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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 13, No. 377, June 27, 1829 by Various
page 46 of 51 (90%)


THE RANZ DES VACHES.


The Kurieholen, or Ranz des Vaches, the celebrated national air of the
Swiss, does not consist in articulated sounds, nor is it accompanied by
words; but is a simple melody formed by a kind of guttural intonation
very closely resembling the tones of a flute. Two of these voices at a
short distance produce the most pleasing effect, the echoes of the
surrounding rocks reverberating the music till it seems like enchantment;
but sometimes the illusion is dissipated by the appearance of the singers,
in the persons of two old women, returning from their labour in a
neighbouring valley.

INA.

* * * * *


NAPOLEON.


During a tour through France shortly before Bonaparte's accession to the
throne he received the addresses of the Priests and Prefects, who vied
with each other in the grossness and impiety of their adulation. The
Prefect of the Pas de Calais seems to have borne away the palm from all
his brethren. On Napoleon's entrance into his department, he addressed
him in the following manner:--"Tranquil with respect to our fate, we know
that to ensure the happiness and glory of France, to render to all people
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