THE
ADVENTURES
OF
A MARMOTTE.
SOLD FOR
THE DISTRESSED IRISH.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, STATIONERS’ HALL COURT;
AND SPINK, LEEDS.
MDCCCXXXI.
PRICE ONE SHILLING.
PREFACE.
In presenting this little Work to the Public,I can solicit for it no better protection than thegenerosity of an English heart; and I mustbeg my little readers will make allowances forthe faults it may contain, in consideration ofthe cause in which it was written.
ELIZA GREY.
June, 1831.
THE
ADVENTURES
OF
A MARMOTTE.
My dear little friends, you have, I dare say, neverbefore heard of a Marmotte writing its history; Iknow it is great boldness on my part, but I undertakeit in the hope of amusing you, and perhaps procuringa few shillings for the poor starving Irish, who somuch need your kind and generous compassion.
The first recollection I have of myself, was my lyingcurled up like a little ball, with two or three brothersand sisters, in a nook in one of the rugged Alps, nearthe pretty village of Courmayeur, situated in thevalley of Aosta, in Switzerland. This valley extendsfrom the pass of St. Martin, near the frontiers ofYoree, to St. Bernard; it is very fertile, and aboundsin pastures and all sorts of fruit.
One day, when about six weeks old, contrary to theexpress commands of my parents, I quitted the little[6]crevice where we lived, and wandered to a short distance,to amuse myself by jumping from rock to rock;when, Oh! fatal effect of disobedience! I was perceivedby a little boy, who, uttering a cry of delight,threw down the crystals he had been gathering, andseized me by the hind legs, before I could succeed inscrambling back to my hiding place. Conceive myhorror—my despair, at this unexpected and frightfulevent. To revenge my capture, I bit the little boy’sfingers most severely, but he only held me still tighter:this was the fruit of my disobedience, which I havesince so often regretted. I hope my little readersnever do any thing they are bid not; for, as I havefelt, naughtiness is always punished sooner or later.
But to continue my history, this little boy carriedme down with him into the valley. How astonishedI was when the first emotion of fear had a little subsided,to see all the strange objects which presentedthemselves to my view in this new world; for so thisvalley then appeared to me, who had never beforeseen a human being, and knew only of them from theterrible accounts our fathe