Pierre, an estate belonging to the Hospital of Berne, in the middle ofthe lake of Bienne.In a pedestrian pilgrimage I had made thepreceding year with Du Peyrou we had visited this isle, with which Iwas so much delighted that I had since that time incessantly thoughtof the means of making it my place of residence.The greatest obstacleto my wishes arose from the property of the island being vested in thepeople of Berne, who three years before had driven me from amongstthem; and besides the mortification of returning to live with peoplewho had given me so unfavorable a reception, I had reason to fear theywould leave me no more peace in the island than they had done atYverdon.I had consulted the lord marshal upon the subject, whothinking as I did, that the people of Berne would be glad to see mebanished to the island, and to keep me there as a hostage for theworks I might be tempted to write, had founded their dispositions bymeans of M.Sturler, his old neighbor at Colombier.M.Sturleraddressed himself to the chiefs of the state, and, according totheir answer, assured the marshal the Bernois, sorry for their pastbehavior, wished to see me settled in the island of St.Pierre, and toleave me there at peace.As an additional precaution, before Idetermined to reside there, I desired the Colonel Chaillet to make newinquiries.He confirmed what I had already heard, and the receiverof the island having obtained from his superiors permission to lodgeme in it, I thought I might without danger go to the house, with thetacit consent of the sovereign and the proprietors; for I could notexpect the people of Berne would openly acknowledge the injustice theyhad done me, and thus act contrary to the most inviolable maxim of allsovereigns.
The island of St.Pierre, called at Neuchatel the island of LaMotte, in the middle of the lake of Bienne, is half a league incircumference; but in this little space all the chief productionsnecessary to subsistence are found.The island has fields, meadows,orchards, woods, and vineyards, and all these, favored by variegatedand mountainous situations, form a distribution of the more agreeable,as the parts, not being discovered all at once, are seensuccessively to advantage, and make the island appear greater thanit really is.A very elevated terrace forms the western part of it,and commands Gleresse and Neuveville.This terrace is planted withtrees which form a long alley, interrupted in the middle by a greatsaloon, in which, during the vintage, the people from theneighboring shores assemble and divert themselves.There is but onehouse in the whole island, but that is very spacious and convenient,inhabited by the receiver, and situated in a hollow by which it issheltered from the winds.
Five or six hundred paces to the south of the island of St.Pierreis another island, considerably less than the former, wild anduncultivated, which appears to have been detached from the greaterisle by storms: its gravelly soil produces nothing but willows andpersicaria, but there is in it a high hill well covered withgreensward and very pleasant.The form of the lake is an almostregular oval.The banks, less rich than A those of the lake ofGeneva and Neuchatel, form a beautiful decoration, especiallytowards the western part, which is well peopled, and edged withvineyards at the foot of a chain of mountains, something like those ofCote-Rotie, but which produce not such excellent wine.The bailiwickof St.Jean, Neuveville, Berne, and Bienne, lie in a line from thesouth to the north, to the extremity of the lake, the wholeinterspersed with very agreeable villages.
Such was the asylum I had prepared for myself, and to which I wasdetermined to retire after quitting Val de Travers.* This choice wasso agreeable to my peaceful inclinations, and my solitary and indolentdisposition, that I consider it as one of the pleasing reveries, ofwhich I became the most passionately fond.I thought I should inthat island be more separated from men, more sheltered from theiroutrages, and sooner forgotten by mankind: in a word, more abandonedto the delightful pleasures of the inaction of a contemplative life.Icould have wished to have been confined in it in such a manner as tohave had no intercourse with mortals, and I certainly took everymeasure I could imagine to relieve me from the necessity oftroubling my head about them.
* It may perhaps be necessary to remark that I left there an enemyin M.du Teneaux, mayor of Verrieres, not much esteemed in thecountry, but who has a brother, said to be an honest man, in theoffice of M.de St.Florentin.The mayor had been to see himsometime before my adventure.Little remarks of this kind, though ofno consequence in themselves, may lead to the discovery of manyunderhand dealings.
