silver line, the dip of the oar, and dash of the prow, are suddenly brought to light, till another stroke from the rowers carries them past the bright line of demarcation, and the sound fades away upon the ear. And now The scene invites--launch forth upon the tide, Among many delightful excursions made during a summer's residence in a little villa opposite the gardens at the junction of the Limmat and Sihl, there are few to which we revert with more pleasure than to those made to the castle of Manneck. Here, according to tradition, Roger Manès, the "generous and brave," entertained the sons of chivalry and song, and by his hearty hospitality opened a fresh Hippocrène to the troubadours of the Rhine. The view from this point is charming; a small solitary and romantic spot, watered by a fountain, seems as if consecrated to the memory of the gallant knight; and, although but a wreck, enough of the castle yet remains to keep alive a feeling of romance in its favour. Nature has not grown old; the scene on which they so often dwelt with poetic fervour, seems ever in its prime, and ever attracting new admiration. But when we ask, where is the good Roger Manès, and where his guests? an echo answers, "Where?" And so it is with nearly all the proud and lordly castles which once, to the number of twenty-one, encircled the lake of Zurich. Their fate illustrates the axiom, that at every step towards freedom, a feudal tower falls to the ground. But as our limits do not permit our entering upon the numerous and highly interesting epochs in which the town and canton of Zurich have shone so conspicuous, we must refer our readers to works more purely historical, and now proceed to select a few of the more prominent features on the AAR. AARGAU, BÂLE, AND SOLEURE. Tantôt sur un gazon, tantôt sous un vieux chêne Au doux chant des oiseaux, au bruit d'une fontaine, Il cherche le repos-s'assied-rêve--et s'endort.-ANDRIEUX. THE canton of Aargau, raised to the condition of an independent state in 1798, and holding the fifteenth rank in the Confederation, is one of the largest and CANTON OF AARGAU, OR ARGOVIE. 39 most productive territories in Switzerland. The inhabitants, about one hundred and fifty thousand, are divided into two hundred and seventy-six communes, twelve of which are small towns, and consist of Protestants and Catholics, of whom the former have a majority of about ten thousand, and nearly one thousand eight hundred Jews, who inhabit the villages of Endigen and Lengnau. The people are all of German extraction, laborious in their habits, but much swayed by ancient prejudices, and tinctured with superstition. The natural fertility of the soil, and mildness of climate, are highly favourable to the pursuits of agriculture, by which they are enabled to send considerable quantities of wheat to market. The system of irrigation here adopted, is uncommonly successful. The vine is extensively cultivated, and affords a wine of superior quality—particularly in the neighbourhoods of Baden and Schintznach. Fruit and vegetables are also abundant, cheap, and in great variety. The manufacture of silk and cotton, working of the iron mines, with the navigation and fishing on the Aar and Rhine, are the principal sources of employment for those of the population who are not engaged in the farms. At Arau, Zofingen, Lenzbourg, and the adjoining valleys, extensive factories have been established, at which numerous hands find constant employment. In the interior, commercial intercourse is greatly facilitated by excellent roads, and fairs regularly held at stated times and places; that at Zurzach, is one of the most commercial and best attended in Switzerland. Arau, the capital, is divided into eleven districts, and forty-eight circles. No distinctive privileges are recognized: the chief council, vested with sovereign power, and consisting of Protestants and Catholics, in equal proportion, is composed chiefly of the representatives elected by the people. Only a third of the members are elected by the council itself, which has the privilege of choosing from its own number a president, with the title of burgomaster. The lesser council, with executive power, and the court of appeal, are each composed of thirteen members. Every district is under the magisterial authority of a prefect, appointed by government; and every circle, under that of a justice of the peace. The public revenues-upwards of a million and a half of francs, are nearly exhausted by the annual expenditure, but promise to become much more considerable.* The reformed clergy, under the direction of an ecclesiastical court, are divided into two deaneries, and forty-eight curacies. The Catholic clergy, hitherto The contingents, as fixed for this canton, in the event of war, are two thousand four hundred and ten men; and fifty-two thousand two hundred and twelve francs, of the country. The colours of the canton are, bright blue, and black. comprised within the dioceses of Constance and Bâle, count three chapters of canons, the rich abbeys of Muri and Wettingen, and various other convents. The principal school of the canton is admirably adapted for public instruction. Another, on the same plan, for girls, is established at Olsberg; and the common parish schools are every where conducted on a good principle. The Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge among the people, has contributed a good deal to that desirable object. The town and canton contain various societies for instruction and amusement; among which may be mentioned, the Theological, the Medical, the Musical, &c. The Baths of Baden and Schintznach, both much frequented during the season, are sources of considerable profit to the canton. Those of Baden are of very ancient celebrity, the most frequented in Switzerland, and were known and appreciated by the Romans as the Helvetian thermæ, or Aquæ Verbigenæ. The springs are very numerous, and are observed bubbling up through the bed of the river. The water is sulphureous, and maintains a temperature of 37 to 38° of Réaumur. It is conjectured, with much probability, that this high temperature, and the mineral qualities with which it is charged, are owing to the formation of gypsum and marl from the Legenberg, which is covered with beds of limestone. The principal baths, fitted for the reception of the higher class of visitors, are on the left bank of the river; those for the public, on the opposite side. The season begins in June, and continues till the end of September, during which period the town is refreshed by a constant influx of visitors from the adjoining cantons, and Swabian side of the Rhine. One of the hotels, the Stadthof, contains upwards of forty baths, with every other accommodation in proportion. The other hotels have each their peculiar attractions, suited to the taste and pecuniary means of the guests, but all comfortable, and, according to our own experience, moderate in their charges. Each contains a certain number of private baths for the use of its inmates. These thermal waters are found to be of great use in rheumatic affections, and enjoy the accumulated testimony of ages in their favour. Many cases of long standing and great severity, are every season advancing fresh evidence in their favour, and attracting fresh votaries to this graceful and picturesque locality. At the commencement of the fifteenth century, during the sittings of the great council of Constance, where upwards of one hundred thousand strangers were assembled, these baths were much frequented, and are described in a letter by Poggio, a distinguished writer of the time and holding a conspicuous station at the council. BADEN. BATHS OF SCHINTZNACH. 41 The town of Baden is of great local and historical interest. It was strongly fortified by the Romans; and, during the middle ages, its ancient castle became celebrated as the Rock of Baden. Here, the emperor Albert denounced vengeance against the confederates who had shaken off his yoke; and here were concerted the battles of Morgarten and Sempach. In 1415, when Duke Frederick of Austria was put under ban of the empire, and a crusade preached against him, the Swiss took advantage of this circumstance and reduced this lair of the "wounded lion" to ashes. About the middle of the seventeenth century, the municipal government reconstructed the fortifications at great expense, but which, after a short siege in 1712, were again demolished by the troops of Zurich and Berne. Two years later a congress of European powers met here, and continued its sittings from the 26th of May, till the 7th of September; when the long war of the succession in Spain terminated in a peace between Austria and France, which was proclaimed from the town house, in presence of Prince Eugene and Marshal Villars. Numerous medals and other antiquities, illustrative of this as a Roman station, have been found from time to time in the town and neighbourhood-particularly a quantity of dice, on which, no doubt, the sentinels of the "Castellum Thermarum" had risked many a day's pay. During the fine season, the place is enlivened by a corps dramatique; balls, concerts, and excursions in the neighbourhood, afford constant amusement to the visitors, so that the Swiss Baden may vie, in many respects, with its attractive rival, the Baden of the Grand Duchy. The Baths of Schintznach, on the Aar, have long enjoyed a celebrity little inferior to the preceding. They are also thermal springs, but from 10° to 12° lower in temperature than those named. The water is perfectly limpid at its source, but soon deposits a thick sediment on being allowed to stand exposed to the atmosphere. Every thing that contributes to the comfort and convenience of invalids, is here managed with the greatest attention: the apartments are airy, and kept with great neatness; the table served with every luxury, and the surrounding country particularly suited for exercise. Long shady avenues, when the weather is fine, and commodious porticoes, or open galleries, when less inviting, offer abundant resources to the invalid: while the neighbouring country presents innumerable attractions for the cavalier and pedestrian-such as the ruins of Hapsburg, Brugg, Königsfelden, Windisch, Baden, Wildeck, Lenzburg, and Aarau. "How often," says Zimmerman, " has this magnificent valley, overlooked by the ruins of Hapsburg, afforded me pure and unspeakable delight!" Here, the hills crowned with variegated woods, and undulating with verdure; there, the impetuous Aar, rolling his torrent from the Alps-now a vast basin in the valley-then rushing precipitately over contracting rocks, and pouring his fertilizing flood through the expanded plain. On the opposite side, the Reuss, and, lower down, the Limmat, bring each their tributary waves to swell the magnificent torrent of the Aar. In the centre of this verdant scene rises the imperial sepulchre of Albert I., where many princes of the house of Austria with their retinue of nobles-a splendid death-roll-were sent to slumber by the victorious Swiss in their struggles for independence. In the distance, we discover the valley where the once flourishing Vindonissa* cherished her Roman colonies, and her Roman pomp and luxury; and where the traveller may now indulge in pathetic meditation on the perishable nature of man, and the dream-like duration of his proudest works. Beyond this magnificent country, and crowning the mountain crests, mouldering fortresses and castles-all famous in their day-recall innumerable incidents in history. Each has its dark domestic record, its heroic deeds, its fêtes, and tournaments, and sieges, to detain the stranger, and excite his imagination. Farther still, the sublime summits of the Alps take possession of the scene, and strike the eye with the boldest images of eternity. Brugg is illustrious as the birth-place of Zimmerman, and the field of his early practice. Here, while expatiating in glowing terms upon the magnificent panorama by which he was surrounded, " still," says he, "my eyes were instinctively cast down into the deep valley, and continually wandering to the little village where I first drew breath." It has often shared in the triumphs and suffered in the misfortunes of war. In the middle of the fifteenth century, when Falkenstein, landgrave of Sisgau, had failed in his plot of burning the town of Aarau, he rode with some noblemen of his party through the town of Brugg, giving out among the inhabitants that they came from the camp. before Zurich, and were on their way to fetch the bishop of Bâle, for the • The present Windisch, the town of Brugg, and two other villages, now occupy part of the vast area of this once magnificent city, which, in extent, population, religious architecture, and luxurious embellishments, must have exceeded all the other Roman settlements in Helvetia. Even Aventicum, though in the day of its prosperity ten times the size of the present Avenche-and the imperial Augusta Rauracorum -the present Augst-judging from existing documents, must have been very secondary to Vindonissa in all that evinced the power and civilizing influence of a Roman colony. The vestiges of the amphitheatre, and other public buildings, prisons, or barracks, are still perceptible. Its vast fortifications extended from the castle of Baden to the borders of the Rhine, and were garrisoned by the eleventh and twenty-first legions. Statues of all the principal Roman divinities, in gold and silver, have been found at various periods, with innumerable other relics of the Cæsars, of whom Vespasian contributed largely to the embel Jishment of the city. Many discoveries might yet be made in the same place; but the modern structures are a great impediment to the antiquary, who values an old medal more than a new mansion. |