I
I
24 ANNECY.
Savoy is in bad taste, and that of Annecy is
perhaps the worst of all. The houses are high
and the streets narrow, with ranges of extremely
low heavy arcades on each side, which
exclude the light from the ground floors and
shops, and by confining the air, mustbe very
unpleasant and unhealthy. The women
were sitting at their doors, knitting and
spinning, and most of them looked pale
and sickly ; their appearance was not improved
by the muslin caps witli very deep
borders, worn by the females in this part of
Savoy. They dispense with the use of
stockings in summer. Annecy is the second
city in Savoy; it contains about six
thousand inhabitants. There are some considerable
manufactures here, particularly of
cotton. Before the revolution, there were
seventeen churches and monasteries at
Annecy, and it was filled with ecclesiastics
and religious orders. At present only three
of the churches are used for public worship;
the others are converted into brewhouses,
waiehouses, and stables. A large ancient
castle, formerly the residence o fth e Dukes
de Genevois Nemours, commands the city,
and gives to it, at a distance, a very imposing
appearance.
Annecy will long be remembered as the
place where Bousseau, a young fugitive,
was first thrown on the protection of Madame
de Warens, and where he describes
having passed the most innocent and happy
years of his life. On a second visit I
endeavoured to discover the house where
he resided, but in vain. St. Francis de
Sales and La Mere Chantal, with their relics,
are more known and esteemed by the
good people of Annecy, than Bousseau or
Madame de Warens. Perhaps the different
circumstances of their lives, far more
than any natural difference of disposition
led to the dissimilar fate and reputation of
these personages. It would not, at least, be
very difficult to trace some leading features
of resemblance between the characters of
the saint and the philosopher. The tender
friendship that long subsisted between St.
Francis de Sales and La Mere Chantal, has
given to their memory and relics, with
pious catholics, a degree of interest similar
to that excited by the remains of Abelard
and Heloise.
St. Francis de Sales was descended from
the noble family of de Sales, in Savoy;
he was born in 1567. Having devoted
himself to the church and evinced great