events and even the characters of his reign: but' a laborious winter was devoted to the Codes, the Pandects, and the modern interpreters, before I prefumed to form an abftract of the civil law. My fkill was improved by practice, my diligence perhaps was quickened by the lofs of office; and, excepting the laft chapter, I had finifhed the fourth volume before I fought a retreat on the banks of the Leman Lake.

It is not the purpose of this narrative to, expatiate on the public or fecret hiftory of the times: the fchifm which followed the death of the Marquis of Rocking ham, the appointment of the Earl of Shelburne, the refignation of Mr. Fox, and his famous coalition with Lord North. But I may affert, with fome degree of affurance, that in their political conflict those great antagonists had never felt any perfonal animofity to each other, that their reconciliation was eafy and fincere, and that their friendship has never been clouded by the fhadow of fufpición or jealousy. The most violent or venal of their refpective followers embraced this fair occafion of revolt, but their alliance still commanded a majority in the House of Commons; the peace was cenfured, Lord Shel burne refigned, and the two friends knelt on the fame cushion to take the oath of fecretary of state. From a principle of gratitude I adhered to the coalition: my vote was counted in the day of battle, but I was overlooked in the divifion of the spoil There were many claimants more deferving and importunate than myself: the board of trade could not be restored; and, while the list of places was curtailed,

the number of candidates was doubled. An eafy difmiffion to a fecure feat at the board of cuftoms or excife was promifed on the firft vacancy: but the chance was diftant and doubtful; nor could I folicit with much ardor an ignoble fervitude, which would have robbed me of the most valuable of my ftudious hours at the fame time the tumult of London, and the attendance on parliament, were grown more irkfome; and, without fome additional income, I could not long or prudently maintain the style of expenfe to which I was accustomed.

From my early acquaintance with Lausanne I had always cherished a fecret wifh, that the school of my youth might become the retreat of my declining age. A moderate fortune would fecure the bleffings of ease, leifure, and independence: the country, the people, the manners, the language, were con. genial to my taste; and I might indulge the hope of paffing fome years in the domestic fociety of a friend. After travelling with feveral English", Mr. Deyverdun was now fettled at home, in a pleasant habitation, the gift of his deceased aunt: we had long been sepa rated, we had long been filent; yet in my first letter I expofed, with the most perfect confidence, my fituation, my fentiments, and my defigns. His immediate anfwer was a warm and joyful acceptance: the picture of our future life provoked my impa tience; and the terms of arrangement were short and fimple, as he poffeffed the property, and I undertook the expense of our common houfe ". Before I could break my English chain, it was incumbent on me to struggle with the feelings of my heart, the indolence

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indolence of my temper, and the opinion of the world, which unanimously condemned this voluntary banishment. In the difpofal of my effects, the library, a facred depofit, was alone excepted: as my poft. chaife moved over Westminster-bridge I bid a long farewel to the "fumum & opes ftrepitumq; Romæ. My journey by the direct road through France was not attended with any accident, and I arrived at Lausanne nearly twenty years after my fecond depar ture. Within lefs than three months the coalition ftruck on fome hidden rocks: had I remained on board, I should have perifhed in the general fhipwreck".

Since my establishment at Laufanne, more than seven years have elapfed; and if every day has not been equally foft and ferene, not a day, not a moment, has occurred in which I have repented of my choice. During my abfence, a long portion of human life, many changes had happened: my elder acquaintance had left the stage; virgins were ripened into matrons, and children were grown to the age of manhood. But the fame manners were tranfmitted from one generation to another: my friend alone was an inef timable treasure; my name was not totally forgotten, and all were ambitious to welcome the arrival of a ftranger and the return of a fellow-citizen. The firft winter was given to a general embrace, without any nice discrimination of perfons and characters. After a more regular fettlement, a more accurate furvéý, I discovered three folid and permanent benefits of my new fituation. 1. My perfonal freedom had been fomewhat impaired by the Houfe of Commons and VOL. I.

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the Board of Trade; but I was now delivered from the chain of duty and dependence, from the hopes and fears of political adventure: my fober mind was no longer intoxicated by the fumes of party, and [ rejoiced in my escape, as often as I read of the midnight debates which preceded the diffolution of parliament ". 2. My English economy had been that of a folitary bachelor, who might afford fome occafional dinners. In Switzerland I enjoyed at every meal, at every hour, the free and pleasant converfation of the friend of my youth; and my daily table was always provided for the reception of one or two extraordinary guests. Our importance in fociety is lefs a pofitive than a relative weight: in London I was loft in the crowd; I ranked with the first families of Laufanne, and my ftyle of prudent expense enabled me to maintain a fair balance of reciprocal civilities. 3. Instead of a small house between a street and a ftable-yard, I began to occupy a fpacious and con. venient manfion, connected on the north fide with the city, and open on the fouth to a beautiful and boundless horizon. A garden of four acres had been laid out by the tafte of Mr. Deyverdun: from the garden a rich fcenery of meadows and vineyards defcends to the Leman Lake, and the profpect far beyond the Lake is crowned by the ftupendous mountains of Savoy. My books and my acquaintance had been first united in London; but this happy pofi. tion of my library in town and country was finally referved for Laufanne. Poffeffed of every comfort in this triple alliance, I could not be tempted to change my habitation with the changes of the feafons. "

My friends had been kindly apprehenfive that I fhould not be able to exist in a Swifs town at the foot of the Alps, after having fo long converfed with the first men of the first cities of the world. Such lofty connexions may attract the curious, and gratify the vain; but I am too modeft, or too proud, to rate my own value by that of my affociates; and whatfoever may be the fame of learning or genius, experience has fhown me that the chea per qualifications of politenefs and good fenfe are of more useful currency in the commerce of life. By many, converfation is esteemed as a theatre of a school: but, after the morning has been occupied by the labors of the library, I wish to unbend rather than to exercife my mind; and in the interval between tea and fupper I am far from difdaining the innocent amufement of a game at cards. Laufanne is peopled by a numerous gentry, whose companionable idlenefs is feldom disturbed by the purfuits of avarice or ambition: the women, though confined to a domestic education, are endowed for the most part with more taste and knowledge than their husbands and brothers; but the decent freedom of both fexes is equally remote from the extremes of fimplicity and refinement. I fhall add as a misfortune rather than a merit, that the fituation and beauty of the Pays de Vaud, the long habits of the English, the medical reputation of Dr. Tiffot, and the fashion of viewing the mountains and Glaciers, have opened us on all fides to the incurfions of foreig ners. The vifits of Mr. and Madame Necker, of Prince Henry of Pruffia, and of Mr. Fox, may form

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