conquerour, who, with all his abilities and knowledge of war, was a selfish, treacherous and cruel tyrant) have made much progress in the mysteries of the faith he embraced, when he declared, that if he had been at Jerusalem with his valiant Franks, our Saviour should not have been put to death. prising family were never after wards without a pretext for vindicating their just claim, as they presumed to call it, in a share in the administration: at one period the rival counts of Genevois and of Savoy appear to have divided the affections of the people, and to have made war upon each other in the town itself; toward the end of the fourteenth century however, I find Geneva in a state of perfect tranquillity: the counts of Genevois had become extinct and those of Savoy had renounced all pretensions to anything more than the powers of the Vidomne, whilst the bishop being chosen by the people and the chapter, was in several instances an enlightened and benevolent sovereign: one of them. fortified the town according to the rules of art in those days, and another, a Genevois by birth, of the respectable family of the Fabri, which is still in existence, gave good laws and a constitution to the state, the bishop and the clergy on the one side, and the magistrates, as representing the people on the other, divided the rights of savereignty between them in the manner that the sun and moon are made to rule in the first book of Genesis-the bishop ruling by day, and the people by night. In process of time Geneva became annexed to the German empire, and acquired the privileges of an Imperial city, and the bishop who had been. originally entrusted by the emperour with the administration of the government, was gradually converted into a sovereign, owing however, his election to the people in conjunction with the Chapter of St. Peter, and depending upon the general sense of his good conduct for the preservation of his power; by a convention in the year eleven hundred and twenty-four, the bishop was left in possession of the essential | rights of sovereignty, whilst the count of the neighbouring county of Genevois, who had originally been an officer of the empire, and had been appointed to administer justice at Geneva, in the name of the emperour, with whom the bishop had been in a long continued state of warfare and disputes (similar to those which for so many years distracted Italy between the Papal and Imperial power) retained a portion of the executive authority in the person of his representative the Vidomne. The indiscretion of a succeeding count, who divided his territories by will, and the resent-lecting a branch of his prerogative, ment of one of the coheirs, who had which had been hitherto overlooktaken shelter in a distant country, ed, assumed the right of appointfirst brought the house of Savoy ing upon the present instance, and in contact with Geneva, and the secured the right of election on all people having unfortunately in- future occasions to the chapter, exvoked the interference of a count clusively of the people; a subseof Savoy on the occasion of some quent regulation made it necessainternal disagreement, that enter-ry that the canons should be noble, The passage of the pope through Geneva in fourteen hundred and nineteen, was an unfortunate circumstance: it happened to be at the period of an election to the bishoprick, and his holiness, as if recol and it was ever afterwards by no means difficult for the house of Savoy now become Ducal, and in possession by inheritance or purchase of the whole county of Genevois, to influence the election, which they so managed as to render the bishoprick little better than an appendage to their family. In fourteen hundred and forty four, duke Amadeus, known in history by the name of Pope Felix the 5th, the same whose life at Ripaille became proverbial, and who had the good sense to sacrifice an empty title to the repose of mankind, administered the See of Geneva, though not, I believe with the title of bishop; he confirmed the privileges of the people, and conducted himself in every respect with all that moderation, which marked his publick character: but the bishoprick was upon succeeding elections, or as they might more properly perhaps be termed appointments, very unworthily filled, and not unfrequently by minors, or dissipated young men. The contests which ensued between the duke or the bishop, and the people, and which cost the lives of several distinguished individuals of merit, prepared the minds of men in some measure for the important change which shortly after took place at the reformation: this great event was promoted by a variety of causes, but principally by the ignorance and immorality of the clergy, by that connexion which invariably exists between civil and religious liberty, by the powerful influence of Berne, and by the personal character of the celebrated Calvin. The learning of this distinguished reformer, for such it was in that age, was prodigious, but his learning and his fervent piety, were contrasted with the utmost bigotry and intolerance, and as he laboured under a complication of disorders, he very naturally considered this world as a mere state of trial, and confounded the liberal amusements of life with the works of the devil. He was fierce, presumptuous, irascible and unforgiving, but sincere and constant in his affections, for he had affections, and was even married: zealous in the great work to which he thought himself called to by Providence, simple and unaffected in private life, and strictly disinterested. It is difficult to conceive how one head and one hand could have been equal to all he performed, to the numerous sermons, dissertations, commentaries and letters which he wrote and published. The execution of Servel, the circumstance of all others the most inexcusable in his conduct, might have been so obscured in such a mind by religious fanaticism, as to be deemed by himself a meritorious action, and we ought no more to appreciate the merit of those who have lived and acted in former times, according to the opinions and prejudices of succeeding ages, than we ought to try a man for actions committed in one country, by the laws and usages of another. It is probable, says Montesquieu, that if we had lived in the time of Caligula, and known all the circumstances of the case, we might not have thought it so extraordinary that he appointed his favourite horse to the honours of the consulship. It was on the fourteenth of July, fifteen hundred and thirty-five, that the Protestant faith was established by law in Geneva, to the great satisfaction of the people, with the exception of about fifty families, who quitted the city; the far greater part of the clergy also remained attached to the ancient faith, as did the nuns of St. Claire, jects of the world for the first time, must have been amusing to such as were better informed; many of who heroically resisted the offers | held out to them, and moved off in a body to a distant convent in Savoy; one of these good ladies them are said to have mistaken the cattle and sheep, which were wandering over the fields, for wolves. and other wild beasts that they had read of. has left an account of her departure from Geneva in company with the sisterhood, of all they saw upon the road, and of the events that marked, what may be called, their first appearance in the world. I have seen this, and found it extremely interesting, notwitstanding some absurd miracles, that it relates, and a violent and bitter sentiment of enmity, which it breathes throughout against the enemies of the Roman church. It was thought proper by the magistrates, that one of the most popular of the new preachers should give a proof of his eloquence at the convent, that he should represent to the nuns, who were, much against their will, assembled for that purpose, the superiour advantages of those proper enjoyments which awaited them in the world, over the useless mortifications to which they had condemned themselves but the pious maidens heard him with impatience, and dismissed him with contempt; they preferred the cause of truth, accompanied as it was with danger and with poverty, to all the allurements of the world, and having assembled in the cemetery and poured out their hearts in a last and solemn farewell to the departed sisters, they followed their superiour, each with a little bundle and a prayer book under her arm, and were conveyed by a guard as far as the frontiers. "The world was all before them where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide." The astonishment of those who had passed their lives in seclusion, and now beheld the common ob Exhausted as the city was by continued exertions in defence of their independence and of their very existence, it was necessary to inculcate the most rigid economy, and to enforce it by sumptuary laws; of these you may form a very just idea by looking into Keate's account of Geneva: there is something ludicrous, perhaps, at first sight in making the sort of lining, which a gentleman may have to his coat, or the size of a lady's hoop, or the duration of a ball, or the number of guests at a wedding supper, the objects of legislative interference; but you must consider that independent of that general economy, which was the first object of such laws, it was essential to prevent that degree of envy, which might have been excited by a difference of living or appearance, where the whole nation was brought together in so small a space, and where union and good order, and somewhat of republican simplicity were so necessary to their preservation. The morals of the people were placed under the protection of an ecclesiastical court, called the consistory, who took cognizance of all improprieties, and inflicted penalties in proportion to the offence, and while Calvin himself presided at the board, you may easily conceive that the interference of such a body could not fail being troublesome, and even oppressive; there was something in their zeal for virtue, which looked too much like hatred lar emergencies, and the members of which were satisfied to be saved the trouble of a more particular attention to the affairs of the state. Strangers who offered themselves were for a moderate price admitted as Bourgeois, and their children born within the city were entitled to all the rights of citizenship, which addition to the other privileges of Bourgeoisie enabled them to fill offices under the government; there were other distinctions arising from residence or birth within the city, and to this variety of interest, these various sorts of people residing within the same walls, and upon a different footing, the republick owed in process of time, a part of those disturbances, which frequently rendered it necessary that the neighbouring powers should interfere: there were also other sources of unhappiness. and revenge, it was stern and unrelenting, and the publick who compared such moroseness with the amiable defects and pleasant vices of the Romish clergy, began to regret the change which had taken place, so that the personal courage and perseverance of Calvin became as necessary in the great work of reformation, as his religious zeal and his learning; there certainly existed in those days a singular degree of libertinism in Geneva, either owing to the bad example of the inferiour clergy of the Romish church, or connected with that relaxation of principles, which seems to be the effect of all great revolutions in every country: but the peculiar object of religious indignation was the crime of dancing, which Calvin in particular could never overlook it so happened that once in Christmas time the lady of the captain-general was tempted by the sound of a sacriligeous fiddle, and deviated from the paths of virtue into a dance in company with one of the principal magistrates of the state; three days confinement in the common gaol was the punishment inflicted upon the lady, and her relations having resented the indignity, a quarrel ensued, the government took part in it, and this miserable affair of an accidental dance at Christmas, ended in the ruin of a once power-like the battle of Zama, put an end ful and distinguished family. The government of Geneva during this period resided in four Syndicks, who were annually chosen by the people, in a council of twenty-five, who together with the Syndicks, held the executive department, and in the council of two hundred, who were supposed to represent the nation or general council, which was assembled at stated periods, or on very particu LETTER XXVIII. As long as the common enemy hovered around the walls, and the independence and religion of the state were exposed to danger, the strong sense of one common interest kept all parties united, and the duke of Savoy contributed to the internal tranquillity of Geneva, as Hannibal did to that of Rome; but the event of the Escalade, which to the hopes of an inveterate foe; left the people of Geneva leisure to discuss a number of speculative points, and to examine the principles of their government, comparing what they had hitherto acquiesced in, with the rights to which they felt themselves entitled, and which they had in great measure enjoyed previously to the reformation. The civil wars of England too, which ended so fatally for to degenerate into what had more the appearance of fanaticism, would in the event of their success on many occasions have exposed the government to all the weakness and disorderly fluctuation of democracy; unfortunately too, the harsh spirit of Calvin in matters of still to hover over the city, and to have inspired the magistrates in the condemnation and punishments of particular individuals, who had rendered themselves obnoxious by taking the lead in opposition to the government. In succeeding years the picture exhibited by this little republick became still more afflicting; the different parties had seve ral times recourse to arms, the blood of citizens was spilt by their fellow-citizens, and it became more than once necessary that the neighbouring powers should interfere: the calm produced upon these occasions was generally but of short duration, the long promised code was still to make its appearance, other grievances remained unredressed, the natives, such as had no claim but what arose from being born within the city, were clamorous to be admitted to the Bourgeoisie, and the ministers of the court of France, with no very liberal views, seemed to promote the internal discord of the republick, by all those means which their power and their near neighbour Charles the first, had roused the attention of all Europe to the inaalienable rights of man; in France the flame was soon smothered, but in Geneva, where the instinct of liberty remained, and where the accession of exiled Protestants encouraged a spirit of discussion and resistance to arbitrary power-criminal jurisprudence, seemed where the means of obtaining a liberal education were accessible to all, the contest very soon assumed a serious appearance, and as is but too natural, was accompanied with faults on both sides; the people had a right to require, that more than a limited number of the same family should not be members of the administration at one time; that the laws, by which alone their lives, their property and their honour could be secure, should be published, and not remain in many instances a mere matter of disputable tradition; that the judicial should be more distinct from the executive power; that the council of two hundred should not be altogether independent of those whom they were supposed to represent; that no taxes should be imposed, which the nation, convened for that purpose, had not consented to; that there should be stated, though perhaps distant periods, at which they were to be convened, for the purpose of a general supervision of the government, and that remonstrances might be presented when-hood gave them. At length in the ever the signatures of a certain number of citizens could be procured, and the sense of the nation taken upon the grievances, they referred to; these demands, many of which were extremely reasonable, though easily admitting of being carried to excess, were accompanied by others as ill advised, and seditious, and the popular party suffering their zeal in a good cause year seventeen hundred and eighty-two, the aristocracy or government party finding themselves too weak to struggle any longer against their opponents, invoked the mediation of the Swiss Cantons, of France, and of the king of Sardinia, and the consequence was, that after a useless parade of opposition, where no effectual opposition could be made, the democrats were |