Daily Kennebec journal., 1880-05-01
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yards. 1t was delightful voyage. and the
scenery WAS CHARMING

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yards. 1t was delightful voyage and the
scenery was charming.
~Has the world Of trsyeI pCrer joy,
Then the rAmparrs grim Of old savoy,
As that day We sailed along and down them:
Peak upon peak. rising high. more high,
And some with their heads that reached the sky,
With stern Mont Blanc to crown them;
With Ju,a's sleeps on the other side
fthe lake with the wondrous placid tide,
And down the edge the green hills siopipg."
The boat landed US at little village. with
Pensions" and bathing houses in abundance.
The buildings belonging to the village. were
Tomantically scattered On the side Of the
neighboring hill, some high up towards the
summit, some on the slope. and others down
ny tho waters edge. For nearly the first
time in Europe, there appeared TO be room
enough to place the buildings without crowd
ing each other.
walk of mile or more brought us to the
castle. 1t is massive stone building, erect
ed 600 years ago, on a rock in the lake not
far from the shore. 1t is said there was a
castle here more than 1000 years since, but it
was destroyed, and the present one built.
Most castles stand on the summit Of hill or
mountain, or high up on an ACTIVITY; but
this is actually constructed in the water, and
only connected with the land by bridge. 1t
is Of solid granite, with thick walls, and ap-
PSHIs W nave Dtcu Jul Ittit duN'eSt " Vs.
lapse ofyears and centuries since its creation.
We visited many Of the rooms in the castle
which were formerly inhabited. The halls,
chapel, sleeping rooms, &C.. are quite well
preserved. The quaint old oaken carvings
overhead remain probably as they were
placed their more than 800 years ago. The
outlook from the chambers upon the lake,
the Alps and the Rhone, with all the diver
si6ed scenery, is very fine. Some Of the
rooms are now occupied as species Of arse
nal or store house for weapons OF war.
But the interest Of the traveller centers in
the dungeons, which are beneath the surface
Of the lake, but so strong and well built that
no water penetrates into them. The dark
and gloomy passages strike the visitor with
q chill, when he remembers that they lead to
prisons where men have been shut up from
all the enjovmcnts of human life. The
thick walls are pierced near the ceiling with
narrow loop-holes, by which little light is
admitted into these sad recesses. In the
principal dungeon are massive stone pillars,
to which 1t is said the prisoners were chained
An iron staple remains in one of these, be-
lieved to be the one where Francis B0nni-
ward, Swiss patriot, was bound for years,
for resisting the tyranny Of the duke OF
Savoy. He was ultimately delivered by the
forces Of the Bernesc and Genevesc. Byron
wrote the prisoner of Chillon," after visit
ing these dungeons. In his poem he de-
scribes
"Seven columns, massy and gray.
Dim with q dull imprisoned ray.
4 sunbeam which has lost its way,
And through the crevce and the cleft
Of the thick wall il fallen and left
We saw in this dungeon the name of Byron
chiselled in the rock, amongst those Of other
illustrious and unllustrious visitors.
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struments Of torture are no longer there.
The cell Also where it is alleged that con
demned prisoners spent there last night, on
bed of hard rock, but scarcely harder than
their jailers hearts. 4 well 200 feet deep is
shown, where it is told that prisoners lost
their lives by cruel deceit the room was
dark, and there were few stone steps down
the well, but all below was vacancy and
death.
Could we trace the history of Chil6n back
through the centuries, many a noble and in
nocent prisoner. as well as guilty ones, have
languished and suffered here. Truly this
castle is
"Filled with the mighty memories of yore:
And yet how mourniu are the echoes there
Captivity. and exile, and despair
When we reflect that usually it was not for
crimes that these prisoners were immured,
but for political offences, often for resisting
oppression, or contending for the rights of the
people, it increases our indignation and alb
horrence for the crueltics practised here, and
in other old feudal castles in those ages. Let
us thank God that those times of savage bar
barities have passed away; and that castles |
and dungeons like these are now objects only |
of curiosity. and lessons to teach us to love |
and prize liberty.
Another delightful voyage on the lake land
ed us at Ouchy, and this time we went up the |
hill to Lausanne by a local railway, rooted
over from end to end H.KB