"I bought, by a very singular kind of contract, of which there was no
example in that country, a small estate of about sixty acres, which they
sold me for about twice as much as it would have cost me at Paris; but
pleasure is never too dear. The house was pretty and commodious, and the
prospect charming; it astonishes without tiring: on one side is the lake
of Geneva, and the city on the other. The Rhone rushes from the former
with vast impetuosity, forming a canal at the bottom of my garden,
whence is seen the Arve descending from the Savoy mountains, and
precipitating itself into the Rhone, and farther still another river.
A hundred country seats, a hundred delightful gardens, ornament the
borders of the lakes and rivers. The Alps at a great distance rise and
terminate the horizon, and among their prodigious precipices, twenty
leagues extent of mountain are beheld covered with eternal snows."
Upon Voltaire's settlement at Ferney, the country was almost a savage
desert. The village contained but fifty inhabitants, but became by the
poet's means the residence of 1,200 persons, among which were a great
number of artists, principally watch makers, who established their
manufacture under his auspices, and exported their labours throughout
the continent. Voltaire also invited to Ferney, and afforded protection
to, the young niece of the celebrated Corneille; here she was educated,
and Voltaire even carried his delicacy so far as not to suffer the
establishment of Madlle. Corneille to appear as his benefaction. The
family of Calas, likewise, came to reside in the neighbourhood, and to
this circumstance may be attributed the zeal which Voltaire evinced in
their ill fate.
* * * * *