THE LAST YEARS 367 



replied, " That is true ; I agree, one cannot dedicate a church to 

 Reason." Bourrit, Vhomme des Alpes, judiciously argued that what 

 Calvin had not reformed ought to be let alone. And you will tell 

 me that man has not wit for four ! No doubt it was on Mont Blanc 

 that he acquired it. The Assembly decided nothing, but referred the 

 matter to a Committee to report.' l 



This is Bourrit's last appearance in connection with de 

 Saussure. The Precentor was to live on to the age of eighty ; 

 he died in 1819. His French pension was renewed after the 

 Restoration, and when he could no longer conduct his patrons to 

 the glaciers, he continued to issue his Guide-books to Chamonix. 

 It is pleasant to leave him engaged in proving his loyalty to his 

 old church associations and showing the courage of his opinions. 

 For, despite his too many and obvious foibles and failings, the old 

 Precentor keeps a certain hold on our affections. His enthusiasm 

 for the mountains, the pluck and pertinacity with which he tried 

 to be a climber, even his naive exaggerations, which were to some 

 extent illusions, recommend him to our kindly recollection and 

 go far to make us forget the mischief he wrought. It was not 

 malice so much as vanity that constantly led him astray. 

 Bourrit was not only an honest lover of the Alps, but the author 

 of the first volume in our language of Alpine literature in the 

 modern sense of the words, and we wave a friendly farewell to his 

 fading figure. 



Cornuaud, the busy pamphleteer and political agitator already 

 mentioned, bore in a Journal that has only recently been published, 

 the following emphatic testimony to de Saussure's wise counsels 

 during this period : 



' Professor PreVost was the most brilliant and subtle of the orators 

 on the side of the ancient constitution, but Professor de Saussure was 

 the most adroit. The latter had a great influence over the debates of 

 the Assembly, and was the last of the men of importance of his party 

 to remain in it. The Republic owed him much ; he diminished the 

 harm that would have been done in his absence. A happy mixture of 

 flexibility and firmness which formed the base of his character 

 though he could be reserved and haughty in ordinary life procured 

 for him in the Assembly an influence which was valuable to the 



1 Correspondance de Orenus et Desonnaz, ou Etat Politique et Moral de la 

 Republique de Geneve, Gen&ve, 1794, vol. i. p. 65. 



