ance, and among the strangers I shall distinguish prince Louis of Wirtemberg, the brother of the reigning duke, at whose country-house near Lausanne I frequently dined: a wandering meteor, and at length a falling star, his light and ambitious spirit had successively dropped from the firmament of Prussia, of France, and of Austria; and his faults, which he styled his misfortunes, had driven him into philosophic exile in the Pays de Vaud. He could now moralize on the vanity of the world, the equality of mankind, and the happiness of a private station. His address was affable and polite; and as he had shone in courts and armies, his memory could supply, and his eloquence could adorn, a copious fund of interesting anecdotes. His first enthusiasm was that of charity despotisme. Il est poli, mais froid. On lui donne de l'esprit. Il peut en avoir parmi ses amis. Sa femme, fille du professeur Mosheim de Gottingen, paroît vive et gaie. Ces deux époux sont un modèle d'affection conjugale. [TRANSLATION.] Lausanne, August 17, 1763.]-After dinner I went into town. I visited the chateau, where I spent an embarrassing day. C******** C****** and mademoiselle de ******* were both there. I decided for C., who received all my attentions. The other appeared piqued at it. How seriously the vanity of women regards these trifles! I supped with Pavilliard. August 18.]-I went to dine at Mésery's, with the count Golofskin and his wife. The count is of a very distinguished family in Russia. The late revolutions in that empire had deprived them of their property, with the exception of the estate of Mona, which they have purchased in the Pays de Vaud. The death of the empress Elizabeth might have restored them to their property; but the count wisely prefers a retreat in a free country to the storms of despotism. He is polite, but cold. It is said that he is witty, and he may be so among his friends. His wife, the daughter of professor Mosheim, appears lively and gay. This couple is a model of conjugal affection. and agriculture; but the sage gradually lapsed in the saint, and prince Louis of Wirtemberg is now buried in a hermitage near Mayence, in the last stage of mystic devotion.* By some ecclesiastical quarrel * Août 21.]-J'ai dîné à Benans, chez le prince Louis de Wirtemberg. C'est pour la seconde fois. Il m'avoit prié pour rencontrer le prince de Ligne, qui nous a fait faux bond. Il paroît que le prince de Wirtemberg me goute beaucoup. A la politesse aisée et naturelle qu'il a pour tout le monde, il ajoute à mon égard un ton de confiance, d'estime, et presque d'affection. Avec de pareilles manières, il n'est pas possible qu'un prince vou déplaise. Je trouve à celui-ci de l'esprit, des connoissances, et beaucoup d'usage du monde. Comme il connoit presque toutes les cours de l'Europe, les anecdotes politiques et militaires, dont il assaisonne sa conversation, la rendent très amusante. Je vois qu'il n'a point l'orgueil d'un prince Allemand, et l'indignation qu'il faisoit paroître contre un de ses ancêtres qui avoit voulu vendre un village pour acheter un cheval, me fait espérer qu'il n'en a pas la dureté. Je croirois assez qu'il a toujours un peu manqué de prudence et de conduite; des projets aussi ambitieux que chimériques dont on l'accuse,* sa vie ambulante, ses querelles avec son frère, ses dissipations, sa disgrace à la cour de Vienne; tout contribue à m'en persuader. Sa situation dans ce pays en est presqu'une preuve. Un prince d'une des premières maisons de l'empire, relégué (dirai-je?) ou retiré en Suisse, où il soutient à peine l'état d'un gentilhomme, doit y être un peu par sa faute. Sa femme l'a accompagné dans sa retraite. une demoiselle Saxonne qu'il a épousé sans biens, et sans beauté. Le public ajouteroit, et sans esprit; mais je commence à lui en trouver. Comme le prince s'est mésallié, les loix orgueilleuses de l'empire excluent ses enfans de la succession. Heureusement ils n'ont encore eu qu'une fille. A mon retour de Mésery, j'y ai trouvé deux Anglois qui ont soupé avec nous. [TRANSLATION.] C'est August 21.]-I have dined at Benans with prince Louis of Wirtemberg, being the second time. He invited me to * V. le Testament Politique du marechal de Belleisle. Ouvrage digne d'un laquais, mais d'un laquais de ministre, qui a entendu beaucoup d'anecdotes curieuses. Voltaire had been provoked to withdraw himself from Lausanne, and retire to his castle at Ferney, where I again visited the poet and the actor, without seeking his more intimate acquaintance, to which I might now have pleaded a better title. But the theatre which he had founded, the actors whom he had formed, sur meet the prince de Ligne, who did not keep his appointment. The prince of Wirtemberg seems to like me much. To the easy and natural politeness which he displays to all the world, he adds, in regard to me, a tone of confidence, esteem, and even affection. With such manners it is impossible for a prince to displease you; and I find him possessed of wit, learning, and a great knowledge of the world. As he acquainted with almost all the courts of Europe, he seasons his conversation with political and literary anecdotes which render it very amusing. I perceive that he possesses not the usual pride of a German prince; and the indignation which he manifested against one of his ancestors, who wished to sell a village in order to purchase a horse, induced me to hope that he was also destitute of the hard-heartedness. I believe, however, that he has always failed a little on the score of prudence; some ambitious and chimerical projects of which they accuse him, his wandering life, his quarrels with his brother, his dissipations and disgrace at the court of Vienna; all serve to convince me of it. His situation in this country supplies another proof of it. A prince of one of the first houses of Germany, exiled (may I say?) or retired into Switzerland, where he scarcely maintains the state of a private gentleman, cannot be thus without some little fault on his own part. His wife accompanies him in his retreat. She is a Saxon young lady, without either wealth or beauty, and, the public adds, even without intellect; but I have begun to discover the contrary. As the prince is misallied, according to the haughty laws of the empire, his children are excluded from the succession. Fortunately he has but one girl. At my return from Mésery's, I found two Englishmen, who supped with us. • Vide the Political Testament of the marshal de Belleisle; a work worthy of a lackey, but of the lackey of a minister, and one who has heard many curious anecdotes. vived the loss of their master; and recent from Paris, I attended with pleasure at the representation of several tragedies and comedies. I shall not descend to specify particular names and characters; but I cannot forget a private institution which will display the innocent freedom of Swiss manners. My favourite society had assumed, from the age of its members, the proud denomination of the spring (la société du printems.) It consisted of fifteen or twenty young unmarried ladies, of genteel though not of the very first families; the eldest perhaps about twenty; all agreeable, several handsome, and two or three of exquisite beauty. At each other's houses they assembled almost every day, without the control, or even the presence, of a mother or an aunt; they were trusted to their own prudence, among a crowd of young men of every nation in Europe. They laughed, they sung, they danced, they played at cards, they acted comedies; but in the midst of this careless gaiety they respected themselves, and were respected by the men; the invisible line between liberty and licentiousness was never transgressed by a gesture, a word, or a look; and their virgin chastity was never sullied by the breath of scandal or suspicion: a singular institution, expressive of the innocent simplicity of Swiss manners. After having tasted the luxury of England and Paris, I could not have returned with satisfaction to the coarse and homely table of madame Pavilliard; nor was her husband offended that I now entered myself as a pensionnaire, or boarder, in the elegant house of Mr de Mésery, which may be entitled to a short remembrance, as it has stood above twenty years perhaps without a parallel in Europe. The nouse in which we lodged was spacious and convenient, in the best street, and commanding from behind a noble prospect over the country and the lake. Our table was served with neatness and plenty; the boarders were select; we had the liberty of inviting any guests at a stated price; and in the summer VOL. I. N the scene was occasionally transferred to a pleasant villa about a league from Lausanne. The characters of master and mistress were happily suited to each other, and to their situation. At the age of seventyfive, madame de Mésery, who has survived her husband, is still a graceful, I had almost said a handsome woman. She was alike qualified to preside in her kitchen and her drawing-room; and such was the equal propriety of her conduct, that of two or three hundred foreigners, none ever failed in respect, none could complain of her neglect, and none could ever boast of her favour. Mésery himself, of the noble family of De Crousaz, was a man of the world, a jovial companion, whose easy manners and natural sallies maintained the cheerfulness of his house. His wit could laugh at his own ignorance: he disguised, by an air of profusion, a strict attention to his interest; and in this situation, he appeared like a nobleman who spent his fortune and entertained his friends. In this agreeable society I resided nearly eleven months (May 1763--April 1764;) and in this second visit to Lausanne, among a crowd of my English companions, I knew and esteemed Mr Holroyd (now lord Sheffield;) and our mutual attachment was renewed and fortified in the subsequent stages of our Italian journey. Our lives are in the power of chance; and a slight variation on either side, in time or place, might have deprived me of a friend whose activity in the ardour of youth was always prompted by a benevolent heart, and directed by a strong understanding.* JOURNAL, Septembre 16, 1763.]—***** et Frey nous ont quitté. Le premier est une méchante bête, grossier, ignorant, et sans usage du monde. Sa violence lui a fait vingt mauvaises affaires ici. On vouloit cependant lui faire entreprendre le voyage d'Italie, mais Frey refusant de l'y accompagner, on a pris la partie de la rapeller en Angleterre en le faisant passer par Paris. Frey est philosophe, et forte instruit, mais froid, et nullement homme d'esprit. Il est las de courir le monde avec des jeunes foux. Après |