Basle.

Dear Charley:—

We took the cars from Strasburg in the afternoon for this place. The distance is eighty-six miles; and, owing to some twenty way stations, we were nearly five hours on the rail; but the beauty of the scenery reconciled us to a prolongation of the time usually spent on such a journey. The general route was over a flat country, with sundry bridges over small streams; but, off to our right, we were close to the Vosges Mountains, which kept us company nearly every mile of the journey. I suppose you know that Strasburg is very strongly fortified. We saw its works to great advantage when leaving the city by the train. We were much assisted in our knowledge of places on the mountains by a fine panoramic volume of engravings which we bought at Strasburg, and which really gives a capital idea of the entire scene of travel. I will just name the principal places that we passed by and through, that you may trace on the map and read about them, for some are important towns. St. Erstein is a place of four thousand inhabitants; Benfield is very pretty indeed; and close by is a fine-looking town, with a fine situation. We saw a noble spire off to our left. Schlestadt has ten thousand inhabitants, and is fortified. From it chimneys, we supposed it must be a manufacturing place. The view of the Vosges here is very imposing. They are generally with rolling summits; and upon some eminence, jutting out, stands a castle. The Hoher KÖnigsberg is the largest castle of the range, and it was destroyed during the thirty years' war, in 1633. Here we saw fine vineyards. Colmar looks like a very prosperous place. Its manufactories make quite a show, and all around we saw well-built cotton factories; and the entire spot had a Rhode Island look. Dr. C. turned our attention to the village of Turckheim, about three miles off, where Marshal Turenne beat the Imperialists in 1675. Egnisheim and its three-towered castle is a small affair. Bolwiller is a perfect vineyard all around, and the wines of this region are excellent. Nothing, hardly, seems to be cultivated but the vine. Opposite to this place is the loftiest of the Vosges; and my panorama makes it four thousand seven hundred feet above the sea. MÜhlhausen is a very active, busy-looking town, with a population of nearly thirty thousand. Here the fine cotton prints of France are fabricated. Much of the property is owned at Basle, we were afterwards told. This place has to obtain its cotton from Havre and Marseilles; and even coal has to come from a distance.

It was dark when we took an omnibus at the terminus; and, after riding over an old bridge, we were very soon established at a princely hotel known as the Trois Rois. This house is on the banks of the Rhine, and its windows command a very fine view. The historical reminiscences of Basle are interesting, and its position very commanding. Here the Rhine is bounded by the hills of the Black Forest and the Jura range.

Next morning we took a stroll to see the lay of the land; and we found ourselves on a terrace overlooking the Rhine, and forming a part of the cathedral ground. O, it was glorious to look at, Charley. There, stretched away on the other side, were the hills of the Black Forest, whose legends we have so often pored over. This terrace is finely-wooded with linden and chestnut-trees. We walked back to town, and called upon our consul, Mr. Burchardt, and found him very kind and friendly. He gave himself up to us for the entire day, and became our guide to all the objects of interest. He dined with us; and then we all went to his charming country-house, about one and a half miles from town, and took tea with his family. Our first object was the Cathedral. This is a red sandstone church, with two steeples, and was consecrated in 1019. The crypt, no doubt, is as ancient as this date. Here is the tomb of the empress, wife of Rudolph of Hapsburg. Here, too, we saw the tombstone of Erasmus, who died in 1536. In the cloisters, which are very noble, are the monuments of Œcolampadius, GrynÆus and Myer, the reformers. This church is Protestant. It is plain, but venerable. In the chapter-house, which we visited, was held the Council of Basle, which lasted from 1436 to 1444. The room is just as it then appeared, and the very cushions on the seats are still preserved. Our next visit was to the Holbein Gallery, where the largest collection of paintings by this master is to be seen. Here we saw the fragments of the Dance of Death, but which some say are of an earlier date than Holbein's day. I liked his portraits better than his other pieces. One sketch of Sir Thomas More's family is very fine. We also saw the library, and a large collection of Roman antiquities. The portraits are very fine at the library; and we saw those of Euler and Bernouilli, the mathematicians. At the university we saw the building, and received polite attentions from the librarian and Latin professor. We also saw the professor of chemistry, renowned for his discovery of gun cotton. The collection of MSS. is very large and rich; and we had the gratification to have in our hands the handwriting of several letters by Melancthon, Calvin, Luther, Erasmus, &c., &c. I think this is a good place to live in for purposes of study. At Basle there is a large missionary seminary; and a great many of the best missionaries in India and Africa were educated here. We also visited the private reading-room of a club, and found a very good library there. On the table were several American papers—the New York Herald, Express, and the Boston Mercantile Journal. After dinner we took a carriage and repaired to St. Jacob, a quiet village, about one mile from Basle. Here we found a neat little church, and, at the junction of two roads, a Gothic cross, to commemorate the famous battle of St. Jacob, in 1444, when sixteen hundred Swiss fought the French army under the dauphin for a whole day. The French were over sixteen thousand strong. Only ten Swiss escaped the slaughter. Lest you should think me at fault upon the numbers in this battle, I would say that I know Watteville calls the Swiss twelve hundred, and the French thirty thousand; but I quote from Swiss historians, who are deemed good authority. We went into the little tavern and drank some red wine, which goes by the name of Swiss blood. We then ascended an eminence commanding a fine view of the city, the river, and the Jura Mountains. At the summit we found a church; and the parsonage next to it looked very cosy and comfortable. The pastor's children were running about, and were very noble-looking boys. We learnt that while the stipend of the pastor was very small,—as is the case in Switzerland,—yet he was a man of wealth.

We were quite amused with the market day here. Droves of country people were in the streets—the women in country costume; and on the ground there were vast collections of crockery, which seemed one of the chief articles of traffic.

A charming drive, late in the afternoon, took us to the consul's hospitable abode; and there, with his lady, we had a thoroughly Yankee tea-time. In the evening we walked back to the city, crossing the old bridge.

Yours affectionately,

weld.