The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-08-18

grave W llitttn NtulS, Hltcl WHICH III
may be opened for a fresh occupant,
but the right to retain it longer may
be bought at the rate of three hundred
francs for fifteen years or one thou
sand francs in pcrpetuity. Calvin s
power and influence over the people
was very great After he was elected
president of the Consistory the coun-
Gil assumed an authority more despot-
ic than that of the Bishops; it exer-
cised the power of an inquisition, to
examine into mems private lives and
into the affairs of families of whatever
rank. The sumptuary laws enacted by
Calvin were severe, but rigidly enforced
by the Consistory. They contained
such enactments as the following: A
dinner for ten persons was limited to
five dishes; flesh brushes were inter
dicted; violations of the Sabbath we're
followed by public admonition from
the pulpit, adultery is punished with
death; and the Gamester wac opposed
IN the pillory with a pack Of cards tied
round his neck
From Geneva emanated those relig-
ious doctrines from which Scotland
Holland and a large portion of France,
Germany, and Switzerland derive their
form of faith, and which were trans
ported by the Pilgrim Fathers to the
shores of the Atlantic There also
were sown those political opinions
which bore fruit in the English revo-
luton under Charles l., in the Ameri-
can and French revolutions.
Geneva in rainy weather, is not a
very interesting place 1t has no re-
markably fine public buildings, no h
ons, though dare say the tiger can
be fought, and the elephant found
there without much difficulty. The
Cathedral looms up and over the city
from every stand point. 1t has a fine
Corinthian portico on the outside
which Murray says "is a blemish' }
and its interior display an early, I'M
corrupted example Of the eleventh cen
fury Gothic 1t contains the monu-
ments OF Agrippa d'Aubigny and
Count Henri de Rohan, a leader Of
the French Protestants in the reign OF
Louis MIL A statue of plaster now
replaces one of marble destroyed at
the French Revolution The canopy
Of the pulpit is the same under which
Calvin preached. The Museum of
Natural History contains the geologi-
cal collection of Saussure, fossil plants
of Brongninrt, and Decaudolle and
the collection of Necker. 1t is chiefly
filed with native productions Of Swift
crland, and contains specimens of the
Chamois, of the Boquetin, the dog OF
St Bernard, of all the fishes of the
rivers and lakes Of the country, among
them n trout from lake Geneva,
weighing of-fish-ially stated, forty
three pounds There is a cabinet of
antiquities, some of them found near
by, such as metal buckle with fine
bas-relefs, discovered in the bed Of the
Arve, inscribed Largitas, Valentiniani
August, some instruments found near
the rocks of Neptune in the lake, etc.
There is geological Museum of the
Alps containing an interesting collec-
ton of all the wild animals of Switzer-
land, skilfully stuffed, scientifically
classified, and arranged in groups IL
Illustrating their mode of life, the care
they take of their young and their en-
counters with other animals. The
public library, founded by Calvin, in a
plain edifce, contains forty thousand
NoluultS uHi many 'NAiooitASS hblOii
are shown to those who desire to see
them; among them are 394 Ms. letters
of Calvin, almost illegible-and adj
dressed to Lady Jane Grey while a
prisoner in the Tower; forty-four vol
umes of his Ms. sermons between
l549 and 1860; twelve volumes of let
tiers addressed to him; many important
documents relating to the council OF
Basic; letters of Theodore Beza; the
/ Ms. of the Noble Lesson a work OF
the ancient Waldenses; part of the ac-
count book of the household of Philip
lie Bel for 1908, written with a style
upon waxed tablets, but now almost
effaced; the discourses of st. Angus
tine; MS. on papyrus of the 9TH cen
fury; letters of st. Vincent de Paul
Rousseau, &c, &c,
A model of the Alps, occupying
three-fourths of the floor of a room
twenty feet square, showing the eleya-
tons aud depressions Of the noun
tains and valleys, the color Of the