I have since found that this account has been translated into various scientific periodicals, among others the Philosophical Journal of Edinburgh.[83] It occurred to me that, by leaving Les Plans a few days earlier than I had intended, I could take advantage of the new line connecting Chambery and Grenoble and Valence, and so visit this glaciere without making the journey too long; and accordingly I bade farewell to Madame Cherix's comfortable room, leaving my sisters in their quarters in a neighbouring chalet, and started for Geneva.
The line was advertised to open on the 15th of August; but on the 16th the officials declared that it was not within a month and a half of completion, so that I was compelled to go round by Lyons.

I was easily reconciled to this by the opportunity thus afforded of a visit to the ancient city of Vienne, which well repays inspection.

Its history is a perfect quarry of renowned names, Roman, Burgundian, and ecclesiastical.
Tiberius Gracchus left his mark upon the city, by bridling the Rhone--_impatiens pontis_--with the earliest bridge in Gaul: and here tradition has it that the great Pompey loved magnificently one of his many loves; while the site of the Praetorium in which Pontius Pilate is said to have given judgment can still be pointed out.

The true Mount Pilate lies between Vienne and Lyons, being one of the loftiest northern summits of the Cevennes, on the borders of the Lyonnaise.[84] The Romans recognised the fitness of the neighbourhood of Vienne for the cultivation of the grape, and the first vine in Gaul was planted on the Mont d'Or in the second century of the Christian era.

In Burgundian times the city held a very prominent place, and became infamous from the frequent shedding of royal blood; so that early historians describe it as '_tousiours fatale a ceux qui vueillent la corone des Bourgougnons,'[85]_ and as '_fatale et de malencotre aux tyras et mauvais princes.'[86]_ Ecclesiastically, its interest dates of course from a very early period, from the times of the martyrs of Gaul and the first Rogations.