138 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



in 1773 she was in the doctor's hands, and Haller was consulted. 

 Somewhat later she was recommended to seek a warmer climate 

 than that of Geneva in winter, and she consequently took up 

 her abode at Montpellier, which before the French Revolution 

 and the rise of the Riviera was both an important administrative 

 centre and the fashionable resort of invalids from Paris, and even 

 from our own country. Here as a lady of great intelligence, 

 some personal attraction, and an independent fortune she soon 

 found herself welcomed as a member of the best society of the 

 town, and made many friends, English as well as French. Among 

 the latter was Madame Roland, with whom she stayed at her 

 rustic home, ' le Clos en Beaujolais.' 1 



Mile, de Saussure, though she retained property in the town 

 and from time to time paid visits to her parents at Frontenex 

 and her brother at Genthod, or stayed for a few weeks in sum- 

 mer in one of the smaller towns on the lake, never returned 

 to live at Geneva. In the autumn of 1780, at the conclusion 

 of a tour of the Riviera, de Saussure paid her a brief visit at 

 Montpellier, where she entertained him and introduced him 

 and his companion Pictet to her brilliant circle of friends. 

 Pictet describes her as making an agreeable impression, though 

 her good looks and complexion had suffered from constant 

 ill-health. 



On his return to Geneva, de Saussure wrote to his sister ex- 

 pressing his pleasure at having found her in pleasant surroundings 

 and among good friends. 



' Yet,' he continues, ' you will leave next spring those amiable 

 inhabitants of Montpellier to return to the bosom of a family which 

 knows how to love you even better than they do. I, and we all of us, 

 look forward to this moment with the greatest impatience. Take care 

 of yourself, and avoid carefully any indisposition that may deprive 

 us of this happiness.' 



The Genevese revolution of February 1781, described in letters 

 from de Saussure and his father to Judith, may have put a stop 



1 Madame Roland, in 1787, visited Western Switzerland and Grindelwald 

 (see her Leltres sur la Suisse, 1787). For her relations with Geneva and the 

 Gosse family, see Un Genevois d'autrefois, par Mile. Danielle Plan (Geneva, 1909). 

 Monsieur Roland, when appointed a member of the Society of Arts, wrote to 

 ' M. de Saussure ' as secretary, thanking him. Theodore de Saussure then 

 held the office. 



