Our Life in the Swiss Highlands

John Addington Symonds (1840-1893).was one of the foremost men of letters of his time. He was a preeminent Victorian poet, critic, and historian. He is renowned for his reviews, essays, translations, art histories, and poetry. Symonds joined the rarified ranks of John Ruskin and Walter Pater as a major arbiter of Victorian taste. His books Renaissance in Italy and Life of Michelangelo are landmarks of 19th-century literary scholasticism.

John wintered in Switzerland with his family, for his health. In this book, originally published in 1892, he presents a montage of writings about his experiences and impressions in Switzerland. Included are some writing by his daughter, Margaret.

Chapters include - Davos in Winter, Davos in the Olden Days, Snow - Frost - Storm - and Avalanche, Chiavenna in April, Catching a Marmot, The Alpine Wreath, Moonrise and Moonset, In the Averser Thal, In a Graubunden Stable, A Night Upon the Schwartzhorn, On the Silveretta Glacier, The Phenomenal Sunsets of of 1884, An Ode to the Fohn-Wind, Summer in the Prattigau, Among the Orchards of Tyrol, Mechior Ragetli - The Life of a Swiss Porter, Swiss Athletic Sports, Togogganing on a Glacier, Hay Hauling on the Alpine Snow, A Four Day's Sleigh Drive, Bacchus in Graubunden, and more.