Public-domain ebook
The Spell of Switzerland
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In: Travel Writing
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #41153.
About this book
The Spell of Switzerland is a lyrical travelogue that masquerades as a work of fiction, though its author makes clear from the outset that the characters and incidents are inventions meant to frame a broader appreciation of the Swiss landscape. The opening pages explain that the “niece and her three children,” the mysterious “Will Allerton,” and the fantastical “Moto” are all products of imagination, introduced solely to convey the “charm” that draws visitors back to the Alpine nation. Rather than a conventional guide, the book assembles a collage of observations, poems, and anecdotes, from Lord Sheffield’s Lausanne visit to references to Gibbon, Rousseau, and Byron, intended to capture the collective spell of mountains, lakes, and historic sites. Its structure follows a series of loosely linked chapters, each named after a locale or theme, promising a meandering, impressionistic tour rather than a systematic account.
Written in the early twentieth‑century prose of Nathan Haskell Dole, the voice is genteel, reflective, and occasionally self‑effacing, blending personal memoir with literary allusion. The style is ornate yet conversational, marked by frequent asides and a fondness for quotation, giving the work a nostalgic, almost salon‑like quality. Readers who enjoy travel writing that reads like a cultured diary, those who appreciate the interplay of geography, history, and personal sentiment, will find this book rewarding. It especially appeals to admirers of classic travel literature, lovers of Romantic-era Europe, and anyone drawn to the poetic evocation of place rather than practical itinerary advice.
Who appears in The Spell of Switzerland
- Will AllertonTall gentleman in early 1900s attire, dark suit, cravat, polished leather shoes, thoughtful expression
- MotoWhimsical, semi‑transparent carriage with delicate filigree, glowing softly, drawn by unseen forces, Victorian elegance
- EmileYoung Swiss man, dark hair, crisp linen shirt, woolen vest, alpine backdrop, earnest gaze
The opening · free to read
The present book is cast in the guise of fiction. The vague and flitting forms of my niece and her three children are wholly figments of the imagination. No such person as “Will Allerton” enters my doorway. The “Moto,” which does such magical service in transporting “Emile” and his admirers from place to place is as unreal as Solomon’s Carpet.
After Lord Sheffield and his family had started back from a visit to Gibbon at Lausanne, his daughter, Maria T. Holroyd, wrote the historian: “I do not know what strange charm there is in Switzerland that makes everybody desirous of returning there.” It is the aim of this book to express that charm. It lies not merely in heaped-up masses of mountains, in wonderfully beautiful lakes, in mysterious glaciers, in rainbow-adorned waterfalls; it is largely due to the association with human beings.
The spell of Switzerland can be best expressed not in the limited observations of a single person but rather by a concensus of descriptions. The casual traveller plans, perhaps, to ascend the Matterhorn or Mount Pilatus; but day after day may prove unpropitious; clouds and storms are the enemy of vision. One must therefore take the word of those more fortunate. Poets and other keen-eyed observers help to intensify the spell. These few words will explain the author’s plan. It is purposely desultory; it is not meant for a guide-book; it is not intended to be taken as a perfectly balanced treatise covering the history in part or in whole of the twenty-four cantons; it has biographical episodes but they are merely hints at the richness of possibilities, and if Gibbon and Tissot and Rousseau stand forth prominently, it is not because Voltaire, Juste Olivier, Hebel, Töpfer, Amiel, Frau Spyri, and a dozen others are not just as worthy of selection. One might write a quarto volume on the charms of the Lake of Constance or the Lake of Zürich or the Lake of Lucerne. Scores of castles teem with historic and romantic associations. It is all a matter of selection, a matter of taste. It is not for the author to claim that he has succeeded in conveying his ideas, but whatever effect his work may produce on the reader, he, himself, may, without boasting, claim that he is completely under the spell of Switzerland. NATHAN HASKELL DOLE.
BOSTON, October 1, 1913.
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