LAKE LEMAN IN WINTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 81

LAKE LEMAN IN WINTER.

By Edith Skakeb Gxlosshann.

11. CATHEDRAL, MOUNTAIN, FOREST, AND LAKE.

Much the most interesting building in Lausanne,- from the- picturesque or the historical or the architectural point of view, is its Cathedral. 1£ you are staying in any town or village of the lake, and have only a few hours in Lausanne, you should employ it in seeing the Cathedral. It is conspicuous from many parts of the town, up on its hdgh plateau — best ' of all from below, near the stone market, or from the deck of a lake steamer, with the foliage of autumn trees Seeking its white-grey buttresses and spires and towers. It was built in the last quarter of the thirteenth century, and is there- . fore considerably more than six centuries old. Of course, most of these very old churches have been more or less restored, or, at least, patched up, and the main porch was covered with, scaffolding, on' which workmen were engaged, while we were there. These piecemeal repairs, however, do not destroy the general impression. Originally the Catholic Church of Notre Dante, it was dedicated by Pope Gregory in 1275, and in the following iay witnessed tine famous •econciliation of the- Pope and the Emperor of Austria. In 1536 it ,-was the scene of a great theological debate between Calvin and other exponents of the new 'faith, on the one hand and the Catholics on the other. It overlooks the old part >f the town, made memorable by Rousseau and other famous visitors, and from the platform on' which it stands there is a very fine view of the lake and the mountains beyond, between the near rows of dripping autumn trees and across the roofs gleaming with winter sunlight and rain. From the lower town, the " Place le la Palud," the ascent up to the Cathedral is made by the " Exaliers dv Marehe," one of those picturesque, old, covered ways characteristic of Switzerland. It is roofed in like the bridge at Lucerne, and the covered , outside staircase in the Castle of Chillon, "and it mounts tip -the hill by a flight of wooden steps. In the hillside have been cut public fountains, some of which the Swiss women use to do their washing in. j -The Cathedral is of Gothic architecture, with a fine square belfry tower. The interior shows great simplicity and strong plain outlines. An admirer sajs :>f it : "Withdrawn from Catholicism by the reformed faith, despoiled by time and by man of its statues, its paintings, its stained glass windows, its altars, all its former splendours, nothing remains to it except these stones, uniformly disguised •under their greyish tint. But these stones , are sculptured in such a manner — arcades

and windows are intermingled m such a manner — that this body recovers its soul as soon as one regards it attentively. It speaks, it has an accent that penetrates you." In the choir and sanctuary are several tombs, some of them very ancient. One of the most anciest is believed to be the tomb of Otho de Grandson, whose story is a mediaeval romance. Otho had been accused of having poisoned the Count of Savoy, but had been declared innocent. Otho afterwards fell in love with the beautiful, wife of Gerard, Sire d'Estavayer, and the jealous husband in revenge revived the old accusation against his rival, challenged him to trial by combat, slew him, and cut off his hands. Several prelates and one Pope also repose here, and here, too, was buried a Russian PrineSSs, Catherine Orlov, wife of the favourite of the Empress Catherine 11, who is said to have had her rival poisoned. A memorial tablet to Major Davel hJis alio been placed in Uie'Catfiedral with the inscription : "To the memory of Major Jean Daniel Abram Davel, who died upon the' soaffold in 1723, on 24th April, a martyr for fh"e rights .and liberties of the Vaudois people." In the Place de la Palud below the Cathedral is an old fount;.?n with a quaint-coloured figufe" of blindfold tj^stice, one ofi" the curiosities of tihe &>wn^ and, the Hotel de Ville, with its clock' tower. The Grand Pont was once another feature of the 'town, but to-day it has been so much altered to. suit "£he" city's needs that it has ho great architectural pretensions. The Gothic Church of St. Franco.is, in the Pljfioe jsfc«. Francois, which- gofe?_Bacfe in parts to 1442, is another place visitors should see if they have time.

But probably nine-tenths of the visitors to Lausanne will be much more interested in its grand mountain scenery than in its few remains of the quaint, characteristic, old" Swiss architecture. However, it needs inspiration to describe Alpine scenery, and one often feels inclined to ba dumb about it. After seeing the Cathedral you should take the funicular railway — ifc is only about a quarter of a mile away— amd go up the steep slope to the grand forest of Sauvabelin. There is a fine view of tall pines and autumn trees during the ascent. Immediately on' emerging from, the signal station our eyes .were struck by- some gorgeous rowan trees, Saining, with red leaves and clusters of great scarlet berries. Then we saw that we had' got on to a plateau 'high albove the town, with its grey-white buildings and towered Cathedral, and were looking across the wide, grey waters of the lake — aWay into greyer mists, with dim shapes of mountains, dark and yet beautiful, and edged' with snow. .And "up above ~£here was & forest "^aQ' turned" 'to dead gold. We wandered about in it. All the ground, too, was dull gold, and the trunks of the $>lden trees were mossgreen. After a while we knew the gold was not the same on all the trees. There was a grove of large red-brown beeches, and the ground beneath' them was paved thick with round " patines ". of ised-brown leaves. And here and there was_ an ash tree or a birch," amber-coloured, and there were yellow larch trees. The forest was very wet, and silent, and magical. It had narrow pathways winding up and down ravines. After a time we came to a little round lake, and there -w®re Swiss chalets on its banks. The edg«s of the lake were very green and messy. It was just the place where you should put a fairy romance — at least, it would have been if there had. not been so many signboards. However, even signboards couldn't quite spoil the forest of Sauvabelin. Presently three Mttle children — one boy and two girls — came playing through the wet forest to the borders of tlie lake, and they would have done very.. well for .the; beginning of a fairy tale — indeed, sitting in this dull, prosaic, London bedroom, -with the fog outside in the sordid familiar streets, I Tafher-ibink fclie forest and the children were not quite real, but a sort of dream. There was certainly something strange about them, and they were strangely clad. The boy, I think, had a green velvet tunic, and looked as .if he might have been hunting. All the children were milky white with a tinge of pink, and they had sky-blue eyes, and they were, all three, the same age and all jxactly alike, and they did not at first understand our questions. Yes, I think they must have been changelings at least j they told us they were j strangers, although they were roaming the j forest with no hats on.

After you have been up " the Signal " the next thing to d° is to go to Ouohy. I It is practically a .suburb of LausaniUßr^- } the lake part of Lausanne, which; i» itself not exactly on the banks' of Lake "Leniaa. There is a • promenade at ,oucby with, -shrubs of many countries, and bright | flowers even in winter. Here I saw- tall | rose bushes covered with bloseoms, and very &n4 chrysanthemums, bushes with the scarlet berries of winter, an orange tree with yellow fruit, and manj other pleasant things. Beyond the promenade i are fine gardens, nearly all belonging to hotel mansions, until at . laet you come | to a little round tower, a sham- mediaeval [ ruin, built last century by an English- ■ mau, Mr Haldimasd. The Hotel dv J Chateau, near the quay, is built on the ; site of the old Chateau d'Ouchy, one of the toweTs of which still remains. At the Hotel d'Angleterre, close by, Lord , Byron is said ?■ have composed " The Prisoner of Chillon." By the way, the Venetian qnide who took us over the dungeons of the Dogi's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs, in Venice, asserted that Byron had had himself shut up 24 hours in one dungeon before writing this poem, in order to realise the situation, but I do not remember any trustworthy authority for this statement.

— TPhe French lore of land-owning is so intense wad so general that even ill large cities it is often difficult to ascertain any market price for real estate, the transfers of such property being so few. In the country it is"' often said that real estate never changes hands" except by the death of the owner. - -