The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-11-21
ChillOn

4 correspondent OF the -Ne,cJ nm.
%. II. Burchard} travelling III Switzer-
land writes
Taking the moraiHg boat from Lau-
sane up the lahr. III an hour w are
landed at a station. a mlle from the
castle OF iHliipn. whose White walls.
rising apparently from TIE very water.
had been in sight for some time. \
pleasant walk along a we'll made car,
rage way at the foot of the vine clad
hills brings US to the bridge which
crosses the moat. over the entrance
to the castle We see engraved IN Ger
man. the strange mo to for a prison.
MAY God bless all who come III and
90 out As oon as We are within
the walls we seek the dungeons which
have been clothed with such a melan-
choly interest by Byron's poem, The
Prisoner OF Chillon.
Two or three underground rooms
must be passed through before reach
ing the main dungeon. In one ofthese
is a blackened beam on which prison.
ers were sometimes executed another
has a narrow. obscure stairway which
communicates with the council cham
Der above, and IN q third is a huge fiat
rock on which the condemned We're
said to pass their lat night. Going
through a low double doorway, with
the remnant If a great IRON door yet
hanging by its rusty hinges, we come
into a large, dimly lighted dungeon
where.
There are seven pillars II gothic mold
And III each pillar there is a ring.
Ana IL each ring there i 4 chain
The column t. which BOnivard is SAID
u nave been chained yet has a mas
sive. rusted, iron ring fastened to it.
The deep circular paths worn in tie
rocks around each of these pillars tells
of the years of anguish which have
rolled over the unhappy prisoners who
ave been here confined. The sur
rounding are literally as Byron gives
them. and we can almost see the Wild
eyed prisoner Juggling to break his
chain that he may reach the body OF
his dead brother. Among the Eun-
dredS of names inscribed on the pillars
we find Byron Sue. Geo. Sand and
! Victor Hugo With an involuntary
| shudder we leave the dungeons which
are so suggestive of suffering and
death and 90 through the apartments
above. In the center of is q great
wooden pillar to which the victims
were fastened and tortured, and marks
of the fire are 1T it vt. Not far from
here is a deep. dark We'll or pit, open
ing into the waters Of the lake down
which the executed were thrown. and
where the condemned were frequent
" cast alive. The whole place seemed
rocking with murder and We We're glad
to get out OF it where we could ;ook
over the battlements into the deep
water beneath. Looking out upon the
lake we see the little island with the
three trees which Byron mentioned.
/ And then there was a little isle,
Which in my very face did smile.
The only one III view"
The castle Of Chillon in Itself con-
siderel is worthy but little attention.
and were it not that it has been inn
mortaliZed by the genius of Byron, it
would be comparatively unknown 10
English speaking people. 1t is a mis-
take to think that ByrOn's PRISONER
is the B0nivard who was SO long inn
prisOned there by the Duke Of Savoy.
and yet we a but say:
"Chillon, thy prison is a holy place,
And thy sad floor and altar-fcr twas trod
Until his very steps have left a trace
Worn, as il thy cold pavement We're q sod.
BY Downward May none those marks efface,
For they appeal from tyranny to God"
If in this connection the reader will
turn TO the third canto OF "CHtlde
Hdr0lds P~lyrimdge," he Will find
abundant description of all this Lake
Geneva region.