Entering Switzerland, Cooper travels from the Falls of the Rhine through Zurich, Einsiedeln, Lake Zug, the Brünig Pass, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, Berne, and the region around Lake Geneva, combining vivid descriptions of Alpine scenery with close observations of mountain travel, inns, villages, and local customs. During his stay around Berne and Vevey, he examines cantonal government, elections, religion, education, property, social distinctions, and the cost of living, repeatedly comparing Swiss institutions with those of the United States, France, and Britain while also reflecting on contemporary European politics. By joining personal encounters and spectacular landscapes with an extended study of republican government and civic life, Cooper turns his second Swiss journey into a meditation on the relationship among geography, institutions, national character, and liberty, bringing the work to a close as both a travel narrative and a political commentary.
