Journey from Lausanne to Clermont-Ferrand—A wretched conveyance—The first dish of frogs—Society in Clermont-Ferrand—General de Vergeunes—Cleansing the town—Return to Lausanne—A zealous priest—Journey to Bern and back to Lausanne—Avenches—Lake Morat—Lake Neufchatel—The Diet in Bern—Character of the Bernois—A beautiful Milanese lady.

I started from Lausanne on the 4th March 1817, and arrived on the same day at 4 o'clock at Geneva. On my arrival at Geneva, my banker informed me that I had been denounced to the police, for some political opinions I had spoken at the HÔtel de l'Ecu de GenÉve, previous to my journey into Italy, and that I had been traced as far as Turin. I went directly on hearing this to the police, and desired to know who my accusers were, and that the accusation against me might be investigated immediately. Both these propositions were however declined, and I was told it was an affaire passeÉ, and of no sort of consequence; so that from that day to this I have never been able to ascertain who my friends were.

I left Lausanne with the intention of paying a visit to my friend Col.
Wardle and his family at Clermont-Ferrand, in the Department of the Puy de
DÔme, in Auvergne, where they are residing. I staid three days at Geneva,
and then set off at 7 in the evening on the 8th March with the Courier for
Lyons.

I never regretted any thing so much, and was near paying severely for my rashness in putting myself into such a wretched conveyance, at such a season of the year; but I had made the agreement with the Courier without inspecting his carriage, and was obliged to adhere to the bargain. It was a vehicle entirely open before; it was a bitter cold, rainy, snowy night; and I had the rain and snow in my face the whole way, and on crossing the Cerdon I was seized with a violent ague fit, and suffered so much from it that on arrival at a village beyond Nantua where we stopped for supper, I determined to proceed no further, but to rest there that night; and I asked the innkeeper if he could furnish me with a bed for the night. He however made so many objections and seemed so unwilling that I should remain, that I was obliged to make up my mind to proceed. I allayed the frissonnement by a large glass of brandy and water, made fiery hot. At eight o'clock next morning I arrived at Lyons, more dead than alive. A warm bath, however, remaining in bed the whole day, buried in blankets, abstaining from all food, a few grains of calomel at night and copious libations of rice gruel the next day restored me completely to health; and after a sÉjour of four days at Lyons, I was enabled to proceed on my journey to Clermont on the 14th March. We arrived at Roanne in the evening and I stopped there the whole night.

Between Lyons and Roanne is the mountain of Tarare where the road is cut right athwart the mountain and is consequently terribly steep; indeed it is the steepest ascent for a carriage I ever beheld. All the passengers were obliged to bundle out and ascend on foot; and even then it is a most arduous montÉe for such a cumbrous machine as a French diligence.

The country between Lyons and Roanne appears diversified; but this is not the season for enjoying the beauties of nature. Roanne consists of one immensely long street, but it is broad, and contains excellently built houses and shops. There is a theatre also and baths. It is situated on the Loire which I now salute for the first time.

The following morning at nine o'clock a patache (a sort of two wheeled carriage) was in waiting to convey me the remainder of my journey; and I arrived at night at a large village or town called Thiers. Halfway between Roanne and Thiers, on stopping at a small village to dine, I observed a dish of frogs at the kitchen fire at the inn; and as it was the first time I had observed them as an article of food in France, I was desirous to taste them. They were dressed in a fricassÉe of white sauce, and I found them excellent. The legs only are used. They would be delicious as a curry. The next morning we continued our journey; and crossing the river Allier at twelve o'clock, arrived at Clermont-Ferrand at 2 p.m., and dined with Col. Wardle. Clermont and Ferrand are two towns within a mile and half distant from each other and this Clermont is generally called Clermont-Ferrand to distinguish it from other towns of the same name.

CLERMONT, March 26th.

I have taken lodgings for a month, and board with a French family for 90 franks per month. On the road hither the immense mountain called the Puy de DÔme is discernible at a great distance; it is said to have been a volcano.

Clermont is a very ancient city and has an air of dullness; but the Place and promenades round the town are excellent. It is the capital of this department (Puy de DÔme). There is a terrible custom here of emptying the aguas mayores y menores (as the Spaniards term those secretions) into the small streets that lie at the back of the houses. The consequence is that they are clogged up with filth and there is always a most abominable stench. One must be careful how one walks thro' these streets at night, from the liability of being saluted by a golden shower. The lower classes of the Auvergnats have the reputation of being dirty, slovenly and idle.

Here is a church built by the English in the time of Edward III, when the Black Prince commanded in this country; and it was in a chapel in this city, the remains of which still exist, that Peter the Hermit preached the first crusade. These are almost the only things worthy of remark in the town itself, except that there is a good deal of commerce carried on, manufactures of crockery, cloth and silk stockings. But in the natural curiosities of the environs of Clermont there is a great deal to interest the botanist and mineralogist and above all there is a remarkable petrifying well, very near the town, where by leaving pieces of wood, shell-fish and other articles exposed to the dropping of the water, they become petrified in a short time. This water has the same effect on dead animals and rapidly converts them into stone. I have myself seen a small basket filled with plovers' eggs become in eight days a perfect petrifaction.

CLERMONT, April 2d.

I am arrived here at rather a dull season: the Carnaval is just over and all the young ladies are taking to their Livres d'Heures to atone for any levity or indiscretion they may have been guilty of during the hey day of the Carnaval. The Wardle family have a very pleasant acquaintance here, chiefly among the libÉraux, or moderate royalists, but there are some most inveterate Ultras in this city, who keep aloof from any person of liberal principles, as they would of a person infected with the plague. The noblesse of Auvergne have the reputation of being in general ignorant and despotic. There is but little agrÉment or instruction to be derived from their society, for they have not the ideas of the age. In general the nobles of Auvergne, tho' great sticklers for feudality and for their privileges, and tho' they disliked the Revolution, had the good sense not to emigrate.

There is a Swiss regiment of two battalions quartered here. It bears the name of its Colonel, De Salis. As there are a number of officers of the old army here, on half pay, about three hundred in number, it is said, frequent disputes occur between them and the Swiss officers. The Swiss are looked upon by the people at large as the satellites of despotism and not without reason. It is, I think, degrading for any country to have foreign troops in pay in time of peace. Several attempts have been made in the Chamber of Deputies to obtain their removal or licencÍement, but without success. As it is supposed that the song of the Ranz des Vaches affects the sensibility of the Swiss very much, and makes them long to return to their native mountains, a wag has recommended to all the young ladies in France who are musicians to play and sing the Ranz des Vaches with all their might, in order to induce the Swiss to betake themselves to their native country.

There has been a great deal of denunciation going forward here; but the General de V——[104] who commands the troops in Clermont, determined to put a stop to it. He had the good sense to see that such a system, if encouraged, would be destructive of all society, prejudicial to the Government, and vexatious to himself; as he would be thereby kept continually in hot water. Accordingly, on a delator presenting himself and accusing another of not being well affected to the present order of things, and of having spoken disrespectfully of the King, M. de V—— said to him: "I have no doubt, Sir, that your denunciation proceeds from pure motives, and I give you full credit for your zeal and attachment to the royal cause; but I cannot take any steps against the person whom you accuse, unless you are willing to give me leave to publish your name and consent to be confronted with him, so that I may examine fairly the state of the case, and render justice to both parties." The accuser declined acceding to this proposition. The General desired him to withdraw, and shortly after intimated publicly that he would listen to no denunciation, unless the denouncer gave up his name and consented to be confronted with the accused. The consequence of this intimation was that all denunciations ceased. The late Prefect however was not so prudent, and chose rather to encourage delation; but mark the consequence! He arrested several persons wrongfully, was obliged to release them afterwards, was in continual hot water and it ended by the Government being obliged to displace him. To avoid the merited vengeance of many individuals whom he had ill-treated, he was obliged, on giving up his prefecture, to make a precipitate retreat from Clermont. The delators attempted the same system with the new Prefect and Col. Wardle, having invited some of the Swiss officers to a ball, to which were likewise invited people of all opinions, an information was lodged against him, purporting that he wanted to corrupt the Swiss officers from their allegiance. The Prefect sent the letter to Col. Wardle and said that it had not made the slightest impression on his mind, and that he treated it as a malicious report. The new Prefect adopted the same system as the General and tranquillity is since perfectly restored.

Things have been taking a better turn since the dissolution of the Chambre introuvable. Decazes, the present minister, is an able man, and if he is not contrariÉ by the LibÉraux, he will keep the fanatical Ultras in good order. The Bishop of Clermont is a liberal man also, and as it seems the wish of the present public functionaries here to conciliate, it is to be hoped that their example will not be lost on the bons vieux gentilshommes of Auvergne.

I find an inexhaustible fund of entertainment from the conversation of M. C——. He has so many interesting anecdotes to relate respecting the French Revolution. With regard to his present occupations, which are directed towards rural economy, he tells me that he has succeeded in a plan of cleansing the town from its Augean filth, and making it very profitable to himself; and that he calculates to obtain a revenue thereby of twenty thousand franks annually. He has, in short, undertaken to be the grand scavenger of the town, and the Government, in addition to a salary of 2,500 francs per annum, which they give him for his trouble, give to him the exclusive privilege of removing all the dung he can collect in the precincts of the city, and of converting it to his own advantage. He began by fitting up a large enclosure, walled on each side, and in which he deposits all the filth he can collect in the stables, yards and streets of Clermont. He sends his carts round the town every morning to get them loaded. All their contents are brought to this repository, and shot out there. Straw is then placed over this dung, and then earth or soil collected from gullies and ravines, and this arranged stratum super stratum, till it forms an immense compact cake of rich compost; and when it has filled one of the yards and has completed a thickness of five feet, he sells it to the farmers, who send their carts to carry it off. He has divided this enclosure or repository into three or four compartments. The compost therefore is prepared, and ready to be carried off in one yard, while the others are filling. In this he has rendered a great benefit to the public, for the Auvergnats are incurable in their custom of emptying their pots de chambre out of the windows; so that the streets every morning are in a terrible state: but thanks to the industry of C—— his cars go round to collect the precious material, and all is cleared away by twelve o'clock. He collects bones too, and offal to add to the compost. He conducted me to see his premises; but the odour was too strong….

I returned to Lausanne by the same route, leaving Clermont on the 6th April, staying four days at Lyons and as many at Geneva. Young Wardle accompanied me. We met with no other adventure on the road than having a young Catholic priest, fresh from the seminary, for our travelling companion, from Thiers to Roanne. This young man wished to convert Wardle and myself to Catholicism.

Among many arguments that he made use of was that most silly one, which has been so often sported by the Catholic theologians, viz.: that it is much safer to be a Catholic than a Protestant, inasmuch as the Catholics do not allow that any person can be saved out of the pale of their church, whereas the Protestants do allow that a Catholic may be saved. I answered him that this very argument made more against Catholicism than any other, and that this intolerant spirit would ever prevent me (even had such an idea entered into my head) of embracing such a religion. I then told him that, once for all, I did not wish to enter into any theological disputes; that I had fully made up my mind on these subjects; and that I would rather take the opinion of a Voltaire or a Franklin on these matters than all the opinions of all the theologians and churchmen that ever sat in council from the Council of Nicsea to the present day. This silenced him effectually. Such is the absurd line of conduct pursued by the Catholic priests of the present day in France. Instead of reforming the discipline and dogmas of their church and adapting it to the enlightened ideas of the present age, they are sedulously employd in preaching intolerant doctrines, and reviving absurd legends, and pretended miracles, which have been long ago consigned to contempt and oblivion by all rational Catholics; and by this they hope to re-establish the ecclesiastical power in its former glory and preponderance. Vain hope! By the American and French Revolutions a great light is gone up to the Gentiles. Catholicism is on its last legs, and they might as soon attempt to replace our old friend and school acquaintance Jupiter on the throne of heaven, as to re-establish the Papal power in its pristine splendour; to borrow the language of the Pilgrim's Progress, the Giant Pope will be soon as dead as the Giant Pagan.

On arrival at Lyons we put up at the HÔtel du Parc, where I found cheaper and better entertainment than at the HÔtel du Nord.

My friend young Wardle has fallen in love with a very beautiful cafetiÈre at Lyons', and spends a great part of his time in the cafÉ, at which this nymph administers, and looks at her, sighs, looks and sighs again. It is not probable however that he will succeed in his suit, for she has been courted by very many others and no one has succeeded. She remains constant to her good man, and the breath of calumny has never ventured to assail her. I met one day at Lyons with my old friend W——s of Strassburg, who was a Lieutenant in the 25th Regiment in the French service and served in the battle of Waterloo.[105] He is now here and being on demi-solde, employs himself in a mercantile house here as principal commis. He dined with us and we passed a most pleasant day together.

I arrived on the 20th April at Lausanne.

* * * * *

After remaining some weeks, at Lausanne on my return from Clermont, I determind on making a pedestrian trip as far as Bern and Neufchatel previous to returning into Italy, which it is my intention to do in September. I sent on my portmanteau accordingly to Payerne near Avenches, intending to pay a visit and pass three days with my friend, the Revd. Mr. J[omini],[106] the rector of the parish there, from whom I had received a pressing invitation. I was acquainted at Lausanne with his daughter, Mme C——, and was much pleased in her society. She had great talent of conversation, and I never in my life met with a lady possessed of so much historical knowledge. I started on the 27th June from Lausanne, passed the first night at Mondon and the next afternoon arrived at Avenches, the Aventicum of the ancient Romans. Payerne is only a mile distant from Avenches, and I was received with the utmost cordiality by the worthy pastor and his daughter. The scenery on the road to Avenches is very like the scenery in all the rest of the Canton de Vaud, viz., alternate mountain and valley, lofty trees, and every spot capable of cultivation bearing some kind of produce; corn just ready for the sickle and fruit such as cherries and strawberries in full bloom. Avenches has an air of great antiquity and looks very gloomy withal, which forms a striking contrast to the neat, well built towns and villages of this Canton on the banks of the lake Leman where everything appears so stirring and cheerful. Avenches, on the contrary, is very dull, and there is little society.

At Mr. J[omini] there were, besides his daughter, his son and his son's wife. All the ministres (for such is the word in use to designate Protestant clergymen and you would give great offence were you to call them prÊtres) have a fixed salary of 100£ sterling per annum, with a house and ground attached to the cure; so that by farming a little they can maintain then? families creditably. M. Jomini lost his wife some time ago, and still remains a widower.

I left Payerne on the fifth of July and walked to the campagne of M. de T[reytorre]us,[107] situated on the banks of the lake Morat. It is a very pretty country house, spacious and roomy, and I was received with the utmost cordiality by M. de T[reytorrens] and his amiable family. He is a very opulent proprietor in this part of the country, and has spent part of his life in England. He is a dignified looking man, a little too much perhaps of the old school and no friend to the innovations and changes arising from the French Revolution. Having lived much among the Tory nobility of England, he has imbibed their ideas and views of things. His son is now employed in one of the public offices in London. His wife and three daughters, one of whom is married to a ministre, dwell with him. With this family I passed three days in the most agreeable manner. I find the style and manner of living of the noblesse (or country gentlemen, as we should style them) of Switzerland very comfortable, in every sense of the word. I wish my friends the French would take more to a country life, it would essentially benefit the nation. The way of living in M. de T[reytorre]us family is as follows. A breakfast of coffee and bread and butter is served up to each person separately in their own room, or in the Salle À manger, Before dinner every one follows his own avocation or amusement. At one, the family assemble to dinner which generally consist of soup, bouilli, entrÉes of fish, flesh and fowl, entremets of vegetables, a rÔti of butcher's meat, fowl or game, pastry and desert. The wine of the country is drunk at dinner as a table wine, and old wines of the country or wines of foreign growth are handed round to each guest during the desert. After dinner coffee and liqueurs are served. After an hour's conversation or repose, promenades are proposed which occupy the time till dusk. Music, cards or reading plays fill up the rest of the evening, till supper is announced at nine o'clock, which is generally as substantial as the dinner.

On taking leave of Mr. de T[reytorre]ns' family I walked to the banks of the lake NeufchÂtel, having a stout fellow with me to carry my sac-de nuit. On arrival at the lake I crossed over in a boat to NeufchÂtel, which lies on the other side. I remained there the whole of the day. It is a very pretty neat little city, in a romantic position. Its government is a complete anomaly. NeufchÂtel forms a component part of the Helvetic confederacy, and yet the inhabitants are vassals of the King of Prussia, and the aristocracy are proud of this badge of servitude. The King of Prussia however does not at all interfere with its internal government, and his supremacy is in no other respects useful to him than in giving him a slight revenue. French is the language spoken in the canton. There is a marked distinction of rank all over Switzerland, except in Geneva, Vaud and the small democratic cantons such as Zug and Schwytz, where it is merely nominal. In short, tranquillity is the order of the day. Each rank respects the privileges of the other and the peasant, however rich, is not at all disposed to vary from his usual mode of life or to ape the noble; and hence, tho' sumptuary laws are no longer in force, they continue so virtually and the peasantry in all the German cantons adhere strictly to the national costume.

BERN, 14 July.

I put myself in the diligence that plies between Neufchatel and Bern at nine p.m., on the 12 July, and the following morning put up at the Crown Inn in the city of Bern, in the Pays Allemand, whereas the French cantons are termed the Pays Romand. Bern is a remarkably elegant city as much so as any in Italy, and much cleaner withal. The streets are broad, and in most of them are trottoirs under arcades. There are a great number of book-sellers here, and the best editions of the German authors are to be procured very cheap. Bern is situated on an eminence forming almost an island as it were in the middle of the river Aar; steep ravines are on all sides of it; and there is a bridge over the Aar to keep up the communication; and as the borders of the island, on which the city stands, are very steep, a zig-zag road, winding along the ravines, brings you to the city gates. These gates are very superb. On each side of the gates are two enormous white stone bears, the emblems of the tutelary genius of this city. The houses are very lofty and solidly built. The promenades in the environs of Bern are the finest I have seen anywhere, and the grounds allotted to this purpose are very tastefully laid out. These promenades are paved with gravel and cut thro' the forests, that lie on the coteaux and ravines on the other side of the Aar. There are several neat villas in the neighbourhood of these promenades, and there are cafÉs and restaurants for those who chuse to refresh themselves. Such is the beauty of these walks, that one feels inclined to pass the whole day among them. They are laid out in such variety, and are so multiplied, that you often lose your way; you are sure however to be brought up by a point de vue at one or other of the angles of the zig-zag; and this serves as a guide pour vous orienter, as the French say. Another favorite promenade is a garden, in the town itself, that environs the whole city from which and from the superb terrace of the Cathedral you have a magnificent view of the glaciers that tower above the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunn. The immense forests that are in the neighbourhood of Bern form a striking contrast with the cornfields in the vallies and on the coteaw. There are but few vineyards in the neighbourhood of Bern.

BERN, 16 July.

The Diet is held this year in Bern and it is now sitting. I have met with the two Deputies of the Canton de Vaud, MM. P——- and M——-. I am glad to hear from them that the animosity existing between the two cantons of Bern and Vaud is beginning to subside. M. P——— has made a most able and conciliating speech at the Diet. Still there is a good deal of jealousy rankling in the breast of the Bern noblesse and the avulsumimperium is a very sore subject with them. I recollect once at Lausanne meeting with a young man of one of the principal families of Bern, who had been hi the English service. The conversation happened to turn on the emancipation of the Canton de Vaud from the domination of Bern, when the young man became perfectly furious and insisted that the Vaudois had no right whatever to their liberty, for that the Canton of Bern had purchased the province of Vaud from the Dukes of Savoy. "En un mot" (said he), "ils sont nos esclaves, nos ilotes et ils sont aussi clairement notre propriÉtÉ que les nÈgres de la JamaÏque le sont de leurs maÎtres"

A very harsh measure has lately been passed in the Diet, evidently suggested by the aristocracy of Bern, which tended to fine and punish those Swiss officers who remained in Prance to serve under Napoleon after his return from Elba, and who did not obey the order of the Diet which recalled them. A very able objection has been made to this measure in a brochure, wherein it is stated that many of these officers had no means of living out of France and that, on a former occasion, when a number of Swiss officers were serving the English Government and were employed in America in the war against the United States in 1812 and 1818, the Diet, then under Napoleon's influence, issued a decree recalling them and commanding them to quit the English service forthwith. This they refused to do and continued to serve. No notice whatever was taken of this act of disobedience, when they returned to their native country on being disbanded in 1814, and they were very favourably received. Why then, says the author of this pamphlet, is a similar act of disobedience to pass unnoticed in one instance and to be so severely punished in another? Or do you wish to prove that your vengeance is directed only against those who remained in France, to fight for its liberties, when invaded by a foreign foe, while those who remained in America to fight against the liberties and existence of the American Republic you have received with applause and congratulation? Is such conduct worthy of Republicans? O, fie!

Such an argument is in my opinion convincing for all the world except for an English Tory, a French Ultra or a Bern Oligarch.

The Arsenal here is well worth seeing; here is a superb collection of ancient armour, much of which were the spoils of the Austrian and Burgundian chivalry, who fell in their attempts to crush Helvetic liberty.

By way of shewing how fond the Bernois are of old institutions and customs, they have been at the trouble to catch three or four bears and keep them in a walled pit in the city, where they are well fed and taken care of. The popular superstition is that the bears entertained in this manner contribute to the safety of the commonwealth; and this establishment continued ever in full force, until the dissolution of the old Confederacy took place and the establishment in its place of the Helvetic Republic under the influence of the French directorial government. The custom, then, appearing absurd and useless, was abolished, and the bears were sold. But since the peace of 1814 other bears have been caught and are nourishd, as the former ones were, at the expence of the state.

Bern derives its name from BÜren, the German word for Bears (plural number). Only the French spell Berne, with an e at the end of it.

There are no theatrical amusements going forward here. Cards and now and then a little music form the evening recreations.

In the inn at Bern I became acquainted with a most delightful Milanese lady and her son. Her name is L———; she is the widow of an opulent banker at Milan and has a large family of children. She was about thirty-eight years of age and is still a remarkably handsome woman. Time has made very little impression on her and she unites very pleasing manners with a great taste for litterature. She is greatly proficient in the English language and litterature, which she understands thoroughly, tho' she speaks it with difficulty. She is an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare, Milton and Byron. She had been to Zurich for her son, who was employed in a commercial house there, in order to take him back with her into Italy. She spoke French as well as Italian, and her son had a very good knowledge of German. She offered me a seat in her carriage, on the understanding that I was going to Lausanne, where she intended to stop a day or two. An offer of the kind made by so elegant and fascinating a woman you may be assured I did not scruple to accept, and I was in hopes of improving on this acquaintance and renewing it at Milan. Indeed, did not business oblige me to remain some weeks at Lausanne, I should certainly offer my services to escort her all the way to Milan. She had letters of introduction for Lausanne, and during her stay there I acted as her cicerone, to point out the most interesting objects and points of view, which the place affords.

[104] Louis Charles Joseph Gravier, vicomte de Vergennes d'AlonnÉ, was the son of the Comte de Vergennes, who was minister under the reign of Louisi XVI. Born at Constantinople in 1766, he took service at the early age of thirteen, was promoted captain in 1782 and colonel in 1788. Having emigrated in 1791, he served in CondÉ's army, then took service in England from 1795 to 1797. On the 3rd March, 1815, he re-entered the army as "marÉchal de camp," and, on the 2nd November of that same year, was promoted general commander of the department of Puy de DÔme. He retired on the 8th March, 1817, and seems to have been much regretted at Clermont. Died 1821.—ED.

[105] Jean FranÇois Wlnkens, born at Aix-la-Chapelle In 1790, is mentioned in the records of the French War Office as having served in the 25th Regiment at Waterloo. His family may have belonged to Strassburg.—ED.

[106] Pierre Jacques Jomini, Protestant minister at Avenches from 1808 to 1819.—ED.

[107] The Treytorrens family, of old nobility and fame, now extinct, possessed a large estate at GuÉvaux, on the borders of the lake of Morat.—ED.