TOBIN'S TOUR.

THE chief interest of this little work arises from the circumstance of its author having been the companion of the " Last Days ora Philosopher." We have a minute account of Sir HUMPHRY DAVY'S proceedings during the last year of his life, by an intel- ligent young man, whom he had selected for his secretary and reader, during those journies which he undertook for the reco- very of his health. Dr. TOBIN is the son of the author of the Honeymoon. On the premature death of Mr. TOBIN,—R Man of very considerable ability, and of attractive qualities,—his widow was left with several children and a very limited income :. she.re- tired to Heidelberg, as a place where the best education might be cured at at the least expense; and, in a manner which has earned- Ora respect and admiration of a large circle of friends, not only devoted herself to her family, but, under circumstances of peculiar diffi- culty, succeeded in doing that which large fortunes cannot always accomplish—the bestowing upon several youths the acquirements of gentlemen and scholars. When Sir HUMPHRY DAVY fixed upon the design of his last wanderings, he wrote to Mrs. Teem, at Heidelberg, stating his plan, and naming his wish to have a son of his warmly-loved and sincerely-lamented friend, as his assistant and companion. The offer was too tempting to admit of hesita- tion; and J. J., now Dr. Tempi, immediately joined the philosopher in London. They started on the 29th March 1827 for the Nether- lands and the Rhine, on their way to Upper Austria ; which Sir HUMPHRY had chosen for his summer's retirement, on account of the facilities it afforded for indulgence in his favourite sports of fishing and shooting, amidst scenery of great magnificence and beauty. He has himself, in his Last Days, left us some very ad- mirable descriptions of the scenery of this remarkable country. Dr. Tom N'S Journal is brief; and he nowhere communicates a fact or makes an observation iwhich Sir HUMPHRY himself might not have perused, or which his most sensitive friend could have wished omitted. Our complaint is, indeed, of a contrary kind— we could have wished more details and characteristic particulars: we would have had Dr. Teem record the observations of his illustrious companion, so as to enable us to take a close and minute view of his habits and disposition. It is true that Sir HUMPHRY'S health was at this time shattered, and that, as he said himself, "he was but the shadow of what he was :" still, though the body was weak, the mind was vigorous. In his Vision, and other phi- losophical dialogues, written at this time, there are no signs of decay. He may indeed have been reserved and silent; to the rest of the world, at this period, he was inaccessible, and he may not have permitted a very near approach even to his young friend. Fishing and shooting appear to have been passions with him : it would to a stranger have seemed, from the perseverance and ardour which, in spite of bodily weakness, he pursued these amusements, as if he had never in his life followed higher game. The chance of a few quails and snipes, would keep him for weeks in the most dreary and melancholy marshes; and the hope of an opportunity of throwing the line, consoled him for the dirtiest inn and the worst accommodations,—grievances which at other times he was not disposed to estimate lightly. Day after day, from morning to night, do we hear of his eternal and not very successful snipe-shooting : and a trout-stream, or a peculiarity in the kind of fish in ani particular lake, would take him across the half of Styria,—and this too in defiance of annoyances he was necessarily exposed to, from ignorance of the language and cus- toms of the country. At one place, he was forbid to shoot, by the police; for it seems he was so little of a sportsman, as,to.follow his ganae even in the breeding season . on another occasion, he had his rod, tackle, and fishing-basket with its con- tents, seized, and could only recover them through the interven- tion of the Commissary of Police : and these were not mortifica- tions that he bore without irritation. It was a singular course of life, for a man sinking under disease that required the nicest regu- lation of diet and exercise, and the most perfect repose of temper. The part of the day not spent in fishing and shooting, was oc- cupied with bearing Mr. TOBIN read ; and the evening invariably closed with ecarte. The books he selected for perusal show a singular taste. The Bravo of Venice was the first work read, and the last ; the book on which he as it were died, was Hum- phrey Clinker: the interval is filled up with the Arabian Nights, the Castle of Otranto, and Shakspeare. After his paralytic stroke at Rome, when he could take no exercise, it seemed abso- lutely necessary that he should be read to : his mind could only be kept calm by the administration of copious doses of ideas. On one occasion, his companion read SHAKSPEARE to him nine hours together. " Physician, cure thyself: " we cannot help thinking, that no rational medical adviser could recommend the description of solitary wandering with which Sir HUMPHRY closed his life, as likely to restore an overstretched intellect or a shattered state of bodily health. In the morning, when Sir HUMPHRY was occupied with his field sports, the presence of Mr. TOBIN was not required ; and he consequently amused himself in the best manner he could, by making excursions into the neighbouring country. While they remained in Styria and Carniola,—eountries comparatively little . known,and containing abundant objects ofcuriosity and beauty,— he was able to insert in his journal descriptions well worthy of pe- rusal: an opinion which our extracts will fully justify.

Previous to entering upon scenery, we will insert a brief ac- count of the baths at Ischl, a place not very far from Salzburg: they seem to be on a curious plan, and Sir HUMPHRY derived considerable relief from them.

Sir Humphry is now engaged in composing a new work, which he intends to call A Vision ; this usually occupies our mornings : he dictates to me for an hour or two, then reads over what has been written, which I afterwards copy off fair, and at twelve o'clock he takes a bath. These baths are made with the mother-water, or residue which remains after the greater part of the salt has been crystalized out of the salt water by evaporation, and is an intensely strong solution of chloride of sodium and some other salts. This is diluted according to prescription for the various patients, so many gallons to so much common water. The same solution of salt is also employed for douche and shower-baths, which are much used, and said to be very efficacious. The situation and ar- rangement of the vapour-baths are rather extraordinary. Above the large boiler in the panhouse, on the scaffolding which supports the roof, and from which the boiler is suspended, a number of small closets are erected, in which the person taking the bath is seated ; so that he is not only completely sur- rounded by the vapour of the boiling salt water, but breathes an air impregnated with many volatile particles. These baths are used twice a day, and the patient usually remains in his cabinet, or walks along the gallery suspended over the pan from one or two hours at a time, which proves in a variety of cases of the greatest utility. Sir Humphry generally dines at three, and afterwards goes out fishing, with his servant, and often does not return till nine o'clock, what I read to him. There are a great number of visitors here, who come during the summer months to use the baths and to enjoy themselves, but Sir Huniphry sees no one, and appears to wish to avoid all society, and of course I see none but those I chance to meet at the table d'hote, or in a walk.

The next extract is an interesting description of the ascent of the Zimitz- . 21st. Having agreed yesterday with the apothecary of the place (to whose shop I go almost daily with some prescription or other from Sir Humphry, who often varies his medicines) to ascend one of the nearer Alps, we started for the summit of the Zimitz early this morning; we crossed over hills and dales, through woods and fields, till we came to the foot of the mountain, on the top of which we proposed eating our dinner, which we carried in our pockets. Bly companion had told me before that he had already ascended this Alp, and was well acquainted with the road; but when We began the ascent Ile confessed that he was at a loss, and our only alternative was to turn back, or find our way as we could. We chose the latter ; and confiding in our own eyes and limbs, we followed the course of a mountain-torrent, which came rushing down the rocks. Stepping from rock to rock, we in a short time came to the entrance of a snow- cave, through which this little stream flowed. Close to the snow we found many rare plants, and amongst others the yellow violet of the Alps. Before

• entering into this cave, which bad been formed in a fallen avalanche, I slipped on the rock, and was obliged to jump into the icy cold water, which was fortu- nately not deep. The cave, however, repaid me for my cold bath. Entering through an opening in its roof of snow, the rays of the sun illuminated its dark and rocky sides, and were reflected upon the water that flowed threugh the middle. On looking towards the opposite end cf the cave, through a lofty arch of snow, we behelda distant waterfall ; whilst the rocks and bushes, finely lighted by the rays of the sun, contrasted strongly with the darkness of the cave, whose fretted roof seemed as if hewn out of the finest white marble into large descending points, from which the melting snow was continually dropping. Having made a slight sketch of this fairy scene, we left the cave, and following the rivulet, soon reached the waterfall which we had seen in the distance through the arch of snow. An immense barrier of rock here put an end to our pro- gress in this direction, and we were obliged to turn to the right, where the ascent appeared more possible. My companion made a considerable detour whilst I attempted to climb up the rocks ; but I had not ascended more than twenty feet, when, on catching hold of a small fir-tree, it snapped off, and I rolled down the rocks into the rivulet below. In spite of my fall I reascended, and with some difficulty reached the uppermost rock, and found myself in a situation whence I could no longer ascend nor descend. At last my companion appeared above, and reaching down to me his long alpine pole, I clung to it, and with his assistance thus extricated myself from my most unpleasant and perilous situation ; I was, however, so exhausted, that we were obliged to wait a full half hour before we could proceed on our ascent. Our road then lay for a long time through a forest of pine and beech, till we came to a brook, whose course we followed to its rise, which was in a large snow. We passed quickly over this, and then saw that we only had about a fourth part of the ascent to accom- plish. We journeyed on merrily, although we were obliged, for upwards of an hour, to climb with the help of hands and feet over the rocks, fill we came to the last, though not easiest part of the journey. • This was a wood of dwarf Aro, which tui avalanche of the last winter in its descent had laid fiat upon the ground, though their roots generally remained fixed. We. scrambled over and through these, and after all difficulties, I found myself, aboattwo.o'dock, on the snow-clad ridge of the mountain. My companion was still; battling with the prostrate firs, but arrived about a quarter of an hour afterwards, and we then went on to the highest of the five peaks which form the summit of the Zimitz, between seven and eight thousand feet above the sea. The view from this spot amply repaid us for the toil and danger we had encountered in reaching it. Many thousand feet below us we beheld four large lakes surrounded by green mountains and valleys glowing in the sun; beyond these lay the wide extended plains of Bavaria, clothed with glittering towns and villages, over which the eye wandered to a far distant horizon, bounded only by the clear blue sky. Looking back, we saw down into many a dark valley, out of which rose num- berless snow peaks, and high above the rest the majestic Schneeberg, with its eternal glaciers, and at a yet greater distance the still more lofty peaks of the Salzburg chain ; but the reflection of the sun from the vast and glaring fields of snow was so strong that the eye could scarcely bear to look at them, and turned with delight to the green woods and lakes below. Having spent an hour in the pure air of these upper regions, we began to descend by a very different road to the one we had chosen in ascending, which, though better and not so rocky, was in many parts so steep, that we were in continual danger of pitching for- wards, and were therefore obliged to seat ourselves each upon a stout branch of a fir-tree, and thus ride down. Having traversed two snow-fields, we came to some as yet uninhabited huts, about half-way down the mountain, from whence a good sheep-path conducted us into a valley. Here we got some milk in one of the dairy huts, and then made the best of our way towards Ischl, as a thun- derstorm, which we had for some time seen approaching, was now fast gather- ing round us, and the peasants advised us to 'hasten as quickly as possible, but long before we could reach home it burst over us with tremendous violence. The rain came down in such torrents, that in five minutes the road was more than ankle deep in water ; but it soon changed into hail, like a shower of nuts ac- companied by the loudest thunder and most vivid lightning. Thus, soaked but much refreshed, we reached Iseld about eight o'clock in the evening.

The following passage embraces accounts of visits to two re- markable grottoes, along with several little incidental notices of the movements of the party, which afford a complete and • suffi- cient specimen of the whole book. The rest only somewhat varies a registration of the same incidents.

10th. I left Trieste early this morning, with a guide, to visit the grotto. After a three hours' walk over two very long andsteephills,—from which, how- ever, the view over the Adriatic, with numberless white sails flitting across its waves, the two coasts, the harbour with its shipping, the town and the gardens surrounding it planted with cypresses and olives, was magnificent,—we reached Corneale, a small and dirty village ; and having here provided ourselves with a man carrying a large lamp, and some boys with candles, proceeded over some very rough and stony. fields to the grotto. The entrance was not, as I had expected, in the side of a hill, but in the open fields, and surrounded by a As-all. Having lighted our lamps and candles, I took off my coat, and we began the descent down some very slight wooden stairs, the steps and railing of which were, as I afterwards found to my cost, not only slippery, but quite rotten from the con- tinual dripping. The entrance, or hall, is a fine lofty dark vault, supported in the middle by one enormous stalactite column. Beyond this the cave becomes narrower, and the numberless stalactites of all sizes present a greater variety of forms than it is possible to describe : immense cauliflowers, trunks of trees, fruits ; rounds and ovals of all sizes, from that of a marble to globes of many feet in diameter ; pyramids rising up from below, and whose bases are lost in profound darkness ; myriads of peaks hanging from the roof, often invisible to the eve, are seen at every step.

These different forms, the deathlike stillness of the cave, the total darkness, except in those points where the guides placed themselves so as to illuminate the most striking objects ; deep precipices before and around me, from out of which here and there a single snow-white coltunn rose, formed, and still form- ing, by the water which falls iu measured time from the unseen roof; the flicker- ing lights of our caudles,—all this, and the thought of where I should roll to were I to slip from the frail steps into one of those dark abysses, produced an indescribable feeling of awe and fear. Descending further into the cavern, we '

passed by the Lion's Head; the Melon the Death's Head, and two magnificent single pillars, the one plain, the other beautifully fluted, both of which, upon be- ing struck by the hand, emit a loud sonorous sound, that thrills mournfully through the surrounding silence. Beyond these we came to the Waterfall, one of the finest specimens of stalactites in the cavern ; other pillars and pyramids, and last of all to the Baldachin, or canopy formed of beautifully fluted hanging stalactites. Beyond this point the cave had not been explored, as the precipices are very dangerous. Even the descent to this spot is not very safe, being often along very narrow slippery paths and rotten stairs, or rather ladders. On my return I sketched diffineut subjects in the cave, and whilst drawing the en- trance-hall, incautiously sat upon the wooden hand-rail, when I heard a sudden crack, and felt that I was falling backwards. Not being able to recover myself, I slipped from rock to rock, turning twice head over heels, but without injury, and with perfect presence of mind; although I expected every instant to be dashed over the edge of a precipice. As soon as I felt my fall become slower, I stopped myself with any hands, with my head downwards, and my heels in the air. In this position I remained some minutes, not daring to move a finger, till the guide came down through the rocks with his lamp to my assistance ; with his help I regained any feet, and found that I had been lying on the very verge of a smooth rock, beneath which was a dark and impenetrable abyss. My next fall would probably have been into eternity. After the whirl of my brain had. passed away, I found, with the exception of some light bruises, that I had not injured myself, as the rocks were very smooth and round. Having reascended, we left the cave, and I sat for a long time in the fresh air, as I felt very sick. The guide and the boy had been exceedingly terrified, and still looked as pale as I think I must have done myself; nor shall I soon forget the shriek they uttered when they saw me falling. After a draught of water that was very refreshing, though from a dirty pool in the field, and paying the man and boys who had been in the grotto with me for upwards of two hours, I returned to Trieste, where the tailor and a good dinner set every thing to rights again.

Sir Humphry-liad just received two living torpedos, and made some experi- ments with them upon the power and effect of their electricity, which he seemed inclined to think of a peculiar kind. These finished, he determined to quit Trieste to-morrow, and to return to Laibach. 11th. We started from Trieste this morning early, and having ascended thehill above the town, from whence we had such a beautiful view upon our arrival, we turned out of the road and drove across the country over very bad roads to Wip- pach, where we did not arrive till evening. We bad stopped to bait at mid- day in a miserable little village, and after leaving it we lost our way, Robert

(the coachinan) being a perfect stranger in this part of the country, and spent some hours in vain before we again got into the right road. Wippnch lies in a fine fertile valley at the foot of a lofty range of mountains. The river of the same name rises Close behind the town, out of the rock, in the same manner as the river Laibacb. The trout in this river were the object of Sir Humphry's trip hither ; and as soon as he arrived, though the evening was too far advanced to allow of his fishing, he went to look at the river, and found it very foul

from rain. When he returned to the inn, he dictated to me his observations on the experiments.with the torpcdos which he had made at 'Trieste. 12th. Li the tnorniug Sir Humplary went out to try the fishing in the river, and returned about twelve o'clock, not haying caught any thir. We then quitted Wippach, which has nothing at all attractive or interesting in it. At the end of the town is a large and handsome chateau, belonging to the Coung. of Wippach, and on the other side an extensive cotton manufactory. The drive from hence to Trewakhen is steep and hilly, the road passing

over a lofty ridge of the mountain. From Trewalchen we went on to Adele- berg, where we did not arrive till night ; and as Sir Hunip.lay said that he should the next morning- go on to Zirknitz, I determined to yisa the principal grotto in the night. There are two here,--the grotto of the Magdalen, long known and celebrated as being the only spot in which the Proteus Ang-uinus had been found ; and the great grotto only lately discovered, and more remarkable for the variety and grandeur of the stalactite formations which it contains.

After having read to Sir Humphry till nearly ten, I set out, accompanied by three guides furnished with lamps and some pounds of candles. We walked across the fields for about a mile in darkness, the moon not haying yet risen, till we came to a slight ascent which brought us to a door in the mountain. The guides here lighted their lamps, and cut the candles into bits ; and unlocking the door, we entered and found ourselves in a low and dark passage. Two of the guides went on before with the candles, and I followed a few minutes after with the other, the only one of the three who spoke German. The passage brought us to the top of a rock, where we found ourselves in an immense vault, the roof and sides of which could not be distinguished by the eye. Below us, at the foot of the rock, we heard the rushing of a river, whose waters were invisible to us owing to the extreme darkness. We saw the other two guides upon a frail wooden bridge which is thrown across this subterraueous stream, they having already lighted of the candles, which they were engaged in fixing upon the side rail; and in a few minutes, more than thirty candles in some degree dis- pelled the darkuess which surrounded us. The river became visible for about one hundred yards on each side of the bridge, flowing as it were out of total darkness above, and passing again into gloom and shade below it. The light,

however, was by no means sufficient to enable me to discover the roof of this vast dome. It is a striking scene, but very different front any presented by the grotto of Corneale, and a poet might have -thought the vault a banqueting-roem

for the giants of old, or the council-chamber of Lucifer and his host ; the dark and rushing water the gloomy river Styx, dividing him front the kingdom of Pluto, and have expected to see the grim 'ferryman appear with his boat. There was, however, no Charon to ferry us over, and we accordingly descended the steps in the rock, and crossed the river by the tottering and slippery bridge. A

steep path cut in the rocks on the other side coaducted us to the Little Temple, a small vault, whose roof and eides were covered with stalactites of the most va- ried and grotesque forms, hauging down front the roof, shoutiug out from the sides, or using- as stalagmites- from the floor, some pointed, some round, and others' flat, thin, and tranaparent. In one part of this temple are inscribed the names of the strangers who have visited the grotto. From hence we went to the Hall, or Place of the Tournament, passing in another vault by the Butcher's Stall, perhaps one of the most apt denominations of the many which the guides

have given to the numerous larger masses of stalactite met with in these ca- verns. It stands alone, projecting from the walls of the vault, and somewhat

resembles a pulpit in form: One of the guides enters this stall with a lamp, and illuminates the different joints of limestone meat, sausages, hams, ani. which hang around. The Tournier-gatz, or Place of the Tournament, is a lofty and extensive cavern the floor of which is formed of very fine sand, and is exceed- ingly level and irm. The shape of the vault is oval, and the sides have sonic sbglit resemblance to an amphitheatre. On Whit-Monday the whole of the grotto is illuminated, and hundreds flock to behold this curious scene, the Tour- nici-platz being arranged as a ball-room, and in which the visitors dance till a very late hour. From thence we went through long liassages and caverns, each of which presents something remarkable. In one a large pillar rises from the ground, which, on being struck with a stone or sticl:, gives out a sound resem- bling the deep and sonorous tone of a tolling bell ; and in another, stands a large fluted pillar, to which the guides give the strange name of the Kano:len-Stade zu Moskau, or the Pillar of Canons at Moscau. In another part of the merit we see a vase on the top of a small pillar, constantly full of water, which falls into it, drop in- drop, from the roof; it is perfectly clear, and icy cold. Beyond this font, we came to the Great Curtain, the mast striking single stalactite in the whole cavern. The limestone here descends in many a waving and beautiful fold from the roof, from a height of upwards of twenty feet, and projecting- eibout six feet out from the reek. l'he whole mass is exceedingly thin, and is bordered by a stripe of red. Seen from a distance, when the guides hold their lamps be- hind it, the effect is highly strikirre and the spectator can hardly believe that the transparent curtain before him is formed of hard stone. The red colour in the edge of this umas of limestone, is the only instance of the kind I met with in the grotto, the general colour of the stalactites being either pure white or whitish brown: and they are often covered with a crust of very fine eryetals. At some distance beyond the curtain, the cave divides into two branches, one of which ends with a large block of limestone, that bears the name of the High Altar ; the other has been rarely trodden by the foot of a stranger, for my guide said that this was only the second time that he had been there, since the discovery of that part of the cave, by him and another of the men who were with me, six or seven years ago. It extends for a considerable way, till all further progress is stopped by a large pool of water, over which the guides said no one had ever crossed. This pool did not appear to me to be of any very great extent, and I felt persuaded, that with the help do few long poles, It would have been possible to have passed over the slippery rocks on its sides ; we had, however, nothing of the kind with us and I was obliged to abandon the idea, nor did the guides ap- pear at all inclined to continue our peregt Mations, having already penetrated to a greater distance than usual. I carefully examined the water, but in vain, to see if I could discover any thing like a proteus, and I asked the guide if on his for- mer visit he had seen any animal in the pool, but he said he had not. The paths through the cavern are generally. very good, and broad enough for two or three persons to walk abreast, and bavon many places been widened and levelled by art, but the road from the curtain to the end of the grotto passes over a chaos of rocks and large broken stalactites ; these, though now united by the all-binding lime- water into shapeless masses of rock, formerly composed the roof, but have now given place to newer formations, so that even in these subterraneous caverns, as in all other of nature's works, man beholds destruction only as making way for regeneration. The process is one of the slowest, bun sure in its effects ; an ac- cident, the shock of an earthquake for example, may strew the floor of the ca- vern with the stalactites which hang from the roof, yet the impregnated water flows from above, deposits the limestone, and in a few centuries, the roof is again ornamented with its curious and beautiful fretwork. Retracing our steps through the different halls, temples, and passages, we again found ourselves on the banks of the subterraneons river. This is the Laibach, which, rising in the plain above Adelsberg, enters the mountain, and after flowing through the cavern and underground for a considerable distance, again appears at the foot of the hill near Planma. We crossed the little bridge, ascended the rocks, and taking a last look around the vast and dark cupola by which we had first entered, I bade adieu to the caverns of Adelsberg. On coming out of the mountain, the air felt very cold, for the temperature within bad been very agreeable, almost warm. It was pat one o'clock so that we. had been three hours under ground. The moon was up, awl, guided byher clear light, we soon reached: the iim, where I dreamt till morning of grottoes and caverns and their spirit inItabitants.