Near it is the chateau, formerly the property of M. Necker, and now the residence of his daughter, Madame de Staël, who will probably be as celebrated in future times for her writings, as her father for the administration of the French finances. I was to have accompanied two friends to a fête given here by Madame de Staël, but unfortunately we did not return in time from our excursion to Chamouny; and shortly after Madame de Staël went to Paris. This lady is said to have formerly remarked, that she should probably find it very difficult to be suited with a husband, _as her mother insisted she should marry a man of quality; her father wished for a man of talents, and she to please herself_. The Baron de Staël Holstein was finally accepted, as no doubt uniting all the points required. We soon reached Versoi, which belongs to France, and was, during the disturbances which prevailed at Geneva in 1765, much encouraged by the then minister, the Duke de Choiseul, who expected that its advantageous situation, as well as its proximity to Geneva, would attract many of its inhabitants to settle there; and that, by their well-known industry, his newly founded town would speedily flourish. The duke was, however, disappointed in the expectations he had formed (as the present situation of Versoi affords ample testimony); for it was too much to suppose, that men born under a free government would, on account of trifling internal dissensions, abandon their country, and become the voluntary subjects of a despotic monarchy. _Confidence is a plant of slow growth_, and an absolute government is not likely to encourage it. An enlightened monarch may frame an edict equally liberal as that of Nantes; but the tyranny or bigotry of a succeeding sovereign may revoke what only proceeded from sentiments to which he is a stranger. The Genevese have now nothing to apprehend from Versoi as a rival, but are anxious that it should be united to Switzerland, the French custom-house there being an obstacle to their trade by land, as they are only separated from the rest of Switzerland by this narrow point which projects from the country of Gex. Gex was at one time subject to Savoy, and at another period to Geneva. It is six leagues in length, and about three and a half in width. On the road from Versoi to Geneva we had ourselves reason to perceive the inconveniences of the French custom-house, as it is quite absurd to insist on opening packages which are not destined to remain above ten minutes on the French territory. The country here is finely varied, and the distant view of Geneva again drew from us expressions of admiration, after an excursion through a country where the traveller often sees more to delight and to interest him in one day than he sometimes meets with in travelling for a week through other Provinces. * * * * * CHAP. X.