eman of a studious character and liberal fortune. After
his decease the work was continued by two manufacturers of Paris, M. M.
Desmuniers and Cantwell: but the former is now an active member in the
national assembly, and the undertaking languishes in the hands of his
associate. The superior merit of the interpreter, or his language,
inclines me to prefer the Italian version: but I wish that it were in my
power to read the German, which is praised by the best judges. The
Irish pirates are at once my friends and my enemies, But I cannot be
displeased with the too numerous and correct impressions which have been
published for the use of the continent at Basil in Switzerland. [Note:
Of their 14 8vo. vols. the two last include the whole body of the notes.
The public importunity had forced me to remove them from the end of
the volume to the bottom of the page; but I have often repented of
my compliance.] The conquests of our language and literature are not
confined to Europe alone, and a writer who succeeds in London, is
speedily read on the banks of the Delaware and the Ganges.

In the preface of the fourth volume, while I gloried in the name of an
Englishman, I announced my approaching return to the neighbourhood of
the Lake of Lausanne. This last trial confirmed my assurance that I had
wisely chosen for my own happiness; nor did I once, in a year's visit,
entertain a wish of settling in my native country. Britain is the free
and fortunate island; but where is the spot in which I could unite the
comforts and beauties of my establishment at Lausanne? The tumult of
London astonished my eyes and ears; the amusements of public places were
no longer adequate to the trouble; the clubs and assemblies were filled
with new faces and young men; and our best society, our long and late
dinners, would soon have been prejudicial to my health. Without any
share in the political wheel, I must be idle and insignificant: yet the
most splendid temptations would not have enticed me to engage a second
time in the servitude of Parliament or office. At Tunbridge, some weeks
after the publication of my History, I reluctantly quitted Lord and Lady
Sheffield, and, with a young Swiss friend, M. Wilhelm. de Severy, whom
I had introduced to the English world, I pursued the road of Dover and
Lausanne. My habitation was embellished in my absence, and the last
division of books, which followed my steps, increased my chosen library
to the number of between