yes, when we have been abandoned to our own society.
I had frequently seen Mr. Necker, in the summer of 1784, at a
country house near Lausanne, where he composed his Treatise on the
Administration of the Finances. I have since, in October 1790, visited
him in his present residence, the castle and barony of Copet, near
Geneva. Of the merits and measures of that statesman various opinions
may be entertained; but all impartial men must agree in their esteem of
his integrity and patriotism.

In August 1784, Prince Henry of Prussia, in his way to Paris, passed
three days at Lausanne. His military conduct has been praised by
professional men; his character has been vilified by the wit and malice
of a daemon (Mem. Secret de la Cour de Berlin); but I was flattered by
his affability, and entertained by his conversation.

In his tour of Switzerland (Sept. 1788) Mr. Fox gave me two days of free
and private society. He seemed to feel, and even to envy, the happiness
of my situation; while I admired the powers of a superior man, as they
are blended in his attractive character with the softness and simplicity
of a child. Perhaps no human being was ever more perfectly exempt from
the taint of malevolence, vanity, or falsehood.

My transmigration from London to Lausanne could not be effected without
interrupting the course of my historical labours. The hurry of my
departure, the joy of my arrival, the delay of my tools, suspended their
progress; and a full twelvemonth was lost before I could resume the
thread of regular and daily industry. A number of books most requisite
and least common had been previously selected; the academical library
of Lausanne, which I could use as my own, contained at least the fathers
and councils; and I have derived some occasional succour from the public
collections of Berne and Geneva. The fourth volume was soon terminated,
by an abstract of the controversies of the Incarnation, which the
learned Dr. Prideaux was apprehensive of exposing to profane eyes. It
had been the original design of the learned Dean Prideaux to write the
history of the ruin of the Eastern Church. In this work it would have
been necessary, not only to unravel all those controversies which the
Christians made about the hypostatical union, but also to unfold all the
niceties and subtle notions which each sect entertained concerning it.
The pious historian was apprehensive of exposing that incomprehensible
mystery to the cavils and ob