CHAP. X.
Having left Geneva so soon after my arrival there, I had not of course sufficient time to speak sufficiently of a city so peculiarly interesting on many accounts. The journal of a traveller is not however the place to look for long statements of the revolutions, wars, and sieges of the cities which he visits; but still there are very few tourists who have omitted to swell their pages with details more properly the province of the historian, and, from the unconnected manner in which they are generally introduced, not calculated to give any very accurate idea of the history of the place. I shall not therefore attempt to mention the various revolutions which have at different times disturbed the city of Geneva; and shall only remark, that it was formerly annexed to the German empire, and that its bishops, like those of Lausanne, having taken advantage of the precarious authority of some of the emperors, succeeded in uniting to the spiritual jurisdiction most of the temporal authority of the state, and lost both together at the introduction of the reformation in 1585. The citizens, to defend themselves from the powerful pretensions of the Dukes of Savoy, concluded, in 1584, a perpetual alliance with the cantons of Zurich and Berne (the most powerful of the reformed cantons), by which alliance this republic became a part of the Swiss confederacy, and continued so to be until forced to unite itself to France, by the revolutionary government of that country. It has again recovered its independence; and the general wish is that Geneva may be declared a canton of Switzerland (this has, since I left Geneva, actually taken place, and the event was celebrated with the utmost enthusiasm by its inhabitants). Their present government is not absolutely arranged, and seems but little varied from that democratic form which anciently prevailed (the merits of which have given rise to much discussion), and by which all power is finally vested in the general or sovereign council, composed of all the citizens of Geneva who have attained their majority, there being a few particular exemptions. All citizens are equally eligible to the public employments of the state, of which, however, the emoluments are so scanty, as only to make them objects of honourable ambition.
By the laws of Geneva, a father can never dispose of more than half his estate, according to his inclination; the other half must be divided equally amongst his children. Those citizens who do not discharge the debts of their father after his decease, are excluded from holding any public situations; as also, if they omit to pay debts which they have themselves contracted. There are still subsisting many sumptuary laws, which appear useful, to exclude the introduction of too great a degree of luxury, which is generally so fatal to the liberty of a people.
There is a theatre at Geneva, which I have heard was first projected by M. d'Alembert, but the magistrates endeavour to prevent as much as possible the frequency of theatrical entertainments; and, during my stay at Geneva (between three and four weeks), I think the theatre was open but twice for plays, and once for a concert.
The town-house is a large and ancient building, and devoid of regularity. It is chiefly worthy of mention, from the ascent to the upper apartments, being by an inclined plane, sufficiently spacious to admit a carriage to drive up to them. Here are the apartments of the senate, the councils of government, officers of justice, &c. Here I left my passports and received, in return, a permission to reside in the city, which must be renewed every fortnight. The passport is returned upon the final departure of its owner.
I now found it easy to provide myself with a lodging (as, without the authority of the state, no citizen can receive strangers into his house) on reasonable terms, for three weeks. My apartment commanded a handsome prospect of the lake from one of the windows. I, however, occasionally dined at the hotel where I had first lodged (the Balances d'Or). I here found sometimes pleasant society at the Table d'Hote. The hour of dinner was about a quarter past one o'clock, and the table was plentifully supplied, much in the order I before mentioned, in speaking of the French dinners. I observed that excellent vegetable, the potatoe, was here in great estimation, at the tables both of the higher and inferior classes; and, except in Italy, I understand its value is duly appreciated in the principal parts of Europe. I now proceed, according to my promise, to speak more of Geneva, having been for some time domesticated there.