At One, The Family Assemble To Dinner Which Generally Consist Of
Soup, Bouilli, Entrees Of Fish, Flesh And Fowl, Entremets
Of
vegetables, a roti of butcher's meat, fowl or game, pastry and desert.
The wine of the country is drunk
At dinner as a table wine, and old wines
of the country or wines of foreign growth are handed round to each guest
during the desert. After dinner coffee and liqueurs are served. After an
hour's conversation or repose, promenades are proposed which occupy the
time till dusk. Music, cards or reading plays fill up the rest of the
evening, till supper is announced at nine o'clock, which is generally as
substantial as the dinner.
On taking leave of Mr. de T[reytorre]ns' family I walked to the banks of
the lake Neufchatel, having a stout fellow with me to carry my sac-de
nuit. On arrival at the lake I crossed over in a boat to Neufchatel, which
lies on the other side. I remained there the whole of the day. It is a very
pretty neat little city, in a romantic position. Its government is a
complete anomaly. Neufchatel forms a component part of the Helvetic
confederacy, and yet the inhabitants are vassals of the King of Prussia,
and the aristocracy are proud of this badge of servitude. The King of
Prussia however does not at all interfere with its internal government, and
his supremacy is in no other respects useful to him than in giving him a
slight revenue. French is the language spoken in the canton. There is a
marked distinction of rank all over Switzerland, except in Geneva, Vaud and
the small democratic cantons such as Zug and Schwytz, where it is merely
nominal. In short, tranquillity is the order of the day. Each rank respects
the privileges of the other and the peasant, however rich, is not at all
disposed to vary from his usual mode of life or to ape the noble; and
hence, tho' sumptuary laws are no longer in force, they continue so
virtually and the peasantry in all the German cantons adhere strictly to
the national costume.
BERN, 14 July.
I put myself in the diligence that plies between Neufchatel and Bern at
nine p.m., on the 12 July, and the following morning put up at the Crown
Inn in the city of Bern, in the Pays Allemand, whereas the French
cantons are termed the Pays Romand. Bern is a remarkably elegant city as
much so as any in Italy, and much cleaner withal. The streets are broad,
and in most of them are trottoirs under arcades. There are a great number
of book-sellers here, and the best editions of the German authors are to be
procured very cheap. Bern is situated on an eminence forming almost an
island as it were in the middle of the river Aar; steep ravines are on all
sides of it; and there is a bridge over the Aar to keep up the
communication; and as the borders of the island, on which the city stands,
are very steep, a zig-zag road, winding along the ravines, brings you to
the city gates.
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