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VISIT TO FERNEY IN 1829.

Sharpe’s London Magazine, (No, 3.),

Contains a pleasant article under the above title, describing the present state of Ferney, the residence of Voltaire, an engraving of which appeared in our No. 384.  We would willingly have made the journey, and written our description in the Poet’s salon, could we have “stayed time;” but as the old dials quaintly tell us, time “tarryeth for no man,” and we were then compelled to adopt the most recent description.

Such of this last “Visit to Ferney” as relates to the Chateau will therefore be interesting, as a supplement to our previous illustration:—­

“The road leading from Geneva to this celebrated spot is delightful, bordered on each side with superb villas, and presenting picturesque points of view only to be found in the environs of that enchanting city.  A handsome avenue conducts the traveller to the chateau, the architecture of which is nothing very remarkable.  After mounting three steps, and crossing a narrow vestibule, we entered the salon, which in its day received most of the wits and celebrated personages of Europe:  for as a contemporary of Voltaire observed, ’to have been admitted at Ferney, is to have taken out a patent for genius.’  The appearance of this salon is far from brilliant:  a few indifferent pictures, some old red tapestry, and antiquated furniture compose the whole of its ornaments.  To the left we entered the chamber of Voltaire.

“On one side of the apartment an humble mausoleum has been reared, the sanctity of which was not however respected by the sabres of the Austrians.  The inscription on the top (a happy inspiration of the husband of Mademoiselle Varicourt), contains these simple words:  ’Mon coeur est ici; et mon esprit est partout.’  The most elaborate panegyric could not have conveyed a finer eulogium.

“On entering, the spectator is struck with the view of a bed of simple materials, and which was pillaged by the Austrians.  Hung round the room are the portraits of Frederick, of Catharine, of Lekain—­one of Voltaire himself, taken at the age of forty, and full of expression, with a number of silhouettes of the celebrated men of the day.

“The window of this apartment looks upon the gardens, and upon a little wood, which has undergone many changes since the death of Voltaire.  Time however has hitherto respected a long and thick row of elm trees, whither he was wont to repair at sunrise, and where he usually meditated and recited aloud the scenes of his tragedies when finished, to any one whom he could find.  His jealousy of criticism on such occasions is matter of record.

“The gardener at present belonging to the chateau was there during the latter period of Voltaire’s life, and related to us with much naivete several anecdotes, not generally known, of his master.