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    THE STOBY OF MONT BLANC . The Story of'Mont Blanc . By Albert Smith . Bogue . When our friend Vivian , in one of his wicked moods , declared that Albert Smith was employed on a laborious work , " The Geology of the Glaciers , " the statement was accepted without suspicion by many readers , and we heard of one exclaiming , "Ah , I always told you there was more in Albert Smith than you gave him predit for !" Without revealing a scientific geologist to the public , this volume will prove * the truth- ofthat exclamation , for it certainly presents a more serious aspect , and more solid qualities , than the reader who has followed Albert Smith ' s literary career would have been inclined to suspect . It

    has been the universal opinion , we believe , that the most successful portion of his exhibition is the second half , wherein he is serious ; and we have no hesitation in declaring our preference for this Story of Mont JBlanc to all the w 6 rks he has written . It is simply an admirable book . The story of his early and constant passion for Mont Blanc is narrated with pleasant detail . The history of Chamouni is then sketched , followed by an account of Pococke and Wyndham ' s first visit . Then we have a chapter on the First Adventurers on Mont Blanc ; next one on the first ascent , and one on De Saussure . Dr . Hemel ' s fatal attempt is described , and a brief record of all the subsequent ascents , including his own famous one , in which thousands have accompanied him , seated in Egyptian Hall , while he " fights his battles o'er again , " and which will , on Monday night , have reached its 500 th representation .

    It is thus a complete book , and one of very agreeable literature ; for besides personal details , it contains some free fresh landscapes , vividly presented to the mind without any affectation or fine writing ; and some details of very great interest to the philosopher . There are numerous illustrations , some of them reproductions of Beverley ' s beautiful scenes ; but the reader is carried so completely into Chamouni , that his imagination could dispense with illustrations . An extract or two will indicate the style . From a " Day on the Glaciers" we borrow the following : —

    *• We despatched our meal in high spirits , and having waited for the guides to store their knapsacks with cold meat , wine , and small loaves , for our dinner on the glacier , we left the chalet at a quarter to eight , Devouassoud leading the way , and the other guide following us . For two or three hundred yards the path skirted the glacier , and was tolerably pleasant walking , abounding in wild flowers , and covered by a delicate heath . It then ascended the side of the mountain , running about one hundred feet above the glacier , and presently appeared to stop short at an enorinpus rock of smooth granite , called Le Font , and forming one of the most awkward passes in the excursion . I was contemplating the possibility of proceeding any further , when Devouassoud , coolly exclaiming , ' Suivez moi , messieurs , s'il vous plait , ' laid hold of a projecting ledge , and springing like a chamois , set his

    foot in a small excavation barely three inches deep , from whence he crawled on to the face of the rock which overhung the glacier . It was a minute or two before I could collect sufficient nerve to follow him ; nor were my fellow-travellers less timid . We , however , contrived literally to tread in his footsteps ; and leaning towards the inclining face of the rock , with our iron-shod poles in our left hand , we crept cautiously onwards , never daring to look down upon the glacier , which was at an awful depth below us . I can compare the passage to nothing better than clinging sideways along the tiles of a steeply-pitched house , with no other footing or hold than occasional inequalities or ridges , and the certain prospect of being instantaneously dashed to pieces should these fail you . There are two of these awkward ridges to traverse—Le Grand and Le Petit Pont , both of which are equally

    hazardous , and I should think , in wet weather , almost impracticable . On quitting these rocks , which we did with no small gratification , we continued descending for some distance , and in about twenty minutes reached the edgo of the glacier , or moraine , as it is termed—a confused mass of blocks of granite , ice , and wet grit , which is extremely troublesome , and , indeed , painful to traverse , from the insecure footing that it affords . There is no absolute danger ; but you stand a chance of dislocating your ankles at every step , and the edges of the granite rocks are so nharp , as to wound your hands in the event of your slipping . Devouassoud , as usual , went first , and where he saw a treacherous block , kicked it out of the way , and it went thundering down tho edgo of the moraine , generally trailing half a dozen others in its course . # * * # # #

    "After an hour s severe labour , in which we several times left our shoes behind us in the clefts of the granite , we emerged from the moraine upon the glacier . It is here that the sagacity and hardihood of the guides is displayed . They appear to have a miraculous instinct in choosing a practicable route , amongst its cicfts , and leap over the chasms that yawn on every side with a boldnesa nnd certainty that it ) really wonderful . " Wo piissed several enormous rocks which hnd been split from the parent

    mountains by the force of storms or avalunchcs , and were now riding on tho surface of tho glacier . DevouuHsoud told us that , in time , from tho constant advanco of tho glacier , theso blocks would come down to Chamouni ; but this , of course , would bo the journey of centuries . He added , that in his own recollection they had moved several yards . Wo were shown , near ono of them , a fearful hole in tho ico , which tho guide / 5 termed Lc Moulin . Its depth was unknown—it hud boon plumbed to three hundred feet ; and a torrent was rouring and chafing within it with a noiso that was perfectly terrific .

    " Wo crossed the moraines of theso largo fields of ice ; , and immediately commenced ascending' tho Couvorclo — n steep and lofty rock shooting up directl y from tho glucior . If the pnwsago of tho Pouts had been tho most hazardoua part of our journey , probably this was tho mont fatiguing . Tho nun was nhining with oppressive force directly upon us , and wo were obliged to rest every ten or twelvo steps to draw our breath ; the altitude wo had nttnined tonding , no doubt , although but in a slight degree , to add to our exhaustion , for we were now nioro' tliim eight thoutmnd feet above the level Of the . sea , nnd tho ascent no precipitouH , that in climbing up tho « te Hides , our feet were generally in cIoho approximation to tho heads of those immediately behind uh . " Tho ( Jlaeier du Talefre , in nil the beauty of its white pyramids , and npurkling , unsullied waves , now broko upon uh ; and quitting tho ' Hiiro " ground of tho Couverelo , we followed . DovouiimkoiuI iih ho advanced upon ii , H treacherous Hiirfuco . Tho heat of tho duy had tlmwod its upper layer , and wo sank knee

    deep at every step , in a todge of half-melted snow and ice . The guides were most urgent in begging us to tread as nearly as possible in their footwarkg as some of the tracks which appeared smooth and easy of passage , were merely bridges of snow thrown over chasms of immeasurable depth , which the sli ghtest weight would cause to fall . Wherever there existed a doubt as to the practicability of crossing from one wave of the glacier to another , Devouassoud sounded the snow carefully with his ice-pole , nor would he allow us to move until he had ascertained its-firmness '; and , yet I was informed by Mr . A uldjo , that this brave guide , who knows not what danger means amidst the peaks and crevices of his own glaciers , was so frightened by a slight ruffle of the water on crossing the lake of Geneva , that he laid himself down at the bottom of the boat , and cried like a child , "

    This is a very curious illustration , proving with many others , that unless when nerved by some moral determination , courage is either familiarity with danger , or ignorance of it . "We alluded to . the details interesting in a philosophic point of view . Here is one excessively curious :- — "In fact , although physically the easiest , this was the most treacherous part of the entire ascent . A flake of snow or a chip of ice , whirled by the wind from the summit , and increasing as it rolled down the top of the mountain

    might at length thunder on to our path , and sweep everything before it into the crevice . Everybody was aware of this ; and for three-quarters . of . an hour we kept trudging hurriedly forward , scarcely daring to speak , and every now and then looking up with mistrust at the calotte , as the summit is termed , that rose above tis in such cold and deceitful tranquillity . Once or twice in my life I have been placed in circumstances of the greatest peril , and I now experienced the same dead calm in which my feelings always were sunk on these occasions . I knew that every step we took was gained from the chance of d horrible death ; and yet the only thing that actually distressed me was , that the two front lanterns

    would not keep the same distance from one another—a matter of the utmost unimportance to everybody . " . . ¦ * Here again : — " My eyelids had felt very heavy for the last hpnr ; and , but for the absolute mortal necessity of keeping them widely open , I believe would have closed before this ; but now such a strange and irrepressible desire to go to sleep seized hold of me , that I almost fell fast off as I sat down for a few minutes on the snow to tie my shoes . But the foremost guides were on the march again , and I was compelled to go on with the caravan . From this point , on to the summit , for a space of two hours , I was in such a strange state of mingled unconsciousness and acute observation—of combined sleeping and waking—that the _ old-fashioned word ' bewitched '

    is the only one that I can apply to the complete confusion and upsetting of sense in which I found myself plunged . With the perfect knowledge of where I was , and what I was about—even with such caution as was required to place my feet on particular places in the snow— -I conjured up such a set of absurd and improbable phantoms about me , that the most spirit-ridden intruder upon a Mayday festival on the Hartz mountains was never more beleaguered . I am not sufficiently versed in the finer theories of the psychology of sleep to know if such a state might be ; but I believe for the greater part of this bewildering period I was fast asleep , with my eyes open , and through them the wandering brain received * external impressions ; in the same manner as , upon awaking , the phantasms of our dreams are sometimes carried on , and connected with objects about the chamber . It is very difficult to explain the odd state in which I was , so to speak , entangled . A great many people

    I knew in London were accompanying me , and calling after me , as the stones did after Prince Pervis , in the Arabian NigJits . Then there wassome terriblyclaborateaffair that I could not settle , about two bedsteads , the whole blame of which transaction , whatever it was , lay on my shoulders ; and then a literary friend came up , and told me he was sorry we could not pass over his ground on our way to the summit , but that the King of Prussia had forbidden it . Everything was as foolish and unconnected as this , but it worried me painfully ; and my senses were under such little control , and I reeled nnd staggered about so , that when wo had crossed the snow prairie , and arrived at the foot of an almost perpendicular wall of ice , four or five hundred feet high—the terrible Mer de la Cote—up which we had to climb , I sat down again on the snow , and told Tairraz that I would not go any farther , but that they might leave me there if they pleased .

    " The Mont Blanc guides are used to these little varieties of temper , above tho Grand Plateau . In spite of my mad determination to go to sleep , Balraat and another set me up on my legs again , and told me that if I did not exercise every caution , we should all be lost together , for the most really dangerous part of the whole ascent had arrived . I had the greatest difficulty in getting my wandering wife into order ; but the risk called for the strongest mental effort ; and , with just sense enough to seo that our success in scaling this awful precipice was entirely dependent upon ' pluck , ' I got ready for the climb . " There are two nice nuts for tho psychologist to crack—two actual experiences which every philosopher will make ' note of .

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    We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for tho Useful encourages itself . —Gokthjc .

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    SITS © F tt ¥ S@ ¥ H ©©© 9 "Well hnst tliou dono , great artist Memory , In Hotting round tliy font oxp < n-imont . With royulfrnmowork ol' wrought gold ; IKvor , retiring , them dost gasso On the prime labour of thino early days . " TicnnyboN , Ode to Memory . M DELIGHT in the delineation of character , nnd am never weary of M tracing its formation and watching its issues . Of all reading , I prefer M biography , and of this , nutobiography is my favourite brand !) as being < # 4 able to give us u glance into those deeper and more secret places of character and experience , else nnruvcnlcd . It is not , however , the lives of the busy and conspicuous actors in the world ' s drama , that I care most to read ; for , in them , generally , the glare of publicity seems to have put out

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    786 THE LEADER , [ Saturday

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 786, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1999/page/18/