consequences influenced the rest of my life. My father had a quarrel
ungenerous man, happening to bleed at the nose, in order to be
revenged, accused my father of having drawn his sword on him in the
city, and in consequence of this charge they were about to conduct
him to prison. He insisted (according to the law of this republic)
that the accuser should be confined at the same time; and, not being
able to obtain this, preferred a voluntary banishment for the
remainder of his life, to giving up a point by which he must
sacrifice his honor and liberty.
I remained under the tuition of my uncle Bernard, who was at that
time employed in the fortifications of Geneva. He had lost his
eldest daughter, but had a son about my own age, and we were sent
together to Bossey, to board with the Minister Lambercier. Here we
were to learn Latin, with all the insignificant trash that has
obtained the name of education.
Two years spent in this village softened, in some degree, my Roman
fierceness, and again reduced me to a state of childhood. At Geneva,
where nothing was exacted, I loved reading, which was, indeed, my
principal amusement; but, at Bossey, where application was expected, I
was fond of play as a relaxation. The country was so new, so
charming in my idea, that it seemed impossible to find satiety in
its enjoyments, and I conceived a passion for rural life, which time
has not been able to extinguish; nor have I ever ceased to regret
the pure and tranquil pleasures I enjoyed at this place in my
childhood; the remembrance having followed me through every age,
even to that in which I am hastening again towards it.
M. Lambercier was a worthy, sensible man, who, without neglecting
our instruction, never made our acquisitions burthensome, or tasks
tedious. What convinces me of the rectitude of his method is, that
notwithstanding my extreme aversion to restraint, the recollection
of my studies is never attended with disgust; and, if my improvement
was trivial, it was obtained with ease, and has never escaped memory.
The simplicity of this rural life was of infinite advantage in
opening my heart to the reception of true friendship. The sentiments I
had hitherto formed on this subject were extremely elevated, but
altogether imaginary. The habit of living in this peaceful manner soon
united me tenderly to my cousin Bernard; my affection was more
ardent than that I had felt for my brother, nor has time ever been
able to efface it. He was a tall, lank, weakly boy, with a mind as
mild as his body was feeble, and who did not wrong the good opinion
they were disposed to entertain for the son of my guardian. Our
studies, amusements, and tasks, were the same; we were alone; each
wanted a playmate; to separate would, in some measure, have been to
annihilate us. Though we had not many opportunities of demonstrating
our attachment to each other, it was certainly extreme; and so far
from enduring the thought of separation, we could not even form an
idea that we should ever be able to submit to it. Each of a
disposition to be won by kindness, and complaisant, when not soured by
contradiction, we agreed in every particular. If, by the favor of
those who governed us he had the ascendant while in their presence,
