Bern.
Bern is a regular well-built town, with some air of magnificence. The
houses are of a fine white free-stone, and pretty uniform, particularly
in the principal street, where they are all exactly of the same height.
There are piazzas on each side, with a walk, raised four feet above the
level of the street, very commodious in wet weather.
A small branch of the Aar has been turned into this street, and being
confined to a narrow channel in the middle, which has a considerable
slope, it runs with great rapidity; and, without being a disagreeable
object of itself, is of great service in keeping the street clean.
Another circumstance contributes to render this one of the most cleanly
towns in Europe:—Criminals are employed in removing rubbish from the
streets and public walks. The more atrocious delinquents are chained to
waggons, while those who are condemned for smaller crimes, are employed
in sweeping the light rubbish into the rivulet, and throwing the heavier
into the carts or waggons, which their more criminal companions are
obliged to push or draw along.
These wretches have collars of iron fixed around their necks, with
a projecting handle in the form of a hook to each, by which, on the
slightest offence or mutiny, they may be seized, and are entirely at
the command of the guard, whose duty it is to see them perform their
work.—People of both sexes are condemned to this labour for months,
years, or for life, according to the nature of their crimes.
It is alleged, that over and above the deterring from crimes, which is
effected by this, in common with the other methods of punishing, there
is the additional advantage, of obliging the criminal to repair by his
labour the injury which he has done to the community.
I suspect, however, that this advantage is overbalanced by the
bad effects of habituating people to behold the misery of their
fellow-creatures, which I imagine gradually hardens the hearts of
the spectators, and renders them less susceptible of the emotions of
compassion and pity;—feelings, which, perhaps of all others, have the
best influence upon, and are the most becoming, human nature. Juvenal
says,
—— mollissima corda
Humano generi dare se natura fatetur,
Quæ lachrymas dedit: hæc nostri pars optima sensûs.
Wherever public executions and punishments are frequent, the common
people have been observed to acquire a greater degree of insensibility,
and cruelty of disposition, than in places where such scenes seldom
occur.—I remember, while I was at Geneva, where executions are very
rare, a young man was condemned to be hanged for murder, and there was a
general gloom and uneasiness evident in every society for several days
before and after the execution.
The public buildings at Bern, as the hospital, the granary, the
guard-house, the arsenal, and the churches, are magnificent. There is a
very elegant building just completed, with accommodations for many public
amusements, such as balls, concerts, and theatrical entertainments. There
are also apartments for private societies and assemblies. It was built by
a voluntary subscription among the nobility; and no societies, but of
the patrician order, are allowed there.
Theatrical entertainments are seldom permitted at Bern; none have as yet
been performed at this new theatre.
The walk by the great church was formerly the only public walk, and
much admired on account of the view from it, and the peculiarity of
its situation, being on a level with the streets on one side, and some
hundred feet of perpendicular height above them on the other. But there
is now another public walk, at some distance without the town, which has
been lately made upon a high bank by the side of the Aar, and is the most
magnificent I ever saw belonging to this or any other town. From it there
is a commanding view of the river, the town of Bern, the country about
it, and the Glaciers of Switzerland.
I have visited the library, where, besides the books, there are a few
antiques, and some other curiosities. The small figure of the priest
pouring wine between the horns of a bull, is valuable only because it
illustrates a passage in Virgil, and has been mentioned by Addison.
An addition was lately made to this library by a collection of English
books, magnificently bound, which were sent as a present by an English
gentleman; who, though he has thought proper to conceal his name, has
sufficiently discovered his political principles by the nature of the
collection, amongst which, I distinguished Milton’s works, particularly
his prose writings; Algernon Sidney on Government, Locke, Ludlow’s
Memoirs, Gordon’s translation of Tacitus, Addison’s works, particularly
The Freeholder; Marvel’s works, Steel’s, &c. They were the largest and
finest editions, and might be about the value of 200l.—This gentleman
made a present of the same nature to the public library at Geneva.
I happened to open the Glasgow edition of Homer, which I saw here, on
a blank page of which was an address in Latin to the Corsican General,
Paoli, signed James Boswell. This very elegant book had been sent, I
suppose, as a present from Mr. Boswell to his friend the General; and,
when that unfortunate chief was obliged to abandon his country, fell,
with other of his effects, into the hands of the Swiss officer in the
French service, who made a present of the Homer to this library.
The arsenal I could not have omitted seeing had I been so inclined, as
the Bernois value themselves on the trophies contained in it, and upon
the quantity, good condition, and arrangement of the arms.
Nothing interested me so much as the figures of the brave Switzers,
who first took arms against tyranny, and that of William Tell, who is
represented aiming at the apple on his son’s head. I contemplated this
with an emotion which was created by the circumstances of the story,
not by the workmanship; for, at that moment, I should have beheld with
neglect the most exquisite statue that ever was formed of Augustus Cæsar.
Surely no characters have so just a claim to the admiration and gratitude
of posterity, as those who have freed their countrymen from the
capricious insolence of tyrants: And whether all the incidents of Tell’s
story be true or fabulous, the men (whoever they were) who roused and
incited their fellow-citizens to throw off the Austrian yoke, deserve
to be regarded as patriots, having undoubtedly been actuated by that
principle, so dear to every generous heart, the spirit of independence,
“Who with the gen’rous rustics fate,
“On Uri’s rock, in close divan,
“And wing’d that arrow sure as fate,
“Which ascertain’d the sacred rights of man.”
Mr. Addison observes, that there is no great pleasure in visiting
arsenals, merely to see a repetition of these magazines of war; yet it is
worth while, as it gives an idea of the force of a state, and serves to
fix in the mind the most considerable parts of its history.
The arms taken from the Burgundians, in the various battles which
established the liberty of Switzerland, are displayed here; also the
figure of the General of Bern, who, in the year 1536, conquered the Pays
de Vaud from Charles III. Duke of Savoy:—And, if they have no trophies
to shew of a later date, I am convinced it is because they are too poor
and too wise to aim at any extension of dominion:—And because all the
neighbouring powers are at length become sensible, that the nature of
their country, and their personal valour, have rendered the Swiss as
unconquerable, as, from political considerations, they are averse to
attempt conquests.