116 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



There are few, if any, countries in Europe now where a stranger 

 could at short notice hope for a similar welcome. In England de 

 Saussure met with new minds and modes of life as well as fresh 

 landscapes. Mores hominum multorum novit. 



For the rest of his stay in our country we have to piece 

 together but scanty material. His letters show that he was back 

 in town from his Midland tour on the 21st September, after a visit 

 to Birmingham. On 3rd September he had written from Leeds 

 to the Rector of the Academy at Geneva, begging for an ex- 

 tension of his leave of absence. The reason he gave was that he 

 had been disappointed on his arrival in his hope of mixing in the 

 learned society of London. He continued : 



' I expected to find in the capital at least a great number of its 

 literary men, but, to my great disappointment, I found only very few ; 

 everyone except those whose business kept them in the City had gone 

 into the country, and the fashionable quarter of London was as de- 

 serted as our Grand' Rue during the unhappy Emigration [in 1766]. 

 I was advised to make use of the season to visit some of the English 

 counties which, owing to the mines or other natural curiosities they 

 contain, deserve the attention of Natural Students. The beauty of 

 the weather, and curiosity to see the horse-races at York and the fine 

 company and the splendid entertainments which they are an occasion 

 for, made this plan acceptable to my dear companion.' 



He went on to describe how he intended to fill up the time till 

 the beginning of November by a trip to Cornwall and visits to 

 the Universities. Then Parliament would have met, the Royal 

 Society opened its session, and he would be able to encounter the 

 men he most wanted to . He ended by suggesting that if the Rector 

 thought his request for a prolongation of leave to February out 

 of the question, he would say nothing about it, and promising 

 to come back to his duties punctually at any date fixed. 



It is amusing to find de Saussure taking steps to have any 

 prolongation of his absence broken gently to his parents and his 

 wife's grandmother, Madame Lullin, who appears to have been 

 an important personage in the family. He proposed to let his 

 relations know of his further stay only when the time drew near, 

 and then by successive suggestions of ' another week ! ' Heads 

 of a family at Geneva seem to have exercised a control over the 

 younger generation very alien to English custom. 



