The town-house is a large and ancient building, and devoid of regularity.  It is chiefly worthy of mention, from the ascent to the upper apartments, being by an inclined plane, sufficiently spacious to admit a carriage to drive up to them.  Here are the apartments of the senate, the councils of government, officers of justice, &c.  Here I left my passports and received, in return, a permission to reside in the city, which must be renewed every fortnight.  The passport is returned upon the final departure of its owner.

I now found it easy to provide myself with a lodging (as, without the authority of the state, no citizen can receive strangers into his house) on reasonable terms, for three weeks.  My apartment commanded a handsome prospect of the lake from one of the windows.  I, however, occasionally dined at the hotel where I had first lodged (the Balances d’Or).  I here found sometimes pleasant society at the Table d’Hote.  The hour of dinner was about a quarter past one o’clock, and the table was plentifully supplied, much in the order I before mentioned, in speaking of the French dinners.  I observed that excellent vegetable, the potatoe, was here in great estimation, at the tables both of the higher and inferior classes; and, except in Italy, I understand its value is duly appreciated in the principal parts of Europe.  I now proceed, according to my promise, to speak more of Geneva, having been for some time domesticated there.

The city is regularly fortified; but, according to the modern system of warfare, it would not probably make any efficient resistance; yet although its fortifications may not be sufficient to secure it during a siege, they are not entirely devoid of utility:  they would prevent the city’s being suddenly occupied by an enemy, and thus afford time for the conclusion of a regular capitulation.  Situated as the city is, between France and Sardinia, and divided from the rest of Switzerland, it must be granted, that the government acts wisely in preserving its fortifications.  Indeed, their utility was fully exemplified during the eventful period of last spring, when the allied troops, after having for some days occupied the city, were suddenly called away, and the inhabitants were menaced by a force of 3,000 Frenchmen, who demanded admission.  This was refused them; and happily, the return of the allied forces in a few days, saved Geneva from the melancholy effects which must have ensued from the irruption of the French, who were greatly exasperated that the city did not at first oppose the entrance of the Allies.  The ramparts form the principal promenade of the Genevese; and from some of them (particularly from the Place St. Antoine, which commands the lake, and is well planted) the views are very striking over a highly cultivated valley, enclosed by some of the most lofty mountains in Europe.  Detachments of the allied forces remained a very considerable time at Geneva, and at one period the Republic had to defray a daily expence of not less 40,000 francs.