POLITICS AND HOME LIFE (1781-92) 361 



His wife's letters to him during his absence show that if she 

 was apt to break down at partings, her courage and high spirits 

 soon returned. If, as she tells him, ' I wept as only I can weep,' 

 she soon dried her tears and turned to household cares. At the 

 farm at Conches, to which she had retired, these were more varied 

 than in town or at the villa at Genthod. She is at pains to re- 

 assure him as to her welfare : 



' I find I live too little at Conches ; to tell the truth, it is the place 

 where I am happiest. ... I shall be very happy when I get you back, 

 and meantime I assure you I am not sad ; yesterday at La Boissiere 

 they said I laughed as in old days.' 



Madame de Saussure gives details of all the terrible things 

 that are passing in France, the massacre of the Swiss Guard, the 

 King's removal to the Temple. She tells how Paris is the only 

 topic of conversation ; how one of their friends in the Swiss Guard 

 has escaped to England after leaving his sword and uniform in a 

 cellar. All amusements had ceased at Lausanne. At Geneva, 

 however, there was still society ; at Evian there were even dances. 

 Necker had gone to refresh himself by a trip to Chamonix ; an 

 Englishman had failed to get up Mont Blanc, 1 and there had been 

 an accident to his guides. Lord and Lady Palmerston, with a 

 number of English ladies, had called on her. She had refused an 

 afternoon party at the du Pans preferring to remain at home 

 ' with her book, her bull, and her donkey I don't mean Alphonse, 

 but the bull's doctor, for the poor beast languishes and makes 

 no progress.' She completes elsewhere the portrait of the in- 

 competent veterinary : 



' What an imposing figure the doctor of Carouge makes, with his 

 glass in his hand ! He arrives mounted on his donkey. He has fought 

 at Fontenoy and studied in the veterinary schools ; he went into the 

 garden to pick herbs, of which he made a potion, promising me a 

 second much more carefully prepared. In fact, I am so much persuaded 



1 EbeTs Guide adds further and more exact details of this accident. The party 

 consisted of four Englishmen with guides. Their attempt came to a premature 

 and unfortunate end. One of the travellers slipped in traversing some loose 

 rocks at the top of the Montagne de la Cote, and they all fell. Two of the 

 travellers were seriously injured, the guides were more or less bruised. No names 

 are supplied. 



