[From Buck Whaley's Memoirs]

CHAPTER VI.

A Journey to Switzerland-Lausanne-The Glaciers-Mr. B.-Some Observations on the Swiss-Their Candour-Their Bravery-Their Honesty-National Honour-Public Justice-Geneva-Milan-Florence-Rome-Some Reflections on Italy.

THE troubles in Paris increasing daily, and the season for going to Switzerland approaching, our punters fell off by degrees, many of whom went to join the emigrant princes. I therefore determined to visit Switzerland, and accordingly mounted my carriage: I had, besides, four others that followed me, with an immense retinue, not forgetting my cook and thirty led horses.

My purse was considerably diminished, notwithstanding the success of my bank.

'Tis true there was due to me twenty-five thousand pounds, a shilling of which, in all probability, I shall never touch-thanks to the Revolution, which deprived my debtors of the means of payment.

On my route I was often stopped and examined by the sans culottes, who were now the supreme rulers; but at length I arrived without any accident at Lausanne, the general rendezvous of foreigners who visit Switzerland. At that time it was full of genteel company, and though I did not stake a single crown at play, I contrived to amuse myself tolerably well.

My first object was to set my French cook to work, whose rare talents I did not suffer to remain unemployed, as I kept open table for strangers in general, but more particularly for my own countrymen. Scarce an evening passed but we had a tea-party and a ball, at which was always present a number of beautiful and accomplished women, many of whom were of the first quality. Among those who honoured me with their presence, were the Princess Loubomeski,^l formerly the favourite of the King of Poland, and the Princess Joseph de Monaco, both of whom have since been guillotined at Paris, whither they went contrary to the advice and remonstrances of all their friends.

Besides these, I was often visited by the Russian Princess Bellouski, with her intimate friend Miss Cassenove, and Miss de'Apraxim, who had been accused and convicted of polygamy.² But when the Duchess of D-³ honoured those assemblies with her presence she at once attracted the attention and admiration of the company by the beauty of her person and her mental accomplishments.

From this charming society I separated, with reluctance, in consequence of a resolution I had formed of making a tour round the glaciers and of endeavouring if possible, to ascend Mount Blanc. In my route I had the pleasure of meeting Lord Charles T- and Mr. B-, the former of whom has since lost his life in a manner peculiarly unfortunate: an event which I can never remember but with extreme concern, having conceived for him a most sincere friendship and esteem, founded upon a knowledge of his merit and distinguished virtues.

I shall not attempt a description of the glaciers and Mount Blanc ; but refer my readers to the account given by Monsieur de Sausure,⁴ who expended a considerable part of his fortune in the most dangerous attempts to discover whatever was rare or worthy of observation in those grand wonders of nature. He has composed a scientific work about the Alps ; in which he gives their altitude, describes the immense masses of snow which cover them, with some learned conjectures about their probable duration ; ascertains the weight of the air and gives a minute account of the fossils and metals contained in the bowels of those vast mountains.

He is the only man who has acquired the glory of attaining the summit of Mount Blanc, where he has left a bottle containing a paper with his name inscribed on it.

The reading of his work filled my mind with a desire of doing the same, and of paying homage to this great man, by placing my name next to this bottle. But whether it was not the proper season, or that the weather was unusually severe, we had not proceeded above twothirds of the ascent when, owing to a violent shower of hail, a mass of snow detached itself from the mountain and killed two of our guides, which so intimidated the rest that it was impossible to prevail on them to proceed one step farther ; as they affirmed that the snow would soon fall in such masses as would inevitably overwhelm us all. I was now left alone with Lord Charles, and after some deliberation we determined to join our cowardly attendants ; as any attempt to proceed without them would be vain.

We therefore returned to Lausanne, and the next day I received an invitation to a ball given by the Princess B-. Besides the pleasure I took in dancing, I found myself induced, by another motive of a more powerful ascendancy, to accept this invitation. Miss E. the friend and companion of the Princess, was rich only in the gifts of nature, improved by accomplishments, the chief of which were music and painting, in which she eminently excelled. With these natural and acquired advantages, she began her career of conquests, in hopes of procuring a husband who might make amends for her only deficiency.

It is natural to suppose, that a young man of my turn could not long remain insensible to so many attractions, and I made no scruple of telling her so. My assiduities were not rejected. I ventured a love-declaration in writing, to which she vouchsafed such an answer as induced a regular correspondence highly pleasing to me. But all my endeavours to procure a private interview were ineffectual, as I never could see her but in the company of her patroness ; and I could plainly perceive that both of them meant I should be indebted to Hymen for what I hoped to obtain by means of love alone.

However, I still continued my assiduities in hopes of turning to my advantage the first favourable opportunity. But as none offered, I gave up the pursuit ; nor did I suffer much pain from the disappointment.

At Evian, a small town of Savoy on the borders of the lake, lived at that time an English gentleman, remarkable for his literary talents, his immense fortune, and still more so by the imputation of a crime which has been alleged against him, of a nature so horrible, that I wish to draw a veil over it, scarcely believing it possible that a man so amiable in every respect could ever have been so depraved.

WILLIAM BECKFORD
(From an Engraving in the British Museum)

The bare accusation, however, has obliged him to quit his native country, where such a crime is looked upon with a degree of abhorrence equal to its enormity. I shall not hazard any farther opinion respecting this extraordinary charge against him, but merely relate a conversation that passed between him and a friend of mine who was on a very intimate footing with him.

One day in a tété à tété my friend ventured to touch on the awful subject, or the suspicion entertained by the world against him. Mr. B-⁵ solemnly declared that it was nothing but mere suspicion ; and that he would not exist an hour under a consciousness of having wilfully given cause or grounds for such a suspicion, and hoped that time would manifest to the world a much clearer proof of his innocence than ever was adduced of his guilt.⁶

But to return to the ball. After a few country dances, the Princess proposed that the whole party, consisting of the Princess L-, the family of the Apraxims, the two Princes Camille, Jules and the writer of these memoirs, should pay a visit to Mr. B-, which was unanimously agreed to : and accordingly the next morning we all embarked to cross the lake ; and after two hours pleasant navigation arrived at Evian. The Prince Camille, who was very intimate with Mr. B-, introduced us severally. And I do not think, that I ever saw a man of a more captivating exterior than our host nor did he appear less indebted to nature for the endowments of his mind, for during the twenty-four hours that we passed with him, we were constantly entertained with something new and interesting in his conversation.

The dinner was sumptuous, and served with the utmost taste and elegance : during the repast we were entertained with a concert, performed by a select band of twenty-four musicians, which he keeps constantly in his pay. When we had taken our coffee, Mr. B- gave us several airs of his own composition, on the pianoforte, which he touched with masterly execution and exquisite taste.

Afterwards the carriages were announced : the whole company were conveyed in coaches-and-four, and on about twenty saddle-horses, to the distance of about four miles, where we arrived at a most delightful wood, in the midst of which was a garden laid out in the English taste, adorned with statues, and here and there with clumps of the most odoriferous flowering shrubs.

Here, while we sauntered, our ears were often unexpectedly struck with the softest music, the performers of which were to us invisible, and the sounds were reverberated, with ravishing melody, by the echoing mountains which surrounded us, so that the whole appeared the effect of enchantment.

On our return to the house we were presented with tea and sweetmeats, the whole concluding with a ball, at which this admirable exile shewed himself as great an adept in dancing as he had before done in music. Our amusements continued till morning, when we all reembarked on our return to Lausanne, after taking leave of our kind host, who expressed his hopes that we would often favour him with our company in his retirement.

During our passage across the lake, nothing was talked of but this modern Anacreontic Lucullus.

The ladies were very lavish in his praise, not knowing, or seeming to know, anything of the cause which brought him to his present abode. They all agreed that the woman who could inspire him with love, must be the envy of her sex ; while each, perhaps, fancied herself the only one who stood a chance for such a distinction.

One young lady in particular seemed to be of that opinion ; but she laid her snares with so little caution and address, that Mr. B- who was a wary bird, easily escaped being entangled ; and he proved to her, by his very particular attention and cold civilities that marriage was not [so] attracting a lure as the young lady expected.

The next morning I paid a visit to the Duchess of D-, accompanied by two of the ladies who were of the party the preceding day ; where I found a large company ; and close to her ladyship, as usual, her two faithful attendants. I cannot pass over what appeared to me a peculiarity in this distinguished lady, which is, that she gives to all persons introduced to her, a gracious reception : nor can she by any coldness of manners or sarcastic mode of civility, drive any one from her presence, however disagreeable in manners or conversation.

Of this weakness, and an amiable weakness it must surely be allowed, two old gentlemen, and both conspicuous characters, took advantage, and were as constant at her levee as her attendants. When I entered the room and saw her thus attended, it instantly brought to my mind the picture of Susanna between the two elders.⁷

The one was a Swiss physician, in his person the very transcript of Don Quixote, and a Thomas Diafoirus ⁸ in his conversation. He had raised his reputation a little by the publication of a sort of medical nomenclature ; though in his own practice he prescribed but one remedy for all diseases, and as his patients were of the beau monde, whose disorders were, for the most part, imaginary, he was tolerably successful.

The other was the most renowned and most voluminous historian of our age ;⁹ but whatever pleasure the reading of his works may afford, it was more than counterbalanced by the insipidity of his conversation.

Some of the company made inquiries concerning our expedition to Evian, and when I had related the particulars, the historian observed, with a truly pedantic air, " that it was astonishing any Englishman would visit a man who lay under such an imputation as Mr. Bdid : that even supposing him innocent still some regard was due to the opinion of the world; and he would venture to say, that I was the only one among my countrymen who had ever paid that man the smallest attention since his banishment." The only reply I made to his impertinent animadversion was, that I did not look upon this little piece of history as any way deserving the attention of so great a man.

The Duchess complacently smiled : the rest of the company looked grave; my pedant was dumb, and I took my leave.

The season for enjoying Switzerland being nearly over, I prepared for my departure. But before I quit it I shall take the liberty of saying a few words concerning the character of that nation, described by so many authors and this I do, because the observations I have made differ so materially from all the accounts I have read.

It is certain that at present no trace can be discovered of the cotemporaries of William Tell. All those who have given any account of Switzerland are lavish in their descriptions of the beauties of the country, where nature is permitted to indulge herself in all her native grandeur and majesty, unrestrained by the intrusive hand of art.

The inhabitants are represented [as] candid, brave and laborious, faithful and steady in their friendship, and always ready to sacrifice their lives in support of their country's honour. The women are said to be handsome, domestic, virtuous, without any propensity to expensive pleasures.

I confess that I had not penetration enough to discover these rare perfections during my residence among them. And as to their frankness and candour, they appeared to me rather boorish, except when they have any point to carry and then they are all civility and complaisance ; but not in the least degree more candid on that account. And since the Canton of Berne has taken upon itself to regulate the others, whatever degree of candour they might have possessed before is considerably diminished, owing to the electioneering intrigues carried on previous to the nomination of magistrates.

They are said to be brave-true ; if a sort of mechanical courage, hired out to the best bidder, can be called bravery. But I never saw in them any instance of that true courage, which consists in a jealous sense of honour and a congenial warmth in the cause of friendship. When they fight among themselves, it is with sticks ; and as they never engage upon equal terms, the contest is soon decided by the weak yielding to the strong. The peasants and mechanics spend half the day in eating and their nights at the tavern. In fact none among them can be justly called laborious but the women. They indeed are never idle, and seem only to hold the place of upper servants in the family.

I have heard the Swiss praised for their honesty. To this I shall only say, that upon entering Switzerland, I was particularly cautioned to beware of the roguery of servants ; which salutary advice I did not attend to, and suffered accordingly.

As to the sacrifices they are always ready to make in support of the honour of their country, the French Revolution affords a sufficient answer. Never was a people so degraded and insulted as the Swiss were upon that occasion. It cannot be forgotten that the regiment' of Wallwill [sic] ¹⁰ was disarmed at Aix in Provence by the National Guard, and shamefully driven home-a direct infringement of the rights of treaties and the laws of nations. And when the Swiss Guards were massacred at Paris, and the brave Major Bachman executed on a public scaffold, the silence of the thirteen Cantons upon these events convinced the revolutionists that they might have effected any attempt they pleased against that nation with impunity.

That Switzerland, after the efforts she had made to shake off the imperial yoke and erect herself into a republic, should not have turned her arms against France, while pursuing a similar object, is in no way surprising on the contrary, it was rather to be expected that she would rather have assisted, from motives of religion and policy, in bringing about the Revolution. But that any regular government should tamely submit to the grossest insults without making one attempt to obtain redress, exceeds credibility, and is not to be paralleled in ancient or modern history.

They have even gone further : they have received into their States an ambassador from the Jacobins, citizen Barthelemy, a political camelion, [who] has successively dictated to them the orders he received either from Orleans or Brissot, Collot de Herbois or Robespierre, Madame Tallien or the Five Kings ; and they have constantly bent with the most abject submission under the yoke of those tyrants. Some individuals have even given up their crosses of the order of St. Lewis, in direct violation of the oath they had taken on receiving it.

Their strict administration of justice has been much extolled-the following instance will shew how justly. In travelling through the country, I stopped at Schaff-hausen to spend the night. Our supper, for two, consisted of milk porridge, four eggs, some middling kind of bread, and a pint of excellent wine. Our chamber and beds every way corresponded with this delicious fare. In the morning our conscientious host made no scruple of charging thirty-six livres for our supper and beds. The charge was truly exorbitant; yet to avoid any sort of altercation, I threw a louis on the table, declaring that I would pay no more. But as he still persisted in demanding the full amount of his charge, I at length said to him, "Surely, my friend, there is justice to be had in this country. I insist upon going immediately to the magistrate." " You need not go far, then," said mine host dryly, " I am the magistrate, and if you once oblige me to assume the magisterial character I shall make you pay double for your contumacy." In fact, it was the burgomaster of the town I had to deal with, and I was under the necessity of satisfying his rapacity as an innkeeper to escape his injustice as a magistrate.

I read in the public papers that the French had violated the territory of the Grisons, by which circumstance the Cantons became at the mercy of the French

Republic, the first consequence of which was an order to banish all French emigrants out of the country. These people had never been a burden to the Swiss : on the contrary, they had expended considerable sums of money among them; and to this alone they were indebted for the favourable reception they met with.

As to the women, they are much the same in Switzerland as in other places. At Berne, Zurich and Soleure,¹¹ you see them all dressed in the English or French fashions. In love intrigues they are in no way inferior to their neighbours; and the readiest way to gain your point with a Swiss lady is by splendid entertainments or presents. When a young lady in Switzerland, as is often the case, becomes a mother before she is a wife, the lover is obliged to pay a certain sum of money unless he chooses to marry, which effectually seals up the lips of her relations and in some degree patches up her tattered reputation.

I cannot conclude these observations without briefly mentioning an establishment called the Matte, which is sanctioned by Government. This consists of public baths, where prostitutes are hired out at stated fares like our hackney coaches. A State that encourages such an institution certainly cannot boast much of its attention to the morals of youth.

For the present we shall take leave of the Helvetic States and turn our attention to Geneva, whose restless disposition has produced a number of revolutions in a very short space of time.

These revolutions were set on foot by foreign powers, in hopes of gaining possession of that rich and industrious city, and seconded by bribed incendiaries within. On my entrance into the town, I was struck with a scene truly afflicting.

As the French had just entered Chambery, about five or six thousand emigrants, French and Savoyards, had taken refuge in Geneva. Among these were numbers of priests, women, and children, covered with mud and miserably drenched in rain, having been exposed to all the inclemency of a most tempestuous night.

These poor wretches stood shivering in the streets and not one dared to afford them the least shelter or relief; neither could they pursue their journey by land to Switzerland, as the little town of Versoix was at that time garrisoned by the French. They had therefore no way or means of arriving there but by crossing the lake, which was attended by many difficulties, as there were but few boats and for these the Genevese charged most exorbitant prices, well knowing these unfortunate people were entirely at their mercy.

Chambery being then in the hands of the French, which prevented me from passing over Mt. Cenis, I hired a large boat to take me across the lake back again to Lausanne ; from whence it was my intention to pass through the Tyrolese into Italy.

We had scarcely proceeded a quarter of a league when we perceived a dozen boats coming out of the port of Versoix, forming a sort of line across the lake ; and at the same time, saw a small one approaching us from Geneva ; upon which we lay to till she came up alongside. In this I met two friends, who advised me by no means to continue my voyage ; as the French, whom I saw were a banditti, determined to pillage all who fell in their way.

As I had a number of emigrants with me, to whom I had granted a passage, and knew that my danger would be encreased by having them on board, I determined to return and risk going by land to Lausanne, which I at last accomplished after having been stopped at Versoix, but upon producing my passport I was suffered to proceed.

When I arrived at Lausanne I learned that Mr. B- ¹² had quitted his retirement at Evian,¹³ not choosing to reside in any place occupied by the French, and had hired a house for three months at Lausanne ; but the very day of his arrival he was given to understand by a peremptory message from Monsieur L. Baron de E., then Bailiff of the town, that he must immediately depart, and that if he or any of his people were to be found there by seven the morning following, they should be taken into custody.

An order so severe, and conveyed in such harsh terms, excited much surprise ; but Mr. B. thought it most prudent to obey. The reason alleged for this extraordinary conduct was that Mr. B. was suspected of having, by means of a considerable sum of money, favoured the escape of a prisoner, who had been confined upwards of twenty years on conviction of being the chief in forming a conspiracy at Rolles, the object of which was that of detaching this bailiwick from its dependance on Berne and of delivering it into the hands of the French.

It is certain that the prisoner made his escape at that time : but I cannot persuade myself that Mr. B. took any part in the business, as he must be convinced that nothing could result from his interference in that affair, but the hatred and animosity of those very people among whom he meant to fix his residence. But what surprises me the most is that Mr. B. never made any application to our court for redress against so gross an insult offered to a British subject. But probably he conceived that an application of that sort would be attended with so much trouble and humiliation, that his proud and independent spirit could not stoop to hazard the attempt.

I now bade my last adieu to Switzerland : and after having visited the famous Waterfall of the Rhine, about half a league from Schaffhausen, I continued my route through the Tyrolese, as far as Milan without making any stop, except at Trent, situated at the foot of the Alps, famous for the general Council called the Council of Trent, which lasted eighteen years, and whose decision forms the basis on which the principal tenets of the Popish religion are founded.

At Milan I spent three weeks in admiring one of the largest and most magnificent cities of Italy. The metropolitan church particularly engaged my attention ; an undertaking so stupendous that it is not yet finished, though workmen are continually employed in the prosecution of it.

This city has been long very populous, and is now become the residence of some of the first families in the country. They have lately completed a most superb promenade, which commands prospects far surpassing, in point of elegance and variety, any I ever saw.

From Milan I proceeded to Bologna, where I remained some days wholly occupied in viewing the works of the most eminent masters in painting and sculpture, and at length reached Florence with an intention of spending some time with my friend Lord H-¹⁴, then ambassador at the Court of Tuscany.

On my arrival I lost no time in waiting upon his lordship, who received me with all the cordiality of an old friend, and as such introduced me to his lady, one of the most amiable and accomplished of her sex. Here I had the good fortune of meeting again the Duchess of D-, who had the goodness to remember that she had formerly done me the honour of admitting me into her society at Lausanne.

In this charming society I passed my time in the most agreeable manner. The mornings I generally devoted to visiting every object that appeared most worthy observation, the chief of which is certainly the Meridian at the Cathedral, one of the finest pieces of mechanism in the world. My evenings I constantly passed in the charming and fascinating society I met at our ambassador's.

But in pursuance of my itinerant plan, I was obliged to quit them, though with extreme regret. Previous to my departure, I sold my carriages and horses to Lord H-¹⁵ for two thousand one hundred pounds, on condition that I should be paid at the death of his father. The father, however, is still living, and the son dead ; so that if the surviving brother who was then at Florence, and knows the whole transaction, should not think proper to pay me at the stipulated time, I must add this to the list of my bad bargains which, considering my present circumstances, is already by much too long.

After having visited and taken leave of all my friends, I set out for Rome.

There have been so many accounts of this famous and ancient city, and every thing it contains so minutely described by writers of the first distinction, that I shall not take up the reader's time with any observations of my own upon it, but merely intimate that, for the two months I remained there, I always found something new to admire, though I generally spent eight hours every day in viewing whatever [was] worthy the notice of a traveller.

From Rome it was my intention to go to Naples, when I received a letter from my attorney at Paris, with whom I had left an account of what was due to me, amounting to twenty-five thousand pounds, as I have already mentioned. He informed me that if I did not use the utmost expedition, I should probably lose the whole, as the time limited for the creditors of emigrants to lay in their claims was nearly expired. I therefore made what speed I could to Leghorn, where I embarked in an open boat, not finding any better conveyance.

In quitting the Italian coast some reflections involuntarily occurred to me on the present inhabitants of a country so renowned for the arts, the eminent men it has produced, and the number of its revolutions. Their language, once so copious and sublime, which formed the standard of perfection throughout the known world; is now frittered into a mere sing-song ; and the ancient Romans, who by their bravery and wisdom gave laws to Europe, who were both fertile in imagining and quick in executing the most arduous and wonderful undertakings, are now succeeded by a race of effeminate, cowardly and superstitious bigots.

Everything in Italy is tinctured with superstition ; it pervades their palaces, the chambers of their coquettes, the lectures of their pretended philosophers, and stalks abroad in their streets and on their highways, polluting the fountain of true and sacred religion.

The Italian women are by nature coquettes, and of course intriguing and inconstant. They do not think themselves truly beloved unless the gallant be ready and willing to commit any the most atrocious crime for their sake. Far different from the English and French in this respect ; the former content themselves with laying their lovers under contribution, and in France he is most likely to succeed who can play the fop, or man of the world, with the best grace.

We had scarce sailed fifteen miles when we were overtaken by a violent storm, which obliged us to take shelter in the port of Spezzia, one of the largest and finest in the world. It is so large that five fleets of two or three hundred sail each may ride in it with safety and convenience. The observation " that a storm is succeeded by a calm" was verified with us : we took advantage of it, and with the help of our oars arrived safely at Antibes. Here I quitted the vessel, and travelled on through Nice, to Marseilles, from whence I proceeded directly to Paris.

Footnotes

1 ? Lubomirski.
2 MS. No. 2 reads "Miss C- and Miss D'A- daughter or the Count D'A- who had been accused, etc."
3 Devonshire, as appears by Cloncurry's Personal Recollections.
4 Saussure (H. B. de), Voyages dans les Alpes : two vols. Neufchatel, 1779-86.
5 William Beckford (1759-1844), author of Vathek, and other works.
6 See Appendix.
7 There is a copy in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, of the Catalogue of the " Cabinet and Gallery Pictures " sold by auction on the 21st and 22nd June, 1849, at No. 86 Stephen's Green, which mentions a picture (lot 67) of " Susannah and the Elders " after Guercino, of which Whaley was possibly thinking here.
8 Molière-Malade lmaginaire.
9 Ed. Gibbon.
10 Whaley evidently refers to Major de Watteville, the commanding officer of the Bernese regiment of Ernst, which laid down arms, and surrendered to a band of desperate Marsillians in February, 1792. See Planta, J., History of the Helvetic Confederation, ii. 336-7. Lond. 1800.
11 The French form of Solothurn.
12 Beckford.
13 See Appendix, Extract from Beckford's Letters.
14 Lord Hervey.
15 See P. 305, n.