BOOKS.

POUR CONTINENTAL TOURS.* THE season has produced several books of Continental travel ; two of which, merely as travels, are of some account from the pe - culiarity of the district, or the nature of the scenery and the tra- veller. As autumnal or " vacation " trips, they have all a practical value, furnishing hints to the excursionning public, and serving as a companion and guide to those who may adopt either of the routes. Three out of the four also point the important travelling moral of having some definite object in view, even if it goes little further than the exploration of a district. To follow the plan of either excursionist, requires a disposition occasionally to put up with scant accommodation and hard fare : good legs and some power of endurance are needful in all cases. Sir John Forbes, indeed, in Sight-Seeing in Germany, rarely quits the line of rail- ways or public conveyances ; but then, he gets over so much around in so short a time, and "it's the pace that kills." The thousand miles of Captain Barclay's great match was not so much in itself—it was in the thousand hours.

The object of Mr. Weld's Vacation in Brittany was to investi- gate the antiquities, observe the manners, customs, and costumes, and explore the beauties of that wildprovince, little changed from the middle ages. Those who can rough it in humble quarters on humble fare make themselves at home with a hard primitive peasantry, walk where they cannot ride, take an interest in Celtic or medifeval antiquities as well as in medimval superstitions, and, like Mr. Weld, find a companion in their fishing-rod or their pencil, will do well to imitate his example, before railways, planned or in progress, civilize into characterless uniformity the ancient Armorica. The extensive Druidical remains of Carnao, and (from their situation) the more wonderful remains in the neighbouring Lac Maria-Ker and. the islands of what is called the Sea of Mor- bihan, will deeply interest the antiquary and impress any one. The quaint costumes, including the trunk hose (capacious breeches) of the men, and the caps of the women broader and bigger than those of Normandy, at once attract the eye by their form and excite the mind by association with the past. The medimval buildings of the principal towns, now frequently in the course of removal,will not only please the artist and connoisseur, but bring bodily before him the household life of a time when, luxuries and even commodities being few, men spent their means on lavish decoration. The deeply-indented sea-coast, with its numerous rocks and islets open to the full force of the Atlantic is more striking if less wild than the Western coast of Ireland. The richest parts of the country have a half old 'English character, with their smiling landscapes, flowing rivers, picturesque mills and other buildings, alternately tempting the angler and the artist. Fresher, and more interesting from the contrast, are the wild wastes and yet extensive forests where wolves and lesser beasts of prey find refuge, not as varieties, but as pests to the farmer and dangerous enemies to a single man. Even yet Romanism has not altogether driven out the superstitions of Pagan- ism ; the practices of the Church preserve medimval supersti- tions mingled -with mediaeval licence. The pardons are a sort of pilgrimage to local shrines, held at a particular time, when shoo- ution is procured on easier terms than in other places or at any other season. According to the reputation of the saint, is said to be the gathering of the devout ; but as business and pleasure are mixed with piety, it is probable that they are all pretty well at- tended, though the attendance at some may be fuller than at others. Mr. Weld was fortunate enough to be present at one of the most celebrated. The following extracts form but a small part of the religious holiday. "Nothing was more curious in this motley scene than the strange mix- ture of apparent godliness and positive worldliness. Prayers being over, drinking began, and, though the day was not far spent, many men were al- ready in a hopeless state of horizontal inebriety.. One peasant in this con- dition was espied by a set of young fellows evidently on the look-out for fun; a heap of stones near him suggested mischief. Quick as thought were his bragous filled with these ; then rousing the drunken boor, they bade him with fierce shouts get up. Vain most vain were his attempts ; for no sooner was he on his legs than, ballasted as he was he came to the ground with a run, and, after numerous attempts with no better result, it was lu- dicrous in the extreme to see him, when made aware of the weighty cause of his downfall, emptying his capacious bmgous of their stony contents.

"A little before three o'clock, a general move took place in the direction of the church, which in a few minutes became full to suffocation. This was

Imrsta, ory to the great event of the day, the procession of the relics. more loud than harmonious, were sung by the excited peasants within, and repeated by those without the church. The order of march was then arranged, and precisely at three o'clock the procession left the church. This was headed by a dozen bareheaded priests, wearing their robes and carrying breviaries, from which they sang scraps of Latin pray- ers: they were followed by about two hundred peasants, also bareheaded, bearing flags and banners, those representing St. Kerdevot and his miracu- lous deeds preceding the rest ; then came six girls, arrayed in white robes, lace and towers, supporting a kind of frame covered with satin ; in the centre of this, on a cushion, lay the relics of the saint and an image of the ubiquitous Virgin. The procession was closed by troops of peasants carry- ing lighted candles. Thrice singing loudly, they wound round the church, passing between serried ranks of spectators, who fell upon their knees when

• A Vacation in Brittany. By Charles Richard Weld, Author of" A Vaca- tion Tour in the United States and Canada." With Illustrations. Published by Chapman and Hall.

Wanderings among the High Alps. By Alfred Wills, of the Middle Tenspk, Barrister-at-law. Published by Bentley. On Poot through Tyrol sn the Summer qf 1855. By Waiter White, Author of " A Londoner's Walk to the Land's End." Published by Chapman and Hall.

&Of-Seeing is Germany and the Tyrol, in the Autumn of 1855. By Sir John .Forks, Author of" A Physician's Holiday," 4a. Published by Smith and Elder. the relics were in sight ; and then the procession passed round the meadow outside the line of tents. It was curious to mark the effeot which the die- of the holy relies had on the peasants, who were, to use leek's phrase, half-seas-over.' A moment before they might be seen surging through the crowd, but as the pious chant fell upon the ear and the procession drew nearer, religious awe seemed to obtain mastery over them : their steps be.. came steadier' and, doffing their huge hats, they stared with a half-crazed expression at the show, but, when the relics had passed, resumed their boisterous merriment."

Some of the business done was of a peculiar kind, affecting London heads and London ladies.

"Strolling through the scene my attention was attracted by a crowd round a half-ruined house. Wedging my way to the entrance, I saw a man standing in the middle of a room, armed with a formidable pair of scissors, with which he was clipping the hair from a girl's head with a rapidity anal dexterity bespeaking long practice. For not only was the operation per- formed with almost bewildering quickness, but when the girl was liberated her head assumed the appearance of having been shaved. There was great laughing among the peasants as she emerged from the house, leaving the long tresses in the hands of the hair-merchant ; who, after combing them carefully, wound them up in a wreath and placed them in a basket already nearly half-full of hair. For, as I heard., he had been driving a highly profitable trade all the day ; and girls were still coming in willing, and in some cases apparently eager, to exchange their fine che- velures—which would have been the glory of girls anywhere but in Brit- tany—for three poor little handkerchiefs of gaudy hues, scarcely worth a dozen sous. This terrible mutilation of one of woman's most beautiful gifts distressed me considerably at first; but when I beheld the perfect indiffer- ence of -the girls to the loss of their hair, and remembered how studiously they °conceal their tresses, my feelings underwent a change, and I looked at length upon the wholesale cropping. as rather amusing than otherwise. "Great was the apparent disappointment of girls whose tresses, although seemingly abundant and fine, did not come lit to the hair-merchant's stand- ard; but the fellow had so abundant a market that he was only disposed to buy when the goods were particularly choice. His profits too must have been great, as the average price of a good head of hair, when cleaned, is eleven shillings."

Extracts could readily be multiplied on most of the topics al- ready mentioned as characteristic of Brittany. Mr. Weld is a practised traveller and a practised writer, and. 2e has the art of describing as well as of seeing nature. Possibly he refers too much to books, not for illustration of local customs, with which a passing tourist can only make himself partially acquainted, or for merely local traditions, but for Vendean history, or for such things in the wars of France as our old friend Froissart chronicles. How- ever, A Vacation in Brittany is a fresh, informing, agreeable book, whether for those who would make ocular acquaintance with its peculiarities, soon probably to pass away, or for those who would more easily learn all about them in their chair at home.

Alpine wonders, Alpine prospects, and Alpine adventures, are the features of Mr. Wills's Wanderings in the Sigh Alps, mingled with travelling sketches and practical information for the mountain tourist. Like most good books, it is a work of time ; the author having devoted four years (1852-'55) if not a longer period to autumnal explorations in Switzerland and Piedmont, ix the easier expeditions accompanied by his wife. In 1852, he was caught on the Simplon route in the middle of September, in that deluge which produced such disastrous inundations in Switzer- land ; being himself luckily above their influence, though he wit- nessed their devastations. He and Mrs. Wills ascended to the Jardin, passing a night on the Mar de Glace ; and, sometimes alone, more generally in company, Mr. Wills has not only visited the customary wonders, but explored the seldom-trodden passes and recesses of the Alps. His great effort was the ascent of the Wetterhorn, in 1854, for the first time, as local tradition asserts and he thinks ; the few alleged instances referring, he conceives, to the sister (or brother) peaks. Be this as it may, it is a thrilling narrative from the time the real difficulties begin. The ascent is not so laborious as that of Mont Blanc ; for the height is not so great, the respective elevations being—Mont Blanc 15,732 feet, the Wetterhorn only 12,500 feet above the level of the sea. In point of difficulty there is no comparison ; and the danger seems fearful, except to a man of vigorous constitution, powerful muscles, and amazing nerve, all brought by train- ing to an almost superhuman degree. Besides the common difficulties from narrow paths, precipices, glaciers and the like, the adventurer must pass along a sort of wall. or ridge, where a rope placed by the guides slightly aids him on one side, and he supports himself on the other by passing his arm over the top, while the footing is so crumbling that every stepping.. place must be tested before it is trusted. When this is overcome, the peak or dome, consisting of ice thinly coated with snow, must be climbed in a zizzag direction ; every step cut, the ascent for a part of the way being at an angle of 450 and at the upper part between 60° and 70°. If the ascent was arduous, the descent was worse : in climbing, the party was connected by ropes ; in return- ing, they were dispensed with : it was the opinion of the most ex- perienced guides, not expressed till afterwards, that had one slipped it was impossible to save him, and he would. have dragged all the rest to destruction. The true top, crowned by an over- hanging cornice of ice through which they had to out their way, seemed to lead to another peak ; and just below it they saw a flag planted by an adventurer, who had there abandoned, his teak in despair when within an ace of success (so it was very nearly reached before Mr. Wills). The actual success, is not the part of the most breathless interest, but it is the most compact bit for ex- tract.

" Lanener had chosen his course well, and had worked up to the most ac- cessible int along the whole line, where a break in the series of icicles allowed to approach close to the icy parapet, and where the projecting

crest was narrowest and weakest. It was resolved to cut boldly into the ice, and endeavour to hew deep enough to get a sloping passage on to the . dome beyond. He stood close, not facing the parapet, but turned half round, and struck out as far away from himself as he could. A few strokes

of his powerful arm brought down the projecting crest, which, after rolling a few feet, fell headlong over the brink of the arete, and was out of sight in an instant. We all looked on in breathless anxiety ; for it depended' upon the success of this assault whether that impregnable fortress was to I be ours, or whether we were to return, slowly and sadly, foiled by its calm and massive strength.

"Suddenly, a startling cry of surprise and triumph rang through the air. A great block of ice bounded from the top of the parapet ; and before it had

well lighted on the glacier, Lauener exclaimed, ' Ich schaue den blauen hininiel I' (I see blue sky !) A thrill of astonishment and delight ran through our frames. Our enterprise had succeeded ! We were almost upon the actual summit. That wave above us, frozen, as it seemed, in the act of 1 falling over, into a strange and motionless magnificence, was the very peak I itself! Lauenees blows flew with redoubled energy. In a few minutes, practicable breach was made, through which he disappeared ; and in a mo- ment more the sound of his axe was heard behind the battlement under whose cover we stood. In his excitement he had forgotten us, and very soon the whole mass would have come crashing upon our heads. A loud shout of warning from Sampson, who now occupied the gap, was echoed by five other eager voices, and he turned his energies in a safer direction. It was not long before Lauener and Sampson together had widened the open- ing; and then, at length, we crept slowly on. As I took the last step, Bal- mat disappeared from my sight; my left shoulder grazed against the angle of the icy embrasure, while on the right the glacier fell abruptly away beneath me, towards an unknown and awful abyss ; a hand from an in- visible person grasped mine ; I stepped across, and had passed the ridge of the Wetterhorn !

"The instant before, I had been face to face with a blank wall of ice. One step and the eye took in a boundless expanse of crag and glacier, peak and precipice, mountain and valley, lake and plain. The whole world seemed to lie at my feet. The next moment I was almost appalled by the awfulness of our position. The side we had come up was steep ; but it was a gentle slope compared with that which now fell away front where I stood. A few yards of glittering ice at our feet, and then nothing between us and the green slopes of Grnidelwald, nine thousand 'feet beneath. I am not ashamed to own that I experienced, as this sublime and wonderful prospect burst upon my view, a profound and almost irrepressible emotion—an emo- tion which, if I may judge by the low ejaculations of surprise, followed by a long pause of breathless silence as each in turn stepped into the opening, was felt by others as well as myself. Balmat told me repeatedly, after- wards, that it was the most awful and startling moment he had known in the course of his long mountain experience. We felt as in the more imme- diate presence of Him who had reared this tremendous pinnacle, and be- neath the majestical roof' of whose deep blue heaven we stood, poised, as it seemed, half-way ay between the earth and sky."

Description will be found not only of .Alpine scenery, but of scenery under circumstances which give to it peculiar feature-or associations of awe,—as at dead midnight, very early dawn, and sunrise. Various phenomena of the Alps will be brought before the reader, and many passages of danger and adventure told with a quiet spirit. This book will form a valuable companion to the Swiss tourist, from the various mountain excursions it points out, and the useful information it furnishes. At the seine time, it is for general (not scientific) readers a various, fresh, and capital• picture of the Alps and Alpine adventures.

In point of mere composition, On Foot through Tyrol, in the Summer of 1855, is quite equal to any of the other tours, perhaps it surpasses them. Mr. White gives a graphic account of what he saw, how he fared, the pleasures he enjoyed, and the occasional hardships he underwent, on a pedestrian tour through the Tyrol, from the time he left London via. Harwich, last summer, till he returned by Dieppe, having "travelled more than two thousand miles, of which four hundred and twenty were on foot, and at a cost, including everything, of less than fourteen pounds " ! Such a man is a "guide, philosopher, and friend" worth having on a tour. It need not be said that the accommodations must be eco- nomical and the fare plain. Even then we can scarcely make it out, with the sixteen hundred miles of riding, especially as Mr. White, notwithstanding all his skill, was done at starting ; as he shall explain for the benefit of others, if the trick has not been abandoned.

"To vary my experiences, I took the route by Harwich and Antwerp, and paid 21. 08. 8d. for a second-class and saloon' ticket through.to Cologne.

"While buying my through ticket' in London' I had diligently in- quired as to the possibility of getting from Antwerp to Cologne by second- class on the day of arrival ; and was assured of a train starting at half-past two. True enough, there was the train, but all first-class ; and when I showed ray ticket, and repeated the assurances made to me by authority in London, the answer was, that I might pay ninety centimes and go on to Malines and wait there till half-past five for a second-class train to Cologne. I adopted the alternative ; and having two hours to spare on arrival at Malines, I strolled away to the town to see how the :conk were passing the Sunday. "But to the journey. I sought the station-master, and inquired why the terms published in London, to the effect that passengers purchasing through, tickets could proceed without delay, were not recognized in Belgium ? His answer was, No arrangement has been made for second-class passengers : the companies on your side know it; but they ship travellers over knowing they will have to shift for themselves.' Mine was not a solitary case ; he had complaints innumerable precisely similar. "I asked, Can second-class passengers get from Antwerp or Ostend to Cologne within the day ? '

No ; the train you arc waiting for goes no farther than Aix-la-Chapelle.' "My hopes for the next day were suddenly dashed ; but there was no help for it, except, as the station-master remarked, I chose to go on by a train that reached Aix about three in the morning.

"The train from Ostend came up I took mfplace, and found the com- partment nearly filled with Englishmen,. who were complaining as only Englishmen can about having been victimized. To have first-class pas- sengers monopolizing all the consideration in England was bad enough ; but to find the same thing after crossing the Channel was atrocious. Let others take warning by our fate."

It is of course only to few that a book accomplishing so great a distance with such a little outlay can be of much direct utility. The walk, not merely accompanied by muscular exertion, but in some cases by risk or danger on the higher passes of the Tyrolese mountains, cannot be proposed for general imitation. As a read- ing book, On Foot through Tyrol is not equal in attraction to the author's previous "Walk to the Land's-End." The English tehhearacteterrtherepuger interest todther-efwillidinganpderuhnfrea 5uenatendy tracks

that the route might be attainable by themserves. Both these points are wanting in the Tyrol ; and the mere occurrences of an itinerary, with continu.al descriptions of scenery, little relieved by incident, rather pall upon the attention.

The chief characteristic of Sight-Seeing in Germany and the Tyrol, by Sir John Forbes, is its utility as a guidebook to those who may feel inclined to follow the author in any part of his tour. From Air-la-Chapelle to Leipsic, Berlin, Dresden Prague, Vienna, and even as far as the Hungarian capital, the locomotive Doctor carries his reader bringing him back by way of part of the Tyrol, 'Ulm, Munich, and Nuremberg, the Franconian Switzerland, Frankfort, and Mayence. Besides these eminent cities, the tourist calls at all the lesser places of any note, makes an excursion from Dresden to the Saxon Switzerland, steams up and down the Danube, and notices the noticeable districts he passed through by daylight. Wherever he goes, he give an ac- count of what he saw, with his comments, superseding, we should think, for a person in a hurry, all necessity for a local guidebook. The rapidity of his journey,—for the Doctor did Germany, part of Hungary, and the Tyrol, including out and home, in two months, (August and Septem )er,)—and the very utility of his matter for those who wish to follow his steps, give something of a dry and lifeless character to his narrative. There is, however, occasional relief from the account of " sight-seeing " even in connexion with it ; as in this advice—Go to Dresden and Saxon Switzerland.

"Contemplating all the natural charms contained in this small district, [Saxon Switzerland,] and considering its propinquity to Dresden, so rich in the finest productions of art, I cannot help throwing out a suggestion to such of my Loudon readers as can command only the shortest of holidays, that nowhere within the limits of Europe could a fortnight be more de- lightfully spent than in a visit to these two treasure-stores of Nature and Art. Eight-and-forty, or at the very utmost sixty hours, will take the tra- veller from London to Dresden ; and the same length of time will bring him back, leaving eight days out of the fortnight to be devoted to sight-seeing-- say three to Dresden, five to Saxon Switzerland, and one to repose. The whole journey, with the exception of the short passage of five hours from Dover to Ostend, is by continuous railways, all cooperating with one an- other, and taking the following course—Ostend, Cologne, Cassel, Halle, Leipzig, Dresden.

It need hardly be added, that to a traveller making this excursion who has a week or two more at his disposal, there will be ample opportunities of delightfully spending the extra time in visiting the many interesting cities through which the railway passes."