school at Zurich, there was a terrible plague there; so that in the great Minster they laid nine hundred persons in one grave, and in another seven hundred. At that time I went home with others of my countrymen, and had a boil on my leg, which I looked upon as a plague boil; by reason of which they would scarcely let us in any where. I went to Grenchen to my aunt Frances, and between Galpentran (a little village at the foot of the mountain) and Grenchen, I fell asleep eighteen times in half a day. My aunt, however, put on a bandage of herb-leaves, and no evil consequence ensued to me or others; yet neither I nor my aunt was allowed to go near any one for six weeks. Being now desirous to leave the country, when the Bishop Baron Adrian you Rietmatt heard of it he sent his cousin John von Rietmatt to me with a message that I should come to him at Sitten, and become schoolmaster of the whole country; and that a good salary should be given me. I thanked his Grace, but begged several years' more leave of absence, for that I was still young and unlearned, and should like to study more. At this he shook his finger at me, and said, "O Platter! you would be old and clever enough, but you have something else in your mind; but when we call upon you at some future time we hope that you will be more ready to serve your native country than a foreign land." So I took my baby that had been born meanwhile, the cradle suspended from a hook on my back, and left the place. The child's godmother gave it at parting a double ducat. Besides that, from twelve to fifteen pieces of money had also been given to us. The little household furniture which we took with us I carried, and the mother followed after as a calf the cow. The books, however, I had sent by way of Berne to Basle; thither we also went by way of Zurich. I carried the child, and a scholar went with us who helped the mother to carry her bundle. After looking for a dwelling for a long time, we at last got a small house which was called the sign of the Lion's Head. Dr. Oporinus was living in the great court by the Bishop's Palace (where afterwards the Baroness von Schönau lived), and was schoolmaster at the Castle. Through the solicitation of some pious people I was appointed assistant to Dr. Oporinus, and the gentlemen deputies fixed my salary at forty pounds. So much, they said, they had never given to any one before me. Out of this I had to pay ten pounds house-rent; at that time too every thing was dear; for a quartern of corn cost six pounds, and a quart of wine eight rapps. The scarcity however did not last long. I went to the market and bought a little cask of wine--I think it was an aulm--which I carried home upon my shoulder. During the drinking of this wine my wife and I had many disputes; for we had no drinking vessel but an anker, and as soon as we went into the cellar with the anker, there was a quarrel. I said, "Do you drink; you have to nurse." My wife said, "Drink you; you have to