scene of the lake, covered with boats of
various sizes, filled with elegant females (and I have seen few places
that can boast of a greater proportion,) prevented my reflections on the
_more distant scene_ which its shores presented, and which, under
different circumstances, would not have passed unnoticed. After having
spent some time on the water, the company repaired to the Hall of
Navigation, near the village of Secheron, where a handsome entertainment
was provided. The evening concluded with a brilliant display of
fire-works, and the Lake was again enlivened by the boats carrying back
the company to the city. I observed amongst the company an English
Admiral, who attended this fete in his uniform. The Genevese lamented
that so handsome a dress should be disfigured by the _small hat_ he
wore, and it was indeed small compared with those of their officers. The
peasants here wear larger hats than any I saw in France, probably to
shade them from the sun; but in any climate, I do not think an English
labourer would feel at his ease with such a vast _edifice_ on his head.
The bonnets worn by the inhabitants of parts of Savoy and Vaud, are not
very dissimilar in shape from some I have seen in Wales; they are of
straw, and are commonly ornamented with black ribbon.

I shall here insert an epigram composed in 1602, by a Prince of Hesse,
who, at his departure, presented the city with 10,000 crowns.

Quisquis amat vitam, sobriam, castamque tueri,
Perpetuo esto illi casta Geneva domus:
Quisquis amat vitani hanc bene vivere, virere et illam,
Illi iterum fuerit casta Geneva domus.
Illic iuvenies, quidquid, conducit utrique:
Relligio hic sana est, aura, ager, atque lucus.

Amongst the various objects which are pointed out as deserving the
attention of a stranger, is the house in which the celebrated J.J.
Rousseau was born, in the year 1712. The circumstance is recorded by an
inscription over the door. His father was a watchmaker, and his house
was small and obscurely situated.

Rousseau was perhaps the most eloquent and fascinating of all the
sceptical writers of the last century; and probably the only one amongst
them who established a _system of his own_, if indeed his eccentricities
can be so called. His character exhibited a strange mixture of _pride_,
which made him perpetually anxious to be of public notoriety, and of an
_unsociable temper_, which often made him retire in disgust with the