PREFACE ΤΟ THE SECOND EDITION. IN 1862, at the instance of three of his friends, the celebrated guide, Johann Joseph Bennen, came to England; and during his visit Mr. F. F. Tuckett. had him photographed. The portrait then taken is the basis of the capital sketch which faces page 201 of the present volume. The engraving was executed by Mr. Whymper for his beautifully illustrated Alpine book recently published,* and both Mr. W. Longman and myself are much indebted to the artist for his civility in permitting the publishers of this work to make use of his sketch. But to the occasional blending of sweetness and earnestness in Bennen's countenance hardly any such portrait could do justice. It was the passing of a gleam which threw light and tenderness into the resolute features, but which could not be caught by the photographer's art. * A brief reference to Mr. Whymper's book occurs at pp. 166-67 of this volume. As already stated in another place, the picture from which the engraving of the Weisshorn, facing page 91, is taken was lent to me in the most obliging manner by Mr. Wm. Mathews, jun. The ridge along which we ascended is to the right of a person looking at the sketch. For the drawing from which the engraving of the Matterhorn, facing page 117, is taken, I have to thank my friend Mr. E. W. Cooke, R.A. The immediate cause of the appearance of these Hours of Exercise' as well as of the more serious "Fragments' contained in another volume recently published, was the announcement that if the work of selection, revision, and arrangement were not executed by me, it would be executed by others without my authority. The publication of Huxley's admirable 'Lay Sermons' created a demand for my scattered essays also, and, once committed to the task of collecting, I thought it better to finish the work by publishing these Alpine papers at the same time. It is a satisfaction to me to know that, slight as they are, they have given pleasure to persons of gravity and good sense. TheFragments,' I may say, are now being translated into German under the supervision of Helmholtz, and the Hours of Exercise' under that of Wiedemann. July 1871. PREFACE ΤΟ THE FIRST EDITION. A SHORT TIME AGO I published a book of Fragments,' which might have been called Hours of Exercise in the Attic and the Laboratory'; while this one bears the title of Hours of Exercise in the Alps.' The two volumes supplement each other, and, taken together, illustrate the mode in which a lover of natural knowledge and of natural scenery chooses to spend his life. Much as I enjoy the work, I do not think that I could have filled my days and hours in the Alps with clambering alone. The climbing in many cases was the peg on which a thousand other 'exercises' were hung. The present volume, however, is for the most part a record of bodily action, written partly to preserve to myself the memory of strong and joyous hours, and partly for the pleasure of those who find exhilaration in descriptions associated with mountain life. The papers, written during the last ten years, are |