiosity: he had made no preparation, had no instruments with him, and was unaccompanied by a single friend. Such exploits are regarded by every one as hazardous and useless, instead of being entitled to admiration. My old guide (who went up with De Saussure in 1786, and was named by him L'Oiseau) tells me the accident which occurred on Mont Blanc, as I have already mentioned, in 1820, arose, as he thinks, very much from the youth and inexperience of the guides: a whole day's rain and snow fell whilst the party was ascend ing, and made the peril of an avalanche almost certain. The oldest guide now at Chamouny is Balma, aged seventy-six, named, by De Saussure, "Mont Blanc." My friend and fellow-traveller's guide was the son of the Syndic, or chief magistrate of the village, which said Syndic we met, with a scythe on his shoulder, in primitive simplicity, going to mow, as we ascended Montanvert. The guides have seven, eight, or ten francs a-day; those who go up Mont Blanc thirty or forty francs a day, and sometimes much more. They also rear and keep the mules, which are worth twenty or twenty-four Louis each (from nineteen to twenty-three pounds). In fact, the whole apparatus of Chamouny is unequalled: there are twenty-four porters, for carrying ladies only. I suppose, during a good summer of four or five months, a guide may get eight or nine hundred francs (about thirty-six pounds), besides his food; some much more-which is almost a fortune in Savoy. In our journey to-day to Martigny, we observed perpetual fragments of rocks scattered every where in |