The gardens are laid out in the formal, geometrical style,
and they command a view of the town and lake of Geneva. The apartments
of the ground-floor of the house are in the same state as during
Voltaire's lifetime. In the dining-hall is a picture, representing
demons horsewhipping Freron:[1] such was Voltaire's mode of perpetuating
his antagonists.
[Footnote 1: Freron was an eminent journalist of the last century: his
criticisms procured him many powerful enemies, among whom was Voltaire.]
Of the purchase of Ferney, Voltaire thus speaks in his memoirs:--
"I bought, by a very singular kind of contract, of which there was no
example in that country, a small estate of about sixty acres, which they
sold me for about twice as much as it would have cost me at Paris; but
pleasure is never too dear. The house was pretty and commodious, and the
prospect charming; it astonishes without tiring: on one side is the lake
of Geneva, and the city on the other. The Rhone rushes from the former
with vast impetuosity, forming a canal at the bottom of my garden,
whence is seen the Arve descending from the Savoy mountains, and
precipitating itself into the Rhone, and farther still another river.
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