Trains in 3 to 4 hrs.

The road as far as Herzogenbuchsee is described in Rtes. 3 and 4.

Herzogenbuchsee Junct. Stat. (Inn: Sonne), a town of some 4500 Inhab. Near Riedwyl Stat. a verdant valley is entered, its slopes covered with wood.

Burgdorf (French Berthoud ).— (Inns: H. Guggisberg; Bär; Buffet at the Stat.), a thriving town (3500 Inhab.) of large arcaded houses, and opulent public institutions, and pleasantly situated at the mouth of the fertile Emmenthal (Rte. 22). In the old castle Pestalozzi first established his school. View of the Bernese Alps from the ch., and a much more extensive one from the Lueg, a hill 2 hrs.' walk.

Hindelbank Stat.

In the church of Hindelbank are many monuments to the noble family of Erlach, whose chateau stands on the hill to the 1., and also the celebrated Monument of Madame Langhaus, wife of the clergyman, who died in childbirth. It is by a sculptor named

child in her arms, bursting through the tomb at the sound of the last trumpet. Its merit, as a work of art, has been much exaggerated. The epitaph was written by Haller. This tomb is formed of sandstone, and is let into the pavement of the church.

Beyond Zollikofen Junct. Stat. is Ruete, rt., an agricultural institution.

At Wylerfeld (a fine view 1. of the Bernese Alps) the rly. from Thun (Rte. 25) falls in.

The Castle of Reichenbach,, on the neighbouring height, belongs to the Erlach family.

The Aar is crossed by a lofty bridge, having a passage for the rail above, and the carriage-road below, leading to

BERNE STAT. (Rte. 24).

Aarau Stat-Inns: Ochs; Storchthe chief town of canton Aargau or Argovie, which was first included in the Confederation in 1803, having previously formed a subject province of canton Berne, contains 5454 Inhab., and is situated on the rt. bank of the Aar: Simond called it, in 1817, "an odious little place;" but it has much improved and increased since then. It lies at the base of the Jura, here partly covered with vineyards. There are many extensive cotton-mills.

The Rathhaus, in which the cantonal councils are held, has been rebuilt. In the parish church Protestant and Catholic services are performed alternately.

Henry Zschokke, the historian and novel-writer, resided here until his death, 1848, in a pretty villa on a hill on the 1. bank of the Aar. When the armies of the French Revolution took possession of Switzerland in 1789, and destroyed its ancient form of government, Aarau was made for a short time capital of the Helvetian Republic.

Schinznach Stat., 10 min. walk from Schinznach-les-Bains, also called Habsburger Bad, a much frequented watering-place. The establishment, under the direction of M. Moser, consists of an hotel and pension with 350 beds and 160 baths. 200 persons frequently join the table-d'hôte, 1 P.M., 3 fr. The visitors are chiefly French. Season from May 1 to September 30; prices reduced in the first and last month. The sulphur springs, among the strongest known in Europe, issue from highly tilted stratified rocks, at about 20 ft. below the surface of the drift of the valley of the Aar, and are collected in a shaft at the temp. of about 90° Fahr., and distributed by machinery. Sulphur, salts of soda, and magnesia are united in these waters, which are efficacious in the treatment of diseases of the skin, mucous membrane, respiratory organs, wounds, and rheumatism. Dr. Zurkowski, medical resident, also Drs. Amsler and Hemmann (inspectors of the adjoining hospital) are in daily

attendance. The neighbourhood is pretty, and winding paths, under the shade of trees, lead up the hill to the castle of Habsburg, ancient seat of the imperial family of Austria. At a short distance is the wooded eminence and château of Wildegg (Col. d'Effinger), at the foot of which is a saline and bitter spring containing iodine and bromide of sodium. Among the excursions may be mentioned the ascent of the Gyslifluh, 2539 ft., commanding a fine view of the Alps, and over which there is a pleasant walk to Aarau.

Brugg Stat. Rly. to Waldshut (Rte. 7). Brugg (Inns: Rössli; Rothes Haus) belonged to the House of Habsburg, and is a picturesque old place, its entrances guarded by high conical roofed towers. The Schwarze Thurm (Black tower) is a Roman building of the age of the Lower Empire. Brugg is the birthplace of Zimmermann (On Solitude), physician to Frederick the Great.

The country around is interesting. In the plain, a little below the town, three of the principal rivers which drain the N. slopes of the Alps, the Limmat, Reuss, and Aar, form a junction, and, united under the name of Aar, flow towards the Rhine, into which they fall about 10 m. below Brugg, at a place called Coblenz. Close upon this meeting of waters, and on the triangular tongue of land between the Aar and Reuss, stood

Vindonissa, the most important settlement of the Romans in Helvetia, as well as their strongest fortress on this frontier. In the 3rd, 4th, and 5th cents. it was ravaged by Vandals, Alemanni, and Huns, and in the 6th cent. destroyed by Childebert, king of the Franks, and scarcely any portion of it now appears above ground; but traces of an amphitheatre, of an aqueduct, which conveyed water from the Brauneggberg, 3 m. off, foundations of walls, broken pottery, inscriptions, and coins, have been turned up from time to time, and its name is preserved in that of the village of Windisch.

"Within the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of Habsburg, the abbey of Königsfeld, and the town of Bruck have successively arisen. The philosophic traveller may compare the monuments of Roman conquests, of feudal or Austrian tyranny, of monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly a philosopher, he will applaud the merit and happiness of his own time."-Gibbon.

13 m. E. of Brugg stands the Abbey of Königsfelden (King's field), founded, 1310, by the Empress Elizabeth, and Agnes Queen of Hungary, on the spot where, two years before, their husband and father, the Emperor Albert, was assassinated. The convent, a group of gloomy buildings, was suppressed in 1528; part of it is now used as a farm - house, part as a hospital and mad-house; the rest is falling to decay. The dilapidated Church contains some very fine painted glass, and numerous pavement tombs, with coats of arms, of a long train of nobles who fell in the battle of Sempach. The large vaults were the burial-place of many members of the Austrian family, including Agnes, and Leopold who fell at Sempach, but their remains were removed into the Austrian dominions in 1770. According to tradition, the high altar stands on the spot where Albert fell. The Forest Cantons being in rebellion, he was about to invade them with his army, and had crossed the ferry of the Reuss in a small boat, leaving his suite on the opposite bank. He was attended only by the four conspirators. The chief of them, John of Suabia, his nephewwho had been instigated to slay him by the wrong he endured in being kept out of his paternal inheritance by his uncle-first struck him in the throat with his lance. Balm ran him through with his sword, and Walter von Eschenbach cleft his skull with a felling stroke. Wart, the fourth, took no share in the murder. Although the deed was so openly done, in broad day, almost under the walls of the Imperial Castle of Habsburg, and in sight of a large retinue of armed attendants, the murderers were able to

face of death survey'd :

Alone she sate.

From hill and wood low sunk the mournful sun;

Fast gushed the fount of noble blood. Treason his worst had done.

With her long hair she vainly pressed the wounds to staunch their tide; Unknown, on that meek, humble breast, imperial Albert died.-Mrs. Hemans.

A direful vengeance was wreaked by the children of the murdered monarch; not, however, upon the murderers-for, with the exception of Wart, the only one who did not raise his hand against him, they all escaped

but upon their families, relations, and friends; and 1000 victims are believed to have expiated, with their lives, a crime of which they were totally innocent. Queen Agnes gratified her spirit of vengeance with the sight of these horrid executions, exclaiming, while 63 unfortunate men were butchered before her, "Now I bathe in May-dew!" She ended her days in the convent of Königsfelden, which she had founded and endowed with the confiscated property of those whom she had slaughtered. Penance, prayer, and almsgiving could avail but little to stifle the qualms of a guilty conscience; and it is recorded that a holy hermit, to whom she had applied for absolution, replied to her, "Woman! God is not to be served with bloody hands, nor by the slaughter of innocent persons, nor by convents built with the plunder of orphans and widows, but by mercy and forgiveness of injuries." The building in which she passed 50 years of her life was destroyed; that which is shown as her cell is not so in reality. There was a grove of oaks on the spot at the time the murder was committed. The tree under which Albert fell was converted into a chest to hold Agnes' jewels, and is still preserved. About 2 m. from

the

Castle of Habsburg, or Habichtsburg (Hawk's Castle), the cradle of the House of Austria, built by Count Radbod of Altenburg, 1020, an ancestor of the family. A mere fragment of the original building now exists. The tall, square keep of rough stones has walls 8 ft. thick; and beneath it a dungeon, to be entered only by a trap-door in the floor above. The view from it is picturesque and interesting; the eye ranges along the course of the three rivers, over the site of the Roman Vindonissa and Königsfelden, the sepulchre of imperial Albert: on the S. rises the ruined castle of Braunegg, which belonged to the sons of the tyrant Gessler; and below it is Birr, where Pestalozzi, the teacher, died, and was buried. It takes in at a single glance the whole Swiss patrimony of the Habsburgs-an estate far more limited than that of many a British peerfrom which Rudolph was called to wield the sceptre of Charlemagne. The House of Austria was deprived of its Swiss territories by papal ban, 150 years after Rudolph's elevation: but it is believed that the ruin has again become the property of the Austrian Emperor by purchase.

3 m. S.E. of Brugg, on the river Reuss, are the Baths of Birmensdorf. The waters are saline and purgative.

On quitting Brugg, the rly. leaves the Aar. It traverses Oberdorf (near which are scanty remains of a Roman amphitheatre), and crosses the river Reuss to

Turgi Junction Stat., where the branch from Waldshut (Rte. 7) joins the main line from Olten to Zürich. (A large cotton manufacture here.) Since this line was opened, travellers from Manheim or Heidelberg may reach Zürich by the express train in 9 hrs., without changing carriages.

Hence the rly. keeps the 1. bank of the Limmat to

Baden Stat. Inns: Waage (Balances); Löwe; Bär: the best hotels are at the baths, more than

mile

of 2900 Inhab., is squeezed within a narrow defile on the 1. bank of the Limmat, here crossed by a wooden bridge. The ruins of the Castle overlook it from a rocky eminence, now tunnelled by the Zürich Railway, and well worth ascending for the singular view. The castle was anciently a residence and stronghold of the Austrian princes. Here were planned the expeditions against the Swiss, which were frustrated at Morgarten and Sempach. At length when the Pope, in 1415, excommunicated the Archduke Frederick, the Swiss took it and burnt it. In the Rathhaus of Baden the preliminaries preceding the treaty of peace which terminated the war of the Spanish Succession, were arranged by Prince Eugene on the part of Austria, and by Marshal Villars for France, in 1712.

Baden im Aargau, like its namesakes in Baden and Austria, was frequented by the Romans, who called it Thermo Helvetica. It was sacked and destroyed by Cæcina.

Tacitus mentions it as

"in modum municipii extructus locus, amono salubrium aquarum usu frequens."-Hist. i. 67.

The Baths (Inns: Stadthof, best; Freihof; Limmathof; Schiff; Schweizerhof; Verenahof), on the borders of the Limmat, mile below or N. of the town, are resorted to between June and September by .numerous visitors, chiefly French and Swiss. The waters are warm and sulphureous, having a temperature of 118° Fahr. There are 19 springs and a copious outflow.

The Swiss Baden, though not equal in beauty to those in other parts of Europe, has considerable attractions. The rocky heights on each side of the river-the one surmounted by the ruined castle, the other partly covered by vineyards-form a portal through which the Limmat runs. Before this gorge was formed, Baden and the country above it must have been a vast lake.

There are agreeable walks for invalids by the side of the Limmat, and many pleasant excursions—the most