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 sang, they danced, they played at cards, they acted comedies; but in the midst of this careless gayety 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 house 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 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 seventy-five 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 favor. 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, to 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 ardor of youth was always prompted by a benevolent heart, and directed by a strong understanding.*

* JOURNAL, December 1, 1763. - We all went to church to witness the ceremony of the day. It was the presentation of the bailiff at the great church, and the taking of the oath by the town of Lausanne, the vassals, and all the commonalty of the bailiage. The principal minister, Polier de Rollens, preached on this occasion. He astonished us; instead of those compositions, cold and without ideas, which he dignifies but too often with the name of sermons, he has displayed to-day the talents of an orator and the sentiments of a citizen. He has managed to speak to the ruler of his duties, and to the people of their rights, founded in both instances upon the will of freemen, who acknowledge a prince but not a

If my studies at Paris had been confined to the study of the world, three or four months would not

tyrant. He bestowed his panegyric sparingly, appropriately, and without triteness or insipidity. His gesture and delivery were adapted to the spirit of the subject, being full of dignity, devotion, and earnestness. After the sermon, the preacher repaired to the choir of the church, followed by the bailiff and the whole assembly. There he presented to the bailiage their new governor, whom he announced in a brief speech, which appeared to me to be pregnant with matter. The Bursar replied to him, but so low that I lost all which he said. Is the word "lost" properly employed here? As to the rest, never was ceremony conducted with less decorum; the disorder was frightful. The grenadiers of George Grand were present, only to keep out decent people and admit the mob.

LAUSANNE, December 18, 1763. This was a Sunday of communion: religious ceremonies are well understood in this country. They are rare, and on that account the more respected. Old people indeed complain of the coldness of devotion; but nevertheless a day like this offers an edifying spectacle. No business, no assembly; even whist is forbidden, so necessary to the existence of a native of Lausanne.

For some days past I have lost my time, and it was fortunate when my time only was lost. I have played much, or at least I have betted much among the circle; and after some fortunate beginnings I was duly introduced to whist and to piquet, at the expense of forty louis-d'ors. I then had courage to stop all on a sudden; and, without allowing myself to be dazzled by the vain hopes of retrieving my loss, I have renounced high play, at least for some time. It would be better to renounce it forever. Many inconveniences result from it: loss of time, bad company, the continual agitation of hope and fear, which sooner or later affect the temper, and undermine the health. Can a taste for study and reflection associate itself with one for gaming? I have, moreover, been often led to remark, that the pain and pleasure are not equal, and that loss, somehow or another, produces more uneasiness than a similar gain affords satisfaction. The reason is evident: our expenditure is usually adapted to our income, and an unexpected loss leads to the privation of some necessary, or at least some convenience, upon which we have counted. The gain, on the contrary, is too uncertain and precarious to induce a man of sense to change his plan of living, and therefore merely produces a transient satisfaction. So much for wisdom post factum. If I had made these reflections some days sooner, I should have spared myself some disagreeable things in relation to my father, who may not feel disposed to reconcile himself to this increase of expense.

December 31.-Let me cast an eye upon the year 1763. Let me see how I have employed that portion of my existence which is never to return. The month of January was passed in the bosom of my family, to

have been unprofitably spent. My visits, however superficial, to the Academy of Medals and the public

whom it was necessary to sacrifice every moment immediately previous to my departure. During the journey, however, I found means to read the letters of "Busbequius," imperial minister at the Porte: they are as interesting as instructive. I remained at Paris from the 28th of January to the 9th of May, during all which time I studied nothing. Public amusements occupied me a great deal; and the habit of dissipation, acquired so easily in large towns, would not allow me to profit by the time of my stay. But in truth, although I turned over only a few books, an attention to all the curious objects which present themselves in a great capital, and conversation with some of the greatest men of the age, have instructed me in many things which I could not have found in books. The latter seven or eight months of my life have been more tranquil. As soon as I saw myself settled at Lausanne, I undertook a regular course of study of the ancient geography of Italy. My ardor did not flag for six weeks, until the end of the month of June. It was then that a journey to Geneva interrupted my attention; that the abode of Mésery produced a thousand distractions, and that the society of Saussure completed the sacrifice of my time. I resumed my labor, and this Journal, in the middle of August; and from that time to the beginning of November, I made the most of my time. I must confess that for the last two months my ardor has in some degree abated. In the first place, during this course of study, I have read -- 1. Nearly ten books of the geography of Strabo upon Italy twice over. 2. A part of the second book of the Natural History of Pliny. 3. The fourth book of the second chapter of Pomponius Mela. 4. The Itineraries of Antoninus, and of Jerusalem, in regard to that which concerns Italy. These I have read with the Comments of Wesseling, etc. I have constructed tables of all the great roads of Italy, reducing the Roman miles into English miles and French leagues, according to the calculations of D'Anville. 5. The History of the Great Roads of the Roman Empire, by M Bergier, 2 vols. 4to. 6. Some choice extracts from Cicero, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, Tacitus, and the two Plinys. The Roma Vetus of Nardini, and many other tracts on the same subject, which compose nearly the whole of the fourth volume of the Treasure of Roman Antiquities by Grævius. 7. The Italia Antiqua of Cluvier, in 2 vols. folio. 8. The "Iter" or Journey of C. Rutilius Numatianus among the Gauls. 9. The catalogues of Virgil. 10. That of Silius Italicus. 11. The journey of Horace to Brundusium. N. B. I have perused the three last items three times over. 12. Treatise on the Measurement of the Itineraries by D'Anville, and some Memoirs of the Academy of Belles-Lettres. Secondly, as they made me wait at the library of Geneva for Nardini, I felt desirous of filling up the interval by a perusal of Juvenal, a poet whom I hitherto only knew by his reputa

libraries opened a new field of inquiry; and the view of so many manuscripts of different ages and charac

tion: I read him twice with pleasure and with care. Thirdly, during the year I have read some journals, and, among the rest, the Journal Écranger since its commencement; a volume of the Nouvelles of Bayle; and the thirty-five first volumes of the Bibliothèque Raisonnée. Fourthly, I have written a good deal of my Recueil Geographique de l'Italie, which is already tolerably ample, and sufficiently curious. Fifthly, I have not neglected this Journal, which has become a work: 214 pages in four months and a half; and some of these, the best filled up, form a something considerable; and, without resting upon detached observation, they will contain some learned and argumentative dissertations. That on the passage of Hannibal contains ten pages, and that on the Social War, a dozen. But these passages are too lengthy, and even the journal itself has need of reform, and requires the retrenchment of pieces which are foreign to its genuine plan. After having duly reflected as above, here follow some of the objects which I regard as belonging to it. First, all my domestic and private life, my amusements, my engagements, even my rambles, with all my reflections that turn upon subjects which are personal as regards myself; I allow that all this is interesting only to myself; but it is only for myself my Journal is written. Secondly, all which I learn from observation or conversation; but so that I record that only which I acquire from well-informed and veracious persons in relation to facts, or from the small number of those who merit the title of great men, as concerns sentiments and opinions. Thirdly, I will carefully note all that relates to the most important part of my studies; how many hours I have worked; how many pages I have written or read, with a brief account of the subjects on which they treat. Fourthly, I should be sorry to read without reflecting on what I read; without recording my digested judgment on my author, or without sifting with care their ideas and expressions. But all sorts of reading do not equally call for this. Some books may be run over, some be read, and others be studied. My remarks upon those of the first class need only be short and detached; they belong to my Journal, in which those arising out of the second class may also find a place, but only in proportion as they partake of the same character. Fifthly, my reflections upon the small number of choice authors, as they will be meditated with care, will naturally be rendered lengthy and profound. For these, and for the more extended and original pieces to which reading or meditation may give rise, I will form a separate repository. In the mean time I shall preserve its connection with the journal by constant references, which will mark the number of every piece, and the time and occasion of its composition. With these arrangements my Journal cannot but be useful. So exact an account of my time will make me better acquainted with its value, and