essing argument for the reformation of the
church. About two years after this tour, I passed at Geneva a useful
and agreeable month; but this excursion, and short visits in the Pays
de Vaud, did not materially interrupt my studious and sedentary life at
Lausanne.

My thirst of improvement, and the languid state of science at Lausanne,
soon prompted me to solicit a literary correspondence with several men
of learning, whom I had not an opportunity of personally consulting. 1.
In the perusal of Livy, (xxx. 44,) I had been stopped by a sentence in
a speech of Hannibal, which cannot be reconciled by any torture with
his character or argument. The commentators dissemble, or confess their
perplexity. It occurred to me, that the change of a single letter, by
substituting otio instead of odio, might restore a clear and consistent
sense; but I wished to weigh my emendation in scales less partial than
my own. I addressed myself to M. Crevier, the successor of Rollin, and
a professor in the university of Paris, who had published a large and
valuable edition of Livy. His answer was speedy and polite; he praised
my ingenuity, and adopted my conjecture. 2. I maintained a Latin
correspondence, at first anonymous, and afterwards in my own name,
with Professor Breitinger of Zurich, the learned editor of a Septuagint
Bible. In our frequent letters we discussed many questions of antiquity,
many passages of the Latin classics. I proposed my interpretations
and amendments. His censures, for he did not spare my boldness
of conjecture, were sharp and strong; and I was encouraged by the
consciousness of my strength, when I could stand in free debate against
a critic of such eminence and erudition. 3. I corresponded on similar
topics with the celebrated Professor Matthew Gesner, of the university
of Gottingen; and he accepted, as courteously as the two former, the
invitation of an unknown youth. But his abilities might possibly be
decayed; his elaborate letters were feeble and prolix; and when I asked
his proper direction, the vain old man covered half a sheet of paper
with the foolish enumeration of his titles and offices. 4. These
Professors of Paris, Zurich, and Gottingen, were strangers, whom I
presumed to address on the credit of their name; but Mr. Allamand,
Minister at Bex, was my personal friend, with whom I maintained a more
free and interesting correspondence. He was a master of language, of
science, and, above all, of dispute; and hi