I was, therefore, strongly prejudiced in favor of Hume, when Madamde Verdelin came and mentioned the lively friendship he expressedfor me, and his anxiety to do me the honors of England; such was herexpression, She pressed me a good deal to take advantage of thiszeal and to write to him.As I had not naturally an inclination toEngland, and did not intend to go there until the last extremity, Irefused to write or make any promise; but I left her at liberty todo whatever she should think necessary to keep Mr.Hume favorablydisposed towards me.When she went from Motiers, she left me in thepersuasion, by everything she had said to me of that illustriousman, that he was my friend, and she herself still more his.
After her departure, Montmollin carried on his maneuvers with morevigor, and the populace threw off all restraint.Yet I still continuedto walk quietly amidst the hootings of the vulgar; and a taste forbotany, which I had begun to contract with Doctor d'Ivernois, makingmy rambling more amusing, I went through the country herbalizing,without being affected by the clamors of this scum of the earth, whosefury was still augmented by my calmness.What affected me most was,seeing families of my friends,* or of persons who gave themselves thatname, openly join the league of my persecutors; such as theD'Ivernois, without excepting the father and brother of my IsabelleBoy de la Tour, a relation to the friend in whose house I lodged,and Madam Girardier, her sister-in-law.This Peter Boy was such abrute; so stupid, and behaved so uncouthly, that, to prevent my mindfrom being disturbed, I took the liberty to ridicule him; and, afterthe manner of the Petit Prophete, I wrote a pamphlet of a few pages,entitled, la Vision de Pierre de la Montagne dit let Voyant,*(2) inwhich I found means to be diverting enough on the miracles whichthen served as the great pretext for my persecution.Du Peyrou hadthis scrap printed at Geneva, but its success in the country was butmoderate; the Neuchatelois, with all their wit, taste but weakly atticsalt or pleasantry when these are a little refined.
* This fatality had begun with my residence at Yverdon: the banneretRoguin dying a year or two after my departure from that city, theold papa Roguin had the candor to inform me with grief, as he said,that in the papers of his relation, proofs had been found of hishaving been concerned in the conspiracy to expel me from Yverdon andthe state of Berne.This clearly proved the conspiracy not to be, assome persons pretended to believe, an affair of hypocrisy; since thebanneret, far from being a devotee, carried materialism andincredulity to intolerance and fanaticism.Besides, nobody atYverdon had shown me more constant attention, nor had so prodigallybestowed upon me praises and flattery as this banneret.Hefaithfully followed the favorite plan of my persecutors.
*(2) The vision of Peter of the Mountain, called the Seer.
In the midst of decrees and persecutions, the Genevese haddistinguished themselves by setting up a hue and cry with all theirmight; and my friend Vernes amongst others, with an heroicalgenerosity, chose that moment precisely, to publish against me lettersin which he pretended to prove I was not a Christian.These letters,written with an air of self-sufficiency, were not the better for it,although it was positively said the celebrated Bonnet had given themsome correction: for this man, although a materialist, has anintolerant orthodoxy the moment I am in question.There certainlywas nothing in this work which could tempt me to answer it; but havingan opportunity of saying a few words upon it in my Letters from theMountain, I inserted in them a short note sufficiently expressive ofdisdain to render Vernes furious.He filled Geneva with his furiousexclamations, and D'Ivernois wrote me word he had quite lost hissenses.Sometime afterwards appeared an anonymous sheet, which insteadof ink seemed to be written with the water of Phelethon.In thisletter I was accused of having exposed my children in the streets,of taking about with me a soldier's trull, of being worn out withdebaucheries, and other fine things of a like nature.It was notdifficult for me to discover the author.My first idea on reading thislibel, was to reduce to its real value everything the world calls fameand reputation amongst men; seeing thus a man who was never in abrothel in his life, and whose greatest defect was his being astimid and shy as a virgin, treated as a frequenter of places of thatdescription; and in finding myself charged with being eaten up bythe pox.I, who not only never had the least taint of any venerealdisease, but, according to the faculty, was so constructed as tomake it almost impossible for me to contract it.Everything wellconsidered, I thought I could not better refute this libel than byhaving it printed in the city in which I longest resided, and withthis intention I sent it to Duchesne to print it as it was with anadvertisement, in which I named M.Vernes and a few short notes by wayof eclaircissement.Not satisfied with printing it only, I sent copiesto several persons, and amongst others one copy to the Prince Louis ofWirtemberg, who had made me polite advances, and with whom I was incorrespondence.The prince, Du Peyrou, and others, seemed to havetheir doubts about the author of the libel, and blamed me for havingnamed Vernes upon so slight a foundation.Their remarks produced in mesome scruples, and I wrote to Duchesne to suppress the paper.Guywrote to me he had suppressed it: this may or may not be the case; Ihave been deceived on so many occasions that there would be nothingextraordinary in my being so on this, and, from the time of which Ispeak, was so enveloped in profound darkness that it was impossiblefor me to come at any kind of truth.
