fully know I should not be heard, were the attempt made; for nothing is more dull than the ear of him who believes himself already in possession of all the knowledge and virtue of his age, and peculiarly entitled, in right of his possessions, to the exclusive control of human affairs.  The most that I should expect from them, were all the facts published to-morrow, would be the secret assent of the wise and good, the expressed censure of the vapid and ignorant (a pretty numerous clan, by the way), the surprise of the mercenary and the demagogue, and the secret satisfaction of the few who will come after me, and who may feel an interest in my conduct or my name.  I have openly predicted bad consequences, in a political light, from the compliance of our agents here, and we shall yet see how far this prediction may prove true.[42]

[Footnote 42:  Has it not?  Have we not been treated by France, in the affair of the treaty, in a manner she would not have treated any second-rate power of Europe.]

LETTER XXVI.

Approach of Winter.—­The Livret.—­Regulations respecting Servants.—­Servants in America.—­Governments of the different Cantons of Switzerland.—­Engagement of Mercenaries.—­Population of Switzerland.—­Physical Peculiarities of the Swiss.—­Women of Switzerland.—­Mrs. Trollope and the American Ladies.—­Affected manner of Speaking in American Women.—­Patois in America.—­Peculiar manner of Speaking at Vevey.—­Swiss Cupidity.

Dear ——­,

The season is giving warning for all intruders to begin to think of quitting the cantons.  We have not been driven to fires, as in 1828, for Vevey is not Berne; but the evenings are beginning to be cool, and a dash of rain, with a foaming lake, are taken to be symptoms, here, as strong as a frost would be there.  Speaking of Berne, a little occurrence has just recalled the Burgerschaft, which, shorn of its glory as it is, had some most praiseworthy regulations.  During our residence near that place, I hired a Bernois, as a footman, discharging the man, as a matter of course, on our departure for Italy.  Yesterday I got a doleful letter from this poor fellow, informing me, among a series of other calamities, that he had had the misfortune to lose his livret, and begging I would send him such testimonials of character, as it might suit my sense of justice to bestow.  It will be necessary to explain a little, in order that you may know what this livret is.

The commune, or district, issues to the domestics, a small certified blank book (livret), in which all the evidences of character are to be entered.  The guides have the same, and in many instances, I believe, they are rendered necessary by law.  The free-trade system, I very well know, would play the deuce with these regulations; but capital regulations they are, and I make no doubt, that the established fidelity of the Swiss, as domestics, is in some measure