CHAPTER I.

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RIDE to Chillon—Castle of La Tour du Peil—Chastellar—Chillon—Attentive gendarmes—Oubliettes—Destiny of their inhabitants—Salle de Justice—Torture room—Eating hall with its fleurs-de-lis—The dungeons—The beam—The interment in the lake—Bonnivard—His misfortunes—His prison—The first pillar having its own story—Sketches on the wall made by a captive—His escape—Drowned in the attempt two months before Bonnivard’s deliverance—Alexander Dumas’ name above that of Byron—The English amateur’s painting—The fat gendarme—A bad Bonnivard—Our determination to inhabit Chillon—Changed by thoughts of powder—Fanny our conductress—Ludlow’s house and tomb—Contrast between Protestant and Catholic cantons—Bulle—The bony hand holding a crucifix—The Counts of Gruyères—Fines paid for crimes perpetrated—The banner of Berne—Laws of the Simmenthal—The Bernese attacking Gruyères—Count Pierre’s danger—Plague described by Boccaccio—The Flagellans—The murdered Jews—Last of the Counts of Gruyères—Leaving Bulle—Fribourg—Battle of Morat—The lime tree—A monument of the young messenger—Berthhold, founder of Fribourg—Line drawn between plebeian and noble—Bridge—Organ