98 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



had been removed. ' We see occasionally Madame Necker, who 

 has at last invited our ladies. She has made great friends with 

 me, and invites me constantly to dinner or supper, which I enjoy 

 greatly, as she collects all the beaux esprits, the Encyclopaedists, 

 and the poets. The majority of these people would be no good 

 as friends, but they are interesting to see and know.' In after 

 years Madame Necker became closely connected with de Saussure 

 by her nephew's marriage to his daughter, and both she and 

 her husband proved themselves very good friends to him in 

 the adversity of his later years. 



The young party were frequent visitors to the Theatre Fran9ais 

 and the Comedie Italienne. De Saussure had a great liking for 

 the theatre, possibly due in part to the scanty opportunities of 

 enjoying it at Geneva ! He surprises us in the Voyages by a 

 suggestion in which, anticipating Byron's Manfred, he urges 

 dramatic authors to find new scenes and subjects in the Alps. 

 He even goes so far as to sketch a plot for a drama or opera. A 

 ' crystallier ' (the name given at Chamonix to those who made a 

 living by seeking crystals among the glaciers) should risk his life in 

 an attempt to reach a mass of crystal on the face of a precipice. 

 He should be followed and rescued by the village maiden of his 

 choice. De Saussure adds : ' The representation of these strange 

 solitudes would enrich our theatrical scenery with an entire 

 novelty ; in a similar way, these savage landscapes, the rocks that 

 fall, the avalanches of snow and ice, the storms and majestic 

 echoes of the high mountains, might inspire in a great musician 

 new and sublime ideas.' During their travels the young couple 

 seldom missed a theatrical performance, even in a provincial town. 



In Paris de Saussure renewed an agreeable acquaintance with 

 the great tragic actress, Mile. Clairon the Sarah Bernhardt of her 

 day whom he had doubtless met previously at Ferney when she 

 was a guest of Voltaire. His wife records going to see her play in 

 a private house with two tickets she had given her husband 

 ' a mark of the high favour in which he is with her ' and her 

 enjoyment of the acting, although she was wedged in among a 

 crowd of princesses and duchesses. De Saussure 's frequent calls 

 were rewarded by an inspection of the actress's ' cabinet ' and 

 choice library. ' A cabinet ' a collection of natural objects 

 shells, birds, fossils, seaweeds it did not matter what was at 



