An Alpine Tale.

“ E'en now, while Alpine solitudes ascend, I sit me down a pensive hour to spend."-Goldsmith.

AN

Alpine Tale:

SUGGESTED BY

CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH OCCURRED TOWARDS

THE COMMENCEMENT

OF THE

Present Century.

BY THE AUTHOR OF

“ TALES FROM SWITZERLAND."

“ Hail! awful scenes, that calm the troubled breast,

And woo the weary to profound repose :
Can passion's wildest uproar lull to rest,

And whisper comfort to the man of woes !"-BBATTIE.

" Simul et jucunda et idonea dicere vitæ."

VOL. I.

LONDON:

Printed for
FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS'-COURT, AND

AVE-MARIA-LANE ;
AND L. B. SEELY, 169, FLEET-STREET.

17823. .

249. S. 71

Printed by T. C. HANSARD, Peterborough-court, Fleet-street, London.

PREFACE..

IT was towards the conclusion of a protracted residence on the continent, and when the author of these volumes was about to bid adieu to the delightful scenes, amidst which he had spent so many a happy, and, he hopes, not unprofitable hour, that a little memoir of modest pretensions, but almost unique in its original language, was put into his hand. From this the present publication took its rise-more, perhaps, relative to its simple history, it might be tedious, as it would be foreign from our purpose, to detail. illis

- With respect to the story, the writer may, possibly, be permitted further briefly to remark, that, in the conduct of it, he has principally had regard to the maxim—the