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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 243, 13 October 1891, Page 3

There is a maafliveneßß and boldness which adds to the charm of the wonderful historical associations about St. Bernard's monastery. Theaniire pile is necessarily one of solidity, to cope with the ice and Bnow and tempests'. The medieval builders haye done nothing that is superfluous; and they have not spared anything that was necessary for durability. They had, it is true, excellent rook foundation to work upon, but they must have been admirable architects and engineers to have not only brought up ' all building material from the valley below, but to have piled up and knit together walls, columns, and groined roofs whioh bo beautifully and so thoroughly support eaoh. other. The fabric seema as fair as itf.it *ad lately left th<* builders' hands, instead* of being more than two hun« dred years old, and it has an unique type of architecture. It is a fortunate coincidence for the, world an large, and also for the lovers qf art, that the Government of France and? Itsly act in unity bb regards the '• res angustse domi." It is to be hoped there, -is no trujbh in the rumour that the progwflw of, Alpine railways v likely, to terminate ttie action of thia venerable monastic order. Its extinolion would tie a world wide regret. The Hospice ought ever to be preserved as a saored inheritance from bygone ages, and it would be a blot on civilisation to dsßtroyitß sphere of national utility. A raoßt ÜBef al meteorological record" ing station has been established at the monastery, ,