THE GRAND TOUR (1768-69) 103 



more adventurous sons to seek commercial success in larger 

 fields, either in Holland or England. 



De Saussure's health, at no time robust, suffered from the 

 relaxing climate of the Low Countries in midsummer, and in the 

 middle of August the travellers turned their thoughts towards 

 England. With our country Geneva had even more ties than 

 with Holland, and the moment was opportune. Great Britain 

 had emerged successful from the vicissitudes of the Seven Years 

 War (1755-62). The island-state was on the point of developing 

 into a world commonwealth, she ruled already in India and Canada, 

 and had not yet lost her American colonies . Europe looked up to 

 her as the chief among its nations. The domestic troubles, the 

 riots connected with Wilkes's prosecution, interested they are 

 often alluded to in letters from de Saussure's friends but were not 

 of a sort to affect foreign visitors. The de Saussures had, more- 

 over, strong personal inducements to undertake the journey. They 

 had relations established as bankers in London, old family friends, 

 such as Dr. Turton, and close acquaintances, members of the 

 English aristocracy, who had been guests at Frontenex or in the 

 townhouse, on whose welcome they could count. Foremost among 

 them was Lord Palmerston, the father of the statesman, a D.C.L. 

 of Oxford, a traveller, a man of taste and fashion, a member of 

 ' The Club,' an intimate friend of Reynolds, Garrick, and Gibbon. 

 He visited Switzerland in 1763 and again in 1767. On the latter 

 occasion he took with him William Pars, the artist of the Dilet- 

 tanti Society, who made a drawing of the Mer de Glace, engraved 

 with four other Alpine views by Woollett. There is nothing to 

 show that de Saussure went to Chamonix with Lord Palmerston in 

 1767, but in subsequent years he made at least one Alpine tour 

 in his company. 



The ordinary route from Holland at that date was by Helvoet- 

 sluys and Harwich, but de Saussure was dissuaded from attempt- 

 ing it by his countryman Jalabert's * report of the terrors of the 

 nineteen hours' passage. They found their friend at Rotterdam 

 ' bien triste, bien lugubre, ne disant plus de bien de FAngleterre, 

 nous representant tout comme herisse de difficultes .' It is hard, 

 perhaps, for islanders to realise the serious view taken by conti- 

 nental Europeans even to-day of the perils of the short Channel 

 1 The friend who accompanied him to Chamonix in 1767. 



