Lausanne

Foreign Correapondenctí oí the Argus. Lausannk, Dec. 3d. Could the reader of the Argus blot out distanee, annihilate old oooan, and transport corpus witb the celerity of thought, he might take a peep now at Lausanne, and he tnight see Some things new, and some things old, Some things warm. and some things cold, ííere his ideal of elevation, There a picture of degradatiQn. M.y rhyme, mixed and laughabla as it is, iljustrates wellthe character of Lausanne. Here is a strange conglomeration of old buildings, dirty and gloomy, aud of modern structures, maseivo and beautifut ; of charming avenues, (few in number) wide and lovel ; and dismal nies, (numerous indeed) crooked and narrow ; of situations, high and commanding as well as thoso lovv and unattractive ; of ancient style and modern reform. It has some fiue private residences and grounds in its suburbs, but alas! generally ehut out from view by the high stonö fences which surrpund tbem. By the way, these fences aro an RStitntion of the Old World which has not been ye$ tranaplanted to the Jïéw. The Engliahman seerns indeed to regard his home as hiscastle, and lic is determined it shall meet no attacks from outside eyes. So he builds bis high wülls of brick and slone, looking the very semblanpa of prison walls, and shuts in his domain from foreign guzs. At the grand entranee alune can a peep be propúrefl of the little Eden that lies v. ithiu. There the flower blnotns anc wast erf, unseen by the world without the grass puts on its glorious dress foi none but his lordship'a eye, and the winding walks, aud jetting fountains and charming fredges lead a eecludec life. And so it is in Franee, and,so i is in gwitperlaad. I can understand why hg Engli=,b lord, proud of bis blood and his posi tion, and with a feeling of caste as great as a Hindoo, should desire to have his estáte secluded from vulgar gaze ; and likewise why the Freneh aristocrat should fcel the same, but why this exists in Svvitzerland, wllieh recognizes eauality in man, and where a man, though poor, is " a man for a' that," and has a right, at least, to' see the works oí God, I cannot imagine. America, I like thy custom better. - Whatever of beauty thou hast is open tp all, and with theo the flowers and Nature's gifts stnile ia their scasn to make glad the heart of the poor as well as ol the lieh. Nature has done more for Ljijjsaiuio tkun man. The town commands u fine view of Lake Lymap, which lits a niile off, and far beneath it. TIibd, too, the niour.tains, now cavered with winter's snows, appear as a background to a glorious panorama. Ab I stand and look upon the lake, and contrast its tuirrored surface with the rugged Alps that rise from its other side, my thoughts liasten back to the time when Byron walked along its shores, and breathed over the waves his pootje; voice. Bad, despondent, solitary as he was, he seemèd to fiud a friend in them to syinpathize with his sorrows. Hear him as ho talked to them: " Clear, placid Leman ! thy contrasted lake, With the wild world 1 dwelt in, is a thing Which warns me, with its stillness, tp foisake Earth's troubldd waters for a purei' spring. Once I loved Torn ocean's roar, but thy soft murmuring Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice reproved, That I with stern deJights should e'er have been so moved." Then again, as my eyd watiders to. where the mountaina " havo reared a throno," my thoughts rest upun another name who gathcred í'rom tl;c;.i inspiration. Wus it not the rcountaip crags and the mountaio air tbat uflanved the spirit of ïcl!, and made it beat to tho tune qí liborty ! To day is it abt the mountains that influence Swiss oharacter, and give power to tho Svviss arm whon raised for its country ? Great men have walked the street3 of Lausanne. I pass daily the Hotel Gibbon, a large, fine, stone structure, which stands upon what vas once the garden of the Historian Gibbon, in a suinmüi" houso oí which he conipleted, on the uiternoot) o the 27th of June 1787, his last line ol the Decline and Pall of the Roman umpire. When I go tp Ouchy, tho lake-port of Lausanne I see the Hotel Ancre, a pleasant ! but not elegant I101130, where Byron wrote, in two daye, his JVisoner of Chillón. Boside-s these who can teil how many other illustrious characters havo been hcre ? Setting uside thsso ' of raoaèr'n times, v.hñ q ho='. ■.:{ Cbev aliers and Knights, of priests and bishps have (hronged the castlo, or filled he oatbedral, whieh here stand as monumenta of the middle ages ! I ap)roach theso old mementoes of tiraea jone by with considerable avve. Great connecting links, as they are, between he dead Past and the lifing Present, ïow would thoy speak, had they a voícü, of the sights they have witnessed 1 War bas howled around them ; revolutions hare been born beneath tbeir gaze, and society has developed itself rom childjíood to manhood io their iresence. Thon, too, what tyranny, and crime, and sorrow have they seen ! Is it not well for the world that they can not speak ? And now, reader, it you desire to see scenary of Nature's bost workmnnship, come hither; if you would walk the Btreets made illustrious by great men, here is tho placo ; ií you care ought to observe Swias life and Swiss character Lasten across tho ocean, and I will welcome you, with an American weloome, to bcautiful Lausanne.