The Journal of a Tour Through Switzerland and Italy (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1840. Excerpt: ... TRUE DEVOTION. 427 LETTER XIX. True Devotion.--Pastoral Labours of Felix Neff.--Valley of Chamouni.--Inns at Prieurg--The Album.--The Col de Balme--Swiss Solitudes.--Aiguille de Caton.--Fatal Accident to a Saxon Traveller.--The Tete Noire.--The loftiest Village in Switzerland.--The Valorsine.--The Mer de Glace.--Glacier of Bossons.--Mademoiselle Coutet Sallenche.--View of Mont Blanc Character of the Swiss. After the childish and sumptuous pageants of superstition, how beautiful to see God worshipped with the strength of the intellect as well as the devotion of the heart; to hear the hymn rising from the little rural church, on the grassy mound at the foot of the precipice, or beside the stream It will not, perhaps, be an intrusion, to introduce here one of those noble Swiss pastors, who are to be sought, not in the towns, 428. FELIX NEFF. but in the wilds of their land. Felix Neff was brought up in a village, under the care of his widowed mother; he has added one more to the number of distinguished men who have owed their first religious impressions to maternal watchfulness and affection. From a child he loved the glorious mountain scenery of his land, and the long rambles by the side of the torrent or the lake. With a book in his hand, he would climb the rock, and spend hours alone. With increasing years there grew within him an ardent spirit, an inquiring genius, to which was afterwards joined the burning desire to be useful to his generation. At sixteen, he published a "Treatise on the Culture of Trees," and entered, in the year 1815, into the military service of Geneva, in which he distinguished himself, till the religious tendency of his mind became so marked, that he was advised to quit the army and seek holy orders. After pursuing his theological ...