592' Bijhop Burn 
the State May fall, and is likewife of great Advantage j 
for it produces a good yearly Income, that has helped the 
State to pay a Debt of ne^r a Million, contracted during 
the Wars j and the Citizens are not opprefs’d by it, for 
every Inhabitant may buy his own Corn as he pleafes, 
only publick Houfes mull buy from the Chamber, 
At Rome the Pope buys in all the Corn of the Patri- 
mony ; for none of the Landlords can fell it either to 
Merchants or Bakers. He buys it at five Crowns their 
Meafure, and even that is flowly and ill paid ; fo that 
there was eight hundred thoufand Crowns owing upon 
that Score when I was at Rome. In felling this out, 
the Meafure is leflened a fifth Part, and the Price of 
the Whole is doubled ; fo that what was bought at five 
Crowns, is fold out at twelve ; and if the Bakers, who 
are obliged to take a fettled Quantity of Corn from 
the Chamber, cannot retail all that is impofed upon 
them, but are forced to return fome Part of it back, 
the Chamber difcounts to them only the firft Price of 
five Crowns : Whereas in Geneva^ the Meafure by which 
they buy and fell is the fame \ and the Gain is fo in- 
confiderable, that it is very little beyond the common 
Market-price : So that upon the whole Matter, the 
Chamber of Corn is but the Merchant to the State. 
But if the Publick makes a moderate Gain by the Corn, 
that and all the other Revenues of this fmall Common- 
wealth are fo well employ’d, that there is no Caufe of 
Complaint given in the Adminiftration of the publick 
Purfe, which, with the Advantages that arife out of 
this Chamber of Corn, is about an hundred thoufand 
Crowns Revenue. But there is much to go out of this : 
Three hundred Soldiers are paid, an Arfenal is main- 
tain’d, that, in Proportion to the State, is the greateft 
in the World, for it contains Arms for more Men than 
are in the State. There are a great Number of Mi- 
nifters and Profeflbrs, in all twenty four, befides all the 
publick Charges and Offices of the Government. Every 
one of the leffer Council of Twenty-five having an 
hundred Crowns, and every Syndick having two hun- 
dred Crowns Penfion j and, after all this, come the 
accidental Charges of the Deputies, that they are 
obliged to fend often to Paris, to Savoy, and to Swit- 
zerland j fo that it is very apparent no Man can enrich 
himfelf at the Coft of the Publick.* And the Appoint- 
ments of the little Council are a very fmall Recom- 
pence for the great Attendance that they are obliged 
to give the Publick, which is commonly four or five 
Hours a Day. The Salary for the Profeflbrs and Mi- 
nifters is indeed fmall, not above two hundred Crowns ; 
but to balance this, thofe Employments are here held 
in their due Reputation ; and the richeft Citizens in 
the Town breed up their Children fo as to qualify them 
for thofe Places. And a Minifter, that is fuitable to 
his Character, is thought fo good a Match, that ge- 
nerally they have fuch Eftates either by Succeffion or 
Marriage, as fupport them agreeable to the Rank they 
hold. And in Geneva there is fo great a Regulation of 
Expences of all Sorts, that a fmall Sum goes a great 
Way. It is a furprifing Thing to fee fo much Learn- 
ing as one finds in Geneva, not only among thofe whofe 
Profelfion obliges them to ftudy, but among the Ma- 
giftrates and Citizens ; and if there are not many Men 
of the firft' Form of Learning among them, yet almoft 
every body here has a Tin6lure of a learned Education, 
infomuch that they are Mafters of the Latin, they know 
Hiftory and the Controverfies of Religion, and are ge- 
nerally Men of good Senfe. 
There is an univerfal Civility, not only towards 
St rangers, but one another, that reigns all the Town 
over, and leans to an Excefs : So that in them one 
fees a Mixture of a French Opennefs, and an Italian 
Exaiflnefs j but there is, indeed, a little too much of 
the laft. 
The publick Juftice of the City is quick, and is 
more commended than the private Juftice of thofe that 
deal in Trade ; a Want of Sincerity is much lamented 
by thofe that know the Town well. There is no pub- 
iicic Lewdnefs tolerated, and the Diforders of that Sort 
are managed with great Addrefs. Notwithftanding 
their Neighbourhood, to the Switzers, drinking is very 
’Travels Book II. 
little known among them. One of the beft Parts of 
their Law is the Way of felling Eftates, which is^ like- 
wife pracftifed in Switzerland, and is called Subhaftation, 
from tht Roman of kWing fub half d. A Maua 
that to is buy an Eftate, agrees with the Owner, and then 
intimates it to the Government, who order three feveral 
Proclamations to be made fix Weeks after one another, 
of the intended Sale, that is to be on fuch a Day ; when 
the Day comes, the Creditors of the Seller, if they appre- 
hend that the Eftate is fold at an Under- value, may 
out-bid the Buyer 5 but if they do not interpofe, the 
Buyer delivers the Money to the State, who upon that 
grant him his Title to the Eftate, which can never be 
fo much as brought under a Debate in Law 5 and the 
Price is paid to the State, and is by them given either 
to the Creditors of the Seller, if he owes Money, or to 
the Seller himfelf. 
This Cuftom prevails likewife in Swijfe, where twelve 
Years Poffeflion gives a Prefcription •, fo that in no 
Place of the World are Titles to Eftates fo fecure as 
here. The Conftitution of the Government’ is the fame 
in Geneva and in moft of the Cantons. The Sove- 
reignty lies in the Council of Two Hundred-, and this 
Council choofes out of its Number Twenty-five, who are 
the lelfer Council j and the Cenfure of the Twenty-five 
belongs to the Great Council. They are chofen by a 
Sort of Ballot, fo that it is not known for whom they 
give their Votes ; which is an effeblual Method to fup- 
prefs Facftions and Refentments, fince no Man can 
know who voted for him or againft him ; yet the 
Election is not fo carried, but that the whole Town is 
in an Intrigue concerning it •, for fince the Being of the 
little Council leads one to the Sindicate, which is the 
chief Honour of the State, this Dignity is fought for 
here with as aflive and felicitous Ambition, as appears 
elfewhere for greater Matters. The Two Hundred are 
chofen and cenfured by the Twenty-five ; fo that thefe 
two Councils, which are both for Life, are Checks upon 
each other : The Magiftracy is in the former, and the 
Sovereignty in the latter. The Number of Twenty-five 
is never exceeded in the leflfer Council ; but for the 
greater, though it palTes by the Name of the Council 
of Two Hundred, yet there are commonly eight or ten 
more ; fo that notwithftanding the Abfence or Sick- 
nefs of fome of the Members, they may ftill be able to 
call together near the full Number. There is another 
Council befides thefe two, compofed of fixty, confift- 
ing of thofe of the two hundred that have born Offices, 
fuch as Auditors, Attorney-generals •, or thofe that have 
been in other Employments, which are given for a cer- 
tain Number of Years. This Court has no Authority, 
but is called together by the Twenty-five, when any ex- 
traordinary Occafion makes it advifeable for them to 
call for a more general Concurrence in the Refolutions 
they are about to take. And this Council is of the Na- 
ture of a Council of State, that only gives Advice, but 
has no Power in itfelf. The whole Body of the Bur- 
geifes choofe the Syndics the firft Sunday of the Year ; 
and there are fome other Elebtions that likewife belong 
to them. The Difference between the Burgeffes and 
Citizens is, that the former Degree may be bought, or 
given to Strangers, and they may be of the two hun- 
dred ; but none is a Citizen, but he that is the Son of 
a Burgefs, and that is born within the Town. 
This little Republick’s chief Support is in the firm Al- 
liance that has fubfifted fo long between it and the Can- 
tons of Bern and Zurich and it is fo vifibly the Intereft 
of all Switzerland to preferve it, that if the Cantons had 
not forgot their Intereft fo palpably, in fuffering the 
French to become Mafters of the Franche Comte, one 
would think that they would not be capable of fuffering 
Geneva to be touch’d : For all that can be done in for- 
tifying the Town, can fignify no more, than to put 
it in a State to refift a Surprize or Scalade -, fince if an 
Army comes to befiege it in Form, it is certain, that 
unlefs the Switzers come with a Force able to raife the 
Siege, thofe within will be able to make but a very 
Ihort Refiftance. 
2. From Geneva I went through the Country of Faud^ 
or the Valley, and Laujamie its chief Town, in my Way 
, “ to 
