My Friend Young Wardle Has Fallen In Love With A Very Beautiful Cafetiere
At Lyons', And Spends A Great Part Of His Time In The Cafe, 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
pretres) have a fixed salary of 100L 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 a manger, Before dinner every one follows his own avocation or
amusement. At one, the family assemble to dinner which generally consist of
soup, bouilli, entrees of fish, flesh and fowl, entremets of
vegetables, a roti 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 Neufchatel, having a stout fellow with me to carry my sac-de
nuit. On arrival at the lake I crossed over in a boat to Neufchatel, 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. Neufchatel 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.
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