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now at an end, and the profpect before me is a melancholy folitude. I am ftill deeply rooted in this country; the poffeffion of this paradife, the friendfhip of the Severys, a mode of society suited to my tafte, and the enormous trouble and expenfe of a migration. Yet in England (when the prefent clouds are difpelled) I could form a very comfortable establishment in London, or rather at Bath; and I have a very noble country feat at about ten miles from East Grinstead in Suffex 89. That spot is dearer to me than the rest of the three kingdoms; and I have fometimes wondered how two men, fo opposite in their tempers and purfuits, fhould have imbibed fo long and lively a propensity for each other. Sir Stanier Porten is just dead. He has left his widow with a moderate penfion, and two children, my nearest relations: the eldeft, Charlotte, is about Louisa's age, and also a most amiable fenfible young creature. I have conceived a romantic idea of educating and adopting her; as we defcend into the vale of years our infirmities require fome domestic female fociety: Charlotte would be the comfort of my age, and I could reward her care and tenderness with a decent fortune. A thousand difficulties oppose the execution of the plan, which I have never opened but to you; yet it would be lefs impracticable in England than in Switzerland. Adieu. I am wounded; pour fome oil into my wounds: yet I am lefs unhappy fince I have thrown my mind upon paper.

Are you not amazed at the French revolution? They have the power, will they have the

moderation, to establish a good conftitution? Adieu, ever yours.

LAUSANNE, Sept. 9, 1789. WITHIN an hour after the reception of your last, I drew my pen for the purpose of a reply, and my exordium ran in the following words: "I find by experience, that it is much more rational, as well as eafy, to anfwer a letter of real bufinefs "by the return of the poft." This important truth is again verified by my own example. After wri ting three pages I was called away by a very rational motive, and the poft departed before I could return to the conclufion. A second delay was colored by fome decent pretence. Three weeks have flipped away, and I now force myfelf on a task, which I fhould have dispatched without an effort on the first fummons. My only excufe is, that I had little to write about English business, and that I could write nothing definitive about my Swiss affairs. And firft, as Aristotle fays of the firft,

1. I was indeed in low fpirits when I fent what you fo justly style my difmal letter; but I do affure you, that my own feelings contributed much more to fink me, than any events or terrors relative to the fale of Beriton. But I again hope and truft, from your confolatory epiftle, that, &c. &c.

2. My Swiss transaction has suffered a great alte, ration. I fhall not become the proprietor of my house and garden at Lausanne, and I relinquish the phantom with more regret than you could easily imagine. But I have been determined by a difficulty,

which at first appeared of little moment, but which has gradually fwelled to an alarming magnitude. There is a law in this country, as well as in fome provinces of France, which is ftyled le droit de retrait, le retrait lignager, (Lord Loughborough must have heard of it,) by which the relations of the deceased are entitled to redeem a house or estate at the price for which it has been fold; and as the fum fixed by poor Deyverdun is much below its known value, a crowd of competitors are beginning to ftart. The best opinions (for they are di. vided) are in my favor, that I am not subject to le droit de retrait, fince I take not as a purchafer, but as a legatee. But the words of the will are fomewhat ambiguous, the event of law is always uncertain, the adminiftration of justice at Berne (the last appeal) depends too much on favor and intrigue; and it is very doubtful whether I could revert to the lifeholding, after having chofen and loft the property. Thefe confiderations engaged me to open a nego ciation with Mr. de Montagny, through the me. dium of my friend the judge; and as he most ar. dently withes to keep the house, he confented, though with fome reluctance, to my propofals. Yesterday he figned a covenant in the moft regular and binding form, by which he allows my power of transferring my intereft, interprets in the most ample fenfe my right of making alterations, and expressly renounces all claim, as landlord, of visiting or infpecting the premises. I have promised to lend him twelve thousand livres, (between feven and eight hundred pounds,) fecured on the house and

land. The mortgage is four times its value; the intereft of four pounds per cent. will be annually dif charged by the rent of thirty guineas. So that I am now tranquil on that fcore for the remainder of my days. I hope that time will gradually reconcile me to the place which I have inhabited with my poor friend; for in fpite of the cream of London, I am still perfuaded that no other place is fo well adapted to my tafte and habits of ftudious and focial life.

Far from delighting in the whirl of a metropolis, my only complaint against Lausanne is the great number of ftrangers, always of English, and now of French, by whom we are infested in fummer. Yet we have efcaped the damned great ones, the Count d'Artois, the Polignacs, &c. who flip by us to Turin. What a fcene is France! While the af fembly is voting abstract propofitions, Paris is an independent republic; the provinces have neither authority nor freedom, and poor Necker declares that credit is no more, and that the people refuse to pay taxes. Yet I think you must be feduced by the abolition of tithes. If Eden goes to Paris you may have fome curious information. Give me fome account of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. Do they live with Lord North? I hope they do. When will parliament be diffolved? Are you ftill Coventry. mad? I embrace my Lady, the fprightly Maria, and the fmiling Louifa. Alas! alas! you will never come to Switzerland. Adieu, ever yours.

LAUSANNE, Sept. 25th, 1789.

Alas! what perils do environ

The man who meddles with cold iron.

ALAS! what delays and difficulties do attend the man who meddles with legal and landed bufinefs! Yet if it be only to disappoint your expectation, I am not so very nervous at this new provoking obftacle. I had totally forgotten the deed in question, which was contrived in the last year of my father's life, to tie his hands and regulate the diforder of his affairs; and which might have been fo eafily cancelled by Sir Stanier, who had not the smallest intereft in it, either for himself or his family. The amicable fuit, which is now become necessary, must, I think, be fhort and unambiguous, yet I cannot help dreading the crotchets, that lurk under the chancellor's great wig; and, at all events, Iforefee fome additional delay and expenfe. The golden pill of the two thousand eight hundred pounds has foothed my discontent; and if it be fafely lodged with the Goflings, I agree with you, in confidering it as an unequivocal pledge of a fair and willing purchafer. It is indeed chiefly in that light I now rejoice in fo large a depofit, which is no longer neceffary in its full extent. You are apprized by my laft letter that I have reduced myfelf to the life-enjoyment of the house and garden. And, in fpite of my feelings, I am every day more convinced that I have chofen the fafer fide. I believe my cause to have been good, but it was doubtful. Law in this country is not fo expenfive as in England, but it is more troublefome; I must have gone to Berne, have folicited my jud