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

the Rhone which has, within the rec
ord of man, brought down from the
vast quantities of earth
and stones making Port Valais, which
formerly stood on the margin of the
lake, mile and n half inland. The
Rhone here is dirty and turbid as the
Arve at its junction with the former
Upon the plain, at the mouth of
the valley of the Rhone, Divico, the
first Helvctian chief, departed b. c.
107, the Romans under Lucins Cas-
sius, Staying their general and com
polling his army to pass under the
yoke.
From Nilleneuve we walked to the
Hotel Byron, distant about mile on
the way to the Castle Chillon, and
charmingly situated about two hun
dred feet above the lake and under n
sheer precipice over thousand feet
high. The Hotel is large, clean and
very popular with English travellers.
Ordering n dinner TO be ready for us
in an hour we devoted that time to q
walk to and from the Castle, an ir-
regular, massive, picturesque strue-
ture and the attraction Of the lake.
1t was built in 1888 by Amedeus "
of Savoy, and was long used as State
prison, where among other victims,
many of the early reformers were i'm
INJURED When Byron, in the Prison
or of Chillon', described the suiferings
of an imaginary captive, he was not
acquainted with the history of the
real prisoner Downward prior of St.
Victor, who having rendered himself
obnoxious to the Duke of Savoy by
his exertions to free the Genevese
from the Savoyard yoke, was seized
by the Dukes emissaries and secretly
carried off and imprisoned in the Cas-
tie For six years he was buried in
its deepest dungeon on level with
the surface of the lake. The ring by
which he was attached to one of the
stone pillars still remains, and the
stone floor at its base is worn by his
constant passing to and fro. Byron
afterwards wrote among others the
following lines;
"Chillon thy prison is holy place,
And thy sad floors alter; for it was trod
Until his very stops have left trace,
Worn, as if the cold pavement were sod,
BY Downward May none those marks effacc
For they appeal from tyranny to God.
In 1886 the Swiss wrested the PAYS
de Vaud from the hands of Charles
", of Savoy. Chillon was the last
place which held out for him; but an
army of 1000 Bemese besieging it by
land while the Genevese galleys as
saulted it by water, soon compelled
it to surrender, and Downward, with
other captives, was set free. The
Castle is now converted into a maya
zine for military stores. The interior
of the building is very curious and
the Chapel is interesting. Extended
across one of the vaults is the jOofence,
a beam blackened by time, to which
the condemned were hung. The
oublieHe is also shown whose only
entrance was by trap-door in the
floor above. There is small spiral
staircase of three steps; the fourth
step was ut the bottom, so feet below.
The dungeon of Downward is by no
means so gloomy or disagreeable MS
one would imagine. 1t consists of
two aisles like the crypt OF church
its floor and one side are formed by
the living rock and it is lighted by
several windows through which the
suns light passes by reflection from
the surface of the lake, frequently
transmitting tint OF its waters.
About mile from Villeneuve lies a
small island, one of the three men
toned by Byron in the Prisoner of
Chillon.
"a small green isle, ii seemed no more,
Scarce broader than my dungeon floor;
But in it there were three tall trees"
The trees still stand but are far from
tall
Shortly after we had taken our
seats in the rail car, en- route for Gene
va, close along the north shore of the
lake, the sky effect surpassed any
thing / had ever before seen, and j
have seen magnificent sunsets in Yer
mont.
A heavy storm brewed and fell and
swept over the tops of the mountains
and along their slopes on the opposite
side of the lake, keeping pace with us
almost to Geneva, which we reached
soon after sunset; while on our side
of the lake the departing sun was on
ly occasionally obscured by the heavy
looking, white edged cloudmasse