I cannot do better than give some account of our experiences of Switzerland, and our chief occupations whilst we resided here. It took four long days of travel to reach Geneva from Lyon. Not surprisingly, the travelling becomes slower and more difficult as one approaches the Alps, but Georgiana and Elizabeth continue to enjoy the journey, and we find the long days amply recompensed by the extraordinary beauty of the countryside. We came into Geneva from the direction of the south and west, and had our first view of the city with its unusual cathedral—the home church of Calvin—and many large and substantial structures silhouetted against the sunset over the Jura Mountains. The situation of this city is beyond comparison, close-on the narrowest section of the lake which bears its name (to the English, or Lac Léman to the French and Swiss). The whole country is an Arcadia, centreed by the large, clear lake, surrounded on all sides by hills of vineyards and the various ranges of the Alpen mountains and the glaciers of the Savoy, Mont Blanc rising in the distance, much like an immense coronet. I have never seen any town or city more sensibly situated, comfortable and sheltered amidst the two rivers of the Rhône and the Arve, which meet at the city; a large and bountiful lake provides both sustenance and the convenience of travelling by boat to all of the areas surrounding it, and is bordered nearly about its circumference with handsome orchards and vineyards. After being come recently from the thoroughly unpleasant crowded streets and unwholesome airs of Paris, we have been agreeably surprised by the Swiss streets, which are clean, well-lit, well-ordered, and well-paved.

Our first days at Geneva were occupied in locating our warmer coats, for the climate of Switzerland is a great deal colder than France, at least at this time of year. In 1789, the frost was so severe that the lake was frozen over entirely, and the Duke of Kent passed over it in a coach-and-six, accounts of which we have had to endure several times in just the first three days of our stay, it being a favourite history of the English amongst the good residents of Geneva.

The public library here is extraordinary in that it possesses, amongst its many thousand volumes, a considerable collection of manuscripts, including many curious and rare copies. It is our particular delight to spend some part of each day there. Our recent English discoveries in electricity and fixed air are held in the highest esteem here in Geneva, and, due to the work of Priestly and Watt, the English continue to gain great credit in this city of learning. Of course, the names of Voltaire and Saussure are heard wherever one goes here, and we have paid our respects as aspiring savants with pilgrimages to their respective châteaux.