312 GIBBON. 



concluded, securing the independence of the little republic 

 at the end of October; and the Pays de Vaud being thus 

 for the present secured from attack, Gibbon no longer 

 contemplated the necessity of abandoning his library and 

 garden, and of seeking shelter in Zurich or Constance. 



It is singular enough, and sufficiently characteristic of 

 those times, that General Montesquieu one evening, imme- 

 diately after signing the convention, suddenly entered 

 the room where the Neckers were, at Rolle, whither they 

 had fled on account of Mme. de StaeTs approaching con- 

 finement. He had run away from his victorious army in 

 consequence of a decree against him by the Convention ; 

 and orders having been given to secure him, alive or dead, 

 he fled through Switzerland into Germany, intending pos- 

 sibly by a circuitous route, to reach shelter in England. 

 He was succeeded by Kellermann, and the fears of the 

 Swiss returned. A few days, however, restored peace 

 and security to the minds of all at Lausanne. Savoy was 

 erected into the Departement du Mont-Blanc; Geneva 

 was revolutionised and summoned a Convention to meet. 

 The wealthier inhabitants retired to the Pays de Vaud, 

 where all apprehensions of attack or of insurrection had 

 subsided at the beginning of 1 793. 



In these circumstances Gibbon's promised visit to Lord 

 Sheffield would have been in all probability still post- 

 poned, but for an unfortunate event in his friend's family 

 his wife's death and his writing to require consola- 

 tion and support under this loss. Gibbon behaved most 

 admirably on the occasion, for he lost no time in setting 

 out upon a long, very inconvenient, and somewhat perilous 

 journey round the French frontier, though in a state of 

 body little fit for undergoing such fatigue. He had some 



