Chapter X

272

Early history of Geneva—Constitution—Duke Amedée the Eighth—Attempt
to become master of Geneva—The Bishop inclined to cede his
rights—The opposition of the citizens—Charles the
Third—Berthelier—Alliance with Fribourg—His courage—Geneva
taken—His refusal to fly—His arrest—A tooth-drawer named his
judge—His execution—The news of his death causing the impression he
had hoped for—Treaty—The Mamelukes—The Confrères de la
Cuiller—Advance of Berne and Fribourg—Charles the Third’s forced
concessions—Want of generosity in the Bernese—Noble conduct of
Geneva—Protestant religion gaining strength—Bonnivard—Seized on
the Jura—Cast into the dungeons of Chillon—Disputes in Geneva—The
Grand Council decides that mass be abolished—Francis the
First—Berne declares war against Savoy—Her alliance with
Francis—The Duke of Savoy’s losses—Berne’s renewed
misconduct—Proud reply of the Genevese—Bonnivard
delivered—Calvin—His early life—His flight from Paris—His
reception by Marguerite of Navarre—Persecution of Francis—Calvin’s
reception by Louis the Twelfth’s Daughter—Geneva—His over
severity—His expulsion—His return—His iron rule—Michael
Servet—His irritating conduct towards Calvin—Calvin’s vow to be
revenged—Servet’s arrest—His escape—Tracked by Calvin—Taken
prisoner on his passage through Geneva—He is accused—Calvin’s
valet—Burned at the stake outside the walls of Geneva

CHAPTER XI.

296

A vain Stork—A German coachmaker—Coppet—Ferney—Voltaire’s
Church—His habitation—Crockery Cenotaph—Shoe-blacking in his
study—The old Gardener—The morning rehearsals in tragic
costume—The story of Gibbon—Voltaire catching his pet
mare—Gibbon’s opinion of Voltaire’s beauty—Their
reconciliation—The tree which shaded Franklin—The increase of his
village—The marble pyramid broken—The gardener’s petites antiquités
and cross wife—Voltaire’s opinions of his correspondents—His
remains the property of a maimed Englishman—Denial to a visitor—His
heart in the larder—Genevese pride—Swiss troops—Swiss
penitentiaries—Genevese smuggling—The Directeur Général des
Douaness an unwilling accomplice—D’Aubigné interred in the
cathedral—The Cardinal de Brogny—A swineherd—Shoes bestowed in
charity—The boy become a cardinal—The poor shoemaker rewarded—His
compassion for John Huss—Courageous death of the latter—De Brogny’s
charity—A modest genius and tolerant cardinal