is employed in painting with her needle-if so it may be called, a portrait of William Tell, the beloved hero of her country. In the background is seen a village, with a little stream in front, and behind, an Alpine peak. The border is composed of various objects and scenes in the neighbourhood; a Swiss church, a stream with its bridge, a cottage under a rock, and the village of Büler, in the canton of Appenzell, from which this production was sent. The original was executed in black and white silk, on a neutralcoloured ground, also of silk, the various lights and shades being secured by a greater or lesser number of stitches.

The method of producing needlework pictures of this kind is very simple. The artist having provided a piece of white or light grey silk, the size of the engraving it is intended to copy, stitches it on a frame, and the picture is then worked upon it in the ordinary embroidery stitch. Of course the number, length, and variety of the stitches depend on the nature of the subject portrayed. Skies are produced by a series of long parallel stitches, attached to the background here and there, just to keep them tight. In some instances it is necessary to work one stitch over another, in order to obtain the requisite depth of colour. In trees, flowers, and similar objects, the radiation of the stitches requires peculiar care; and, in some parts of the work, it is necessary to make a number of short stitches cross and recross each other, in order to produce the appearance of what is called by engravers "cross-hatching." This kind of work is shown in the lower part of the girl's dress. The ornamental parts of the border are easily copied, and the ordinary needle alone is required for this kind of work. To such productions the name of "printwork" is given; and the quality of it is estimated entirely by the degree of difficulty involved in arranging the different lights and shades.

No knowledge of drawing is requisite in such works; all that is done-a process sometimes sufficiently tedious, however-is, to produce an exact fac simile of the selected engraving. Of course any variety of colours may be introduced; but the entire surface has to be rendered as flat as possible. In the eastern parts of Switzerland this kind of work is much pursued. Upwards of 3,500 females are employed in hand-embroidering, alone, in the canton of Neufchâtel; the principal part of the work being intended for exportation. When the specimen now referred to was exhibited, no fewer than forty-five manufacturers, from various parts of Switzerland, presented to view needle-work, embroidery pictures, worked handkerchiefs, sewed muslins, and similar productions of female industry and skill.

Vineyard husbandry is altogether a garden cultivation, in which manual labour, unassisted by any animal power, and scarcely even by the simplest mechanical con trivance, accomplishes all that is done. This, indeed, gives a character to all the husbandry of the Swiss; hand labour is applied to all crops, such as potatoes, Indian corn, and even common grain crops, more extensively, both in digging and clearing the land, than with us. It is not uncommon to find agricultural villages without a horse; and all cultivation done by the hand, especially where the chief article of husbandry is either dairy produce or that of the vineyard.

A few words may be added to the present chapter, on the amusements of the peasantry, one of which is of considerable, and the two others of very high antiquity. Among ourselves there was an ancient sport, called Kayles, also written Cayles and Keiles, derived from the French word quilles, which was played with pins, and no doubt gave rise to the modern game of nine-pins; and a favourite game in Switzerland is les quilles, a species of skittles on a large scale.

Throwing the discus, a circular plate of stone or metal, was one of the principa gymnastic exercises of the ancients, and practised even in the heroic age. The discus was ten or twelve inches in diameter, so as to reach above the middle of the forearm when held in the right hand. The object was to throw it from a fixed point to the

greatest distance; and in so doing each player had a friend to mark the point at which the discus, when thrown by him, struck the ground. Sometimes a heavy mass of a spherical form was used instead of a discus, as when the Greeks, at the funeral games, contended for a lump of iron, which was to be given to him who could throw it farthest. The feat is thus described, among others, by the hand of Homer, when prizes were offered by Achilles :

"The hero, next, an iron clod produced,

Rough from the forge, and wont to task the might

Of king Eetion; but when him he slew,

Pelides, glorious chief, with other spoils
From Thebes conveyed it in his feet to Troy.

He stood erect, and to the Greeks he cried,
Come forth who also shall this prize dispute!
How far sce'er remote the winner's fields.

This lump shall serve his wants five circling years ;
His shepherd shall not, or his plower, need

In quest of iron seek the distant town,
But hence he shall their wants supply.
Then Polypates brave in fight arose,
Arose Leonteus also, godlike chief,
With Ajax, son of Telamon. Each took
His station, and Epeüs seized the clod.

He swung, he cast it, and the Grecians laughed.
Leontes, branch of Mars, quoited it next,
Huge Telamonion Ajax, with strong arm
Dismiss'd it third, and overpitched them both.
But when brave Polypætes scized the mass,
Far as the vigorous herdsman Alings his staff
That twirling flies his numerous beeves between,
So far his cast outmeasured all beside.

And the host shouted. Then the friends arose
Of Polypates, valiant chief, and bore

His ponderous acquisition to the ships."

The solos, as the lump of iron was called by the Grecks, was perforated in the centre, so that a rope or string might be passed through and used in throwing it. In this form. the game is still practised by the mountaineers of the Canton of Appenzell, in Switzerland. They meet twice a year, to throw stones of great weight and size. This they do by a sudden leap and forcible swinging of the whole body. The same stone is taken by all, as in the case of the ancient discus and solos; he who sends it to the greatest distance receives a public prize. The stone is lifted as high as the right shoulder before it is thrown, and the strength and skill, said to be displayed by some of the Appenzellers, appear scarcely credible.

There is a third game, that of wrestling, which, besides being an occasional pastime among the young herdsmen and villagers, becomes, on certain occasions, the more general object of interest and attraction. Sometimes, for example, an innkeeper obtains permission of the bailiff to advertise a match, to take place on a given day, for some prize of value, with a special regard, like others in our country, to his own advantage. On such occasions, the inhabitants of the valley, or the immediate neighbourhood, are attracted to the spot, and the competitors are of the same class. But, at other times, the contest takes a far wider range, as when distinct communes or cantons challenge competition, as is often the case between the Canton of Berne and the Forest Cantons,

Oberhasli against Unterwalden, or the Simmenthal against the Oberland. The concourse of strangers is, consequently, very considerable; and all the arrangements are conducted with more order, and display to a far greater extent the feeling that prevails.

These are

The place chosen for this species of game is generally a piece of greensward, surrounded by higher ground, for the advantage of the spectators. When the match is deemed of sufficient importance, the arena is enclosed, and occupied only by the combatants and the umpires, of whom there are a considerable number. chiefly old men; once, doubtless, distinguished in similar contests, and with them are associated the younger peasants, whose prowess and experience command for them, in such matters, the deference of their neighbours. Should there be several parties on the list of wrestlers, the minor combatants always take precedence, and the winner is rewarded by gifts from the bystanders. Such displays, intended as a stimulus to the young, also excite the interest and impatience of the crowd. Then stand forward the rivals, chosen, from their known superiority, to contest the honour of their canton or commune, recalling another part of the games of Achilles :—

"Then arose

Huge Telamonian Ajax, and upstood
Ulysses also, in all wiles adept.

Both girt around, into the midst they moved.
With vigorous gripe, each lock'd the other fast,
Like rafters, standing, of some mansion built
By a prime artist, proof against all winds.
Their backs tugg'd vehemently, creak'd, the sweat
Trickled, and on their flanks and shoulders, red
The whelks arose; they bearing still in mind
The tripod, and ceased not struggling for the prize.
Nor could Ulysses from his station move,
And cast down Ajax, nor could Ajax him
Unsettle, fixt so firm Ulysses stood;

But when, long time expectant, all the Greeks
Grew weary, then huge Ajax him bespake.
Laertes' noble son, for wiles renown'd!

Lift, or be lifted, and let Jove decide."

And so the struggle continued, till

"To the earth they fell

Both, and with dust defiled lay side by side."

They would again have wrestled, but the contest was stopped by Achilles, who declared that both had won the prize. But, in Switzerland, the struggle continues until the one cxults in his triumph, and the other retires, bearing, as he may, the weight of his dishonour.

CHAPTER XX.

THE PASS OF THE BRUNIG-THE ASCENT OF THE GRIMSEL-ITS HOSPICE.

AN ascent of the Brunig may be made from Meyringen, by a steep path. On the col which divides the canton of Underwalden from that of Berne, there is a toll-house and a station of gens d'armes. To this point there are two roads; the one we are traversing

from Meyringen and the Oberhasli, and the other, which may be taken from the lake of Brienz. From the toll-house the Alps present a grand appearance as they rise over the wooded sides of the hill which sweeps down to the little plain and village of Bruningen; and from a chapel just at hand, the view, though destitute of the grandeur of vast and snowy peaks, is exceedingly pleasing, disclosing as it does the rich and fertile valley of Nidwalden, throughout its entire length.

The first village is that of Lungern, situated at the foot of the Brunig, and at the

south end of the lake. The lake, once a beautiful sheet of water, with a richly-wooded margin, presents a very remarkable specimen of enterprise and energy, in laying bare the alluvial soil, by drawing off a portion of the water. For this purpose a slanting tunnel was commenced in 1788, and, after many interruptions, it had proceeded so far in

about fifty years as to require being carried only a few feet farther. But this was the most difficult part of the task, for to do this was to open the bore of the lake in the midst of its waters. After various projects, it was decided to blast the rock. But to get the powder along the narrow gallery, and to lodge it dry in the upper extremity, drenched

LAKE LUNGERN.