The weather appearing unusually fine the next day, Francois was ordered round to Berne with the carriage and luggage, and we engaged a guide and took a boat for Alpnach.  At eleven we embarked and pulled up under lovely verdant banks, which are occupied by villas, till we reached the arm of the lake that stretches towards the south-west.  Here a fair breeze struck us, and making sail, away we went, skimming before it, at the rate of eight miles an hour.  Once or twice the wind came with a power that showed how necessary it is to be cautious on a water that is bounded by so many precipitous rocks.  We passed the solitary tower of Stanztad on the wing, and reached Alpnach in less than two hours after embarking.

Here we took two of the little vehicles of the country and went on.  The road carried us through Sarnen, where my companions, who had never before visited the Unterwaldens, stopped to see the lions.  I shall not go over these details with you again, but press on towards our resting-place for the night.  On reaching the foot of the rocks which form the natural dam that upholds the lake of Lungern, P——­ and myself alighted and walked ahead.  The ascent being short, we made so much progress as to reach the upper end of the little sheet, a distance of near a league, before we were overtaken by the others; and when we did meet, it was amid general exclamations of delight at the ravishing beauties of the place.  I cannot recall sensations of purer pleasure produced by any scenery, than those I felt myself on this occasion, and in which all around me appeared to participate.

Our pleasures, tastes, and even our judgments are so much affected by the circumstances under which they are called into action, that one has need of diffidence on the subject of their infallibility, if it be only to protect himself from the imputation of inconsistency.  I was pleased with the Lake of Lungern in 1828, but the term is not strong enough for the gratification it gave me on this return to it.  Perhaps the day, the peculiar play of light and shade, a buoyancy of spirits, or some auxiliary causes, may have contributed to produce this state of mind; or it is possible that the views were really improved by changing the direction of the route; as all connoisseurs in scenery know that the Hudson is much finer when descending than when ascending its stream; but let the cause be what it might, had I then been asked what particular spot in Europe had given me most delight, by the perfection of its natural beauties, taken in connexion with its artificial accessories, I should have answered that it was the shores of the lake of Lungern.  Nor, as I have told you, was I alone in this feeling, for one and all, big and little,—­in short, the whole party joined in pronouncing the entire landscape absolutely exquisite.  Any insignificant change, a trifle more or less of humidity in the atmosphere, the absence or the intervention of a few clouds, a different hour or a different frame of mind, may have diminished our pleasure, for these are enjoyments which, like the flavour of delicate wines, or the melody of sweet music, are deranged by the condition of the nerves, or a want of harmony, in the chords.