ROUTE 1.

BÂLE TO BERNE, BY THE VAL MOUTIERS

(MÜNSTER THAL) AND BIENNE.

BALE or Basle. (Germ. Basel, Ital. Basilea.) Inns: Trois Rois, overlooking the Rhine a fine large house, improved under a new landlord; Schweizerhof and Euler, both in the open space adjoining the Centr. Rly. Stat., both well furnished, and tolerable. The older houses are Tête d'Or and Couronne, on the river-side; Cigogne, Cygne and Sauvage. In Little Bâle, on rt. bank of the river, are the L'Ours Noir; Croix Blanche, with good cuisine; and H. de Bâle

opposite the rly. stat. There is a café adjoining the Trois Rois, and an excellent Buffet at the Centr. Rly. Stat. The Portier at this station provides water, towels, &c., for washing - a convenience to the traveller who arrives from Paris by the night train. He should remember that his watch will be wrong here. (See p. 5.) Eng. Ch. S. in St. Martin's ch.

Bâle is divided by the Rhine into Great Bâle on the 1. bank and Little Bâle on the rt., connected by a wooden bridge, 680 ft. long, partly on stone piers. Great Bâle is situated on high, sloping banks, overlooking the Rhine, which rushes past in a full broad flood of a clear light green; and

the view from it is bounded by the hills of the Black Forest on the one side, of the Jura on the other. Its appearance is still that of an old German town, with high roofs and large houses. Great Bâle and Little Bâle, with a few miles of territory, form the half-canton called Basel-Stadt. The town contains 44,834 Inhab. (20,000 Rom. Cath.); a large increase, for which it is indebted to its thriving trade and manufactory of ribands and paper; but its chief sources of prosperity arise from the residence of many rich merchants, and families of ancient descent, and from its position in an angle on the frontiers of France, Germany, and Switzerland, at the junction of the railways on the Rhine. It is one of the principal gates of Switzerland, and will become of still greater importance when the Central Alpine line over the St. Gothard shall have been completed.

A large proportion of travellers rush hurriedly through Bâle, but there are few towns better worth a day's halt.

and foolish virgins. The interior was restored in 1857, apparently with care and fidelity, and is well worth a visit. The large organ at the W. end was built 1858. It is occasionally played from 6 to 7 P.M., adm. 1 fr. The pulpit (1324-1486) is of one piece of stone, and an elaborate piece of work. The choir, with its four remarkable columns, is raised to make room for the crypt. In the choir is the tomb of the Empress Anne (1281), and round the nave, on the N. side, are many others of noble and royal persons; also one or two quaint stone carvings let into the wall, particularly one of St. Vincent. Against a pillar opposite the Font (1465) is the monument of Erasmus. In the crypt are other tombs, mostly of the aristocratic families of Bâle, and also the coffins of six of the family of Baden Durlach. A staircase leads out of the choir into the Chapter-house, or Conciliums Saal

The Münster (sexton in a house opposite the W. door), on the high bank of the Rhine, distinguished by its 2 spires (about 220 ft. high) and by the deep-red colour of the sandstone, and very picturesque and interesting. It was begun by the Empr. Henry II. in 1010, and consecrated 1019; but the oldest parts now existing are probably of the 12th cent. It was mostly rebuilt in the beginning of the 15th century, after an earthquake.

The architecture is a mixture of

the Romanesque and Pointed. The W. front, with its towers, its equestrian statues of St. George and St. Martin, and other almost grotesque carvings, is striking. On the porch of St. Gallus in the N. transept (of the 13th centy.) are figures of Christ and St. Peter, and of the wise

except the restored ceiling. It is now a museum, and contains a number of plaster casts, some pieces of furniture said to have belonged to Erasmus, and the six remaining fresco fragments of the original Dance of Death, painted on the walls of the Dominican Church in 1409, in remembrance of the plague. The Dance of Death has been attributed without cause to Holbein, since it existed at the time of the Council of Bâle, at least 50 years before his birth. On the S. side of the Church are extensive and picturesque *Cloisters

a succession of quadrangles and open halls — which, with the space they enclose, served for centuries as a burial-place, and are filled with interesting monuments; among which are those of the 3 Reformers, Ecolampadius (Hausschein), Grynæus, and Meyer. The cloisters were constructed in the 14th centy., and extend to the

verge of the hill overlooking the river. They may have been the favourite resort of Erasmus. Bernouilli, a native of Bâle, is buried in St. Peter's Church, which contains many monuments of its wealthy citizens. Ecolampadius first preached the Reformation in St. Martin's Church.

Behind the Münster is a Terrace, called Die Pfalz, 75 ft. above the river, planted with chesnut trees, and commanding a beautiful view over the Rhine, the town, and the Black Forest hills, among them the Blauen. Close to it is the Club called Lesegesellschaft --including a reading-room, where 80 papers are taken in. Returning towards the bridge, we come to the

Museum (open Sundays 10-12, Wednesdays 2-4; at other times 1 fr. admittance). The most interesting of its contents are a collection of Paintings and Drawings by the younger Holbein―formed chiefly by his friend Boniface Amorbach, whose portrait is one of Holbein's masterpieces. Obs. the Passion of Christ, in 8 compartments, full of life, but harsh in colour; also 8 sepia drawings of the same subject;-a dead Christ, formerly in the Münster; Holbein's Wife and Children, with countenances full of grief (1526); portraits of Erasmus, of Froben the printer, excellent-of a Mlle. von Offenburg, inscribed "Lais Corinthiaca," very good; the same lady as Venus with Cupid; two representations of a School, painted 1517, as a sign for a schoolmaster's door in the town of Bâle. Among the Drawings are Holbein's own portrait — a work of the very highest excellence; heads of the family Meyer, a beautiful pen-and-ink drawing, sketched for the celebrated picture now in the Dresden Gallery; original sketch for the picture of the family of Sir Thomas More-the names of the different personages are written on their dresses; 5 sketches for the frescoes which formerly decorated the Rathhaus in Bâle, with one or two fragments of the frescoes themselves; sketches in ink for glass windows, for the sheaths of daggers, for the organ

in the Münster; the Costumes of Bâle ; &c. &c. Holbein* was born at Augsburg in 1494 or 95, and removed 1520 to Bâle : his circumstances were by no means prosperous; he was even reduced to work as a housepainter. Erasmus, writing from Bâle a letter of introduction for the painter to one of his friends, complains that "hic frigent artes," and the want of encouragement drove Holbein to seek his fortune in England, 1526, 31, and 38, where he met with high patronage, and d. 1543. His native city showed its esteem for his talents by granting him a salary of 50 gulden per annum. He became a citizen and member of the Painters' Guild, and resided off and on till 1538. Here are also portraits of Luther and his wife, by L. Cranach; and of Zwingli; also some good pictures by old Dutch masters.

Among other things deserving notice are the bronzes, fragments of pottery, coins, &c., from Augst, the site of the Roman Augusta Rauracorum, 7 miles from Bâle (see Rte. 7); a silken embroidered banner, given by Pope Julius II. (1515) to the Bâlois; some old church plate-part of the Dom-Schatz-a silver cup of open work is the oldest piece (13th cent.); St. Anne with the Virgin and Child; and a relic-box with reliefs, 13th century.

The same building contains the Public Library of 95,000 volumes (15,000 of MSS.)-among them, the Acts of the Council of Bâle, 3 vols., with chains attached to the binding, many very important MSS., of which there is a good catalogue, and a few of the books of Erasmus; also, a copy of his 'Praise of Folly,' with illustrations by Holbein. There are autographs of Luther, Melanchthon, Erasmus, and Zwingli. Those who wish to see the library should apply early, as the librarian is usually absent in the afternoon.

The University of Bâle, in a poor building, nearly opposite the Museum, founded 1460, was the first great semi

* See Kugler's Handbook of Painting,' vol. ii., German School.

nary for the advancement of learning established in Switzerland: it enjoyed a high reputation under Erasmus, and numbered among its professors in more recent times the names of Euler and Bernouilli, the mathematicians, who were natives of Bâle. Schönbein, the discoverer of gun-cotton and of ozone, was a professor.

Returning to the main street at the bridge, the Eisengasse, and ascending it, we pass on the rt. the Fischmarkt, a small square with Gothic fountain, and turning 1. into the Freiestrasse reach the Market-place and

Rathhaus, a late Gothic building, date 1508. The exterior is painted. The frieze displays the emblazoned shields of the original cantons. The armorial bearing of canton Bâle is said to represent the case of a cross-bow. On the old staircase open rt. some ancient and almost unaltered rooms now employed as offices, and 1. the Great Council-Room (Stadt-Rathssaal) ornamented on the walls and roof with humorous reliefs carved in wood by Mat. Giger (1609), and by painted windows bearing the coats of 12 of the Swiss cantons, with supporters. At the foot of the stairs is a statue of Munatius Plancus, the founder, according to tradition, of Bâle and of the Roman colony of Augst.

In the same street, rt., is the Post Office, a very ancient building, formerly the custom-house, with a new front. Passing through it, and observing the back, we see opposite, up a courtyard, the Schmiede-Zunft, or Smiths' Hall; and in the same street is another old hall, the Gärtner-Zunft ; and in the town many others of the guilds or Zünfte, dating usually from the 16th cent., and almost unaltered. The interiors are worth a visit, and the attendants are glad to show them for a small payment.

Not far off towards the W. of the town is the Arsenal (Zeughaus), which contains a limited collection of arms and armour, of which the curiosities are a suit of chain-mail, once gilt, with plate-mail beneath it, worn by Charles the Bold at the battle of

Nancy; two Burgundian cannon, of iron bars bound round with hoops, and several suits of Burgundian and Armagnac armour.

A little way from the Arsenal are some very ancient corn stores, and beyond them the fountain called Spahlenbrunnen, with the figure of a bagpiper, copied from a design of Holbein or Albert Dürer, and of elegant workmanship. Beyond this is the *Spahlenthor, i.e. St. Paulusthor (1400), which retains its advanced work or Barbican, similar to those which formerly existed at York, and, with its double portcullis and two flanking towers, is particularly picturesque. The other gates and the ramparts have been levelled.

The Barfüsserkirche, in the Spitalgasse, is a noble building, well worth examination. St. Elisabeth is a modern Gothic church of some interest.

Physician, Dr. Jung.

Erasmus resided in the house Zur Lust, near the Münster, and Frobenius printed in it one of the first Bibles. The building called Kirschgarten was erected by the father of the distinguished African traveller, Burckhardt, who was born here.

A handsome Hospital has been built on the site of the palace of the Margraves of Baden.

Down to 1798 the clocks of Bâle went an hour in advance of those in other Swiss towns. This singular custom, according to tradition, arose from a conspiracy to open the gates to an enemy at midnight having been defeated by the clock striking 1 instead of 12.

Since the Reformation, Bâle has been regarded as the stronghold of Methodism in Switzerland. It possesses many well-endowed religious benevolent societies and institutions. The Protestant Missionary and Bible Society has its head-quarters here. Attached to it is the School for Missionaries at St. Chrischona, 4 m. from Bâle. The spirit of trade has always gone, however, hand-in-hand with that of religion-and Bâle has been called a city of usurers; 5 per cent. was styled a "Christian usance (einen Christ